West Coast v. East Coast...weddings that is.

Anthony and I have been going to some high profile weddings lately. First, we attended a friend's wedding in NYC. He's a good friend of mine from college, and although he's not personally wealthy, let's just say his father lives on Park Avenue on the Upper East Side in a doorman building. And everyone at the wedding said that the bride "scored." The wedding was held at the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center. I lived in NYC for four years, and I had never been there. The Rainbow Room was incredible. Views of NYC from floor to ceiling windows, and everywhere you looked, New York City looked stunning. The bride wore Monique L'huillier, like all fashionable young ladies to date, and the bridesmaids all wore dresses that they can actually wear to another event! (as long as they cut the train a bit...since people were stomping on them all night long) It was a black tie event, and so all the men except for maybe one or two showed up in tuxedo. But for the women...black tie is a bit subjective these days. Most of the older women stuck to tradition and wore a floor-length gown. Half of the younger women also wore floor-length gowns, but the other half wore cocktail length. All in all, a simply stunning evening.

Last night, Anthony and I attended another wedding where half the people there were the cast of "ER." This wedding was held in Southern California. The ceremony was a catholic mass at St. Brendan's Church in Los Angeles. The priest was extremely enlightenened and in touch with the modern world. In fact, he made me think about possibly joining his church for Sunday mass someday...the reception was held in far away Valencia at a country club. The groom is part of Barry Manilow's entourage, and the bride is the one who works for "ER"...behind the cameras. And although both were high-profile, expensive weddings with lots of "VIP's," I must say the main difference is the fact that one is East Coast and the other is West Coast. The NYC wedding was formal, elegant, and stylish. The Los Angeles/Valencia wedding was more casual, free-spirited, but still very traditional. NYC wedding was Jewish, while LA wedding was Catholic. Both followed their religions, but made their own twists. Neither bride threw the bouquet, nor did the grooms go fishing for the garter. Both picked white as their overall flower color choice, and both had dark colored bridesmaids dresses. East Coast was a midnight blue or very dark Navy. West Coast was a forest green or very dark green with gold beading. And interestingly, both brides had red hair. East Coast bride is a strawberry blond, while West Coast bride was a fiery red. East Coast bride had a strapless ball gown and was referred to by her sister and maid of honor as a "princess." While West coast bride had on a ball gown with below the shoulder sheer sleeves, and her princess theme was carried throughout the reception.

We had a really great time at both weddings. We danced a lot, laughed a lot, sighed a bit, and cried a bit...