It hasn’t been much of a secret, but Bonnie and I are celebrating a wedding commitment ceremony on Friday, May 23. The ceremony itself will take place in the late afternoon and there will only be about 30 family members and close friends in attendance.
However, the reception afterwards, from 7:00-9:30 p.m., is an open affair. Anyone who has warm feelings toward the bride and groom is welcome to attend. It will not be a “typical” wedding reception — if there is such a thing. It will be a square dance!
The local square dance club that Bonnie and I frequent has weekly Friday night dances — where members and guests square dance and socialize. There is typically a charge at these dances of $5 or $6 (depending on whether you are a $15-a-year member of the club). On May 23, the bride and groom are paying all expenses and so it will be free to everyone.
Since we know there will be attendees who have never square danced (or possibly not since the fourth grade), there will be one-or-more beginners’ dances. For this, many of the experienced dancers will pick out newcomers to square dancing and escort (or, if necessary, drag) them out onto the floor. (For example, I might pick Bonnie’s sister or daughter, or maybe the 10-year-old girl who lives next door, or conceivably even Bonnie’s 85-year-old aunt if she’s feeling up to it. Bonnie will pick one of her relatives or mine — or possibly a neighbor.) We’ll all get out on the floor, forming as many eight-person squares as we can fill with dancers, and one of the callers will call simple stuff — probably starting with “join hands and circle to the left.” He’ll introduce the commands “dosado” and “allemande left,” “up to the middle and back,” and possibly a few others. If this is well received by the visitors that night, we’ll have another beginner’s session a half hour later.
The wedding cake will be provided (comped of course!) by “Baby Cakes” which is an artisan bakery at the M. There will be several varieties of finger foods as well as coffee, punch, water, and other non-alcoholic beverages. If you want to smoke, you’ll need to go outside.
When you attend a wedding or a wedding reception, it’s customary to bring a gift. Bonnie and I are requesting that you do NOT do this. Instead, we invite you to participate in a 50-50 drawing. A 50-50 drawing is one where the club retains 50% and the rest is returned to whomever’s name is drawn. (There will probably be several names drawn — with each winner receiving between $75 and $100.) A typical drawing returning only 50% isn’t attractive at all to intelligent gamblers — but this is more a social event rather than one in which you carefully make a dollars-and-cents decision. Your donation helps the non-profit organization — and you just might win!
Actually, this drawing may well turn out to be a positive EV event. There will be people invited to the wedding commitment ceremony itself who will, for various reasons, be unable to attend the square dance. For these guests, we’ve requested that they make a donation to the square dance club — and that money will go into the 50-50 pot. It is conceivable that this pot will be “seeded” with $500 or more of dead money — which comes from people who have donated to it but cannot possibly win because they won’t be present.
The wedding reception will be held at Riviera Mobile Home Park (some of the signs say Riviera Mobil Home Park), 2038 Palm St, Las Vegas. This is one block north and one block east of the intersection of Sahara Avenue, Boulder Highway, and Fremont Street. If you come in from Sahara, take the second driveway into the park. If you come in from St. Louis, take the first driveway. From about 6:45-7:15, there will be people in square dance outfits near the entrance directing you to where the dance will be held.
Whether you can attend or not, Bonnie and I are very happy about this and appreciate the many kind expressions of good wishes that we have been receiving.