No Joking on Game Day, Even About Cupcakes.

The day you are getting the goods together for a party, the catering kitchen can be a very tense place. The light humor that usually accompanies our work kind of takes a smoke break for the day. When we would be cooking to get a party out the door, if you would ask John at Catering By Design, "Do we really have to wrap 300 shrimp in basil and proscuitto?!", he would say "No joking on game day."And that meant business.

Let me set up the real story.  Meg's wedding was fast approaching.  Meg is a best friend of mine and it was my great pleasure to help her orchestrate her wedding.  We had been working on it for nearly a year.

We were totally prepared to set up and cook for Meg's wedding.  My daughter had been dropped off with grandparents for the weekend, all groceries were bought, prep lists were made.

Then, the unexpected thing that would throw off all of our plans, that we knew would likely come up; happened. Our cake maker had a major family emergency.  No cake.  No wedding cake.  Cupcakes, actually. Two-tiered, red velvet and strawberry, individually decorated cupcakes. The idea was still alive and well in our minds, but the baker and executor of the cakes was no longer in the picture.

Now, in a matter of minutes, I was the cake maker. I scrambled.  Found a VERY competent baker and tracked down some papers and decorations.

So, many hours later, here we are.  The night before the wedding. I was working with my baker, Amy Shapley.  We were doing a couple trial cupcakes for Meg's approval.  In our overtired state, we were joking and giggling and testing out icing tips and snacking on the crunchy edges of reject cupcakes.  Amy was taking pictures of our progress and snapped one of a particularly homely cupcake that had been eaten on, and had various clumps of cream cheese frosting here and there.

We thought it was the funniest thing we had ever seen.  Meg being our close friend, we thought she would get a laugh if we sent her this picture  via text of the cupcake "prototype".


Hours later, she still hadn't replied.  Finally, we hear from her.  "Looks great. But, will it also get a second layer?"

We got her reply and both froze.  She doesn't actually think we think that cupcake looks good, does she?  Is she delirious?

She didn't get the joke.

We were kind of embarrassed by the thought that she might be trying to make nice and settle for this pathetic little bastard child of a cupcake we made in our own delirium.

Then the words of my old boss rang in my head.... "No joking on game day."  The night before a girl's wedding is no time for silly pranks.

No matter how well you know someone or how funny you think it may be, the hours before a person's big day, is not a good time to try to get a laugh.  Lesson learned.

And in the end, the cupcakes did turn out beautifully.   

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