A Summer Wedding Luncheon

Last month we did a wedding luncheon for 75 at the Sheldon House in Jamestown. The mansion, which sits at the corner of Lakeview Avenue and Falconer Street in the north-central part of town, was owned by Julia Sheldon Ludwig Livengood, a member of the Sheldon family. The family’s fortune accumulated in the late nineteenth century due to the hard work of Julia’s ancestors, who founded The American Aristotype Company, which developed and manufactured one of the first photographic papers made in America. Their success attracted the attention of George Eastman as he was creating the Eastman Kodak Company; when he bought out the Sheldon family around the turn of the century, he paid them in shares of Kodak stock, which eventually made them wealthy. When Julie died in 1980, she left her house to the local community college, and one of us has had a long connection to the House.

The nuptials were those of Nichole Lynn Myers, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dalbert (“Chip”) Myers of Jamestown, and Arthur Kuyumjian, originally of São Paulo, Brazil. Though the day was hot, the facility itself was cool and crisp and elegant as the wedding party and their guests arrived. Due to the wishes of the bride and groom, alcoholic drinks were not included on the menu. Instead, we passed Fresh Minted Iced Tea, Homemade Lemonade and sparkling water, along with Canapés of Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese on Dark Rye Toast Points, and Medjool Dates stuffed with Almonds and wrapped in Bacon. Classical music played throughout the venue.

After the wedding party and their guests had relaxed and refreshed themselves (the schedule ran a bit slow because of the photographer), a buffet was set out in the dining room for a sit-down luncheon. Newlyweds, family members, and guests helped themselves to a Fresh Summer Fruit Salad, Chicken Cordon Bleu, Rosemary-roasted Red Potatoes, and Fresh Green Beans with a Shallot Butter. Salads of Mixed Baby Greens with Balsamic Vinaigrette were set at each place; the beautiful color scheme included mint-colored damask tablecloths custom-made for the event. Everything was served on the Sheldon House china with their house silver. For the traditional cake, a table was set in the marble foyer at the bottom of the grand staircase. The bride and groom chose a four-tier, separated-tier cake with traditional white frosting, and after slices were plated and passed, rich Brazilian coffee was served as a nod to the groom’s ancestry, and then his mother and grandmother, who had flown from South America for the occasion, passed around the traditional Brazilian wedding favor, individually-wrapped casadinhos. Casadinhos comes from the Portuguese word casado, meaning conjugal; the suffix -inhos is like -ini in Italian or -ine in French, making the adjective a diminutive. “Little married ones” is the best translation, and the cookies are so named because two smaller cookies are sandwiched together with something sweet, like jam, or chocolate, or pastry cream. We’d never seen this tradition before—we’ve not been to Brazil yet, but we would sure like to go.

We wish the newlyweds many years of health and happiness together!