in lieu of the dollar dance...

Why is cousin Joe so happy? Because he won the wedding raffle. What is that - you ask?

It's this thing. We had 100 raffle tickets custom made similar to these above. We had 100 printed and they sold for $10 per ticket. So we raised $1000 for the bride and groom that evening. The prize was tailored for our family demographic - oh, yeah, did I mention this was for my baby brother's wedding this past November - back to the demographic: drinkers.

I wish I could claim credit for the idea, but it was my sister Christie. I was the one that provided all the liqeur, the favorites of the demographic. Crown Royal, Jack Daniels, Skky Vodka, Jose Cuervo Gold and the great standby Parrot Bay Coconut Rum. These were no regular size bottles. In the event a more sophisticated palette won, I threw in a few bottles of wine, champagne and truffles.

Before the raffle drawing, Cousin Joe and Uncle Jimmy were saying that if they won the basket, they would auction it off and get Michael and April more money. So, Joe, man of his word did just that.

Now throw in Uncle Danny as the auctioneer. He starts the bidding at $300. Uncle Danny has had few and sometimes hears bids that really weren't there, but they didn't mind.

There is cousin Joe, with wife Abbie, staring down Uncle Jorge who has ran the bid up to over $1000.

There is my cousin Jorge, Jr., egging on Cousin Joe as Uncle Jorge (on the right) has the high bid at $1000.

Here are Michael and April in shock as Cousin Joe bids again and gets the basket for $1300.
Wow, that's $2300 on a basket of booze. Like I said, know your target demographic.

Here is the check hand off. Woo Hoo!

Here is Joe, telling his Uncle, my dear Dad, that he would have gone higher because he wasn't leaving the reception without the basket. He made my father proud that evening. It was a family rivalry of sorts. Joe is from my Dad's side of the family, his sister's Virginia's son and Uncle Jorge, the doctor from New Mexico is my mother's brother. It was fun all around.

All photographs courtesy of Winfield Little. The dollar dance is a traditional feature at Mexican American weddings. This was our way of continuing with the dollar dance tradition of gathering money for the bride and groom for their new household in an updated fashion to fit our needs. We knew the family attending would be receptive and fun.