Never been to a big wedding that wasn’t great fun. But, then, not sure I’ve been to a small wedding that wasn’t great fun, either.

A primary reason for coming back to the U.S. from the UAE for this three-and-a-half weeks was to attend the wedding of my nephew, which took place tonight in the Bay Area.

Some of the best bits:

The photo booth!

What a great idea. One of those contraptions where you sit inside, pull the curtain and a machine takes four photos of you … and they come out in that strip of pictures. This one was aided by 1) being free, of course and 2) coming with all sorts of props — silly hats and glasses, even a Sherlock Holmes-style (plastic) pipe. Some fun photos there.

The food. Choice of sea bass or filet mignon … great salad, three varieties of wedding cake, including a red velvet with cream cheese. Nice breads.

An open bar. Not just open for wine and beer, mixed drinks, as well. This is a key component for many successful weddings because the early open bar bridges the typical time lag between the ceremony and the reception, and by the end of this most everyone is more than a little cheerful.

The canapes! Mini quiches, cheese in filo dough, tapenade toast, some other things I couldn’t quite identify. I love canapes. I could live on canapes.

The rehearsal dinner! Another open bar, some excellent Italian food in a neighborhood trattoria.

A chance to see family. Particularly key this time, because I hadn’t seen almost all of them in two years. Plus, some new additions, both by marriage and birth. That was special.

The dancing at the end of the night. All those people who so rarely dance, rushing to the dance area as soon as “Shout!” was cued up.

Another nice touch … the bus to take wedding-goers from the hotel to the country club where the ceremony and reception was held … and take them back again.

I like the idea of destination weddings, which this one was. We fairly easily won the “came the furthest” contest (Abu Dhabi to San Jose? Fuhgeddaboutit.). A nice hotel, close enough to San Francisco to drop by … perfect weather … the whole weekend seemed like one long party.

It’s all good.  If I’ve ever been to bad wedding, I can’t remember it. And this one definitely was one of the best.