In fact, my cake looked like it had been dipped in a vat of wedding bleach—white frosting, white pillars, white topper and little white accents. But why? Was it just a trend of that era? Nope. Because ...

Virtually ignoring the torrent of expensive wedding gifts, White House handouts played up the sentimental, homey and offbeat: from Uncle Tony Taylor in Texas, a set of six silver syllabub cups ...