The strangest wedding present was a chainsaw-carved pelican. Our friends from upstate New York gave it to us. They had seen some of the carver's other work and they said it was really good, so they asked him to make a pelican for us. (The pelican is Louisiana's state bird.)
Suzanne said when she went to pick up the finished piece, the carver seem a bit surprised and asked her to wait outside for a minute. Then she said she heard a chainsaw starting up. A couple minutes later, he handed her the bird. The finish was still sticky, she sad, and in fact it was a little bit tacky when she and Brian presented it to us.
We named it something funny, but I can't remember the name now. The gift was a casualty of Hurricane Katrina.