What I Did This Weekend: The First Wedding
May 27, 2008 – 10:53 am
It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience when the first of your friends get married. I’ve been to a handful of weddings before, but just ones of distant relatives. I was not at all prepared for what to expect this past weekend when my friends EJ and Kati exchanged vows (given celebrity coupling patterns, what would that make them? Kee-J? E-Ti?). To top it off, I was in the wedding party. I wasn’t quite ready for this. Hell, I hadn’t even worn a tuxedo since my junior prom.
Being in a friend’s wedding is a rite of passage. Marriage is the last vestige of growing up, after all. Marriage is also the first signal of the upcoming traditions that strip you of spontaneity and youthful vigor. Not that I’m against getting married. It’s just that it’s a gateway drug for all these other dangerous things that adults do: buying a house, having kids, paying for college… once you dabble in these things, you’re hooked for life. Why would anyone do that to themselves?
But after seeing these two friends of mine dance their first dance as a married couple, I knew the answer. There are few words to explain it, but I watched true love blossom. I was with EJ and Kati at the moment they first met, and now I was there on their wedding day. It may sound sappy, but at that moment, it finally made sense.
Then the alcohol started to flow. Open bars at weddings are very, very dangerous. Somewhere, there is a picture of me air guitaring on the dance floor. There was money placed on which groomsman and bridesmaid would be hooking up at the end of the night. The dancing got more and more ridiculous. If any video surfaces of my actions on the dance floor beyond 11pm, it could be potential blackmail material. As special a night as it was, the wedding soon became like any other wild party we used to throw when EJ and I were neighbors: there were a lot of pictures taken of moments that none of us remember.
And so, life returns to normal. Except that EJ and Kati are a married couple, and I have three more of these affairs to look forward to this year (my wallet, on the other hand, will not be looking forward to those). With each of these weddings, my friends all feel a little older, but also a little wiser. Once you’ve seen the first of your friends get married, you know for sure that true love is possible, and it can be found in some of the places you least expect it.
And you also know for sure what you’ll write about on your blog the week after the wedding, especially when the groom begs to be mentioned on your blog for more than two years.
10 Responses
i’m gonna say having a kid is the last vestage. believe you me. you ain’t seen nothing yet. getting married is just a glorified party to let people know you’re going steady. until she drops that seven-pound anchor from her vagina, you don’t know what growing up really is.
By lozo on May 27, 2008
p.s. this: “There are few words to explain it, but I watched true love blossom.” is the gayest thing you’ve ever written. i really hope it blossomed before they decided to spend the rest of their lives together.
By lozo on May 27, 2008
Air guitaring?!? My friend you were air fiddling at one point. quite well I must say.
By Rob on May 27, 2008
You are a romantic softy at heart.
Not just the cynical crab-ass we see the rest of the time around here!
By Annie in MN on May 27, 2008
lozo: I was also talking about the period between when they first met and when they got married. But maybe you were just too distracted by the gayness of the sentence before that to see that I made that pretty clear.
By Chris on May 27, 2008
I was the first of my “group” to get married. I don’t really speak to any of them anymore, including and especially my ex-wife.
By Josh on May 27, 2008
You’re lucky this is only your first! I am 24 and have seen three of my good friends get married, with 5 weddings this year alone. I don’t know what the hurry is… but I guess being from the Midwest everyone wants to get married young!
By kk on May 27, 2008
I hope you give a toast like this:
http://xkcd.com/420/
By The Joy on May 28, 2008
Chris - I couldn’t agree more with the “dangers” of open bar. (And I am Irish*) I fear for the photographic evidence to surface of the wedding I attended several few weeks ago.
Good, it was 3000 miles away.
Bad, those I was drinking with live here amoung us on our little island.
Ahh, adult beverage remorse.
*let it go people
By jane on May 29, 2008
I’ve at last reached the pinnacle of web greatness. My friend, you are the best!
By EJ on Jun 9, 2008