Saturday, November 27, 2004
"Retired" Blogger Weds-Film at 11
If you've followed us for any amount of time, you'd know that our former lead blogger was ready to have himself married off. Well, last night was the big night. And yours truly had the honor of serving in the wedding party.
As weddings go, this one certainly aimed big. Big cathedral. Big limos. Big reception with band, speeches and (ahem) a really sweet video! But where many big weddings make the mistake of being all about the trappings of ceremony, this one never wavered from what it was supposed to be about. Like a blockbuster, special effects laden film with a great plot, this party dazzled on many levels. Style was backed up significantly by substance.
It's said that you can measure what a person is like by the company they keep. Of course I've always known what quality people Paul and Anne were, but on this night, 13 members of the bridal party, many of whom had never met each other before, really came together in an amazing way.
Wedding rehearsals tend to be worth very little. Not so much useless; they're a great excuse for a nice dinner and a chance to break the ice, But the term "rehearsal" would imply that significant preparation would be involved. It's probably more accurate to call it a "run-through," because there's no way to make everyone feel 100% comfortable with what their function is when you only go through it once less than 24 hours before carrying it out. So when it came to the actual day, with no one from the church to function as coordinator, we found ourselves fending for ourselves rather quickly.
99% of the time, this is a recipe for disaster. No organization, no cues, no structure. Smaller parties have collapsed under their own weight due to less. But not here and not now. In the face of this, a lot of people who didn't have much in common except for the fact that they were friends of the bride and groom bonded together and made everything happen.
Not everything went exactly right. The priest made the congregation stand for an eternity before we were ready. There was limo confusion. Too much time on our hands while simultaneously not being enough. And an attempt to meet Shaq would never materialize. But these are the things that make an event special and unique. Without them, things are too perfect, not worth talking about.
Yesterday was a moment in time when many paths came to a nexus for one brief day in the name of two people joining together. I had one of the best times of my life, and consider myself lucky to have been there. The optimist in me hopes that there will be another time when we will all get to see each other again, and continue what was started here. The realist, however, knows that I likely will never see some of them again. Their names and faces will become blurred through the mists of time.
Still, no matter where we go from here, we will always be joined by this event. The photographs will always show that we shared this wonderful moment in time. We were there, working it out, laughing, talking, dancing, drinking and even (gasp) singing together.
But all parties end and everyone goes back to their places across town, across the state, across the country, and across the world. Maybe it's best this way. The old adage in show business is to leave them wanting more. Maybe by going on our separate paths, looking back on it can make it better than it might have been had the paths stayed together. But with the start that we had, it deserves to have a chance to live on in more than just memories.
So here's to our former (future?) lead blogger and his new wife. Two people whose lives not only have enriched each others', but also more people than they could ever know.
