The Wedding Diaries

Someone asked me the other day about when I plan to go home next. At a loss, I did not have an answer other than the end of June, for a friend's wedding, which is five months from now. I think I need to plan better.

It certainly got me thinking that this time last year I had just finished my first winter tour on the wedding circuit. In mid-January of 2007, I attended three weddings in eight days. First was my friend EL, my freshman year roommate and friend from high school, who got married on a freezing cold Friday night in January in our hometown.

After a late night out with friends, a group of us woke up early the next morning and drove down to Austin for KR’s sister’s wedding.


Five in tow, we headed southbound on 35, and about halfway there we realized we did not actually know what time the wedding started. We didn’t want to call KR or her family to bother them, so we tried calling everyone we could think of, even checking theknot.com, but ended up as clueless as we had started. Throwing on our black dresses and heels once we got to Austin, we also argued back and forth as to whether weddings started on the hour or the half hour.

We made it to the church, thinking we were early because no one was outside, and opened the doors to see the backs of KR and her brother, a quarter of the way down the aisle. So that meant- yes- there were her father and sister, having a Kodak moment before walking down the aisle. We explained to her what had happened later- and we were forgiven. Talk about wedding crashers.

I spent the night by myself in my brother’s freezing cold apartment in Austin and woke up at 3 AM to meet my family to go skiing. We returned Thursday; I threw my bags down and was out the door, and then had a whirlwind three days surrounding my friend MD’s wedding.

Three different black dresses, several sparklers and rose petals and different versions of the electric-slide later, I had three newly married friends and returned to college for my spring semester, exhausted. My first busy wedding season was nothing if not absolutely great and absolutely tiring.

Now all of those people have celebrated their one-year anniversaries, and AV, KR and I continued on to travel to weddings during the other respective seasons, and now find ourselves living in a city where people scoff at the idea of marriage before 30. People in New York also live without central air-conditioning and eat things involving sheep tongues and squid ink, so I don’t think anyone should be pointing any fingers in the ‘weird and ridiculous’ category.

And I should hope there isn't anyone who doesn't love wedding cake. Surely anyone who will eat something raw with tentacles would enjoy some vanilla and buttercream every once in awhile.

"Someday somebody's going to ask you
A question that you should say 'yes' to..."
- Old 97's