Weekend Plans Post: Going to a Wedding Again

It was about a year in quarantine. Then we got our first shot last year and then our second shot and I was on a plane two weeks after my second shot to go to Disneyworld (and, holy cow, it was a wonderful time).

After that, well, the ideas of what vaccination meant IN PRACTICE changed, we went back to masking quite quickly and back to something approaching safer-at-home more slowly… but I got my booster and the autumn and winter continued apace. But the numbers started getting better and they started getting better nationally. On top of that, the numbers started getting better *LOCALLY*. I went to a doctor’s appointment and she told me “the only covid people I see anymore are unvaccinated” and she confirmed that I got my shot and my booster and nodded.

So I felt okay about going to a wedding. This is one of my co-workers who, four or five years ago, was in my exceptionally close-knit team. There were four of us and we were constantly stuck on the same system, in the same room, having the same conversations, getting in the same car, going to the same restaurant, eating the same lunch. We had each others’ orders memorized. And it was great… until, you know, stuff gets reshuffled and the team gets broken up. This guy got moved to a different program, that guy moved to a different company, I got shuffled to the other part of the building… alas. Time goes on.

But he was getting married and invited me to the ceremony.

Now, I want to say, the last time I went to a wedding was… jeez. When I was the best man for one.

It has been a while (a decade?) and, indeed, a lot has happened since. I wanted to go and see what was going on. Perhaps there have been significant advancements in wedding technology.

I am pleased to say that this wedding did not indicate anything like that. We had some good old-fashioned hymns, some good old-fashioned readings, some good old-fashioned musings on the importance of marriage, and some good old-fashioned members of the wedding party fainting. The groom walked his mother up to the candles to light the candle that symbolized him and then moved the lighter to light the candle in the middle and we saw the groom say “Mom, not that one” and then she startled and put down the lighter and they both laughed. After the kiss, the bride wiped some of her lipstick off of his lips and the church had a hearty chuckle. And we were introduced to the newly married couple and, golly, they looked *GREAT*.

At the reception, they had great appetizers, great music, a bunch of old people, a bunch of little kids, and a bunch of people my age. The speeches were all fun (the best man’s line was about how he was “the good looking brother”, the maid of honor’s speech had her choking up in the middle, and the father of the bride’s speech opened with “If I start crying, it’s because I got the bill” and, yes, he got choked up at the end too). It was just *NICE*.

It feels like, maybe, things are getting back to normal. Just a little bit. At the very least, it’s good to see that there haven’t been a whole lot of advancements in the whole wedding thing.

It was like watching a “greatest hits” reel of the last century or so. When I was a kid, I thought weddings were the most boring thing in the world. Now? Heck, this wedding might be the highlight of the year so far.

This weekend is going to be spent in Iceland. I am already excited and I am already nervous and I have taken the first of two covid tests so I can get on the plane with a clean conscience and… well. I hope to take a million pictures. If you’re curious about the weather in Iceland, well, Reykjavík“>here’s a 10 day forecast.

I’m bringing fuzzy pants and hoodies and thick warm socks. I can squeeze in just one more week of winter.

So… what’s on your docket?

(Featured image is “All’s Right With The World”, photo taken by Maribou.)