Get The Wed Out: Part Two

Yesterday I started the tale of a recent wedding I attended, lavishing proper attention on early preparations seen from my point of view living with the groom. Perhaps a week and a half before the wedding day, I made my graceful exit from the couple's home. To have done otherwise might have made for an amusing 80s sitcom, but was impractical in real life, as the bride very reasonably was looking to move her things in and make the place her own. In the days before the wedding, I helped with that some. Finally it seemed that the time for stress and anxiety was at an end, with plans formalized and nothing left to do except enjoy carrying them out. I was certainly glad to see it.

Now, there had been a build-up of some months, but it was not until after I had moved out of what would become the happy couple's first home together that I was blindsided by the fact that yes, the wedding was in fact that very weekend to come. It was a moment of stark terror for me, as I had done nothing to get that suit ready. The evening before the wedding was reserved for a rehearsal which I had committed to attending. I cobbled together a semi-formal outfit with an eye on holding something back from my meager formal wardrobe for the big day. Rehearsing the mechanics of the ceremony had little to do with me, but I did need to learn timing for the chain of events leading up to the ceremony.

The rehearsal was a great social event in its own right. Following the practical agenda, we had dinner and spoke about our relationships with the bride and/or the groom. I waited through a number of speakers to ensure I was not badly mistaken about the tone I would have to strike with my remarks. Whatever did happen, I was determined that I would not be the room-clearing teller of wildly-inappropriate stories which scandalize the prim and proper relatives from out of town. What I did share seemed to do the trick. It was quite lovely, with reminiscences evoking all manner of positive emotions. Hearing the words of people who I didn't know was a real pleasure, filling in as they did details about the couple that had previously been a mystery to me.

I had hitched rides to and from the rehearsal, but realized I really could manage on my own for the big day. I plotted out a course for public transportation, and dressed in positively the finest outfit I own. Whether that was something of a spectacle on the bus I'm not sure. I did consider that with my tortoise shell sunglasses on, I looked something like a Mafia hitman from a mid-70s student film. There proved to be no difficulties in getting to the site of the wedding. True to form, I was preposterously early. Furthermore, I was the first person in the entire wedding party to be dressed and maybe the only person to come that way from home. It was at this time some two hours before the ceremony, and there was plenty to do. Tomorrow, I'll tell of how those things got done, as well as the wedding itself and its aftermath.