Can We Talk 2

A Fun Wedding

         I don't know what made me think of it, but I recall the most fun wedding I have ever attended. The bride and groom were traditional and yet so unique. The wedding was unique as well. She had been a professor at a junior college in West Virginia. She was marrying a widower with two small children. Both had busy jobs and traveled a lot. There were older. It was a first wedding for her.

         She could dress rather plainly most of the time, but the wedding day, she was like something out of Glamour Magazine. She wore an off-white suit, with a Victorian white ;ace blouse. She wore a long locket that had belonged to her mother. Rather than carrying a bouquet, she wore a corsage of yellow rosebuds. White stockings and shoes, of course. Instead of a veil or flowers in her upswept hair, she wore a navy blue hat. It was new, but had a quaint look to it. She's tiny, so she was a vision.

         The wedding was in the chapel at the college, and the reception in one of the buildings. There were mostly professional people there, some clergy, and relatives. The ceremony was performed jointly by a woman chaplain friend and her minister brother-in-law. At the reception, she ran around with no shoes, and told us how she couldn't wait to get out of her girdle. That struck me as odd in several ways. Even back then, not many people still wore girdles. 2nd, she didn't mind saying so in front of the men. 3rd Why would someone so small with no flab need one? The arrangements with the caterers were that she would get all the leftover food. So there was a mad scramble to pack it all up at the end. I had to travel with the group, so I was part of the scramble.

         The bride had stayed in the hotel room one night before moving to her friend's house. I occupied the same room with a married friend of hers, whom I had never met. Her husband couldn't come. Sharing saved money, but the bride paid for us. She got dressed after the wedding in our joint room. After the reception, we all went in our various vehicles to her friend's house way up on the hillside. We carried in all the food. The house was this huge thing with glass on one entire side. The view of the sky and the valley was phenomenal. That front room held a baby grand and a ton of people.

         We walked around outside, while they told us more about how they designed the house. It was a little overcast by then, after a very sunny day. The groom told us how it would be cool to sit on a porch like that one with a bottle of wine and watch a thunderstorm roll in over the valley. That gave me new insight into his personality. After we were all back inside and settled, they started opening presents with the help of the kids. You don't often get to see them open their gifts. Then we laid all the food out on the counter and ate again.There was the usual joking and everyone was his or her funniest.

         The next morning, we all went to the hotel dining room, her relatives and those who had stayed there. The bride and groom met up with us and treated us to breakfast. Many protested. They had spent enough already. let us take care of our own bills. No, they insisted. They were grateful to have us with them at this important time in their lives, They wanted to be there with us to start off their married life.

         I have been to many weddings, some pretty impressive. But none have ever stood out in my memory like this one. I never enjoyed myself as much at any other.