Short stories

A Wedding

A suit and a white dress, twirling under Edison bulbs strung from the ceiling in neat criss-cross patterns while a Brooks and Dunn song plays. The room feels like a cavern and it is completely illuminated in amber. When you think of truly pure amber color, this room was bathed in it, albeit some spots more saturated in its warmth than others. The festive mood feels almost
humid in the air while guests dance and sing in honor of the bride and groom.

"The food was meh", I heard my wife's friend say.
"My chicken was super dry. Was your chicken dry?" replied one of my wife's co-workers.
"I got the pork, not the chicken."
"Oh, well I got the chicken and it was really dry."

This conversation sticks in my ribs for a while. I never understood why people criticize weddings. If you forgo giving a gift, you basically get a free meal and alcohol all while spending time with friends and strangers to celebrate the magnificent union of two people to whom you are close. I bet my wife's friends would have made dry chicken at home if they tried to cook it, so they truly have no place to talk.

The bride is thin and beautiful despite having an
Odd shaped nose. The groom is toweringly tall, probably six feet five inches give or take, with a military haircut and an ethnically ambiguous complection. In short I can say that he is handsome. Thus the two are a stunning couple and not just because they have been dolled up for the special day. In my eyes, they look older than my wife and I despite us having close to five years on them. Have you ever looked at other people and felt like a child compared to them? Or that they were so much older than you? Despite my years and life experience, which was much more than the young married couple, I felt like a young man again around people much older. It was a bizarre feeling that enveloped me and put me on edge.

The family and friends gathered at the wedding are quite a mixed bag. I won't say there were any stereotypical attendees like the creepy uncle or the absolutely hammered best man, and that is because there wasn't. However, there seemed to be a wide variety of people from their twenties through their eighties of different walks of life and ethnicities. One table was predominantly hispanic and the alpha male at the table dressed in a polo and ripped jeans, sunglasses perched in his gelled up hair, and a bluetooth earpiece in (I didn't even know people still used those things). Another table was a group of tanned women with bleached blonde hair who looked like they just flew in from California for the event. Our table was quite well-dressed, all of us friends of the bride, and stayed insular the entire night observing the occasion from the outskirts of what was happening.

The bar surprisingly served a delicious selection of red wines, including one that left a fruity taste on the side of my tongue and cheeks as it sloshed through my mouth. I normally tell myself I won't drink at these events as I've been trying to cut back on alcohol. However, as I'm sure you can relate, social situations with strangers can many time call for a nip of something to take the anxious edge off.

The ceremony was short, the food was up to my standards, and the music was so-so; a bit too much country for my taste. My wife and I recalled our beautiful upstate New York wedding as we watched the happy newlyweds go through the merry motions of celebrating their once-in-a-lifetime day.

I am not one to get all mushy and gushy over events like this. I try to remain stoic and passive, along things to happen around me and be a bystander, particularly when I am not supposed to be an integral part of the day. I play my part as the happy guest, a puppet on a string, an actor filling in a background role. However, this wedding struck me as something different. It was exactly how a wedding should be, and it lacked all the over-the-top frills numerous brides and grooms desire for their day. It was simple and down-to-earth. It showed me that you don't need everything to have everything.

And with that, I lift high my glass and give cheers to the wonderful couple, wishing them life-long love and happiness. Amen.