Goin' to the Chapel...

I've been thinking about weddings quite a bit recently. It seems like we attend about one per month, and that sometimes they are the only events where we see a large number of our friends. This weekend I am heading to Houston to witness two extremely lovely people tie the knot. And you may have heard about the little British family wedding that took place last week, which was watched with much excitement by these 2 fascinator-wearing anglophiles:

And thinking about my lovely, hardworking friend, and all the stress over all the wedding minutiae that she is probably feeling right now took my right back to that stressful week in January 2010 preceding my own wedding.

Wedding culture is strange and over the top, and I was never really aware of it until I had to plan one. There are countless magazines and websites which purport to help you plan the perfect event. They claim to give you ideas for how to make everything simultaneously elegant, funky, traditional, unique, fun, staid, you name it. But all they did was stress me out. Things I never thought I would care about (flower arrangements? dresses? hair accessories?) became something I had to obsess over. Would I choose the right colors? Would I have time to find adorable vases? Could I possibly handcraft placecards and gifts in time?

(I still remember Aneil sitting on the floor of our tiny apartment tying the tiniest of ribbons onto the tiniest of bubble wands while I told him which colors to tie and how to tie them. WHY DID I DO THIS TO THE MAN I LOVE?)

Now I am feeling for the brides that had to witness the royal wedding and worry over whether they have just the right dress. Or the oh-so-perfect adorable fuzzy cardigan. Hell, I got married over a year ago, and I am stressed out over the fact that I DIDN'T HAVE A FUZZY CARDIGAN! I will rest easier knowing that the royal couple probably didn't sit down with their family a week before the wedding and handcraft adorable mix cds for all their wedding guests. Or practice their guitar/flute solos for the reception:

So take THAT Kate and Wills!

I know this weekend's wedding will be wonderful, just because two funny, charming, smart, beautiful people are making a meaningful commitment to each other in front of the people they love. All the societal pressure (which is almost completely fabricated by the wedding industry anyway) will become a moot point, because at the end of the day, everyone will have fun celebrating you. And that's what it's all about.

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