Summertime apparently is wedding time, as I have been to one each of the last two weekends.
This gives my fiance and I something to do and doesn’t cost me anything, plus I’m left with some unforgettable moments. Although the wedding from last weekend was fun with that “let’s not spend more than $100 on this” feel to it, the wedding I was in has more stories to share.
Two weekends ago, one of my best friends took the plunge and I had the chance to be in a bridal party for the first time. This was a nice change of pace. Usually my fiance Nicole is in every wedding we go to, leaving me to fend for myself amongst a ton of people I do not know.
My buddy Pete is a great guy and all, but his favorite color is not something we have in common - orange. The groom and his cousin, who was the best man also loves the color, so our vests and bow ties were that 90s style Cleveland Cavaliers shade of orange. There was talk of the entire suit being orange.
I have no words for that idea.
Colors aside (the other was sea-foam green - go Dolphins!), there were plenty of quirkiness to be had. The priest of the ceremony was awfully nice - so much to the point he loved repeating over and over again that if you’ve never been to St. Matthew, welcome and enjoy your time here.
He said it somewhere between five and 100 times during rehearsal and the mass combined.
The ceremony itself had a few gasp moments. Pete, who has never been the most athletic guy in the world, dropped the ring when taking it from the priest. To make it even, moments later, after he and wife lit the “oneness” candle, Lisa tripped and almost fell, leading to another hold-your-breath-moment from the crowd.
In so many ways, these two are meant for each other.
Then there were the pictures. Now maybe I’m just unfamiliar with bridal party pictures, but we were put in some odd positions for photos. My favorite was when the five guys were told to pick different spots on the church steps, look casual and...stare up at the sky.
Why up at the sky? Is Superman up there? A flying pig? The photographer’s sanity?
I dunno, but she made the girls do it as well. I was hoping the photographer was at least going to tell the girls to look down. Then you could put the pictures on top of each other, making for some kind of logical artsy...
Oh forget it. It was weird.
The best part of the night was the reception. Probably the number one thing Peter and I have in common is our love of video games. Lucky for him, Lisa likes them a lot too, and boy did they make sure everyone knew it.
The first song to be played after the bridal party entered the room was the main theme to The Legend of Zelda, orchestral version of course. We got a slew of “classical” versions from games like Donkey Kong, Super Mario and many more.
If that wasn’t enough, the cake was a Mario Castle, with Luigi and Daisy as the toppers. When they went to cut the cake, the music playing was the same as when you entered the castle from the original Super Mario Bros. NES game.
The garter removal music? Forget Mission Impossible music (Theme from the other wedding) when you have Mario’s hidden room music, when you are looking to find something special.
Get it? Yeah, I know, geekishly hilarious.
Finally, no night would be complete without some limbo. I was proud of the fact I took fifth, but the only thing I got out of it was a sore back and groin. Trying to do it the right way worked for awhile, but I can only go so low. Being the competitive person that I am, I got the bright idea of trying to do a running slide under it sideways. My dress shoes had other ideas, with my back foot sticking to the floor, wishboning my legs.
OUCH.
More impressive was Josh, a 6’5” giant who is also surprising flexible. He took second place - hard to beat the bride who is hovering around 5’ - but the pictures of him fitting under the bar were priceless.
When it was all said and done, it was a great night. Unique for sure, but plenty of fun.
Unfortunately, those invited to my wedding won’t be hearing any video game music - Nicole told me ‘No!’ countless times that night - but I’ll find ways to make it special.
Nicole won’t admit to it, but she already agreed to the bridal party wearing track warm ups instead of tuxedos. Nothing like asking questions when someone isn’t paying attention.
I can dream, can’t I?
Contact the associate editor at andrew.adam@thesuburbanite.com.
