Weddings

My friend, Anne, got married today. I was one of the bridesmaid and it was a nice, typical American wedding. I say typical because it was less than 30 minutes long and so far the American weddings I've been to are like that short, sweet to the point. You march down the aisle, light the unity candle, say the vows, the minister says a few words (or a sermon) in the midst of all these are special number(s) and then boom it's done. The minister pronounces you as husband and wife, walk back down the aisle and out the door. What I did notice today was that the pictures took longer than I thought it would. Anne hired a professional photographer and I can't wait to see how her pictures turned out. The bridesmaids were all in the same shade of red but different styles and the groomsmen were rather dapper in their suits. But as usual the show stealer were the ring bearer and flower girl. =) The ring bearer was Anne's nephew and he just skipped down the aisle while the flower girl meticulously dropped a flower carefuly as she walked slowly down the aisle. It was a nice and lovely ceremony and the bride and groom were very much in love. Then it was over and the reception was held at our church. I sat at the kids table, (mind you not on purpose!) where basically the flower girl and one of the guest daughter sat down to where I was and the ring bearer occasionally came over. He had too much energy to sit still. When they did the boquet toss, the bride purposefully threw it to me but I deflected it and sent to a younger child whose brother caught the garter. Yeah I wasn't ready to be the next one to get married and as one of the bride's friends whom I also know pointed out...I travel around too much to stand still long enough for a man to catch me. =) Now that was a nice thought (even though I don't belive it myself that that is the reason why I'm still single) for her to try to ease the extremely annoying thought of "WHY AM I STILL SINGLE?" that has been trying to get me to go down into the depression spiral. But the wedding was lovely, the reception was casual and fun with plenty of leftovers and Anne is now Mrs. Christopher Dorband.

Of course if this was an Asian wedding it would've been much longer! An Asian wedding is usually about an hour to two hours long (depending if you are Catholic and have a Mass) due to all the ceremonial things and the march of the sponsors alone takes at least 20 minutes. The principal sponsors could be godparents, counselors, a favorite uncle and aunt, even a parent. Secondary sponsors handle special parts of the ceremony, such as the candle, cord and veil ceremonies. Candle sponsors light two candles, which the bride and groom use to light a single candle to symbolize the joining of the two families and to invoke the light of Christ in their married life. Veil sponsors place a white veil over the bride’s head and the groom’s shoulders, a symbol of two people clothed as one. Cord sponsors drape the yugal (a decorative silk cord) in a figure-eight shape–to symbolize everlasting fidelity–over the shoulders of the bride and groom. Then there is the sermon or speech given by the officiating person, saying the vows, exchanging rings and in between all these are a few songs and "special numbers". So needless to say it is a large and long ordeal, but the reception after is worth the wait! Because there is a ton of food at the reception, you can have everything from roasted pig, lumpias to this elaborate wedding cake. And then there is the dancing to do, part of the ceremonial dance at the reception, some couples incorporate a ‘money dance’ where guests pin peso (or dollar!) bills on either the bride or groom in return for a chance to dance with them. Also at the end newlyweds release a pair of white doves during the reception to signify a peaceful and harmonious marital relationship.