Wedding 2

Well, it seems as if I'm going to be the Queen of the Quickie, in terms of odd weddings.

Once again, I got a call just two days before the wedding asking if I could officiate. In a brief conversation with the bride, she said that the JP that was originally scheduled was no longer in the picture. I didn't ask her to elaborate, but it made me curious. And things got curiouser and curiouser.

When I asked the bride and groom's names, I was surprised to learn they both had the same last name. With visions of a brother/sister couple in my head, I cautiously probed as to how that could be. Much to my relief, I was told that they had been married to each other before, and were now ready to do it again.

A Wednesday night wedding is also a curious thing, but at least this one wasn't at my house. I arrived at the couple's home at 7:00, coming straight from my evening swim. A teenaged girl opened the door and grunted, "Come on in." As I entered the living room, a middle-aged man dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt stood up an introduced himself. Another teenaged girl turned the TV up louder. Pepper the dog was intrigued and seemed to be getting high sniffing my chlorine-perfumed ankles. A woman then appeared in a cream lace blouse and skirt, looking every bit the beautiful, but harried bride.

The family was friendly (especially Pepper), but somewhat unprepared. After explaining that witnesses are not required in CT, they still were on the fence whether to ask their neighbors to come over. Apparently, they didn't know them well because it took them a while to find their last name and phone number and finally sent one of the kids next door to get them. Unfortunately, the neighbors had other things on their minds - the wife was 8 months pregnant and her husband was shipping out to Iraq in the morning. The last thing on their minds was unnecessarily witnessing a stranger's wedding.

Once that got settled, there was the matter of the rings. The bride said she had been looking for them all day, but couldn't find them. The groom said he knew where they were, and went upstairs to begin the hunt. After a few minutes of rummaging, he gave up. No witnesses, no rings - this will be really fast.

I was asked to begin the ceremony and the kids were asked to shut off the TV. Again, after just a few mere minutes, the ceremony was complete and another couple was happily wed. Or so I hope this time. They explained that they had been married for over 20 years, but divorced four years ago. It occurred to them however that this was a mistake. What they really needed was just a break from one another, not a permanent severance. The family offered me celebratory cake and champagne which I declined, and as I headed out the door, I could hear the TV being turned back on.