On weddings

When Brandon and I got engaged, we both knew our wedding would be, to say the least, unconventional.

My ring is made of socially-friendly moissonite; Brandon’s is made of wood collected in an environmentally-friendly manner. I had already lined up the officiant: a Buddhist and pagan Catholic lay minister whom I met while writing a story on the opening of the spiritual retreat by her and her life partner. We would write our own vows. The setting was to be decided, but the ceremony was to be outside and any flowers to be in pots so I could throw them in my garden afterwards. The reception would be vegetarian and alcohol-free, prompting my brother to grumble about bringing in his own six-pack and bag of McDonald’s. In lieu of wedding gifts, we’d ask our patrons to donate to a non-profit charity.

It was after hearing NPR’s Talk of the Nation address contemporary weddings that we decided to elope. I planned the bulk of my wedding with three phone calls within two days. We got married a month after making the decision.

My mother was dismayed, of course, at being robbed of a chance to play mother-of-the-bride at the first wedding of our family, but I think even she enjoyed our garden-side ceremony in front of a Victorian mansion on an island forgotten in time.

Planning even a small wedding as mine was stressful, but memorable. I took great care to select things that meant something to us and would remember for a lifetime to come. I imagine the Bush family is experiencing that same kind of excitement in their family’s own first wedding this Saturday. The president sounds like every father about to walk his daughter down the aisle: flushed with pride, with a twinge of sadness as his child marks this next passage in her life. There is a tendency for people hold those in leadership positions to near superhuman standards, perhaps rightfully so. Still, it’s stories like that remind me of the humanity of even George Bush.

Weddings are joyful family events. As George Bush gears to celebrate his own daughter’s wedding, I only wish he would extend the same heady experience to everyone and not just those he deems worthy of the right to marry the one they love.

Filed under Personal, Politics |