the weddings

From start to finish, the two weddings I attended this weekend were lovely and couldn’t be more different: a traditional wedding, held in a house of worship (after which, I scuttled home to sleep off my miserable summer cold) and a charming, bohemian outdoor wedding, held alongside a river. From blushing brides to cheerful, expansive grooms, the weddings were just what I’d hoped they would be- full of love, laughter and tears (even from me, I have to admit).

When you see the little nieces and nephews grow up; when you watch them move into the next chapters of their lives, there’s something sweet and yes, beautiful, about watching them go. And there was more than just wedding celebrations happening this weekend.

It was about family; strengthening the bonds with the matriarchs and patriarchs, heads bent together with the littlest of the group to feed baby goats through the fence, gossiping with the one-time adults who became, over time, my best friends and contemporaries. Little girls in flowered dresses, tiny boys trying on gamma’s silk gloves and the hearty, champagne-induced laughter of everyone’s parents- these are what wedding memories are made of. From a cancer-stricken father who cheered everyone with his fluffed line (“Who gives this bride? My mother and I do-”) to the sedate giggle of a grandmother, the time spent with my family this weekend glows like the little flame on the unity candle- warm and soft and leaving me in its knowing.

Bryan and Casey, Danielle and Matthew, much love and felicitations on your new lives together- you make our family complete.