For the love of weddings

Masterfile

It's finally spring, which means that it's once again wedding season — and I love me a good wedding. The one I went to the other night was a doozy: a perfectly matched bride and groom, lots of friends and family, a great band with a packed dance floor, heartwarming speeches, excellent food, nice wine and (probably) a couple too many tequila shots. I spent the evening with people I adore, shimmied until my feet hurt in my brand new shoes, and even got lightly felt up by an overzealous dancing companion.

I love everything about weddings: the optimism of the newly married couple, the overwhelming goodwill of everyone in attendance, an open bar and the excuse to dance with someone's drunk uncle — it's a winning combination.

One of the things that I love most about weddings is how they always tear off some of that cynicism that's so easy to accumulate when you've been dating forever. Even though most people wouldn't peg me for a total sap — they've obviously never watched the movie Beaches with me — I have cried at every wedding I've ever been to, including one where I actually had to be consoled by the bride. It's not that weddings force me to reflect back on my last awkward date, forcing me to feel sorry for myself — after all, I'm not even sure I ever want to get married. (Though weddings can shine some perspective on some of the silly things you worry about when you're single and you're trying to figure things out. Sometimes, when I'm sitting at a wedding, watching two people commit themselves to each other for life, I can't believe that I was recently filled with deep regret over sending some dude a casual text message.)

For me, weddings actually have the opposite effect. When I'm at the wedding for two people I love, I'm aware that the occasion is one of life's all-too-rare moments of pure joy. Everything beyond the doors of the banquet hall, the work-related stress and bad hair days and demanding family members, seems to stop for a few hours, and everyone has the perfect excuse to be genuinely happy. For me, the coming of spring is glorious in many ways, not least because it's the start of wedding season. I just have to remember to put some tissue in my purse before I leave the house.