Tuesday, May 6, 2014

WEDDINGS!!! Really, weddings

Monday for the first time in a little over 2 months, I was back at the Marriage Factory.  I wasn't sure if I would be strong, peppy, energetic enough to last 3 or 4 hours.  But unless I tried, I would never know.  I arrived before they opened at 8:30 and left at noon.  Thankfully it was a slow day and I could rest between ceremonies.

It was great to be welcomed back and to receive the hugs from staff.  They are a great group of people to work with.  They checked on me, my staff back up kept saying,  " ... just let me know if it is too much.  I'm here if you need to rest."

The timing of ceremonies has changed.  People used to arrive when we opened and that would be the rush of the day.  Now they are arriving around 10:30 and it builds through the day.  So, I didn't have a lot of ceremonies, only 3. When I left at noon, the lobby was packed.

The first bride wore a white dress with black polka dots.  Her shoes were gold matte finish heels with little satin roses on the toe. The groom was from Virginia and very preppy.  He wore an oxford cloth button down collar shirt that was nicely tucked into khaki Bermuda shorts.  But the things that really struck me were his face and hair.  His hair was shoulder length and he had a mustache and small goatee. I kept thinking I recognized him.  Who was he, was he famous?  And then it hit me, King Charles.  Look at these pictures.  The first picture in the first row and the second picture in the second row are this young man to a tee. 

The second couple were Chinese.  I called the first name and the bride ran up and said yes we are here.  I introduced myself, asked the standard questions, and did the ceremony.  We found an error when I took the license in to be recorded and had to resign the new copy.  That is when I found out I had been calling the bride and groom by each other's name.  They laughed and said Chinese names are always mixed up.  I then had to think was the ceremony legal?  Yes, they had given consent at the right time, and thinking back had used their correct names in doing so.  I was soooo embarrassed.  Names are really important and I messed up.  Thankfully they were not upset.  But also why did she answer for him when I called for them in the lobby?  Oh, well.

My last one is embarrassing in a different way.  One witness was a well dressed man wearing a gray on gray double breasted suit and a crisp white shirt.  Very striking man.  We got in the elevator and I look over and his fly was down.  I then looked everywhere but at him.  What are you to do when you see someone with their fly open?  I took the coward's way out and acted like everything is hunky dory.  Later I noticed he had zipped up, thank goodness. 



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