News from the Marriage Factory

I asked Joe to send reports on weddings when he had time.  He does work full time and volunteers other places besides the Marriage Factory.  Today he is writing about bouquets and he gives some history.  Thanks Joe.

A Rose By Any Other Name

The wedding bouquet has its origins in ancient times, to ward off either evil spirits or the smell of plague.  It wasn't until the 19th century that flowers supplanted herbs and leaves.  Nowadays, at least at the Marriage Factory, the bouquet serves mainly to get in the way of the couple holding hands and to block the photographers from capturing the moment the bride puts a ring on the groom's finger.

 

Bouquets take many forms: store-bought amalgams of mums, blossoms and baby's-breath; neatly shorn roses in red, white, pink, or coral; rubber-banded sunflowers with blooms the size of a baby's head.  Doesn't matter - they're all difficult to wrangle when the time comes for the vows and the handholding.  Still, some brides seem utterly stricken when it comes time to set aside the flowers.  I never demand one way or the other.  I just wonder how many pictures there are of a bouquet covering the groom's hand as his soon-to-be-wife slides an invisible ring on him.

Fashion report: a beautiful ecru dress matching a traditional Filipino embroidered shirt in the same color, with a flowered headband in the same palette

By the numbers:

Ceremonies: 9

Couples in formal wear: 4

Ceremony where the children outnumbered the adults: 1, although the kids were well-behaved

Better Weddings, one with a crocodile

After my last post about the Wedding from Hell, I thought I should write about some fun things, fancy dresses, oops moments. 

I asked the question, "Is everyone here?"  Answer came back yes. Upstairs I noticed the groom was fidgety, really nervous and upset.  I asked him if he was all right, what's wrong?  He said, "My parents aren't here.  Where are they?"  It seems the parents hadn't come upstairs with us.  They were found and we had ourselves a wedding.

 One couple asked for the Long Term Relationship ceremony. The groom laughed and said, "After 9 years she wore me down."  I see a lot of crocheted dresses.  Some are OK, some bad, some pretty.  This bride's dress was gorgeous.  The design was perfectly matched at every seam, every dart.  It was perfection and I bet cost a fortune.

This wedding was midmorning.  Important to the story.

The bride was tiny, delicate bones, short, beautiful.  She wore a satin knee length dress with a strange almost toga draping.  He wore a suit and tie that looked as if it hadn't been worn since high school.  Their friends, three men, were having a fabulous time organizing the wedding.  One of them had bought her bouquet which was stunning.  White fragrant lilies, white roses, and some other great smelling flowers.  The bouquet was huge, bigger that my head, wider than the bride's body.  But it was a lovely gift.  Then we did the ring ceremony, 2 of the men brought them up laughing like fools, and the couples is bent over laughing.  After the ceremony they told me the story of the flowers and the rings.

They drove around until they found a florist open.  The florist grabbed every flower that was fragrant and made a bouquet.  But there were no jewelry stores open that early.  So they went to a drug store, Kohl's, someplace that was open and looked at costume jewelry.  Her ring was delicate, sort of pretty and made of the finest glass and wire.  His was hysterical.  It was a fake silver crocodile head that covered half his finger and on the shank about 20 tiny bones hung down.  Then they seem to think I would think bad of them for their silliness.  I told them that is why we say  "the ring is a token, a symbol of your love and devotion".

Was this the silliest ring ever?  No.  We have had cigar bands, candy wrappers, blow pops rings, ribbons, and once even pacifiers. 

Dispatches from the Marriage Factory: A Grand Affair

Reading Joe's post this week has made me so homesick.  I really miss the weddings.  I especially miss the ones like he describes.  This week Joe asks for your opinion.  Leave comments please.  I will be sure he checks in and sees them.  Now here's Joe.

During the standard ceremony I perform, I ask the bride & groom to
join hands. What should the bride do when she's already holding a
bouquet? I don't think there's a right answer. Some keep it, the
groom wrapping his fingers around the stem and hers. Others hand it
to a witness, seeming to regret having brought it in the first place.
Readers, what do you think?

I had the most elaborate wedding ever this week. The couple wanted a
traditional processional. The groom's best man and groomsmen stood by
him. There were three flower girls - luckily, their title was
ceremonial; no petals to clean up afterwards - and a 2 or 3-year-old
ringbearer in a 3-piece suit. As the bride prepared to walk down the
aisle, one of the witnesses played the wedding march on her phone.
After the ceremony, many pictures were taken.

For the first time I can remember (although I'm sure not the first
time ever), all the couples were first-timers - none had been married
before. Considering how much planning went into the large wedding, I
suspect it will be the only one for them.

--
Joe Mallon