Weekend Reflections #2

I didn't only experience death and funerals over the past couple of weeks; this weekend I had the privilege of conducting the wedding of Rudy and Maggie Alexeeff (I love putting their names together, by the way) and celebrating the 50 year anniversary of Larry and Doris Dawson with a renewal of vows.

Weddings can be really stressful. Many women have dreamed all their lives of this special day, and they want it to be perfect. And often their mothers have been dreaming of this day as well, and they want it to be their version of perfect. And then there are the grooms, who just want to be out of the tux and married!

I consider myself to have two main jobs on a wedding day: the first is the obvious one: to get the couple married. My second job is to make sure everything goes smoothly. I know there are things beyond my control (I can tell members of the bridal party to drink enough water and to flex their knees, but if they choose not to do so and end up fainting, well, that's beyond my control), but I can help everyone to be calm, knowing that everything will go well. To that end, I make sure that everyone knows that I will direct everything that's going to happen; every time they need to move, I'll tell them to do so. When they need to speak, I'll give them their cues. No need to have things memorized. I had to laugh at Rudy: right before the wedding, after he had escorted his parents down the aisle, he came out to where the guys were waiting and told me something along the lines of, "I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't remember anything from the rehearsal!"

That's why I know one of my main jobs is to make sure the wedding goes smoothly.

I loved Rudy and Maggie's wedding. Why? Because I had a stake in it. I don't know Maggie very well yet, but I knew from the day I met Rudy at the Church by Size seminar that we would be friends. It is awesome to work together. And I know how much he loves Maggie because of how he talks about her and how he respects her and prays for her every day.

This makes me think about evangelism. If we love Jesus half as much as Rudy loves Maggie, then we naturally will talk about him. I felt like I began to know Maggie just because of how Rudy talked about her, but I was encouraged to really get to know her for myself.

My favorite moment in a wedding is the moment when the bride begins her walk down the aisle. I always steal a glance at the groom, because not only is his bride radiant, but he is as well. It's a fantastic reminder of God's love for us. The Bible describes God's relationship with us like this: we as the Church are the bride of Jesus Christ. And when we "come down the aisle" dressed in our good deeds, he is beaming.

Excitement at a wedding

I have always said that my main job during a wedding is to help the service go smoothly - to calm the frazzled nerves of people who don't remember when they're supposed to do what.

Part of that is showing up on time (my first fear of weddings is that I'll show up late - the other fear is that I'll call the couple by the wrong names - that's why I have the service copied with the names filled in every time I'm supposed to call them by name).

Another main job is to keep Christ central - the wedding is a commitment to one another, but it's also a commitment to Jesus Christ.

I have to add to my list, however. Reminding the wedding party to "flex their knees." I had a groomsman keel over yesterday, right after the couple said their vows, all of a sudden, everyone hears a huge THUMP as he hits the ground. He later told us that the last thing he heard was me starting the vows with the husband... we went through both their vows before he hit the ground.

There was an EMT, a doctor, and a hospice nurse who all helped him out, and he ended up OK. But we'll all remember the excitement.