Comments on: A HELP-mate? You Must Be Joking.

By: freakgirl

freakgirl — Mon, 19 May 2008 23:06:25 +0000

Em’s father-in-law? Wouldn’t that be your dad?

Regardless, half lit on scotch is a great way to be.

By: chuck

chuck — Mon, 19 May 2008 22:55:10 +0000

For the record, Emilie’s father-in-law married us. He was half lit on scotch.

By: Walter

Walter — Mon, 19 May 2008 22:36:32 +0000

A dry wedding? Such Philistines!

Speaking of which, it helped that I had a cocktail or two in my system when I did that ceremony (I had been pulled from the reception of a wedding I presided over about an hour earlier). This is one case where that really worked out well, it was much easier to take it in stride and say ok, whatever…. can I get an amen?!!!!

By: Soosan

Soosan — Mon, 19 May 2008 22:33:18 +0000

Dry wedding + little bible reading skits. Yeah… um, woo.

She, at least, knew enough to sit me with her friends who are probably also on the road to hell. We made our own fun. Most of it involved taking pictures of our table # in different situations.

Now the wedding I went to last month was the best! The officiant was the best man’s boyfriend, and he was amazing. He made some analogy to marriage and lego, and gave them a recycling truck out of lego. (I forget how that worked, but at the time it made so much sense)

By: freakgirl

freakgirl — Mon, 19 May 2008 22:27:02 +0000

A dry wedding? Why even HAVE a wedding? What were they, Amish?

By: Soosan

Soosan — Mon, 19 May 2008 22:23:07 +0000

I was at a similar wedding years ago. The 20 minute sermon made me feel certain I was on the train to hell as I am one of those who believe marriage is about loving each other and all that lovey dovey stars in your eyes. No… marriage is about serving the lord, and serving man. Also? It was a dry wedding.

By: Walter

Walter — Mon, 19 May 2008 22:22:47 +0000

Yes, both the couple and the gathered guests seemed pretty happy with it. So in that regard it was a good thing. I couldn’t really have seen myself stopping the ceremony to say, “I just won’t do it! These beliefs are too backwards! “ but part of me wanted to do so.

By: freakgirl

freakgirl — Mon, 19 May 2008 20:53:36 +0000

Ew.

Walter, it must be difficult reading someone else’s ceremony, but at least the bride and groom got what they wanted, right?

Maggie, I don’t know what kind of ceremony our bride and groom had planned with their original officiant, so I have no idea how they felt about this guy. My guess is that they were just like, “Whatever.” The bride told my MIL that she didn’t even care if they had an officiant; that they could just have the party and deal with the paperwork some other time. Heh.

By: Maggie

Maggie — Mon, 19 May 2008 20:15:54 +0000

There is a group on a knitting forum I frequent called The Submissive Wifestyle. Yeah.

By: Walter

Walter — Mon, 19 May 2008 20:06:56 +0000

As a sometimes wedding officiant, I once was called in last minute to save the day at a wedding where the minister hadn’t shown up. I usually make a point of creating a custom ceremony with the bride and groom, something based on their beliefs combined with somewhat of a traditional framework. In this case I was just called in to deliver a ceremony that was created by their prior (no-show) minister.
I usually really make a point of emphasizing that it isn’t about my beliefs, it’s what the couple believes. I was really tested on this occasion where I was basically sight-reading a ceremony that had all the most offensive biblical passages — wives submit to your husbands, etc., etc., and I had a roomful of people encouraging me all the more after each passage with very serious and vocal amens.
I bit my tongue and did my best job of a not-only sincere delivery, but I found myself responding to the amens and getting a little worked up ( there were parts that weren’t offensive to me that I really tried to put extra emphasis on). Those parts were actually fun…

Don’t judge me, I already feel dirty :-)