So I'm in Phoenix (actually Flagstaff) at the moment. My oldest friend is getting married (we went to junior high school in Alaska together) and I am a groomsman for him.
It's interesting to reflect on all the ceremonies surrounding marriage. I think this has to be a thousands of year old tradition and while its lost a lot of its meaning in the modern age it is still kind of cool to be part of the ritualized ceremony. I was thinking that yesterday as there was minor panic trying to figure out what side the groomsmen would be on when they led in the brides maids. I guessed that we should be on the right (to keep our sword arms free) and everyone seemed to think that would work. Hope I was right.
But giving away the bride, asking if there is any reason one should not join the two, the cutting of the cake, the tossing of the bride's bouquet (and garter). Someone of these seem purely American traditions, some must go back to medieval England and France. (Did you know the tiered wedding cake only goes back a couple of hundred years? A baker on Fleet Street saw a tiered church steeple that Sir Christopher Wren had designed and thought of building a wedding cake to match it).
It does seem sad that where once the two families mutual interests would ensure that the couple stays together today we just have to depend on love. With a 50% success rate, we know how well that works. Maybe Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was a warning against this romantic tradition?
As far as the location goes, if I ever get married I want it to be at an old French farmhouse with a convenient meadow for ceremony and dancing through the night. We had to knock off at 11:30 last night (hotel rules) and that just sucked.
Posted by artandscience at August 22, 2004 08:24 AM