July 27, 2009. Chevy Chase, Md. Weddings.

I have never been to a wedding that wasn't lovely and the Wu wedding in Toronto was one of the best. Heather and David chose to be married in Toronto, and as Heather's family live near Altoona, Pa., Heather and David were in charge of all the arrangements. And to add another complication, they both moved to Seattle last year, so the organization was all done long distance. Everything went off beautifully, thanks to all the prior organization. My hat is off to Heather and David who made all the arrangements along with the parents on both sides. One complicating factor was Heather's parents, who twenty years ago had a bitter divorce, and even now are not on good terms. But both parent has remarried to nice people, who were gracious and pleasant over the weekend, but neither parent spoke at any event. Now I want to find out what happened for them to divorce, and to keep the bitterness all these years. I am merely nosy.

One very nice aspect of the location for the choice for the wedding was the presence of the big book, kept by Massey College, with signatures of every person married in the College. Heather and David and their attendants signed the big book on Saturday after the ceremony, in the presence of the 120 guests. In 1969, Gill and Alan signed the big book too so we were able to see the Gillian Edwards and Alan Wu signatures, all in the same book. It was chilling. It has become the custom during weddings, to invite out of town guests to multiple events, so during the course of the weekend you see the same people many times, over many hours, so by the end of the weekend, we were fast friends with some good folks. The amazing part is also true, that even at the brunch held by Gill on Sunday morning, I was introducing myself to new people for the first time. But the best part is always all the young people, the friends of the bride and groom, most by then married with one or two with their children. They were wonderful young people, energetic, accomplished, elegant. The weekend was a great success and Gill was thrilled, but the most important people were the bride and groom, who seemed to enjoy the whole thing.

Of course, Tim arrived at the ceremony to discover he had forgotten the rings, and Jim arrived twenty minutes before the service in his shorts and T shirt. He did not have his key to the family hotel room so a few cab rides later he was presentable. All the friends and families were supportive of the bride and groom with the future lives. I always wonder though, what happens with the vows exchanged as time goes on? Were folks just kidding when they spoke those words or did they have their fingers crossed? Weddings are wonderful and we just had a weekend of festive events.