This was a party that promised to be an interesting one.It was being held in one of those elegant halls that was made to look like a fancy palace, with chandeliers, many flowers, a garden and a lake. The event was taking place outdoors, in one of the gardens with a view of the lake. All very pretty, if I may say. This was the place a friend of mine chose for her wedding, as she wanted it to be a memorable occasion.
And as events unfolded, yes -- it proved to be memorable. You see this friend was marrying, not because she particularly was in love with the guy, but because it was the thing to do.
Let me explain: most of her friends had gotten married, and had a bought a house, and had kids. And as she put it: If they can have the husband, house and kids, so can I! Besides, she said that she rather be known as a widow, or divorcee, rather than as a "never married" woman. I thought this was pretty shallow, but, that was my personal opinion -- and who was I to tell her that was a pretty flimsy reason to get married -- others had married for worse reasons.
We were all assembled at the garden when she made her entrance, beautifully dressed, but with an expression on her face that was more suited to a solemn sermon, than the joy of a wedding. Not so the guy, he had a look of happiness and disbelief, as in -- I can't believe this beautiful woman is marrying me! Everyone notices this and was whispering about it, but since most people like to be at this kind of event, some said that maybe it was nerves, and dismissed her glum looks.
The ceremony took place, and then we all went inside to the reception area, where my friend was busy accepting her congratulations and many envelopes full of money for the bride and groom. As she went around the room, accepting congratulations, she was very careful to be at the opposite end of wherever her now-husband was.
When, she came to our table, I remarked to her that she didn't look like the happy bride -- oh, it's OK , she said, now that this is out of the way, next will be the house and kids, and I will have what everyone else has. But, I asked -- what about your happiness, don't you still pine for this other guy? Well, she said, he doesn't have money, and I'm sure that I'll learn to at least like this one. Then she went to the next table, as the wedding video and photo guys trailed her, recording everything.
Finally the party wound down, and everyone there agreed, that it was a pretty sad affair, when the groom was the only one that had a look of total happiness on his face, and the bride looked like a person that was going through the motions, as if she had just made a business deal and nothing more. Pretty sad.
