A "not so traditional" wedding

I went to a kind of non-traditional wedding this past weekend. I wasn’t sure what to expect because several times I heard “it’s not going to be a traditional wedding” and well, it wasn’t -- but in a way it was. I mean, it had a bride (a woman), a groom (a man), bridesmaids, groomsmen, a flower girl (in matching mini bride dress), a ring bearer (in matching mini groom tux) and I think somewhere in there I even heard the word “obey” uttered (followed by a loud guffaw or two). Do they really still say that…is that even legal?? This wedding also had a reception, a cake, even an ice sculpture. So what was so "not so traditional" about it? I don’t know. The bridesmaids dresses were black but I think that’s ok now and personally I love black. The groom's hat had a long green feather sticking out of it but is that so crazy? Some of the bridesmaids wore large colorful tattoos but that’s pretty common now days too. Maybe it was the wedding and reception taking place in the same room. But aren’t so many things being consolidated these days to save time, money, space? Why not weddings? Maybe it was the music that made this wedding a little different, or the way the bride made her appearance to the beat of a Bob Marley song saying something about “don’t worry, everythings gonna be alright” (the traditional wedding march, it was not). Maybe it was the shared laughter of the wedding party, audience members, and even the preacher himself during the entire ceremony. Maybe it was the light silly mood and un-seriousness of it all. Some may think of such a wedding as a mockery of what is usually a serious (even somber) occasion. Getting married is a serious thing; that’s true. But is it really so important how one goes about it? Today we have underwater weddings (wow), weddings held in a hot balloon (no way), skydiving weddings (no earthly way!), pirate weddings (arrrgh!), bungee jumping, zombie weddings...so on and so forth. I don't believe there is a wrong or right way. As long as the two people taking the giant step feel good about it, as long as it’s “right for them”, does the rest of it really matter? After all, traditional weddings like any other don’t guarantee success. Personally, I think the success of a marriage (or lack of) is more about what comes after. Maybe that's where the seriousness should really begin.

Couple taking their underwater vows, in which they promised to dive with each other even when they get too big for their wetsuits.