Saturday, February 3, 2007

A night of never ending toasts... (nonpoker content)

I'm not even sure where to start. During the whole process, I was envisioning so many things I wanted to say on my blog... but now that I sit here in front of my lap top, I really have no idea how I should start this off. I guess trying to be fancy is not my style so I'm just gonna start from the beginning.

Today was a very hectic day. This morning started really early because we had to catch the flight to Boston that left at 8am. Ok, that doesn't sound so early but considering the fact that it's Saturday and I usually sleep in till like 11 or 12, waking up at 6 in order to get to the airport in time for the flight made for a ridiculous start to my Saturday. As soon as we arrived in Boston, we took the cab straight to the hotel - Marriott at the Wharf. We got a room that looked out on to the bay which was gorgeous. Well, we were also starving so we just went downstairs where we encountered the breakfast buffet. Now in my mind, breakfast buffets are literally a hit or miss situation. I've had some awesome breakfast before and then there were others that literally sucked. And they all cost a lot of money so a shitty breakfast buffet makes for a very disappointing moment. Well, the breakfast buffet here was $17.99 which is par for the course. But the breakfast itself? It was phenomenal. Smoked salmon, salami and other cold meat, along with the regular breakfast meal like eggs, bacon and sausage, and complete with the omelette/waffle station made for a fantastic start. So, after we stuffed ourselves, we went back to the room and took a nap to make up for the lack of sleep the night before.

This lead to the wedding that we were invited to that started at 6. And as I posted before (and no, I was not kidding), this was a lesbian wedding. (Note: If you are offended by that or generally against it, I suggest you stop reading here.) I really didn't know what to expect. I am personally a big supporter of gay rights and so naturally, gay weddings as well. And I'm even more annoyed when people use the Bible as a crutch to argue that two people of the same sex are not allowed to be "married" since there are religious implications. These are generally the same people who lie, have premarital sex, etc which I believe are not allowed per the good book. Anyways, I'm not here to start a religious or a political discussion... I'm just here to tell you about how the actual wedding was. Well, the first thing that I noticed was that at the entrance into the room, there were greeters with trays of alcohol. Wow! You can drink during the ceremony. How awesome. So, you walk in with a drink in your hand and this room is perched on the 33rd floor of this building that overlooks the entire city of Boston. It was a gorgeous set up, almost like one of those rooms with big windows that you see in movies and stuff. It was nice! Open bars everywhere.

Well, after a few minutes of mingling, the wedding ceremony started. Another thing I noticed was that even though it was "black tie optional" I was surprised as to how casual the actual ceremony was. I don't mean that anyone was dressed poorly. Not at all. But the way the ceremony was carried out was very casual. First of all, the officiant of the wedding was a friend of the two that were getting married. Then there was a good mix of "attendants" which is the equivalent of the bridesmaids and the groomsmen. Then their moms walked in followed by the two ladies getting married. Now, I have to admit, I have a thing for wedding dresses. Well, I have a thing for women in wedding dresses. I don't know if it's the cream colored dress or the simplicity or the elegance of the dress but I just love women in wedding dresses. So imagine by excitement when I saw two very pretty girls in wedding dresses. That was amazing. The dress was nothing unusual. It was a very slim, long, cream colored dress and the two were beautiful. The officiant wrote out her entire speech which was excellent. They then exchanged their vows... and they wrote their own vows... and I will say that this was by far, the most amazing, beautiful wedding I've ever been to. During their vows, which was very long and with notes in their hands, all the girls in the room had the sniffles. I was shocked that I was able to hold in the tears. I mean it was an amazing exchange of vows by both of them and they both did an amazing job coming up with a very long, yet funny, and touching, and very very loving vows for each other.

They also had couple of readers and later, some toasts from the bridesmaid, one of the girl's sister, and the other girl's brother. All three of them did fantastic. I mean seriously, there wasn't a single toast or a speech that was bad and that's quite amazing considering how long they all were. In other words, the jokes were funny. The phrases were well thought out. Again, I repeat. It was the most amazing ceremony I've ever had the pleasure of attending.

Later, I was asked what I thought about the ceremony and how I would describe it. And I really had no words for it. I mean amazing or beautiful or elegant just doesn't do the ceremony any justice. So, all I could say was that it was an honor to be there.

And then I also thought this. Like I mentioned above, I was always for gay rights. So, naturally, I was pro-gay marriage. Well, after seeing the love in those two and the friends and family that surrounded them with love, I am now a total believer in gay marriage. Actually, I don't know how other people could say that if you love a person of the same sex, then you can't get married. If you could ever break down that barrier or open your mind to something unconventional, then you might realize that love, no matter what shape or form it takes, is no different whether a man loves another man, a woman loves another woman, or a man loves a woman, and vice versa. It really makes no difference and I don't think anyone should judge anyone else for what they like or don't like. During the ceremony, I felt like there was so much more I wanted to write. But now that I'm typing this, I really can't think of anything else to say here. There's nothing that I could put down here that would ever truly describe the amazing feeling I experienced in attending that wedding but I will also say this. This seems to be a consistent thought by everyone who was there and I, after spending a few hours there, would agree that my life and I, as a person, am better for it by being a part of such an amazing ceremony and the two amazing people who made it happen. I know it was not easy. I mean I only know bits and pieces of the struggles and I'm sure that's only the tip of the iceberg. So for them to share their love towards each other and for me to be able to be a part of that celebration was nothing short of one of the most honorable things I've ever been a part of. And I've attended quite a few weddings now, most of which were my close friends. And this doesn't take away from any of them. But this one was just that good.

So, to the two of them, I wish them a lifetime of joy and happiness. And I look forward to getting to know them more in the future.

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