A Newhouse Wedding

It's more than a week later, but I wanted to give an update on the nuptials of a good friend from journalism grad school, Jon H. and his new wife Julie. Rather than my boring commentary, which would no doubtedly be too me-focused, here's some photos and captions from Jon, with really brief commentary from me.



JON: OK, here we are, bagpipers! (Mike: bagpipers were part of things, but Jon didn't take up his own and join in) All married up and besmooched! Maybe you could start playing that song that gets played at the culmination of a wedding, that uh, RECESSIONAL thing. The one we talked about yesterday. Or how about you just do anything I asked? Like arrive on time instead of 10 minutes late? And maybe you could stand in the choir part of the church like you said you would when we talked yesterday. Oh, forget it!

Mike: The ceremony was great, late bagpipers not witshstanding. Honestly, I don't think anyone even noticed. Very simple with an understated elegance of purpose: no bridal party (so no process of really slowly walking people), a few prayers of well wishes, two readings (one from me, more on that in a minute), a declaration and vows. Voila, two people in love become a wedded union. Pretty cool, eh?
... next ...


JON: Here's Julie trying to get her dress off the blacktop and me asking whether she wants me to hold the bouquet. We'd just been piped out of the church and were walking around the outside to re-enter the church atrium where we did the hug-and-kiss gauntlet -- Our first moment alone as marrieds.

Mike: Bride and groom as is soo obvious, looked fab. Jon bought his tux, in fact. Once again, one of my friends does something far more adult than I. Oh yeah, he got married! too.

... next ...


JON: In the receiving line, which turned out to be the worst thing we did to everyone who came.

Mike: The receiving line so wasn't a bad thing. First off, it wasn't mandatory to get out of the church, one could skip it (then granted one wouldn't get to do the official receiving line meet and greet, but you could still get a private moment with the individuals in the couple during the "everyone milling around" time at the church). That's Jon's sis on the left.

Rest of day: Reception was held downtown at the Pearl Street Grill (great local Buffalo restaurant and brewery. Weather was great for the upstairs, outdoor desk!!). It was a dancing-less reception, which in this case was great. Jon DJ'd it through a playlist on his MacBook, so heavy on the U2 with some good Candian music thrown in. Sadly no Cure, even though it has been discussed. It was a less structured reception, no assigned seating, no ceremonial moments like cake ramming, garter tossing, dollar dances, litany of toasts, first couples dance, mom and son dance, etc. While I've enjoyed those things at previous weddings, the looser feel of this one led to a very relaxed, just talk to peeps and tell stories vibe. Very cool.

Funny, Mike gracefully eating his own shoes moment: I offered to buy Jon an Irish Car Bomb, a shot we've done dozens of times over the years. He declined saying it was his wedding and he was already feeling good enough. So I made a vulgar comment about what he was drinking instead unbeknownstedly within earshot of the Bride. Well, she pretty much just laughed. I know this one won't end in anything but happiness.

Oh yeah, the reading I delivered was the Metta Sutta (a Buddhist selection). Jon is not a formalized Christian, so he wanted a reading that would encapsulate his thoughts. He, like me, has often been drawn to aspects of Buddhism because it's much more a way to live rather than a dogmatic faith. As an atheist I wouldn't have been comfortable reading something from the Bible, so this really jived with me as a less religious alternative.

Here's the Metta Sutta:

Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech,
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied,
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm and wise and skillful,
Not proud and demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.

Wishing: in gladness and in safety may all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be,
Whether they are weak or strong,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to be born, omitting none,
May all beings be at ease.

Let none deceive another or despise any being in any state.
Let none, through anger of ill-will wish harm upon another.

Like a mother protects her child, her only child with her life,
So with a boundless heart should one cherish all living beings.
Radiating kindness over the entire world:
Spreading upwards to the skies and downwards to the depths,
Outwards and unbounded, free from hatred and ill-will.

Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down
Free from drowsiness, one should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.

By not holding to fixed views,
The pure-hearted, having clarity of vision,
Being freed from all sense desires,
Are free from worldy suffering.

--As you may note, this is a pretty damned long for a wedding reading. But if you just read it to yourselves, you'll notice that there weren't any major trip up words or phrases, right? Well, sure when you read it in your head. But I made the idiotic move of not practicing verbally ever. So my first time reading this out loud came during the wedding. DOUBLE BUBBLE YIKES. To avoid any unprofessional sounding UMs and UHHs I added about 10-15 extra commas and pauses, some times in the middle of lines. I felt like I choked, but ironically, I was praised for my delivery. People said that my pacing allowed them time to try to fathom the meaning of the words, which weren't provided in the program. And since this wasn't the reading from the Corinthians; they hadn't heard it before.

Raise a glass wherever y'alls are to penalty shots and the Sabres.