With Wiz: Expanding My Horizons

This has easily been the year of the wedding for Dr. F and I, something I'm pretty sure I've mentioned already. However, just to recap:

Oct. 2010: wedding in Princeton, NJ

March 2011: wedding in Vermont*

May 2011: wedding in Maine*

June 2011: weddings in Virginia and New York

July 2011: wedding in DC

Sept. 2011: weddings in Delaware, Virginia, and Pennsylvania

*weddings we didn't actually go to, but still sent gifts*

This list does not include 3 baby showers (one of which I hosted) or the 3 weddings we went to in spring 2010, the July 2012 Philly wedding and Sept. 2012 Fort Lauderdale wedding (which Dr. F is officiating so we have to go)...

Needless to say, it has been a busy and expensive year(s), but wonderful to celebrate so many happy moments for our friends. It has also been super interesting to see the different ways in which people celebrate their weddings. We have been attended everything from a low-key back yard bbq wedding to a Long Island Jewish wedding, to this past weekend's Indian wedding in DC. I feel like I've been on a tour de wedding cultures which totally appeals to my anthropology background. Plus, I really treasure the moment couples say their vows and Dr. F grabs my hand and squeezes it because listening to those promises, its impossible not to reflect on your own wedding vows. It is like a mini-vow renewal each time.

This weekend was also the most different wedding I have attended. It was lavish and colorful and boy, am I glad it wasn't my wedding! There were almost 600 guests at a convention center in DC. The groom rode in on a white horse, there were saris in every color of the rainbow and fireworks over the Potomac River. I mean, the kind of fireworks that get lit from a barge and require permits, not the sparkler kind... The couple had a DJ and an MC (yes, a master of ceremony!) who was totally obnoxious, annnd they played 1 slow song. all. night. BOO :( Dr. F and I were seated at table 44, if that gives you any perspective. This was a shiny, glossy, production and in the end, it didn't feel like the day was celebrating the love of our friends, it was all about the show and left me feeling blah, but that could have just been the Indian food (they didnt serve a single non-Indian morsel despite only half the guests being Indian...a major faux pas in my opinion). Finally, I want to know whose dumb ass idea it was to have a wedding outside, in the middle of July, in DC, at 5:00 pm. One of the guests actually passed out. Oh, and they started 30 min late, so it was really 5:30. UGHH. Anway, enough of my critique... check out some pictures :)