More Parties, Please

I haven't been writing very much about our upcoming nuptials, mostly because I don't think people find hearing about weddings all that interesting. But it is a very interesting process and I thought it might be worthwhile to share with you a few things I've observed (or learned) over the past few months.

So here's one of them: Get ready for people you don't even know to get really excited. Getting married isn't actually an accomplishment so to speak. Is it? I'd be curious to hear what you think. I think it's really one of the least impressive things I've done in my life. But the fuss! I believe I'm incredibly lucky to have found someone who's willing to put up with me as long as we both shall live even though I'm a control freak, like a fair bit of reality TV programming (see my blog post about MasterChef) and can be buffoonish at times. But is that an accomplishment?

It's shocking how a wedding can make complete strangers start drooling while they ask you where you're getting married and what your dress looks like. Much of this may be due to the fact that weddings are big business. When you start making enquiries about venues, you get treated with the utmost of respect about 'your special day', in the hope of drawing you in and parting you with a huge amount of cash (or your parents').

Or it could be a societal thing. It's in all our best interest to encourage people to couple up and mate – and weddings often precede children. I really do hope that I get at least one wedding card that says "Thanks for making the first step towards keeping the human race going. But we want our gift back if there's no sprog within five years!"

I think a lot of things about weddings are antiquated. Not everyone gets married anymore, and so why can't we have more ways to celebrate life with our families and friends? We should have 'Flying the Nest' parties to equip our young twenty somethings with toasters and pepper mills. We should have bigger landmark birthday parties so people who aren't getting married (for whatever reason) can have the feeling of friends and family coming long distances to show their love. Having people tell me that they are coming to London to celebrate with us makes me feel great – so why shouldn't more people experience it?

Maybe another reason that people like to talk about weddings is that they're just making conversation, and hey, sometimes life isn't so fun, so talking about a happy occasion makes sense. People like to reminisce about their wedding day and in most people's minds weddings represent hope, new beginnings and love.

Maybe I should stop being such a scrooge. Ask me about my wedding, I promise I'll be nice. But, I still do think that society does need to re-think some of the more old fashioned ideas about weddings and ways to celebrate our lives and accomplishments in other ways. In other words, more parties, please (I do love a good party).