Sunday, August 10, 2008

Narcissists Incorporated, Or: "I Love You." "I Love Me, Too."

My typist spent much of the weekend out of town, attending the wedding of a relative of her partner. Ordinarily, I would not trouble you gentle souls with that type of detail, but I must say I am still in a state of mild shock over the egocentricity on display - and I am no novice at these productions.

The rehearsal dinner featured a slide show, contained on the happy couple's Analytical Engine, consisting of pictures of the two of them from infancy through the present day, set to popular tunes. A few minutes of this might have been cute, but the show was approximately 20 minutes. And was repeated the following night at the wedding reception. Twice. We had a (mercifully short) video segment where the groom picked out the engagement ring - of course, nothing shown was exactly what he had in mind, so he needed to have one custom-made. The rehearsal dinner featured a wedding cake - I suppose it was technically a rehearsal cake - and the happy couple cutting it. If even the cake came in for a rehearsal, I certainly wondered what else the couple was rehearsing that night!

The next day, the wedding party - all fourteen or so (!) - got started on photography at 11 a.m. For a 6 p.m. wedding. The wedding itself was at a church, all very traditional, but I thought the four still photographers and one video photographer were a bit much, as were the violinist, the two brass players, and the two vocalists. Oh, and the altar had sprung a trellis. The reception was at a well-known local landmark which was available for events, but not really suitable for a wedding reception, and certainly not for one of that size. We were herded into a small room, then herded into a second small room to wait for the bride and groom, so they could have their first dance while everyone else was supposed to swelter in the August heat while looking on admiringly.

At the risk of sounding like a cranky old woman, sometimes I don't know what gets into kids these days!

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