How many weddings?

I wish I had kept a record of how many weddings I have done the sound and music for over the years. At a guess of 5 a year for the last two-plus decades the count would be over 100 – but I suspect it is far more than that. I know I did weddings when I was still in college, and the company I was with back then even flew me to the Rio Grand valley in a chartered plane to do sound for the wedding for a very important client’s daughter.

Most were at Brentwood, where I racked up 19 years of being the “sound guy.” When we moved to Westover, I let it be known that I was wedding’d out, and I have done relatively few in the last few years, but one thing led to another and I found myself behind the console again a couple of weeks ago taking care of the sound for Paul’s wedding. Paul is one of our missionaries to Brazil, and to no one’s surprise he became enamored with a lovely Brazilian girl and after a long struggle to get the proper visas for her to come to the states they were married this weekend.

Actually, they were married again this weekend. For reasons more bureaucratic than romantic, they were married in Brazil in a civil ceremony a few weeks ago. This stateside wedding, among friends and family, was “the real thing” according to Paul. That the couple was already married was a first for me, but it was not the only unique aspect to this ceremony. Ana, the bride, does not speak English, and there were long pauses throughout the service while Paul quietly interpreted what was being said for Ana’s benefit. Rick, our Family and Youth Minister, gamely read Ana her repeat-after-me vows in Portuguese. She smiled at a few of his gaffes, but they got it done. And she did say “I do” in English.

JoEllis, Rick’s wife, was the wedding coordinator, and she was standing by me at one point in the rehearsal when I started the processional. She said that the music always gave her Goose bumps; I said the music always made me cry. After many more than 100 weddings, I still get emotional. It affected me the most as the time drew nearer for the weddings of my own children, but even now – years later – I have to hold back the tears. Actually I did okay this time up to a certain point.

Aaron and Jessica, a young couple at Westover were both in the wedding party, and were appropriately paired with each other. They have a cute little blond-headed girl who was not in the wedding, so while Mom and Dad were busy rehearsing she sat up in the riser section and played church. She would turn to a page in the song book and then sing (loudly) a made-up song, with a sprinkling of more familiar lyrics that she might have learned in the nursery class, or at home.

This worked well for a while, but when she noticed Mom and Dad walking down the aisle arm-in-arm, and that struck her as a good idea. She hopped down and caught up with Dad and reached up for his arm. Aaron took her hand, but that wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted him to take her arm in his, like he had her Moms and escort her down the aisle. So he did. And I thought, “Oh Aaron, Aaron. You have no idea how soon you will do that again. And for real.” And that was the point that I really cried.