on wedding announcements.

Today I waited for an hour and a half in the line at the DMV.  Apparently, when you move every year, they forget to update your address, so you have to go down and wait. And wait. And wait a little longer.  Luckily, I had a sister with me, and if we had known that the other sister needed to go too, it could have been a family reunion. I mean, all we needed was the potato salad and fried chicken because we certainly had the time.  Next time, I'll take the office advice and go on a Tuesday.  I'm not a very good waiter because I'm not very patient.  Plus the extra time usually makes me think about all of the problems and lists I have. Today, all that waiting made me think about what's wrong with our society. First up: wedding announcements.

photo by Reena Bammi

Yesterday, I spent a long rainy Sunday afternoon flipping through the paper. I didn't learn very much, but I did read some wedding announcements. And found out who participated, what the bride wore, who the grandparents were, and where the couple will reside after the honeymoon. When did announcements become less about the couple and more about the state of who's still alive in the family and what the bride wore? (Seriously, I can't even link to any in the newspaper because they were so bad.)

photo by Reena Bammi

You know what I want to know about? I want to read about how they met, why they're in love, and what they'll be doing for the rest of their lives.  They might as well get the "when they're going to have children" out of the way because that will be the next question on everyone's lips. Don't you want to know why their families think they're a good (or a bad) match?  Wouldn't that be hilarious? 

Photo by Reena Bammi

We didn't have a formal announcement, but if we did, here's what it would have said. In less than 160 words. And without one mention of my dress. 

Kristen and Sam were married on March 19 in an afternoon beach ceremony. Both of their fathers officiated, and there weren't any musicians--except the birds and a random kite flyer. At a cupcake reception, the groom played putt putt, and the bride danced alone.  The pair met in high school, but neither will admit to even acknowledging the other.  However, their shared history made it much easier to begin dating once they were both in Birmingham.  The groom has several degrees, but no dream job, yet. And the bride, well, she's pretty happy at her low-paying editorial job. It goes without saying that they won't be residing in Mountain Brook--or even moving to LA on these salaries. And their families? Well, their families couldn't be happier.  No children are planned yet, but give them a year or two, and it might be a different story. And best of all, they lived happily ever after. 

Ok, so maybe announcements are hard--but newspapers, think seriously about outlawing any mention of a dress designer, honeymoon location, and dead family members because unless the bride wore nothing and they raced around Nigeria with doctors without borders with a dead Kennedy as their granddad, we really just don't care.