The First Wedding Invite
I have always loved weddings. Getting dressed up, dancing, seeing the bride’s choice in gown and flowers. And of course, the free dinner and open bar. Each time my mom calls me up and says, “Guess who’s getting married? Should I put you down on the reply?” I immediately become excited and start planning my wardrobe for the affair. News about my friends wedding was no different, except when looking at this particular invitation, I had the strange realization that this was the very first wedding invitation I received that didn’t have my parents name on the same invite. Besides my sisters, this was the first time a friend of mine was actually tying the knot.
Pulling the beautiful invitation out of the envelope gave me much the same feeling as receiving my first bill and placing my first electoral vote. It was a strange mix of pleasure, independence, and fear. It was a check mark on my list of life’s milestones which gives both a sense of accomplishment and sadness that you are inevitably aging and breaking free from the comfortable nest that you lived in for so long with your parents.
Although receiving this wedding invitation is a big feat for me, it is a much bigger feat for my friend. And while I’m extremely excited for her and her fiancé, I am also hit with the realization that this is the first of many wedding invitations I will receive from my friends. I am entering the epoch of my life when friends will meet me for coffee to share about the proposal and discuss wedding plans, and when my vacation time is spent attending showers and bachelorette parties. This again, is both exciting and anxiety-ridden. After all, it didn’t seem that long ago that I was dress shopping for prom and decorating a venue with streamers and homemade banners. Now it’s matching colour swatches for bridesmaid gowns and sending invitations with gold embossed script and silk bows. I’d say it’s a major switch from just five years ago. So is the game we played in high school where we predicted the order that our friends would get married. Back then it was just a silly game with silly reasoning behind it, but five years later, it’s much more easily predictable; some friends are already discussing the idea of marriage with their significant other, while others are starting to question if they ever want to get married.
I check the reply and put it back in the envelope with a sense of liberation. Sure, it may have been a little frightening at first, and it may have made me question a lot about where I am in my life and where my friends are in theirs. But, it was also another reminder of just how many exciting and unpredictable changes happen in our twenties.
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