Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it to the wedding of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Vanessa Nadal (my invitation seems to have gotten lost in the mail! or something :-D).
[If you don’t know of Lin-Manuel Miranda, he’s the Tony- and Grammy-winning creator, composer and star of In the Heights, among many other achievements.]
But luckily there is an online video of one of the wedding highlights: a wedding toast delivered by Lin-Manuel and his new father-in-law, which gradually turns into a musical performance not to be missed. With the addition of the groomsmen, the bridesmaids, the groom’s family — and don’t forget the choreography — it’s definitely something to see.
At my wedding, we didn’t have any entertainment nearly as exciting…but then again, I am not a Tony- and Grammy-winning composer, either. Believe me when I tell you that none of you wanted to hear me sing!
Of course we all know that the marriage is much more important than the wedding. We’ve all heard the saying that the wedding is just one day, and the marriage is for the rest of your life.
I’m not arguing with that assessment. I completely agree that the marriage and your whole life is far more important than any one day.
That said, most people’s weddings are the biggest party they will ever throw. And for people like me who don’t commonly host large parties, I think it’s still a pretty darn big deal.
When I got married, oh so long ago, what I remember most from the wedding is the joy of being surrounded by family and friends. I loved dancing with my new husband, and lots of other guests. My mother made a beautiful huppah (a Jewish wedding canopy) and my grandfather made the poles to hold it up. I was thrilled about the beginning of a new chapter in my life with a man I wanted to be with. And, um, well, that might be about it.
The food, music, decorations, rabbi, even the toasts — I actually don’t remember much about those details. [Although I bet Lin-Manuel and Vanessa, in the video above, will remember that incredible show!] I just remember the joy of the wedding and having so many people who loved me (and who I loved) all there.
What was your favorite wedding memory?
1 Sentence Diary 
OK, that is AWESOME! I think Greg and I had a great wedding but nothing like THAT happened.
However, when my friend Jan got married my friends and I surprised her pretty well. We had belonged to a fictional band together shortly after college – always meant to learn our instruments but never really did much…. so for Jan’s wedding we actually pulled it together and surprised her by playing a couple of songs as our band. We weren’t half bad either! She just about died. We had band t-shirts made (with our world tour dates on the back. Except the only date was Jan’s wedding). Anyway, I thought that was pretty cool…..
Kathleen, that is SO cool. I love the idea of the T-shirts with one date. Too funny.
My brother had a huge fancy wedding. It was beautiful and stylish. My sister and I were bridesmaids and did not realize we were expected to get up say a ‘prepared’ toast. We ran to the bathroom and threw something together, went back out to the reception and when they called us for the toast we both were so tongue-tied we just bumbled our way threw the toast. I think most guests assumed we were tipsy!
Oh dear, Molly, that’s a great story. Maybe it’s good that they thought you were tipsy? At least it was a good excuse… 😀