(Photo courtesy of Google Images)

Celebrations have a way of brightening up life and carrying us along through the mundaneness of our everyday routines until the next happy occasion comes along.

Wedding celebrations can be especially festive, with the families and loved ones of the bride and groom gathering to show their congratulations and give best wishes to the couple.

The group gathered for a wedding reception provides everyone with a glimpse of the new couple’s extended family and network of friends.

The bride’s guests and the groom’s guests may not know each other, but are suddenly connected through the sacramental bondage that renders the bride and groom husband and wife.

A long weekend is convenient for a wedding, if the bride or groom has family and friends who live far away from wherever the wedding is taking place. Such was the case for a certain wedding in Milwaukee on a recent weekend.

About 20 of the 75 guests who filled the church and reception room had traveled from Kansas or Missouri for this wedding. They had all sat quietly during the ceremony, attentive to the wedding party and pastor at the front of the church.

No one had to be quiet anymore at the reception. This was the time to eat, drink and be merry, in honor of the couple’s marriage. All the guests filled their plates with food from the long buffet table. Round dining tables made it easy to meet and greet the other guests.

There were the groom’s guests, among them the two farm families with grown children who had come to the wedding with them;

There was the young, quiet newlywed couple still in college, and the elderly couple who spoke too loudly because they were both hard of hearing.

There were also the 37-year-old man who still partied like he was in college, telling all sorts of stories about the bar fights and other mischief he frequently gets into while under the influence of alcohol or other substances; and there was that man’s sober, single sister, who stayed next to him and smiled a lot, as he told his stories, but she didn’t say much.

Then, there was the middle-aged couple from Tennessee, who put subtle Southern twangs in their words and peered through their eyeglasses, always appearing slightly confused.

The bridal party sat at the long head table, watching the reception unfold. The four bridesmaids and four groomsmen made a bridal party of 10. They all beamed happily all evening, excited for the bride and groom, their friends. All the members of the wedding party seemed to know each other well.

The bridesmaids wore navy blue dresses, all different in style. Their hair was all done fancily, in different styles as well. The groomsmen looked dapper in black tuxedos and navy blue neckties. One had very long blond hair, pulled back in a ponytail at the nape of his neck.

The bride and groom stood out in their formal attire. The bride, a petite little thing, looked stunning in her cream-colored dress with its elaborate beading all over and her simple, classic veil. Her sweet smile matched the sweetness of her persona. The groom wore a cream-colored tux, with a navy blue bow tie and handkerchief.

Low lights and music set the mood to mingle as the three-tiered cake was cut and served. A small crowd of guests gathered around to watch and take pictures when the bride and groom fed each other the traditional first pieces of cake and shared an arm-in-arm toast of punch.

There was no DJ, but a six-CD changer hidden somewhere amongst all the organza and satin kept a smooth stream of classical music playing. Strings of white lights like those that hang on Christmas trees twinkled on the walls and along a dramatic white trellis that arched over the cake table.

The groom’s guests – the out-of-towners – observed the bride’s guests – the locals – at a respectful, but curious distance. The bride’s parents were a middle-aged couple who were rumored to be on the verge of divorce. The mother had dark curly hair, piercing blue eyes that bugged out a little, and reddish lipstick that was too bright.

Some of the groom’s guests murmured that her navy blue dress was a little too short and young-looking, but she had a pretty smile. The bride’s father was tall and fit. He, too, had a nice smile that lit up his whole face.

There were a slough of aunts and cousins on the bride’s side. None of the groom’s guests knew where the uncles were, if there were uncles. The aunts looked fairly young, in their 30s or so, and the baker’s dozen of cousins ranged from about seven to 20 years old.

The wedding had been at 2 p.m. About 6:30 p.m., the party trickled out of the reception room in the church basement and into the private room at a nearby restaurant. There, guests took advantage of the cash bar and platters of appetizers that were brought out and kept refilled by the waiting staff.

In the less formal environment of the restaurant’s comfortable back-room, everyone talked with each other more and enjoyed each other’s company. The bride and groom continued making the rounds, talking to everyone, but they were also better able to relax and speak to larger clusters of guests at once, gathered at the restaurant’s large square tables.

The hours at the restaurant went by in a happy blur, marked by several trips to the bar for all and the polishing off of the rest of the wedding cake that had been brought over.

Conversation and boisterous laughing made a din that filled the room and overflowed out into the rest of the restaurant. The bouquet and garter tosses were held at the far end of the room and produced more laughing and jolliness. By that time the wedding party had all had quite a bit to drink and they were all in high spirits.

The crowd started dispersing a little at a time, until only a dozen people remained. It became apparent that the party was wrapping up, so the last few guests said their goodbyes to their friends and exchanged pleasantries with the guests they didn’t know.

Everyone hugged the bride and groom one last time and passed along final congratulatory wishes and sage pieces of advice. The wedding couple took off for their new apartment; they were to leave the next day for the honeymoon.

The guests departed for their respective homes or hotel rooms, full of good food, fancy cake, booze, and, most importantly, happy memories.