Monday, September 12, 2011

Weddings

I went to a wedding over the weekend. It was outside in the Texas heat, but beside a lake so it wasn't too miserable. The bride's grandmother slipped and fell on a rose petal when they were leaving the ceremony, but luckily, she's a tough Texas rancher type and hopped right back up.


I hadn't been to a wedding in many years so it was quite entertaining to watch the twenty-somethings mill and mingle. They are so young, insecure and earnest, poor babies, but beautiful in their naive youth.

The one odd thing was that they had a guitarist play Hallelujah. Now I love the song. In fact, it's one of my favorites. But here's the lyrics.

"Hallelujah"

I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Baby I have been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you.
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

There was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe there’s a God above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It’s not a cry you can hear at night
It’s not somebody who has seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light in every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah



Kind of ominous in regards to a wedding ceremony, huh? What's the most unusual thing you've seen at a wedding?

4 comments:

  1. Haven't been to a wedding ages myself but there was something different this bride was going to do AFTER the wedding. The next day the bride was going to trash her dress. Apparently that is the thing to do. Her plan was to jump in the river at her parent's home to trash her dress. unfortunately, or was it fortunate, the river was too high due to Hurricane Irene, and couldn't jump in. She plans to do it eventually in October when she returns to MD. I think its nuts!

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  2. Yes, that's a new trend. I have the characters in my book The First Love Cookie Club weigh in on that tradition.

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  3. I have not been to a wedding in a long time, in fact I can't remember the last one...

    But one of the funniest I have been to is my friend Monica's. They were afraid that the groom was going to forget the license, so the minister said that the bride should bring it with her when she came on the wedding day, but low and behold did she forget it. They had to hold the ceremony for about 45 min, while someone went home to get it. She paid a fortune for this white satin runner for her to walk down the aisle on and when the minister announced that there would be a delay, three quarters of the church got up to go out to have a cigarette. And then all she saw when she walked down the aisle were all the food prints. She said she could have cried.

    Then the groom could not get the vows straight and the minister had to repeat them a few times. The bestman was trying to hold in his laughter and then all of a sudden the groom let out a four letter word that starts with F and ends in K and the whole congregation burst out in laughter... It should have been an omen...

    Two weddings I went to, when the groom knelt down at the alter the words HELP ME, were written on the bottom of his shoes..

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  4. That's a different song for a wedding.

    At the one I went to this summer the bridesmaids wore little black dresses. The bride wanted them to have something they would wear again. Bridezillas could take lessons from her thoughtfulness. Black seemed somber for a wedding though.

    She had the guests sign a matte for her wedding photo instead of a guest book. That was a great idea.

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