Memories of My First Wedding -

Ah, those special memories of my first wedding …

Oh, I don’t mean my first wedding where I was the bride. I’m also not talking about the first time I played the piano for a wedding. (Although, come to think of it, those could both make interesting posts.)

No, I’m talking about the first time I ever attended a wedding. I was about eleven, living in Pittsburgh, and our next-door neighbor’s oldest son, Jack, got married.

At the time, it never ever would have occurred to me that I would be a wedding musician someday, but interestingly, the only thing I remember about the ceremony is the music. A soloist sang “Longer” by Dan Fogelberg, and I liked it so much that years later I considered having it sung at my own wedding.

I do play it from time to time for wedding cocktail hours, rehearsal dinners, or anniversary parties, because I still think it’s such a beautiful song.

Longer — Dan Fogelberg

The reception was held downstairs in the church basement, where we had dinner at those long rectangular tables that you see in every church basements. I don’t remember what we ate; in fact, I don’t even remember the cake.

But I do remember that we had little organza bags of rice at our place settings tied with a pink ribbon. I had heard that people throw rice at weddings …

Funny meme throw rice at weddings

… so I picked up my bag and asked my mom and her friends, “Are we going to throw these at them?”

One of them said, “Well, no, we’re going to all hurl these bags at them. They might get hurt!” and everybody laughed. Not a mean laugh, though. I was pleased with myself that I said something entertaining.

The rice bags, of course, were wedding favors, and I actually kept mine for a long time — several months at least — as a decoration on my bedroom dresser.

How old were you when you first attended a wedding, and what do you remember about it?