The Wedding

Kai attended his first wedding this weekend. Well, his first since our own, anyway. And, as all weddings should be, it was a memorable occasion.

We arrived at the church a little early and chatted with Kai’s grandparents for a few minutes and had our picture taken.



Then it was time to enter and find a seat. Kai occupied himself with his iPad while we waited.



I was very pleased when he put it away as soon as I told him that the ceremony was about to start.

He seemed very interested in seeing his grandparents walk down the aisle, followed by the bridal party. And he stood up nicely and paid attention when his aunt, the beautiful bride, made her way down the aisle.

For about 40 minutes, Kai was exceptionally well behaved.

He stood up when the minister asked us to, sat down when we all did, stayed quiet, and appeared to listen to what was said.

I asked him to pay particular attention when the bride and groom said their vows and exchanged rings. And he looked on as they lit the unity candle.

As I said, Kai was exceptionally well behaved for about 40 minutes.

Unfortunately, the ceremony was about an hour long.

When the minister asked us to stand once again for another prayer, Kai started grumbling.

“We have to stand again?!”

My wife and I did not try to get him to stand up. We just asked him to be quiet.

There were a lot of prayers and religious rituals.

“I’m getting tired!”

Kai laid down on the pew.

We asked him to sit up nicely.

“How much longer?”

I showed him the program. There would not be too much more.

He did not complain constantly, but often enough that my wife and I were on edge. We tried to keep him from getting too loud and disrupting the ceremony.

“Ohh, this is so boring!”

When the minister asked us to rise yet again, Kai had reached his limit.

“I want this to be over!”

And then it was over. We asked Kai to stand up one more time. But this time it was for the bride and groom as they walked back down the aisle to exit the church.

We didn’t stay to hobnob with the other guests. Kai could not wait to drag us out of the church.

We decided to go home and take a break before heading over to the reception.

At home, we told Kai he could relax and play for an hour. But after a half hour he wanted to head over to the reception. He did not want to miss anything.

We got there and found familiar faces. Everyone remarked about how handsome Kai looked and wanted to get their pictures taken with him.







Just when he started to get anxious about wanting to sit down, they announced that everyone should make their way to their tables.

There was a lot of activity before the food was served. There were introductions of the parents of the bride and groom, and of the bridal party. There were toasts and speeches. And there was the cutting of the cake.

But Kai waited nicely and did not fuss.

And then came the food. Lots of it. There were several courses.

Kai enjoyed a mushroom appetizer.



And he really loved the sorbet he got to eat before the main course.



And he enjoyed the singer who entertained while we all ate.

But the real fun for him started after dinner.

The DJ came on and played music. And everyone got up to dance.

Kai was eager to get on the dance floor.



And once he started dancing, he did not want to stop.



He even danced with the bride.



He paused his dancing just long enough to take pictures in the photo booth.





But then it was back to the dance floor.



We paused our dancing again when the dessert area was opened. And Kai enjoyed a variety of fruits and the gluten-free wedding cake.

But then it was back to dancing. Kai could have stayed at the reception all night, but my wife and I made the call to leave as we had dogs being dropped off at 6:30 AM the next morning.

As we were making our way out, Kai remarked, “This is the best party ever!”

It certainly was. And we will have fond memories for a long time.