I had an important role in a wedding over the weekend, but before you start sending me congratulations, it wasn’t mine.
The government calls it a 'marriage commissioner,' but I’ve been using the title officiant. Actually, I’ve been telling people ‘I’m marrying my friends,’ which is quickly followed up with funny looks because everyone knows I’m single.
My friends, Jon and Kate, asked me to marry them back in May and I agreed.
How did I get ordained, you ask? Like everyone else who woke up and decided they wanted to help start someone’s marriage, I went on the Internet.
The provincial government had a pilot project going where people can get married by a friend or family member, which I sent along to Kate when I first saw it. I thought it would be a good idea for her, never imagining that I would be the one to be asked.
It honestly feels like yesterday that she asked me to do it. Since May, I’ve watched them plan a very small wedding with the hopes of having a bigger celebration when COVID-19 is under control.
I’ve been seeing this a lot as restrictions get lifted and brides and grooms decide to go ahead with their big days. It doesn’t end up being the grand affair some were hoping for, but the important thing is they get to marry their partner.
I couldn’t imagine the added stress of planning a wedding during a pandemic, and applaud the brides and grooms for accomplishing such a feat.
This may come as a surprise, but I’m not a fan of speaking in front of a crowd. I get tongue-tied, stumble over my words, and don’t always say things the way I mean them. I prefer to write my words down instead of saying them out loud, after a rigorous amount of editing to make me sound smarter and clever.
When I’m nervous, I fixate on minor details and I can’t stop focusing on what I could do wrong. This happened with Jon and Kate’s wedding when I panicked at the idea of doing a hand tying during the ceremony. I kept focusing on the fact that I can’t tie a knot and read a poem at the same time. Even though, logically, I knew I could tie their hands together and read the poem afterwards, that didn’t stop me from spending a week trying to figure out a way of doing them at the same time.
At the end of the day though, I don’t matter. What does matter is I was part of my friend’s special day, and I hope it was everything that they could have dreamed of. Not everyone can say they got married during a pandemic.
