I was at a friend's wedding and when I arrived it was about the time when the bride was going to come out of the venue (it was an outdoor wedding). You see everyone chit-chatting, looking all smart and sharp for the guys and the women were all looking wonderful in their bright dresses. Everyone was waiting for the main event.
And then the announcement was made. The bridal party is ready and the ceremony is about to start. Everyone took position and stood up to welcome the bride. The music begins to play and as the bridesmaids slowly walked to the altar, eyes are staring at the door patiently waiting. I stood at what I would describe as the best position for this particular wedding. Way at the back, the tree branches stooping low, relatively shorter people in front of me. Framed by the branches and the people is the groom and he smiles at the bridesmaids knowing what is to come next. Finally the bride enters and everyone starts whipping out their cameras, iPhones and the rare iPad and starts taking photos of the bride. This man here did no such thing but instead took a mental image that would be etched in my memory.
The groom's face shone with delight.
I was first introduced to this idea of watching the groom at a wedding after I watched the film 27 Dresses. I've only really watched it for the eye candy that was Katherine Heigl but I've also brought back a concept that I did not consider at all from the film. Watching my friend beamed as his wife walked down the aisle was magical, as stated in the conversations in the film. And like the film, just when everyone looks at the bride, I turn to look at the groom. And true enough, just like what Jane said, I saw pure love.
In the three weddings that I have been to since watching that film, I did just that, to stare at the first reactions of the groom as the bride walks in. All three of them were wildly different but they all say the same thing. I may have been desensitised by almost being surrounded by dresses while living with my sister and have her bride-to-be clients come in and out for fittings. I would like to see, in being a groomsman, what sort of things the groom goes through in the weeks before the wedding or even the day itself though I never was a groomsman. There's always been a lot of care around the bride which is fine but I would like to see some sort of the same care for the groom as well. We seem to have this idea that the groom will be fine, that he is "man" enough even in the face of his own wedding, whatever that means. But if it is anything like the last three weddings I've been to, the man is hardly tough as nails but a deeply emotional person who weeps in joy at the sight of his partner.
Dusty Springfield and Nat King Cole speaks of the look of love is in the eyes. And I think you don't have to look further than the way the groom watching his bride walking down the aisle. It may be that I may never experience this myself but at least I know what it looks like. And that's perhaps all I'll ever need to know.
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Also, there is no way a groom will not get teary when this is playing as the entrance music. My friend certainly did. I mean I would bawl my eyes out too if I were in his shoes. Excuse me while I curl up in a corner somewhere...
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