A Wedding Up North

Many years ago, somewhat on a whim, I signed up to be an ordained minister in the Church of the Latter Day Dude. It’s based on the old movie The Big Lebowski and its basic theology is “don’t be a jerk.” I can go with that. I think more people should subscribe to it, actually. It would make the world a better place.

Not long after that a friend found out about this when she was planning her wedding and asked me if I would officiate, so I double checked with the local County Clerk about that and we determined that since the LDD Church was not a registered 501c3 nonprofit it didn’t qualify under Wisconsin law but that I could just as easily sign up for the Universal Life Church – whose basic theology is much the same and which is a 501c3 – and do it that way, so I did. I officiated her wedding and another a few years later.

This past weekend I got to do my third.

I’ve known Sherry since we were both shelving books at the library here in Our Little Town way back at the turn of the millennium and we’ve been friends ever since. When she brought Evelyn over for dinner a couple of summers ago we could tell there was something special there and it is nice to be right about the good things.

The wedding was up in northern Wisconsin, so on Friday Kim and I drove up to our friend Joe’s house, not that far away. It is good to see friends when you can, especially if they’re more or less on the way and are happy to let us stay with them and fill us up with good food. We had a lovely time hanging out with Joe and Lisa and the various dogs, and Kim got a chance to wander around in the woods which doesn’t happen very often here in Our Little Town, particularly with me around, so it worked out very well.

Saturday afternoon we continued our way north to Hayward, where the wedding would be – an outdoor sculpture garden next to the local library. Most of the guests were either librarians or people associated with librarians so it all fit together nicely. It was brisk and a bit rainy for the rehearsal but we managed to get all of the blocking down – who enters when from where, what do they do when they get there, what music plays when, that sort of thing. Sometimes it helps having spent three or four decades backstage. Kim and I checked into our AirB&B afterward and then went back into town for the after-rehearsal party at a nice little winery there.

We had the early part of Sunday to ourselves and spent a fair bit of it talking with our AirB&B hosts, who seemed like nice people. We found a wooded trail to walk for a while, had lunch at a local diner, and then wandered around downtown Hayward taking in the place a bit. It’s an entertaining place to visit.

And then the time for the wedding was at hand.

I like weddings. They’re generally happy affairs, and it’s a lovely thing to see two people who love each other enough to want to spend the rest of their lives together. Sherry, Evelyn and I had worked out the basic structure of the service beforehand and I spent much of the last couple of weeks working on the details.

It went very well.

It was a bright and sunny day, rather warm for northern Wisconsin in late October but pretty much exactly the sort of day you’d design for an outdoor wedding if you had the chance. All of the various parties made it up to their positions without mishap. I got through my homily (“Abide with each other”) and did not lose the rings. They wrote their own vows and did them well. They kissed. And then there they were – legally wedded, ready for a life together. There is good in this world, and when you get a chance to be a part of it you should take it.

Kim and I couldn’t really stay afterward – it’s a long ride from Hayward back to Our Little Town and Monday was a workday – but it was worth the drive.

Congratulations to Sherry and Evelyn! I wish you a lifetime of love and happiness.