Last weekend I went to a casual non religious wedding with my fiancé and his two daughters. I didn’t know too many people there. bride and groom were in their mid 20’s. It was hot and oppressively humid during the ceremony so of course we had to do the whole thing outside where everyone would be at risk for heat stroke and/or death especially the older people. Ceremony was lighthearted, vows were short/cute, it was all smiles. I don’t usually cry at weddings as a guest, and there was absolutely no indication that there would be anything emotional, and so my guard was down and I was distracted by the heat. My fiance was clearly suffering more even though he had taken his suit jacket off. 

And then the bride’s grandfather started to give a speech. The whole tone of the event shifted. He started talking about a whole bunch of history between them that I didn’t know about, and he specifically thanked my fiancé repeatedly through his speech. And then he started to get choked up. Now I don’t know what it is about old men getting choked up, but that always gets me. Plus, even though my fiancé didn’t seem surprised, it came out of nowhere for me. After the second round of applause, my face got hot, I teared up and a tear ran down each cheek before I could get at my tissues. I dabbed those first tears from my face, and managed to catch the next two tears from under my eyes with the tissue before they ran any further. My nose was about to run, so I sniffled. My nose made this resounding stuffy gurgling sound that turned a couple of heads at our table. Thankfully there was another round of applause that obscured the sound of several more sniffles. My fiancé got up and hugged the bride’s grandfather, and I knew that I could stop crying at that point so I just kept going. About five tears ran from each eye and I dabbed each one away mid-cheek. At that time, most eyes at our table were looking forward, and I glanced around and saw a kid (probably late teens or early 20’s) looking at me, and he looked away immediately. My fiancé came back to our table and I got up and hugged him, and he kissed my right cheek very lightly.  

As I sat down, and the bride’s mother got up to speak, I shed another pair of tears down each cheek. I looked at that kid again, and he was again looking at me and he looked away. That’s when I figured I was being observed. I wiped the tears with the tissue, then wiped my eyes, and took a deep breath and was able to calm down. The bride started to cry during her mother’s short speech, but she dabbed the tears from her eyes directly and only cried for about a minute. Thankfully the reception was moved indoors. I tried to find the kid again but I think he didn’t stay for the reception.