Double happiness.

It's Spring and nothing signifies spring quite like blossoms mixed with hayfever, and of course the beginning of the wedding season. This year there must be something in the pollen as almost everyone I've ever met decides to say their "I Dos"(For Richer or Poorer). As a result, I have made my official debut onto the wedding scene as an invitee.

It was a picture perfect Sunday afternoon - the sun, the harbour and the beaming couple. All the preparation in the months prior has culminated in this single day of celebration and it was hard to ignore the joy present in all that attended. Especially touching were the speeches given by the bride and groom to their families and to one another, and the photobooth offered guests some light hearted entertainment.

But as I watched the beautiful bride walk down the aisle without a single hair out of place, I couldn't help thinking that as much as a wedding is about celebration, it is also an extremely conformist occasion. It demands all its participants - guests as well as the marrying couple to enact a role that has been prescribed by traditional social conventions. 

Once upon a time weddings use to be simple family affairs that somehow evolved into a modern quest for happiness, and as the wedding industry would have us all believe that by doing a wedding according to its guide book, the bride is guaranteed the happily ever after, in her big white dress with her prince charming. Lets not forget, it is after all a business.

As Rebecca Mead rightfully argues in her book 'One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding', "The way we marry, for better or worse, is who we are; and if we were to re-examine our commitment to the American wedding as it currently exists, we might be surprised to find that our ultimate happiness does not depend upon it".

So weddings are something that none of us can ignore, even as guests. What one can do however, is simply to think of it as another party, and I was so busy taking snaps and dancing that I even forgot about the cake. But there is always the next one...