Wedding Bell(es)--settle in for a LONG read/gander

I go back & forth on the wedding front. Let me put it delicately. Sometimes I don't like them.

Here's why, partly: mine's over. {now that seems pathetic when I type it out}

It's weird. I show up (after shopping mercilessly, tirelessly in front of brutal dressing room mirrors, just for the perfect ensemb) so, so happy for the new couple, but, then, in my selfishness, wish, just a teensy bit, that I could go back and be the skinny, tan girl in white, the object of every person's adoration.

This weekend I understood something (hold your applause; this does happen on occasion). This above-described feeling is underskirted by something else, okay?

Something deep, deep, deeper.

And that thing is this: weddings are just another reminder that time, silly, relentless, unforgiving time, is passing, flying. And with it, kids I used to babysit will graduate, get married. Childhood pets will go to Animal Heaven. My beautiful son will enter kindergarten (gulp, college too!). I will smear anti-aging creme over my smile lines. I will cry when my baby sister becomes a mother (that is not a hint, Sissy, promise).

Maybe that's why I don't "like" weddings. I feel like I'm permissing Time to carry on. I'm genuinely joyous for the "hurrahs" in others' lives, but want more time to process my own.

I need just a few more moments in each moment. A little longer.

***
The two weddings last weekend were 3 parts sweet, 2 parts magical, 1 part sobby-teary mess (on my part). Here's a hodge-podge of weekend pics:
And a few of Drew/SG's wedding shots. Their wedding was at a cool art gallery/venue. SG's parents did all the background paintings behind the altar area.
And, my cousin Pandia's:

Isn't her reception veil adorable?
That's Holland, my cousin, who was my flower girl almost six years ago! Thanks for sticking with me in this long, comma-crazy post.

...and they all lived happily ever after.