One year ago, I married my best friend.
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Well, sort of. I married him to his best friend.
Let me back up.
One year ago, my best friend decided to get married. He was in love with his fiance and ready to tie the knot, and I was over the moon happy for them both. The two of them had met during a chance encounter when my friend was on vacation in Europe, and they had hit it off in a pub in England. They had been dating long distance for a while, with long trips back and forth between the U.S. and Great Britain, and they were ready to get married.
In fact, they were ready to get married right now, no more waiting. They surprised us when a birthday party turned out to be their wedding!
This is where I come in, because even though this story is literally about my friends’ marriage, I still forced them to let me play a pivotal role: I got to say the magic words. Yup, that’s right, you’re talking to Reverend Sydney, because I am technically ordained.
I got ordained at Top Golf. While my friends golfed and celebrated the sudden bachelor party, I hunched over my phone screen and Googled, “How to perform a wedding.” As it turns out, it’s a lot easier than you’d think. It’s like they let anyone get ordained these days.
The wedding was spontaneous, but we made it as special as possible. My friends and I ran by Walmart to get flowers and cake. We ended up back at the groom’s house, where we strung up Christmas lights and popped a bottle of champagne to start the night. The couple wanted to get married on Feb. 4, and it was 11:45 p.m. on Feb. 3. I had 15 minutes to write a good speech and make sure the ceremony itself was as poignant and magical as the couple is.
I holed up in my friend’s room with a stack of index cards and a pen, and I immediately ran into a block. What do you say when someone you love is about to change their life for the better? When you can tell they’re so much happier because of this other person and all you want is the absolute best for them? I write for a living, but I found myself struggling for words. They were so happy. They deserved this. That’s all that needed to be said.
In the end, I did my best with the index cards and gave some speech about chance — I don’t remember what exactly. I think this is one of those instances in life where words don’t matter as much as I sometimes think they do. All that really mattered was the emotion, and as we applauded the happy couple and watched them vow to spend their lives together, there was plenty of emotion to go around.
That was one year ago, and I’m happy to report that both my friends’ marriage and my side gig performing wedding ceremonies are going well. If you’re looking for someone to perform a wedding, I’m your girl. And if you want to know more about how to embrace chance encounters and find your soulmate at 23, you’ll have to ask my friends. I think they’ve got that one figured out.
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