Wedding #5 - Allan & Grace

With The Happy Couple 

A: Hey... Is your offer to help still on the table?
K: Ummm, sure. What do you have in mind?
A: How early do you think you could get up?!?!
K: Are you SERIOUS?

Without totally thinking it through, I offered to give Allan/Grace a hand with their wedding stuff a little while back. Of course, I should have known that they would actually take up my offer. :) Anyway, I ended up waking up at 6:30 AM on Saturday morning and drove out to Grace's place by 7:15. My responsibility that morning was to drive the bride and the bridesmaids back and forth from the hairdresser, while they took turns doing their hair and make-up. Luckily, Hung Ling's mom (the hairdresser) didn't live too far away. After getting over my morning crankiness, it actually turned out to be pretty fun. In addition to getting some breakfast and coffee, I got one of the first glimpses of the bride (before the dress too), caught up with Grace's brother Euson who I hadn't seen much in years, and laughed at Courtney (Hung Ling's youngest) as she pouted to me about not getting enough attention from her dad and her sister. :)

The wedding and reception themselves were actually really good. It wasn't as 'fancy' as some others I've been to, but it was probably the most enjoyable one I've been to this summer. The games were pretty fun--Allan was a really good sport as they exploited his goofy admiration for "Napoleon Dynamite" and his dancing abilities. (Gosh!) The speeches were all good--not too many, not too long, they made sense, had just enough humour, but definitely sincere/touching. Allan and Grace were great too--Grace's speech was pretty emotional and heartfelt, but Allan complimented her perfectly with his great sense of humour. The only slight downside (for me anyway) was that I ended up sitting with strangers at the dinner. Weird 'cause I really didn't know them at all. Ah well, I can imagine how difficult it is to plan the seating--especially if you have 'uncles' who don't like each other. ;) So no big deal.

Anyway, I've known Allan and Grace for many years now, but I met them at different times and through different people. I got to know Grace through Children's Choir and Kyrios. She has this great laugh and always knows how to bring a smile to your face. Allan, I also met through Kyrios, but I've gotten to know him much better over the last few years through softball and ball hockey. Just as Wes pointed out during the ceremony, he is someone who generous to a fault. Funny enough though, if you had asked anyone 5 years ago, I don't think anyone would have pictured them together. They were seeing different people at the time and didn't seem to be each other's 'type'--Allan even claimed that Mandeep thought that Grace was 'out of his league'!. :D But you know what, seeing them now, I can't imagine them with anyone else. They compliment each other perfectly and bring out the best in each other. It's just an interesting observation--the person that you think you should be with right now may not be the same person that God ultimately has in store for you.

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Getting through Sunday was TOUGH. Well, it was totally my own doing. :P I was responsible for teaching/leading the Sunday School class, but as usual, I totally procrastinated. I had started doing some prep earlier in the week, but I didn't actually put everything together until the weekend. I had to squeeze in a bit of work in between the ceremony and the reception, did some more work after the reception and ended up waking up early on Sunday morning to finish it up. I didn't realize how much I had to do--doing some research, referencing my sources, etc. It reminded me too much of university--which is such a poor example for the teens that we're teaching. :P My own stupidity ended up giving me such a headache throughout the rest of the day. Anyhow, by God's grace, the class actually turned out ok. I was worried earlier that I wouldn't have enough material to fill the class, but I guess when it comes to money--we were talking about financial stewardship--you can go on and on. Some of the teens had some more questions well after the class, so it looks like they found it interesting. I wish I left some more time for discussion and Q&A's.

I hope I've learned my lesson for my class in two weeks. I'm even more worried about that class--we'll be talking about peer pressure, dealing especially with sex & drinking. Oh boy. Talking about these kind of topics is usually a bit taboo within the Christian circle, so I hope we'll have a good discussion. Plus, that weekend will be packed 'cause I'm attending (and helping at) Jeanne's wedding, and I'm helping to organize another community outreach for Kyrios. Yikes. Pray for me. ;)