When you’re at the tender age of being somewhere in your twenties, it’s weird to think that your friends are getting married, buying houses, having children… You know, stuff that adults do.
When Kris told me that her childhood best friend was engaged, I was surprised because I thought they were too young. She was 25 or so when she got engaged, so no. That’s not too young at all. That’s a good age to get engaged, especially when you’ve been with your significant other for a few years.
Kris was in the bridal party as a bridesmaid. She was able to get a plus-one and chose to bring me along on account my parents were invited on their own since they were the parents of a bridal party member.
The church was about an hour or so away from our house. Kris had gone up the night before which left Mom, Dad, and me to our own devices to get ourselves there.
Kris’s friend and her fiancé had met at college. They attended a Catholic school together and the school had a church. That’s where they were getting married. You would think it’d be easy to find a church when it’s among a huge campus, but that’s just the thing. It’s in the middle of the huge campus.
The ceremony started at three in the afternoon. I assumed we would leave our house around 1:30 to be there by 2:30. We’d be on time with plenty of it left to spare and we’d be able to get a good seat at the church.
1:30 came and went as my parents still tried to get themselves ready to go. It was around two o’clock when we finally left our house. I had been texting Kristen back and forth.
“Are you guys here yet?” she had asked.
I replied, “We just left.”
Apparently, just about everyone was already at the church.
“Don’t worry, the GPS says it’ll take about 45 minutes to get there.” Mom had explained to me as soon as we got into the car.
But what about traffic? I didn’t say anything though. I couldn’t complain about not leaving earlier since we couldn’t go back in time and leave earlier. Plus, I had no major part in the wedding, so it wasn’t going to affect the ceremony if we weren’t there.
Sure enough, we hit traffic. It was a Saturday afternoon so you wouldn’t think there would be many people out on the road, but accidents do happen. Once we got past that, about a half hour or so, we were smooth sailing.
It was about 2:50 when we arrived at the campus. There were many entrances to the college campus as there are so many different buildings plus the church. We passed by a big sign that said the church’s name.
“There it is!” I pointed out the window, but Dad kept driving.
“The GPS says we have another quarter mile.” Mom said.
“Mom, the GPS is taking us to the college, not the church. The church was right back there.” I explained.
“Where am I going?” Dad asked.
“But this is what the GPS says.” Mom said.
“I saw the limo back there. That’s where the church is. We missed the turn.” I said exasperated. Sure, listen to the GPS over a human being.
“Hello? Where am I going?” Dad asked again.
“Turn here.” Mom pointed to the next right. Dad turned in and Mom smiled. “See? Look at all the cars parked here!”
“Look at everyone in football attire out on that field…” Dad stated driving slowly by the parked cars.
“It’s a college and a Saturday. I’m sure there are other events going on… Such as a football game,” I sighed.
Mom stared at the GPS with furrowed brows. “Oh.”
“So where do I park?” Dad asked.
“Where the church is,” Mom replied.
“Where’s the church?”
“I don’t know…”
“It was way back there!” I exclaimed.
“Oh, there’s a guy. Roll down your window and ask him.” Mom poked Dad on the arm which resulted in him growling at her, but he rolled down his window anyway.
The man took out his headphones and looked at us with confusion as soon as Dad asked where the church was.
“Um, go back the way you came and it should be your last left. There’s a huge sign, you can’t miss it.”
I smirked in the back seat as Dad said thank you and rolled up his window. Mom chuckled and looked over her shoulder at me.
“But the GPS said…”
“It’s just about three o’clock now. Can we please stop talking about the GPS? Turn it off.” Dad muttered.
I muttered an “I told you so” but we remained silent until Dad pulled into the church.
“There’s the limo!” Mom pointed out the window as though we were sight-seeing Christmas lights.
“I told you that.” I said.
“Oh, there’s the church!” Mom unbuckled her seatbelt and was just about to open the car door, but stopped herself. I burst out laughing.
“What are you doing? I need to park first!” Dad shouted.
Mom laughed. “Sorry, I got excited.”
Dad pulled into a parking spot, though he wasn’t sure if he was able to park there or not. We all shrugged our shoulders not caring. It was 2:58 and we needed to get into that church.
We walked along the sidewalk trying to find the entrance to the church when Dad pushed Mom and me forward. “There she is! She’s getting out of the limo now!”
The bride was stepping out of the limo and the three of us broke into a run as our time was running out. I decided to wear heels to this wedding. I never wear heels. I’m sure watching me attempt to run was certainly a sight to see to any people passing by.
We stopped short right outside the entrance as the bride disappeared inside, her bridal party following behind her. Kris walked right by us without speaking a word. She shook her head with a disgusted face and that was it.
“What, we made it, didn’t we?” Dad called to her with an attitude.
We followed them inside, gave Kris and the bride a quick hug, and then entered to find our seats.
We attend church regularly every Sunday, but we have a small church with a small parish. For a college, one would think the church wouldn’t be too fancy, but I was wrong. The church was much bigger and beautiful that I originally pictured it.
“Holy shit,” I whispered and then flinched. I looked up at the ceiling. “Sorry…”
“Really?” Dad raised an eyebrow. I shrugged.
“Oh, look!” Mom pointed to some friends of Kris’s from school. They were in the back and the other seats were mostly filled, so we figured we’d sit with them.
We said hello and gave them hugs before sitting down. Mom walked into the pew, sat down, and then immediately stood back up to walk out of the pew. She pushed me aside, as I was coming into the pew next to her making me back out into the aisle.
“What are you doing?” Dad grunted.
“I want to sit on the end so I can take pictures.” Mom said.
“Oh, Jesus Christ…” Dad groaned.
“Really?” I mocked him laughing.
“Shut up,” he gave me a gentle push into the pew.
We waited another five minutes or so and then the ceremony started.
For the most part, the rest of the day went smoothly. Well, other than the fact that we left the church immediately after the ceremony and went to the reception hall when most people stayed back at the church for another hour or so. We had to wait around in the lobby of the resort for a while before they could let us in.
Kris had texted me wondering where we went. We had completely ditched her and she had to get a ride to the resort from the bride’s father.
Overall, the wedding was a good time. But it just goes to show that you really can’t take us anywhere.
I hope you enjoyed this short story. Let me know in the comments below!
