Guilty Pleasures

The things we do for ourselves that we NEED really want to do and have a difficult time giving up unless faced with serious deadlines/commitments. We all have them. Among my Monday morning guilty pleasures is reading the New York Times’ wedding section. It reads much like a mergers and acquisitions list in the business section. Young, good looking, educated and from well-to-do families reciting their vows in creative ways at expansive enclaves in the presence of their closest friends and loved ones. Some of the nuptials are mergers where the bride and bridegroom are a power-couple whose power will exponentially increase once joined in holy matrimony. Other times, the wedding is a fancily wrapped acquisition like most have been since the dawn of times: a well-to-do groom acquiring a bride from a well-to-do family.

The devil is of course in the details of how the announcement is composed. Reading them is nothing short of decoding a secret message … words like “until recently, the bride” or “also a [insert worthwhile profession], the groom is …”. The most telling bits of the announcement are of course the ones that are not written.

I first got into wedding announcement reading while trying to plan our wedding and it has just become a guilty pleasure since then. As our fifth year anniversary is coming up in a few days, all these wedding announcements got me thinking; aren’t all marriages business transactions? Sure, I’d like to think that people ultimately get married because they love one another, but finding a partner is not just about love. It is about finding a person who compliments you, your lifestyle and your family. Like in all partnerships in life, your life partner has to bring something to the table. What they choose/can bring to the table that speaks volumes. Some bring successful careers and adventure travel, others good looks and then there are some who bring more tangible offerings …

Looking at little Sophia suited up in her yellow and pink monkey pajamas, I can’t help but think what a potential suitor will bring to the table in a proposal, but more importantly, what will she?