As we transition from winter to spring, we get that much closer to the summer wedding season and invites are in the mail. Since coming out some ten years ago, I’ve had a couple awkward situations at weddings (and still have yet to go to a gay wedding now that I think of it). I thought I’d share two experiences and open the conversation up to you guys to see if you’ve had any interesting wedding stories to share as well.

The other day, I received an invitation to a friend’s wedding this summer, a girl I’ve been friends with since kindergarten. Before I actually got it in the mail, she had sent me a message saying that space was limited at the wedding and so she thought it’d be okay for me to just go with our mutual girl friend (who was also going) as my date. She said if people couldn’t make it, she’d let me know so that I could bring my boyfriend (Tyrell) as well. I responded and said that I would appreciate that, as I had known about the wedding for some time and had already told Tyrell about it, assuming that my boyfriend would be my date. After all, we’ve been together for almost a year now. It’s normal to assume he’d be invited and be my date right? I can almost guarantee that other straight friends of mine going to the wedding received an invitation for their significant other. My guess is that because her family is very Catholic, she was awkward about having my bring a man as my date. But she’s not even getting married in a church – lol. Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s the sitch in this case and I’m going regardless because it’s her special day, not mine. Now, another awkward wedding situation…

Several years ago when I was dating someone else (and had been for several years), I went to his brother’s wedding. Again, his family Catholic, it was a little awkward because some people in the extended family didn’t know about his sexuality, or at least didn’t speak about it. So, on the day of the wedding, after the ceremony comes time for wedding photos before heading to the reception. I went with the entire family to a park where a various combination of photos were taken. Every single person there was in a group photo except me…and there were a lot of photos taken. I felt so out of place and excluded, I just wanted to leave but unfortunately had no way of doing so. I just had to suck it up. I think the family got more comfortable with everything as time passed since then, but that still remains to be one of the most uncomfortable situations I’ve ever found myself in. I know it wasn’t anyone’s fault, and I know the day is not about me, but I can’t even describe how awful it felt. Weddings are stressful to begin with, throw in the often clashes of religion and gays and you have a situation that most people wouldn’t know deal with unless someone close to them was gay. This was many years ago and I know that if they were in this situation today, it would have been different.

So, how about you guys? Do you have any interesting wedding stories to share?

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