On Short Notice Weddings

Last night, Inspector mentioned that we are to attend a girl friend's wedding dinner this Friday. When it's a sudden invitation especially it's 3 days away, it's either an "oops" case, or someone in the family is in the verge of dying and wants to see the couple get married before they "go". When people receives sudden wedding invitations, immediately they'll think it's "accident" and during the wedding ceremony, they'll keep looking at the bride's tummy to see if there's an obvious bulge or not.

Talking about "oops" cases, It's kind of sad they are becoming a norm nowadays. There's practically at least one wedding that I attended each year was because of that. The youngest bride was barely 20, some time after we left college. Her son should be around 5 years old by now.

I'm not gonna launch into attacks on religious views or morality values. I accept that this is how the world is slowly turning to. The thing that I'm sad about is, are these couples really prepared for marriage? Are they getting married because :

A. they really love each other
B. they feel very guilty, hence an obligation to be responsible

If it's the former, then I'd say I'm awfully happy for them. I'd take it as a sign for them that they're meant to be together and the "accident" proves to strengthen their love for each other even more. But what if it's an obligation? Will the couple be able to accept the fact that they're a married couple and that a baby's on the way? Are they financially stable to raise a child? Or will they live to regret having done the deed, and eventually become a divorce statistic? You know, the one with the 5 year old that I was talking about earlier on, last I heard she's heading for a divorce.. Those who had to quit college, will they be happy?

I remember last December, Inspector's parents were pressuring us to get married before the "Year of the Rooster" approaches (bad luck, apparently). We both set up a dinner date with my parents. When Inspector popped up the question to them, Mum's eyes really "terbeliak". I'm very sure she thought something happened!! Her eyes got back to normal when I added that "maybe we register in January or we wait until the next year, coz bad luck woh if we get married in between". In the end, after a long discussion, bad luck or not, we decided to wait till next year. No money lar!

Anyway, back to the girl friend, regardless of whatever the reason for the very short notice wedding invitation is, it really doesn't matter to me. All that I will wish for them is an everlasting and happy marriage. Congratulations to the couple!!