Julie and I married October 2nd, 1999, and approximately one hundred people celebrated with us. I didn’t give it a thought at the time, but it recently occurred to me that I never saw several of the guests ever again. This would seem unlikely, considering the guests met a pretty high threshold of closeness to at least one of us.
I have since asked many others about their weddings, and I’ve yet to find a couple who haven’t had the same experience with at least one guest. Why does that happen? Primarily, weddings often cause, or are contemporaneous with, lots of major life transitions.
—The couple often moves to a new neighborhood or city, taking them physically away from legacy relationships.
—Many couples marry in their 20s, when the lives of many similarly-aged guests are also in max flux. Friends are marrying, graduating from school, taking new jobs, relocating. Established interaction patterns get scrambled.
—Old friends don’t always like the new spouse or don’t want to spend time with the friend post-coupling.
—Not all wedding guests are necessarily that close to begin with. For example, sometimes parents of the bride and groom invite their friends or colleagues even though they don’t know the couple very well.
—Some guests, such as elderly family members, might die before the next reunion.
Were there any people at your wedding that you never saw again?