catching the flowers

October 20, 2010
11:50am

I went to a wedding reception this weekend with my boyfriend as his plus one. I did not know anyone there and I was mostly there to fulfill the ritual of bringing a date to weddings. I was keen to lay low since it was a small event. My boyfriend introduced me to a few people there and I made small talk at the table, and that was all I was really planning on doing. The time came when the bride was about to throw her bouquet into the crowd of ladies who thought that whoever caught it would be the next of the bunch to get married. I did not really want to participate in this ritual for several reasons. I did not care about catching it, I did not want to stand in a crowd of women I did not know, and I was thinking about how awkward it would be if I did catch it. I decided to stay off to the side when the groom caught my eye. I met him for a moment earlier and he was not shy about walking up to me and dragging me onto the dance floor to participate saying "if you are female you have to be up there". I was kind of irritated because I was content just watching, but stood up there anyways to fulfill my duty as a women at a wedding. I did not like that I was pressured into doing something that I did not want to do based simply on my gender. I wanted to resist, but really felt like it was not the time or place to protest, especially when the groom was the one bringing me up there. It was his special day and who was I to deny the one request he made of me the entire day?