Being a Groomsman

Last Saturday, I stood alongside my cousin, Julian, at his wedding as one of his groomsmen. Now, aside from the wedding being a fantastic day, the part of the wedding I really enjoyed was being in the inner-circle; the group of people who don't just attend the ceremony and eat and dance at the reception, but spend an extended amount of bonding time together in support of the bride and groom and their families.

I feel like the best part of being a groomsman, apart from being by the groom's side during the ceremony and the reception, is about creating memories. Things like spending a few hours on the Friday afternoon at a barber getting beard trims and cut-throat shaves while enjoying complimentary beers. Or eating pizza at a bay-side restaurant while shootin' the breeze.

Or drinking coffee after coffee and chowing down on awesome food that Julian's mum, Norma, provided early on the morning of the wedding, including the best quiche I've ever eaten. Or, when getting into our suits in front of the photographers, having to re-tie our ties multiple times because only Adam and Julian knew how to actually tie a tie properly and were then forced to teach the rest of us. Or receiving another present from Julian; super-hero cufflinks for our French cuffed shirts with Dan as Superman, Adam as Spiderman, Dillon as Iron Man, myself as the Hulk and Julian, of course, as Batman, his childhood favorite superhero.

Maybe the beautiful view of Melbourne on that sunny Saturday morning while getting photos taken on the rooftop of the apartment complex before heading to the church.

Or head-bopping along like an idiot to every song on the radio while the limo drove us to the church. Or constantly asking Dan if he still had the rings in his pocket; a question we'd continue to bombard him with even long after the ceremony was over.

Or sitting in Fitzroy Gardens eating ham and cheese sandwiches that Leah, the bride, had prepared for all of us while we eyed off another wedding party whose bridesmaids also had purple dresses and were thus, our enemies. Or standing outside the reception with our bridesmaids, ready to walk the room to the bridal table, across the dance floor to the left of the wedding cake, only to realise that none of us knew what direction the dancefloor was in, or where the cake had been placed, let alone where the bridal table was.

I could go on and on (and I feel like I have), but it's the small things that made the day that much more memorable and I am grateful that I was asked to be apart of it.