WEDDING WARRIORS

A few months ago, Nate and I received a really mysterious envelope in the mail. It was addressed to Katy (I'm Kate with an 'e') and Nathan Wieland (the 'e' and the 'i' were mixed up) at Majestic Paint (street name is Majestic Point). Inside the envelope was a full on wedding invite complete with a photo of two young people around our age smiling lovingly into the camera lens. It also included directions, time, date, gift registry - the whole meal deal. The one issue was that Nate and I had absolutely no clue who these two people were; yet, they seemed to know us, just not well enough to spell our names correctly. The situation was feeling kinda creepy in a twilight zone-ish way.

Now, in order to be fair, the next part of this story involves a bit of a history and/or cultural background. If you have ever been friends with or maybe acquainted with a person of Ukrainian origin, you will know that they are extremely nationalistic, very gracious and family oriented and really love to throw massive parties at monumental occasions with an overabundance of food - for example; weddings. I know, because being 50% Ukrainian, I had a little hunch that this might have something to do with an extended Ukranian family member. It turns out, my suspicions were correct. The boy in the photo was named Justin who also happens to be the groom and who is... wait for it ... wait for it ... my Father Don's first cousin, Gerry, whose oldest and only son is my second cousin... a.k.a Justin - who I've never met. So, being a part of this extended Ukrainian family my husband and I received an invite to his wedding without question or hesitation and to be honest it was also no question and no hesitation that my husband and I wouldn't be attending. House, work, free weekend, sorry, I don't think I've got the time.

However, after dinner with my parents one night, Nate and I were laughed about getting this random invite. My Dad looked up at me and said very seriously; 'well, you can't consider NOT attending. You and Nathan have been invited. You have to go.' 'Ummmmm,' I said; 'actually Dad, you CAN consider not going even if you have been invited especially since we:

a) have never met either one of them,

b) don't exactly have the time to six hours to Edmonton and back over the weekend for an early ceremony and a evening reception to celebrate someone's wedding that we don't know,

and c) Ukrainians won't have a vegetarian option on the invite. What am I supposed to eat?'

My Dad; 'Okay, (pause) well it's up to you (major sigh). But just so you know, it's extremely rude to decline to a Ukrainian wedding. This is your family. This is your heritage. This is your blood.' Then Mom pipes up; 'Yeah Kate. Please Kate, PAAAAAHHHHLEEEEESE????? I need you there, don't make me go alone. Think about how much fun we'll have. Think of the food and the dancing. Think of the wine Kate - think of the wine!!!' (I love you Mom).

Basically, after a few days of this thick blanket of guilt that Mom and Dad wrapped us in, Nate and I succumbed to the pressure and agreed to go to the Ukrainian wedding. Then, I figured that the smartest thing for me to do was to cajole (guilt) my poor brother Ted into coming too, which wasn't an issue for the family throwing the party. The more Ukrainians the merrier!!!!

So the Wedding night summed up into one word: WACKY. I say that in the nicest way possible because actually the people at our table were very kind and talkative which made it easier; but can I just mention that I didn't realize there could be so many interesting characters jam packed into one care center? Like WOAH. We now have some wild connections in Edmonton and Fort Saskatchewan and talk about making your life more interesting in a matter of hours. If you're looking to do that, try to get yourself to a Ukrainian wedding pronto and just so you know, I can probably help you out with that if ya like.