Maybe I'm not up to date, or maybe I enjoy clinging to old traditions. Or maybe it's just because I haven't been to weddings for a long time up until this year. The bride doesn't throw the bouquet anymore. I've been to two weddings this summer, and both times flowers were not flung into a throng of desperate single women. Which I suppose is a good thing. I guess the other point would be that the groom wouldn't have to remove the garter of his new bride and toss it into a similar throng of men. The only time I remember witnessing this custom was at my cousin May's wedding, which was at least a decade ago if not more.

As for the wedding itself, it was a nice affair. My cousin Karen married her long-time boyfriend (8 years), short-time fiancé (10 months) Hilen. It was interesting in that her brother Humphrey was the one who performed the ceremony. He made a joke about telling his friends back in Calgary that he's going home to Toronto to "marry my sister...". Nobody seemed to hear the second part of the sentence, "...to my best friend."

I guess my name is very popular in my extended family. After all, Karen's (the bride) cousin Karen was there, and I was sitting next to a Karen (who's related to me VERY distantly, I think), and one of the MC's was a Karen (although I don't think we're related at all). Five distinct Karens in one room. Look out, we're taking over the world!

"Why do birds suddenly appear everytime you are near?