Do you ever get to an older age where it feels like there isn't much that you haven't seen nor experienced yourself in your lifetime? After these past few years, I'm certainly not going to be one claiming that we have seen or experienced everything possible in our lives. This weekend in Philadelphia, (Pennsylvania of all freakin places!) I had an amazing time. This weekend on the historic Moshulu (built in 1904, oldest boat still standing in water, also shown in movies Rocky 1 and Godfather Part 2,) my dear friends Sarah Rigotty and Tommy Gordon were getting married. By the way, this area in Philly is definitely reminding me of Boston in some ways. Some parts of America and some special places, one can just feel the history all around you immediately. You can see more about the beautiful Moshulu by clicking here. My friends and I have been looking forward to this wedding in Philly for quite some time. Besties JG, Steve and I were all invited thanks to the beautiful couple and our bestie Brad, Father Of The Bride. Despite some minor difficulties, a microphone cutting out and not working, plus oh yes, the hurricane, we had a great time!
Approximately just over a month ago, little did I know that my expectations and role at this wedding were about to change quite dramatically. It was an August Wednesday afternoon. I was at Starbucks getting my Treinta Shaken Iced Green Tea without sweetening (I'm always a goofball and tell new baristas I don't need sweetening, "because I'm sweet enough already.") I looked down while in line at my Instagram and saw a Direct Message from Sarah. I honestly didn't think much of it at that exact second. We've all been friends for years, and I figured it was going to be just one of those sweet "hey thanks for RSVPing to our wedding next month, we can't wait to see everyone," kind of messages/deals. I couldn't have been more wrong after starting to read it. I almost dropped my Treinta Shaken Iced Green Tea (which is a TON of iced green tea, that would've been quite the mess, thank goodness I didn't.) Sarah and Tom's planned wedding officiator had to cancel due to a conflict. They asked if I would be willing to officiate their wedding, no pressure / problem if I wasn't comfortable with or up for it. I was absolutely blown away by this, WOW! My jaw dropped immediately. I immediately messaged Sarah back saying that I would be honored and humbled to officiate their wedding. They said they couldn't think of a better person than ME to do it! LOL.
You want to talk about comedy gold and one of those "only me," moments? I'll never forget asking Sarah after I said yes, saying "hey, does your Dad know about this btw?" LMAO. Her response was "I'll tell him the great news tomorrow, but my brother Joey knows and he's psyched! I just wanted to ask you first before telling him!"
This would be my first time ever officiating a wedding! I've been to so many weddings throughout my life, and have been lucky to be a groomsman in many of them. (I know, insert the joke here about always being a bridesmaid, but never the ____.) All good. I think that will change for me someday down the road when the people and timing are right.
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It's honestly still surreal even typing that I just officiated my first wedding. I went from merely being a lucky friend and guest during Sarah and Tom's special day, to now being right in the middle of it, front and center! I was joking with Steve Andrews Friday morning at 8:45am on 102.3 WSUS about how nervous I was. He said how could I be nervous, when we have both done public speaking for decades in front of hundreds, at times thousands of people. Even on the radio shows we do there are usually 40-50K listeners tuning into us. I explained I take my craft very seriously, always want to be perfect, but in this case I wanted it to be perfect for Sarah and Tom. When it's a day you know they've been dreaming of their whole entire lives, you absolutely want to do everything under the Sun possible making it as perfect as possible.
In Philly, fortunately I didn't have to worry about getting ordained. This brought me great comfort, one less thing to worry about. It is amazing how every state can be so different in requirements for legally marrying a couple. Sarah sent me a sample script that I was free to make edits to as I saw fit. I really appreciate her trusting my background between career and judgement for public speaking. Whenever I made an edit to the script, I was sure to send every update to Sarah in her email. I wanted everything to be perfect for them, and not surprise them with anything I might say during the ceremony. I started working on some frame work during August, but this past week was when the final touches were added and pushed. I explained to my Mom Madre later last week that if I had everything memorized a month ago, it wouldn't do anything to help me this past weekend. You want to get it as much nailed down as close as possible towards the special day. I wanted to have everything slightly memorized, but Friday was my rehearsing the speech day where I really read aloud and focused on my pacing. With a wedding ceremony, I really wanted to pause and let everyone take in some of the beautiful words and moments along the way. (The beautiful words were of course from sample scripts, not me, lol.)
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Now that the wedding has happened, I can let you in on the fun additions I made to what was a terrific script. One portion talked about how being married involves having flexibility, patience and a sense of humor. I then said "Sarah and Tom basically define this. After all, they're having ME, a diehard, rabid Patriots fan from Boston marry them right here in downtown Philly! Hopefully I don't get struck by lightning."
Another fun portion was talking about the love they have for each other. I had an absolutely fantastic time getting to work together with Sarah and Tom on this speech. To be involved and contribute to their special day was a beyond amazing honor. While emailing back and forth, Sarah informed me that her soon to be husband has a grudge against Benjamin Franklin, for whatever reasons. She asked if there was anyway I could work in a Ben Franklin reference. Within a few minutes, I emailed her back saying "standby...I think I'm coming up with something." After talking about their love, I said "your love for each other is electric, we haven't seen anything like this since the late, great, Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity right here in 1752!" Tom's jaw dropped, Sarah cracked up immediately. Tom said "really?" I immediately threw his bride under the bus and said "she put me up to it!"
To help close up the ceremony, we had Sarah's brother Joey and Tom's sister Nicole sign the marriage license as the two official witnesses. To help introduce them and what they were doing to help make the wedding and marriage official, I said "don't worry. The Declaration Of Independence was signed here in 1776, so there's no pressure at all on the siblings of the bride and groom here!" Everyone cracked up and appreciated the historical Philly reference.
Right before the wedding, Sarah and Tommy Gordon both lit up. They lit up when they saw me, and were so excited to give me a gift for officiating their wedding. They gave me a custom coffee mug, which my picture photoshopped onto a tuxedo holding a script, and the back of the mug says "Officiator." That was SO cool and thoughtful I LOVE IT!!! For them to be so excited to give me this, literally minutes before their own wedding? I think that says quite a bit about my friends I just helped get married. Amazing people.
It was great seeing bestie Brad getting to hand off his daughter. One of those really cool, subtle moments, was us being able to shake each other's hands and say simply "hey bud," to each other. All during one of the biggest moments in their lives. Awesome.
The reception was fantastic. Lots of fun with friends. Yesterday I made it back from Philly in 2 hours 30 minutes flat. Lots of rain all weekend, but at least I never had bad traffic or wind. I made it just in time to catch the Patriots vs. Jets game with several Jets fan friends. At least I only had to hear the most annoying sound to me in the world (the JETS chant,) once. We'll put that in the win column along with the victory for my Pats LOL.
Okay, I'm ready for a nap! Apparently officiating a wedding can really take a ton out of you. That being said, if you ever get this amazing opportunity, it will be beyond well worth it.