SCENE ON THE STREET : Much Ado Before ‘I Do’

Formal weddings are all different, and all the same. Something always goes right. The gown made of dreams, music and springtime, in the imagination, comes to shimmering life with every seed pearl perfect. Two ferociously feuding uncles make up. The limo firm is out of the “Super” you ordered and gives you the “Super-Duper” for the same price, equipped with everything except a crystal chandelier.

And something always goes wrong. The usually unflappable minister becomes a lost soul, frantically flapping through his Thomas Guide and delaying the ceremony 53 minutes. The keys to the limo get locked in the trunk. Or a flower girl who can walk “no hands” across a jungle gym finds a floor-length skirt as hard to handle as her older sister.

In other words, formal weddings, like this one at the Arboretum in Arcadia, are a great preparation for marriage.