![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tugrikAack!
Okay, I've been to about 52 weddings, give or take a few... admittedly, as a videographer. Toting around a camera at other people's ceremonies was part of how I paid for some of my last year of school, as a cameraman and editor for Classic Videos by Brenner, located in Grand Rapids, MI. I should Google that and see if he's still in existance. In any case, I'm completely blunted to the concept of weddings now; my brain is on a forced pre-edit track whenever near one, thinking only of what shots to get and which kid-pulling-another-kids-hair cute moment would be best for B-roll material. The only wedding I've ever been invited to was my older sister's... and because I knew nothing else, I took a camera and went in a T-shirt, instead of dressing nice and sitting in the pews with everybody else. Gods, I felt so lame, thinking back on it.
Well... Invite #2 just arrived. This is my first 'non-relative' important event I've ever been invited to in my life. My old Phido-616 hackerbuddy from my late high-school days, Brian Reid, is gettin' hitched... and within a bkeable distance, too: Las Vegas. He lives in Henderson now, not far from where I used to live in Boulder City. I think this is so cool. Beaker (as some of us called him) is in love. Agent Orange, 00J, the sardonic-humor king of our section of the Fidonet and Citanet... getting married. The very idea of it makes me grin like an electronic monk on stupid pills. This dude rocks.
So... what the heck do I do?
I've video'd a ton of weddings, but never been a true attendee. Do I rent a tux? Do I buy nice clothes? All I own in this world are jeans, solid-color T-shirts, and gymwear (sweats and more solid shirts). Do I buy a gift? If so, how much should I spend? The invite says "and guest". Should I take along a friend, or is that just a courtesy slot for an SO if I have one and otherwise should show up on my own? AAaaack... too many questions. Why wasn't I paying attention during the hundreds of hours of wedding shoots?
I've not spoken a word to Brian in the last 6 years. We were on the best of terms when last we spoke, and I have the utmost respect for him -- we just were pointed different ways in different areas of the country. For all of his hackerish background, he was never into much of the social side of the early net days, so we didn't keep in touch. I want to treat him right and make a good impression, but I feel terribly ill equipped to do so.
My entire life is in the casual section of the big and tall shops, and I haven't done 'fancy' since my first terrible attempts at wearing a suit for job interviews back in 1989/90. Working in the Silicon Valley for the last decade meant that the dressiest I've ever had to do was to make sure the T-shirt I was wearing didn't have any holes torn in them by sharp rack-edges, or at least the holes that were there were hideable. I'm being dead serious here. And, the purchase of anything fancy will be a bit scary-expensive. It's impossible to rent in my size, and the part of the big-and-tall catalogs with suits and fancy button up shirts have pricetags 3-5x anything else they sell. What might be $200 of new duds for a milspec humanoid can be over $1000 in my size, even after the decent weightloss brought by these last 6+ months.
Do I have the time, the money, and the skill to Do a Wedding with the respect due to the only man who could best![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
traveller_blues in a pun contest? It falls on a date scarily soon; I may not be fully fiscally recovered from my upcoming vacation. I really badly want to go, but I don't want to show up if it'll be an embarrasment for him.
Pardon me while I pace and fret now. I've got about 10 days to return the RSVP, so not much time to think about it. What I would give for one of my local friends to show up and play Style Consultant...
Okay, I've been to about 52 weddings, give or take a few... admittedly, as a videographer. Toting around a camera at other people's ceremonies was part of how I paid for some of my last year of school, as a cameraman and editor for Classic Videos by Brenner, located in Grand Rapids, MI. I should Google that and see if he's still in existance. In any case, I'm completely blunted to the concept of weddings now; my brain is on a forced pre-edit track whenever near one, thinking only of what shots to get and which kid-pulling-another-kids-hair cute moment would be best for B-roll material. The only wedding I've ever been invited to was my older sister's... and because I knew nothing else, I took a camera and went in a T-shirt, instead of dressing nice and sitting in the pews with everybody else. Gods, I felt so lame, thinking back on it.
Well... Invite #2 just arrived. This is my first 'non-relative' important event I've ever been invited to in my life. My old Phido-616 hackerbuddy from my late high-school days, Brian Reid, is gettin' hitched... and within a bkeable distance, too: Las Vegas. He lives in Henderson now, not far from where I used to live in Boulder City. I think this is so cool. Beaker (as some of us called him) is in love. Agent Orange, 00J, the sardonic-humor king of our section of the Fidonet and Citanet... getting married. The very idea of it makes me grin like an electronic monk on stupid pills. This dude rocks.
So... what the heck do I do?
I've video'd a ton of weddings, but never been a true attendee. Do I rent a tux? Do I buy nice clothes? All I own in this world are jeans, solid-color T-shirts, and gymwear (sweats and more solid shirts). Do I buy a gift? If so, how much should I spend? The invite says "and guest". Should I take along a friend, or is that just a courtesy slot for an SO if I have one and otherwise should show up on my own? AAaaack... too many questions. Why wasn't I paying attention during the hundreds of hours of wedding shoots?
I've not spoken a word to Brian in the last 6 years. We were on the best of terms when last we spoke, and I have the utmost respect for him -- we just were pointed different ways in different areas of the country. For all of his hackerish background, he was never into much of the social side of the early net days, so we didn't keep in touch. I want to treat him right and make a good impression, but I feel terribly ill equipped to do so.
My entire life is in the casual section of the big and tall shops, and I haven't done 'fancy' since my first terrible attempts at wearing a suit for job interviews back in 1989/90. Working in the Silicon Valley for the last decade meant that the dressiest I've ever had to do was to make sure the T-shirt I was wearing didn't have any holes torn in them by sharp rack-edges, or at least the holes that were there were hideable. I'm being dead serious here. And, the purchase of anything fancy will be a bit scary-expensive. It's impossible to rent in my size, and the part of the big-and-tall catalogs with suits and fancy button up shirts have pricetags 3-5x anything else they sell. What might be $200 of new duds for a milspec humanoid can be over $1000 in my size, even after the decent weightloss brought by these last 6+ months.
Do I have the time, the money, and the skill to Do a Wedding with the respect due to the only man who could best
traveller_blues in a pun contest? It falls on a date scarily soon; I may not be fully fiscally recovered from my upcoming vacation. I really badly want to go, but I don't want to show up if it'll be an embarrasment for him. Pardon me while I pace and fret now. I've got about 10 days to return the RSVP, so not much time to think about it. What I would give for one of my local friends to show up and play Style Consultant...
