I was invited to the wedding of a member of my boyfriend’s family, down in North Carolina last year. The experience taught me that when it comes time for me to tie the knot, at the top of the list of things to do and buy will be wedding insurance!

Wedding insurance is not the most romantic of subjects, in fact it ranks somewhere down near halitosis and planar warts, but I learned to look at the subject in a completely different light.

We had to travel down to the Blue Ridge Mountains two weeks before the wedding day, right down in the western part of the Tar Heel state, sandwiched between Georgia and Tennessee. Beautiful mountain country with crystal clear skies but none of us knew about the storm clouds on the horizon.

There were two wedding rehearsals to go to, I didn’t have to go but I wanted to show my boyfriend my support, just in case he got an idea about doing it for real himself. The first rehearsal went well and then a couple of days later we had a second rehearsal, this time with everyone dressed up. Now I thought it was bad luck for a bride to be seen in her wedding dress before the wedding, but she seemed to think it only applied on the day of the wedding itself. I think she got it completely wrong because as she was getting out of the car, her dress caught on something and a huge tear got put in it. More than that, the train got trapped in the door and ended with a huge, very ugly, oily stain – no dry cleaner was going to take that mess out!

Undeterred, the wedding was to continue and everyone was making preparations until a couple of days after the dress incident, there was a series of terse phone calls being made. It turned out that the venue for the reception was going to have a problem hosting the event – the hotel had been undergoing a refurbishment and delays in the work meant it would not be open in time for the reception. Nothing like having a wedding reception for two hundred and nowhere to put everyone!

Several days go by and a new venue is found; one of the family has a country place with a huge barn which was turned into a suitable venue, and the caterers were able to cooperate with delivering the food and preparation equipment there, though it did run a little more than planned. By this time, I think I would have been extremely nervous, but unfortunately, there was worse, much worse to follow!

The big day arrives, the bride is beautiful and the weather was perfect despite being a little chilly with the altitude. Something about the mountains leaves you breathless, but it is the thinner air and not just the view; this had a role to play in later events I’m sure.

Every wedding is not complete unless there is a wedding photographer snapping away, and sure enough, there was this wizened, old guy with jet black hair you just knew came out of a bottle. He followed the event through the day, taking the photos outside of the church and later at the reception he sure seemed to be doing a great job. Until he started yelling at a bunch of people and started getting very upset – it turned out someone had stolen his bag, which not only contained a few thousand bucks of equipment but also most of the wedding photographs he’d been taking throughout the day.

One thing led to another, and the groom’s mom started yelling at someone on the bride’s side and before you know it, there was this huge shouting match between the two sets of families. That is until the bride’s dad decided he had chest pains and fell over – I did mention the thin air at high altitudes didn’t I?

I remember the music playing at the time – Things Can Only Get Better – after that wedding, things could not get any worse!

Lawrence Reaves writes for a leading authority on loose diamonds, diamond engagement rings and fine jewelry. Danforth Diamond provides wisdom and advice to help you choose the right ring at the right price. Visit DanforthDiamond.com or call 877.404.RING

I love going to weddings because I enjoy the event; it’s a good chance to get all my bff’s in one place so we can catch up with what’s happened in our lives. I also love it because I’m almost the last of my crowd who is single, and being 6 feet tall and having played volleyball for state, I’m the favorite when it comes to catching the bouquet!

Catching the bouquet has become something of a pastime for me; not because I want to get married – I don’t!

Of the last seven weddings I’ve been to, I caught the flowers five times. I only lost out on one occasion because my heel snapped as I made my move, and the other time was because my date really does want to get married and I couldn’t risk the complications.

The reason I love this pastime is because there is definite electricity in the air, ambient nervous tension and anticipation amongst the singles. The girls are all wishing they are going to be the one to grab the blooms so their long term boyfriend gets the message that it’s time to take things to the “next level”. Meantime, the guys are all tens, nervously cracking jokes and swaggering around, usually near the bar, hoping someone else’s girl proves she’s good at catch.

Things relax once the ritual is over, though. You see a sense of disappointment in the women, while the victor emerges with excited glee but if you focus on the men, you start to see them all smiling and a look of relief comes over them. The rest of the single guys can now relax, and enjoy the spectacle and discomfort associated with the guy whose girl is supposed to be getting hitched next – if the tradition is to be followed.

You also can see some of the married guys shaking their heads and thinking, “Poor sap!” and I agree with them to some extent. I’ve noticed how some of my girlfriends have changed since they got wed; some for better and some for worse. For the most part though, people just seem to go along and I’m all right with that too.

I play this game because I just love introducing some tension into the lives of my dates. I’m single and have no intention of getting married – as my grandmother keeps telling me, “Always a bridesmaid, never a bride!”, but then I’m fine with that.

Being one of the last single women in my group makes me a target for more than just encouragement and helpful hints. I’m happy as I am; I have a career where I make more than many men, I have a cat who is faithful and the best part is not having to worry about a big hunk, snoring and farting on whatever side of the bed he thinks is his.

For these and many other reasons, I’m fine with always being a bridesmaid and never the bride!

Lawrence Reaves writes for a leading authority on wedding rings, diamond rings and fine jewelry. Danforth Diamond provides wisdom and advice to help you choose the right ring at the right price. Visit DanforthDiamond.com or call 877.404.RING