Isn't it a lovely day?

My younger of two daughters will soon marry. I'm a bit more mature than when I married, I notice the subtle fabric of these ceremonies and preparations. When I married, I focused on the minutia, I worried about costs, I helped plan the honeymoon, thought about my daughters someday to be and I said I do.

Now, I think of the complicated culture of marriage, the meaning of life commitment, of gaining new family and a new son. I don’t dwell on the doling out of money to fuel dreams of what people expect a marriage to be. I'm celebrating one of life's great moments. I revel in the process and find human life to be richer for it.

Many guys don’t see the need for all this or don’t quite recognize how special it is to the bride. But if his love is mature enough, he’ll be taking his first steps to understanding and appreciating that soul reaching out to him.
 

The Hallmark movie last night featured a young groom who would have preferred to show up in jeans and eat a cake shaped like a football. Although it was a bit of a caricature, the point was well taken. Guys focus on the result, gals on the process. You can’t have one without the other and the renaissance man revels in it. My about to be son-in-law is such a man.

A marriage is like two people who start a dance through the hard and easy of life and never take their eyes off each other.
Isn't It a Lovely Day, written by Irving Berlin, sung by Fred Astaire and danced with his partner Ginger Rogers, from the movie Top Hat 1935.

If you have a favorite wedding song, let me know and I'll blog it.

Dolorah offered Unchained Melody, Endless Love and I will Always Love You:
I'll pick Unchained Melody, originally written in 1936 offered to Bing Crosby who refused it. It sat for twenty years. Many consider it's best version was rendered by the Righteous Brothers in 1965:

 

In Your Easter Bonnet, March 31, 2013

In your Easter Bonnet, EASTER PARADE

 

It's Easter. I'm reminded of simpler times when I hear Bing Crosby or Judy Garland and Fred Astaire sing 'Easter Parade' by Irving Berlin. I enjoyed Judy and Fred's scene below in which some subtle (pre-equal rights movement for women) play is on display when Judy and Fred reverse gender roles.

 

It's a bit of a stretch to work in the male POV here. I could say that I love the romance and am building my own blog memory of what attracks me, which is true. But I also believe a good romance can also have some fun with role playing. Who doesn't enjoy a story with a tom boy or a tom boyish scene. But can the same be said for a metro-sexual male (like Fred Astaire)? More power to the writer who can sell a "beta" (not alpha) male or show an arc for the male character changing from beta to alpha or somewhere inbetween. Was Fred a beta or alpha? His screen romances certainly sold.

 

Judy Garland was hounded by the studios to lose weight, which led her to drug addiction and eventual suicide. Judy had a natural beauty that shouldn't have been messed with. Besides her primary draw at the box office came from her singing and her history as a child actress. The producers missed the point to why the public would go out to see a Judy Garland movie.