So, this wedding I went to...it got me thinking about a lot of things. First of all, it was my cousin's and I totally love her and everything, so don't think I'm getting all down on her or any thing. :-)

It was a Catholic wedding, first of all. VERY different experience, even than our wedding. We actually had people as we walked out of this wedding commenting on how much fun they had at OUR wedding. hehe The church it was at is actually the first Catholic church in WI which was pretty cool. It was the church my mom went to as a little girl, too. Unfortunately, it wasn't air conditioned and the sound system was poor. The first thing that got me was all the art/statues/etc. For some reason, it hit me wrong this time. It was so distracting and there were SO many statues of Jesus even right next to each other. Then the shrines in the front to Mary and Joseph...didn't like that. I usually don't care to much about "imagery" but like I said, it seemed too much to me.

The ceremony itself was different. Being not able to hear the priest was tough in and of itself. Everything that was done seemed so "canned" and passion-less. Just lots of monotone repeating of words. Standing and sitting, too. Overall, it was just very awkward to me.

Then I got thinking about these things: The church in "middle America" and the sanctity of marriage. The minute people were out of the church, everyone was drinking beer. I'm talking about the wedding party. Drinking in their wedding clothes in the church parking lot out of the back of a pick-up. What is that?? I'm wondering if drinking is just so much a part of small town life that it's just like having a soda? Who knows.

Also, my cousin and her husband were already living together before they were married and sleeping in the same bed, I can only assume...isn't it the priests job to address this?? I know a couple who was recently turned down by 3 pastors because the situation was addressed and they refused to change. Shouldn't it be the same with the Catholic church? If marriage is so sacred and important, shouldn't all "problems" be addressed and "fixed" before the priest allows them to wed? It just doesn't seem consistent to me. I was given a statistic that 43% of all married Catholics lived together beforehand. I also just read an article in the New York Times about a month ago that said the church's divorce rate is much higher than un-churched people. Am I the only one seeing a GIGANTIC problem?? It just boggles my mind.

To think that not living together and not having pre-marital sex is a good thing in this day and age seems outdated. All I know is that I'm glad Julie and I didn't do those things.