The Wedding Blind Date

So my roommate from college was getting married. Of course I was invited to the wedding. I RSVP'd months ago and said I would bring a date. Trouble is, it was a week before the wedding and I didn't have a date. I had plans with one person, but they fell through, so here I was, in a situation where I get to be the single guy at the table full of all the couples that I've known for ages.

Let me rewind, a couple of months ago, I went out of town for a buddy's wedding. I went stag. It was just a couple of months after my fiance and I split up and at first I thought, "no big deal." It wasn't till I got there and sat through the ceremony surrounded by all couples that I realized that I was by myself. I really felt lonely. That was a really hard time for me. My friends were there and we were going to have a good time, but there are those tender moments during a wedding where it just feels nice to be with someone.

So back to the present day. What do I do? Do I cancel my attendance cause I can't face being at a wedding by myself? Do I go stag? These questions were running through my head as the weekend neared. Psychologically, I don't know if I was ready to kick myself again. Than in an act of desperation, I called an old friend and asked her to set me up with anyone. And I meant anyone. Kudos to her, she found me a date within an hour. A friend of hers who understood the drag of going to weddings alone. The girl was like 5 years younger than me, but what the hell. My friend said she was a fun person and I didn't have any room to be picky.

So I pick her up and at first it was a bit awkward (afterall, it was the first time we met). The drive was about 90 minutes, so we had plenty of time to get to know eachother. The conversation was good and I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing. We got to the ceremony late and snuck into the back (Philly traffic). After the ceremony, we all congregated outside the church and I of course did intros with as many people who's names I could remember. Than it was off to the reception for cocktails.

Man, this girl could drink. She was one her second while I was finishing my first. She made conversation with my friends and we seemed to be pulling it off. Everyone new she was just my wedding date, but thus far, a potentially ego-demolishing situation was turning out to be pretty good. Dinner was the usual antics with us all having a lot of laughs as we harassed the bride, groom and our friends at another table. Dancing was okay, but the music was more live classic band than a typical wedding DJ. My date and I were hitting it off well, no real chemistry but a ton of laughs. While we were dancing, she started to kiss me. I was shocked, but in the middle of the floor, I just went with the flow. I didn't want to make a scene. Than she froze and started to apologize profusely. I pulled her close and told her it was okay and to calm down. I kept saying "no big deal, just calm down." Remember, we're in the middle of an almost empty dance floor. We walked off the floor and schmoozed a bit more before it was time to leave.

As we were leaving, she started to kiss me again and she offered that if I didn't feel like driving home, we could get a room at a local hotel. Now, part of me said do it. If you get a hotel, thats practically guaranteed overnight fun. Another part of me said take her home, you've both been drinking and the last thing you want is to have a story like this get back to the friend that set you up. It took a lot of will power for the horn-dog in me to get crushed and I rushed us to the car before my loins could change my mind. The car ride home was quiet. She didn't say much. Maybe it was the booze sickness or maybe she was still freaking out.

I dropped her off and drove back to my house. I was pretty happy. I had fun at a wedding that for a moment I was dreading. It turned out to be one of the funnest weddings I've been too and yet I didn't even know my date. Go figure. Another life lesson.

Epilogue: Got an email from the wedding date (I had already sent a thanks you were an amazing date message). She explained that she freaked out cause she is unofficially seeing someone and shouldn't have kissed me. I of course replied that it was a wedding and there was drinking, these things happen, no worries. Now I keep thinking back and saying, wow, what if I had gotten the hotel she suggested. That really would have messed up her relationship and it would be my fault. I would have messed up something for someone who was doing something nice for me.