one to throw seating arrangements away like they were nothing.
The kicker of the wedding planning was when Max announced that they wanted a friend of theirs to marry them. “Absolutely not,” Weezy had said. “It’s not even legal.”
“Mom, it’s legal,” Max said. “Everyone does it now.”
“Why don’t you have Deacon Callaghan? Or even a judge?” But it was like Weezy wasn’t even talking, and somehow it was decided that Max’s friend Ben (a boy who was once almost kicked out of school for ripping the doors off all of the bathroom stalls in their dorm freshman year) would be the one to marry them. They might as well have had a Muppet do the honors.
THE CEREMONY WAS BRIEF. Cleo and Max had put it all together on their own. After Ben was chosen as the officiant (Weezy still couldn’t say that without a sneer), she decided to just let them do what they were going to do.
Claire and Martha walked down the aisle, and then Cleo followed them, alone. Her mother was sitting in the front row, and she looked just like Weezy felt: Let this day be over with, please God, soon.
One of their friends read a love poem by George Eliot, which Weezy had to admit was nice. Then Max and Cleo filled a glass jar by pouring two different-colored sands into it, Max with blue and Cleo with yellow, which seemed a bit silly. Another friend played the guitar and sang, a lovely but very sad song called “Hallelujah.” Weezy had been excited when she’d heard the name of it, but then quickly realized it wasn’t the least bit religious, and wasn’t even joyful. There were parts about tying people to kitchen chairs, cutting hair, and bathing on the roof. She hoped that no one was really listening to the words.
Before they exchanged vows, Ben talked about the couple, and said how after Max had met Cleo, he’d told everyone that he’d met “the hottest girl he’d ever seen.” People laughed at this, but Weezy was just plain embarrassed. Then the two of them were facing each other, promising to be friends forever, to love each other, and then Ben was pronouncing them husband and wife, which seemed impossible, Weezy thought, because it was just some words spoken in the backyard. It didn’t seem real at all.
The whole crowd cheered as they walked down the aisle, and then someone handed each of them a glass of champagne and everyone was clinking glasses and hugging. Weezy went up to both of them and kissed and hugged them. She figured if she pretended like this was a real wedding, eventually it would start to feel like it.
One of Max’s friends was a DJ, and he and Cleo had insisted that he should do the music for the wedding. So Weezy hired a twenty-one-year-old kid to be in charge, and just as she predicted, it was a mistake. As soon as the vows were done, he decided it was time for the music. He started off playing a loud song, and the only words that Weezy could make out throughout the whole thing were “bad romance.” So, not only did all of the adults look shocked at the noise, but it didn’t seem to be a very wedding-appropriate choice.
As the night went on, the older people made their exit quickly. Weezy couldn’t blame them. The music got louder with each song, and more vulgar. Her friends came up to say good-bye to her, hugging her and kissing her on the cheek, as though this was a normal wedding. Almost everyone had brought a card with money in it for Max and Cleo, and they’d deposited them into a birdcage that was set up for the purpose. (The birdcage was Samuel’s idea, and it was a genius one. It gave the cards a safe place to go, but it wasn’t so obvious that it looked like they were begging for money.) It seemed a little sad that all the new couple were getting was cash, but then again, what else would people give a young couple who were expecting their first child in the very near future? A place setting of china? A Cuisinart? No, cash was the only practical thing. Weezy would have done the same if she’d been a guest at the wedding.
Max and Cleo seemed to be having a good time, which was nice, although Weezy was a little shocked to see Cleo out there dancing, shaking her