Travel

Travel Note

The Venue

Weddings today are basically secular. They’re less about the church service and more about the reception. Yet wedding receptions are full of deep symbolism. They’re a ritual gathering to join The Loving Couple’s separate pasts with a collective future. They welcome a new person in a family, a circle; a community.And performing a speech stamps the new union with shared approval. Speech-Givers make a sort of sacrifice for the bride and groom. They are publicly vulnerable. For most people, it is the only time when one faces a crowd of friends and strangers with a creative expression. What’s more, they must mine their personal experience to find the essence of a relationship. The Speech-Giver risks shame and embarrassment. But the Speech-Giver risks all this because, symbolically, they are showing The Loving Couple can trust each other to love and be loved.