Twelve hours before my niece’s wedding was scheduled to begin, decorations still needed hanging, my laptop (the sole source of the evening’s music) started acting up, and the wedding cake had just fallen off the table, onto the floor.

Jessica, my oldest niece, was born in 1989. She was four when Susan and I moved in together, and had just turned six when she served as a flower girl (along with her sister) at our wedding in 1995.

Twenty-one years later, it was Jessica’s turn to stand at the altar, with my daughter Morgan as one of the bridesmaids and Jessica’s nieces throwing out the flower pedals behind her.

Time indeed flies.

Weddings in movies and on television are a glorious thing. My wife loves the television show Say Yes to the Dress, where brides-to-be try on multiple dresses and are forced to choose between the $10,000 one and the $15,000 ones. (On some episodes, they buy both.) My tree’s not on that side of the tracks — I ain’t no fortunate one, no. My wedding, and most of the family weddings I’ve attended, consisted of people paying for what they had to, and relying on family members to pitch in where they could and help out with the rest. That’s how our wedding was, and that’s how Jessica’s wedding was. People brought food. People made centerpieces. People hung decorations. People arranged and rearranged tables and chairs. People helped clean up afterwards. People celebrated.

Twenty-one years later, Susan can still tell you everything that didn’t go quite right at our wedding. I don’t remember anything going wrong, and nobody else who was there does either. Nobody on the dance floor last night saw me scrambling on my laptop and filling song requests and changes by pulling them down off the internet while the live music was playing. Nobody noticed any of the little details. All they noticed was that two kids (“kids”) got married and had a great wedding and a great reception.

So, about that cake.

A few tears were shed and a few words were said and after that, my sister-in-law got to work making another one. An entirely new cake was made and decorated in just a few hours. People who saw the second cake had no idea that it was the second cake. The cake was wonderful.

So was the wedding. Congratulations to Kyle and Jessica. I know you don’t feel old yet, but wait until you’re helping move tables at Morgan’s wedding. ;)