The traditional wedding “season” begins in May when the weather warms up and flowers begin to bloom and usually ends by early autumn. This year, my wedding season started January 1st, on a bitterly cold evening in Jersey City and will end December 19th on what will most likely be a bitterly cold day in Boston.

My boyfriend Dave and I are invited to 10 weddings in 2009, including 5 ceremonies in a 7 week stretch this summer (there was a half packed suitcase on my bedroom floor for over a month – not easy for a neat freak like me.) Our friends have pretty much stopped asking what we have planned for the weekend or in the very least preempt any summer weekend invitation with a “do you guys have a wedding?” When I go home to Buffalo to visit my parents, my mother sends me back with two things: wedding cards and magnets (“to hang up all your invitations”). Fair enough- we have returned RSVPs nearing or exceeding double digits each year for the past 3 years. I get it!

As I reflect on these weddings and those yet to come, I realize that I’ve learned much more than how to strategically coordinate my dress selections and Dave’s suit/tie combinations. Our friends truly are unique and you can see their personalities in the details of their special day. Each wedding stands out in at least one way and we’ve seen an astonishing assortment:

• 18-person jazz orchestra
• fireworks that would rival most towns on the 4th of July
• meeting Dave’s parents for the first time
• my first hora (and second and third….)
• a view overlooking Manhattan on New Year’s Eve
• wine tasting room with a sommelier that knew your favorite wine just by looking at you
• one of my best friends wearing a fabulous Priscilla of Boston gown (go MMC!)
• a reception at the country club where I had my high school prom
• all my college friends back in our college town
• choreographed dance numbers that put us on the set of a Bollywood film
• a castle overlooking the lake at sunset
• dessert bar that would put New York’s best bakery to shame
• after hours party that went until the sun came up (okay, that one has happened more than once…)
• and who could forget having to turn the car around because the groom forgot his tuxedo pants?!

These moments are priceless!

To everyone who has shared their day with us (and for all the save the dates already hanging on our fridge)….Thank You, Congratulations and Mazal Tov!