No. 724 – Wonderwall

Performer: Oasis

Songwriter: Noel Gallagher

Original Release: (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?

Year: 1995

Definitive Version: None

When we last checked in with the soon-to-be-wedded groom, Scott was being tormented by his brother-in-law-to-be John playing Oasis songs in our Days Inn room.

Somehow we made it through the night with Scott killing neither one of us nor himself, and the big day had finally come. As promised, I got Scott to the church on time. In fact, we were about the first ones there.

Scott wanted to get dressed at the church after running a couple more errands, and considering it was about 80 degrees out in April, I had no desire to sweat up my tux anyway. Scott and I wore what I thought perfectly acceptable attire: Scott had on a Genesis T-shirt; I wore Pearl Jam—the one from the Louisville concert.

John, however, got dressed at the hotel and came ready to roll. We put him in charge of guarding the hallway so when Shani showed up to get dressed, Scott didn’t see her ahead of time as befits the superstition. I got the rings to Matt and Casey, who were going to be ringbearers. The only time Scott went out into the hallway was when Debbie brought Mom, who was very emotional—as was Scott.

At last we were in the holding area before the other groomsmen showed up to begin the procession. We could peak out the door and see everyone being seated when I performed my final pre-ceremony but very unofficial Best Man duty: I gave Scott a last-second escape opportunity.

“OK, man. There’s the door. The car’s right around the corner. If you want to bail for any reason, right now, no questions asked, now’s the time.”

He smiled. “Thanks, no. I’m sure of this.”

“Cool. Let’s do it then.”

And so Scott and Shani got married in a very brief but nice ceremony. The thing that stood out about the ceremony itself was that they played In My Life by The Beatles. I escorted Jin down the aisle when the ceremony was over, and we were the first to get to Scott and Shani to congratulate them.

I got a great picture of the two of them, and they looked happy with no visible signs of relief that the actual ceremony was over. I was glad to get it to, because after that, we took photos at the church. After an hour, the expressions were a bit more plastered on.

Then came the real drama—the reception. It was dramatic for two reasons. First, Shani’s father was threatening to murder the prepaid DJ, who had called in sick from partying too much the night before and couldn’t/didn’t want to make the reception. I found out about this while Scott was getting dressed, and being in a position to do nothing about it at the time said, well, whatever you do, don’t tell Scott. He’s under enough stress right now. Of course, someone told Scott before the wedding. Huh boy ...

The second thing was my family—Dad’s family. My grandfather went out of his way to make it clear that he didn’t want me and Debbie to cause a scene by doing something that would upset family members, such as dancing together … at my brother’s wedding reception. My perspective: I wasn’t going to cause a scene, but I couldn’t guarantee my family wouldn’t by storming out of Scott’s reception. I wasn’t going to do anything to upset Scott, so I went along with it.

Debbie didn’t like it, and I agreed with her. It sucked. Well, they can’t prevent us from at least sitting together at the same table after dinner, which is what we did. Debbie sat with Mom and the other members of the Waddell family and had a pretty good time, all things considered. I wasn’t the groom, so I didn’t have to make any rounds, and I spent no more time with Dad’s side of the family than was absolutely necessary.

The wedding was the final nail in the coffin in our relationship, and I would have next to no contact with any of them for the next three years, but I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.

We had a good dinner, and I killed it with my well-prepared and memorized “off-the-cuff” speech, reciting a story of when Scott and Shani first started dating while referencing “the great modern American poet … Sammy Hagar.” A backup DJ was found. (Really, all we needed was someone who could hook up the stereo system to the speakers at the UAW Hall where we had the reception. Shani’s father was a union bigwig at the Marion GM plant.) And the bash more or less continued as planned.

I don’t know how this went over with a certain congregation when I went out to catch the garter. Usually I don’t go in for that part of the festivites, but it was my brother, and I told everyone ahead of time I was catching the garter—not to make some sort of “we’re next” statement but because I wanted it.

The evening finally wound up as a drunken and funny John entertained the stragglers after the DJ left with the karaoke stylings of the Carpenters. (What, no Oasis?) I collected Jin from the ladies’ bathroom and snapped one more shot of Scott and Shani before they split. This one—after they changed back into their prewedding clothes—featured no smiles, just a worn-out thank-goodness-that’s-done expression.

I love to A/B the two pictures I took of them that day, and there’s no question that the immediate post-wedding reaction of the two was legit. They recently celebrated anniversary No. 16 and Scott’s never voiced regret at not accepting my generous last-second offer.