When Angelina Jolie revealed that she cried at her engagement, legions of people suddenly saw her as human. Because awwww. Am I right? It's so sweet. But crying at an engagement isn't required. And neither (shockingly) is crying at your wedding.
I know plenty of very happy brides who managed to say their vows without bursting into tears. But I wasn't one of them.
The fact is, the way people react to their weddings IS sometimes telling of how their marriage will go.
It isn't always true. Sometimes a person can be happy and in love and emotional on their wedding day and their marriage can still end, and sometimes they can be emotional because they are actually questioning their marriage and they can pass those tears off as happy tears.
It isn't a litmus test by any means. But it does say something.
I remember the day I married my husband (nine years ago), I was shocked by how much the vows moved me. I am an emotional person, but I am not one who cries in public. Ever. So I was shocked at how I choked up. And then my husband did the same.
It was moving and they WERE happy tears. I felt each word and I felt the enormity of sickness and health and forever. I felt our hands were joined literally in the moment and figuratively for life. It was so moving.
It isn't that everyone must cry to feel that. But not being moved at one's wedding is a little bit of a red flag. Emotion can't be judged, of course.
There are people who laugh at funerals or who get scared when they are excited. Emotions get mixed up. But sometimes fear or numbness is sending a message. Personally, if I HADN'T been moved (crying or not), I would have been worried about my marriage. So yes, crying at a wedding sort of does matter.
When I see a crying bride or groom, I know they feel — and mean — what they are saying.
Do you think crying at weddings matters?
Image via Caitlinator/Flickr
