When my younger sister, who is getting married in December, sent me a YouTube link on an e-mail last week titled "Idea for our wedding (!)", I was expecting one of the usual wedding funnies. Something along the lines of the bride falling headfirst into her towering sponge cake; or a catastrophically inappropriate speech that manages to offend the entire party. As everyone knows, the funniest part of any wedding (except your own, that is) is when things go wrong. There's the bride in all her meringue perfection - and she's covered in cake. Hilarious! Oh, and there's the wedding car veering off course and totalling the marquee. Oh, how we laughed! This one, though, was different.
By now, many of you have probably seen the video of Jill and Kevin's big day - the one where the bride, groom, groomsmen and bridesmaids dance down the aisle to the Chris Brown song Forever. It first aired a couple of weeks ago, and quickly went viral, with around 12 million hits in 10 days. The blogosphere has been raining hyperbole ever since. There hasn't been so much overblown enthusiasm since Slumdog Millionaire came out. Of course, the cynical, emotionally devoid Brit in me wants to dismiss the whole thing as a giant cheese-fest. But I must admit, not only do I agree with them, I cannot stop watching it. I must have done so 20 times (in my own time, naturally). Even worse, I've downloaded the song on to my iPod.
But in a world of pandemics and recession, watching a group of young, carefree friends having a great time is just so - kill me now - life-affirming. They're not models. They're not even very good dancers, some of them. But celebration is catching. Even now, having seen it more times than is strictly normal for someone who doesn't know Jill or Kevin, an inane grin involuntarily creeps across my face.
Maybe it's a girl thing. After all, weddings are generally accepted as the female domain. But my husband loves the video, too, and was the first one to attempt a reconstruction when Forever came on the radio the other day. What's annoying now is that it has become so popular that it takes forever to load. So I am being forced to wean myself off it, and find other rays of sunshine to brighten my day. A ray, you might think, in the shape of my own wedding video? Perhaps. But only if I get desperate. And in the meantime, there's always December...