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What's Geekier Than a Ferengi Bridesmaid?
gbulmash asks: "The newly updated "Star Trek: The Experience" at the Las Vegas Hilton not only offers thrills, chills, and a Borg invasion... It's offering Trek-themed Wedding Packages. You can be married on a replica of the Enterprise bridge by a costumed starfleet officer and have additional Trek characters as guests. I thought "how geeky", but then remembered the guy who paid $22,550 for Joaquin Phoenix's white armor from Gladiator , claiming he was going to wear it at his wedding. All this has inspired me to ask what's the geekiest or nerdiest thing you've ever encountered at a wedding? There was a thread on geeky party favors for a wedding last year, but this question goes beyond that... getting married by a Gandalf impersonator, a cake shaped like Cthulu, groom dressed as Darth Vader and his best man is a stormtrooper. I know tales like these are out there, so please share them."
My dad married his second wife in Vegas, by an Elvis impersonator, on April 1st.
;)
It's brilliant: if he ever forgets his anniversary, he can just say: "you thought I forgot? April fools!"
Asking your girlfriend to marry you in front of millions of geeks around the world...
First paragraph offtopic. I've seen every episode of Trek since The Cage and I eagerly await today's Enterprise new episode "Damage" with glee. But despite having seen close to a thousand episodes of Trek, I'm at a loss for words trying to come up with a good Ferengi joke! So I'll just be serious instead.
People hate tradition these days. The evidence is all around us. Religion becoming less popular, holidays and birthdays being chores and not celebrations, family reuinions being avoided, social events feared and loathed, etc, etc, etc.
So it's no surprise that the ceremony of marrying a man and a woman is being looked at the same way. People want to defy tradition. What better way to defy tradition than to get married in the most odd manner possible?
Of course many people are content to just get married without a ceremony, or with a tiny one. And some people are content to just follow tradition because they have nothing better to do.
You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
*ducks*
Stick Men
*ducks again*
Stick Men
You may now assimilate the bride. Or would the bride assimilate the groom?
But amusing none the less. I have a friend who attended a wedding where the groom's friends had a running inside joke that he was the cheap, miserly type. The wedding reception was typically lavish with all the trimmings except that at each place setting, under the silverwear - where McDonald's napkins. Got a good laugh out of everyone who knew the joke. The rest of the guests were a little perplexed though.
As for true geekdom at a wedding - closest thing I've seen is some of the groom's roleplaying buddies getting drunk and taking the microphone to tell anecdotes that happened in game. That was mortifyingly geeky but really had more to do with alcohol than actual geekdom.
In the Ferengi culture, females are not allowed to wear clothing. If your bride to be has the balls (no pun intended) to go through with a traditional Ferengi wedding, then you truly are marrying a goddess.
In related news, please invite me to your wedding. Thanks.
Yeah, I saw The Simpsons last Sunday too.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
What do you get a mixed couple consisting of a Ferengi and an Elf? A set of Silmarils that they can sell to the highest bidder?
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
The renaissance-theme wedding with 60+ guests in full costume, or my wife making a renaissance wedding website shortly there-after. Or making renaissance-theme jewelery + website shortly after that. But of course, I suspected she was a geek before we married.
What were you expecting?
...she may demand a Betazoid wedding instead, where no one wears clothing.
I can't remember where I saw this mentioned (Fark maybe?), but here's some frightening pictures of a Klingon Wedding. *shudder*
Trolls lurk everywhere. Mod them down.
Speaking as someone who's been through the protracted loss of a partner, I can vouch for the necessity of taking time away from them. The normalcy of going to do your job or the triviality of Slashdotting is a good way to recharge your emotional batteries, so that the time spent together remains worthwhile. I'm not going to armchair-quarterback the specific incident he mentioned, but in general, maintaining a life beyond just caring for your loved one is not only appropriate, it's essential.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
Strange you should mention that, but I used to have lots of friends who were girls, many more than males. You could have far better, deeper conversations with them and they were often more open-minded.
When I was at school, I used to sit beside all the girls in class because they were very lovely and also well-behved so you could get peace and quiet to get on with learning stuff. I was the only boy in my physics class to get an A. The rest all failed except for a couple who got Cs.
As one gets older, and people pair off, friendships with the opposite sex decline and fade. I've lost some of my best friends in recent years.
Stick Men
It's just some bad fiction--don't bother with the journal entry.
From the journal...
So cut the poor guy some slack. I hope he tells his wife slashdotters say, "get well soon" -- instead of thinking about how some coward tried to make him feel even worse than he felt before.
Am I the only one who realizes that a Ferengi bridesmaid would have to be naked to be realistic? Female Ferengi aren't permitted to wear clothes!
Actually I'm posting on /. from a laptop while sitting right beside her. If you'd read any more of my journal/posts you'd know I am online at night while she sleeps (when she does)-
And apart for the six 'critical' hours I was away for that damn server problem, I haven't been away from her for more than 20 min *ever* in the past month or so.
So yeah, I'd like to think I'm trying to "do the right thing" -
"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams."
This is probably just me but I find all of this really mortifying and stupid. I'm a big geek. I can count in klingon and I know backstories of Star Wars characters that appeared on screen for 2 seconds.
Still, it really rubs be the wrong way to think that people can be so into this that they will taint an important day like that with it. I mean really, you're making a promise to spend your life with someone and they basically make a joke of it. Why would you do that? It's supposed to be a solem occasion. Do you want to show pictures of that to your kids? Why not just dress up as clowns and get married by a hedgehog?
Get silly at your reception but the idea of getting married with lightsabers or in elvish really gives me the creeps.
Blaze a trail to the New World
I think it was April 26th, 1999, or shortly after. My fiancée and I were discussing when we should get married. My sister had a wedding coming up as well and we didn't want our weddings to conflict. I was thinking about this User Friendly comic and said "Well, we can eliminate May 19th, or none of our friends will be there."
My fiancée responded, "Well, we could have it May 19th, if we had it at the theater. . . ."
Went down and asked the local Edwards theater manager if we could have the wedding May 19th in the lobby. He had to check with Mr. Edwards himself, but we got the ok. People were already in line outside the theater.
I called the state for what was required to officiate a wedding. They referred me to the Universal Life Church, which I found offered on-line ordination. So I instant messaged a friend of mine at work and he went and got his ordination real quick, printing his certificate out at work (I think it still hangs in his cubicle). He agreed to dress as Qui Gon Gin and quote Yoda in the ceremony ("Do, or do not. There is no try.")
A friend of mine volunteered his for his wife, a very talented seamstress, to make our costumes. We set out to find the assorted props and such that we would need to complete the experience. I picked up a toy Han Solo blaster from Toys 'R Us. It was made of orange plastic. I used a black magic marker to color it black, adding a few highlights and scuffs.
We camped out overnight the last day, night and day before tickets went on sale. My boss gave me time off since he knew it was for getting hitched and all. We bought tickets for the first show after 5pm on the 19th (although a lot of the guests went to the midnight one too), so the most people could attend.
Everyone was in costume. I was Han Solo, she was Princess Leia and Darth Vader gave her away, Chewbaka was my best man while Boba Fett looked on. Jedis, with their lightsabers drawn, lined the isle. The ceremony music from the end of Episode 4 filled the lobby for the wedding march, and after the wedding we played the original celebration music from the end of Episode 6.
Then the manager let us all go straight to the theater to get good seats for the movie. No standing in line outside necessary (which some people had been doing all week). We lined up outside the theater while they finished cleaning it up. My wife and I walked down the line of guests and shook their hands. A reverse wedding line is much more efficient then a traditional one.
I ran to use the restroom before the movie started, and I ran into a guy who saw I was dressed up and said Did you hear someone got married out in the lobby?
"Anything is possible with enough programmers, time and pizza." (Substitute caffeine for time as needed.)
Friends whom I would have sworn were going to get married in full SCA attire or dressed like Imperial Stormtroopers have gone meekly to the altar in white dresses and tuxes because of pressure from family and the spouse-to-be. The wedding is traditionally the province of the bride, and paid for by the bride's family, and many a foot has been put down about wedding details. I imagine conversations something like this:
"Honey, I want to dress like Darth Vader for our wedding." "No, you don't, dear." "But I really--" "No. You. Don't. Dear." "...So, tuxedo with tails, then?"
"And then the minstrels are going to go down the aisle--" "Wouldn't you rather have a nice, traditional wedding?" "Well, SCA is really important to us--" "I'm not paying for my daughter to be married in some medieval Halloween costume."
I suspect many, uh, "creative" wedding plans have been scrapped in favor of domestic tranquility and financing. So when you do get a true geek wedding, it's because both partners are hardcore geeks (or one is very tolerant), and they are secure enough financially and in their relationships with their families to do things their way.
That said...if I ever do lose my mind and get married: Vegas. Elvis impersonator. Biker boots and a leather miniskirt. Then a wild night of drunkenness in which my groom and I frighten old ladies and wake up the next evening with no memory of what transpired. Ah, I have such a soft spot for fantasy weddings.
-Carolyn
Like Daddy always said: if you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit.
I thought "how geeky", but then remembered the guy who paid $22,550 for Joaquin Phoenix's white armor from Gladiator, claiming he was going to wear it at his wedding.
Sounds like he picked the right color to wear for his wedding.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
You gotta be careful with that wording, my first though was, damn I didn't know Rednecks read slashdot and why would they wear a wizard costume??.
As for a Ferengi bridesmaid having to be naked, who says it has to be female? I know of at least one woman who had her gay male best friend be her maid of honor. And no, he didn't wear a dress. He wore a man's suit, but in the same color as the bridesmaids dresses.
- Greg
Start a happiness pandemic
I didn't know Rednecks read slashdot and why would they wear a wizard costume
:o)
You misunderstood - if you prefixed the word wizard with the word grand, it all makes sense
Can we presume on the honeymoon Han fired first? =)
(I think star trek weddings are geeky in a very scary way, but that's a great wedding story that's geeky in a cute way.)
In eleven minutes? That was quick.
I want my Cowboyneal
My wife and I said our vows in a traditional setting, but our reception was at Oriole Park at Camdem Yards in the right field warehouse. It was certainly more memorable than a typical hotel wedding reception.
------
www.moneybythenumbers.com
There's an underwater hotel in Key Largo with wedding packages. You have to scuba dive to get down to the hotel. The notary public dives down to perform the service. I've been wanting to stay at the hotel just for the experience, it sounds fun. It could probably get a little claustrophobic though.
Once, I got talking to a coworker about this. She said that she had anticipated this problem when she got married but they'd picked a venue to help them out. They got married on a small yacht with a maximum capacity of 17 passengers. When her Mom tried to add some out of state relatives to the list, she casually replied:
"Of course they're invited! But are you sure Auntie Debbie can tread water in her wheelchair?"
"Prepare for the worst - hope for the best."
The wedding was planned to happen in a park on the Saturday before Halloween. Tim arrived at the park in the radio station's Hummer from doing a remote show wearing his "The Tim Reaper" costume. It consisted of a skeleton unitard, a red satin cape, and devil's pitchfork. We were all stunned, but Jim explained he had brought his minister robes. He ran back to the Hummer zipped on the robe. We couldn't tell if he still had the unitard on because were distracted by the huge coffee stain on the front of the robe.
Despite all this, we were all happy our friends were married and domestic bliss was ensured. Then about 2 years later, my friend saw Tim at a local bar. Tim was telling another patron about marriages he had performed. He said he married a couple and forgot to file the papers for a year. My friend turned to Tim and said , "Hey, you married my wife and me two years ago." Tim quickly replied, "I know it wasn't you. I am pretty sure." ;-)