Peter Bregman is my hands-down
favorite business writer. And so it
might seem strange that I’m linking to one of his posts here on my wedding
blog. Well, this article is his reflection
on the advice a friend gave him the night before his wedding––advice that served
him well on his wedding day and for many days after, both professionally and
personally.
Enjoy!
by Peter Bregman
| January 24, 2013 | HBR
Blog
The night before our wedding,
Eleanor and I stood awkwardly in the center of a large room, surrounded by our
family and our closest friends. There was no particular reason to be
uncomfortable; this was just a rehearsal. Still, we were in the spotlight and things
weren't going smoothly. Neither the rabbi nor the cantor had arrived and we
didn't know where to stand, what to say, or what to do.
It had taken us 11 years — and a
lot of work — to get to this point. Eleanor is Episcopalian, the daughter of a
deacon, and I am Jewish, the son of a Holocaust survivor. The one thing our
parents agreed about before the wedding was that we shouldn't get married.
A friend of ours, Sue Anne Steffey
Morrow, a Methodist minister, offered to stand in for the Jewish officiants who
were absent. She moved us through the rehearsal, placing people in position,
reading prayers, and lightening the mood with a few well-timed jokes.
When the rehearsal was over and we
were feeling more relaxed, she offered me and Eleanor a piece of advice that
remains one of the best I have ever received.
"Tomorrow hundreds of people
will be watching you on the most important day of your life. Try to remember
this: It's not a performance; it's an experience."
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