Their Big Fat Romanian Wedding: Sunday

Choosing the Axe

Sunday morning arrived after a refreshing sleep at the Enea’s. Daniel (the Romanian groomsmen whose name was mispronounced during the reception entrance) volunteered to pick me up to drive Agape church and drive me to the airport once the service was done. What a good man.

We arrived at 8:15am to see Utu, a hard-working, detailed oriented, worship-ministry-trooper with a big smile, working on the stage set up. Since I didn’t have any gear with me, he had arranged for me to use his guitar rig.

Utu was the ultimate accommodator. Not only did I use his gear but he brought his two electric guitars for me to choose, a Tele-custom and a Parkwood Hybrid. As I was experimenting with the guitars another gentlemen (one of the vocalist) came in with a mid-80s Fender Strat. And a little later another person (I believe the worship leader) came in with a faded Gibson SG for me to use. Utu then apologized as the man who owned the Les Paul was out of town.

I was like a kid in a candy store…or just me in a guitar store.

I ended up using the Parkwood because Utu’s gear was EQed and set up for that guitar, so it sounded amazing.

Introduction to the Team or An Offer Only Jed Could Refuse

As Utu was showing me how to use his rig he would periodically introduce me to the other team members as they showed up. One of the team members was a vocalist was named Denisah (although the Denisah previously mentioned in the other blogs was a worship leader at Agape this was not her; she was on her way to Hawaii to meet up with her family on vacation; we felt sorry for her).

Realizing that I would have remembered this name Utu told me that half of the girls were named Denisah. At that point a male vocalist I had not met yet yelled from the middle of the auditorium yelled “And half of them are single.”

This was sort of like when a mother makes a joke (or a hint in a jokes clothing) about how if I ever wanted to date/court/pursue/propose-to their daughter she (the mother) wouldn’t mind (whether or not the daughter would mind was never established), but never before has man in front of so many people made me an offer (on behalf of so many people) who was not directly related to or responsible for, made me such an offer. First, I was impressed that this man had the ability to detect such and eligible and strapping young bachelor in the room without even meeting him (yes, I’m arrogant); second, I felt sorry for any single women named Denisah who was present.

A lesser man may have cracked under either the pressure or the temptation of the offer (for those single men who are into brunettes, I suggest you get yourself invited to a Romanian wedding); however, I am an expert on being and staying a bachelor, all of the single women named Denisah are still just that: single.

Playing by Ear

The practice started at 8:30am. The music was contemporary worship music with basic chord changes that we all know and love. It was fortunate for me that it wasn’t anything more complicated than I had encountered before.

Half of the songs were in Romanian. For a musician this is a particular challenge because when you are looking at a chord chart the chords you are suppose to play are written above the words they are suppose to be played with. When the words are in a language you don’t understand, it makes the chord chart useful for finding the key of the song and that’s about it. Every bit of ear training and “faking it” trick that I knew was used on these songs.

It worked. After one of the songs the worship leader turned around and said “you must be half Romanian; you know all these songs.” Because I wanted to seem better than I really was I didn’t deny it. I also wondered if being declared half Romanian made me eligible to date/court/pursue/propose-to any single Romanian women who were not named Denisah.

The Service

Agape Church has a half hour of open prayer starting at 9:00am before every service (practice was a refreshing thirty minutes long). After an edifying time of prayer, worship began. I was a little clumsy getting on stage because it was my first time at Agape and I did not know when to get up.

The worship was very much like any worship you might find in any contemporary American church…except half the songs were in Romanian. And like any other worship team, the members, with the exception of a hand raised, stood still…except me.

I must say, I was pretty mellow. I was in a church and a culture I didn’t know very well so I just played it safe acted very mellow.

When I saw Andrew after their short three day honeymoon, he said that according to his parents I wasn’t as mellow as I thought; however, Andrew’s younger brother, Joey (Joey has visited Andrew in Iowa and has seen me lead worship at Des Moines Fellowship), confirmed that I was very calm that particular Sunday.

A Lost Opportunity

The rest of the story is rather bland because it doesn’t involve any of my Romanian friends. We had to leave early to catch my flight so Daniel drove me to the airport about fifteen minutes before the service was over. When I got there I found out the there was trouble with the connecting flight to Denver and I would have to spend the night in a hotel in Portland.

This was great news. It meant I had another opportunity to spend some time with my newly made Romanian friends. The plan was to get settled in the hotel take a quick nap, get a bite to eat then make the call the latest contacts put into my cell phone.

To this day I wish I regret not setting an alarm.

I woke up at about 8:30pm. Because it was late and I knew people had to wake up for work the next day I decided not to call anyone and instead spent the night with Gregory House and Horatio Caine.

The sleep at the hotel was anything but comfortable.

The Trip Home

I left for Chicago the next day and from there I took a “puddle-jumper” to Des Moines. I’m proud to say I wasn’t even close to puking.

Upon arriving home, I watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It was just like that but without the Windex.

Final Thoughts

I have to say how honored I am to have been apart of that wedding. Even though there were ten people on each side Andrew and Oana were not short of people to ask to fill that spot. All though I felt at times like a foreigner I never felt unwelcomed. It was truly a privilege for me to have an inside look into their families, churches and culture as well as being apart of their special day.