Why we love our officiant

We're ordaining our friend Gene to marry us. We actually laughed about how great it would be have Gene as emcee before we were even engaged. He's The One for many reasons - he's an actor (presence!), a writer (great with words!), and a talk show host (knows how to manipulate a crowd!). But more than all of that, Gene just gets us. He was one of the first people to whom I admitted my burgeoning feelings toward Random Preppy Pink-Shirted Guy. And when random guy became regular guy became boyfriend stuck in the Never-ending Election Recount from Hell, Gene was the one who listened to me whine (I know, I know, why was I whining?!), and then bought me beers at our favorite spot and took me to the movies to get my mind off things. When I introduced Gene and Trevor at a backyard dinner party my best ABQ gals and I hosted, it was like they'd known each other forever. Couldn't have been more seamless. Plus, Gene might have used the phrase "epitomizing youthful love of today" about us once or twice. ;-)

Importantly to us, Gene is also freakin' hilarious. I can't wait to see what our crowd thinks of him. Today while Gene and I were chatting about some ceremony stuff, he summed up in one brief exchange why we've asked him to do this for us:

Gene: Oh my Gawwwwwwwd! The invitations!!!

Me: So fun, huh?

Gene: I swear to you, I couldn't even open the thing. I was just in awe of it and knew that what was inside was going to break my ass it'd be so powerful, so I just kind of carried it around with me unopened for a week.

Maggie: Wait, seriously? You couldn't open it?

Gene: No! It was going to break my ass! I couldn't do it! Had to just sit with it a while.

Maggie: You are hilarious. Should this story make it into your ceremony intro somehow?

Gene: Ha ha... noted.

Maggie: Only if you repeat the phrase "break my ass," of course.