…Dates.
Fresh from This Pit Thread wherein several souls wax miserably over the concept and execution (heh, execution) of the wedding process, I would like to point out an often overlooked aspect of the wedding ceremony.
First off, I’ve alway loved going to the weddings of my friends. I’ve been a romantic kind of guy, and I don’t mind sloppy sentimentality in proper doses and venues. But the one thing I’ve noticed, many times 
as it were, is that a good wedding is the best place ever to take a date. Really! (I hope this doesn’t need to be in IMHO).
Everybody’s dressed nice, almost everyone is happy. The atmosphere is romantic and sexually charged. You got your champange and happy, romantic music. And if you’ve got a reasonably hot date with any chance at all of scoring, well let’s just say that she starts thinking that she’s the one getting married. Can you say wedding sex ? And without the long-term implications. Baby.
Hey it even worked with my wife last year when we went out of town for an old friend’s wedding and got to stay in a hotel. 
Love them weddings.
Double-edged sword, dude.
Ask a girl you don’t know very well to a wedding as your date, and she starts in with the thinkin’.
“Does he think of ME that way? We’ve only just met! I’m not ready for this!”
Then she’s awkward and stilted and not the fun girl you just started dating a few weeks ago.
The crashage comes next, followed closely by the burnage.
I’ll be honest, the ceremony I could do with out. I am one of those that when invited, I go for the reception. I always did love a great party!! The ceremonies always seem to take forever and if it’s a Catholic wedding, bring a snack, because those go on for ever it seems.
I’m hoping for a quick one with my own ceremony. Of course not being married in a church, and not belonging to any religion per se, should hopefully move things along faster. I get bored very quickly when things aren’t moving the way I’d like them too or when I’m nervous. 
Well, I suppose that works if you pick the date very, very carefully. Not all women think it’s a fun date to get all dressed up and spend a few hours chitchatting with a bunch of strangers who all know each other. Personally, I’d rather be drawn and quartered, then dipped in boiling oil until crunchy, and served to dragons as an hors d’oeurve than go to the wedding of someone I barely know (or even worse, have never met). As you might imagine, I only attend weddings for close family and very close friends. Dragooning me into attending a wedding is one of the better ways to wind up sleeping by yourself while the dogs and I sit around contemplating our navel hair and picking at our toenails. Allowing me to sit at home with the dogs picking my toenails and contemplating my navel hair while you attend the boring wedding is, OTOH, quite a good way to get laid.