Here Comes Crazy

The wedding celebration was extravagant.  The disgruntled groom filed a lawsuit. 
He now wants to reenact the big day.

And, the name Kardashian is not tied to any of it.

Weddings.

If ever there was a cauldron for crazy, weddings fill the bill. The TV show "America's Funniest Home Videos" regularly contains inevitable segments of fainting brides,  stumbling grooms, and the too painful to watch dancing guests' slips and falls. I am convinced that, while those frolicking on the tables do so at their own peril, the dance floors, where most of the missteps occur, are wildly dangerous (or perhaps it is the new footwear). Either way, I wince just thinking about the pain!

On a more genteel note, there is the sublime effort of this father and daughter's sweet dance routine at her Texas wedding reception which confirms the great possibilities weddings can contain. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u1FZhMA88g

A frivolous verbal dance of sorts that has grabbed my attention is one where a groom is suing his wedding photographer years after he and his bride said their "I do's." The 11/2/2011 NYTimes article titled "Years Later, Lawsuit Seeks to Recreate a Wedding" notes that the unemployed complainant, Todd Remis, filed suit in 2009 against H&H Photographers before the statute of limitation was to expire. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/nyregion/suit-against-photographer-seeks-re-creation-of-wedding-after-divorce.html?_r=1

Mr. Remis' suit alleges "infliction of emotional distress and breach of contract" by the photographer because the last 15 minutes of the wedding reception was not documented in photos or video.  Mr. Remis has had the 400 wedding proofs since weeks after the December, 2003 wedding.  Mr. Remis also wants the photographer to pay the $48,000 needed to recreate his wedding day so the "missing" photographs can be taken.

Photo by Salvatore Vuono
of Free Digital Photos

A NY State Supreme Court judge, Doris Ling-Cohen, in Manhattan has dismissed the more frivolous pieces of the suit (emotional distress) but has allowed the breach of contract portion to continue in the court system. Citing title song lyrics from Barbra Streisand's movie "The Way We Were," the judge noted in her opinion, "This is a case in which it appears that the ‘misty watercolor memories’ and the ‘scattered pictures of the smiles ... left behind’ at the wedding were more important than the real thing.”

Yes, I admit, the judge had me at her use of a Streisand melody.

Sadly, the attorney costs to pursue this suit has exceeded $50,000 for the photography business.  Mr. Remis' attorney fees were not mentioned in the article but, it was noted that his lawyer "works for Goodwin Procter, where Mr. Remis’s father, Shepard M. Remis, is a litigation partner. The younger Mr. Remis has testified that he is paying his lawyer himself."       

One even bigger hook for me was discovering where the bride is in all of this effort to relive the fated wedding day.  She resides in her homeland of Latvia.  Why? Because she and the groom divorced in 2009. The bride was unavailable for comment in the Times article. I wonder if she would respond by also invoking song lyrics and muse,

Can it be that it was all so simple then
Or has time rewritten every line
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me - Would we? Could we?

If the case ends in favor of the ex-groom, the former couple may get the chance.

Did I mention crazy?