Movie Quote of the Day (‘Crazy Rich Asians,’ on a June Surprise)

Rachel Chu [played by Constance Wu]: “I thought I was here to meet your family, go to your best friend's wedding, eat some good food. Instead, I feel like I'm a villain in a soap opera who's plotting to steal your family fortune.”— Crazy Rich Asians (2018), screenplay by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim, adapted from the novel by Kevin Kwan, directed by Jon M. Chu

Quote of the Day (F. Scott Fitzgerald, on an Invitation to an Early June Wedding)

“There was the usual insincere little note saying: ‘I wanted you to be the first to know.’ It was a double shock to Michael, announcing, as it did, both the engagement and the imminent marriage; which, moreover, was to be held, not in New York, decently and far away, but here in Paris under his very nose, if that could be said to extend over the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity, Avenue George-Cinq. The date was two weeks off, early in June.”—American novelist and short-story writer F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940), “The Bridal Party,” originally printed in Saturday Evening Post (August 9, 1930), reprinted in The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli (1989)

F. Scott Fitzgerald and a June wedding—how could I resist blogging about this? Well, as you see, I couldn’t.

But “The Bridal Party” is of interest for another reason: it was Fitzgerald’s first piece of fiction to take into account the Great Crash of the prior autumn. Though the bridegroom in the story, we are told, is “heavily involved” in the stock market, nobody knows how much he had lost on Wall Street: “Anyhow, nobody ever tells you the truth.”

Fitzgerald would later address this financial and cultural cataclysm more fully and piercingly in several essays that form the heart of his posthumous collection The Crack-Up.

TV Quote of the Day (‘Friends,’ on Joey’s Value as ‘Ministertainer’)

Joey Tribbiani [played by Matt LeBlanc]: [explaining why he’d be particularly great in performing the Chandler-Monica wedding] “...'Cause in Joey Tribbiani, you get a minister, and you get an entertainer. I'm a ‘ministainer!’ There's no one better, there's no one greater!”—Friends, Season 7, Episode 20, “The One with Rachel's Big Kiss,” original air date Apr. 26, 2001, teleplay by Shana Goldberg-Meehan and Scott Silveri, directed by Gary Halvorson 

TV Quote of the Day (‘The Office,’ As Michael Comes Up with a ‘Celebrity Couple Name’)

Michael Scott [played by Steve Carell]: “Phyllis and Bob: their celebrity couple name would be Phlob.” — The Office, Season 3, Episode 15, “Phyllis' Wedding,” original air date Feb 8, 2007, teleplay by Caroline Williams, directed by Ken Whittingham

TV Quote of the Day (‘All in the Family,’ As Archie Rushes a Wedding)

[Edith Bunker has invited residents from the Sunshine Home where she volunteers to 704 Houser Street, for an elderly couple’s wedding. Her husband Archie is rushing the ceremony so he can dash off on a weekend fishing trip with his friend Barney.]

Reverend Schaeffer [played by Will Mackenzie]: “Mr. Bunker, this is the form for the solemnization of marriage.”

Archie Bunker [played by Carroll O’Connor]: “We don’t want the long form. That’s only for young people who are strong enough to stand up for a half hour listening. This couple’s gonna have to take a nap in five minutes.”—All in the Family, Season 8, Episode 6, “Unequal Partners,” original air date Oct. 23, 1977, teleplay by Chuck Stewart and Ben Starr, directed by Paul Bogart

TV Quote of the Day (‘Gilmore Girls,’ on Jennifer Lopez, Once and Future Wedding Maven)

“Mom, it’s a pretend wedding. J-Lo has them all the time.”—Lorelai Gilmore [played by Lauren Graham], reassuring Emily (nervous about renewing her marriage vows), in Gilmore Girls, Season 5, Episode 13, “Wedding Bell Blues,” original air date Feb 8, 2005, written and directed by Amy Sherman-Palladino

It’s amazing how some sitcoms just feel really dated, while the jokes in others have a habit of coming around again. Jennifer Lopez is the gift that keeps on giving.

When the episode from which this joke was taken first aired, Facebook had only gone public within the past year and was still unknown to many members of the public. Alexa, Netflix “streaming,” “Grubhub,” TikTok, Instagram were not around at all.

But audiences then and now would nod approvingly and chuckle at “J-Lo.” The year before Lorelai Gilmore tried to cheer up her mom by invoking her name, the actress-singer had broken off her engagement up with Ben Affleck.

Recently, you may have heard, “Bennifer” reunited and married. It’s hard not to escape the suspicion that she wed the Oscar-winning actor-writer-director-producer on the rebound from her broken engagement to former baseball slugger Alex Rodriguez.

In case you’re not keeping count, this is J-Lo’s fourth marriage. She’s also been engaged six times. Don't ever try to keep track of the men she's been with in between.

No wonder she confessed eight years ago to being a "love addict."

Many economists tell us that a recession is around the corner. But, as long as Ms. Lopez is around, it’ll always be full employment for entertainment reporters working the celebrity matrimonial beat.

Quote of the Day (Comic Kathleen Madigan, on Her Sister’s Wedding)

“My sister just got married. I was the maid of debt in that little event.” —Stand-up comic Kathleen Madigan, Just-One-Liners.com

Quote of the Day (Comic Matt Iseman, on Weddings He’s Attended)

“Since I've been out of high school, I've been to thirty-two weddings. That's like seventeen-and-a-half miles of the electric slide, folks.” —Stand-up comic Matt Iseman, quoted in Mark Shatz ‎and Mel Helitzer, Comedy Writing Secrets: The Best-Selling Guide to Writing Funny and Getting Paid for It, Third Edition (2016)

Photo of the Day: Ready for Their Closeup: At NY’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine

On a Saturday afternoon trip to Morningside Heights back in April, I took this shot, of a photographer snapping bride and groom on the steps of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. It seemed more appropriate, though, to wait a few months—till now—for the favorite wedding period of the year, before I posted it here.

Let’s hope that connubial bliss hasn’t worn off for this couple quite yet.

Quote of the Day (Jerry Seinfeld, on Being a Best Man)

“I was the best man to a wedding one time, that was pretty good. Pretty good title, I thought, ‘best man.’ I thought it was a bit much. I thought we'd have the groom and a pretty good man. That's more than enough. If I'm the best man, why is she marrying him?”—Jerry Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld: "I’m Telling You for the Last Time" (1998)

Quote of the Day (George Bernard Shaw, For Those Making a Life Change This Month)

“When two people are under the influence of the most violent, most insane, most delusive, and most transient of passions, they are required to swear that they will remain in that exalted, abnormal, and exhausting condition continuously until death do them part.”—George Bernard Shaw, Getting Married (1908)