Excerpts from days at weddings:
Brianna Locksmith: “Now, when you walked in, you looked really happy, and we were laughing, and I thought to myself, ‘Well, he’s got something up his sleeve now.’”
“We had a very chaste first kiss,” said Lavon Breeden. “Don’t ever ask, because no one ever forgets.”
Sandra Powell: “He kissed me. And I said, ‘No,’ and he said, ‘Well, I guess you do.’”
Brianna: “I felt so guilty for going to see him and not telling him. I mean, you know, I mean, what I’m really thinking is that I just thought he was faking it.”
But in the end, Breeden wanted to make an exception. He Cared About Me, so I broke up with him. The stories were accompanied by black and white photos of siblings in honor of families who would no longer be together: Breeden, Breeden, Powell, and Raquel Davis-Oyster. For me, the memories were fresh: of a nearly 18-year-old me, my pink and purple prom dress, and the music. I’d never go to a wedding alone. Although I was scared of what my parents would think of me as an unaccompanied adolescent, I knew that I’d never leave friends behind.
“I knew that I’d never leave friends behind,” I said. “I’d never let him talk me out of going.”