If the po-lice are called to your wedding reception to break up a brawl, you just might be..

[Fumesucker]

Well, you can fill in the blank..

My grown daughter has a photography business, I taught her basic photography about twenty years ago and she has run with it in the last couple of years.

I went with her today to a wedding and reception basically as a helper and auxiliary photographer (I do the candids, she does the staged setpieces), the wedding was held in a megachurch and the reception in a local cafe.

Open bar at the reception and I heard "Jagerbomb" get hollered at least twenty times, and I wasn't paying attention at all.

Nice enough crowd when they were sober but the reception ended in a drunken brawl with the groom about to punch someone out, at least two busted heads (with blood flowing copiously), another someone nearly thrown through a plate glass window by the best man and the bride and at least one of her friends in tears. The cops were called and we skedaddled as soon as they could verify that we hadn't had anything to drink and had nothing to do with the boozed fueled melee.

Alcohol really is a crap drug, I almost never drink and haven't for about thirty years, today just reinforced my opinion/perception. If these folks had been taking bong hits instead of Jagerbombs something like this would never have happened.

[havocmom]

1. Anybody giving odds on the marriage lasting more than 18 months?

Yep, alcohol triggers a lot of aggression. Pot triggers munchies. And the latter is still illegal. :banghead:

[Fumesucker]

6. I personally wish them well..

The bride and groom had obviously known one another for quite some time and the families clearly liked each other, there were a lot of younger kids/siblings there and everyone was having a good time but it all changed in the blink of an eye.

I thought it was telling though when the groom lit two cigarettes in a quite formal way, one for each of them, almost as soon as they got outside after the ceremony and a brief photo session at the church, they were probably early twenties although I'm old enough not to be a very good judge of age any more.

The church itself was quite strange to me, far more like a theater for live music or stage acts than what I think of as a church. The ceiling was painted black and there were video screens and a powerful sound system with a big mixing board and multimedia production center on a balcony at the rear of the room.

Like I said, the people were nice enough and they paid up with no problem (getting your money can be a sometime headache in the wedding photo biz).

Edited to add: The black ceiling made getting flash pics a real PITA, even with a very powerful external flash, I depend on the ceiling most of the time to bounce my flash off and help evenly illuminate the scene (straight on flash pics don't have any depth), no dice in this case, it was like using a flash in a black hole..

[pepperbear]

48. "if these folks had been taking bong hits instead of Jagerbombs something like this would never

have happened"

but the cake would have gone a lot faster.

;)

[Fumesucker]

52. The cake got knocked over..

Some little kids bumped the table the cake was on early in the game, the little set piece at the top fell off and both the bride's and groom's heads got knocked off..

In retrospect it was something of an omen, might have been better if they had gone ahead and eaten the cake. :)

[madeline_con]

36. Jerks busting up the reception isn't really a factor in marriage longevity.

Too many guest lists include the "instant asshole- just add alcohol" types. The groom being about to punch someone could have been a totally called for action. We weren't there. :shrug:

[Fumesucker]

39. I was *there*... and don't really know what happened for sure..

These things happen really fast, one moment everyone is having a good time and the next words and fisticuffs are being exchanged.. The music was loud enough that things had to get raucous before you would notice.

I have to emphasize that these really were nice people, or at least I liked them, it's just that too much alcohol got consumed too fast.

[madeline_con]

58. It's funny, I thought about my post later....

and wondered if I'd replied to the person who wrote the OP, saying "WE" weren't there. I'm so alert sometimes. :blush:

[ejpoeta]

2. uggh.... you spend so much time planning the wedding....

some folks alcohol makes them nice and funny.... and some it makes jerks.... i have seen what alcohol can do to people.... and it's sad that all that planning can go down the tubes so fast. there is responsible drinking... and then there is the assholes who can't help themselves. open bar.... first problem. if they have to pay for the drinks themselves, they might not drink as much.

[Fumesucker]

12. Everyone was having a really good time, then it changed in a flash..

That is the problem with alcohol, even people it "makes nice and funny" can turn into major league jerks about as quick as my camera can flash.

It's why I don't drink, I have a very sarcastic and biting wit which alcohol lets out, I'm a funny jerk inside, most of the time I keep it to myself though. Alcohol inhibits my inner censor that keeps me from hurting other people with my tongue.

[tularetom]

3. We used to rent out our Vol. Fire Hall for parties

But we had to quit because we had so many fights that the County (our parent as far as insurance was concerned) did not want the liability and insisted on being an additional named insured on all policies taken out by parties who wished to rent the hall.

Premiums went sky high, people stopped renting the place, but there were no more incidents.

[provis99]

4. let me guess:

The groom was named Jim-Bob, and the bride was his cousin, Betty-Lou.

[babylonsister]

5. One to remember, or not. I drink, but I don't fight, much.

:)

Sounds lousy to me, too. The happy event turned stupid.

[IrishBuckeye]

7. Yea some people are bad drunks, I avoid them.

I handle my alcohol well as my friends do. Some people have the mentality that because they are drinking they aren't responsible for what they do hence their drive to get trashed. Of course the next morning such people will claim their irresponsibility was the alcohol and not them yet they will do it again and again, slow learners of cause and effect? No, just idiots using it as a cover to be a jackass.

[Fumesucker]

10. The problem with alcohol is it trashes your judgment..

For most people it happens before they even feel "drunk", this leads to overindulgence because the part of your brain that would "just say no" to more booze has already checked out for the duration.

Most of these folks weren't old enough to have had a lot of (legal, anyway) experience with alcohol, I attribute the melee in large measure to that.

Due to the fact that it is legal a great many people greatly underestimate how powerful a drug alcohol really is.

[IrishBuckeye]

14. True and to much food will make you fat, it's all about moderation

Throw young people in the mix and moderation all to offen is thrown out the door. To me, the studies that show that parents who have an occasional glass a wine with their teens are the ones who are less likly to binge drink makes sense. It teaches moderation and responsible drinking behavior.

[Fumesucker]

20. But food does not disengage your judgement after the first three bites..

At least it doesn't for the great majority of people, as far as I can tell.

I agree that learning moderation regarding alcohol use from a relatively young age probably works the best but it doesn't work with everyone.

"The first purpose of alcohol is to make English your second goddamn language" -Robin Williams

[IrishBuckeye]

29. True enough, it's a poison that society hasn't leared to deal with properly yet.

And I don't think it will anytime soon unfortunately.

[izquierdista]

8. Natural selection NOT at work

These people who get combative when drunk were supposed to be weeded out. In prehistoric days, when they had weddings and the best man got sloshed on a goatskin of wine, he would go out and challenge a tiger or a bear and then get eaten. Nowadays, the police put him in the drunk tank and his genes are still swimming in the gene pool.

[Bluenorthwest]

9. Ah the Holy Sacrament! The Divine Union!

One man, one woman a sacred bond forged by the hand of God himself!

[spanone]

11. yes, our perception of legality an illegality pertaining to our substance abuse sucks

never ever seen anybody get stoned and want to fight.....never

[LeftyMom]

13. At least the sanctity of their union is safe from The Gays.

That's the important thing, really. :eyes:

[IrishBuckeye]

15. And has nothing to do with this thread. /nm

nm

[LeftyMom]

16. Opinion noted. nt

[IrishBuckeye]

18. Hijack attempt of a threads subject noted. /nm

nm

[LeftyMom]

30. Don't take this the wrong way, but

who died and made you a moderator?

[IrishBuckeye]

33. Oh, you have to be a mod to call someone out? Why is that?

Your post had nothing to do with the OP's post and I made note of it.

[LeftyMom]

34. Calling anybody out is against the rules. Please read them before you try to hold me to them.

And, while you apparently missed my point (or didn't care for it, I don't much care which,) my response was topical.

Run along now. :hi:

[IrishBuckeye]

37. Stay on topic. Do not jump into an unrelated discussion and introduce a barely-relevant tangent.

I understand the point you were making with the remark and I'm in 100% agreement with you but it was off topic and I made note of it.

[LeftyMom]

38. Who gets to get married is totally relavent to a thread about marriage.

My apologies if you're not making the connection. It's there.

[IrishBuckeye]

41. Except OP's thread isn't about marriage it's about alcohol abuse

But you want to talk about gay marriage because the topic of his subject happen to take place at a wedding reception? Maybe the next poster wants to talk about priests and all the molestation they did because the OP's post also mentioned that it was at a MegaChurch. Then the next poster starts going on about how the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster doesn't allow drinking. Tangents, all of them.

[Fumesucker]

42. I'm guilty of being a tangent maven from time to time..

It's easy to get obsessed by a subject and end up working it into every conversation, particularly so when you feel targeted.

Pretty much any thread that touches on marriage is more or less guaranteed to draw a comment by those who are forbidden by law to marry those whom they love, I don't really blame them, if I were in the same boat I'd probably be the same way.

When you become sensitized to something it's difficult to desensitize yourself, the phrase "alcohol and drugs" is one that grates my nerves every time someone uses it because it is as stupidly redundant as "atm machine" and it sometimes seems that every other person on the planet uses it, specifically including a lot of people who should know better.

[LeftyMom]

49. The context of the whole story is a freakin' wedding, so comments about marriage are appropriate.

Now please stop threadjacking by accusing me of threadjacking. If you thought my post was unacceptably off-topic, the appropriate response would be to hit the little button on the bottom left of that post that reads alert.

Threadjacking to complain about threadjacking is not the correct way to handle the perceived problem.

Post edited to correct for author's sudden failure to perceive direction.

[Lars39]

17. Mega churches preach hate from the pulpit and work to deny LGBTs

their rights, including marriage, so yes it does have something to do with this thread.

[IrishBuckeye]

19. And Saudi Arabia doesn't allow churches to be built on their land

and that's not relevant to this thread either just like your comments aren't.

[Lars39]

21. Fail

[IrishBuckeye]

22. Oh, and nice generalization, but not all Mega Churches are anti-gay. /nm

nm

[Lars39]

23. I'd say the majority are.

[IrishBuckeye]

26. You implied all and you were wrong, backtrack away friend :-) /nm

/nm

[Lars39]

27. Not backtracking at all.

I'm not in debate class.

[IrishBuckeye]

31. You already did

You said "Mega churches preach hate" I called you out on it and you made a correction based on being called. That's called backtracking.

That said, the story the topic of OP's post was about kids drinking at a wedding reception. It has nothing to do with gay rights so why hijack the subject and turn it into a gay marriage issue?

[Fumesucker]

25. A lot of them do, but I'm not sure it's all..

I don't know enough about this particular church to say one way or another.

This place was definitely more Dionysian than Apollonian..

Edited to add: FWIW, there were at least two black/white hetero couples there, one with a black male and one with a black female, I detected no trace of racial bigotry at all.

[hfojvt]

24. I have seen lots of parties with no alcohol

they seem to die young. Apparently without the hooch there is not much of a party. I had one where I felt the need to call the cops although I told the dispatch person that if they just drove by that people might calm down and/or go home and it would be nice if people were not arrested on their wedding night.

Too late to do that when the skulls are already cracked.

[Fumesucker]

28. There was very little alcohol at the original Woodstock..

Considerable partying occurred, virtually no violence.

Woodstock '99 had lots of alcohol, ended in a drunken riot..

[hulklogan]

32. Opposite marriage is sacred!

:eyes:

[lib2DaBone]

35. I think the point is ...the hypocrisy of Law Enforcement...

Booze is good... marijuana is a deadly drug. So sez the PTB (powers that be)

When they decriminalized booze.. the drive by shootings stopped.. the gangsters stopped.. the corruption stopped. Al Capone had to branch out into more profitable venues.

C'mon folks... if someone sits in the privacy of their own home and smokes a marijuana cigarette..who is the victim?

The victim is the goverment who could be collecting taxes. The victim is the people who are incarcerated into the greatest prison system in the world... the United States of America.

[Fumesucker]

40. That's kind of my point I guess...

It's like that Jesse Ventura bit about pot vs alcohol..

JESSE VENTURA, HOST: Imagine an alien suddenly dropped into the 21st century America. He goes to a Monday night football game and witnesses thousands of people guzzling a liquid refreshment as fast as vendors can supply it. Observing the spectacle of the game itself, the alien is constantly distracted by fans whose behavior seems to become more and more bizarre. He watches as fights break out between half-naked fans with painted bodies.

By the end of the contest, on the playing field, he notes that most of the people around him seem to have lost their ability to walk and for some reason, their speech has changed. Words are less audible. They seem to be talking in slow motion. Once the game is over, he watches the fans stumbling toward their cars, cursing and threatening other fans.
Clearly, the alien observes, something has caused these fans to have a mind-altering experience. But whatever is going on, it seems to be acceptable behavior for this society, because all the while, many police officers observe the behavior, but remain at a distance and don't interfere.

The next day, the alien attends a lecture on a college campus. After the lecture, he's invited by some students to a party. At the party, students are sitting around drawing smoke from a bottle-like structure with water in it. The smoke is inhaled into their bodies, the conversation is friendly, calm and respectful, and music is playing in the background. But all of a sudden, many police officers arrive with guns, grab the water-filled bottle, put handcuffs on everyone in the room, and take them off to jail. The alien is totally confused.

Welcome to the United States of America, the land of hypocrisy.

[smalll]

43. The thing is, "jagerbombs" are a mix of Jaegermeister and RED BULL. Don't necessarily blame this

on the alcohol -- blame it on another one of the many stupidities of the Worst Generation (meaning, the kids who really should get off our socio-cultural lawns.)

[Fumesucker]

44. Eh, it's not a new phenomenon..

Ever seen the country roadhouse scene from The Blues Brothers?

SCENE 229
Location: STAGE
From wall to wall across the apron there is a seven-foot-high fence of double chicken wire, held up by black 4' x 8's. At the base of the stage there is a bin on the floor. The band members group around.
MATT: What's the chicken wire for?
DUCK: Damn sure ain't for chickens.
JAKE: Hey, Bob, just for tonight, how about losin' the cage?
BOB: I really couldn't do that, boys. You see, that's all part of the fun here at the Country Bunker.
He laughs.
BOB: Hell, later on tonight, you'll be real glad that wire's there.

Don't listen to him, it's the liquor talking..

Mean drunk.

Barroom brawl.

Ten feet tall and bulletproof.

[smalll]

45. Of course it's true that bad/angry drunks are liable to fight. But alcohol plus the kids' Red Bull

is an especially explosive combination.

[Fumesucker]

50. I tasted Jagermeister..

Once..

I don't even want to think about what it tastes like with Red Bull, I don't like that either.

Explosively vile, I suspect.

[masuki bance]

46. Maybe we could try prohibiting alcohol. nt

/(hic)

[Fumesucker]

47. It worked so well the first time..

Eh?

Pot has been prohibited for sixty years, even wonder how much worse the world would be if alcohol prohibition was still going on?

[Doremus]

51. We were at a wedding where the *cops* started the brawl.

Apparently there was some bad blood between the groom's father and the local PD. The rookie offduty hire a cop started messing with him and words were exchanged. There was no disruption of the party and no scenes. Unbeknownst to anybody, the rookie called for backup and they lay in wait in the parking lot.

We exited the reception into a melee. There were people being taken away in handcuffs, women crying and confused guests being screamed at to get into their cars. It was a nightmare.

[Fumesucker]

53. Now that's funny!!

I know it wasn't at the time, but you made me really LOL..

Sounds like something that would happen in a really small town, like the one I live in. :)

[leftofthedial]

54. they shore kin praise jeebiz

down at Gawd*Mart

[Historic NY]

55. Ah, wedded bliss...

I usually leave before the first fists get thrown.

[bertman]

56. " . . . you just might be" ?? I'll try Divorced-In-One-Year for two hundred.

Did I win anything??

[cherokeeprogressive]

57. An Afghani attending either a funeral or wedding.

n/t