in the sharp tuxedo? Why, it's me, of course. I have gone twice in the last couple weeks to get fitted for the tuxedos I will be wearing at two of my sons' weddings in the coming months. Hey buddy, can you spare a dime? How about a couple grand to help me pay for all of this? My son Brian Gupton will be taking Tiffanie Hatley of Katy, Texas, as his bride on October 17th in a wedding ceremony planned to take place in the gorgeous setting of the front lawn of the Varner-Hogg mansion in West Columbia. And on November 14th my son Kirk Gupton will marry his longtime girlfriend Tanya Spears at the Knights of Columbus Hall near Brazoria. I have been asked to be the best man in Kirk's wedding. This will mark the fourth time I have stood up for a good friend or relative as the best man. In November of 2008 I was the best man for Jamie Tims, Kirk's brother who my wife Peggy and I practically raised when he was a child. About 25 years had passed in between weddings where I was a best man for someone who meant a great deal to me. Two of my best friends from my childhood days asked me to stand beside them when they were married (not to each other, of course, but to their respective brides) many, many years ago. My cousin Steve Weems was the first to ask me to serve as his best man, when he married his first wife Janet Sanders. Steve was the best man in my wedding in 1980 to Peggy Hall (pictured seemingly in shock--she is so ticklish--when I grabbed her leg to remove the garter after our wedding) and Harold Tolbert stood up with me as one of my groomsmen. Following my wedding Harold would ask me to be his best man over a quarter-century ago when he took Rhonda Bonner as his bride. Prior to and during the many years since those weddings, I have been lucky to have had numerous friends and relatives ask me to participate in their weddings. I have always considered it a great honor to stand up for all of these loved ones, regardless of what capacity I was asked to serve. I was the candle lighter for my cousins Randy Broadway (when he married Sandra Woodall at Bethel Presbyterian Church in East Columbia) and Mary Weems (when she married Clay Hill at Columbia United Methodist Church in West Columbia) in the 1960s when I was still a child. Those two weddings from my childhood served as the springboard to better things to come, but did not result in my wearing a rented tuxedo. I just put on my church clothes for both of those weddings. Since then I have been a groomsman, usher and both photographer and videographer at many weddings. Here, for both your viewing pleasure and to embarrass the hell out of me and my many friends and relatives pictured with me, are a variety of old photographs of yours truly wearing tuxedos in several weddings. And . . . coming soon to a theater near you . . . make that my blogsite instead of a theater near you . . . will be more photos of the ancient Gupster wearing rented tuxes and suits for the weddings of two of my sons in October and November of 2009. I can't wait!
A few pictures from my June 28, 1980, wedding to my bride Peggy Hall Gupton show me in all my splendor, trying very hard to look like Barry Gibb of The BeeGees (check out the beard and long hair), are displayed above and below. The photos above show me tossing the garter that I removed from Peggy's leg in one picture to a group of bachelors gathered behind me in the other. The garter was caught by Isidro Valdez Jr., pictured trying the hardest to get a grasp on the garter in flight. In the photo below I am shown with all of the guys who stood up for me at my wedding over 29 years ago. Aren't we a handsome group? Pictured from left to right are: my brother Cody Gupton, Bill Lott, Harold Tolbert, my best man and cousin Steve Weems, the groom, Dean Sitton, my cousin Hank Gupton, and Isidro Valdez Jr. The two photos below that are a good indication of how the ravages of time can really kick a man's ass! I am pictured in my twenties, escorting a bridesmaid down the aisle in the wedding of my cousin Lynn Broadway, and as the best man for Jamie Tims in his wedding last year. I don't know about you guys, but I much prefer the 80s look: "You should be dancing, dancing, yeah! Stayin' Alive, Stayin' Alive! It's just your jive talkin' . . . yeahhhh!!!!!!!"
November of last year was the most recent setting for T. Gup to slip his svelte but aging body into a tuxedo. I was the best man at a wedding held in West Columbia, standing up for Jamie Tims when my longtime buddy took the hand of Vicky Briones in marriage. I am pictured with the groom in the lower photo, as well as in the shot above that includes both the bride and groom. Kalen Williams, Jamie's nephew, is standing to the left of me and DeMarcus Randall is the ring bearer standing in front of Jamie and me in the photo below. The other child in the photos is Ricky but I can't recall his last name. He is the son of one of the bride's best friends. DeMarcus is the son of Tanya Spears and Kalen is the son of Tyrone George, Jamie's older brother.
My memory is a bit cloudy but I think the photo above captures me wearing a tuxedo for the very first time. I was an usher in the wedding of my cousin Angie Gupton to her first husband, who Angie would probably prefer remain nameless, when I was in my late teens. I am photographed with Angie's uncle R.D. Jones.
I was in my twenties when I served as a groomsman in the wedding of my cousin Lynn Broadway and his bride Toni Dorsey. That's me on the left in the group photo above, pictured with, from left to right: my brother Cody Gupton, my cousin Gary Broadway, Randy Broadway Jr. standing in front of the groom Lynn Broadway, Lynn's best man Van Bertram, Tyler Broadway and my cousin Jack Randall Broadway. Lynn and Toni are the parents of current New York Mets pitcher Lance Broadway.
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