Gwen Stefani Caught the Bouquet at a Wedding This Weekend

Would you want Gwen Stefani at your wedding, catching your bouquet?

Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani, judges on The Voice and musicians in their own right, are dating. We know this. But what level of dating are they, exactly? Are they “using the BF word or the GF word” dating? Are they “meeting each other’s parents” dating? It’s not entirely clear. What we do know is that they are at least “bring as a guest to a friend’s wedding” dating. Shelton’s hairstylist (yes, it takes a professional to make this happen), Amanda Craig, married Joel Borski, the head of merchandise for Warner Music Nashville, over the weekend, and Shelton and Stefani were honored guests.

The pair made a whole weekend out of their Nashville visit, popping up at an O’Charley’s restaurant on Friday. O’Charley’s! I wonder what they ate. Let’s take a look at the menu and guess. Well, I mean, if they are any kind of decent people, and they seem to be, they got the tater tot fondue to start, because “crispy potato tots served with warm, creamy cheddar fondue topped with crispy bacon and green onions” sounds so good I can’t even stand it. But what about for mains? I’ll bet Blake got the bacon & bourbon glazed filet mignon, because he’s got Voice money to spend. Gwen? She seems like a New Orleans cajun-chicken pasta kinda gal. It’s not the healthiest thing in the world for a famously fit person to eat, no, but it was a wedding weekend. She could indulge.

Anyway, this whole story has a point, and it’s this: at the wedding reception, there was a bouquet toss and Gwen Stefani caught it. Imagine that! Obviously this portends of things to come, perhaps another marriage to another musician is in the offing. Wedding omens like bouquet- and garter-catching almost always come to pass, so if Gwen Stefani isn’t marrying Blake Shelton, she’s marrying somebody else.

So there is that to consider. But there’s also the matter of Gwen Stefani catching the bouquet at some relative stranger’s wedding. I’m sure Gwen Stefani knows Blake Shelton’s hairdo artist, but I doubt they’re the best of friends. So there’s a normal-ish, unfamous person having a normal-ish wedding, filled with other normal-ish people, and then at the big “come on up, single ladies” moment when the bouquet is thrown? Gwen freakin’ Stefani catches the damn thing. One of the biggest recording artists of the 90s and 2000s is the one who snatches a special little moment out of the hands of who? Nashville’s lesser gentry? It just seems unfair, doesn’t it?

I’ve always wondered about that dynamic, of the non-famous person who has a famous person or persons at his or her wedding. What must that be like? Sure, it’s your special day and you look lovely in your gown, but, oops, there’s Gwen Stefani doing something. Or, you’re having fun dancing and you’re in the center of the circle because you’re the newly married couple and all eyes are naturally on you, but then, oh, whoops, here comes Carson Daly (he was at this wedding, too) doing some kind of dance and everyone’s gotta watch him do it because he’s Carson Daly. Having a famous person at your wedding just seems like a really good way to feel upstaged on a day when you’re not supposed to feel upstaged. You get one or two or at most 10 days in your life when you are the unquestioned center of attention, and then you go and invite Gwen Stefani to come?? It makes no sense.

Well, O.K., in this case Gwen Stefani was not invited, she was a plus-one, but still. Still! There she is, pulling focus from you like you’re one of the other guys in No Doubt. A credit to this newlywed couple that they’ve clearly got a better hold on their egos than I do, I guess. Or, maybe ego had them excited that Gwen Stefani was coming to their wedding, and only later did they realize the terrible effect her presence would have. Who knows.

Either way, let this be a lesson to you engaged people out there: tempting as it may be, try to avoid having a famous person at your wedding. Especially if they’re single and thus could be in contention for the bouquet (or, I suppose, the garter). Realizing this is as important a part of wedding planning as picking out the centerpieces and hiring the D.J. Just remember: Whose special day is it? It it yours, or is it Carson Daly’s?