OU football dictates wedding plans

Jane Glenn Cannon Comments 5
Published: September 29, 2009

Anyone who has lived in Norman for any length of time knows you don’t get married on a day the University of Oklahoma football team has a game. At least, not if you want anyone to come to your wedding.

This means that if you want a fall wedding, you must schedule it for an "off” weekend, one of those occasional free Saturdays that the Sooners have during football season where they are not scheduled to play.

This past weekend provided the perfect Saturday for a wedding: OU was not scheduled for a game. My neighbor’s daughter, having grown up in Norman, knew a good wedding date when she saw it. She got married Saturday and not only was it a lovely, fun wedding, it was exceptionally well-attended.

According to the Cleveland County court clerk’s records, 34 couples applied for marriage licenses last week. This is about double the number of those who applied the week before when OU was to play Tulsa.

Not scheduling your wedding on an OU game day is a rule unique to Norman. Another one is the parking rule: It’s against the law to park on your lawn EXCEPT on OU game days, and then it is not only OK to park on your lawn but you can also charge other people money to park on your lawn.

My writer friend Molly Griffis pointed out something else that may be unique to Norman. It’s the Lloyd Noble Arena parking lot on OU game day weekends. By early Friday, it is filled with recreational vehicles, fifth-wheel trailers and people staking out spots to camp, socialize and, for the most part, catch a shuttle and go to an OU game.

The interesting thing to Griffis is that some people stake their spots, camp for the weekend but never actually attend the game. "They haul out their TVs, hook them up and watch the game on television,” she says.

Sure, football is a sport; but, in Norman, we make it a social event.