You never fail to see a person or two who are there, but not really connecting with the proceedings, looking like they would rather be climbing Mount Everest with a cross eyed Sherpa guide than hanging out with their own family. And almost always something strange happens. I've performed many a service where a family was knotted with anxiety that a certain person might or might not show up. Once in New York a funeral director sang the theme song from Superman to me at full voice on the way to the cemetery. He knew all the words.
Weddings are even wilder.
I did an afternoon wedding in the heat of the summer in a church with no air conditioning. One of the groomsmen fainted and landed on the organ with a chord right out of Phantom of the Opera. Once I had a bride so nervous she got the giggles and had to sit down to regain her composure, but not before the whole congregation was in tears with laughter, too. Another time a bride set her veil on fire with the unity candle. I had a groom who forgot his bride's first name.