Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? (Mt 9,15)
Wedding party is a place of celebration and wedding is not a time for sadness. Jesus himself did not allow the wedding at Cana to become a place of sadness. He worked the first miracle (according to St. John) to keep the spirit of celebration.
Jesus picks up this image of wedding into religion and discipleship.
Religion unites its followers with traditions and laws that have been followed for years. Similarly any following of a leader has its rules. It is with this frame of mind that the disciples of John the Baptist and the disciples of Pharisees come to Jesus to question him on fasting.
It is very clear that fasting is one of the practices of any religion.
But it is strange that Jesus brings in the image of wedding into this. Wedding also has its place in every religion. Jesus does not go out of the context of religion when he argues with them. Because he says that his disciples also will fast when the bridegroom is taken away from them. He is very much within the limits of religion.
What Jesus is trying to tell them is that they have to see all these factors: religion, fasting, discipleship, within the context of the bridegroom.
When things are seen in its correct perspective the meanings are different.
For us the only perspective is Jesus.
