and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.

Cana was the hometown of Nathanael. John 21:2

John 21:2  Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together.

Marriage was preceded by a betrothal which lasted for about a year.  This betrothal was much more solemn than our engagements.  From the moment of betrothal both parties were treated by the law as to inheritance, adultery, and divorce as if they were already married, with the exception of their living together.  The Mishnah states that the marriage would take place on a Wednesday for a virgin and a Thursday for a widow.  On the night of the wedding the bridegroom and his friends made their way in a torch-lit procession to the home of the bride from which they accompanied her and her attendants to the house of the groom where the ceremonies and feast would occur.  Along the way everyone rose to salute the procession or join it.  The wedding was so important that if the procession met a funeral procession, the wedding had precedence.  Gaiety and joy abounded.  Because the wedding was of such great importance, everything was planned with great care.  After the ceremony and the washing of hands, the marriage feast would commence.  It could last from a few hours to a week.  As J. Duncan M. Derrett points out, there was a strong sense of responsibility regarding the wedding.  Legal action could be taken against a guest for not bringing the appropriate gift or against the bridegroom for not supplying enough food and wine.  Thus there was a great deal more involved in this account of the wine supply running out than just the embarrassment of the bride and groom.

Joseph is not mentioned as being present; some hold this to mean that he was dead but from the inference that we may obtain from (John 6:42) this was not the case. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was there, however. She must have had close ties to the family of the bride or groom since she knew the state of the wine supply and gave orders to the servants.

John 6:42  They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”