My Thoughts on Weddings

A friend of mine just had her wedding celebration last week. She is 50 and this is her second wedding. The celebration was simple, a pot-luck dinner at church. Now you might think because of her age and the fact that it is her second marriage, it's ok to have it simple. Well, I think if you are 24 and it's your first marriage, it is still ok to have it simple.

Unfortunately, the pressure to do it like everyone else is great. You MUST have model like wedding photos and you absolutely MUST have a grand dinner for friends and relatives. Anything less is not acceptable. To get married is an expensive deal. It is sad when two people who love each other so much have to put their wedding on hold just because of money issues.

In this sense you could say that my DH and me are rebels. We decided to forego all that wedding fluff. We wanted to be married and decided money was not going to be our reason not to. Our church members were nice enough to have a potluck celebration for us. Dinner was reduced to just immediate family. No, I don't have model like photos but hey, that doesn't make a marriage. I did my own wedding invitations. They didn't look as nice as the ones here: click here for wedding invitations but I knew that the only person to keep my invitation as a memoribilia would probably only be me.

Anyway, my point is to tell all those couples out there, who are waiting to start their lives together as husband and wife, decide today that you are not going to be swept along with the common idea of how to plan a wedding. Don't put your marriage on hold just because of money and just so you can oblige others.

Talking about putting weddings on hold, have you ever heard of a "Save the Date Cards?" It's an invitation to tell someone that you are getting married on a certain date in the future (like for example 1st April 2009) and asking them to keep that date free. So if you are still planning to save some money first before having your wedding, but already have a date, you can send out such invitations. They even have "Save the Date Magnets." for people to put on the fridge.

Personally, I think such cards are unnecessary. People forget or won't commit, plus you are going to send them a wedding invitation anyway. Better save the money for sending out your first baby's birth announcement. Everyone loves pictures of cute babies.