Weddings

Well, LG won't indulge my wish to live vicariously through someone else by getting married, so I guess I will continue to watch all the silly wedding shows on WE and Lifetime and Style.

When did getting married change from a rite of passage to an industrialized event?

My parents got married in the family church in East Point, having only given the family a few weeks notice. In fact, my mother nearly called off the wedding two times (?). Mom wore a dress from another family member. Bridesmaids were sisters and friends from high school and college. It was a small wedding. No one drove around in a limo. Photos were simple. The reception was at my grandparents house, I believe, and pigs in a blanket were served! No DJ, no band, no dance floor...just a simple family celebration. No one got drunk, no one hooked up with a cute member of the wedding party, and no one had to spend a fortune on hair or shoes or dresses or whatever just to be in the wedding. Very simple.

Consider what it costs to be a member of the wedding party today. Bridesmaid: Dress (all dresses are going to require a new bra and underwear and some sort of stockings or spanx), shoes, hair (up? down? tiara? ugh?), and any other accessories you might be required to wear (jewelry, gloves, a wrap, etc). If you are the bride...bridesmaids gifts, the grooms cake, etc. It all adds up. Flowers for your hair, for the aisles, for the nave, for the tables at the reception hall, for everywhere! Printed seating cards. Wait staff for your sit down dinner. Silver and eight million place settings. A videographer! Champagne for all! Big Honking Diamonds for your Fingers! All you are purchasing is an illusion that dissipates at the end of the day.

Why? Why can't we revert to simpler times, and let a marriage be about joining two people, and two families? One can still have a tasteful and elegant ceremony and reception without breaking the bank...c'mon, do you really need that $2/each slip of translucent paper between your the cover of your invitation and the rsvp card? Would it kill you to hand address the return envelopes?

Don't get me wrong...I look at a St. Pucchi dress with envious eyeballs quite frequently. Well, not all of them. Some of them are quite hideous. Alternately, Priscilla of Boston is quite nice. I like the look of luxury certainly, but I'm unwilling to entertain such luxury at the expense of the loss of the true meaning of the day. And at the end of the day, you and your new spouse ought to walk off hand in hand and be happy, and not be thinking about the money you just spent, or who just threw up in the bushes.