A Wedding in the Family

It’s after 10:00 on Friday night and the phone rings, a really unusual event in our home. Our three children and the rest of the family know that a phone call after 9:30 or so at night sends not only our feet racing, but our hearts too. Late phone calls have spelled disaster in the past and we answer them with trepidation.

I pick up the phone. It’s our son’s girlfriend on the other end of the line. My first thought? “What’s happened to our son?” So I’m a little confused by the upbeat nature of her voice since I expect the news to be bad.

“Guess what?”, she asks in tones barely containing excitement. “We’re engaged!”

It only takes a split second for my mother’s thoughts to speed from “What? engaged in a horrible argument? Engaged in waiting for the triage nurse?” to “Holy somoli, my baby boy is getting married!”

As the details of the proposal come tripping out of this sweet woman’s mouth, my mind is already racing. There’s going to be another wedding in the family. We’re on the brink now, the very first step. Soon, our lives will be filled with the process of investigating, decision making, booking. Wedding invitations, church ceremonies, finding reception venues, who is going to be in the wedding party, pick a date, choose a wedding cake, a wedding gown, flowers, rings – these things will be part of our everyday lives for the next couple of years.

My son is getting married.

To find out how to get started planning your son or daughter’s wedding, click here.

Wedding venues – Grandma’s backyard

So, Mark and Sarah are planning their wedding and they have a limited wedding budget.  Sarah wants to wear her mother’s wedding dress and their wedding rings are heirlooms from great-grandparents.  In keeping with the family-oriented theme, these two would like to hold their marriage ceremony and wedding reception at Sarah’s grandmother’s country home.  Sarah has fond memories of holidays spent with Grandma at “the farm”, and everyone involved thinks this is a lovely idea.  What a gorgeous venue to hold a wedding – lots of space and gardens galore!  All we need to do is rent a tent to house the 100 guests.  This will mean so much to the couple.

This sounds beautiful, ideal!  Then, when investigations into making this happen start, reality takes hold.  Holding a wedding at a private home is not as easy or as inexpensive as it may seem.  Sarah and Mark found out that tent rental was about $2500 for an adequate size.  The  number of bathroom facilities were borderline for that number of people, so “portapotties” were needed.  So much for a formal wedding!  Permits were needed to be purchased from the township.  There was a parking issue, because the only space suitable to park that many cars efficiently required guests to drive over the septic bed and water line to get there – a no-no.  A temporary dance floor was needed.   They needed to get power from the house to the tent area.  Grandma is stressing because 100 people are going to be tramping through her house and maybe the whole house needs a fresh coat of paint before then, dearies?  Crews had to be hired to clean prior to and after the event.  A local caterer was found but more staff were needed to serve that many guests.  And what if it rains?!…

The list of problems and costs seemed to be endless.  Sarah and Mark found that it was easier and cheaper to book their wedding at a local banquet facility where all of these issues are dealt with by the employees.  They compromised and held Sarah’s bridal shower and the rehearsal dinner at Grandma’s farm and went there to have pictures taken in between the ceremony and the reception.  Problems solved.  Everybody is happy, as it should be.

Want some information on how to plan a perfect wedding?  Click here.