Weddings

Today in class we spoke about different aspects/statistics that concerned marriage and weddings. We discussed for the majority of the class period on the ideas of what the average American wedding consisted of since the main character and her close friends in our current novel, written by Nora Roberts, own and a Wedding party company. The whole idea of a big wedding sends me mixed messages both good and bad; both being to the extremes of the spectrum. It depends on which way I look it at it, if I am looking at it from a strictly personal small picture viewpoint; I actually would like to have a big wedding. Yet in the big picture of the world, it seems irrational to go to such lengths for a one day event, even if it is a milestone.

If I could plan (without my humanitarian persona striking up) the perfect wedding it would be organic yet still consistent of the glamorous materialistic aspects of the modern wedding. This somewhat bothers me, but at the same time I have already encountered in my own life a wedding that was small and did not end up being what it cracked up to be. At the time it was love and we felt that it did not matter if we made a big spectacle of the union. So, all we did was pick up our marriage licenses and scheduled a courthouse ceremony for 2 days later. Not only was it small and quick, but we did it on my birthday behind my mother’s back. My mother was extremely against us even dating, and we thought that going and getting hitched would be so romantic. To be honest I really do not recall any of the ceremony, and I just recall that we were literally standing as far away from each other as we possibly could. I also remember that the judge seemed rather judgmental and that afterwards we went and assisted his sister with her rummage sale. Needless to say we divorced two months later, and it was a complete failure in every aspect. Now, I am not saying that our marriage ended because of how we got married, but I will say that it does seem pointless, not that big of a deal, and less intimate. If I were to ever get married again, I would want more elements of the modern day wedding for a few reasons. One being that I think that the planning aspect creates an extra attachment and excitement into the future you and your mate have. Two, you get enjoy sharing this moment with friends and family. Three, the time it takes to plan the wedding allows for you to be made sure if you are making the correct decision.

On the other hand, if I were to look at this in a large frame and my own belief system, the whole corporate outtake of weddings turns me away from the idea. If the statistic for average cost of a wedding is true, $24,000, than I am really turned off. Not for my own personal fiscal reasons, but more so in the fact that there are so many poor and starving families out there. Also, it just seems now a day’s people are just trying to outdo everyone else they know, by having the biggest and most extravagant wedding of anybody. It can go to the point where the actual meaning behind your vows start to be hidden behind an egotistical materialistic need. Where the dress and the cake are more important than the person you are going to spend the rest of your life with. What people need to start doing is finding a nice medium instead of either selling out or sucking the fun out of it.