We had a friend some years back who applied to be a marriage celebrant. His aim was to be able to marry people who wanted a service but didn’t necessarily want it in a church but who still wanted something meaningful.
If you and you intended are both members of the same church, then it makes sense to want to be married in that church. If you attend two different churches, then you are going to have to reach a compromise unless you decide to marry somewhere else entirely like a garden or a beach. It doesn’t have to make it any less meaningful.
The daughter of a friend was married at the lake near their home. It was all very casual, yet it was also honoring to God. The couple was both Christian and wanted it to be a reflection of their Christian faith but they didn’t want a church wedding. It simply wasn’t them. So they married at the lake with the bride and groom in shorts, tops, hats and sun cream. It may not be the way you or I might think about getting married but it suited them. In the end that is surely the main thing, that we go into marriage knowing each other and what appeals and deciding on a wedding service that reflects the couple.
Sadly though, couples get caught up in too many of other people’s expectations about how many people, where and when the wedding should be. The main point though is the couple is setting up a lifetime hopefully together, so the wedding needs to be what they want, while still considering the needs of family. Putting your family into debt, just so you can have a big flashy wedding day is not my idea of starting of married life on the right foot.
I’ve sent that happen and it smacks of selfishness to me and makes me wonder about the priorities that the one day is so important rather than the marriage itself. What do others think?
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