My family just attended the storybook wedding of my daughter. She and her wonderful fiance got married in a tiny white chapel in rural Georgia in front of close friends and family. The elegant long dresses and tuxedos and red roses contrasted with the small, rustic sanctuary. Afterward, the wedding party and guests enjoyed a glorious meal at a former cotton plantation built in 1852. The nights before and after the wedding, family and members of the wedding lodged at a huge log cabin in the woods complete with a running stream a few yards outside the back door. We felt as if we were on a movie set or in a romantic novel.
When we arrived home, my husband apprehensively asked for the total bill for the wedding extravaganza. When I told him, he half jokingly said, "I didn't know I had that much money!" To which I replied, "Well, you don't anymore." Upon further consideration, he said, "You know, that would have made a nice down payment on a house for them." Men can be so maddeningly practical and literal minded! Generous father that he is, he had no qualms about spending money on his daughter; it's just that he has very little use for formals and flowers.
I, on the other hand, see the wedding celebration as a beautiful gift not only to our daughter and her husband but also to our entire family. For one thing, we were all together for one unique and fabulous weekend. We will always have the memories of this beautiful time together.
I am a firm believer in celebrations. Life is hard. Day-to-day problems wear away at us all. People usually can't avoid life's travails, but they can choose to savor the good parts of life and celebrate the bonds that make life precious. Even the Bible tells us that Jesus celebrated at a wedding. That is where He performed His first recorded miracle. Indeed, there is something miraculous about a wedding!
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