unicorn@bmcg.UUCP (07/24/84)
After reading so many articles on the insanity of brides-to-be, I'd like to add my own experience to the list. I was married on June 2nd of this year. My bridesmaids (all 2 of them) each wore a different, lovely, lavender long dress. Neither one could afford an expensive dress that would never be used again. Because they are my dearest friends, I wouldn't expect them to. My youngest daughter, who is 9, wore a fancy white dress (she wanted to look like Mommy) that we got on sale at a department store. My husband wore a very nice 3 piece grey suit that he'll be able to use again and again. The best man forgot his jacket, so borrowed someone's. Oh, no one's shoes matched; no one cared. I, on the other hand, bought a very expensive, never-to-be-used again wedding dress at the best store in town. I wanted it, and I could afford it. The wedding day was strange and beautiful. About twenty of our friends came over early to help clean the barn (where the reception was held) and set up rented tables and chairs...and make punch, etc. Everyone was dusty & dirty by 4, so everyone took a shower & changed. By the time the first guests (75 in all) arrived, everything looked lovely. It was a wedding to which all of our friends contributed, yet it still cost a small fortune, even buying the wines at the Price Club and hiring a very good band who didn't charge much. The ceremony, which was held in the courtyard of our home, is a blur to me even now. I do know I gave my husband his ring twice and that I clutched his hand so tightly that he said it hurt. In retrospect, my friends helped me to survive all day. To me, that was a wedding.
gtaylor@lasspvax.UUCP (Greg Taylor) (08/10/84)
Yah, we ran smack up agin the problems of trying to handle the marriage stuff for sure. Fortunately, both of our mothers were in different cities far away, and didn't arrive until things were pretty much in place. Jolanda crocheted her dress because she *wanted* to, a friend made the liner as a wedding gift, and I bought a "wedding suit" (which I understand is more generally a European custom) which I then hunted jobs in. Instead of having a rehearsal dinner, we threw a party for all of our pals who came from oh-so-far-away to see us get hitched, and went out to breakfast with them the morning of the wedding instead of sitting around soiling our drawers worrying. Lots of fireworks from my in-laws for A) being Anglican instead of Baptist (Episcopalians eat their young, y'know) B) toasting with Champagne at the wedding. But when the fireworks were over, only the smoke remained. We stood firm on the issues we felt were important, we backed them by not tying what we did to our parents' footing the bill, and it went quite well. We were both awake all the way through the operation, and we only had an attack of the "blurs" in the car on the way to the hotel. Greg