For better or for worse. For here or to go?

I’m not one for pomp and circumstance. Grand extravaganzas, expensive celebrations and even gourmet meals are anathema to me. It could be I am cheap. It could be my waste not want not upbringing. It could be I am just lacking in class. No matter the reason, I’ve never been one to take joy in nor see the value in frivolous spending on one time events.

I guess that explains why I don’t understand weddings. Brides go nuts planning “their day” and grooms are left to wonder what they are getting themselves in to. I was lucky in finding Mrs. Bald Man as she shares my disdain for big weddings. The priest who performed our wedding was shocked that we wanted no music, no special frills and that the sum total in attendance would we about 10 people. We look back on that day with fond memories.

A wedding should be about the beginning of a lifelong journey, not the spectacle. I can’t help but be a bit of a schadenfreude when I see a grand outdoor wedding rained out. Not because I revel in others' misery but because I have a glimmer of hope the temporarily unhappy couple will see the folly in concentrating on one day when they have a plethora of days to spend outdoors together.

Wedding should reflect the personalities, hopes, beliefs and attitudes of the couple and not be an attempt to "one up" the others on the society page of the local fish wrapper. Put on your Nostradamus costume and look at this wedding and this one. Which couple do you think has the best chance of living happily ever after?

S2