Sandy and Jamie's Wedding

 


   Last weekend two members of my Toastmaster's group got married. They had been a couple for several years and got engaged two years ago. They had planned to marry last August but Covid intervened. Then a couple months ago they decided to get married. They decided to marry on the second anniversary of their engagement.

   The original plan was to marry on the actual anniversary which would be on a Thursday. They would have a small ceremony with a party on the following Saturday to celebrate with more friends and family.  As more and more people expressed an interest in attending the ceremony, it became clear the small ceremony on Thursday would not work.

  They would have to have the ceremony on Saturday. Sandy and I talked a  about her wedding plans. I like listening to brides planning their weddings. I like hearing how they decided to do things. I'm interested in hearing how they plan to make the day special and meaningful for themselves and their family and friends. Sometimes I hear ideas that I wish I could have done when I got married.

   Sandy and Jamie would have their ceremony and reception in a party room of a bar located in the town where they live. A person that they know who had the required credentials for officiating at such events would perform the ceremony. They worked with him to develop the ceremony. One of the things that I liked about the ceremony was that they included her young daughter. They would give her a pair of earrings to mark the day. Jamie and Sandy would both make promises to Rose. After making the promises, they would put an earring in her ear. Part of me wished that when I had got married I had done more to include my stepchildren, even though they were young adults.

   After the promises to Rose, there would be a sand ceremony.  Sandy, Jamie and Rose each had a different colour of sand. One by one they would pour a little of their sand into a larger bottle. This would symbolize the family they were forming. After the sand pouring would come the usual vows of marriage with an exchange of rings.

   It was going to be a short ceremony, but full of meaning. I could tell Sandy was excited about it as she told me their plans.

   Some of their plans made me smile and think just how different things are. They did not send out fancy paper invitations. The ones they sent out were electronic. It only made sense. They didn't have time to do paper invites and quite frankly didn't want to spend the money. 

   Instead of the usual little gifts that guests get at a wedding, they put together a special song list and guests would get a code to find the list  on a music streaming website. I must admit I wished this was something I could have done when I got married. 

   The wedding colour was buffalo plaid. Sandy was going to wear a buffalo plaid shirt over her dress and Jamie would wear a buffalo plaid tie.. The decorations were going to be silk sunflowers in a vase with a buffalo plaid wrap around it. 

   Another thing they did, or rather didn't do was have a photographer. This was something they didn't have time to find given the short time frame. Also photographers are expensive. Knowing they had lots of friends with cameras and cell phone cameras, they invited friends to take pictures and upload them to a site they had set up. Did they have the posed formal pictures that are typical of weddings? No. What they did have was a collection of memories of the day from people who cared about them. 

   Sandy talked about her wedding little bit before the Toastmasters meeting yesterday. It sounded like the wedding day was a very good day.

   

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