Weddings

     I was a wedding planner.  For a few years, I planned the "big day" for many couples.  And their parents.  And their extended relatives.  And alongside their own personal "out of house" event planners.  Preceding that role, I was a maître d' and even a bridal attendant at a prominent Long Island catering hall.  I got to see many engagement parties and bridal showers, too.  As you've read in my 2012 posts, I was also close with the pastors at my local church.  So, you can imagine how many weddings I observed as an altar boy and member of the choir.  Like you, I've seen an abundance of "wedding-themed" TV episodes and movies.  So, here's my question…
     Why do 94% of those involve bridal parties entangled in inconceivable stress and drama?  They should be love stories.  Why are those stressful horrors portrayed as totally "unavoidable"?  Is it because the Industry wants to keep people clueless, so they can propagate mindless bridal competition and over-spending?  
     How many movies display a simple even-tempered wedding?  How many manage to proceed without disaster?  Instead, how many showcase "over-the-top" debt-causing spending, arguments, in-fighting, and stress?   
     The smartest bridal couple I met considered their annual income… and the amounts that their respective parents wanted to give.  Instead of spending one hundred-thousand dollars for one over-stressed/drunk day, they invested that money for a happy future.  Their "special day" was intimate, full of love, smiles and only happy tears.  It avoided screaming, shouting matches, over-planning, headaches, confusion, tirades, jealousy, debt, and unnecessary agony.  
     Most couples pour their money into frivolous things that their imaginations "wanted" to make them "happy".  The more they pile up "material stuff" around them, the harder it gets to manage all of it.  Maybe they should leave excess planning for Conferences and Conventions.
     Couples can easily get stressed out (venting their negative energies at each other)… all so that their relatives/friends can have a great time.  Or so they can impress people.  When asked about their behavior, each couple made mindless replies, "That's just how it goes."  "I guess it can't be avoided."  "It's what every bride and groom endures."
    Really?  There's no other way?  Open your minds.