Fantasy Weddings
evawhite on November 13th, 2008
I had a very simple wedding and never had the remotest desire to have an elaborate, expensive, planned-months-in-advance kind of wedding. My attention was on my life ahead with my husband, how we were going to take out the time to travel, what all things we would do together every day (sitting and listening to music in the evening while having a drink, doing a spot of gardening together, going for long walks, and many other things). For me the wedding was just something that had to be the first step towards our life of togetherness, not particularly important in itself. And I can say with perfect honesty, while knocking wood that 8 years into our relationship, we still rock!
This is the reason that I marvel at all those people (and I have to confess that it is mainly women who are so obsessed) who want anything but a simple wedding and are willing to spend what they earn in a year on a wedding. Apparently the average American wedding costs a whopping $30,000, which is not far from the average income!
Theme or fantasy weddings are hugely popular, so that you have the Gothic Wedding, with distinctly offbeat and nontraditional outfits, decorations and basically everything ‘Gothic’. Though why anyone would wish for a scary satanic wedding beats me.
Then there is the Victorian wedding, which is more understandable, with the accent of traditional and old fashioned, if elaborate and ornate settings, dresses etc. Would turn out to be really costly too is a museum worthy dress is to be created and other wedding props as well!
People also enjoy creating weddings that hark back to their ancestry; Scottish or Celtic for instance: Celtic music and Celtic jewelry apparently features largely in Celtic weddings. The Scottish wedding is probably something promoted by the Tourism Industry of Scotland, which urges you to come to Scotland and don tartan and probably a kilt for your wedding.
Now if you have a streak of the juvenile in you, you may want a Disney wedding: you can satisfy the romantic in you by having a Cinderella wedding or a Snow White wedding (with seven strategically placed ‘dwarfs’) or have a wedding with Disney land and a backdrop, check out the many possibilities.
After spouting off about fantasy weddings, may I just end with the post script, that the relationship itself is worthy of time, nurturing and planning and work; rather than the wedding. The former is your whole life, the latter but a day!
Actually it was the Jenna Bush wedding which was so uncharacteristically low key that set me thinking. This was one unusual celebrity wedding, being a quiet and private affair far from the madding media glare and the unrelenting public gaze. The reason that this wedding got me thinking is because it was definitely the exception to the rule.
Many celebrity weddings turn out to be free for the wedding couple and their families. The media willingly and joyfully picks up the tab in lieu of getting exclusive rights to covering the event. A case in point was the exotic Liz Hurley and Arun Nayar wedding. The two part media circus unfolded with part one staged at a castle in England and part two moving over countries and continents to another castle in Jodhpur, India. Two kinds of religious ceremonies, two sets on celebrity invitees, two castles, practically a paparazzi wet dream! Reportedly Hello magazine picked up the tab for the wedding extravaganza which included a procession of elephants, horses and camels, all elegantly decorated for the festivities in return for exclusively covering the Indian nuptials. The magazine gets what it wants the bridal couple have a free fantasy show and the public have their opportunity to enjoy all it their own voyeuristic fashion! A win-win situation if I ever saw one!
