There's no one way to celebrate your wedding
Ann Cannon
The best men wore tuxes with W-I-D-E lapels and big scary boutonnieres. The bridesmaids wore flowing blue dresses with cowl necks and carried chaste bouquets of daisies. I look at my weddings pictures now and see that my bridesmaids looked like nuns.
(MEMO TO MY BRIDESMAIDS: Sorry I made you guys dress up like nuns for my wedding.)
Meanwhile, my parents looked young and ravishing, and everyone had plenty of hair. We all stood in a formal line together with my husband's parents and greeted guests for hours and hours and hours because in those days you invited everyone you'd ever met to a wedding.
There was no dancing at my reception. There wasn't even music. Just some neighborly conversation over nut cups and a darn good strawberry parfait. Who could ask for more?
A few things about my reception were a little out of the ordinary, however. For one thing, I didn't have it in a church gym. No bows on basketball hoops for this girl!
We held it in the Sky Room at Brigham Young University, which was notable for its view and its (yes! What could be cuter!) orange-striped carpet.
And oh yeah — one more thing. I wore shrubs on my head. At first. Until I threw them away. Here's what happened: I'd told the florist I wanted a wreathy-thing instead of a veil (dude — this was the '70s). Turns out he took me really, really, REALLY literally. When I opened the florist box moments before my reception began, I found ... a wreath. The kind you hang on a door. When I tried it on, my bridesmaid Maria Von Trapp (aka Donna Draughon) told me I looked like (yes! What could be cuter!) the Ghost of Christmas Present. Anyway.
Other than the shrub problem, I thought my reception went just fine, thank you very much. It wasn't until later when I started attending my friends' kids' receptions that I felt kinda cheated, you know? The dancing! The food! The toasts! The flowers! The favors! The candles! These receptions were Just. So. Much. More. FUN than mine. For everyone!
If I had to do it all over again, I thought, I'd throw the best party in the history of the universe with all the jumbo shrimp you could eat.
And now? Well. Now I'm older. Yes. That's what I am. Definitely older. And tired. And stressed about money, too. And also just not as crazy about jumbo shrimp as I used to be. So you know what sounds good to me these days? ELOPING. Same guy. Different dress. Preferably one that fits me better than it fits my mother.
(Hey. The point here is that there's no one way to celebrate a wedding. You just gotta go with the plan that works best for you and the folks you love.)
E-mail: acannon@desnews.com
Recent comments
Add on to my first comment--our last daughter is STILL married, has...
oops! | April 24, 2008 at 7:25 a.m.
Ann, you would so not be in love with an elaborate reception if you...
me | April 24, 2008 at 7:23 a.m.
