When planning a wedding it is easy to lose site of the real meaning of the day. In our culture weddings have been denigrated to mere social events that center around impressing the guests and being remembered as unique. But what is a wedding really supposed to be about? Nancy Wilson describes it as the beautiful doorway into marriage. It is the first of many days that a couple will spend in a covenant relationship that is meant to bring glory and honor to the Lord. Christian weddings should be grand celebrations of the Lord’s goodness to the couple and their public commitment to one and other, but that doesn’t mean they have to be extravagantly costly or stressful occasions. In a little section at the back of her book, The Fruit of Her Hands, Nancy addresses the wedding day and gives a little advice that is somewhat foreign to todays bride (and I am sure would never find its way into the latest bridal magazine!). Here are a couple of the highlights:
“Christians must learn and rejoice in the biblical significance of a wedding. Otherwise, our children might as well just elope and skip all the hoopla and save Mom and Dad a lot of time, money, and trouble. If we don’t understand, then what’s the use of all the planning and expense for a twenty to thirty-minute ceremony? Instead of taking signals from the modern wedding industry, Christians need to examine each aspect of the wedding from a biblical standpoint.”
“Another important consideration in wedding planning is the role of the bride and groom and parents: the bride and groom are the guests of honor at a big bash thrown by the bride’s parents. Whoever is paying for this event is the one who decides what is going to happen. In other words, the bride and groom should defer to the bride’s parents when it comes to wedding decisions. (Of course, if the bridal couple is paying for the wedding, this is not the case.)”
“The focus should not be about impressing our friends, but on honoring Christ and celebrating a joyous occasion with our friends and family. We should want our friends to have a wonderful time, not be impressed with our expensive taste.”
