Lesson to be taken from the Duluth runaway bride-to-be?  Weddings have gotten too hard.

Hundreds of people at a sit-down reception.  Over a dozen pairs of distant cousins in the wedding party.  The social event of the season.  This is not what a wedding is supposed to be.

At this point I feel I should point out that our whole big to-do over weddings comes from mimicry of British royalty’s weddings and the multi-zillion dollar wedding industry that fans the flames.  But that’s common knowledge now and it hasn’t made a difference.

Remember the wedding scene from The Godfather?  Elaborate sit-down reception, live music, great food, hundreds of guests.  A wedding only a wealthy mafia don could throw.  But now we all think we should have weddings like that.  To not do so would be, well, gauche.

Growing up in Oklahoma City, I didn’t attend a wedding reception with a served meal and a live band until I was in seminary.  (And both bride and groom had doctors in the family.)  I can only remember one reception before that one that was even off the church grounds, and they were considered a rich family. 

For our large-ish middle class church, a wedding reception meant filing into the church hall for cake, punch, mixed nuts, and fuzzy mints, all hosted by blue haired church ladies.  Formal invitations were sent, but everyone in the church was invited via the church newsletter.  Run out of food?  Open another package of fuzzy mints and all is well.

But god help the couple who does that now.  If it’s not the social event of the season, the wedding might not even take.