While planning her dream wedding, Celeste Aslanyants fell in love with a picturesque manor that serves as a popular ceremony and reception site in Texas. But she soon learned the spot wouldn’t work for her fiancé’s Armenian family, who had made requests she wanted to honor. They hoped a priest would officiate, and that could only happen in a church. They wanted Armenian food and drink, but there were catering restrictions. And the guest list had quickly exceeded the location’s capacity.
The solution? Have two weddings. Ms. Aslanyants and her husband, Arsen, got married at a traditional Armenian ceremony and reception in September 2011 and then, two weeks later, they had an American wedding at the manor.
“I didn’t have to please everyone at once,” says Ms. Aslanyants, 28, who lives with her husband north of Dallas….
I’m sure the wedding industry will be encouraging this, just as they are now encouraging wedding planners and a separate gown for the bride to wear during the reception. Translation: spend more money. Too bad so many brides, grooms, and their families are focused on the party and not on the underlying relationship. What’s next – divorce parties, with expensive gowns, catering, flowers, etc?
This reminds me of a priest friend who was doing the pre-marital counseling for a young couple. At one point, the bride-to-be said,
“I haven’t decided yet on what the theme of the wedding should be”.
My friend said to her: “Marriage? Could the theme of the wedding be marriage?”
I’m sure that most parochial clergy could relate similar stories.
#2 KevinBabb:
Great story! I once met someone who’d been to a wedding with a “Gatsby” theme. It took all my self control to keep from pointing out that Gatsby wound up dead in a pool.
Yep. The wedding industry is a real money making racket! We were so close to NOT having a reception as that is the expensive part of the day. When we got engaged, I had just lost my job so finances (ie how not to spend money) were on my mind all the time. We did have a reception but the wedding was longer the reception!
Do what my wife and I did and have it in the parish hall (which, at Mount Calvary, Baltimore, was conveniently located beneath the church) and with food from a local delicatessen. Cost a fraction of what some seem willing to pay and no one had to go anywhere.