On Dec. 1, our middle daughter was married. She was the first of our three girls to marry, and while I have done many weddings as a pastor, this was different. Everything went off beautifully and now they are in their new home. Then, just before Christmas, our oldest daughter became engaged. So, we have another wedding coming up in June. We are so blessed that they both were led to solid Christian men.
Living through something and knowing about something can be worlds apart. However, knowing something well enough can be of immense value when we personally live it out.
My experience with writing ceremonies, counseling and conducting weddings helped me when it came time to conduct my own daughter’s wedding. After all, people come to worship and see the bride and groom. They don’t expect the minister-dad to cry, pass out, and/or go off on some rambling sentimental trail. My strategy was to focus on the wedding at hand rather than drift into a stroll down memory lane. There will be plenty of other times for that.
Weddings are so unique. They are all the same, and yet there are so many differences in them. Weddings are important, but not nearly as important as the marriage. Weddings can be very expensive or financially reasonable. It is a tradition that the bride’s parents pay for the wedding itself. This is a quaint tradition and one that I am sure has a rich history. Still, after the smoke has lifted, the fact that the parents of the bride pay for the wedding seems to be universally accepted. Did I mention we have another wedding coming up in June?
I wanted to be like Cliff Satterwhite (not all the time) when his daughter was married. He wore a robe the whole service. I was forced to wear a tuxedo for the first part of the wedding and do a quick change into my robe for the vows. We had a song strategically placed that made the change go without a hitch. My daughter insisted that when I walked her down the aisle, she was going to be the only one wearing a gown!
Well, with one down and one coming up, there is only one left. Our youngest will graduate from Anderson University in May. Did I mention the financial crisis at our house? I thank God for our three girls. We love them dearly. Who knows, I may not wear a robe in the next wedding at all. Or again, I may wear one the whole time. That decision is not mine. I think I like it that way.