The Wedding

 The Wedding

During my college years I was in the choir and we were available to sing for free at the wedding of any present or former choir member. So we ended up singing at a LOT of weddings. Sometimes a few of us would form a quartet or small group to sing at someone’s wedding, too. By the time I got married — a year after I graduated, and one day after Keith graduated — I had seen just about every kind of wedding you could imagine. And my opinion was that they were all way too big, too formal, too complicated, and generally an occasion that made both bride and groom miserable — not to mention the bride’s parents who were paying for the lavish shindig. 

When it was my turn to plan my own wedding, Keith and I had been attending a little country church outside of Judsonia, Arkansas, where my best friend’s father was the preacher. That little community consisted of two or three extended families which comprised most of the congregation. We had our wedding there at the church. 

I bought a pattern and some fabric for my dress, and one of the church ladies made the dress for me. She didn’t charge me anything. I bought the veil.

Another one of the church ladies made the cake — again, for free — and some others brought flowers from their gardens to decorate the church. 

My parents paid for the bouquets for me and my maid of honor and the boutonnieres for Keith and his best man. Keith’s choir director performed the ceremony, and my choir director led congregational singing for the wedding music. (That congregation was full of really good singers, as are most Church of Christ congregations.) 

Keith and the best man wore tuxes that his choir used for concerts. I told my maid of honor to wear any kind of dress she wanted. 

The most expensive part of the whole thing was our rings, which we bought at a discount outlet. Altogether the whole wedding ended up costing about $150. 

It was a beautiful, sweet country church wedding. Several years later I saw a country wedding featured in a magazine, and it wasn’t even as nice as mine was. I had the perfect wedding.