Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Have You Ever Been Sued Over a Wedding?

I can't think of one single organist that likes to play weddings. And I've known clergy that have remarked they'd rather say ten funerals than one wedding. This may strike others as particularly cynical, but there is a reason for it. Too often today, weddings have become big gigantic festivals of selfishness, whether on the part of the bride, or (perhaps even more often) the bride's parents, who many times want to give their daughter the wedding they never had. (I can't say that it's theoretically impossible for the groom to do the same, but I must admit it's outside the realm of my experience and the stories I've heard.)

In spite of all the aggravation that comes with this, I can say that I don't have any colleagues that have ever been sued (though perhaps this is something to think about). But look at this article. A Manhattan bride, who just happens to be a lawyer, is suing the florist over her wedding for $400,000 because the flowers, which were worth a paltry $27,000, were the wrong color.

This only begs the question: How can we recover the sense that weddings are sacraments and not circuses? I'm wondering if they shouldn't take place in the context of the Sunday Mass. Am I naive to think that will help?

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