20 September 2007

The Secret of "Destination Weddings"

I love it when one of my pet theories gets confirmed. A few years back, a dear friend invited me to his wedding on another continent. "Must be where the bride's from," I thought, but no--she's from Ohio. That's when I dug around and found the new term "destination wedding."

My friend's festivities were in a medieval mansion and included fireworks, so he wasn't stinting. But neither was he having to be nice to second cousins and the bride's father's old business partners. Destination weddings, it struck me, were a good way to invite everyone who'd be offended not to be on the list without the danger of most of them actually showing up. "We'd love to see you in Bamako! You have had all your shots, right?"

And last month the Boston Globe's word column reported:

At least one wedding guidebook recommends a far-flung celebration as a way for couples to pare expenses: "Destination weddings tend to attract fewer guests, meaning you'll be paying less" to entertain the friends who do make the trip.
That quote seems to come from this article, but the same idea has appeared on CNN.com, WeddingChannel.com, TripHub, and elsewhere.

What does this have to do with fantasy literature for kids? Nothing. I just love it when one of my pet theories gets confirmed.

2 comments:

Wendie O said...

My daughter tried to have her wedding in Bermuda. "It's closer to you than California is." she sez. I thought about it for a second, but wondered about the legalities of it.

At that point in the planning, her husband-to-be was still a British/ Australian citizen. Would this make her a duel citizen? Would it be legal in the US? Romantic as it sounded, it seemed to me to be open to more problems than solutions. (plus, her father didn't have a passport. although the flower girl and I did.)

So, the wedding was in California, her father (and the flower girl and I ) attended, and her husband-to-be became an American citizen.

And it was just as beautiful and romantic as she wished.

The best part was, since they both were working adults, we didn't have to pay for the whole thing. Just part of it. (royalties from my books helped a lot there.)

-wendieO

J. L. Bell said...

Sounds like your family remembered that the best goal is a wonderful marriage, not just a picturesque wedding. Best wishes to the happy couple!