A Wedding Ceremony Location with Special Meaning
Once Robert and I made the final decision to have a “family-style” wedding and not run away to elope, we had to decide where would we hold our wedding ceremony. We had numerous choices and each with their own pros and cons.
♦ Option #1: Was to get married in the church that we attend with my parents. The pro of this option was that we would not have to pay a location fee and we would be able to have our wedding ceremony that reflected our strong faith. However, the con of this option for us was it was also the location of my first wedding, which was a little awkward… we wanted a place that we could make our own memories.
♦ Option #2: Was to have the ceremony in a local wedding chapel, however, none were really close to our hometown. They would have all required a drive time of more than 30 minutes for the majority of our guests and even more than that for others. We did not want to do that to everyone on a holiday.
♦ Option #3: A local Park was another option that we considered but we were concerned about how busy the parks would be on the Fourth of July holiday and if we would end up with uninvited guests and onlookers. I was thinking something private and personal, however, I really fell in love with the idea of having the wedding ceremony outside. I felt like an outdoor Fourth of July Wedding was very appropriate!
We were still struggling with the decision of where to have our wedding when fate stepped in… my grandfather became very ill, which put our plans on hold for awhile. Both Robert and I were very close to my grandfather and we made a choice to move ourselves and the kids into my grandparents house and help care for him.
I wanted him to be able to come to the wedding, but I knew that he would never be able to leave the house. So it seemed natural to have the wedding ceremony in the backyard at my grandparents house, where all we would have to do is get him to a window so that he could watch. My grandmother has a real green thumb and her backyard is beautiful, with colorful blooms and well trimmed trees.
We felt that this was the perfect answer… sadly, my grandfather did not make it to the wedding day… he passed away the end of May.
My grandmother insisted that we still have the wedding in her backyard and we felt that it was a special way to honor my grandfather and feel as though he was still there with us that day. I loved having our wedding there for many reasons. It was small and intimate, it was outside in a beautiful setting, and the location had special meaning for us.
Now everytime I visit my grandmother’s house, I look out and think about our special day and the way that we used it to honor my grandfather’s memory.
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