Six Things You Need To Know About Your Wedding (part two)

If you missed the first post, catch it here. (Go on, catch it.) And now…the next chapter:

3. A good wedding director is worth their weight in gold. Ideally, your wedding day will be your first and last matrimonial rodeo. There will be things that you’ve never thought about before, like how your bridesmaids will get down the aisle, what side of the church the groom’s parents are supposed to sit on, and what to do if a dove poops on your dress (true story). Bottom line: get an experienced, trustworthy wedding director.

“Experienced” doesn’t mean your aunt who has watched 71 episodes of Say Yes to the Dress and got married a few times herself. “Trustworthy” doesn’t mean that your wedding director shows up to rehearsal fifteen minutes late and says “So I know we talked about this, but remind me: what did you need me to do?” (true story)

A good wedding director will offer insight and counsel, but not hard-nosed decrees. A good wedding director will work with the pastor to make sure the wedding rehearsal is wrapped up in a reasonable time (way less than an hour) and everybody knows what they’re doing. And a good wedding director will be the walking encyclopedia on your wedding day who makes sure that your grandfather stops telling stories in the foyer and gets to his pew and your groomsmen aren’t late and the church has left you a key to the locked thermostat box so that it’s not 189 degrees in the auditorium (true story).

4. Your wedding day shouldn’t be all about you. It’s true. I know, you’ve waited a lifetime to find Mr. or Ms. Right. You’ve found the perfect dress and your mom got her hair did and you wrote cute vows that highlighted you chasing squirrels through a park (true story). But your wedding day is an almost guaranteed time where unbelieving friends and family members will be in attendance, with their rapt attention towards celebrating what’s happening in your lives.

That’s why you have to do all you can to point people away from you and towards the gospel. Make sure your pastor knows that he has the freedom to celebrate the cross and the resurrection (hopefully your pastor is gospel-centric enough that he ain’t gonna ask permission). Choose a pastor that will not tell you how to have 14 steps towards a happy marriage, but instead will tell you and everyone in the room that sin destroys relationships, but two sinners can find grace when Jesus is at the center.

Make much of Jesus. Don’t make much of you.

Part One