My sister is getting married!

My older sister, Debby, got engaged this past Christmas. Steve, her fiance, seems like a pretty nice guy. I don't really know him all that well yet, but he makes her happy and that's what matters.

They got engaged pretty quickly, just 9 or 10 months after they met, but they both seem very sure of their relationship. That's good enough for me.

When they first announced it, they were planning on a big wedding with all the bells and whistles. It's what my sister wanted, and well, he wants whatever she wants (awwww). They started planning and set a date for May of next year.

After a few months of wedding stress, my sister emailed me today, letting me know that they've decided to go the small-private-ceremony-at-a-park-at-sunset route with a fun party/shindig at their house for all the next day instead. And they're getting married this August. She asked for my thoughts on it.

Naturally, I'm all for it. It's exactly what her wedding should be... about the two of them getting married. No "this person needs to be in the wedding party" and "if I invite this person, I have to invite this person" and "no, we can't sit those two together" crap. It's not about the flowers or the venue or the music or the daughter/father dance. It's about the two people who've decided to spend the rest of their lives together pledging their love and loyalty to one another*.

BUT... I wondered "why the change of heart?" My sister has been married before, and she had the big old wedding 20 years ago. Unfortunately, she and her ex didn't really get to decide what the wedding would actually be like. Since my parents were footing the bill, the wedding really belonged to them. Their friends, their choice of a band, their choice of venue. After Deb got divorced, she had said she'd have another big wedding if she remarried, but she'd get to call all the shots this time.

So I asked about the sudden change of heart, and her answer was exactly what I wanted to hear... that really, she just wanted to get married to the man she loved.

So, yay, my sister's getting married!


*by the way, I am totally not against big weddings. I am totally against the vast amounts of stress they cause and the crazy amount of cash needed to pull them off. If you've got a planner and the mula, have at it!