Weddingbee Blog

This afternoon, Mr. Cardigan and I went to see a movie that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time: Ramona and Beezus.

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I was mildly obsessed with the Ramona books as a kid, and I was so thrilled to go see the movie. Now, for those of you who haven’t seen it, there are a few mild spoilers coming up—but anyone who read the books should know about it anyway!

In the movie, Ramona’s Aunt Bea gets married to her high school sweetheart, Hobart. The catch? He proposes three days before he has to leave for Alaska, leaving them a mere two days to plan a wedding from start to finish.

Now, the type-A wedding planner in me heard this and started having mental panic attacks. What will they do for food? Where will they have it? What about a dress? And a DJ? What about invitations?!

But the happy couple calmly smiled at one another and said that they’d make it work. Aunt Bea wore her sister’s wedding dress, they had it in the backyard, and the local elementary school music teacher took care of the music. And you know what? The wedding was as beautiful and tear-inducing as any other wedding I’ve seen. The couple’s love for one another really shone through, and it was truly a reflection of them and their devotion to one another.

Now, I know it’s just a movie. I know that in the real world, pulling together a wedding in two days is stressful for everyone involved and not nearly as simple as they make it look. But it can be done. And people do it all the time, I’m sure. Even though it’s a little silly, seeing that wedding reminded me of what really matters in all of this: us. We’re getting married because we love one another and we want to be together forever. Sure, I’m insanely excited about planning everything, and crafting my heart out, and seeing our wedding come together, but if it really came down to it I would be happy driving down to the courthouse with Mr. C and marrying him with no guests, no food, no dancing, and no dress.

As much as this wedding means to me, and as excited as I am about it, it’s always a wonderful and humbling thing to remember that our relationship is what really matters in the end, and that this wedding is just a fun way to celebrate it. Once it’s all over and real life begins, it’s just going to be us—this wedding will just be one day out of our lives, and it certainly won’t be the most important one. We’ve been fully committed to one another for years now, and our wedding is just a representation of that—it’s not going to change our relationship in any dramatic way. We’ll still be just as in love as we are now and just as committed to one another as we are now. We’ll just have a certificate that proves it!

As the next few months of planning fly by, I’m going to try to remember Aunt Bea’s wedding and remember how beautiful and special it was, even without all of the “extras.” I’m going to remember that my relationship with Mr. Cardigan is what’s really important, and that flowers, paper products, and cake aren’t what make a marriage. In the end, it’s just us and our love for one another—regardless of how our wedding turns out, we’ll always have that.