There’s Financial Planning and There’s Emotional Planning
May 13, 2019
I have a big weekend coming up, my baby girl is getting married! The last wedding in which I had any involvement was my own back in the summer of 1977. Forty-two years later and let’s just say the wedding business has changed!
The Crossroads Motel in Clarksdale Mississippi was a wonderful value in 1977 at $17.95 a night, complete with air conditioning and color TV (HD was still over a generation away). And yes, for you fans of Blues Music, that is the “Crossroads” made famous by Robert Johnson when the devil apparently re-tuned his guitar at the intersection of Highway 49 and Highway 61 in exchange for his soul. By this process the blues were born.
Next weekend I will be once again walking down the aisle, but this time at my daughter’s wedding in Denver. How things change! Thankfully I have had a really good financial planner because the Four Seasons Hotel in Denver and the Crossroad Motel have somewhat different pricing models. We had one heck of a rehearsal dinner for my wedding at the Delta Warehouse Restaurant where the top of the line menu item was listed at $8.95 per guest! The affordability was further helped by the fact the reception was in a dry county. I have just forwarded the original copy of this receipt to the Denver venue, hoping to see if I can get a little last-minute pity adjustment on the wedding reception bill (I am not expecting a call).
While venues and costs will always change over time, certain things remain constant. In 1977 a couple hoped for a life together that would be happy and fulfilling. That dream is shared by the newlyweds of 2019. They face the same risks, and the reality that there are no promises in life. In hindsight marriage is a bit like the market. We face each day not knowing what it will present to us. Challenges and road blocks arise that can seem insurmountable but with maturity, time, and patience, sprinkled with a little bit of wisdom, we learn we can weather the tests of the market and of life. Making a marriage successful teaches us that we are better together as a team than as individuals.
Here are some final pre-wedding thoughts: I am sure that the wedding day must be the bride’s day. Let no one else tell you otherwise. It is not a day for the groom, or the parents, or the friends. This day is for only one person, the bride: from the ornate dress meant to show case her to the hours of hair and make-up. The groom should be grateful just to be allowed in the photos. Nobody even cares whether the groomsmen bothered to shave! Every last moment of the ceremony is for my daughter, the bride, and I am going to soak them all in. After all, she won’t be mine anymore after today.
