Ridiculousness

There is a term in the television industry,” Jumping the shark”. It is used when a show has made that turn so to speak from the sublime to the ridiculous. Even though it is still in production you should count it among the walking dead.

I am afraid that the wedding industry may have jumped the shark.

I ran across a write up of a Colorado wedding in one of my trade journals this week that was so over the top as to be ridiculous. I won’t mention the magazine or who’s wedding it was because obviously these people have really deep pockets and I’m sure much better lawyers than I do.

A gazebo was brought in as the focal point of the ceremony. Ok so far. A loading dock had to be built for the 40-ton crane needed to lift the gazebo in place. That’s some gazebo. I’m still kind of with you at this point but here is where they lose me. In order to take advantage of the new focal point, a sub floor six feet off the ground had to be built for the dining area under the tent. In order to install the floor in this temporary tent they had to uproot ten 30-foot tall canopy trees. Say what? The clients believed “ trees will grow again but this wedding is only once in a lifetime”.

I am not exactly a dedicated environmentalist but even I think that’s ridiculous. Where is the Sierra Club when you need them?

A marriage is once in a lifetime thing, but the wedding is really only a party to celebrate this life event. No matter how fabulous the wedding it is still only a one-time piece of stagecraft. Is this couple any more married than the young kids at the courthouse? No, but they do have one hell of a mess to clean up in the backyard what with the 10 gaping holes and all.

No trees were harmed in the writing of this column.