As summer approaches, I have beginning to see more and more advertisements about “Destination Weddings” and I overheard a conversation about how destination weddings are the trend today. While this may or may not be true, I have some reservations about the concept.
While a Destination Wedding may be a dream come true for the bride and family, my concerns are for the state of marriage itself. I believe a wedding should take place in the local church. Yes, that it a traditional approach, however, I have some concerns about moving to far away from the local body of believers.
1. When we pull weddings out of the local church, we begin to focus on the party than the worship. We need to celebrate marriage, but we must do so in the context of the reverence that the wedding represents. There is no place for drunkenness in the wedding, which has become common place. The wedding isn’t a party but a worship service. Why else do you need a preacher?
2. When we pull weddings out of the local church, we focus on the ceremony over the commitment. I hear people all of the time talk about how beautiful a wedding was and it should be beautiful. It should be a honoring moment of the beauty of marriage. But, we should be careful not to place too much emphasis on the beauty of the wedding. Hollywood can put together a beautiful production of anything, but what we need in our country are beautiful marriages.
3. When we pull weddings out of the local church, we change the framework for what we want honored. In a wedding love is not the focus of our honor, but God is. Love is certainly a component of marriage. Weddings are a wonderful time to celebrate the love of two people. But, love will not always carry us through. Commitment to God and His principles will never fail. When the marriage takes place in the local church, in front of God and everybody, the couple is reminded from the beginning that the strength of the commitment comes from God and nothing less.
Can a marriage be successful following a Destination Wedding? Of course, however, I sense a trend that is taken an already tumultuous marriage landscape and pushed the weddings away from the church. This is a dangerous trend.
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Photo from Unsplash.com
Keith Andrews says
Thank you for reading!!
Richard Muniz says
I think you just might be on to something here. In a church brings the wedding front and center before God. A so called “Destination wedding” certainly does make the make drop more important than what the wedding is about.