Post Peggy - A Wedding Like No Other

With gratitude, we dedicate this book to our spouses,
Allen Post and Tricia Post,
and to all of the brides and grooms who have shared their
wedding stories with us.

w e first want to extend a special thank you to Royce Flippin, whose creativity, organizational skills, and dedication have been paramount in writing our book. Royces talents, calm demeanor, and cheerful outlook greatly helped us keep this project on track.

Another key person in the creation of A Wedding Like No Other is Mary Ellen ONeill, our editor and friend at HarperCollins Publishers. From the beginning to the end, she had a vision for presenting these stories in a meaningful way. Mary Ellen: Thank you for inspiring us!

Many thanks, as well, to Laura Dozier and the others on the HarperCollins team for carefully overseeing the production of the book.

The fabulous stories shared with us by brides and grooms are the basis for this book. In particular, we thank the following for providing us with specific details about their weddings: Sara and Nick Finn, Kim and David James, Anne and Tim Connor, Beth and Craig Becker, Emily and David Scheivert, Andrew and Hope Benko, Kimberly and Rodger Griffiths, Ellen and Mazher Ahmad, Karin Warnelius-Miller and Justin Miller, Melita and Christopher Gump, Tatiana and Oleg Butenko.

Thanks, too, to those who offered us their professional expertise. We are grateful for the input received from: the Reverend Robert D. Edmunds, the Reverend Peter O. Plagge, Mark Kingsdorf, Carrie Brown, Dee Merz, and Beth Reed Ramirez.

We also thank Katherine Cowles, our agent, whose encouragement from the very start helped us tremendously. And our heartfelt gratitude goes to our Emily Post Institute associates for their contributions and support as we focused our time and energies on this book: Cindy Post Senning, Tricia Post, Elizabeth Howell, Dawn Stanyon, Anna Post, Lizzie Post, Matt Bushlow, Katherine Meyers, Virginia Keyser, and Alexis Lipsitz Flippin.

And finally, we want to recognize and thank Emily Post, our extraordinary relative. Although she is no longer with us, her compassionate spirit and timeless insights still live on as solid foundations for todays weddings.

w e can only imagine how excited you must be! A wedding is an incredibly special time in two peoples lives, a moment like no other. And your wedding will be unlike any other wedding, before or sincea reflection of your own unique personalities, hopes, and dreams.

There are plenty of books (including several from the Emily Post library) that will tell you everything you need to know about the details of planning a wedding. This one is different.

In this book, our goal is to get you to put aside your planning lists and must-dos for a few hours, and sit back, relax, and let your imagination soar. Its a collection of stories about real brides and grooms weddingseach one a wedding like no other. Youll read about an elopement, a wedding interrupted by a violent storm, weddings planned on a shoestring budget, and a full-scale gala with guests from all over the globe.

As different as they are, the wedding stories featured here all have something in common: In each one, the bride and groom had a clear idea of what they wanted their wedding to be and were able to stay true to that idea, often in the face of unexpected obstacles. The end resultin every casewas a fabulous and unforgettable experience for the couple and for everyone else involved. Each story is also followed by a short advice section, offering insights on how to stay focused on your own personal vision for your wedding, no matter what challenges might crop up along the way.

We think youll find the wedding stories in A Wedding Like No Other entertaining and heartwarming. We hope they will also stimulate you to think creatively and outside the box in planning your own wedding on your own terms. As these stories show, there are many ways to have the wedding of your dreams: All you need to do is to listen to your heart and what its telling youand then to follow that path with confidence, imagination, and love.

Best wishes!

Peggy Post
and
Peter Post

s ara and Nick had their October wedding mapped out in every detail: They would get married in the Church of the Resurrection in Rye, New York, which Sara had attended all her life, then drive a few miles down the road to a grand old beach club, where the reception would be held in a beautiful setting on the shore of the Long Island Sound. It was the same place where Saras sister had her reception, and Sara had long dreamed of having her own reception there, too. Her plan was to have the meal in the main clubhouse, with a tent set up on the beach for dancing.

The wedding day dawned to storm warnings: A full-blown noreaster was heading their way, due to hit sometime in the afternoon. Of course, no one wants rain on their wedding day, but there was nothing that could be done about it, so the couple shrugged off the news and continued with their final preparations.

The first sign that the storm might be more serious than we thought was when the tent company called, early in the afternoon, remembers Sara. They told us the wind was too strong to put up the tent on the beach. The sky was very overcast, but it hadnt started to rain yet. My attitude was, Come on, the storm hasnt even hit. But I guess they knew something we didnt.

By the time Sara, Nick, and the rest of their wedding party drove to the church for the three oclock ceremony, the day had turned almost pitch-black and the first drops of rain had begun to fall. I left the house with a garbage bag held over my head, says Sara. Still, everyone got to the church okay, and the ceremony went off without any problems until just before I was supposed to walk down the aisle. Thats when the lights went out. Since Nicks family had been talking about dimming the lights during the ceremony all along, Saras first thought was that this was just part of the ceremonyuntil the priest stopped the service and called for candles to be given to the bridesmaids for their walk down the aisle.

Along with the candles on the altar, and more candles in the back of the church, it looked incredibly dramatic, said Sara. When the ceremony was finished, we rushed out of the church and discovered the storm had gotten really scary. The wind was blowing incredibly hard, and the rain was falling sideways.

Snug inside their limo, the couple headed down the beach road leading to their reception site, their 250 guests trailing behind. Not far from the club, they ran into a police roadblocka tree was down, blocking the way. Undaunted, they reversed course and tried the only other approach to the club. Again, they encountered a fallen tree that made the road impassible.

Unsure what to doand with their food, flowers, wedding cake, and dance floor all waiting out of reach at the beach clubthe wedding group turned their cars around and made their way through the driving rain to the house of Saras parents. Thats when we lost a lot of the people whod been following us, says Sara. This was ten years ago, before everyone had cell phones, and the storm was so bad that people were reluctant to get out of their cars to find out what was going on.