Jennifer L. Shawne - Instant Weddings: From Will You? to I Do! in Four Months or Less

Writing this book would not have been possible if the following people had not generously shared their time and ideas: Kim Stevens of Living Room Events, Ken Swyt of Ken Swyt Design, photographers Michael Rauner and Daniel Gohstand, and Jen DePatta of Sparkle Events all in the San Francisco Bay Area; Glenna Tooman of Memory Makers Event Planning in Boise, Idaho; Jerry Monaghan, president of the Association of Bridal Consultants; Laura Holycross of Event Design Studio in Los Angeles; Lanitra Johnson of Johnson Events Group in New Orleans; and Vikki Marinich of Las Vegas Weddings by Vikki, who went the extra mile by sharing her own fantastic Instant Wedding story for this book.

Many thanks to the couples whose wedding stories are told in this book for allowing me to share their tales with the world, and to the numerous friends and colleagues who offered snippets of advice and support throughout the writing of this book.

Much appreciation to my editor, Mikyla Bruder, and to Leslie Davisson at Chronicle Books, whose professionalism and warm personalities have made working on this project a real pleasure and delight.

Most of all, thanks to my husband, Alan, who encouraged me to write this book, cheering me on until the end, and whom Id marry three hundred more times if I could.

The authors of todays bridal guides make many assumptions. They assume you want a gigantic, froufrou white gown and a wedding day that veers from tradition in only the subtlest of ways. They assume youll be spending a small fortune for your perfect day, with only an occasional nod to the budget-challenged bride, such as Ask a friend to do it.

It is totally taken for granted that you will care very much about doing things the right and proper way, lest you come off as some cheap, impolite floozy. Most notably, these publications dole out reams of advice and pointers based on the assumption that you have a luxurious twelve months (or more!) to get all your plans in order before strutting down the aisle.

Every wedding is unique, as are the circumstances that give rise to it. And while a whole year is certainly nice for putting together a celebration of this scale, its hardly necessary. Indeed, the instant wedding has its own rich and storied history. Wars from the Christian Crusades to World War II, and even recent conflicts, have always produced a batch of fearless war brides, who marry after a soldiers summons is issued but before the poor fellow gets shipped off to the battlefield. Accidents will happen, and so we have the tradition of the shotgun wedding, where the groom was given the choice of marrying his pregnant gal or meeting his maker at the hands of the gals father. Las Vegas, where no fewer than nine thousand weddings are performed each month, is a tribute to the undying appeal of acting on ones whims and saying I do weeks, days, even hours after he or she asks, Will you?

Happily, the world is a much nicer place for quickly-weds than it has been in years past. Today, countless brides find themselves getting hitched in a hurrybe they unexpectedly expecting, madly in love with a recently deported Italian doctor, taking a toned-down approach to a second wedding, heeding their accountants or attorneys advice, or simply not about to spend a full year doting over hideous wedding trinkets while screening calls from eager-to-help relatives. While weddings of this kind may certainly come as a surprise to friends and relatives, they no longer come with the negative connotations of coercion and world conflicts they once did. And just because a bride is short on time, this doesnt mean shes also short on imagination, style, dreams, and emotionnor should her wedding be. Instant weddings are just as romantic, exciting, and crazed down to the last second as weddings that are planned years in advance. Seriously.

This book will provide you with all the standard fare youd expect from any self-respecting wedding-planning guidelocation, dress, flowers, music, shoes, budget, wedding planners, etiquette, lingerie, bridesmaids, strippers, nasty relatives, honeymoon, champagne, trinkets, photography, Web sites, invitations, cakes, pedicures, priests, therapy, birdseed, and let us not forget bubble baths (phew)but all the advice is tailored to serve the needs of the fast-track couple.

Thats important because a wedding planned in four short months will require a different approach than one thats planned over the course of a long year. Its not enough to simply condense the standard twelve-month calendar into a few harried weekends. When time is of the essence, priorities change, as does your schedule. Because popular wedding locations are booked far in advance, itll require some ingenuity and flexibility on your part to find a great locale. You may have to throw your reception on a Friday instead of a Saturday, or exchange vows at a public park instead of a private chapel. Rather than ordering the perfect dress and waiting months for it to arrive, youll need to search for off-the-rack or vintage fashions or hit up your mom for her gorgeous gown. Invitations become a top priority so you can give out-of-town guests sufficient time to make their plans. Hoping for a foreign honeymoon? Make sure your passport is up-to-date immediately!

This book will also offer help for situations that dont exactly classify as fairy-tale material but are realities you may have to deal with nonetheless: wedding-day morning sickness, INS hassles, prenuptial PMS, busybody relatives, elopement, and the hidden riches of costume-rental shops. Youll learn about how the wedding industry works and how to make the system work for you. Each chapter will include tips customized to fit small and large budgets, ideas to get your creative juices flowing, and pointers on using the Internet to facilitate planning and communication. Resources are listed by catagory at the end of the book, giving you immediate access to the information you need. The eight profiles of instant couples will give you a sense of how others have approached planning their instant weddings.

If youre reading this book, then presumably youre hoping to take that monumental stroll down the aisle sooner rather than later. A surprise pregnancy or immigration concerns may be dictating your sooner-than-expected wedding date. Perhaps you or someone very close to you is due to move away and you want to have the wedding before he or she leaves. You may have been engaged for months and months and are only now getting around to putting the ceremony and reception together. (Dont feel bad; most couples will tell you that they waited until the last few months to make the bulk of their wedding arrangements.) Or maybe you see no need for an extended engagement period; you know you want to wed, so why not wed now?

In our society, faster is often equated with cheaper and less satisfying. A microwaved dinner is usually inferior to one made from scratch. Service at a quickie oil-change chain is less friendly and personal than what you might expect from your neighborhood mechanic. In other situations, speed is appreciated and comes at a premium faster Web connections, overnight shipment, and drive-through pharmacies are good examples. With weddings, thank goodness, none of the usual rules apply.

A wedding in the works for a year can be as vulgar and shoddy as a faux designer bag, while one thrown together in a month can be incredibly beautiful and authenticand vice-versa. Money may be able to buy you the finest linen, the most elaborate hand-written invitations, and a dress that any self-respecting diva would die for, but it cant buy you creativity, supportive family and friends, or, in the Beatles famous words, love. A wedding thats been organized down to the last detail will be as emotionally powerful for its participants as a quick jog to the courthouse. In fact, a Las Vegas wedding planner I spoke with says her couples are often surprised by the intense feelings they experience during the ceremony, even if it lasts only five minutes and is officiated by a complete stranger.