Westside Story – New Wedding Tradition

Story & Photo – Joseph Boyle

We were invited to my nephew’s East Coast wedding.  Rather than fly directly to Boston, Massachusetts, where he was to be married, I took my wife on a circuitous route to the wedding.  We flew to Montreal, Canada.  From Montreal, we took a seven-day Holland America cruise through Southeast Canada and New England.

I was able to justify making this trip because of a new and innovative wedding tradition I recently developed.

Follow me on this and see if you agree that I have come up with a thoughtful and generous new wedding tradition.  Since the bride and groom are young and just getting started in life, it is easy to understand they may not have the kind of money required to book an ocean cruise for their honeymoon.  Historically a couple gets married and then take off on a honeymoon trip.  When you stop to think it through, it is easy to see that the traditional honeymoon is an outmoded custom, especially based on how expensive everything is these days.

To save the bride and groom time and money, my wife and I graciously volunteered to take their honeymoon cruise for them.  In fact under my plan, the bride and groom were able to return to work Monday following their weekend wedding.  How many people do you know who are that creative, generous and thoughtful with wedding gift giving?

For any of you scoffing at my logic, do not be too quick to judge until you have tried my plan yourself.  The next time you are invited to a wedding, send them a wedding card outlining how you are saving them time and money by going on their honeymoon for them.  They will thank you for your thoughtfulness and will remember your generosity for years to come.  When they are older and have more cash, they can pass this new tradition forward by helping their friends and relatives with their honeymoon.  It can become a new family tradition.

The old tradition often causes a young couple to sink into honeymoon debt.  Then there is all the vacation time they have to burn.  Many a groom has found himself unable to make his annual elk hunting trip during his first year of marriage, after having burned his vacation time on his honeymoon.  It is easy to see that the old honeymoon idea is just backwards and makes no sense at all.  Quite frankly I am surprised I was the first one to come up with this first rate concept.

When you receive your next wedding invitation, you will have a new sense of excitement.  You will think to yourself,  “Great, this is going to be a fun trip.”

If you schedule the cruise before the wedding and do not return soon enough to make the wedding ceremony itself, feel free to use the Joe Boyle wedding short-cut.  Just show up at the reception.  That is where you find all the free food, drink and complimentary dance music anyway.  You can cover your tracks by asking other reception guests, “Wasn’t that a beautiful wedding?”  Listen as they gush with wedding details.  Their response will provide you with valuable intelligence to be used during your conversation with the bride and groom in the reception line.  With my wedding tactics they will be convinced you were with them all the way through the ceremony.

No need to thank me for sharing my well thought out ideas.  As a contemporary thinker, I am always pleased to share my rock solid innovative ideas with my readers.

If my idea bombs the first time you try it, remember, this is a brand new tradition which may not have caught on in all areas of society.  Give it time.