Short Stories in the Shuswap

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The Wedding Gift

I waited too long. I thought I had all the time in the world but that time passed away when my parents passed on. In hindsight, I should have taken the time to ask, how hard was it to give away your wedding? Who's idea was it? How did it make you feel to sit at your own wedding and watch someone else get married, instead of you?

It happened during World War II. The date for the wedding was set to June 6, 1943. The bans had been read, the guests invited, the wedding dress made and was probably hanging in a special place in the bedroom. The food for the reception was readied — all was in place for a wedding in a little country church on the prairies in Saskatchewan.

What happened next was not unusual. In fact, it was a romantic scenario that was playing itself out in hundreds of towns across Canada and throughout the world. The groom's sister's boyfriend came home on furlough. He proposed, she accepted and they rushed to get a special permit to marry before he went overseas to war. His furlough only gave them one week.

And that's how it happened that my parents gave away their wedding. They gave away the wedding date, the church and the minister. The bride wore my mother's wedding dress and the food that had been prepared for my parent's wedding was served at the reception. The guests that had been invited to my parent's wedding came, and gave their gifts to the new bride and groom.

Four days later, on June 10, 1943, my parents were quietly married by the same minister in the same little country church. My mother wore her wedding dress, albeit slightly used but still just like new. All of their relatives and neighbours came to the wedding, I suppose.

I wonder how it must have felt to give your wedding away.

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