A $10,000 Wedding in Reverse

From A Practical Wedding:

I thought we'd end the week on a sweet note. This wedding is the perfect antidote for feeling burned out by all of the spend, spend, spend associated with the modern wedding. Dianne and Chuck met online, and had only been dating a few months when she was diagnosed with stage IV lymphoma. When she told Chuck that it he should run away he told her "When God gives you a gift, you don't give it back," and proposed to her at her hospital bedside.

Which brings us to the upcoming nuptials. The couple is getting married in their backyard, and the next night they are asking all of their wedding guests to walk with them at the Leukemia and Lymphoma society's annual Light the Night Walk. Their goal is to raise $10,000 for blood cancer research with their wedding, instead of spending $10,000 on their wedding.

In the midst of the intense narcissism that sometimes surrounds weddings, this story is so refreshing, and touching. It reminds us to be careful and thoughtful about how we spend our wedding dollars, because the money we spend on our wedding is very real money that we should be using to make a small difference in the world, whether that is supporting vendors we like and trust, or starting our marriage with this kind of profound tzedakah. You can give a donation to Dianne and Chuck's goal, here, if you feel so moved (remember teeny tiny donations help too). Think of it as a small rebellion against the madness of the wedding industry.

Best of luck to Dianne and Chuck! They have promised to update us after the wedding, and I for one am rooting for them.

Photo via Apaoli's Flickr stream