Nothing like the familiar June bride, right? Weddings
can mean so many different things in a story and they don’t always take place
in the traditional month of June.
There are the weddings that are for the good of merging
alliances between kingdoms, political stratagems, or mutual financial gains or
conquests that includes families hoping to retain their wealth. You might
recall Queen Elizabeth the first who considered marrying a Spanish noble to
align England with Spain. Nothing like bringing your enemy into your marriage
bed. Who knew that wouldn’t work out?
Elizabeth I and her true love, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (among many of the movie versions)
Juan Pantoja de la Cruz of Spain
Of course, sometimes this kind of
marriage can elevate the positive attitude and inclusiveness to the general
population of a country, or even two countries. I can’t help but think of the
recent marriage of American actress, Meghan Markle to England’s much beloved
Prince Harry.
Meghan and Prince Harry, now the Duke and Duchess of Sussex
There are marriages of desperation like shotgun
weddings when a lady’s reputation is at stake. Perhaps marriage is the only way
to save someone’s life or remove them from a bad situation. There are also
those desperate weddings in which either the man or the woman will marry just
about anyone rather than be alone…a situation that can turn out warm and wonderful,
or absolutely suck every ounce of joy from someone’s life. Many romance writers
have written about mail order brides which we all love. Maybe some
correspondence took place between the couple before the wedding took place, but
essentially, it’s the marriage of two strangers. I imagine that online dating
in this modern age is somewhat like those mail order brides marriages, and
probably just as risky. Maybe they’ll actually fall in love, or maybe someone
is a serial killer or a person looking for a housekeeper and babysitter.
The OUTLANDER Series by Diana Gabaldon
(now a TV series playing on Netflix)
(now a TV series playing on Netflix)
My
favorite desperate marriage takes place between Claire Beechum Randal and Jamie
Frazier in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. Lest we forget, Claire had
married before in the wake of World War II and it was also a kind of a
desperate marriage based on the thought, “In case one of us dies on the
battlefield” sort of thing.
I did write one of these war romances for a World
War I story in FOR LOVE OF BANJO.
There are arranged marriages sometimes contracted at
the birth of the future couple to forge relations between families or
countries, or to keep finances within a small established group. In some
countries arranged marriages are done because parents think they know best who
their son or daughter should marry because marrying for love is perhaps just a
foolish thing to do. The subcontinent of India still maintains the tradition of
arranged marriages.
A Lovely Las Vegas Chapel Wedding
There are accidental marriages or marriages done on
whimsy or too much alcohol. Hello Las Vegas! Sometimes couples meet in an
exciting place or on vacation and the excitement or intoxication over rules
reason. This misstep can lead to disaster or ultimately find its way into a blissful
lifetime of happiness. It truly is a roll of the dice. I did write an
accidental marriage once, a time travel romance, HARMONICA JOE’S RELUCTANT
BRIDE, in which Lola accidentally falls back in time into a saloon in the middle
of a marriage ceremony to Joe Wilding.
Naturally we all love those couples who have found love
and finally get to that highly anticipated marriage that seals their love for
good. I’m the sentimental sort, so I like these marriages. I’ve written several
of these and always enjoy making the wedding arrangements for the couple in
diverse venues from barns to open meadows to big cathedrals. Such fun! But even these long anticipated marriages can get off on the wrong foot like my Wilding romance between Kit and June in IT'S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE.
What is you favorite kind of wedding story? Are you a
fan of mail order bride romances? Or what about a City Hall wedding if the
couple needed to tie that knot today? Do you like to anticipate a marriage and
savor every step of a courtship until it leads, finally, to that wedding
finale?
What is your favorite kind of marriage in which to
write? Have you ever started a romance novel with the wedding? If you have, I’d
like to hear about that.
Diverse stories filled with heart
