Wedding and Marriage

In preparing for marriage, young people devote their time, energy and resources to wedding but pay little attention to marriage. Somebody can have a flamboyant wedding but end up with an unhappy or broken marriage. To avoid the mistakes people made in the past, you must know the difference between marriage and wedding.

Wedding is a ceremony which can be colorful, exciting and flamboyant but marriage is the act of the fusion on a union of two members of the opposite sex in order to become husband and wife. Wedding will declare and pronounce you as husband and wife but you become husband and wife by marriage.

Wedding is a special event, but marriage is a process. Marriage starts from the point of searching, finding, proposing, engaging, and courting, down to when the marriage is consummated. Wedding is one of the special events in marriage.

Wedding is a one-day affair, but marriage is "until death do us part". Sometimes, wedding is a four-hour affair which people invest so much on, but marriage which is for life is not given required attention, preparation and quality investment.

Wedding is a public event, that is why it is usually attended by people from all works of life, but marriage is a private affair. After wedding, witnesses, supporters, sponsors, ministers of God, bridal train withdraw to their homes, and marriage between the bride and groom begins privately in their newly found home.

The success of one's wedding does not guarantee the success of the marriage. Wedding is adjudged successful if the couple is able to have a beautifully dressed bridal train, the bride wear good and flamboyant gown and the groom a well sewn suit, both drive in expensive borrowed cars, provide costly wines and give delicious food at the reception. But successful marriage is measured by how skillful you are in managing marital relationship, keeping your home in peace, putting your children under control, training them in the ways of the lord, and so on.

*Written by someone in ESL Forum"