The Shakespeare Garden in Evanston, IL. If you like the Bard, it’s a great place to get married.
Remember the film Shakespeare in Love? It appeared in a stage version in Chicago recently and I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes from it: “Mr. Fennyman, allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.” While this quotation definitely rings true regarding the business of theatre, it also has faint echoes when it comes to weddings.
Now, producing live theatre is actually a lot harder than wedding planning. (Trust me: I’ve done both.) It has some of the same elements, but there’s one big difference: A stage production has to maintain its illusion of reality at all times and at any cost, no matter what goes wrong or how badly.
The nice thing about weddings is that they are actually real and don’t have to maintain any kind of illusion. Sometimes people planning weddings are under the mistaken impression that they have to present an illusion of perfection (whatever that means to them), but I’m here to tell you that it isn’t true. Weddings and theatre both share an element of ritual, but that is about where the similarity ends.
So, if you’re busy planning your wedding and feeling as if you’re running into too many insurmountable obstacles or that you’re on the road to imminent disaster, try taking a step back and looking at the big picture. Will you end up married to the right person at the end of the day? Yes? Well, then you will have had a successful wedding. It’s nice if your guests are also fed and have someplace to sit and maybe a little entertainment, but as long as the main event comes off, you did it right. So, don’t sweat the small stuff.
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