Southern Weddings

Welcome back to another installment of Southern Etiquette!  We’re going to do something a little bit different today.  Instead of puzzling over an etiquette conundrum, I have a potential ceremony reading to share with you!  I stumbled upon it over on Weddingbee, and instantly fell in love.  Obviously I’m enamored because it’s an excerpt from Miss Manners by Judith Martin, but I also think, as Miss Knitting pointed out, that it’s a great choice for those couples who might not be “gushingly romantic” or religious.  Here it is:

“While exclusionary interest in one other human being, which is what we call courtship, is all very exciting in the stages of discovery, there is not enough substance in it for a lifetime, no matter how fascinating the people or passionate the romance.  The world, on the other hand, is chock full of interesting and curious things.  The point of the courtship – marriage – is to secure someone with whom you wish to go hand in hand through this source of entertainment, each making discoveries, and then sharing some and merely reporting others.  Anyone who tries to compete with the entire world, demanding to be someone’s sole source of interest and attention, is asking to be classified as a bore. ‘Why don’t you ever want to talk to me?’ will probably never start a satisfactory marital conversation.  ‘Guess what?’ will probably never fail.”

What do you think?  Would you consider an excerpt from an etiquette book for a ceremony reading?  What’s the most unusual reading you’ve heard someone use?

All header images c/o Millie Holloman

Written with love by Emily