Summer is setting in, and it’s time for weddings, and of course, a lot of young couples choose to get married in the open air, in the beautiful environs of Forest Park. A wedding is an expensive affair, because one has (or two have, or the families have, or the bride’s parents have) to pay for …..

a stretch limousine (it's also called stretch because that's what it does to the couple's budget!) several photographers, who get busy documenting the young penguin males: well, renting those tuxedos might be a little cheaper than buying them (forget having them made for you!), but they still would be less expensive than the lovely-looking dresses of the bridesmaids....and FAR less so than the dress that the bride wears....

The bride’s making sure that the rainy, muddy path doesn’t spoil her lovely dress, or her special shoes, though apparently she could exchange them with any of her bridesmaids!

Obviously, I couldn’t photograph the other major expense, which would be the food and drink, as I wasn’t invited to this wedding….I was only a brief bystander, but after they went to all this expense…the result was such a delightful scene, with beautiful young women, handsome young men, happiness glowing on everyone’s faces, and the wonderful warm feeling on seeing a new life-for-two starting from a point where two separate lives joined together!

I am a hopeless romantic, and I think money that’s spent to create such a beautiful, memorable event is well spent….