Getting Married at Home, 1

Home weddings are my favorite. They range from simple to absolutely splendid, but to me they all share a common feature -- they feel "real."

I have never walked back to my car after a home wedding and felt that the newly joined couple waving goodbye in the doorway didn't understand what had just transformed their existence. I have tipped a valet and left many a quasi-coronation and wondered if the newlyweds at the reception in the grand ballroom had a clue in the world.

Disasters seem smaller at home weddings, and schedules are more relaxed and fluid. There is a hospitality factor possible that can't be duplicated at an outside venue, and a coziness (even at the fanciest of at home celebrations) that is impossible to match.

I will write often about home weddings, because they are being rediscovered and deserve their rightful place on a couple's list of options.