Novel Weddings: Do Your Characters Stand On Ceremony?



Photo by Sharron Goodyear

 Just about everybody loves a wedding. From witnessing the bride and groom become united before God to having a slice of cake at the reception, we enjoy celebrating the highest love that a man and woman can attain here on earth.

I'm enthralled by the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton taking place today. It's something out of a fairytale. William is dashing, and Kate is radiantly beautiful. Their majestic ceremony makes me wonder if I should throw a big white wedding for all of my main characters.

In romance, the hero and heroine always unite in the end. This can either be achieved by a wedding scene, or a sure promise of marriage in the near future. I've read novels where the characters celebrated their love with a big ceremony, and novels where it was the bride and groom with just the preacher and God as their witnesses.



Photo by kongsky

 The setting for my WIP is the Kansas prairie in the mid 19th century. Due to the area's remoteness at the time, my characters do not have access to grand chapels. This doesn't mean they can't celebrate big, though! One of the beauties of living in their close-knit community is having the whole town present at the wedding. My characters' occupations and personalities determine how large or small their celebration will be.

In your writing, do you prefer to have your characters marry at the end, or do you hint at a wedding to come?