Alberta Wedding Photographer Organizes Free Ceremony
When three of the weddings she had been hired to shoot this summer were cancelled by the couples due to financial reasons, Innisfail photographer Fawna Sidoryk decided to do something about it. She organized a contest with a free wedding as the prize. Several local businesses agreed to donate other services needed for the nuptials including a wedding planner, venue, hair and make-up, music and someone to perform the service. Sidoryk plans to take the pictures.
The Innisfail Contest
The three couples still in contention submitted a write-up describing why they should win and also sent in a photo. Two of the couples cancelled their nuptials for financial reasons, and the third did so because their son died.
Voting for the winner started on June 15 on the photographer’s Facebook page and continues until June 29. After it is complete, the couple with the fewest votes gets eliminated. The two that remain will be interviewed by representatives from the businesses providing the free services, and they will choose the winning pair.
Apparel for the groom, food and alcohol are not included. The date of the wedding has been predetermined; it will take place on Saturday, August 29.
Nisha and Amit
A couple from New Delhi, India, Nisha and Amit, had to postpone their wedding for a different reason. They planned to wed later this year but were informed there is an inauspicious planetary alignment occurring during the second half of 2015. As a result, Hindus are advised against marrying any time from July until the third week in December. This astrological phenomenon is rare and occurs only once every 13 years.
October and November are the most popular months in India to be married, and as many as 20,000 weddings per day can take place in New Delhi alone. There will be a huge backlog of people who want to tie the knot. Any couple who attempts January, February, or even March nuptials should expect stiff competition for venues and other wedding-related services. They should also plan to spend more money as prices are going through the roof due to high demand.
Destiny and Nicholas
Health problems are another reason weddings get postponed. Sometimes family members become ill, or it may be one of the betrothed. Destiny and Nicholas Brzuska from Garden Grove, Illinois, planned to be married on January 4, 2015. However, Nicholas was diagnosed with a brain tumor. His doctor told the couple he would be too weak to get married then. The couple decided to marry as soon as possible rather than wait. In an unfortunate display of greed, the management of the venue they booked for the January 4 wedding, The Garden Room in Garden Grove, refused to give them their $3,600 deposit back, despite Nicholas’s illness.
The Numbers Behind the Story
More and more Canadian and American couples are postponing their weddings. A recently released survey by the BMO Bank of Montreal concluded 67 percent of Canadian couples are delaying their nuptials for financial reasons. This is a new trend; economic issues were the cause of 31 percent of postponements in the last five years, and only 15 percent of people married longer than five years put off tying the knot because of monetary concerns. The primary reasons cited were:
- Price of housing
- Employment instability
- Amount of debt
According to the BMO survey, many couples plan to take some of the following steps in order trim the costs of their nuptials:
- Reduce the overall size of their wedding
- Make their invitations or decorations
- Enlist a friend to take pictures or DJ
- Have their wedding during an off-season or a day other than Saturday
Weddings are milestone events, but sometimes life and finances interfere with even the most auspicious of occasions.