I Do: Wedding Glimpses  

My granddaughter re-married, after over five years of being single, the first of the month. June is considered the most popular month for weddings across the United States, and this wedding barely made it into the "bride's month." She never had a "wedding" the first time, and almost immediately didn't have a marriage either. However, she and David took time to know each other before they decided to marry. They joined as a couple and as a family since each has a son.

So what does all that have to do with writing and using observations to add enjoyment and memories? Look at the first paragraph, and let your imagination think of all the plots, conflicts, and stories that could be written concerning all or part of the information given.

Then think of what you saw, heard, tasted, and experienced at a wedding.

Remember that plot ideas come from things we hear, see, read, and experience. Therefore, someone who didn't know the people involved could still use ideas from the brief account to write a story. Others could look at a photograph of the wedding and, using imagination, could write something. For example, the flower girl, wearing a long pale lavender gown andtiny weath of flowers in her hair and carrying a basket filled with rose petals, walks down the aisle in front the of the bride. Her bare feet peep from under her skirt with each step. What could someone write to catch that in a story, article, or memoir? That visual memory of my great-granddaughter at her aunt's wedding will be forever printed on my memory.

Anytime a writer attends a wedding, he/she should come away with ideas to use in poetry, stories, or scenes in a novel. The couple who stay across the room from each other could be fighting or divorcing. The child who won't let "Mommy" out of sight may feel abandoned. The mother who sits off by herself may feel she is abandoned. The happy-ever-after feeling of a wedding could be the end or the beginning of a manuscript, just as the wedding could be the end or the beginning of a life.

About the Author

After teaching composition for twenty-five years and becoming an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ a site for Poetry, Vivian Gilbert Zabel produced Hidden Lies and Other Stores , Walking the Earth:, and The Base Stealers Club, which can be ordered through most book stores and on Amazon.com.