Worry

Yesterday's post -Horror Stories-requires some more observation. What was the couple looking for in coming on the show to tell this story? The bride said she was a detail oriented control freak and that her wedding plans were absolutely perfect till the first death happened, followed by the string of other sad circumstances. Of course, the tragedies didn't negate her skills at wedding planning. In fact, as I recall, none of her actual plans went awry. The ceremony happened on schedule. The flowers were there, the dress, the rings, the reception and music and all the other thousand details fell into place.

However, the purpose of this segment of the show was ambiguous. The couple got plenty of sympathy from the audience (who wouldn't sympathize?). The mother of the groom survived her stroke and sat with the couple crying about missing the wedding, and the groom hugged his mother because her being alive was more important than the wedding day being perfect.

I want to know: were the deaths and illnesses not supposed to happen? Of course, no one "wants" those things to happen, but we're not G*d. When bad things happen before good events, we fold them into our lives; we fold them into the ceremony if we want. Or if the events are too devastating (and they can be), we bite the bullet and postpone. What is more tragic than a cousin crashing his light plane and disappearing into the ocean with his wife and sister-in-law on his way to your wedding? (JFK, Jr, July 18, 1999). The cousin postponed.

Life includes birth and death. Weddings are celebrations. This couple was either exploited, or felt they would get some sympathy they missed from their intimate friends and family. Sympathy sells, like tragedy does. And that's TV.