Thanksgiving weddings may seem at first as a bad idea.

They are mid-semester, there is only a five-day window in which a wedding and a honeymoon could be planned, and selling contracts and finding married housing is harder to do since it is not the end of a semester.

However, despite these drawbacks, one BYU engaged couple said they think a Thanksgiving marriage is ideal.

"We thought it would actually be a lot easier to get married around Thanksgiving instead of Christmas because we don't have all the holidays that come with Christmas and all the expenses that come with Christmas," said Katie Lorenzen, 21, a senior from Dayville, Conn., majoring in nursing.

"Plus, we don't have finals right before the wedding to cause that extra stress," she said.

Lorenzen, who is getting married the day before Thanksgiving, said her wedding is no more stressful than it would have been had she planned it for Christmas because there would be the same amount of wedding planning regardless of what time of the year it took place.

Temple and reception hall reservations were also easier to make because they did not have to compete with other BYU couples, she said.

Lorenzen said both her and her fiancé's grades have not suffered because of their mid-semester wedding.

"School is important, but it falls in place with a lot of other priorities," she said. "I don't think our schooling has suffered, but we don't feel like we've given as much to school as we would have hoped."

It also was not a problem for the engaged couple to decide where to spend Thanksgiving Day.

"We're not spending Thanksgiving Day with anybody but ourselves," Lorenzen said. "We decided that because it's the day after our wedding, and it was the only logical thing to do."

Lorenzen also said it was easy to pick out what colors and decorations to use for the reception because of the season.

"Our colors are definitely fall related colors," she said. "And our centerpieces were influenced because of fall, too."

She has chosen a rust color and gold for her wedding colors and is using dried leaves and candles to go along with the fall theme.

The colors of a current season often influence weddings and receptions, said Rachel Smith, a BYU Campus Craft & Floral employee.

Smith said popular colors for this season include rust, yellow, vivid oranges and reds. Popular flowers for Thanksgiving weddings include roses, carnations and fall-colored daisies.

People also use berries, pomegranates, pumpkins, dried fall leaves, wheat and branches to accessorize the flowers and decorate the reception, she said.

The same is true for bridesmaid dresses, said Molly Carter, bridal consultant for Walkers' Brides Emporium.

"Reds, deep oranges, cinnamon and black are most popular colors for bridesmaid dresses," Carter said. "Anything that kind of brings out the fall and coordinates with the fall colors."



Copyright Brigham Young University 22 Nov 2002