{"id":194865,"date":"2025-12-28T06:12:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T06:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/letter-weddings-take-all-forms-fashions-in-todays-world-the-lufkin-daily-news\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T06:12:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T06:12:18","slug":"letter-weddings-take-all-forms-fashions-in-todays-world-the-lufkin-daily-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/letter-weddings-take-all-forms-fashions-in-todays-world-the-lufkin-daily-news\/","title":{"rendered":"LETTER: Weddings take all forms, fashions in today's world – The Lufkin Daily News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A wedding expert, I am not.
When I was growing up, I don\u2019t even remember going to all that many weddings.
I went to the wedding when my Uncle Butch married Aunt Terry. I was still pretty young at the time, but if anyone knew my uncle, you knew he was had an independent side. So his perfect match was going to need to be a woman with a little independence \u2014 and a sense of humor \u2014 of her own.
I don\u2019t remember a lot about the wedding, but I do remember they were a perfect match. If you ever wanted some incriminating stories on myself or my siblings, Terry still knows them. And fortunately, she\u2019s not going to tell anyone who will get us in trouble.
The wedding that probably stands out the most when I was younger was when my cousin Kyle married the love of his life, Laramie.
I don\u2019t remember the exact venue where the wedding was held, although I know there was a pretty good crowd. I was warned in advance that this wasn\u2019t going to be the exact type of wedding I was used to seeing.
I was also warned not to be surprised when a few Aggie traditions were on display.
\u201cA few?\u201d
That\u2019s like saying Samuel L. Jackson utters \u201ca few\u201d swear words in movies. It\u2019s like saying NBA games feature \u201ca few players\u201d who can dunk. Or that Santa Claus eats \u201ca few\u201d cookies on Christmas night.
It was, in fact, not \u201ca few.\u201d
I found out quickly what they were talking about when \u201cThe Aggie War Hymn\u201d came on the speakers.
I never knew (even now with an Aggie daughter, I\u2019m still not sure) what \u201cHullabaloo, Caneck, Caneck!\u201d means. But I certainly heard plenty of Aggies singing it.
There was the swaying back and forth (sawing Varsity\u2019s horns off) and a variety of other Aggie traditions from start to finish.
And oh, yeah, even as a lifelong Longhorn fan, I have to admit there was a beautiful ceremony, as well.
That\u2019s one night I think I learned this whole Aggie thing might not be for me.
It\u2019s also the night I realized that most Aggies are some good people \u2014 even if I never caught on to the whole \u201cHowdy\u201d thing myself.
Kyle and Laramie went on to have a great marriage. Between them and their kids, it gave me good practice of when I would have to buy Texas A&M merchandise when my own daughter Sierra went off to college this past fall.
And who knows? One day I might be walking her down the aisle at her wedding where the Aggie War Hymn is being played.
I say all that to point out that a wedding is a special thing, and at least in my opinion, the theme of it should be important to the ones who are getting married.
There will always be plenty of people giving advice for a wedding. But it\u2019s important to remember that the ones who matter are the ones saying \u201cI do.\u201d
You want the traditional church nuptials with your lifelong preacher leading it? Go for it.
I\u2019ve been a groomsman, best man and a guest in churches across the state, nation and even in another country.
My brother\u2019s wedding had a beautiful backdrop in Monterrey, Mexico. My sister was married with a spectacular view of mountains in Tin Cup, Colorado.
The wedding is special, and hopefully just the start of a beautiful life with each other.
So, no. I\u2019m no wedding expert. But I do enjoy hearing about how couples make their special day a little extra special.
My wife started taking pictures in weddings when she was a teenager and never stopped. And she still has that little extra gleam in her eye when she talks about the various ideas that come along with a modern-day wedding.
With all that in mind, in this month\u2019s Charm, we take a look at what makes weddings today so unique.
Reporter Will Lanigan talked with the Rev. Steve Killam and the Rev. Jack Knox about the shift in weddings in today\u2019s world.
They take a look at how most weddings are no longer in churches and places of worship. However, especially here in East Texas, many still want clergy to officiate, which reflects many people\u2019s value of the religious component of a wedding.
Nicole Bradford offers up a list of wedding venues that can be perfect for a wedding day. They include Steel Pines, Zion Hill Baptist Church, Buck Creek Hall and the Old University Building in Nacogdoches.
In this issue, we go beyond just the actual wedding date.
My wedding ring pretty much stays on my hand unless I\u2019m typing or at various places where it might be a hindrance or a danger.
Everybody doesn\u2019t have to worry about misplacing that ring when they take it off for a few minutes.
How?
That\u2019s because their wedding rings are tattooed on their fingers. I know first hand through my friend Doug, who has a traditional ring but also has a tattoo on his left ring finger.
Grace Juarez takes a look at tattoo artists, and those in the community who elected that option.
If you\u2019re looking for actual rings and necklaces, Lufkin\u2019s Kim Ogden has opened up her own jewelry line, which Will Lanigan also features in this month\u2019s edition.
Also in this edition, you’ll get some advice from a longtime minister, Dan Eakin, who shares that being able to laugh can sure go a long way.
And when it comes to weddings, many brides will want to have just the right person to capture those moments with pictures.
The right person?
Gary Stallard, a longtime friend of mine, emphatically says that\u2019s not him.
He doesn\u2019t make any claims on being the ideal wedding photographer. But when he couldn\u2019t say no to a recent request at a friend\u2019s wedding, the pictures turned out being just what the bride wanted.
And oh, yeah. Speaking of unique weddings, I take a look at my own from almost a decade ago.
Our ballpark wedding seemed like a great idea until the weather forecast came out. But fortunately, all was well that ended well as I take a look back at the day I said \u201cI do.\u201d
We hope this month\u2019s Charm will let you reflect on what made your own wedding day special or even spark some ideas for the day when you walk down the aisle.
With Valentine’s Day on the horizon next month, this is a good time to talk about love, so we hope you\u2019ll enjoy what makes those ceremonies unique in their own ways.
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A wedding expert, I am not.When I was growing up, I don\u2019t even remember going to all that many weddings.I went to the wedding when my Uncle Butch married Aunt Terry. I was still pretty young at the time, but if anyone knew my uncle, you knew he was had an independent side. So his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":194866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-194865","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}