"At the beginning of our rehearsal dinner, one of the ministers began praying for us and then opened the prayer to allow our guests to pray for us if they wished. Before anyone could say a word, my mom chimed in: God, we thank you for this time. Now let's get this show on the road ... Amen. Needless to say, that's when the prayer ended," recounts Laura Haygood as she shared just one of her embarrassing moments as a Christian bride with non-Christian parents.

For a Christian woman seeking Christ with romantic abandon, the thought of a wedding ceremony often conjures up thoughts of spiritual symbolism and significant signatures of blessing and approval adorning the event. A wedding has the potential to leave eternal memories in the lives of a couple who are entering the world of holy matrimony—memories sweetly saturated with the aroma of Christ. But the image of Christ's hand on this celebration can be quickly snatched away by parents and pocketbooks that do not know Him.

Honoring your father and mother in the face of dichotomous beliefs is always difficult—but never is the difference so evident and pointed than with a wedding ceremony. In a Christian's eyes, the ceremony is a holy event that takes place before God with family and friends in attendance. It is not necessarily an event solely for the mother and father of the bride, although they are most likely helping out with the cost of the event. But where do you draw the line? Who gets to make the decisions? How do you juxtapose your reverence and hopes for the occasion with your parents' non-spiritual agenda?

"We decided that although we needed to respect my parents' wishes, it was our day—in the presence of God—to make our vows and commitment to each other. We knew we had to be true to who we were and are," says Mary Gammill, a 28-year-old wife of two years. "We just had to decide which issues were most important to us and which battles to fight. And one of the keys in making our decisions work was honest, open communication with my husband and my parents about what was important to me about the ceremony."

Gammill's experience turned out to be a pleasant one as her parents respected her wishes for a spiritually significant ceremony. From her perspective, her parents got an eye-and earful as well: "We planned an outdoor wedding and we had to trust the Lord would provide a beautiful day. We had lots of people praying for a nice day and it was a simple but great testimony to my parents when God delivered one."

Haygood, on the other hand, wasn't so fortunate. "The hardest part of planning the wedding and reception was dealing with my mother. She wanted everything done her way and didn't want things too 'religious.' Basically, this meant she wanted the service to be very short and she wanted alcohol served at the reception," Haygood says, "If there wasn't alcohol, she thought her friends wouldn't come or they would think she and my dad were being 'cheap.'"

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