RSVP: My Daughter’s Wedding, the Royal Wedding and the Most-Anticipated Wedding of All

Having just helped plan my daughter’s wedding, I look at the royal wedding and the biblical marriage of the Lamb with fresh insights.

The wedding of the year is almost here. Prince William will marry Kate Middleton Friday, April 29, 2011. An estimated 2 billion will be watching the much-anticipated wedding on TV, and a million or more will be packing the streets to catch a glimpse of the horse-drawn carriages as the wedding party departs for Westminster Abbey. I understand there will be five carriages—at least that was what I heard last time I listened to the news! The royal wedding planners and Buckingham Palace have been very busy organizing the event. And the media have been busy dissecting every detail, hint or speculation.

My daughter’s wedding

If you haven’t planned a wedding lately, let me say there is a lot to think about and much planning for such an event. How do I know? Well, our youngest daughter, Rebecca, was married just a short month ago.

We were busy planning from the engagement to the wedding day with similar details. The first questions were when and where? Then came decisions regarding the colors, the dresses and, of course, THE dress, bridesmaids, food, cake, flowers, guest lists and invitations with RSVP. At times we felt we were living scenes from the Steve Martin comedy movie Father of the Bride.

The invitations were sent weeks before the wedding. We then took a breath and waited for the RSVPs to return. I remember our daughter’s reaction to the first response we received. She was so excited to read the card and see the check mark next to the “will attend” box. Several days later the responses kept coming! She got equally excited each time someone responded that they would come.

As the number of responses grew and GREW, we again relived a scene from the movie. My husband reassured our daughter he had planned for this occasion for years; and although it may not be the royal wedding, it was something he had dreamed of doing for his daughter for a long time. Her job was to relax and focus on getting ready, and we would take care of the rest.

The most-anticipated marriage of all

Our daughter’s wedding has come and gone. It was a blessed event—a great plan that came together in the end. As another, more-public wedding approaches this week, I have reflected on yet another marriage we are getting ready for. It is a wedding that many of us have given our RSVP to and are trying very hard to get ready to attend—with God’s help.

This preparation is to become more like Jesus Christ in the way we think, act and speak and in the values we represent. We are taking what we read in Scripture about God’s way and applying it in our lives in an effort to change and grow.

In one sense, it is a process that can take a lifetime. Choices and decisions are made, just like a wedding. Also, God reassures us to be anxious for nothing. As we stay focused on our efforts to get ready, He will take care of the rest. We understand that our preparation for this wedding requires us to stay motivated by more fully realizing what the end of this process will actually bring.

It’s a wedding we read about in Revelation 19:7-9: “‘Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.’ And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, ‘Write: “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!”’ And he said to me, ‘These are the true sayings of God.’”

This wedding will not be limited to some watching on TV or thousands crowding the streets of London, but will be attended by all who have been called, responded and remained faithful to that invitation for the past 6,000 years. It is this wedding and its supper that will usher us into the Kingdom of God and being born into His family.

As many millions anticipate and gear up to watch the nuptials between Prince William and Kate Middleton, let’s take time to consider an even more regal, royal and meaningful wedding that our Father has been planning and preparing for a very, very long time!

Tanya Horchak serves with her husband, Doug, pastor of the Dallas and Sherman, Texas, congregations of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association. They have three children and one grandchild.