Weddings in Amish Communities

I first visited Cashton, Wisconsin two summers ago. Being from Texas, I was stunned to see so much green! The countryside is truly spectacular. We stayed at Amil’s Inn Bed & Breakfast. The owner, Anita, had lived in the area for quite some time and knew a lot of the Amish families. She was happy to take me around and introduce me.

One of the first stops we made was at a local store. This wasn’t a store in the sense you and I would think of it. This was more like a room on someone’s property, like a small prefabricated building. Inside the room was filled with items that Amish families would need. It reminded me of our old general stores.

When I saw the material for the wedding dresses, I began to think about how different their weddings were from ours. How many of us made our own wedding dress? A few, I suppose.

The wedding that I described in A Wedding for Julia is very similar to the types of weddings in Cashton. After talking with friends in Indiana, I realized that not all Amish celebrations are the same! Indiana has so many Amish now that they’ve extended the marrying season, and some of the girls like things to be a bit more modern–flowers on the table instead of celery!

One thing that stays the same though is that homemade dress, and the fact that the dress is used after the wedding–for church and for other special occasions.

I very much enjoyed writing about this aspect of Amish life, and I hope that you enjoyed the story of Julia, Caleb, and the folks in Pebble Creek.

Blessings,

V