une Royal Weddings

aron Von Lodge was the head of a small country known as Lilliland near Switzerland. The time was the early 1900s.

Love is always in the air in Lilliland and the favorite time for weddings is June. A number of the citizens who wanted to marry waited until they had enough money to afford the wedding ceremony and a small reception.

Their families were behind them and provided them with farmland, a house, barn and some livestock and grain to get them started. Lilliland was basically a tourist destination and a farming community.

Several years earlier, while discussing the problems that engaged couples were having in finalizing their wedding plans, Lady Angela of Alpine Castle made a fine suggestion. She was engaged to marry the Baron and was well versed in making appropriate plans for a wedding.

Lady Angela suggested to the Baron that Lilliland Castle Chapel, which heretofore had been closed to everyone except the royal families of Lilliland, be offered once a year to the citizens who wished to be married in June. The Baron and Lady Angela decided to open the castle chapel to all engaged couples the first Saturday in June. The chapel would be offered free of charge along with flowers, organist, priest, ushers and anything else that might be needed. The only conditions were that the couples getting married had to be residents of Lilliland, the proper age, and had their parents' blessings.

The chapel was not very large but it could accommodate at least 30 couples with their guests. If the weather was nice, they could be married in the garden next to the chapel, which could hold more people. The Baron would be there with Lady Angela to declare the event an official Lilliland ceremony.

Professor Hamblin, the Baron's chief advisor of royal protocol and diplomacy, was in charge of making sure that everything was in order and went the way all royal events were supposed to be conducted.

The reception following the weddings would be next to the castle on the patio and porch areas overlooking beautiful Castle Lake. The swans would add to the serenity of the occasion.

Everyone loved the event and all the married couples spoke at length of the kindness and thoughtfulness of the royal family. The Baron praised Lady Angela for her ability to make the suggestion and follow it through to become a memorable annual event.