April Fool Wedding? by @JoanReeves #RomanceGems

I love weddings! The flowers! The cake! The smiles! Everyone is happy!

In today’s world where couples live together and often have children without marriage, getting married seems to have become the ultimate commitment if not the ultimate love story.

Weddings are celebrated in ceremonies ranging from small, family-only events to splashy galas costing as much as a house.

Ancient People Knew What Was At Stake

It wasn’t always like this. Ancient history tells us that marriage was first a private, domestic affair.

According to Curious Customs of Sex and Marriage by George Ryley Scott (out of print but available at used book outlets), the basic function of marriage was to multiply. After all, the population was small. The planet needed more people. Marriages were simply a way of sponsoring procreation.

You may kiss the bride. Go forth and procreate.

The Not So Distant Past

It didn't take men long to decide that the value of a woman—daughter, sister, or any female related by marriage—lay in making marriage contracts that enabled them (the men) to gain more wealth and power.

Women weren't given a choice. I'm sure most of them weren't too happy about being told whom to marry.

Marriage was a hard sell to most men too. Those testosterone-fueled beings didn't embrace the concept. They took persuading which is probably why the dowry played such a big part in landing a man who would enhance a father's power and wealth.

Perhaps that explains why so many nations (remember, just about all society was patriarchal) experimented with Polygymy, a form of plural marriage in which a man is allowed more than one wife.

The more times a man could marry, the more dowries he could claim and expand his power base. (The female side of this is Polyandry, a form of polygamy whereby a woman takes two or more husbands at the same time. Unfortunately, there were no dowries given for men so there was no financial reward for having to deal with more than one man at a time.)

Eventually, in most civilized nations of the world, monogamy was accepted almost universally, at least in theory, as the perfect form of marital union. As we all know, nothing and no one is perfect, but monogamy was probably what kept the world rocking along for a couple of millennia.

Marriage of Convenience

Another classic tradition in the wedding arena is the Marriage of Convenience in which an unwilling man or woman is forced into a marriage.

Sometimes this is because of the need for protection or for economic reasons.

I explore that theme in my romance, April Fool Bride. In my story, Madeline Quinn, an oil heiress, needs a husband, but men only see dollar signs when they look at her.


Mad Maddie, as the tabloids christened her, decides a marriage of convenience is the answer. She turns to the one man in the world she can trust, her housekeeper’s son who always treated her like a little sister when they were kids growing up together.

Jake Becker hasn’t seen Maddie since the night she tried to seduce him. Why should he help the woman who changed the course of his life? Simple. Revenge.

The Marriage of Convenience is one of the most popular tropes in a romance. What do you think of it? Is it one of your favorites?

Until next time, stay healthy and escape cabin fever with a good romance!