A snobbish mother is upset when her son wants to marry a poor girl and throws her parents out of the wedding because they don’t look posh enough.
When Clara Wellington’s son came home from university and told her that he wanted to marry a poor girl from Montana, she was horrified. “But who are her parents?” she asked. “What do they do?”
“What does that matter?” her son Brad asked. “I love Frannie, and that’s all that matters to me.” Clara pursed her lips. Of course, background and status mattered; they mattered a lot! At least for Clara, they were everything!
When Clara and her husband, Brad Senior, met Frannie Heckle and her parents, all their worst fears were confirmed. Clara suspected that the Heckles were what her father-in-law would call “salt of the earth” people, but not what she wanted as her son’s parents-in-law!
Mr. Heckle was a tall, stocky man wearing a light blue suit that was baggy at the knees and elbows, and Mrs. Heckle favored painfully bright floral house dresses and white plastic shoes…
Clara shuddered. They needed to do something about their clothing! She wouldn’t allow them to ruin the wedding by looking like the hillbillies they so obviously were! She also voiced this to her husband, and his response surprised her.
“Leave them alone, Clara,” Brad Senior said in a cold tone he rarely used with her. “Brad loves this girl, and those are good, genuine people who care about him. What they wear doesn’t matter!”
Clara was upset by her husband’s refusal to see how important it was to convey the right impression, to present the right image. Her son would one day be a wealthy man, with a place in the city’s high society.
Don’t pretend to be something you’re not, and don’t deny your roots.
People would talk about this wedding for years, and Clara was determined that it would be an absolute success – there would be no snide remarks or criticism about her only son’s wedding!
Clara invited Mrs. Heckle and Frannie to lunch and carefully explained to the two women that what they wore was VERY important.
“Mrs. Heckle, I think you should reconsider your image. You should go to Bloomingdales; there are some perfectly acceptable off-the-rack dresses there that won’t be too expensive and would give you and your husband the right look.”
