Letters: How weddings & sports can coexist

RE THE LETTER about having a sports hiatus for weddings:

First off, in a long season (baseball, hockey, basketball), it isn't much of a stretch to ask friends and family to shelve the passion for their team for one game to honor a wedding. If they can't put down the remote for one day to honor your lifelong promise of love and commitment, they aren't much of a friend to begin with.

But when planning a wedding, it helps to look at the schedule of the team(s) in question and try to work around any potential conflict - weddings can take months or years to organize.

I speak from experience. My lovely wife and I, both avid Eagles fans, scheduled our wedding for the Eagles' bye week: Oct. 19, 2008. We wanted the wedding on a Sunday since rates are much less for everything (hall, DJ, staff). We originally planned the wedding for Oct. 7, 2007 (also a bye week for the Birds), but that fell through. (Weddings are expensive, but hope is priceless!)

The day of the wedding, the NFL was still broadcasting as usual. At the VFW hall, they had a TV in the corner. While some purists or bridezillas would consider an NFL telecast in the background anathema, we got many compliments for considering the needs of our friends who were football fans but wanted to attend our special day (with beer or other beverage in hand, and hot wings as one of the appetizers at the buffet).

With proper planning, conflicts can be worked out. In fact, some of our guests told us that our reception was one of the best they'd ever been to. Don't be afraid to bend or break a few rules, you might be pleasantly surprised.

James Wolke, Philadelphia