A snooty 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 he wanted to marry a poor girl from Montana, she was horrified. “But who are her parents?” she asked. “What are you doing?” “What does it matter?” her son Brad asked. “I love Frannie, and that’s all that matters to me.” Clara pressed her lips together.

Of course, origins and status counted, they counted a lot! At least for Clara they were everything! When Clara and her husband, Brad Sr., met Frannie Heckle and her parents, all of their worst fears were confirmed. Clara suspected that the Heckles were what her father-in-law would have called ‘salt of the earth’ people, but not what she wanted as her son’s parents! Mr. Heckle was a tall, stocky man who wore a light blue suit that was baggy at the knees and elbows, and Ms. Heckle favored painfully bright floral house dresses and white plastic shoes… Clara shuddered. They need to change something about their clothing!

She wasn’t going to let them ruin the wedding by looking like the rednecks they so obviously were! She told her husband as much, and his answer surprised her. “Leave her alone, Clara,” Brad Sr. said in a cold voice he rarely used with her. “Brad loves this girl and these are good, real people who care about him. What they wear doesn’t matter!” Clara was angered by her husband’s refusal to see how important it was to give 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 be talking about this wedding for years to come, and Clara was determined that it would be an absolute success – there would be no snarky comments or criticism of her only son’s wedding! Clara invited Ms. Heckle and Frannie to lunch and carefully explained to the two women that what they were wearing was VERY important. “Ms Heckle, I think you should rethink your image. You should go to Bloomingdales, they have some perfectly acceptable off-the-rack dresses that won’t be too expensive and would give you and your husband the right look.”