An Oddball Wedding Date – Part 3

Photo by Clever Cupcakes (cc)

This is the final post in a series on choosing a wedding date using astrology. Part 1 covered the general factors taken into consideration, and I detailed the process of selecting a date in Part 2. Today we’ll look at finding the best time of day for an event, using the potential charts as a guide.

We had narrowed the day down to March 21st, a Sunday, with April Elliott Kent’s wedding date guidelines and our own criteria. To choose a time, I began making possible charts with different event times to see what our options were. There are several electional time considerations from an astrological perspective:

• Ruler of 1st  MUST NOT be in hard aspect to ruler of 7th house
• Keep malefics (Mars, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) out of 7th
• Keep Uranus out of 7th and out of adverse aspect with ruler of 7th, Venus, or planet in 7th.
• Moon in 7th or angular; or, Moon applying to beneficial planet in 7th (avoid Moon in 6/12).
• Keep malefics off angles if at all possible
• Ascendant: no fewer than 3, no more than 27 degrees rising
• Fixed Ascendant is desirable
• Moon good aspect to rulers of 4th and 10th

(source)

We we also hoping for something nice in the first house, to go with our Aries stellium, and something in the ninth since we want to put our energy into traveling and studying more. The logistics of time, luckily, were less critical. We were having a small wedding in Miami Beach, with at least half the guests coming from out of town; whether the ceremony ended up being at 10am or after sundown, the people we were inviting would be there. So to be methodical, I started with the morning. Here’s a 10:15 chart, for a 10am ceremony (click to enlarge):

Well, ok. This chart has Taurus rising, which as a chef I like, and the moon and Saturn are trining an Aquarian midheaven which is nice- we both want to end up self-employed. But Venus is in the twelfth here, Pluto in the eighth ruling the seventh, and Saturn is in the fifth. I’m having a hard enough time deciding what I think about children- I don’t need that decision made for me, thanks. That grand trine also puts Saturn at the point of a kite which is too heavy for my taste… I have one of my own and don’t want another to deal with. Too much bad news in this chart! Moving on.

Let’s try an evening wedding. We want a short ceremony so starting at 6:30pm would give us 6:45 for vows, a nice sunset, and reception by 7:30. Here’s 6:45pm the same day:

Oh… right. The 2010 cardinal t-square business means that a pretty South Beach sunset will give us Saturn rising and Pluto in the fourth. We have composite Pluto in the fourth already, and Uranus in a Pisces-ruled seventh house is already the story of our relationship. Next!

Brunch? Let’s try a 2pm ceremony, we could be eating by 3 (Taurus moon is more concerned about the food than the ceremony time). Here’s a 2:15 chart:

Close! Cancer rising, Venus on the MC, and lots going on in the ninth- Sun/Mercury for cross-cultural bonus points. Capricorn on the descendant is normally something to run away from, but we’ve both gone a few rounds with Saturn on our own and our composite chart has the same placement. However, we now have an empty Saturn-ruled seventh, north node in the sixth, and that Mars is too close to the ascendant for me. A phone call also finds that the restaurant would want us seated by 2pm for (their fabulous, award-winning) Sunday brunch. Maybe a 1pm ceremony?

Too far. We have the node in the seventh now, which I like, but Saturn’s moved into the fourth, moon in the twelfth, Pluto is stalking the descendant, and Uranus sits right on the MC. People think we’re weird enough already, and I will not have any fourth-house problems in this chart.

So here our Libran heroine arrives at the moment of truth- my inner astrologer needs to reconcile a later ceremony time with my inner chef, who is now determined to avail herself of Nemo’s amazing Sunday service being handed over on the proverbial platter. We both want a short ceremony… can we have a 1:30 wedding and have everyone in the restaurant by 2:15? It is a short walk from one to the other. El Pisces says yes: the brunch must go on!

And so astrologers and foodies both win, with our 1:40 chart:

Anything after 1:32 keeps the node in the seventh and the moon out of the twelfth house, Libra now rules the fourth, and Mars and Pluto are both off the axes. Saturn is almost on the IC but is exalted in Libra, and the moon is making an applying trine, so I’m willing to let it go since it rules the seventh from there. Pluto in the sixth seems appropriate, given our composite chart, so that’s a fitting enough work in progress. Damage control is officially done.

The good news is that the travel junkies get a ninth house sun, Jupiter makes a nice big trine to the ascendant, and the sun, Mercury and Venus crowd the MC in almost the same way they do on our composite descendant which is kind of nice. Gemini moon in the eleventh could be a bit too impersonal for other couples, but we both have strong angular moons; no big worries there. On the whole it matches up nicely with our charts. Success!

There is no perfect event date, or time, but we got most of what we wanted:

• Aries, Aries, Aries
• No Mercury, Venus, or Mars retrograde
• Good Mars aspects
• Moon waxing and making nice aspects
• Good final moon aspect (trine Neptune) before going void of course
• The moon rules the 1st and is making a nice aspect to the 7th ruler
• Ascendant is between 3 and 27 degrees of its sign
• 9th house Sun and Jupiter
• Airy moon sextile Mercury on the MC will bolster good communication

And that’s as good as it gets sometimes; early afternoon on a Sunday in South Beach is definitely not the most convenient arrangement for a wedding, and our photographers were aghast at the 1:30pm time (the harsh tropical light! The squinty eyes! So many sunglasses! Are you sure you don’t want a sunset ceremony?) but it worked out. The weather was great, everyone had a good time, and- most importantly of all- the food was excellent.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.