Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz were due to have their shotgun wedding last weekend when Ashlee decided she didn’t want her dad, a former Baptist minister, officiating. She got it in mind that she was going to have a Buddhist minister instead, despite never having previously expressed an interest in Buddhism that I could find. The argument between Ashlee and her dad got so heated that she said she would cancel the wedding if he wouldn’t let her have a Buddhist priest preside. Ashlee’s fiancé Pete Wentz stepped in and was able to save the wedding by convincing Ashlee to give in to her dad:

“In the 11th hour, Ashlee clashed with her father over the ceremony, and when he would not cave, she actually decided to cancel,” said a family friend.

The dispute… was because Ashlee… decided at the last minute to have a Buddhist priest perform the ceremony instead of her father.

“Joe completely lost it!” the source said.

“They were down to the wire. Every last detail was in place and he could not believe his daughter came up with this last-second Buddhist idea after everything was set.”

Joe Simpson, a former Baptist minister, “dug in his heels,” according to the source, and told Ashlee there was no way he’d host a Buddhist wedding.

In the end, it was… Pete who saved the day.

“He ran after Ashlee, sat her down and told her there was too much at stake now to cancel the ceremony,” said the source.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, June 2, 2008]

Maybe Joe was pissed because the wedding was all planned out already, but if Ashlee had an available Buddhist minister in mind, and it’s not clear from this article that she did, it seems like a simple change to have a different person officiate. It’s her wedding and she should be the one to decide who is marrying her. Instead Joe Simpson almost let her cancel the whole thing because he was too stubborn to step down and concede his daughter’s wishes! That’s ridiculous. You can understand him being hurt, but it’s his daughter’s special day and he should care enough about her to step down. Instead Joe showed that his ego is more important than his daughter’s feelings.

The National Enquirer has details of Ashlee’s wedding that we’ve partially already heard. She had an “Alice in Wonderland” theme “decorated with a top hat, teapot and pocket watch with a pot of flowers on top…. Tables were laden with black beauty roses… and tents were decked out with black chandeliers, black rugs and white couches with red pillows.” Guests dined on a dinner of “crab cakes, shrimp tacos, sushi, roast organic chicken, Kobe beef and baked Alaska.”

Just Jared has pictures of Ashlee and Pete’s wedding invitation, complete with Alice in Wonderland “eat me” cookie, and their chocolate table settings with guests names.

Ashlee and Pete are shown at LaGuardia airport in New York last night after returning from their honeymoon. They’re in the same pose as on their People cover. Thanks to Splash News.