The issue of thieves targeting homes when people are away is a very old one. Since weddings and funeral service times and dates are usually listed in the papers, these thieves have a ready made calendar for knowing when a home will potentially be empty. They even mark up their calendars months ahead knowing that there will probably be wedding gifts at a home when everyone is gone to the ceremony and reception.
When my wife and I got married I was a Reserve LEO with our local PD. We had an old guy that had been a member of the police reserves for a lot of years and was the nicest old man you could ever know, but bless his heart he never was allowed to carry a gun because he could never qualify. However, if you told him to go watch a parking meter and report in if anyone tried to mess with it, he would sit there for days doing his job. We hired him to sit at my In-Laws house during the rehearsal dinner and wedding day/reception to make sure there was someone there if anyone came snooping around.