April 29, 2011.
I remember sitting in the art room at school, watching the royal wedding with my class instead of having our usual work time. The room buzzed with speculation on the price of Kate Middleton’s dress ($400,000, by the way), and gushed about how this made them want to re-plan their future dream wedding. To this day, that dress continues to be regarded as one of the most magnificent and iconic pieces of fashion history.
From a young age we learn the importance of weddings. We grew up watching our favorite Disney princesses marry handsome princes, paging through family wedding albums, and dressing our dolls in poufy wedding gowns. Now, it’s what we pin on Pinterest and talk about with friends. No matter what we are doing or where we are at in life, we can’t help but dream about weddings.
We begin as the flower girl, move on to being the bridesmaid and/or maid of honor, and finally get to be the bride. After that, we will be the matron of honor, mother-of-the-bride or groom, grandmother-of-the-bride or groom, et cetera. Through this, it can be so easy for us to concentrate all our time, money, and efforts on the perfect dress, location, or caterer. It is important to not lose sight of the sentimental value and root of weddings: love. It is not about the fashion or being featured on Say Yes to the Dress. The focus needs to be on the couple.
Yes, it is fun and exciting to dream about what kind of dress we will wear, the location, music, flowers, and food, but we must not get too carried away. Weddings are not supposed to be a fashion show or cost you your entire life savings. They should be a starting point for a lifelong celebration and series of adventures between two people who love each other. An expensive wedding gown should not be the best part of the wedding. The best should be the lifetime the couple will spend together.