October 29, 2009

{Your Wedding Crown}



Dear Bride-to-Be:
Even if your wedding gown is new, it has roots in the past. Today’s bridal “ball gown” styles borrow from thousands of years of fashion design. So you may be wearing a style of gown inspired from something worn by a queen or empress or even a goddess.

Feeling “regal” as a bride is part of your natural inheritance. No wonder that tiaras—elegance borrowed from another time—remain a favorite bridal headpiece today. Throughout history, there have been wedding ceremonies that “crown” the bride and groom, like in the Russian or Greek Orthodox services, symbolizing the “royal” blessings of their wedding day. Undeniably, your wedding costume brings out a bit of princess fantasy—like a little girl playing “dress up”—and combines it with something grown-up and royal like the beautiful goddess you are!

Love. Listen. Let go.
...with love from Cornelia

[Photograph: Laurie Lambrecht]

October 26, 2009

{Treasured Relationships}


Dear Bride-to-Be:
A bridal gown not only reflects a woman’s personal style, but it also speaks eloquently of families and communities, relationship and history. As a treasured family inheritance, bridal attire is saved to share with future generations: from bits of lace and ribbon to the entire wedding ensemble. (Are you wearing something for your wedding that is a valued family heirloom?)

Through the years, I have visited dozens of popular exhibitions at museums around the world featuring bridal costumes and accessories, revealing an anthropologist-like view into the heart of a particular community. At times during my visits, it’s as though I can feel the relationships infused in the wedding garments: mother-daughter, daughter-father, friend to friend, beloved to beloved, woman to her culture. The universal appeal of these exhibits shows how bridal paraphernalia provides pleasure and memories, contributing to people’s lives long after the initial wearing, long beyond the ceremony’s end.

Relationships are also part of our “treasured inheritance,” and they come in all shapes and sizes: some easy to embrace and other relationships in need of a bit of “mending.” Wedding planning time—the scheduling, the parties, even the wedding day itself—is a perfect opportunity to tend to that mending! Reach out . . . love, listen, forgive, and let go.

...with love from Cornelia

[Photograph: Collection of author]

October 22, 2009

{Be Gentle with Yourself}


Dear Bride-to-Be:
Historically, pale blue is associated with tranquility, softness, and wise understanding. Let your wedding “something blue” be a cue to be gentle with yourself: relax, breathe deeply into your heart, allow your breath to center you, and feel your heart open.

Practice this as you plan your wedding, wrapping yourself in the tranquil spirit of your bridal blue until its soothing nature simply becomes second nature to you.

Gently take a deep breath, inhaling the peaceful color of heaven; slowly exhale, breathing out tensions and fear. Make this declaration: “I’m replacing what doesn’t serve me with love and inclusion.” And be true to that little bit of blue magic!

Love. Listen. Let go.
...with love from Cornelia
 
[Photograph by: Beth Ely for Missy McLamb Photographers]

October 20, 2009

{Untie the Ribbons!}


Dear Bride-to-Be:
Whether you use a vintage sixpence, wedding penny, or lucky dime for your bridal coin, it represents the abundance of simple gifts all around you. “Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons,” author Ruth Ann Schabacker prompts us. Remember to keep your heart open so the riches of life have a place to land!

Indeed, your wedding coin is a reminder that every day is an abundant, beautiful day if you look with an open heart … and every day is an opportunity to celebrate simple gifts. Like the eighteenth century Shaker hymn reminds us: ’Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free, ’tis the gift to come down where we ought to be; and when we find ourselves in the place just right, ’twill be in the valley of love and delight.

Celebrate your abundance of love and delight!

Love. Listen. Let go.
...with love from Cornelia

[Photograph by Meg Smith]

October 16, 2009

{Honoring the Lineage of Women}


Dear Bride-to-Be:
For thousands of years in cultures worldwide, young girls were taught the art of needlework, spending the early years of their girlhood embroidering their wedding costume. But societies change, and today these girls—perhaps more skilled with a computer keyboard than with a needle—need to borrow their elaborate wedding costume from village elders. The world may change, but women always love to connect in rituals of the heart, sharing their talents to champion another woman. Share your best self today!

So whether you borrow a locket or brooch or tiara from another woman for your wedding—or even if everything you wear is brand new—you borrow skills, patience, beauty and courage from the lineage of women. Wear whatever you wear to honor that heritage.

Love. Listen. Let go.
...with love from Cornelia

[Photograph: Priscilla Wannamaker]

October 13, 2009

{True-Love Knots}


Dear Bride-to-Be:
Here's a “something blue” idea! Make a “Love Knot Bow” to wear on your wedding day lingerie out of narrow blue ribbons: tiny loops with knotted streamers called “true-love knots.” There is an ancient, romantic legend that the Danish phrase meaning “I plight thee my troth”—used in early wedding vows—was the origin of the expression “true-love knots.” As far as legends go, one might say that true love is untying all the knots to your lover’s heart!

And just a little reminder. If your love is indeed true, then it comes with a heart full of forgiveness. Love can get “knotty” at times, but as wise voices tell us: When we learn how to forgive, then we learn how to love.

Love. Listen. Let go.
...with love from Cornelia

[Photograph: Lacour Photography]

October 8, 2009

{A Gracious Plenty!}


Dear Bride-to-Be:
If you can’t find an old sixpence coin to use for your wedding, perhaps you can find a penny minted the year you were born, or a shiny new one that promises “a gracious plenty!” Keep your wedding coin tucked away in your jewelry case or keepsake box as a reminder of all the riches in your life.

And at each fitting for your gown or appointment with your florist or every time you make notes in your wedding planner, remember to take deep relaxing breaths, say an extra “thank you” to someone and count your blessings! Your wedding coin is a cue that being truly grateful for all of your experiences makes for a very abundant life.

Breathe in abundance ... and breathe out any concerns or fears or sense of lack. You indeed are surrounded by “a gracious plenty”... breatheeeeeeeee that in and abundance is yours!

Love. Listen. Let go.
...with love from Cornelia

[Photograph by: Missy McLamb]

October 5, 2009

{Veiled in Mystery}


Dear Bride-to-Be:
What has come to be known as a “bridal veil” in European-American heritage has its own unique story, borrowing the best from both Eastern and Western cultures. From Eastern tradition, you inherit a sense of being veiled as capturing a meditative space for your own private reverie. The Western lineage of the veil takes inspiration from the prestige and grandeur of old royal court dress traditions. Together they create an elegant heritage and a balance of pensive beauty for today's brides.

Whether you are aware of this legacy, or whether you wear a bridal veil or not, you are stepping into the past touched by women of the ages, offering a bit of themselves to your life. Open your heart and let that womanly support of strength and mystery in!

Love. Listen. Let go.
...with love from Cornelia


[Photograph: Kimberly Sayre & Shannon Stellmacher for Shannon Stellmacher Photography]