Dear Bride-to-Be:
In my upcoming book, The End of the Fairy-Tale Bride, I write
about the familiar yet rather mysterious ingredients of “the great white
wedding.” (Queen Victoria launched its first era and her
great-great-great-grandson’s shimmering bride, Princess Diana, revived it in
the most memorable of ways nearly a hundred and fifty years later.)
If
the centerpiece of this white wedding tradition filled with special costumes
and music and flowers became the bride’s gown, then the centerpiece of its
wedding reception became the “great white cake.” The first morsels eaten by the
just-wed bride and groom were, if not considered sacred, at least symbolic of
being nurtured for a full, rich life together. Historically this first bite was
during the wedding ceremony itself, like in ancient Roman customs when the
“cake” was a simple wheat biscuit. Then over centuries the tasting ritual moved
to the reception, as author Barbara Tober described, during Elizabethan
weddings when the “cake” was a stack of sweet buns.
However
you plan your wedding—and whatever “ingredients” you use for a romantic yet
meaningful celebration—be sure your “first bite” is ‘nurturingly’ filled with
love and tolerance and good humor and lots of sweet somethings!
Love. Listen. Let go.
….love from Cornelia
ps: Photograph courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings. (Also, I thought you’d enjoy MSW’s collection of “best wedding cakes of 2014.”)
pps: The End of the Fair-Tale Bride {Volume One} For Better or Worse, How
Princess Diana Rescued the Great White Wedding due out in January 2015!
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