Dear Bride-to-Be:
I always find my
customers and audiences curious about the origin of wedding rituals: tossing
the garter; exchanging rings; the “something old, something new” rhyme; the
bride’s bouquet. These are rituals and traditions so familiar, even comforting,
that we’ve accepted them into our modern celebrations—yet a mystery remains.
Their
origins are hazy; different societies added different meanings and their
practice usually took a meandering path through the centuries, making some hard
to trace. Wedding traditions, as author Carol McD. Wallace shares, have
“complicated roots.” That’s why I consider wedding rituals come from sacred legends or a kind of fairy
tale: folklore from our heritage revealing itself a bit mysteriously.
Whatever
rituals and traditions you use in your wedding ceremony—whether in a gilded cathedral or grand
synagogue, on some lofty mountaintop or in a serene garden—choose ones that
touch your heart, light up your relationship, and move you to deeper expressions
of love.
Love. Listen. Let go.
….with love from
Cornelia
[This
is excerpted from my new book, The End ofthe Fairy-Tale Bride {Volume One} For Better or Worse, How Princess DianaRescued the Great White Wedding.]
[Photograph courtesy of Vogue.]