Here comes the bride

Since I was a little tyke dreaming of owning the Barbie bride doll, I’ve been a fan of the whole bridal culture. Especially the dress. For a lot of women, it’s the first thing to take care of after the engagement is announced, finding that perfect dress. Because it really is more than just a dress. It’s like the mood-setter of the day, an extension of the bride herself, if I may be so melodramatic. In fact, I wrote book about this concept, Blue Heart Blessed, where I take a jilted bride on a journey to release herself from the gown of her unmet dreams, because indeed, the gown at the end of the day, is just a gown. But the girl inside it, is way more.

Today, my good friend Rachel Hauck begins a new blog series called “Beautiful Brides” to celebrate the release of her new book, The Wedding Dress (great book, by the way). She asked a few of her married writing friends to share some pictures of their wedding dresses and some personal thoughts to go with them, so that she could share them on her blog. Over the next few weeks, you’ll get to see these photos, starting with author Deborah Raney today. Mine’s coming up on May 4. You’ll want to read them all. We had such fun viewing each others photos, laughing over our big 80’s hair (not just ours, but our grooms, too) and remembering what it felt like to wear a dress that had the power to make you feel like a princess.