say yes to the...

Ah black Friday. What a lovely day to spend at home watching wedding shows and figuring out all the gifts I plan to make....and not buy :)

Wedding shows. They are my weakness. Not because I'm wedding crazy or super anxious to have my own (though I am excited about mine someday) but because I just love what weddings are about. The joining of two families, outward symbol of love, the commitment to friends, family, the church, each other, and most importantly God. It's so beautiful.

In watching all the wedding shows I get caught up in I've noticed that the core of what weddings are all about has gotten lost in white tulle, matching linens, party favors, and custom designer cocktails. What happened to love? Where did the feeling of community go? Where is God in our weddings? Scarier yet, where is God in our marriages?

Oh right, I'm talking about weddings, marriages are an entirely different topic that I could go on and on and on with.

So on this show Say Yes to the Dress women go to a huge bridal store in New York and try on designer dresses that are thousands of dollars. Usually I'm just whatever about how crazy expensive these dresses are because if these girls want to pay that much, go for it. But, one girl just went on about how and her fiance are teachers and on a budget and she doesn't want her mom to have to pay too much for her dress so she has a tight budget of $3,000. Another bride just got laid off so she wants to keep her dress under $5,000.

Three to five grand for a dress you wear for maybe 7 hours and then never put on again and leave in your closet. I understand how special this dress is, and that the pictures last forever...hopefully. I just can't understand spending so much. I was raised with a thrifty dad, I've learned I'd rather make things than buy them, I'm getting a degree partially based in finance...all these make me gasp at a dress for thousands. I'd like to have an entire wedding under three thousand dollars, not just a dress.

What really bothers me is not the price of these dresses, that's not the heart of the matter. I'm so discouraged by these brides that make a wedding more about a dress, or a cake, or the perfect venue and not about the marriage they are going into. The commitment to love and become one with the man in their life somehow gets lost in the fanfare of the party.

I'm not sure what this post was supposed to accomplish, maybe I just needed to get that out so I could continue to watch my wedding shows, haha.


Anyways, I need to clean, knit, put some Christmas lights up and hopefully meet up with an old friend later!