Thursday, June 11, 2009

"At least you have the dress"

Over the last week, I have become increasingly overwhelmed at the thought of the tasks that lie ahead of us. We need to book a venue, find a date, do engagement pictures, finalize our guest list, pick out bridesmaid dresses, decide on a caterer, design our stationary, send out invitations....etc., etc. And that's all in the next couple of weeks. It's all slightly stress-inducing.

A is being so sweet in urging me to not be stressed and to remember the important thing: Regardless of what the wedding looks like, at the end of the day, we'll be married. I can't wait for that moment.

In the meantime, as I am discussing these "to-dos" with bridesmaids, my mom and my photographer, the phrase "At least you have your dress" keeps coming out of their mouths.

I admit - it is surprising I found it so quickly and effortlessly. I was the girl who planned weekend getaways to Nashville and Atlanta to go shopping for my prom dresses so that I would have a Wa-BAM Dress that no on else had. (What's a Wa-BAM Dress, you ask? It's one that when you walk into a room, everyone stops and says "Wa-BAM, you look good." Irony of ironies, my Atlanta trip for senior year prom yielded me a beautiful dress....which happened to be the exact same one my best friend had bought at home. Oh well, I guess we both looked good!)

So, I do find it interesting that on the day that everyone says "is all about me" I was less than concerned with finding a dress that made everyone drool, as long as my love thinks I look beautiful. I take it as a sign of maturity - I no longer have that inner drive for attention that I once had. I think it's the knowledge that I don't want the attention at our wedding to be all about me - I want it to be on the Lord.

So as I remind myself that the day isn't about me, and it's not even all about us as a couple, I remember that it is about Christ Jesus and it is a celebration of His love for His bride - the church. When I focus on that, the concerns about guest list size, location, stationary color, bridesmaid dress cut...it all becomes infinitely less important. If people come and the food is cold and the music is lame and it rains on our beautiful outdoor ceremony, will God still be glorified? I hope so. That's our goal.

4 comments:

Adam McCullough said...

haha!! Have you been talking to Ginny! We've been having locale issues but I think we have it down now, and she was getting a bit stressed bc she couldn't find a dress she liked. But, praise God, she found one last week, and we think we've got the wedding locale and reception venue pinned down. It really shouldn't be this frustrating or stressful! I hope the rest goes smoothly for you two. It was good seeing ya'll the other day, even if for just a minute.

Anonymous said...

great perspective. more brides need to realize this. :-)

kathy said...

I don't remember that! Of course, I didn't actually *go* to senior prom, so maybe that's it.

For my wedding, I had a couple of goals. (1) I wanted to end up married at the end of the day. (2) I wanted God to be glorified and celebrated. (3) I wanted my friends and family to have a good time. And (4), I'll admit it, I wanted people to think I was pretty/beautiful. It worked out pretty well, I think.

Yay for you!

Ginny said...

Lauren, so true. So true. Reading Adam's comment, maybe we should be talking :) I was thinking it could be a good thing for us to keep each other focused, being the bride and not the bridezillas...nothing like accountability I say. I find it so comical that both of us had 'festivals' on our ideal dates. We've moved ours to November 21, it might be cold, heck it might snow...but whatever! As long as we're married and God's glorified, Amen!
Let's chat soon!