muses.

hello recent brides to be! my heartfelt congratulations go out to all of you =].

something i learned about Stephanie Yu-to-be, wedding planner extraordinare, is that i am NOT a magazine flipper. i was handed a case full of wedding magazines [the legacy of many brides past] and was immediately overwhelmed. i attempted to read through a few. some were awesome - full of creative ideas, inspirations, ceremony+reception sites, dresses. others were so full of advertisements + "Must-Do's" that it turned me off.

i found great inspiration through a few wedding websites + found these to be sympathetic, artistic, personal, and definitely more beautiful =). hope this helps (colored words are linked):

• the bride's cafe: she features many wedding vendors and artists who "drop by" her cafe.
  
• stylemepretty: one of my bridesmaids told me about this site - the first time i went on it, i stayed there for hours looking at all their inspiration boards! i'm no artist, but i love love love pretty color combos.
• tenthousandonly: for the bride on a budget. the lady began this blog before she even got engaged! now she's married + you can reap from her wisdom. =)
• theritzybee: creative wedding planner - i love her ideas and how she creates events from a single vision. she plans like i write!
  
• etsy wedding: just cuz.
• martha stewart wedding: all the best from her magazines on a website =)
• weddingbee: updated by 20 or so real brides across the world
  

i heard of most of these from other brides and the occasional friend who simply enjoys looking at pretty things....but also from this awesome article on bridetide.blogspot.com: Top 100 Wedding Blogs!

Encouragement from Colossians 3 and 4:

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

And above all these things put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony....

Wives submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands love your wives and do not be harsh with them...

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ....

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ..."

the truth is - wedding planning & engagement often become about the bride and not the husband and wife before the Lord. it's easy to see why - the bride's dress, her hair, her grand entrance on the special day become the focus of the day. those things are important + should be beautiful, but it shouldn't overshadow the proclamation of the gospel and the love between the husband + wife.

the struggle in my heart as a woman is to believe the world's lies - in my bridezillamon moments, i don't exhibit the qualities of God's holy ones. no way i'm ready to be a wife that behaves in a way that is fitting to the Lord. but by God's grace, i still strive!

people have said that engagement is a sanctifying process - they weren't joking, it truly is! from the bottom of my heart i am thankful for it. much of my sinfulness has been revealed through this time. my hope is that the day tim and i get married, it will be a formal declaration of what we've already been practicing - putting on Christ's love which binds everything together in perfect harmony, declaring Christ as preeminent.