
Friends of the bride.
Sisters of the bride.
Many people find my website because they want to help the brides-to-be in their lives who seem to be struggling with some unruly, unexpected, and difficult emotions.
Friends, sisters, mothers -- I often get emails asking, "How can I best help this emotional bride that I love so much?"
The best way to help an emotional bride: ask her about her inner life
The engagement period can be a strangely lonely and isolating time of life. Friends and family are so excited and want to focus on the fun wedding details.
Few ever ask about a bride's inner emotional life. And that's where most of the action is. |
Engagement is a time of huge personal growth and change
She's adding a new branch to her family tree.
She's learning how to be a daughter-in-law.
She's no longer a girlfriend. She's preparing to become a wife.
And she's trying to figure it all out while planning the most important and most expensive party of her life.
It's normal for brides to feel overwhelmed, sad and unsettled amidst all the goodness in their lives
I say this again and again to the brides I counsel, because women often believe their engagements should only be blissful, romantic, and filled with champagne, roses, tastings, fittings, pampering and ease.
It's a myth promoted by bridal magazines, fairy tales, and Hollywood, myths that just make the brides -- like the bride that you love, who is struggling -- feel even worse.