March 17, 2015

{Who's Inside the Dress?}


Dear Bride-to-Be
When I had my bridal “art-to-wear” shop years ago, working with thousands of brides, I would ask them: What image do you want to remain in the imagination of your guests? It’s not the vision of a lovely woman in a beautiful gown that really inspires. What remains unforgettable and inspiring is when that image is infused with the beauty of an open heart. Being included in the intimacy of the day is the real gift people take home and feel when they later picture the bride. Perhaps that’s what makes some wedding dresses themselves so memorable: they were chosen with that same open-hearted, soft-focus attention.

In my new book, explaining how Princess Diana influenced the world of weddings and continues to do so today, I share that while the royal wedding was being planned and arrangements organized, much of Diana’s attention—like for many brides before and since—went to the dress.  Diana chose David and Elizabeth Emanuel to design her wedding gown; the husband and wife team known for their “full blown romantic style” and it seems she innately knew how to present herself with the aura of a fairy-tale princess by the choice of such a feminine, silk taffeta confection. Her striking appearance captured the imagination of the world looking in; it not only started fashion trends, but it, immersed in the magical phenomenon of “time spirit,” also changed something fundamental: women’s relationship with themselves as a bride and as a woman.

Whatever guides you in choosing your wedding gown—fashion trends, dreams from girlhood, goddess nudges, looking like a princess—be sure to let your woman’s intuition have free range and that your open heart is involved in every step of the process!

Love. Listen. Let go.
….with love from Cornelia

ps: The End of the Fairy-Tale Bride {Volume One} For Better or Worse, How Princess Diana Rescued the Great White Wedding is now available on Amazon.