Pause the Pretty: Why You Should Take Your Vows Seriously {Guest Blog by Relationship Coach}
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Your wedding is one day. Yes, it's a big day but there's more to life than a wedding. Many brides spend more time planning their wedding than their marriage. We want to help change that.
Today, AshleysBrideGuide.com joins other Nashville bloggers to Pause the Pretty, a campaign launched by Marie McKinney Oates, MMFT of the Nashville Marriage Studio. The campaign's goal is to encourage you to step away from wedding planning and to reconnect with the purpose of it all. Below, Marie shares more about how to start living your vows now.
It is beyond easy to lose perspective when it comes to wedding planning. Everything feels like an enormous decision. What used to be a simple matter of deciding what flowers to use in your bouquet quickly becomes THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION I’VE EVER MADE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.
To that I would like to say, “Chill. It’s gonna be ok, ok?”
Seriously, perspective comes and goes during wedding planning. I don’t know how many times I’ve had a bride tell me about losing her mind over a failed DIY project that looked so easy on Pinterest and her groom having to soothe her as he reminded her what WAS important (their relationship, family, enjoying the day) and what WASN’T important (the font on the Save the Dates).
I don’t know where you are in the wedding planning process, but I’d like to remind you about a very important, but often overlooked detail on your wedding day. Your vows.
Vows are defined as, “An earnest promise to perform a specified act or behave in a certain manner, especially a solemn promise to live and act in accordance with the agreed upon rules”.
These aren’t just pretty words that you’ll say to each other at a nicely decorated altar. These words carry the weight of a promise you’re making to one another. These words are the foundation of the family you are building together. These words matter.
You are agreeing on your wedding day to stay with one another through sickness and health, richer or poorer, good times and bad. You are promising to be committed to each other even when you don’t feel like it.
We need to take our marriage vows seriously. The flowers in your bouquet will eventually die. The cake will be eaten and thrown away. The mason jars will be sold on Craigslist. But the vows and the photos will be the only things you have once it’s all said and done. And if we’re being honest, the photos won’t see the light of day if your vows fail.
Your vows are less likely to fail if you take them seriously. If you take time to learn who each of you are as individuals and how you will work together as a team. If you learn how to talk to each other in an honest, open, and loving way. If you develop a plan for how you’ll handle the sickness, the poorer, and the bad. Talking, planning, and learning how to be together... this is how you take your vows seriously.
Bio: Marie McKinney Oates, MMFT, is a local relationship coach. She has helped couples get ready for marriage since 2008 and has now created The DIY Marriage Plan, an online course for engaged couples that want to get ready for marriage at their own pace, in their own home, and on their own schedules.
About the Author:
Ashley of Ashley's Bride Guide
Hey - I'm Ashley! I started AshleysBrideGuide.com to give Nashville brides, or folks planning a Nashville wedding, a local resource for inspiration and resources. Hope to see you at a bridal show soon! Happy Planning.
send
Posted on November 20, 2012 |
Filed under:
