If the expression, "God is in the details," is indeed accurate, then a divine presence permeates the planning of a wedding. A wedding is like a microcosmic slice of regular life where one’s personal aesthetic becomes public and the importance of details becomes magnified, including carefully chosen aspects of the bridal costume: hand-embroidered needlework on the bodice of the gown; Grandmother's mended lace handkerchief; hand-sewn beads around the fine pleating of the skirt's hemline; the heirloom veil and pearls that had been reverently stored away since the last family wedding; a new headpiece created from antique wax orange blossoms; a train just the right length to give the perfect sweep with the bride’s movement down the aisle. Beautiful details that contribute to a magical whole; like a bridal hologram reflecting all dimensions of a woman’s story told through an archetypal costume.

Details from Lara Meiland's wedding: A collage of vintage European laces for Lara's ring pillow. Lara on the arm of her father. Lara & Claude’s wedding invitation and a silk organza bag full of rice ready to toss.

It seems fitting that the wedding—this most memorable and symbolic rite-of-passage—is also the most visually exquisite. A bride’s gown speaks eloquently of families and communities, of how we relate and connect to each other and to history. So in the end, all the details that a bride may choose for her gown—the scoop of the neckline, the pattern of the lace, the shape of a sleeve—are much more than details of an individual sense of style. They are part of a cultural roadmap that reveals through our ancestral pasts, infinite possibility.1

1. Cornelia Powell, “The Wedding Dress,” Historic Fashions Calendar Series, Introduction, (Texas: Texas Tech University Press, 2003), 2.

(Excerpt from Cornelia’s book in progress, Weddings of Grace: The Bride You Want To Be ~ The Woman You Become) © 2007 Cornelia Powell, all rights reserved.