Happily Ever After? What's Wrong With Fairy-Tale Weddings

Monday, October 4, 2010
Marriage may be at an all time low in the United States, but it doesn't seem the twenty-somethings of the country have gotten that message. I'm not be getting married, which pretty much means I'm standing still while a stampede of brides-to-be course around me. Starting to feel like a tinny, broken record of "Congratulations!" here.

I'm not opposed to marriage in the least. But over the years, I've grown increasingly apprehensive of the notion that we need just wrap ourselves in a "let's get married and have babies" bandage to reach "happily ever after." For half of us, our marriages won't last a lifetime. Contrary to popular belief, problems to any potential union aren't vanquished with the magic words "I do." So I tread carefully with the whole marriage issue.

Still, I'm a girl. I get the excitement that goes into planning a wedding with all the decisions about cake, dresses, and colors. If we can keep our inner-Bridezillas at bay, I think planning a wedding sounds like a pretty good time.

But I guess I'd forgotten that the stampede of brides-to be rushing past me spent as much, if not more time, watching Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin, as me. And that means that this whole generation of girls grew up with Disney's female leads, Belle, Ariel, and Jasmine, as their style inspirations. I never realized the biggest first name in the wedding dress industry isn't "Vera" or Vivienne," but "Walt."

This past week, Disney announced its "Fairy Tale Wedding" dress line which offer seven dresses all inspired from dresses worn by animated characters from Disney films. And the dresses aren't bad. Some of them are really quite pretty. But I find something discomfiting in the amount of suspended reality that's involved with slipping into one of these dresses.

Can I say something? It does not bode well if you are getting married solely so you can be princess for the day. A wedding's meant to be a celebration of two people committing to a life together. It's not supposed to be your last shot at the great Halloween costume you never had. This latest dress collection just seems mildly unhealthy for the concept of marriage.



But I could be wrong. . . . Maybe it really is true love if you can get your fiance to stand at the alter looking like this: 



3 comments:

  1. Well, Iam not sure about the uSA. I as German cross the pond to marry my American fiance. That is romantic enough for me!
    And we are getting an handfasting ceremony:
    http://pumpkin4u.blogspot.com/2010/09/for-year-and-day.html
    Does that gives you hope for the future ;-))))

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  2. This is crazy, Ada! I will be introducing those dresses to my Children's Lit class - we've been problematizing Disney all semester...

    PS- AMEN to your whole second paragraph!

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  3. This may be your best post ever. I love your sense of humor. Shoot. I wish I could have gotten Tristan to wear a cape to our wedding. By-the-way...... when are you getting hitched anyway? (just kidding).

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