Once upon a time, I bought a wedding dress and got married. I didn’t dream of it my whole life, and didn’t search high and low to find it, but it was still a very special dress to me. When it was on, I had a very hard time not spinning around to see the bottom ripple and twirl. I couldn’t keep my eyes off myself. I took every compliment with the grace of a First Lady. Who me? I look angelic? Stop it! I stood up straight and held my posture like a runway model. I looked better than I had ever looked, and I loved every minute of it. For one day I was Venus, Wedded Goddess of Beauty. Sure, sure, it came off rather quickly at the end of the night (ahem), but not without a moment of silence for its elegant brilliance.
You’d think that at the end of my big day, I was sad to step out of it—but believe it or not, I wasn’t. The lady who sold me my dress had told me that in France, it’s customary for a married woman to wear her wedding dress on each wedding anniversary to cook dinner for her husband. What a fantastic idea! I would get to wear that take-my-breath-away dress once a year until death did us part. Seemed fitting to wear a grand dress the one day of the year I made dinner!
Desperate for more details, I conducted an exhaustive Internet search … and came up empty handed. I couldn’t find any evidence that this tradition existed … ever … anywhere. I became more frantic with every useless Google return, until it hit me that it didn’t have to be a tradition in France. It could be my tradition. I would wear my dress again.
It seems only natural that we should be able to wear our very favorite dress more than once. And, because I know you’re thinking this, it most certainly doesn’t take away from the special-ness of the day. Actually by wearing your wedding dress once a year, you’ll remember just how unbelievably stunning you looked on your day, how happy you felt, and how memorable the entire occasion was for you.
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