Getting Wedding-Ready

So, I had never really given a wedding/being a bride much thought. I was never one of those little girls who, when asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, said, "A mommy!" I never dressed up as a bride for Halloween. (I was Princess Leia once, but it was against my will and was not pleasing to me at all)

So now that we're planning this big party where-we-just-happen-to-be-getting-married, I have to start using a Bride-Brain; and part of *that* is deciding on a dress.

Which I have done, and pretty easily (it helps that I'm making it myself).

HOWever, I also have to think about who/what is going *in *to that dress, and that is where this post and the following magazine comes in.

"Shape" magazine might come out with these every year; I do not know, I have never looked for, noticed, or thought about it until this year. But this issue (which is March 2010, with a "sell until" date of May 16, 2010) was snapped up in a hurry. It is one of the two three wedding-related magazines I've purchased to date (I also picked up a Bride mag from 1991 at the thrift store - the dresses are So Much Better! gah can't believe I'm saying that about late 1980s fashion!).

I am overall confused by the magazine as a whole; it gives three full-body workouts as well as an eating plan to get 'dress ready', which is nice, and the main reason I picked this mag up in the first place. The exercises are all pretty much geared toward already-fit and/or already-extensively-exercising folks, but that is OK, I can adapt. It has a couple articles typical of bride magazines ('the right dress for your shape' (where have all the sleeves gone???), two 'beauty countdowns' so you look fresh and glowing by your Big Day).

But there is an article in here that has me deeply disturbed. In a magazine about Health and Fitness, one of the Beauty Countdowns focuses solely on cosmetic surgeries to make you 'look your best'. This is very disappointing, especially when it talks about skin care (botox!) and firming up (lipo!). It just seems completely counter to the other 85% of content, and even counter to what I've been reading in other mainstream bridal mags (InSty!e, M*rtha Stew*rt, even the Kn*t).

I am enjoying the exercises in the magazine (although I have NOT bought the $200+ of 'required' equipment to do the workouts, thank you very much), and am curious to try some of the recipes; so I guess it was a worthwhile investment.

That 1991 Brides magazine still has this one beat, though! LOLZ