If you do a Google search on “wedding stress” you’ll get over 70 million results. 

For most people a wedding is the largest, most expensive and most important event you will ever host.  If you’re planning a wedding and feeling that stress, you are not alone.   It can be tempting to think that there just isn’t time to add a “de-stressing” to-do to your lists. But if you can, carve out that time.  You don’t want to be so focused on the wedding that you forget to plan for the marriage itself.

If you are getting married, our free book for brides is full of ideas and information as you plan for a lifetime together. There is also a series of online lessons you can do with a coach to help you prepare to share you life.  These lessons can be done anytime, from anywhere you have an internet connection.

Topics include:

• Dealing with stress
• Anticipation
• Dealing with differences
• How to share your life without losing yourself

Over the series of lessons you’ll learn things you can invest in your relationship now that will reap benefits long into your life together.  Each lesson takes about half an hour to complete.  Grab a cup of tea and quiet corner and let a coach walk with you as you prepare to walk the aisle.  If you have any questions along the way we’re happy to help and we’ll pray for you as your special day approaches.

Start the first lesson today!

See the full list of lessons for brides 

Do you have a clear picture of what the end times will look like? Learn more in our online study End Times Events

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready”  (Revelation 19:7).

I’ve been photographing families for years and recently a couple asked me to shoot their wedding. After I pulled up to the gardens and gathered my gear, I made my way toward the bride’s chamber.

With no make-up, her hair a mess, and standing there in an oversized button down shirt, the bride-to-be beamed. As her closest friends and family gathered around her she gushed over details about the next few hours to come. After I sneaked out the door, I took shots of the empty chapel filled with white lace, tree branches, and temperature so low it felt like a winter wonderland.

It hit me at that moment. What did the writers of the New Testament mean when they said Christ represents the bridegroom and the Church represents the bride? In my early days of Sunday School my teachers never taught the meaning of the Second Coming. They never equated the excitement I should have for Christ’s return to the excitement of a new marriage.

When Paul mentioned that he desired to die to spend eternity with Christ, I always felt guilty for my apathy about the future. For some reason floating on clouds playing harps for eternity never appealed to me like I thought it should. But as I studied the Bible, I realized God never intended eternity to look like that. As Revelation 21: 1¬4 says, “Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth’, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’”

With truth like that how can we act apathetic about Christ’s return? As I entered into the bride’s chambers once again I saw her with her hair curled around her face, her make-up flawlessly done, and her lacy, white dress enveloped around her. Her preparation of meeting the bridegroom stirred my heart.

One day Christ will return and the Church adorned, as a beautiful bride about to walk down the aisle, will meet Him. We will enter into a place where death is no more and crying, sickness, and suffering will cease to exist. With this truth, I find the perseverance to live my life.

Questions: What do you visualize as you think about Christ coming again to take His people home?

Related:
Want To Experience True Love?

When someone asks that famous question, “Will you marry me?” and another responds with a “Yes,” a journey toward an event starts. Two people often involve family and friends in the preparation for a wedding, a gala celebration of love, romance and relationship. The countdown begins, and then comes the day these two say, “I do.” As one journey concludes, another begins. The couple together embark on a journey called marriage.

How can you make an effective transition from the event called “wedding” to the journey called “marriage”? Let’s look once more at a few practical observations about beginning marriage well.

Furnishing your first home or apartment together is an exciting task! Whether you’ve lived there on your own or it’s a new place to you, the two of you will create a place to call your own. Beyond the colors of the walls or the choice of furniture and appliances, you will also be furnishing your home with many intangibles. What is it that you most want in your new home? How do you want it to be known? Let’s look at a few that you cannot see or touch, but you won’t want lacking in your home!

A well-tended flowerbed adds so much to a landscape! The plants and flowers create an invitation to slow down the pace of our busy lives. They add color to our days. Some bloom for a season and then die. Others die back after a time, only to once again break out into bloom the next year.
Like a well-tended flowerbed, the atmosphere of love in a home adds color to our lives as well as an invitation to linger. Yet like the plants in a garden or yard, our love will face seasons and storms. Can your love endure the storms, remaining strong enough to grow and bless others once again?