A bride is a girl with her mother trailing behind her. She is an angel with rollers in her hair. She is the picture of calmness, yet she doesn’t know which end is up. She is filled with happiness, yet she is holding back tears a great deal of the time.  She holds forth bravely, yet a small glimpse of fear shows in her face. She dresses with speed, unlike any girl; but, of course, this is done with the help of at least three other people.

     She’s a small girl’s idol, a teenager’s dream, a young women’s future, a mother’s past, and an old maid’s hope. No other person can smile quite so patiently at her father, scream quite so loudly at her brother, hold her sister’s hand quite so tightly, and say more than a million words with one swift glance to her mother. Yes, she’s scared and brave; worried and calm; impatient and patient; tearful and happy; and very much in love.

    She is a woman with a halo over her head. And at last when she looks at her beloved and says those two magic words, “I do,” she’s a wife.