Similar to the tale of the Beauty and the Beast, Beauty and the Bride (BATB) will examine a relationship fraught with mistrust, deception, fear, and hopefully, a happy ending.  BeautyXposé will follow BATB as she traverses the perilous landscape of wedding-day beauty leading up to her September nuptials.  Have a question for BATB?  A topic you’d like her to cover?  A conspiracy you’ve uncovered in the Wedding Industrial Complex (WIC) you’d like exposed?  Email her at: beautyandthebride@beautyxpose.com.

“The Marriage License” by Norman Rockwell

When I was in a freshman in high school, before I had a car and a “real” job, I did a lot of babysitting in my neighborhood.  At one of the houses, at the top of the stair case, hung a Norman Rockwell print.  It was a picture of a girl in a yellow dress, on her tip toes, signing her marriage license.  Next to her stood her fiance, in a green suit, looking over her shoulder lovingly as she signed.  I fell head over heals in love with it.

I decided right then and there that “I wanted to have that in my house some day.”  And so I told my then-boyfriend just that.  I did that a few times — with that picture, with a picture of Venice (with the accompanying, “And I want to go on my honeymoon there”), and a picture of a little girl blowing bubbles with a gargoyle.

I never got around to stop dating that boyfriend.  For our 5th anniversary he got me the poster of Venice.  For our 10th, he got me the picture of the little girl (and got it framed for a housewarming gift when we bought our house).  And for my birthday last year, I got an oil on canvas reprint of “The Marriage License” by Norman Rockwell.

And this week, that man smiled at me as I put on my yellow dress, drove with him to City Hall, and signed our marriage license.  Yes, I got dressed up for paperwork.  I put on a yellow dress I bought expressly for the purpose of getting my marriage license (and will wear it again at my rehearsal since no one except the city clerk saw it), did my hair in a low bun like the girl from the painting, and put on my favorite strand of pearls and cream colored shoes.  I kept scurrying back and forth from the bathroom to where the picture is, grinning.  And my fiance just shook his head and smiled lovingly.  He’s a damn good guy.

Have you every gotten beauty inspiration from a crazy source?  Ever dressed up for something as silly as paperwork?