Bride Wars and Your Engagement

Though to many it would appear a fluffy chick flick provided only to give you an escape from the harsh reality of life, Bride Wars has some surprisingly good and thoughtful messages on healthy marriages.

If you’ve seen the previews, or deduced from the title, Bride Wars tells the story of two best friends engaged simultaneously and planning their weddings on the same day. As each gets caught up in the drama of outdoing and sabotaging the other, their relationships weather the brunt of the storm. This not-so-fairy tale is narrated by their wedding planner, who points out that the engagement period is a pivotal one in a couple’s relationship. Here is when you find out how you resolve problems together, deal with stress, and practice conflict management, which are all necessary skills to a happy and healthy marriage. What’s interesting is that the movie displays just how differently couples cope with the stress. It points out that some couples thrive, while others may find that marriage to each other may not be the best path for their future happiness.

What we strive to promote is not marriage at any cost, but healthy functioning marriages where each partner receives mutual benefit. We consider it just as much a success when a couple completes one of the healthy marriage workshops and finds that maybe they are not as compatible as they previously thought and choose to go their separate ways just as much as the couple who finds that the tools they learn in the workshops equip them to take their relationship to even higher levels. The workshops serve to teach couples about their communication styles, help them fully understand each other’s expectations over the course of their relationship, and strive to help them learn the deeper levels of the other’s personality and character. Sometimes, this results in a deeper, stronger love between partners, and other times it opens their eyes to the reality that they may not be meant for each other. Both of these results are ideal. Sometimes, it’s better to know beforehand than to jump in eyes closed and find out years later that it was a mistake for both. So, go out and watch Bride Wars, an fun and unexpected venue to learn about healthy and effective marriages!

- The Healing Heart