Not your grandma's wedding

I found the following article from Newsweek.com regarding new bridal trends rather depressing:

Like a Virgin No More
Why modern brides are opting for racy gowns, wild bachelorette parties and sexy Maxim-style pre-wedding photo shoots.
Jun 4, 2009

Two decades ago, when young girls wondered how brides were supposed to look and behave, they'd most likely conclude—with some prompting from Cinderella—that on their big day they'd be a princess. They'd be blushing, virginal and wrapped from head to toe in tulle and lace.

So why is it that these days, some brides seem to be taking their cues more from Jessica Rabbit than Cinderella? More vamp than virgin, they're having bachelorette parties that are as raunchy as their fiancés' sendoffs. They're selecting cleavage- or lower-back-baring bridal gowns that might get a gasp from conservative relatives. "A big-selling style is a sheer lace corset midriff," says Millie Martini Bratten, the editor in chief of Brides magazine. "It's clearly meant to look like you're seeing through someone's shirt." And today's wife-to-be is hiring photographers for what are called "boudoir shoots," where they pose Maxim magazine-style in lingerie or nothing at all and give the prints to their grooms—a trend that Bratten says began about three years ago. (Click here to read the remainder of this article.)

The article goes on to cite the trend of cohabitation as a contributing factor to the escalation in bridal trends that seem more centered on lust than love:

Couples are also living together before they get married, of course. About six out of 10 brides check their single lives at the door of a shared apartment years before their wedding day. In response, sociologists say, the sexier dresses and the handoff of pin-up pictures—which was introduced into the wedding prep about three years ago—are ways to add spark to an already-established couple's sex life and mark the marriage as a monumental life change.

"When a girl left her parents' house to be married, she was making an enormous transition," Wallace says. "The wedding celebration was to help her negotiate the change. Now very often there is no functional difference between marriage and living together." And some of the new emphasis on sexuality is an effort to mark the occasion in a new way.

In 5 Conversations You Must Have With Your Daughter, I devote an entire conversation to the topic of marriage and motherhood. As part of the necessary "conversation," I encourage mothers to candidly discuss the consequences of living together prior to marriage before their daughters leave the nest. Many Christian girls are justifying the decision to live together prior to marriage, some even claiming it is a necessary cost-saving measure in today's economy. The devaluation of the marriage ceremony is only one consequence of playing house before the wedding. There is a direct link between cohabitation and marital problems on down the road (separation, divorce, infidelity, etc...). We owe it to our daughters to give them all the facts lest they buy into the popular opinion of the day.

How about you? Have you noticed this trend of raunchy bachelorette parties, racy bridal gowns, or one-time "good Christian girls" shacking up before their wedding day? Maybe it's because I'm in the Bible belt, but I've not witnessed the trend of racy bridal gowns at the half a dozen or so weddings I've attended over the past couple of years. They have erred on the side of innocent rather than inappropriate. Now, senior prom dresses are another story. I think we'll save that topic for another day!