Learn it! Speak it! Live it!
Bring Christmas to a child in need!
An 'urgency': Sensing threats to institutions of society, church leaders make declaration 
Click to Print
Include Comments
Here comes the … bump?
A “growing” number of brides are sporting a new look as they walk down the aisle: a bridal baby bump. Statistics indicate that this year as many as 20 percent of all brides will be pregnant when they say “I do.” Although in the past finding a wedding dress that would accommodate the bride’s bulging belly was nearly impossible, these days designers are tapping into the market with flattering creations.
“There are still those tut-tutting traditionalists who believe it is wrong, but the women I see want to celebrate the fact two of the most exciting things in their life are happening at the same time,” [says fashion designer Natalie Gladman].
Thoughts?
Topic: Culture, WorldMagBlog
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
back to top23 Comments to “Here comes the … bump?”
I thought that was what an empire waist was for.
Report comment to moderator
Two comments.
The first one is; “gross”.
The second one is; “what is the world coming to”?
Report comment to moderator
What’s the point of wearing white anymore?
Report comment to moderator
Kbells–Good question.
My question:
What’s the point of a honeymoon?
Report comment to moderator
Here’s another question: If the 2 people getting married are going to be a home-making couple, why can’t they just WAIT TIL AFTER the wedding????
Great Googlie Mooglie . . . .I’ve seen too many women who got pregnant not get married to the baby’s father. The family unit is the single most basic element of American society, and these unwed mothers will find out how difficult it’d be to raise little ones on their own. Yes, children are precious in God’s sight; mine too. But so are husbands and wives BEFORE they have children.
For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.
Report comment to moderator
Hmmm… I think that we should be glad that she’s being responsible and having the baby rather than aborting it. And that they are asking God’s blessing on their relationship rather than just continuing to shack up.
Yes, they should have waited, but they’re doing the right thing now.
Report comment to moderator
John M:
Marriage doesn’t mean “asking God’s blessing” anymore. It means getting to wear a pretty dress and have a party all about you.
Which is why we have pregnant brides wearing maternity wedding dresses.
And then in ten years, over half these marriages will end anyway.
Yes, it is sad.
Report comment to moderator
They are getting married and this is the important part – especially with a child on the way. They can deal with God for their sins – just like you do. They don’t need anyone to judge them or begrudge them about anything.
I for one am happy they are at leaat making an effort to do the right thing.
Report comment to moderator
John,
What people may be reacting to is that it sounds like they’re celebrating being pregnant brides.
Years ago I had a roommate who all but moved out of the apartment she shared with me and my sister, though she continued to “officially” live with us. (I’d say she continued to pay rent, but actually she “borrowed” the money from us for her last few months, so technically she didn’t.) She was four or five months pregnant when she married, but overweight to start with, and she kept it a secret. She told my sister, and my sister hinted to me, but few people knew. (At her wedding shower, a friend gave her a baby bottle as part of the gift, saying she’d “need it someday,” but I’m fairly sure the friend didn’t know just how soon!)
In other words, pregnant brides have always been around, but it didn’t used to be something they publicly celebrated.
Report comment to moderator
One of the saddest hotline calls I got was from a woman 7 months pregnant wanting to know if it was normal for men to run away for awhile when their wives were as pregnant as she was.
After a little conversation, I asked her why she didn’t marry the baby’s father when he asked her. Two reasons: “I didn’t want him to marry me just because of the baby and . . . I didn’t want to look fat in my wedding dress,” she said.
And on that, three lives hinged. I never heard the end of the story, just advised her to give up on a man who would abandon her and focus on being a good mother.
Report comment to moderator
My husband and I eloped. We were both stationed in Germany, he in Berlin before the fall of the Wall, and I in Wuerzburg. We had no hope of getting stationed together without a marriage certificate, so we had a German wedding. This was performed by a German JP because they don’t recognize church weddings as being legal and as service members, we had to abide by the law of the land. This was in Feb.
We were also planning our church wedding for the following Nov, when we would both be home on leave. We didn’t tell anyone but my mother that we got married in Feb. We only saw each other about once a month and, well, Father’s day weekend really turned out to be Father’s Day for us. We informed our families about the time we suspected a pregnancy that we had been married since Feb. About 2 weeks later, we told them about the pregnancy. We still had our church wedding in Nov.
I spent my first anniversary getting out of the hospital from the birth of our first child.
We celebrate both anniversaries.
Report comment to moderator
Klasko’s story:
Report comment to moderator
I have such a negative reaction to the term “baby bump” that I can’t explain it. Maybe it’s because it’s in the celebrity magazines so much, e.g., Does Angelina (or Paris, Katie, Jessica, Britney, etc.) have a baby bump?
I second Cheryl D.’s comment. If we celebrate pregnant brides, I think that there will be more of them.
Report comment to moderator
Is it wrong? Yes. But it takes courage to openly choose life. This I celebrate!
Report comment to moderator
I dont think we can realisticly hope for a sudden rebirth (pardon the pun) of shame or stigma attached to illegitimacy or out of wedlock births.
Dan Quayle, where are you now?
Report comment to moderator
Klasko,
Your story reminds me of what happened with our Tajik daughter. (She is from Takijikastan) She was going to school at the university and met a great young man from Peru. They became engaged, but because they were both foreigners, they could not get a marriage license in Montana without paying an enormous fee. They could get married in Las Vegas without any problems. So, they took off to Las Vegas, got married and returned home.
Later she called us and wanted to talk, so DH was going to be in town that day and said he would stop by. She was living in his apartment, so DH asked what was going on. She said, “I hope you won’t be mad at me.” And went on to tell the story of their adventure to get married. DH just laughed and thought it was great. They were married and we were happy for them.
3 months later they had a church wedding and it was a great party. No one knew they had married earlier and no one knew she was pregnant.
Report comment to moderator
14. “But it takes courage to openly choose life.”
I think that the idea of “choosing life” implies an unplanned pregnancy, and I’m not sure that these brides didn’t plan to get pregnant. Many of them probably wanted to get married and to have a baby, and they were unconcerned about getting pregnant before the wedding. It isn’t considered shameful anymore.
Report comment to moderator
Cheryl D at #9: In other words, pregnant brides have always been around, but it didn’t used to be something they publicly celebrated.
Does it ever give you pause how much of your religion is based on the idea that people should be ashamed of perfectly natural things people do?
Report comment to moderator
No, Steve, actually it has not. Should it?
Has it ever given you pause to wonder what the world would be like if we didn’t have a category for “sin,” or if people could sin openly without feeling guilt?
Murder is “perfectly natural” for some people, but if you think about it, you might want a better category for what constitutes moral behavior than what is “natural.”
Report comment to moderator
Murder harms others. It kills one and leaves their loved ones devastated.
Getting pregnant a few months before the wedding is just a private decision you happen to look down on. It’s not even on the level of promiscuity or chosen single-motherhood.
They’re hardly comparable.
Don’t assume that I don’t recognize real sin just because I reject your shame-based tut-tutting of people whose life choices don’t meet your standards.
Report comment to moderator
According to the ever-moral fashionista Ms. Gladman, I must be one of those tut-tutting traditionalists. Hmmm, I guess I am!
Llama……please tell me you weren’t calling me judgmental on this issue. I am merely stating the correct order in these events of a person’s life. If 2 people can’t figure out that marraige comes before children they ought not need to even be together. It’s a person’s responsibility to be pleasing to God first. Agreed?
SteveG….the more I read your posts, the more you sound like Erasmus, Spinoza and the like.
Report comment to moderator
SteveG….the more I read your posts, the more you sound like Erasmus, Spinoza and the like.
That’s not bad company to be in.
You’ll find that I tend to be confusing and hard to pigeonhole. It’s kind of my trademark. Learn to enjoy it.
Report comment to moderator
In the days when the culture frowned upon premarital and extramarital sex, certainly women wouldn’t get married with a pregnant belly. But sexual relationships outside of marriage is so commonplace now that I think for people to get married because of a pregnancy is doing the right thing. If the addition of a baby into the relationship changes it from merely a sexual uncommitted one to one that is legally binding, that’s good for everyone involved.
There’s no shame in unmarried people living together these days. Why should there be shame in getting married when already pregnant?
Anyone can turn a new leaf at anytime, right? An unbeliever isn’t going to be have the same moral standards as a believer. I think for the father of the baby to marry the mother is commendable. Too many could care less.
The baby’s already a fact…should the couple wait until after the baby’s birth to get married just so they can ‘look’ right? We all sin. The sooner someone wants to correct his situation the better.
I think we are throwing stones here.
We are teaching our children to be pure and to wait to be married before engaging in any kind of physical activity, including kissing. But should they sin and a baby is coming, I would encourage marriage as soon as possible, taking in account that the spouse is one that loves the Lord, of course.
Report comment to moderator
back to topJoin The Conversation
You need to be a registered user of WORLDonTheWeb.com to "join the conversation."
If you are not a member yet, what are you waiting for? Register / Login Now!