I’ve had the blessing of staying at my cousins’ house in the mountains of north east Pennsylvania for a week.

I’m here to watch over the kids while their parents are in New Orleans. I’m really here to keep the house from burning down and make sure there are no house parties. These three kids are teenagers and clearly capable of managing on their own. They are also bright, compassionate (they don’t make fun of me) and really wonderful people.

This house is full of beauty and life. There is a spin bike in the den, a golf club in the hall (with piles of clean laundry that the kids claim as they need it), a lacrosse stick in the dining room next to the ping pong table with the yoga mat on it and a fly-tying station in the living room. There are Buddhas with a boat that my cousin made.

There are sparkling glass tiles in the bathroom:

Ancestors on the wall:

Dogs attempting to dig to China:

A Buddha on one mirror in the bathroom and great advice (signed, XOXO Bobbi Brown) on the other bathroom mirror.

There’s a little metal chair on a shelf, next to a bowl from my other cousin’s wedding in Hungary. Everything has special meaning to one or more of this family of five.

This house reminds me what really makes a happy home. It’s not that everything is neat and feng-shuied like so many homes we see. It’s not that the grounds are perfectly maintained... these are illusions. It’s all about the love and creativity that fills a life/home.
Maybe you can plan your wedding day not just for the show, but for the love and memories it will give birth to and help sustain. Enjoy the creative energy and process of planning your wedding. But most of all, enjoy the love all around you on your wedding day. You deserve it!