There's certainly been a lot of buzz over these past few weeks leading up to the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, better known as William and Kate.  I've only watched a bit of the coverage but I will confess that I, too, find myself a little intrigued by the glamour and romance surrounding this hopeful fairytale.   

I remember sitting in my family room, when my children were quite young, watching the royal wedding of the parents of Prince William, experiencing similar feelings.  Now that was definitely over the top, to say the least!  I still have the image of Princess Diana's out of control wedding dress and that ridiculous train fixed in my mind.  

Kate's wedding dress was much more understated.  In my opinion she looked exquisite!  Her modesty in both dress and demeanor were truly regal.  I'll even go so far as to say that even her modest figure struck me the same.   As I observed her in each of these different ways, I could better understand why this impeccable display of refinement, romance and glamour are so appealing to women of all ages.

We all seem to still love the idea of the traditional romantic wedding, where a man and a woman fall deeply in love and commit to each other for life.   There's a reason for that.  The hope of a bright future together filled with love, honor, children, happiness and fidelity is still the fairytale life that most desire.   

In today's world, people are becoming more and more cynical to the hope of such a union.   For many of us, these royal weddings are the quintessential display of the perfect wedding and everything that it could mean!

In our heart of hearts, it is the desire of every human being to love and be loved, forever.  Even the time honored circular wedding ring is the symbol of eternity -- although most marry "until death do us part".  Interesting, isn't it?  

In pondering some of these things, I couldn't help but think about my own "Royal Wedding" -- the day I was sealed in the holy temple of God, for all time and eternity, to my Prince Charming.   To me, every temple marriage is a Royal Wedding!  A temple marriage comes with it, all of the promises to true royalty.   True riches of a Godly kind, including land, posterity and power!  And to faithful members of the LDS Church, these promises are believed to be possible through the atonement of Jesus Christ. 

Marriage is a sacred union.  Marriage is ordained of God, between a man and a woman.  Eternal Marriage is how God literally brings to pass "the immortality and eternal life" of His children.

Mormonism teaches that through priesthood authority in holy temples, a man and woman can be sealed (married) for not only this life, but the next.    An understanding of this doctrine has been a tremendous blessing throughout my own marriage.   No matter how hopeful a marriage starts out, inevitably challenges will come.   And with those challenges, oftentimes a feeling of hopelessness can creep in, IF we do not maintain an eternal perspective and understanding of the potential for our marriage.   

Heavenly Father's Plan is for His children is to build eternal families.  Satan's plan is to destroy any attempt that we make to be forever families.   Most marriages begin with a hopeful fairytale charm,  which can quickly fade away as life begins to take its toll.  However, as we take seriously our marriage covenant and our desire to have that Eternal Fairytale come true -  the promise that we can have our "happily ever after" will become a reality!

Kathryn