Standing in the Magic Room, brides often think back to the wisdom shared by their mothers. One bride I met, Danielle DeVoe, had lost her mother when she was a teenager. She wished her mother could be with her as she shopped for a dress, but she felt buoyed by memories of her mother’s best advice.

Danielle’s mother was divorced after an abusive relationship. “I learned that you have to love yourself first,” her mother had told her. “You have to take care of yourself. You can’t love someone else until you love yourself.”

“I love myself,” Danielle said, and that had strengthened her love for her fiancé.

Pictured: Danielle as a child (Photo courtesy of Danielle K. Wenzel)