Quotes from Brenda Janowitz

The dress only means something if you want it to. What is important are the people behind it. When it comes to these things that are handed down from generation to generation, each woman leaves her own mark on it, so that it tells ours story, stitch by stitch.

PICK YOUR FABRIC "The importance of this step cannot be understated. If you pick the wrong fabric, your dress is doomed from the start. Pick a fabric that has the right weight, that will flatter the design. And the figure of the bride who will wear it. Once you pick your fabric, the die is cast. There is no going back.

We need to remember the past so that we can more clearly see where we are going.

MAKE THE FIRST CUT "This step is not for the faint of heart. There is no going back. It is time to make the first cut. Are you sure you have made all the right choices? Are you pleased with your plan? Do not make your first cut until you are absolutely, positively sure." —Excerpted from Creating the Illusion by Madame Michel, Paris, 1954

Maybe this is the recipe for a happy life -- not thinking about anything too hard, just going where the day takes you, trying to enjoy yourself, instead of analyzing every second.

These things we hold on to, they are more than just things. They prove our history, who we are, where we came from.

PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER "Now is the moment you've been waiting for. Some have been waiting their entire lives. It is time to put your dress together. It is time to prepare for the future." —Excerpted from Creating the Illusion by Madame Michel, Paris, 1954 Forty-Nine The bride

Sex can be complicated," her mother said. "But it's just sex." "That's so French of you," Joanie said, her tears giving way to laughter. "What sort of mother would say that to her daughter?

Always having to rely on herself, she had a hard time accepting the kindness of others, and her first instinct was always to say no.

This is the kind of person you marry—someone who loves the worst parts of you, someone who knows how to make you laugh even when you're mad as hell.

There's no such thing as the biggest mistake," her mother said. "There's only what you do and what you don't do.

The style was bohemian, but expensive. So, you might sit down on a couch that was soft and comfortable, looked like it had been purchased in the 1970s with its mismatched fabrics and wild color scheme, but then you'd later learn that the couch came from Roche Bobois and cost over forty thousand dollars.

You can be whoever you want to be. You belong to me and I belong to you, no matter what. And I will love you no matter what.

People call off weddings all the time. There's no shame in admitting that you're not ready to get married.

It didn't symbolize their love," Courtney said. "It symbolized all the ways that love can go wrong. It was real, then it was not, it was stolen, it was retrieved. Maybe the ring is bad luck.

More than one thing can be true at once.

the ring was a symbol of their family, even though it was—flawed, but ultimately lovable. Difficult to wear or even figure out, but still theirs. Beautiful and messy and imperfect and deeper than it first appeared.

The ring was real, the ring was fake. The ring was a symbol for everything, the ring was just a ring. All of these stories are true. None of these stories are true. More than one thing can be true at once.

Marriage can't be successful if the man doesn't love the woman more. The woman is the one who holds a marriage together, who works at it day after day, but she can't do it if the man is not fully, completely committed.

None of these stories are true. All of these stories are true. More than one thing can be true at once.

a part of you, Kitten, he said. And you're a part of me. I'm always going to be there. Always going to be in your heart. You don't have to let go of me just to get closer to her. Love makes us stronger, bigger. The heart expands with love. There isn't a finite amount.

sometimes if you start to smile, your body catches up and you start to feel happy.