A guest post by Melanie Cameron

Prince Charles & Duchess Catherine’s wedding is still fresh in my mind. Did y’all read the homily by the Bishop of London!?

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” said St Catherine of Siena whose festival day it is today. Marriage is intended to be a way in which man and woman help each other to become what God meant each one to be, their deepest and truest selves.

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I’m awestruck by how simply the whole pomp and circumstance of the royal wedding boiled down to this: marriage – a man and a woman seeking and helping one another to heaven. The bishop then characterized every wedding as royal – we certainly are sons and daughters of Christ the King!

As we all know, the Queen attended, as would suit any Queen or King at the wedding of a royal son or daughter. My question is, did Queen Elizabeth actually get an invitation? Such a question may sound silly, yet it’s exceedingly important. Who sent her or delivered to her the invitation? Her son or grandson? Her soon-to-be granddaughter-in-law?

My husband and I, throughout our wedding planning, personally and intentionally invited our King – Christ the King to our wedding.

Soon after marriage, we found a quote from the Pontifical Council for the Family encyclical Preparation for the Sacrament of Marriage, “The tendency is growing towards greater commitment and awareness of the importance and dignity of the engagement period.”

Considering Christ’s will for our wedding planning details over anyone else’s preferences turned into a journal for me. It was also a long line of unifying conversations between my husband and me during engagement. Two years later, that journal became a book, Christ on Your Guest List.

There’s a lot of noise out there in the wedding industry…words like “perfect” and “dream.” I had to laugh when I saw a recent ad for wedding rings, “Remember you only get married for the first time once.” Um… first time?

Our book, we humbly pray, offers an alternate message amid the wedding marketing din – a message that promotes the dignity of the engaged couple.

Toss aside the bookstore bridal planners and grab your fiancé! Christ on Your Guest List is a wedding planning guide with a Catholic twist. Taking the focus and the pressure from the bride, this comprehensive, uniting workbook calls engaged couples to seize the opportunity to plan all the details together.

A complement to Pre-Cana, NFP, and ceremony materials, Christ on Your Guest List approaches gift registries, etiquette, superstitions, reception music, and even bachelor party planning with five Christ-centered goals in mind: grow in unity, make decisions together, manage a budget, communicate preferences, and develop a prayer life.

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Melanie R. Cameron is a royal daughter of Christ the King. She and her husband Mark married on April 21, 2007, and they intend to remain newlyweds for at least 40 years. They have two children, Esther and Johnpaul. Praying, wife-ing, mothering and playing in Fairfax, VA, Melanie is an independent writer, Renee de Burgh, is the President of a nonprofit serving brides on a budget of $3,000 or less, St. Anthony’s Bridal, and is a member on the Board of the Arlington Diocesan Council of Catholic Women.

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