Page - 16 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 04/02

Editorial | 15www.jrfm.eu 2018, 4/2, 7–21 one,17is a ritual in which two human beings, in this instance Prince Harry and Markle, are socially and symbolically joined together as individual persons. Wed- dings have a strong sense of the individual: commercials, films, TV series, and internet discussions tell us that a wedding is about two individuals, their hopes, their emotions, their wishes. A wedding should be the best day of their lives, with the perfection of the day often measured in terms of its material staging. For example, that the bridal-gown must be “perfect” for the individual who will wear it is the message of the US reality TV show Say Yes to the Dress (fig. 11):18 this TV format shows willing brides going to buy their wedding dresses, telling us their expectations of being a “princess” (here we encounter a connection to a royal wedding as the perfect ritual and to a royal life as a perfect way of be- ing) for one day, and showing us their emotions when they find the “one and only” dress for them. Thereby we are presented with an implicit link between the “one and only” love and the “one and only” dress. The wedding is personalized mostly through material media, so in the clothes, flowers, menu, cake, and location, for example. But the ritual action and the se- quence of the ritual are often regulated according to the contemporary US-Euro- 17 Say Yes to the Dress, youtube.com: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_dkXqq_cSI [accessed 9 August 2018] 18 This series has been streamed since 2007 on the television network TLC. Each episode is 22 minutes long and normally shows three brides, two looking for their perfect dresses and one at the fitting stage. The series Say Yes to the Dress Canada and Say Yes to the Dress UK have followed. Fig. 11: “I feel like Cinderella” are the words (positively connoted  – the reference is to Cinderella as a princess, not as a servant) of the bride on seeing herself in this wedding gown. From Say Yes to the Dress, Atlanta, TLC, uploaded 3 August 2018.17