Dreams about proposals may simply be wish-fulfillment, especially if the person to whom you are getting married is someone you are attracted to in waking life.
If you are already married and dream that someone else, a person you know or a stranger proposed to you, you need to think about what your dream suitor could represent to you, as this will hold the key to the interpretation. The dream suitor may represent a commitment that you may be being asked to make in real life, for example a new job offer. Your dream reaction to both the proposal and to the engagement ring will give you an indication as to how you feel about committing yourself to this person or project.
Like dreams about proposals, dreams about weddings and marriage may be simple wish-fulfillment.
If you have such a dream and are about to get married, pay attention to how you feel. Are you beaming with joy or filled with panic? If you are feeling anxious, your unconscious may have been urging you to acknowledge your qualms and either come to terms with them or call off the wedding.
If the church altar features in your dream marriage, bear in mind that this is a symbol of sacrifice too; if you are wearing white, this is a symbol of purity and innocence. Are you in danger of sacrificing yourself to someone who isn’t good for you? If a wedding dress or cake appears in your dream, this may refer to your feelings and hopes about relationships and wedding.
If the wedding dress is given by your mother, it refers to qualities and strengths associated with your mother that are relevant to your relationship. Listen to the uncertainties your unconscious is expressing and try to resolve them before the wedding day.
If you have no intention of getting married in real life and you are getting married in your dream to someone you know, this could suggest that you harbor unconscious romantic feelings towards them. Alternatively, your dream may be sending you such a dream to highlight another form of joining together, such as a marriage of ideas or a merging of plans and projects. Another interpretation suggests that your dreaming mind has conjured up a marriage scenario to indicate the need to bring together two opposing aspects of your personality—Jungians would suggest the masculine and feminine qualities we all possess—to create a harmonious whole. Could your bride have been your anima if you are a man and your bridegroom your animus if you are a woman?
Similarly, marrying a stranger in your dream may suggest the possibility of uniting two different but complementary aspects of your personality—your intuition and your intelligence for example. Such a partnership may empower you to take a new direction in your life and any children of this marriage may suggest the outcome or result of this new potential.
If you dreamed of being at someone else’s wedding, your unconscious may also have been highlighting two different aspects of your personality. On the other hand, if you know one of the partners getting married in your dream, perhaps you are worried about losing a close relationship with them.
If you were the best man or bridesmaid in your dream, pay attention to your feelings; if you felt jealous, this could suggest your fear of loneliness in waking life as in ’always a bridesmaid and never a bride’. Finally, if you have been married for many years and dream of marrying again, this may suggest that your feelings for your partner are as vibrant as ever. It may also suggest that your mutual commitment is showing signs of strain and needs special care and attention to revive it. In some cultures, to dream of a wedding signifies a death in the family or change in the family’s circumstances. To dream about a honeymoon may reflect a period of happiness in your waking life.
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