The minute Paula Bisacre decided to remarry after a divorce, she was overwhelmed with questions: What to wear for her second sashay down the aisle? What was the best way to include the former in-laws of her future husband, a widower? How do you manage a honeymoon with their combined brood of five kids? Where would they live? Would Buster, her 5-pound miniature Pinscher, and Hunter, his 100-pound golden retriever, ever become friends?
Bisacre bought a bunch of wedding magazines, but quickly found they had little for her. "I wasn't looking for a long, white, poofy dress again," she said. "Between us, we had 30 years of marriage and three blenders."
And thus, of desperation and hard-won -- and sometimes painful -- experience, a magazine was born. In early April, Bisacre, an upbeat former intelligence analyst, launched reMarriage, a cross between a women's lifestyle magazine and a wedding glossy that is full of tales from the relationship trenches and cheery advice for those planning and living through second (or third or fourth) marriages.
"I'm not pro-divorce by any means, but what I want to do is be a resource for successful marriages," said Bisacre, 41, who lives and now works in a capacious Howard County home she and her husband built to accommodate their blended family. "[I want] to help people feel like, `Hey, I'm not the only one out here facing these issues.' "
The first issue includes front-of-the-book living tips ("Set up a calendar system right away ... Be aware of the balance of photos around the house"), an advice column by family counselors Chuck and Jae Semich, a profile of the Stepfamily Association of America's founders and a feature about how members of newly formed families should address each other. One story examines the lurking "dust bunny of contention" that remarried couples and their families face once they share bathrooms and kitchens. In a piece about second-marriage wedding outfits, one woman writes about the hiking gear and matching tie-dye shirts she and her husband wore; Bisacre writes about the buttery silk dress she settled on.
The magazine will touch on everything from relationships with ex-spouses to finances, legal issues, vacations, holidays and wedding planning, said the editor, Kathy Ely.
"It's for the thinking individual who is looking for resources both emotional and practical," Ely said. "There's a lot of divorce information out there that focuses on that -- the ugly part of their lives. We're talking about a fresh start."
