I know more brides-to-be than I care to admit. Actually, I like to admit it, but only when The Beard is in earshot and I can gush on and on about how wonderful their beaus must be. Even though I’m green with envy, these ladies are still my friends. Being that the holidays are just around the corner and that I hate pre-fab gift baskets, I devised a quirky DIY gift basket of my own making. Here’s my recipe:

Even though they say the way to a man’s heart is through the stomach, I still think it may actually be through the pants. Bellydance With �zel T�rkbas: How To Make Your Husband A Sultan will make my friends’ future husbands stand at the ready.

In case my friends are still unsure as to what makes a good husbands, An Ideal Husband will put them right. Well, not really, but hey! Romantic comedies are fun!

Popcorn to go with the movie, of course:

And, finally, How to Iron Your Own Damn Shirt : The Perfect Husband Handbook Featuring Over 50 Foolproof Ways to Win, Woo & Wow Your Wife, a little something to leave around for the man in her life to find.

I recently received an e-mail from a bride-to-be who wanted to some tips on finding the perfect bridal jewelry to go with her wedding dress. I realized very quickly that I haven’t touched on that subject at all and felt a little silly. Not write about bridal jewelry? How could I have let that one slip past me? So to atone for my sin, I’m going to briefly touch on it now.

The Bridal Necklace
According to Wed Alert, you have roughly five bridal necklace lengths to choose from. There’s the one to three strand choker, the thicker collar, the princess (which falls below the hollow of the neck), the matinee (which hits the top of the bust), and the opera (which falls below the bust and isn’t often a good match for most wedding gowns).

I love chokers and collars. Paired with a more modest gown, they can really shine. With a lower cut or strapless gown, however, there is often a huge gap of skin between the necklace and the dress which can draw the eye and look rather awkward. It that case, I think Y necklaces like the Swarovski Floating Y Crystal Necklace above look fantastic. With a high, turtle-neck type neckline, no necklace is needed.

The lovely Lori suggests: “making sure that the bottom of the bridal necklace does not fall below the neckline.” This is important!

The Bridal Earrings
There is a ton of variations where bridal earrings are concerned and, as bridal earrings tend to be smaller and less eye-catching, there is more room to play. But there are still a few things to consider. Smaller, stud earrings look great with looser hairdo’s or even loose hair. Longer, more dangly drop earrings look fabulous paired with updo’s. If your necklace is elaborate, keep your earrings simple, like the diamond studs in white gold above.

In the end, just remember to balance your jewelry and dress. If your dress is elaborate, keep your jewels simple. Or go hog wild with your baubles if your dress is plain. If you’re wearing a tiara, consider going earring-less.

It’s easy. No, really!

Weddings give everyone involved an opportunity to put on their Sunday best and strut their stuff. Thus, it’s easy to find guides to tell you what’s appropriate to wear to a morning wedding or an evening wedding. It’s somewhat more difficult to find a definitive guide that discusses what you should burn before ever taking off the tags to save yourself from a lifetime of post wedding embarrassment. So today, I’d like to explore the “what not to do’s” of dressing for other people’s weddings.

Rule 1: Don’t wear the dress above unless you are attending the wedding of a life-long biker who’s finally decided to turn his bitch into his mama. In fact, even then I’d suggest donating this dress to your favorite neice’s dress-up box and investing in a nice set of leathers.

Rule 2: Don’t wear white. Don’t find out what the wedding party is wearing and buy a matching dress. Especially not if you’re still bitter about not being chosen as a bridesmaid. And don’t wear your old wedding dress. If the groom dumped you, get over it.

Rule 3: Don’t wear head-to-toe black, even if you’re still madly in love with the bride, groom, or officiating priest. Don’t wear your homemade “Goth” costume. Consider removing your most obtrusive facial piercings on the morning of the wedding.

Rule 4: Don’t outshine the bride. Wearing your work clothes, when you are employed as a Las Vegas showgirl is definitely out of the question. If the dress you’re eyeing is just like something you saw your favorite A-lister wearing on the red carpet last week, you may just want to consider putting it back on the rack.

Rule 5: Never, ever, ever dress like a sci-fi character or a furry. Even if it truly is who you are inside.

I’ve been a bridesmaid once and a maid of honor once. Of course, when acting as the former I was something like eight years old and, when acting as the latter, I was doing so for an out-of-state future bride whose mother was handling all the arrangements. There are apparently a great number of things that I should have been required to do. To this day, I still don’t know what any of them are. If you have been called upon to act as a maid (or matron) of honor or a bridesmaid, there are a few good books out there that will help you navigate the world of showers, dresses, bachelorette parties, and your wedding day responsibilities.

If you know a bridesmaid-to-be or are a future bride trying to wrangle bridesmaids, these books can make great, stress-reducing gifts.

In The Bridesmaid Guide, author Kate Chynoweth covers everything from how to throw the perfect bridal shower, create a touching speech, wear an awful bridesmaid�s dress with style, or support the bride on her big day.

For the hipper bridesmaid, The Bridesmaid’s Guerrilla Handbook is a funny how-to tome that will help make the pre-wedding responsibilities seem more fun than frantic.

This book – part of the Everything Series, which I absolutely adore – is practical, down to earth, and covers just about…you guessed it…everything.

The rumors of the supposedly recent Angelina Jolie Brad Pitt nuptials have been greatly exaggerated. I repeat, put down your tabloids. Now, I’m not one to follow celebrity romance. In fact, for the most part, I just don’t have the stamina. I’m a busy woman and those Hollywood types get married and divorced faster than I can eat a quesadilla.

But at the same time, I am for some reason enraptured by the whole Pitt Jolie thing. Maybe it’s because they’re so dang pretty. During my work day, I check celebrity gossip blogs and news sites to see if those two crazy kids have tied the knot yet.

The answer, of course, is no they have not. But they have:

Traveled the world together
Moved in together
Done charity work together
And soon will be parents together

The world – and the paparazzi – are waiting. I’m extra curious to see whether, if they do intend to marry, they can hold a wedding with at least a modicum of privacy.

For the bride that really, really, really wants to make a statement at her wedding, and that statement is, “My wedding dress cost more than most of my guests will earn in a lifetime,” Japanese designer Keiji Tagawa has created a dress aptly named “Platinum White.”

This $1.7 million dress is made of 1,250 platinum beads along with more than 3,000 other jewels including pearls, aquamarines, moonstones and crystals. Precious metal and semi-precious stones are woven together to create images of cherry blossom trees and roses.

According to a Yahoo News story about the heavily blinged dress,

The gown, which for now will go on display rather than down the aisle, was designed on behalf of the Tokyo office of Platinum Guild International, a producers group, at a time that platinum is trading at 25-year highs.

Bling bling, indeed.

Practically every December since The Beard and I have been an item, I have wished for only one thing for Christmas. And that one thing, of course, is an engagement ring. Now, while The Beard knows about this blog, I’m pretty sure he’s never looked at it. In fact, I’m pretty sure he’s afraid to look at it.

I’ve toyed with the idea of sending him a link to the site. And I could throw caution to the wind and buy him something like Renee Newman’s Diamond Ring Buying Guide: How to Evaluate, Identify and Select Diamonds & Diamond Jewelry .

But maybe other men aren’t so fearful of commitment and maybe they could benefit from a little help in the engagement ring department – for those whose girls want engagement rings, of course. If I can assist but one future husband to choose the perfect bauble for his future wife, my faith in holiday magic will be renewed. For those of you who don’t necessarily want to buy a whole book to make what one hopes will be a one-time purchase, here is a spot on engagement ring how-to from the nice people at About.com:

How to Buy Her an Engagement Ring She’ll Love