Manolo for the Brides

…format your wedding web site.

But seriously, I dig it. A quick stop at Lektrogirl’s main site tells me that this pixelated craziness must be some sort of homage to the personal web sites of the 90s. I know that most wedding web sites are dignified, muted affairs, but if your personality screams ‘weird and wacky’ there is no reason you shouldn’t have a wedding web site to match.

Naturally, I wish Emma and Paul all the best and hope married life is agreeing with them.

Love all things nautical? Looking for a unique destination wedding invitation? Try Message In A Bottle wedding invitations. Each bottle comes filled with sand, shiny palm trees, plastic tropical fish, iridescent stars, and real seashells. Secured in this decorative detritus is the invitation, tightly rolled.

The bottle itself is plugged with a cork and brides- and grooms-to-be can choose between glass or plastic. The latter can apparently be stamped and addressed as is, without any box. While it would be neat to find a message in a bottle in my mailbox, I’d fear for the bottle’s safety in the hands of the USPS. At $3.25 per invitation, I shouldn’t think that anyone would want to take the risk. The glass messages in bottles cost a buck more but come swaddled in a sea of packing foam.

Have a well-defined wedding theme or a hard-to-execute cake idea in mind? Scrumptions, a Rhode Island bakery that has specialized in creative cakes since 1986, will do all they can to accommodate you.

Besides your standard chocolate and vanilla cakes, they’ll bake you something special in almond, lemon, hazelnut, carrot, or spice. Then fill it with luscious lemon curd, raspberry preserves, mousse, and more. And their buttercream frosting is made with real unsalted butter - never margarine or other stuff. Check out their gallery of gorgeous wedding cakes, groom’s cakes, and mini cakes.

The best part: Scrumptions knows how gross frozen year-old cake can be, so they give each bride and groom a small first year anniversary cake for free!

If your bridesmaids are stressed, why not treat them to breakfast in bed? This totally sweet gift basket includes pancake mix, gourmet apple maple breakfast syrup, Ghirardelli rich and creamy double chocolate hot cocoa, strawberry preserves, Gavina coffee, Canterbury cuisine tea and scone mix, sweet apricot preserves and golden Ceylon tea. It also comes with the tray so your girls can replicate their b-i-b experience in the future.

Thinking about buying your groomsmen cufflinks? Dataceptionist sent me a link to a wonderful cuff link resource, Hot Cufflinks. They ship their wares all over and, boy howdy, is their selection of merchandise diverse. You’ve got your alphabet cufflinks, your Scrabble cufflinks, your animal cufflinks, your comedy cufflinks, and more. At under thirty bucks a pop, you can’t go wrong. Heck, buy extras and slip ‘em to your grandpa. He’ll love ya for it.

Finally, if you can’t possibly squeeze another cup, plate, or bowl into your cupboards, and are overwhelmed by family and friends asking for your registry info, why not send them to a charitable registry? Reader Lee pointed me toward a Salon Broadsheet discussing two charitable registries benefiting the newly renovated Bowery Mission Women’s Center in NYC. Send your pesky loved ones to Bed, Bath & Beyond (#1718811) and Gracious Home (in-store only, #639), and enjoy the warm glow of their generosity.

So we’ve discussed magnetic save-the-date cards and save-the-date cards that point toward original wedding web sites. But how about save-the-date cards you don’t even have to send yourself? Brides- and grooms-to-be who’d rather not deal with the hassle of schlepping their butts (and a bag of postcards or letters) to the post office can just hit up the online USPS.

Their premium postcard service allows you to choose an image from their wide selection of graphics or upload your own image, compose text, and send your postcard with a few clicks of a mouse. The save-the-date postcards you design include full color printing on both sides, look fabulous, and are mailed the next day.

At just $.84 per card for up to 249 save-the-date postcards, it’s a way super deal.

Say goodbye to jarred elbows and soaked shoulders. Reader Teaqa pointed me toward this silly but ultimately useful gift for newly engaged or newly married couples: The double umbrella. I can’t tell you how many times The Beard and I have jockeyed for position under a largish yet still inadequate umbrella. I think this umbrella, which opens to a generous 44 x 36 x 24″ and is available here, would make a lovely engagement or shower gift, particularly for those brides and grooms living in rainy climes.

For those couples who want to stay dry but are afraid of the looks they receive while carrying the two-for-one umbrella, there is always the gigantic GustBuster Gold golf umbrella. It’s more than big enough for two.

With fall fast approaching–there is a brisk morning chill in the air here in Boston–I thought it would be nice to drool over a summery destination wedding dress. Just to help us remember what we’re missing when we’re knee deep in colored leavers and decked out in thick scarves. No doubt some folks will be spending the fall and winter months eagerly counting the days until their warm weather weddings.

This princess-line Alfred Angelo dress features beaded Shiffli lace on net over satin, with spaghetti straps and a semi-cathedral train. At under $599, it’s a real bargain for the summertime bride and a wonderful reminder that even though autumn looms large, next summer will come round before you know it.

Gone are the days when a groom-to-be’s main obligation was to show up at the ceremony site washed, neatly dressed, and on time. Though there are still those timid souls who cower at the mention of catering headcounts and veil lengths, more and more men are taking an active interest in the planning and execution of their weddings.

The problem, according to Doug Gordon, author of The Engaged Groom: You’re Getting Married. Read this Book and the brain behind PlanetGordon, is that while brides-to-be have been dreaming of their weddings since they were yay high, many men are unfamiliar with the wedding planning process. Gordon helps engaged grooms (catchy notion, no?) find those areas where they can make a positive and thoughtful contribution to their nuptials.

Unlike many other wedding planning tomes intended for guys, this one was written with guys in mind. Don’t expect to open The Engaged Groom and find flowery prose. Gordon does not talk down to grooms-to-be or outline every single nuance of the wide world of wedding planning. Nor does he badmouth bridezillas or make clichéd mother-in-law jokes. He simply does what he can to help grooms-to-be identify the strengths and talents they can use to make their weddings truly special.

Gordon also identifies those dude-friendly aspects of weddings that men will feel most comfortable taking charge of, like music, photography, and food. He gives on-the-mark, practical advice, whether he is detailing how to tie a bow tie, how to format a wedding spreadsheet, how to choose an officiant, how to troubleshoot your wedding ahead of time, or how to create a registry. In every chapter, engaged grooms are given a clear picture of western wedding traditions and then reminded that they are under no obligation to bow to tradition. And in between passages of smart how-to’s and guidance for the male members of the wedding party, real grooms, vendors, and wedding guests weigh in on a variety of matrimonial topics.

The best part about The Engaged Groom, IMHO, is the countless times Gordon advises engaged grooms to take a wedding break. He sees the value of the wedding, but also stresses the value of preparing for your marriage. At the start of the book, he suggests declaring a wedding-free block of time.

“During the time of your mutual choosing, you and your bride should talk about anything…except your wedding…Like a carefully monitored IV drip dispensing 250 cc of perspective and relief, regularly going to dinner, a movie, or a stroll through a park can keep both of you calm and levelheaded as you hurtle toward your big day.”

And at the very end of the book (just before a quickie guide to eloping), Gordon likewise reminds potentially frazzled engaged grooms that while weddings are fun and exciting and special, they are overall less important than the marriage that will result. That is a sentiment I can get behind. So, if you happen to be a groom-to-be or you know one, I’d definitely recommend picking up this book.

I’m not sure if Barbie has ever had a wedding that wasn’t annulled. I mean, how many times has she donned a wedding gown only to end up swinging single once again? Poor girl probably has a complex.

Maybe Ken will finally settle down once and for all, however, when he sees his best girl in Monique LHuillier. Barbie’s custom designed gown features a white silk lace bodice, full tulle skirt and a thick satin sash in sable with a rhinestone floral brooch. Her ensemble is completed with a faux diamond engagement ring (ooh, Ken), faux diamond stud earrings, lacey underthings, and an off-white garter embellished with a blue ribbon.

But if Barbie decides at the last minute that LHuillier just isn’t for her, she can simply trade places with the Carolina Herrera bridal Barbie (who wears a beautiful, beaded gown featuring ecru corded lace) or the Badgley Mischka bridal Barbie (who wears an a-line gown embellished with iridescent beading, rhinestones and embroidery).