Ever since I became the victim of ID theft straight out of college when I made the mistake of losing my Social Security card, I’ve been fairly paranoid about giving out my personal information. That said, I continue to believe that a little common sense goes a long way toward preventing situations in which unsavory individuals will do things like, oh, sign up for about sixteen mobile phone accounts using your identity. Maybe that’s why I don’t give much though to ID theft as it pertains to weddings?

But hey, when I assume I make an ass yada yada. There are still people out there who use their Social Security numbers as their license numbers! People who fall for online phishing scams! People who, er, make the mistake of keeping their tax ID cards in their wallets. I’m sure you’re none of those people and that you won’t end up scrubbing floors to pay for 150 plates of veal because your credit card has suddenly stopped working, but perhaps some much less wise bride will come across this post via Google, thus ensuring that she is well protected when dealing with her wedding vendors.

So without further ado, here are three easy things you can do to prevent yourself from becoming a victim of identity theft when planning your wedding:

• Keep your marriage license and other personal documents related to your wedding locked in a safe and secure place. Note that your social security number may appear on your marriage license. Even if it won’t, you will still need to know it to obtain that license under Title 42 USC Chapter 7, Subchapter IV, Part D, Sec. 666(a)(13) — try memorize it instead of carting your card around town.
• Do not give out your social security number when planning a wedding, unless you’re securing a government document, e.g., your marriage license or a new passport, license, and social security card. Give only the minimum amount of personal information to wedding vendors — think name, address, and telephone number. If any wedding vendor asks for your soc, run like hell.
• Definitively make the decision to either keep your maiden (man?) name or assume your spouse’s name –- using both leaves room for error, as it would be difficult to keep track of where you’re using one versus the other. Plus, it’s just kind of a pain in the ass.

And there you have it, ladies and gents. Be smart with documents and personal info, and decide early on whether you’ll keep or change your surname, and bad wedding vendors out to screw naïve brides and grooms won’t be able to getcha. Like I said, common sense!

Brides looking for wedding gowns that can be described as eco-friendly have more than a few options. My favorites by far are buy a secondhand wedding dress, re-purpose a secondhand dress, or have a wedding gown made for you by a local seamstress who’s using sustainable materials. But you know what? Eco conscious though you may be, you and your perfect secondhand dress may never cross paths. For whatever reasons, re-purposing a gown or even having one made might be impossible.

In that case, there’s always shops like Green Union. In addition to a range of green and/or ethical wedding favors, accessories, and stationery, they carry a handful of very pretty wedding gowns.

Tammam White is a bridal collection handcrafted in House of Tammam’s fair trade atelier in India. The wedding dresses are made with exclusively developed fabrics including organic-certified wild peace silk, sustainable bamboo satin, and 100% organic fair trade cotton satin jacquard and linings. The two wedding dresses above are a long satin wedding coat dress with vintage button detailing and a simply chic gown with a luxe gold sash. Both could use a some alterations, but with them would look stunning on the right brides.

Remember that truly atrocious flower girl dress I posted about a while back? The one with the netting skirt filled with faux flower petals in a color that could be described as “sick” or perhaps “dead?”

I think this is what it’s supposed to look like:

Better, right?

…they get married! What did you think I was going to say?

The question is should this be considered a step down from pet weddings or perhaps a step up?

Hello campers!

It’s time once again to play Twistie’s Sunday Caption Madness. You all know how this works. I post a picture that’s simply crying out for a good caption. You provide those captions by leaving them in the comments area. Next saturday, I will announce the winner, and there will be much rejoicing.

Are you seated comfortably? Then we’ll begin.

Ready…set…snark!

Not everyone who gets married is ready to have both feet on the ground while they do it.

Take, for instance, Noah Fulmor and Erin Finnegin. They’re a cute couple from Brooklyn who find that being in love makes them feel weightless…and they’ve decided to make it literal on their wedding day.

Noah and Erin will be the first couple to marry in a zero-g environment on June 20.

The couple, who are both big sci-fi fans, were surprised to learn nobody else had tried this. Says Fulmor:

“We would really prefer to do it in space or on Mars but living in the time that we do, this was the closest we could get to zero gravity,”

And so it is that they will travel to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, to exchange their vows aboard a plane owned and operated by Zero Gravity Corportation, the only federally approved purveyor of zero-g flights.

The flight will cost $5,200.00 per person, which the couple will cover themselves. The guest list will be small and intimate.

Since they met in 2000 at an NYU science fiction club, Noah and Erin have attended a lot of weddings together, but wanted theirs to be different. I think they’ve succeeded in that goal.

May they never lose that deliciously floaty feeling of love.

Oh, and live long and prosper.

The title of this post kind of speaks for itself…

For those who can’t watch the vid until later, Improv Everywhere picked a random couple getting married at the City Clerk’s Office in Manhattan and threw them a surprise wedding reception in Foley Square, a park just across the street from the Office of the City Clerk. The couple, Raff and Frank, was treated to dancing, toasts, wedding cake, and gifts, all with complete strangers. There were even bridesmaids and groomsmen, none of whom had ever met the bride and groom!

The whole thing was pretty awesome — what a great surprise for a couple (and their handful of loved ones) who had planned on nothing more than a trip to the courthouse!