May you all enjoy a most romantic day…and lifetime together.

I absolutely adored the wedding invitations my esteemed colleague showed us the other day by a pair of amazing DIY divas. Beyond fabulous stuff, that.

The sad truth, though, is that not everyone is able to pull off that level of design and execution by themselves. That’s when you need a professional to help you out.

The other day, Mr. Twistie met one such professional and pointed me at his wares.

The good folks at Volta Press do custom design and printing using the Letterpress method. They do some gorgeous wedding invitations, and they even have an Etsy Store where they sell them.
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Hey-ho, my caption loving friends!

Last week, I presented you all with an astonishing image, seen after the cut…
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One of the benefits of writing this blog is that I get to highlight awesome, well, everything. And sometimes, that means I get to showcase the weddings or wedding gear of friends or family. In today’s post, I wanted to give you a taste of the super drool-worthy wedding stationery suite put together by an old friend of mine, S.R., and his now wife, M.S.R. I would have bet my left pinky that their invitations and so on were professionally designed, but nope! Everything you see here was the product of DIY amazingness.

Their absolutely gorgeous save-the-date!

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Okay, can someone please tell me why anyone, brides or otherwise, would want to wear clear shoes? Seems to me that the end result would be a gruesome view of slightly squished feet… possibly even very moist and sweaty feet. I wore jellies as a kid in the 80s, so I know what happens to feet in shoes that don’t breath!

Here we have two examples of shoes, both being marketed toward the bride. The first pair of clear bridal shoes differentiates itself with a silver toe, while the second appears to have been bedazzled to within an inch of its life. In case it wasn’t clear, I hate both.

What say you?

Once upon a time, your fiance or fiancee probably would have practiced your religion, which was also your family’s religion and their family’s religion. That made things pretty simple. Oh, there might be some squabbles over this church or temple versus that church or temple, but if the bride’s parents were hosting, that wouldn’t be an issue for very long. Nowadays chances are good that you and your intended don’t come from the same religious background or practice the same faith, if any.

Off the top of my head I know married couples made up of a Catholic and a Unitarian, a Baptist and a Catholic, a Baptist and an Atheist, and a Jew and an Agnostic. Getting personal, I consider myself a non-denominational Christian, while The Beard might best be described as spiritually ambiguous, but no great fan of religion. As you can probably imagine, things can get pretty complicated in a marriage when a pair of people have different views on little-g god or big-g God or the Divine Spirit or whoever, but the wedding is often the first hurdle a couple has to make it over.

How do the successful interfaith brides and grooms do it? There are a few wedding ceremony options open to those couples who find themselves on different sides of the religion divide.

Who cares more?
When religion is very important to the bride but not so important to the groom (or bride #2 or one of the families or the other way around, you get the point) it may be worth planning a wedding ceremony based on the traditions of that person’s faith. There’s only so much you can do to make sure no one’s family is offended, but it wouldn’t be at all nice for the very religious member of the couple to have to get married without god. I’m not entirely sure, but it feels to me like it would be less painful for an committed Atheist to participate in a religious ceremony than for a committed Christian to have to have a humanist ceremony. I could be wrong, though. Edit: And I was, as was pointed out to me. To many, Atheism is as much of a core belief as faith in a deity.

Ditch the divine (for now)
Then again, if no one immediately involved really cares that much, but it’s family that’s causing the problem because they’re each pushing for a wedding ceremony that reflects their faith, you could go neutral. There are Humanist ministers and non-denominational officiants who are happy to whip you up a non-religious (but still rather spiritual) ceremony that won’t offend anyone… or make one family feel like it was jilted in favor of the other.

Creative combinations
Interfaith weddings are totally cool! I particularly like it when two people of different religions have a wedding ceremony that includes an officiant from each faith. Like the idea but finding it hard to set up? You can create your own ceremony that includes bits and pieces from the wedding ceremonies common to your religious traditions and have a spiritual (but not religious) officiant preside over the whole thing. There are some rad interfaith ministers out there who will custom design a wedding ceremony just for you.

Ceremony A, Ceremony B
In rare cases, your or your intended’s religious tradition won’t recognize you as being really and truly married if you don’t include the rites and rituals of that religion in your wedding ceremony. You could use that as the deciding factor in choosing one religion over the other, or you could have two ceremonies back to back or even two weddings. This tends to work out particular well when there are cultural clashes on top of religious differences, and when your family is in one country while your SO’s family is in another. It is, of course, the most expensive way to deal with the issue, but all parties are placated and you get two weddings!

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Still looking for your “something blue”? Plenty of brides hide something blue under their skirts in the form of a blue bridal garter or blue satin shoes. Then there are brides who add a touch of blue to their wedding gowns with the addition of a sash or even wear an entirely blue wedding dress! Maybe, however, none of these options sounds right to you. May I suggest a bridal necklace that features a big splash of sparkling blue? For just under $50, a frequently closer to $30, a bride can get something blue that is bright, fun, and totally rewearable. Here are four of my faves:

From afar, this blue pendant necklace from An Optimistic Cynic looks rather like blue opal because of the different colors, but come closer and you see that it’s actually painted flowers. Matching beads on a uniquely-shaped chain complete the look. ($25)

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