Last night Mr. Twistie’s band played a local coffee house. Don’t worry, this will tie in with the title eventually. Just give it a minute.

Anyway. They played a coffee house. The crowd was pretty good, but the amazing thing was that it contained some unexpected faces. One of those faces belonged to Dan. Dan was the lead singer in the band way back through the mists of time when Mr. Twistie and I first started dating. He left, though, about twenty years ago to pursue his dream of singing gospel music instead. We wished him luck. He was a great guy with a terrific voice, but he really didn’t have a rock voice. Now he sings with a renowned gospel choir in the Bay Area and he’s thrilled to be raising his voice in the praise of God. I think he’s where he belongs now.

He’s also where he belongs in his heart. He introduced Mr. Twistie and me to his partner, Jim, last night. When they looked at one another, I saw the same glow I feel on my face when I look at Mr. Twistie – the same one I see on his face when he looks at me.

Turns out they did officially marry during the brief window when same sex marriage was allowed in our state a couple years ago. I’m delighted for them.

And this brings us to Argentina.

Three days ago, on July 15, 2010, Argentina officially legalized same sex marriage. This makes Argentina the first Latin American country to legalize same sex marriage.

The wording of the legal code has simply been changed from ‘husband and wife’ to ‘the marrying parties.’ This simple change of wording gives same sex couples the same rights as their heterosexual couple counterparts in matters such as: adoption of children, social security benefits, and other family issues.

Things got off to a rocky start with denouncements by the Catholic church and protesters in the streets taking on crowds of celebrating gays and their supporters, but the law has been passed by the government and I don’t think it’s going to change.

By contrast, after a good start, California voters stripped away the same right from thousands of Dans and Jims – and Danielles and Janes – just months after the state courts declared that equality under the law required recognition of same sex marriages.

That makes me sad. It makes me angry.

I’m delighted for the gays, lesbians, and bisexuals of Argentina. I just wish the ones here could get the same basic human rights back.

Greetings my little syllabubs!

If you cast your minds back to last sunday, some of you may recall that I presented you all with a Very Special Bridal Image that day. It looked a little like this:
Three of you were brave and crazy enough to take up the challenge and send in captions.

All three of you did well, Grasshoppers, but in the end there can be but one winner. This week that winner is Jennifer for this gigglesome take on a classic theme:

My mother-in-law told me she would bite my head off if I bought that dress,I didn’t think she meant literally.

Congratulations, Jennifer! And thanks to everyone who played.

Whether you’re having an indoor wedding or an outdoor wedding, there’s always the possibility that the weather gods will see fit to moisten your big day. You can improve your chances of a beautiful sunny day or a clear starry night by choosing your wedding locale wisely, but those weather gods have their own ideas about how things ought to be and they don’t care that it’s always been your dream to walk the aisle with a parasol in hand.

(via)

So what if that bridal parasol turns out to be a bridal umbrella and you have to trade in your satin slippers for wellies? Be like these brides and make the most of a great photo op!

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I was going to begin this post by saying “If you love wood…” but I’m obviously still 13 years old in my own head because I just can’t believe anyone would read that without thinking naughty thoughts. So instead I’ll just jump right in and say that today’s LOVE/HATE featured product is a wedding invitation with wood embossing that really has the character of wood from Magpie Paperworks:

Before you decide if you love it or you hate it, compare it to wedding invitations made of wood (actual wood), like these from Night Owl Paper Goods. Oddly enough, I thought for years that I’d posted about wood wedding invitations, but I guess I was wrong because I can’t for the life of me find the post! Something for the future, then. Until then, I’ll say that I love this adorable and charming wedding invitation – it would be so fun for an outdoor, woodsy, or rustic wedding.

What say you?

Now here’s an interesting idea that I never in a million years would have thought of myself: Apparently, some brides are listening their wedding dresses for sale before the wedding, hoping to recoup some of the costs in advance of the big day. Why the upsurge of pre pre-worn wedding dresses for sale?

Overspending is one theory put forth in a recent Field Notes article in the NY Times:

Emily Newman, the founder of oncewed.com, estimated that there are close to 200 such postings on her site, up from just one 18 months ago. Josie Daga, who started preownedweddingdresses.com, expects 50 or more presale listings on her site this year, up from none two years ago… One reason for the high prices is that the brides selling the gowns often spent far more than they had originally planned and hope to get some of the money back — quickly.

Then there’s the style factor. Overall, wedding trends cycle more slowly than other trends, but while wedding dress sleeve styles will stay fairly constant over, say, a decade, what’s hot in the eyes of brides still changes from year to year.

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Remember that couple with the can do attitude I wrote about in January? You know, the bride- and groom to be who decided to attempt to pay for a wedding with cans? That would be Andrea Parrish and Peter Geyer of Spokane, WA, and wouldn’t you know it, they will be paying for their July 31 wedding using the monetary equivalent of about 400,000 recycled aluminum cans.

That would be about $3,800, which will finance their DIY wedding for themselves and 150 guests. And while a $3,800 DIY wedding might not be everyone’s cup of tea, I think it’s so darn cool that they reached their goal (with the help of lots of nice people, cash donations equivalent to 119,194 cans, and a 150,000-can donation from Alcoa along with 73,000 cans from United Recycling Services). It doesn’t stop there, though! Even though their wedding is paid for, Parrish and Geyer haven’t stopped collecting cans! Even though they must be busy planning a wedding, they’re already looking to raise money for their honeymoon… and to donate to Doctors Without Borders and the Rim Country Land Institute.

Big congrats, Andrea and Peter!

Though the traditional bands of gold probably aren’t going to get kicked off their pedestal any time soon, one only has to look at the comments on ours posts about wedding bands to know that silver rocks some brides’ worlds. And one of the nice things about silver is that it holds a deep dark tarnish in anything engraved thereupon – unlike gold and platinum which have to be antiqued artificially – so those words of love you’re considering having etched into your wedding rings will stand out.

So here is a handful of silver wedding-ready rings that will certainly inspire those who already heart silver and might even change a few minds!

via Tina H Dee

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