(Note: Since my esteemed colleague has spent the week showing us awesome things she loves, I suddenly feel a need to purge a bit of bile. Yes, I’m a contrarian. Why do you ask?)
via A Beautiful Bride
Seriously? On a thong?

Folks, the label thing has gotten out of hand. By the time someone gets down to your undies, they really ought to know you well enough to realize you’re engaged. I’m just saying.

And what do you do with all the clothes labelled ‘Bride’ ‘Groom’ ‘Bridesmaid’ ‘Ring Bearer’ or ‘Second Cousin of the Bride’s Date?’ A tee shirt for the bachelor(ette) party I can understand. It’s a silly thing to wear on the town once and then use ever after when detailing your car or washing the dog. Not really my scene, but I’ve owned enough shirts that harkened back to a play I was in or a band I went to see once when I was twenty to understand a similar wedding souvenir.

But seriously, underwear?

And this says it has crystals up the back.

Ouch.

When you say “I do,” the hope is that you’re saying I do forever. Today, I was tempted to write something about wedding superstitions , but I don’t want to promote the hype that some minor decision made in advance of the big day can ruin a wedding or make a couple unlucky forever. It’s more important to get married on a date that’s convenient for you and your loved ones, to wear the colors that you love, to see your spouse the morning of the wedding or not, to traipse around in your wedding dress and bridal veil whenever you feel like if you want to, and so on. With everything else brides and grooms have to worry about, I don’t want to be the one to add bad luck to the list!

Of course, one can find love at any age!

So instead of going on about bad luck on this Friday the 13th, I thought I’d wind down NtB Loves week by talking about a topic that I think is extraordinarily luck: Old love. From what I hear, there’s nothing quite like it… to have someone you’ve grown old with by your side, a person who’s walked with you through the best and the worst of life. That’s pretty awesome, you have to admit! Even if, like Alton Nichols, 82, and Betty Hall, 87, you don’t find each other until you’ve walked through a lot of bests and worsts without one another. Recently, my own grandparents celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary, which is quite the achievement these days!

Has anyone in your circle hit 60 years of marriage? Who are your Old Love role models?

I’ve posted a handful of paper flower bridal bouquets in the past, but of course, bouquets aren’t the only places you can use paper flowers! How about paper flower boutonnieres, paper flower reception table centerpieces, or paper flowers hanging from chairs and pews, or scattered on tables? It’s definitely not traditional, but paper flower wedding decor and accessories can be incredibly cute! (And for some, DIY friendly…)

A colorful paper bridal bouquet

Paper flower pew bouquets

HUGE flower wedding table centerpieces

And classic paper roses

Very cute, no?

Alternative, but similar idea: wedding pinwheels!

I love cake, but I love creative wedding cake – that also tastes good – even more than cake itself. There’s something just so awesome about a creative wedding cake that looks so beautiful or interesting that you have to feel a touch of a regret cutting into it. Not every bride or groom can afford a super fancy reception dessert, and not every couple really wants one, but if you have the means and the notion, think about making your wedding cake a confection to remember!

Inspired by stained glass!

How about beautiful birds?

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Beautiful, no?

Remember during Bridesmaids Week here at Manolo for the Brides when I posted two pics of gorgeous bridesmaids dresses that didn’t match and were anything but plain? Well I still love patterned bridesmaids dresses, months later, and really do think that more brides-to-be should consider dressing their ‘maids in polka dots and florals and stripes and swirlies! I actually posted about patterned bridesmaids dresses back in 2009, hoping it would become some hot new wedding trend, but it never did catch on like I hoped. Maybe this is my year? What’s your take on bridesmaids dresses in pretty patterns?

Image: Maggie Heinzel-Neel Photography

This week, I’ve been thinking about things I love – all the things I can’t get out of my mind, all the pretty pictures I’ve been saving in inspiration folders. That sort of stuff. And I thought it would be fun to share some of it with you in short bursts throughout the week so you can get similarly inspired! So I suppose you consider this NtB Loves week. Enjoy!

I grew up around nesting dolls, so how could I not love Matryoshka wedding favors? It’s a wedding favor that guests will be much more likely to keep, I think. More so than an armless bride with fire for a head or towel cake. What’s not to like? Matryoshka are cute and fun and decorative in a way that doesn’t require color matching, so make, I think, ideal wedding favors.

Matryoshka!

How could you not love these?

What do you think… cute or too kitschy?

The bullets I take for you people.

Okay, okay, I admit it. I’ve always had a bit of a thing when it comes to Tori Spelling. Pretty much my favorite tacky pleasure (and I do have more than a couple) is watching Tori Spelling get gutted like a fish on Lifetime Movie channel. The best part is the impassioned speech at the end about how everyone – including the victim – is to blame in her death with one, lone exception: Kellie Martin who actually does the gutting. Love it!

So when I came to the conclusion that I could no longer put off checking out Tori & Dean: sTORIbook Weddings (Yes, they really do spell it with a lower case s, an i instead of a y, and her name all in caps. I did not make that up), I was prepared to spend the time longing for Kellie Martin to make an unscheduled appearance and not be guilty again… but maybe of slapping Tori in the face with a moldy mackerel rather than outright murder. What? I’m not a total monster! I’m not really in favor of murdering anyone at all.

All in all, it wasn’t quite that bad, though there were a couple moments when I had a lazy desire for a spork to consider using on myself.
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