Manolo for the Brides

A major news outlet is looking for a bride-to-be (preferably one living on the east coast) who would be willing to share the stresses of her planning experience on-camera. It’s not some cheesy bridezilla segment, just a report on the stress triggers future brides face in the course of planning. The caveat is that the deadline for the segment is noon tomorrow, so they pretty much need to hear from you by tonight.

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, shoot me an email at Never.teh.Bride@gmail.com and I’ll forward your e-mail onto my contact. No guarantees they’ll bite, but it’s always fun being on the news!

Reader comments have been unbelievably fabulous lately, so I thought I’d share a handful here in case there are actually people out there who haven’t given in to the impulse to explore popular opinion.

Alex said:
If you want to donate to charity, that’s wonderful and generous of you. Please don’t make the decision for me. It is in no way shape or form a favor or gift for me. Don’t get me wrong, I think donating to a charity you believe in is great and I think people have their hearts in the right place…I’m just not sure why exactly it has to be announced to me, you know?

Innkeeper Jason said:
Sometimes these doubts are seeds that have been planted by other people and sometimes it is just nerves and sometimes perhaps you are marrying the wrong person. For those of you who have called it off, I applaud you for the courage it must have taken.

Toby Wollin said:
Actually, my favorite periods are up through about the mid-60s: you could still get a dress with a decent neckline, sleeves, and interesting skirts and waists. Once you get into the 70s it was Gunnysack Hell, and then straight down the road to the Strapless Follies. If I had to make myself a bridal gown today, I’d go straight to the vintage pattern folks and look there.

C* said:
If any of you have purchased (or been given) any diamond jewlery between Jan. 1, 1994 and March 31, 2006 check out Diamondsclassaction.com and file a claim to get a refund from the lawsuit against DeBeers. Apparently they had an illegal monopoly on diamond sales during those years (is that really surprising at all?).

Ever since Polka Dot Bride won the first ever Wedding Blog Awards, um, award, I’ve been keeping an eye on the site. Every now and again a certain Abby chooses a new blog or photog to highlight in categories like “Best New Wedding Blog” and “Best Use of Photos.” Long story short, the site has introduced me to some fab blogs.

Now it seems that we’re this month’s “Most Dedicated” blog! Go us! I’ll tell you, though, it’s easy to be dedicated when you absolutely, positively love what you’re doing. I mean, I’m humble…but I’m not that humble. For example I’m not so humble that I won’t use this webbish award as an opportunity to suggest that you ready yourself for the eventual release of iDo, which can now be pre-ordered on Amazon and elsewhere!

I found this beautiful wedding dreidel when looking for some way to keep this holiday greeting on topic, a la The Manolo’s fab shoe menorah. Like it? Artists Melanie and Harry Dankowicz use lasercut paper to create beautiful and intricate works of art and custom wedding invitations that merge traditional Jewish motifs with contemporary themes.

Now go, grab yourself some gelt, and have a wonderful Festival of Lights!

She’s a beautiful bird, but she’s gonna get ate. Not by me, though. The Beard and I feed the kitties meat but we’re not fans ourselves, so we’re cooking up a Tofurky. I’m pretty sure The Beard plans to deep fry it (how distinctly American!) but I can’t say for sure. Cooking is just not my thing, and this is a working holiday for yours truly as the book deadline approaches almost too quickly for comfort.

Anyway, eat something tasty on my behalf and I’ll eat something tasty on your behalf. Happy Thanksgiving!

Here’s hoping you have an appropriately spooky Halloween — or a perfectly uneventful one if, like me, you’re absolutely terrified of roving bands of costumed kids!

Today is my birthday, and this is how I feel inside:

I’ve known brides who could just as easily have said, “Today is my wedding day, and this is how I feel inside.” Not because they didn’t want to get married, but because their weddings did not unfold as expected.

Ready for a personal, off-topic (i.e. NWR) post? Good…so am I. Right now, I’m under contract to write a book…a book about weddings, natch. There are lots and lots of reasons that the book probably wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t started writing for The Manolo. One of the reasons–I’m convinced–that the publisher was so open to taking my book on was the fact that I could say that I had a readership.

So even though I’m feeling kind of blah and I can’t just stop what I’m doing to pamper myself and play, I wanted to give ya’ll a big dose of my gratitude because you’re part of the reason I’ve had so many good things happen to me this past year! And somewhere in all that gratitude is a big hug of thanks for The Manolo as well! This is me inviting everyone to join me in dressing up and putting on the nearest tiara (something I do every year on my natal anniversary) so we can all be extra fabulous and super fantastic the whole day through. Nothing, I think, lifts the birthday blahs like a good tiara.

And maybe a good laugh…under the cut, you’ll find a funny video–funny because it’s so true–that I pulled from Stupid Wedding Crap. If you’re at work, be aware that there is a bit of profanity.

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When I announced my engagement, I was amazed at the number of people whose first response wasn’t ‘congratulations,’ or ‘you must be so happy,’ but rather ‘you must be so stressed out,’ or ‘take my advice; go to Vegas now or the stress will kill you.’ To this day, I still don’t understand that response one bit. I had a great time planning my wedding, and the one thing that caused me the most annoyance in the entire process was the fact that Mr. Twistie couldn’t be convinced to care about the details so long as the result was what we were married, while I honestly wanted his personality reflected in the day at least as much as mine was. Somehow, though, we both survived and even had a great time at our own party.

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ACHTUNG! Tidbits on Weddings by Socialites, a blog headed up by planner Kelly McWilliams, is giving away a year’s worth of wedding inspiration! All you have to do to enter to win a year-long subscription to four popular bridal mags is visit the specific post I linked to in the latter part of the previous sentence and leave a comment with your name and blog or e-mail address. Or just e-mail Kelly your name and e-mail address at WeddingTidbits@gmail.com. Good luck!