So, after rushing to finish up a number of things on Tuesday, I traveled from Boston to Manhattan to be on Wednesday’s “Are Blogs the New Black” panel at the launch of Open Source Media.

On one hand, it was exciting! I was fortunate enough to be participating alongside the lovely Kim of i am pretty nyc and Kristen of beauty addict. We also heard the pseudo voice of The Manolo in pseudo real time – there was a delay of roughly 18 seconds that resulted in much good-natured hilarity.

On the other hand, the fourth panelist in our little group discussion (which was led by trend analyst Tom Julian) led the discussion down a rather weird path. Author and writer Elizabeth Hayt expressed her opinion that, “blogging is absurd. It’s a hobby for rich people with too much time on their hands” just before moving on to ask why blogging is so mean spirited. Her beef was that so many fashion oriented blogs do nothing but insult people’s clothing and makeup.

Unfortunately, the panel was cut short and thus ended just as I wanted to ask Hayt whether she thought there were any similarities between our publically expressing our mean-spirited opinions regarding what people wear and her publically expressing her mean-spirited opinions regarding what people do. Oh well.

I was also a little disappointed that we three bloggers didn’t talk more about the relationship we have with our readers. For me, that’s what makes blogging fun and oftentimes more interesting than plain old journalism.

But, I had a great time nonetheless and was pleased to discover today that Henway Twingo of Sense of Soot compared my relationship to The Manolo to that of the Angels to Charlie. Fantastic!

I’m another year older today, but I’m not going to tell you how old I am. On this very special day, which I will spend working, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank The Manolo and everyone reading this for giving me a place to kvetch about fashion, cakes, and how The Beard has not yet proposed. When I blow out my birthday candles (and that’s provided someone is gracious enough to bake me a cake), I’m going to cross my fingers and make my wish that The Beard doesn’t wait until we look like the zombieweds above to make me his lawfully wedded wife.

I found another silver hair today – a grand long one that glinted in the light of my bathroom mirror. Finding one of those and then yanking it out always puts me in a reflective mood and makes my stepmother’s offer of a real shotgun wedding more and more appealing. Of course, at the pace things are going with The Beard, the eventual nuptials are going to look something like this:

My dad and my stepmother are obsessed with the idea of my getting married. Not that I’m not similarly obsessed, but they go about it with an unparalleled fervor. When I told them I’d be doing Manolo for the Brides, I received this note in the mail:

So maybe writing for a wedding etiquette site will inspire you and The Beard to start planning your own wedding? As always we are here for moral support, ideas, the funding of a wedding, and of course permission from the F.O.B. (father of the bride).

Thanks. Really. Thanks.

Manolo says, Hello to the many internet friends of the Manolo!

Welcome to the all remodeled and mostly new Manolo for the Brides Blog!

This blog it has the new website address (http://manolobrides.com), the new look, and now, the brand new editor and blogger, the Never teh Bride.

But, do not worry, the Manolo he would not put you into the hands of the inexperienced person. Indeed, the Never teh Bride she is the excellent and most amusing blogger.

In the fact, to the mind of the Manolo, she is one of the best unknown bloggers the Manolo has seen, someone who deserves the wider audience and more of the readers.

What convinced the Manolo to ask her to join him in the blogging for the brides was her own blog, the eponymous, Never teh Bride. It is hilarious, and yet, it is also filled with the sound advice on fashion, manners, and relationships. This combination, it is exactly what the Manolo wants at the blogs of the Manolo, and so he knows that she is right for the important task of helping the Manolo with the bride blogging.

Trust the Manolo, once you have read the Never teh Bride blogging about the brides, and the dresses, and the cakes, and the Beard, you will want to return here again and again to read more of this talented person’s writings.

Manolo says, welcome to the newest of the blogs to be added to the world of the Manolo, Manolo for the Brides! Here you will find the fashion advice of the Manolo and his cousin Donatella.

The Donatella, she knows the weddings! In the fact, she is almost the professional wedding consultant, having been married five of the times, at the last count. She has the impeccable taste in the gowns and all the accoutrements of the brides, and so will give us her many years of the wisdom, as the bride, the bridesmaid, the newlywed, the widow, and perhaps even as the gay divorcee.

The Manolo, he will be here to provide the spiritual and stylistic guidance and to recommend the shoes and the accessories.

Manolo says, if you are the young bride-to-be, or the bridesmaid-to-be, or you just, like many of the womens, are obsessed with the weddings, bookmark this place and visit frequently.