For instance, check out these gorgeous cufflinks. They feature a fragment of an antique map (in this case, Italy in 1899) encased under jewelry grade magnifying resin and set in a combination of sterling silver and stainless steel. I can imagine many a groom, groomsman, best man, or bridesman who would be delighted to wear these links on the big day… and use them again afterward. At just $26.00 a pair, they’re also very affordable.

Oh, and don’t worry if you’re not excited about Italy. There are plenty of other places represented in the shop, as well as similarly themed bracelets, pendants, and earrings.

In fact, these attendant gifts might just put your wedding on the map.

(ducks hurled tomatoes)

The wedding was held last night and was attended by such family friends as the rest of KISS, Hugh Hefner, and Bill Maher, as well as the happy couple’s two children, Nick and Sophie.

The tune is may be bit of a wedding cliche at this point, but when the couple had their first dance to At Last by Etta James… I gotta say, it might be the most appropriate use of it ever. Twenty-eight years is a long, long time to be meandering toward the alter, but it seems to have worked for them.

I hope you’ll all join with me in wishing Gene and Shannon every possible joy as they begin a new chapter in their relationship. Mazeltov, you crazy kids!

Sometimes doing things a little differently works out really well, as in this rather fabulous wedding held in Poland for this lovely couple, Kabinka and Wisnia.As you can see, she’s wearing trousers and a gorgeous frock coat while he’s wearing a long skirt. Both accessorized with joyful smiles.

You can get a better look at both outfits in this photograph:

After the formality of the ceremony, Kabinka removed her coat for the reception and danced the night away looking fresh and comfortable and every inch a bride:

And the lesson we learn here is that unconventional isn’t something to fear. Follow your heart, whether you’re choosing a life partner or what to wear while marrying the person of your dreams. It’s all about staying true to who you are.

(all images by Ania Roth Photography via This Charming Wedding)

Lovey-dovey, sure, but I feel like there's some happysilly there, too

Hot stuff!

Laughter on your wedding day, can't beat it!

La Petite Acadienne had this to say about the photos she shared: “Our photographer was Anthony Vazquez. My husband and I went away to New York to get married — just the two of us — and Anthony was one of the very few wedding photographers who was willing to come shoot for just an hour. Most of them had a 6 hour minimum, and what would I need 6 hours of photography for when it was just the two of us? Anyway, we were absolutely thrilled with the photos. There are so many nice ones, I could have sent you an entire album. I’ve selected a few that I adore, though — I think they really speak to who we are as a couple: goofy, passionate, and very much in love.”

Now it’s your turn to gush in the comments about how gorgeous they look – don’t be shy!

Let's hear it for those helpful grooms!

Some of these involved grooms-to-be are even blogging, though admittedly they tend to give it up after they tie the knot unlike some people – hello! – who just keep on going on about wedding planning like nothing happened. There are even wedding planning guides for grooms! Unfortunately, some parts of the wedding industry have yet to catch up to the trend of the helpful groom and continue to focus only on brides-to-be and their desires. I’ve even heard stories of wedding vendors who, when meeting hetero couples, talked only to the bride and all but ignored the presence of a groom. Uncool, vendors, uncool. Was The Beard as involved as he could have been? I plead the fifth on that one and state for the record that I can be a a force of nature when it comes to party planning.

How about you? Is your other half – if your other half happens to be a groom – pulling his weight? If not, and you want him to (some brides don’t), then TELL HIM THAT. Don’t just stew in a sauce of resentment until you explode. Your groom, like many, may have been told by a well-meaning male relative that he shouldn’t participate in wedding planning. Inside many an uninvolved groom is a helpful groom waiting to come out.

Image: Peacock Photography

A Jewish wedding tradition with a growing following

Am I the only one who likes seeing wedding traditions from one faith or heritage embraced by people from other backgrounds? I know that there are some people who don’t like the co-opting of wedding traditions by “outsiders” but I my take is that wedding traditions wouldn’t have become traditions if brides and grooms didn’t find value in them. It’s not for me to say that so-and-so can’t do X, Y, and Z because those practices belong to another culture. Take the ketubah, a traditional and beautiful element of the Jewish wedding and marriage. According to a recent New York Times piece, more non-religious and Christian couples are embracing the ketubah in their own weddings.

“We wanted a permanent reminder of the covenant we made with God,” Mrs. Austin said. “We see this document superseding the marriage license of a state or a court.”

Such sentiments have been reshaping the market for ketubot (the plural in Hebrew) in the past decade. Michael Shapiro, an observant Jew from Toronto who sells artistic ketubot through the Web site ketubah.com, said he had seen the non-Jewish share of his customers rise from zero to about 10 percent. He is forming a spinoff site, artvows.com, that concentrates on non-Jewish consumers.

The decade of non-Jews discovering the ketubah coincides with three relevant social trends: the rise of Christian Zionism, the growth of interfaith marriage, and the mainstreaming of the New Age movement with its search for spirituality in multiple faith traditions. As a result, an increasing number of gentiles have taken up Judaic practices: holding a Passover Seder, eating kosher food and studying kabbalah, the Jewish mystical movement.

What began as way to protect the bride’s interests in the event of a divorce and morphed into a beautiful and artful representation of specific contractural provisions for marriage had a resurgence of popularity in the 1960s Jewish counterculture. Suddenly the ketubah was back and once again something to display rather than something to be hidden away. And, like I said, the ketubah is now finding its way into non-Jewish weddings and onto non-Jewish walls. I’m cool with that – in fact, I think it’s very cool, especially for those Christians who want to give a nod to their religion’s Jewish roots.

How does it strike you, this flow of wedding traditions from one faith or background to another? Do you think it’s cool, or kind of weird and inauthentic?

Not everyone has engagement photos taken, of course. But if it’s something you’re planning on checking off your pre-wedding to-do list, have some fun with it like these couples did!

Here’s a future bride and groom at deCordova Sculpture Park, posing on some of the art. It would be tons of fun to run around 35 acres with a photographer. Maybe even a great way to relieve some wedding planning stress!

Here’s a couple kissing on the Charles River esplanade – this is my absolutely favorite of the bunch! I’m sure you and your sweetie could think of *plenty* of places to get your smooch on, no?

Then there’s the couple who posed at Duxbury Beach, in a lifeguard tower! That sounds like a super like a fun idea – especially for the beach fanatic – as long as it’s the off season and no one chases you away.

Or Stanza dei Sigari, an awesome cigar bar in Boston’s North End!

And finally, here’s my second favorite engagement photo in the bunch, taken in Wompatuck State Park in Hingham in weather that looks a lot like what I’ve been seeing out my living room window for the last, oh, hundred years. It just goes to show that you can’t let the weather get in the way when it’s time to meet with your photographer – work with it!

Are you planning to have engagement portraits taken? I didn’t, and I’ve always kind of regretted it because I love great photos – especially when I get to be in them!

Images: KLC Photography

I thought of this edition of LOVE/HATE after reading this post over at Encore Bride – she talks about and includes pictures of getting ready with her groom. Are those gasps, I’m hearing? I know some people will gasp at the notion of a bride and groom (or bride and bride or groom and groom) getting ready for the wedding in the same room. That means no big reveal of the wedding dress or whatever the marrying parties have chosen to wear and no sweet ‘first glimpse’ reaction shots at the beginning of the wedding ceremony. “It’s tradition!” some people will say. But come on… so many of today’s couple’s live together before getting hitched, or at least have intimate knowledge of one another. At this point, so much of tradition is just play acting.

The big reveal? Should be entirely optional. If a couple wants to keep what they’re wearing secret until the wedding ceremony and sleep apart and so on, fab. And if a couple wants to share a bed before the big day and dress in the same space, also fab. I LOVE the idea of a couple who’s comfortable with the idea sharing tie tying and dress zipping duties! Frankly, it sounds like a lot of fun, and maybe even less nerve-wracking than being in a room full of friends with a photographer, not knowing what your other half is up to. What do you think? Would you get dressed with your sweetie on your wedding day?

Image: Cholmondelly

Sometimes, though, a wedding photographer and his or her clients will take a field trip at some point during the wedding day. Not sure what I mean? Take a look at these snaps from wedding photographer Luca Ragogna:

Full disclosure – this is a model, not an actual bride. But the theory is the same, and I think it would be tons of fun to go to a carnival in a wedding dress and just play games and eat fried whatever all day. IMO, pictures from the little field trips that some couples take turn out awesome, and I think, a lot more fun to look at years later than yet another straight up and down shot in front of a staircase. So I LOVE it.

What do YOU think about the wedding photos that some couples take out-and-about. Did you take a photographic field trip, or are you planning on taking one?

In the movies, groomsmen are usually irresponsible, party-loving dudes who fear settling down and do everything they can to talk the groom out of getting hitched.

Thankfully, real life is nowhere near as dramatic. You may have heard these guys referred to as ushers, but not all ushers are groomsmen and not all groomsmen are ushers. Most of the time, these two roles are treated as one, but some couples use the naming disparity as a pretext for including more family and friends in their wedding. Whatever honorific they receive, these guys have it pretty easy, as evidenced by the extremely short list of groomsmen duties

On the big day, your groomsmen can hand out programs, direct people to their seats, and keep an eye on the gift table. It’s not uncommon for a groomsman to become the unofficial answer man unwittingly, as guests tend to direct their questions toward anyone wearing a tux. Anticipate this by making sure your groomsmen know where the bathroom is. Some people even ask their male attendants to dance with any single females at the reception – but this practice is not as common as it once was because being a woman without a dance partner is no longer considered a fate worse than death. When your ushers are not your groomsmen, you can ensure they don’t feel left out by mentioning their names in the wedding program, announcing them at the reception, and seating them with the other members of the wedding party.

How many groomsmen do you need? Like bridesmaids, these guys are, in fact, a nonessential element of weddings. But they look great in photographs and may even prove helpful, so plan on having two or three groomsmen per fifty guests for a formal wedding or less for an informal affair.

Excerpt: iDo: Planning Your Wedding With Nothing But Net