Love, hate, love, hate… just kidding! This week’s LOVE/HATE should really be entitled LOVE/LOVE because, really, is this not just a wickedly stunning wedding photograph? Taken by Mark Kostel of Kostel Photo in Toronto, this picture of a bride deep in thought just floors me. I mean really, you lucky Candadians!
What say you? Is this is striking as I think it is?
You have to love a groom who can banish General Zod from the reception!
I think you also have to love a bride and groom who have a sense of humor. As much as I love a good solemn wedding ceremony, I believe wholeheartedly that there is plenty of room for horseplay and general merriment at wedding receptions… and even in ceremonies. I cracked up during mine, for example, because I couldn’t read part of the wedding vows I’d so carefully written down. Oops! When I paused and squinted at my sheet of college ruled, you could hear guests shifting uncomfortably in their seats. But when I lost my you-know-what, everyone else had a good laugh, too. My advice to brides and grooms everywhere? Don’t be afraid to have fun!
Choosing not to listen to lyrics when choosing wedding reception music is a dangerous game in this humble blogger’s opinion. And it seems a lot of folks agree with me. All Things Considered recently asked its listeners and commenters to send in stories about the worst choices for wedding songs they’ve ever encountered and then chose the worst five. The least appropriate wedding songs were:
Send in the Clowns (as sung by Judy Collins) is a ballad from Act II of A Little Night Music. In it, the character Desirée reflects on the ironies and disappointments of her life. Uplifting!
Achtung: Never teh Bride is falling dreadfully behind today because on top of entertaining a baby, maintaining her household, and keeping five cats happy (not to mention a husband), her grandparents are coming to visit and will arrive in, oh, any second. That means that instead of a text-rich post, her dear readers will get a wedding photo-rich post. These is just some pretty wedding photo inspiration she has been sitting on for some time. Enjoy!
(via)
(via)
One of the big problems with writing about weddings for a living is that when your own wedding rolls around, no one wants to help you plan it. All right, maybe family and friends might want to help you plan your wedding, but they assume that you know exactly what you want and how to get it and therefor don’t need any wedding planning help. Or, worse, they are afraid to offer suggestions or lend a hand because they think you’ll get po’ed. Needless to say, I did not have a big fat German/Russian/Scottish/French/Whatever wedding.
I can see the same thing happening to professed wedding enthusiasts, which I know many of our readers are. Your loved ones may assume that you don’t need or want any help putting together your ceremony and reception because, well, you obviously know all there is to know about weddings. Then again, maybe you’re drowning under a sea of well-intentioned busybodies who are insisting that you simply must hire their hairdresser’s niece to create your wedding cake, since she just completed a cake decorating course at adult extension. The grass is always greener, right?
Today we’re curious to know about your wedding planning experience? Did your family let you know what their expectations were? Did your friends make not-so-subtle suggestions where the food, drink, or dresses were concerned? Or was your wedding planning experience more like my own, where you found yourself waiting for help that never materialized? Vote in the poll and then elaborate in the comments!
Image via Sandie Bertrand Photography
Stretch Hummer party limo with full bar and disco mode? Yawn. Rolls Royce Silver Dawn? It’s been done. Bright yellow Lamborghini? All right, that’s a little more interesting, but let me present you with a few alternative wedding day transportation ideas.
Brides and grooms who are lucky enough to be holding their wedding ceremony and wedding reception in locales where there’s an abundance of land or water should think about ditching the road-based transportation in favor of something more unusual.
Rock the Boat, Baby
If your ceremony and reception venues are on the water, you can pull up to the nearest dock in a rented boat. Search for “boat rental” and your zip code, or find the nearest marina at Marinamate.com. Take this idea off the table if either the bride or groom is prone to seasickness or if the weather in your chosen locale is unpredictable. There’s nothing worse than being on the water in your wedding gown during a freak hurricane!
Get High (Tee Hee)
Want a great view of your wedding venue? You can charter a helicopter at Helicopterrides.thrillplanet.com—wedding party transfers are one of the services they offer. Just make sure you stay in the chopper until the blades have stopped spinning so you don’t destroy your bridal hairstyle.
The quieter option is seriously old school. Getting from place to place in a hot balloon isn’t practical, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy an open air interlude between your ceremony and your reception. Find a willing balloonist at Hotairballoon.thrillplanet.com or 1800skyride.com/BalloonRides.
Photo via Visio Photography
Excerpted partially from iDo
On the morning of my wedding, my stylist looked me straight in the eye and said “Honey, a glass of champagne and a bite of a muffin do not breakfast make.” Guests have it so easy, sitting there in pews or folding chairs while the bride, groom, and their attendants stand stock still in dress shoes for the duration of the wedding ceremony.
Unless, that is, they fall over, like this groomsman, who probably did not have any breakfast. The temptation to skip the pre-wedding meal is always there… think of the bride or bridesmaid who wants to avoid a foodbaby or the groom or groomsman who is in too much of a rush to grab a bite. Unfortunately, some of us do not handle low blood sugar as well as others, and a fainting bridal party, while occasionally humorous, does not make for picturesque ceremony photos.
Brides and grooms, do yourselves a favor and bring a little snack with you to wherever it is you’re getting dressed and prepped for the wedding ceremony. Remind your bridesmaids and groomsmen that it’ll be a while before the reception meal is served, especially if you’re taking wedding photographs after the ceremony. Better yet, equip the bridal (and, uh, groomal?) chamber with a fruit plate or a platter of bagels for everyone, including your stylist, to nosh on while ties are tied and makeup is applied.
Brides and grooms with all of the money in the world don’t have to worry about wasting money. A wedding gown or reception venue that costs $10,000 is no different than one that costs $1,000. Money, simply put, is not an issue. Lucky them, right? The rest of us have to plan our weddings within the confines of some kind of wedding budget, whether we have $2500 or $25,000 to spend.
What that means is that most brides and grooms are forced, to some extent, to prioritize when choosing wedding vendors or supplies. There is no “I want it all!” because the money just isn’t there, and (one hopes) financing the wedding on credit isn’t an option. Sure, there are the must-haves, like a top notch photographer or a really fine reception meal, that couples choose based on their personal preferences, but affording one or two luxuries usually means identifying other areas of the wedding where cutbacks can be made.
To do that, it’s a good idea to think in terms of matrimonial money-wasters. Like I said about, if you’re flush, there’s no such thing as a waste of cash, but if economizing here and there is your goal, there are definite money dumps that can be easily avoided. For example:
The logic center in every bride’s brain will tell her at some point in the wedding planning process that there’s no such thing as a perfect wedding… or the perfect wedding gown, reception venue, or wedding guest. That doesn’t mean, however, that most brides don’t hold out at least some hope that their weddings will go exactly as planned.
Please don’t misunderstand me, however. Your wedding can be perfect in that it’s your wedding, no matter what goes wrong. That which does go wrong might be so minor as to be practically unnoticeable. The weather, atmosphere, and location may be perfect. Perfection is in the eye of the beholder, so if you think something is perfect, it is. But can you create a truly 100% absolutely perfect wedding? Unlikely.
That said, I love the Wide Lawns Wedding Guide. Whereas other wedding guides stress having the right wedding accessories or finding the ultimate ceremony venue, theirs is all about attitude — specifically the attitude adopted by the bride(s) and/or groom(s).
1. The wedding would not be about us. It would be about our friends and families. The wedding was a gift from us to our guests.
2. There would be no “must haves.”
3. We would not have preconceived notions or ideals about what our wedding was supposed to be like.
4. It would be very fun, not stuffy and would include traditions from the many different backgrounds represented.
5. The wedding would represent our personalities.
6. We would also be mindful of how extraordinarily lucky we were to have this opportunity and we would be constantly thankful and appreciative of all that we were given.
Aside from the first point, I can’t argue with any of this. It’s so often the ‘must haves’ and the preconceived notions that lead to anger or disappointment on the part of the main players in a wedding, whether you’re talking about the bride(s), the groom(s), the mothers, the fathers, or the friends of the happy couple. Following these guidelines will to some extent keep you happy and sane while planning a wedding.
And as far as the first point is concerned, well, my wedding was about me just a little bit insofar as I picked out the food and cake and drinks and venue I liked rather than what would be tastiest or most convenient in the eyes of my guests.
Hey, no one’s perfect!
