No very specific reason was given for the split, but the couple did release a joint statement, saying they had “grown apart” and that their separation is amicable.

Whatever their reasons, I do have to appreciate the fact that they are refusing to air their dirty linen in public. That, my friends, is how to do it the classy way.

The other split that made the news this week is Aretha Franklin and fiance Willie Wilkerson, who announced the end of their engagement just weeks after announcing its beginning. While the engagement is off, though, there is no word of whether or not they have ended their romance.

Franklin’s statement said that she and Wilkerson had decided they were moving “a little bit too fast” and said there were “a number of things that had not been thought through thoroughly.” The upshot? “There will be no wedding at this time.”

Whatever their issues, it is my fond hope they can be resolved to the satisfaction of all involved. But if they can’t, I do believe it’s better that things end in a broken engagement than a painful divorce down the road.

None of this is happy news, but the heart is a resilient muscle. May all four parties find happiness in the long run, if not at the moment.

Weir tweeted:

… he’s kind of everything that I’ve ever looked for and aspired to be in a relationship with.

That’s pretty much how I think people should feel about their life partners. Congratulations, Johnny and Victor! I wish you every happiness.

2012 has already brought happy news to more couples.

Basketball great LeBron James proposed on New Year’s Eve to his longtime love Savannah Brinson, the mother of his two sons. May they look that happy together for the rest of their lives.

Basketball legend Michael Jordan was ahead of the curve. He proposed to model Yvette Prieto, his girlfriend of three years, on Christmas Eve. Oh, in case you hadn’t heard, she said yes.

Last, but about a million miles from least, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin announced her engagement to longtime companion William ‘Willie’ Wilkerson. This will be the third trip down the aisle for Franklin, who is considering a summer wedding.

The sixty-nine-year-old bride assures us:

No, I’m not pregnant.

Rock on with your bad self, Queen Aretha! May you continue to delight us – and Mr. Wilkerson – for years to come.

Still, the other day I happened across their wedding ceremony, and found myself deeply touched by the thoughtful, gentle view of marriage it expressed. In particular, I loved this passage:

May you always need one another, not so much to fill the emptiness as to help each other know your fullness. May you want one another, but not out of lack. May you embrace one another, but not encircle one another. May you succeed in all important ways with each other, and not fail in the little graces. Look for things to praise, often say ‘I love you’ and take no notice of small faults. May you have happiness, and may you find it in making one another happy. May you have love, and may you find it in loving one another.

I could wish nothing better for each and every one of you in your marriages.

Well, I found a perfect example of how beautiful a handmade, very personal wedding can be.

This lovely Canadian couple used furniture from their parents’ homes, leftover wood from the groom’s father’s lumber mill, volunteers, elbow grease, and a little forethought to create an elegant, unique, and utterly charming wedding on their own. Read the whole story and see more pictures at Ruffled.

Oh, and David Tutera? Eat your heart out.


In other wedding news, singer Sinead O’Conner tied the knot for the fourth time on the ninth with therapist Barry Herridge. The pair chose the same Vegas chapel where Elvis Presley and Britney Spears (separately) were married. They sat in the back seat of a pink cadillac for their vows.

If any of you have wondered if you can rock your tattoos and a traditional wedding gown, head on over to Kristi Odom’s website and check out this gorgeous inked bride and her fabulous Halloween wedding.

Lovely gown, impressive ink, and a wedding I’m sure the couple will look back on for years with pleasure.

The bride wore Alexander McQueen, though I have yet to find a picture of the gown. The ceremony was intimate, with family and close friends in attendance, including Nettles’ Sugarland partner Kristian Bush.

This is the second marriage for Nettles, 37. Her first marriage ended in 2007 after nine years.

The couple will not honeymoon immediately, because the bride is a bit busy tomorrow night playing the Grammy Nominations Concert Live!! along with such luminaries as Lady Gaga and Lupe Fiasco. Alas!, Mr. Twistie is not expecting a nomination. Sigh.

Anyway.

I hope you’ll join with me in wishing the happy couple many years of delight in one another.

As is to be expected in cases like this, rumors and blame are rife throughout the media. Kardashian responded with a flurry of tweets denying that she married for the publicity and money (she assures us all the money from her wedding gifts will be donated to the Dream Foundation… though I do believe Miss Manners would council her to consider returning them to the family members, friends and well-wishers who gave them if they are still in good condition, and the last time I checked, cash has a pretty significant shelf life) and assuring us she married truly for love.

“We filmed Kourtney giving birth, Khloe getting married, break ups, make ups, our best moments and our worst moments,” she writes. “These were all real moments. That’s what makes us who we are. We share, we give, we love and we are open!”

… and that’s kind of the thing, Kim. When you choose to live your life so very publicly, people will insist on having opinions about your life. It’s part of the contract. And some of those people will not think terribly highly of you, especially when you have a gigantic, public, media circus wedding followed by a marriage that lasts less than three months.

Kardashian insists that she just got ‘caught up with the hoopla and filming of the TV show’ to the point that she didn’t know how to break off the relationship. And I will say that Kim Kardashian is not the first bride to utter similar words of regret and confusion in the wake of a brief, disastrous marriage. I’ve heard more than one bride say that she really wasn’t sure when she was standing at the altar, but didn’t know how to stop the train at that point.

Look, what you or I think of Kim Kardashian as a person isn’t that important. Frankly, I prefer to think of her as little as her painfully public existence allows. But I think we can all take a moment to learn a Life Lesson from this sordid little tale: if you’re not really sure of the relationship, Don’t Get Married Anyway. A good friend of mine got married anyway. She’s now in the middle of a divorce and bemoaning the ten years she wasted on a marriage that never for one day made her truly happy.

If at any point along the way you find yourself seriously feeling trapped, unhappy, or fearful about being married to the person you said ‘yes’ to, slow things down. If you’re standing at the altar and the words ‘I do’ start to choke you, it’s still not too late. Don’t get married until you’re certain it’s what you want, and this is the person you want it with.

Your happiness matters.

For today, you see, was Sir Paul’s third wedding day.

While it was a far cry from the wild stampede of heartbroken fans that greeted McCartney in 1969 when he married Linda Eastman, today (on what would have been John Lennon’s seventy-first birthday, incidentally; happy birthday, John, wherever you are!)he was married again in precisely the same spot: the registry office in the Old Marylebone Town Hall.

The bride, Nancy Shevell, another American heiress and second cousin of Barbara Walters, looked lovely in a simple dress designed by the groom’s famous fashion designer daughter, Stella, and a flower in her hair. The groom wore a dark blue suit and light blue tie. As they left the registry office, the crowd assembled outside showered them with rose petals and confetti. Then the bride and groom along with their guests left to have a vegetarian meal, also arranged by Stella.

The guests included the only other surviving Beatle, Ringo Starr, as well as Barbara Walters, who is rumored to have introduced the happy couple.

I do hope you’ll all join with me in wishing the happy couple joy.

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!

The two have been engaged and wearing rings for the past five years, but with the New York Senate’s vote to legalize same-sex marriage in the state, they can now plan the wedding of their dreams.

Congratulations, Messers Harris and Burtka!

We would also like to extend our best wishes to all the other same-sex couples in New York who can now decide for themselves when or whether to take the marriage plunge.

I didn’t even know who they were, since I follow neither professional football nor beauty pageants. I had to Google their names to find out what the fuss was about. All the same, I wish them all happiness, as I do every couple who gets married.

The details are easily found from the dress to the menu (short ribs and a pizza bar), to… well, pretty much anything you could want to know and probably several things you don’t.

All well and good. Happy famous couple gets married, people want details.

And then along comes this cesspool of nastiness of an article.

Yes, apparently it’s worth the time of Chris Chase at the Yahoo sports blog Shutdown Corner to be offended that the happy couple chose to register at Macy’s and Crate & Barrel! What’s more, they had the crust to register for a gravy boat that cost a mere six dollars! Gasp! Horror!

As if forcing people to make the trip to Dallas on a three-day weekend wasn’t bad enough, the Romos then ask folks to buy them various home knick-knacks that they’ll never use and easily could have afforded for themselves? I suppose you have to get a rich guy something when he gets married, I just never figured it would be a six-dollar gravy boat.

How does Chase know that Tony and Candace won’t use that gravy boat? Maybe they like gravy with everyday meals. And what do you want to bet that had they registered for a six hundred dollar gravy boat it would have come in for equal disdain from the same source?

Look, I don’t care how rich or how poor you are. I don’t care whether you’re famous, infamous, or utterly unknown: register for what you would like to receive. If your family and friends are strapped for cash on a good day, be sensitive to that by including some inexpensive items, but don’t base your entire registry on the fact that your closest associates have money to burn.

And if you want a gravy boat – no matter how expensive or thrifty-minded it may be – go ahead and register for it. The fact that it’s on the list doesn’t obligate anyone to give it to you, nor is it a reasonable cause for annoyance on the part of someone you probably wouldn’t invite if you thought of it.

In fact, Chris Chase? I’ll make you a deal: you stick to talking about sports, I’ll cover the wedding beat, and then nobody will have to deal with my ignorance of football or yours of proper wedding etiquette.