Every once in a while, someone comes along here and tries to sell me on the idea that weddings can only be nicely done with professional planning. While some may find a planner useful, and I’d be the first one to advise they use one, it’s hardly the only way to go. I like to encourage couples to think outside the box and find their own way of making a statement.

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.
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Money doesn’t grow on trees. Weddings aren’t necessarily cheap. In fact, the average wedding in the US, according to statistics, costs roughly $26.542 today. That’s a lot of money.

But there’s a funny thing about average statistics: they reflect all weddings and none, not any one specific wedding.
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Diann Valentine is coming to rescue you! Well, if you had a wedding that didn’t turn out so well, that is. The celebrity planner who has worked for Usher, Toni Braxton, and a host of other famous folk is now doing her WETV series I Do Over to help the hapless whose wedding dreams crashed into a solid wall of reality.

So I watched an episode.

The Santinis had been married for eighteen years (hey! that’s how long Mr. Twistie and I have been married!) but never got over the horror of their wedding day. You see, they hired someone to make the bridesmaids dresses who didn’t get them done in time. She had promised delivery on the day of the wedding to the church… and apparently nobody thought that plan to be potentially fraught with disaster.

The big day arrived, but the bridesmaids dresses didn’t, much to the consternation of all aware of the situation. For some reason passing all understanding, when the bride’s grandmother began foaming at the mouth about having the bridesmaids wear the groomsmen’s shirts, nobody pressed a cold compress to her forehead or called the paramedics. Instead, they listened to her.
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Say hello to Scott Gornick and David Gorshien. This, as you might be able to surmise through the festive clothes, joyful embrace, and hail of confetti, is their wedding.

Oh, and see that huge head behind David? Yeah, that would be Scott’s boss, Conan O’Brien. Scott is the costume designer for Conan’s show. So when Scott and longtime love David decided to tie the knot while the show was in New York – where their marriage would be legal – Conan offered to marry them himself on the show. One quick ordination by the Universal Life Church later, he was legally empowered to do just that.

The grooms wore fabulous brocade jackets designed by Scott and – in Jewish tradition – were married under a chuppah. The one big question seems to have been which groom would smash the glass at the end of the ceremony. Two grooms, two glasses, no problem.

While the ceremony was largely light-hearted and did include several gentle ribs from O’Brien (You never designed me anything like that!), it was also a serious wedding ceremony. Both men got a bit choked up reciting their custom vows. When Scott vowed to “… fill your every day with so much love” I have to say I got choked up, too.

Go here. Watch the video, if you missed it on television. Bring a hankie.

Scott, David, mazel tov!

This is an image from the Toronto Zombie Walk, 2011. Awesome, yes, but a seemingly unlikely place for romance to blossom.

Ah, but then zombie queen Thea Munster (in untattered wedding white, carrying a bouquet that featured miniature skulls) and her unlife partner Adam Invader tied the knot before a delighted audience of their fellow undead.

The bride and groom arrived via coffin carried by a party of pallbearers in Victorian mourning And departed the plane of their wedding altar in a classic car with a ‘just buried’ sign on the back.

Adam and Thea, may you spend many delightful eons together, and may you never find yourself running low on Brains Helper! Congratulations, you crazy zombies, you!

You know, the groom doesn’t always have to wear pants and the bride doesn’t always have to wear a dress.

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)

Samantha Poser isn’t famous. Neither is her new husband, Adam Kerby. All the same, Samantha’s father, Phil, wanted to give her something special for her wedding. Phil, who owns a carpet store, decided that his daughter deserved a red carpet… so he and his staff created it for her.

This, though, isn’t the interesting bit. That would be the fact that he managed to keep the carpet a secret from Samantha until they walked out their front door to head for the church, some 200 meters away.

Phil, who owns a carpet shop, had gone to elaborate lengths to fool his beautician daughter into thinking that she was going to make the bridal entrance on the back of his elaborately decorated quad bike.
The bizarre ruse worked as Sam braced herself to mount the unusual steed before it was revealed she had her very own magical red carpet for the fairy tale stroll to the church.

Clearly this isn’t an idea for everyone. Access to that much red carpet, and the ability to get streets cordoned off for the walk to the wedding venue make it impractical for most of us. And, of course, there are brides who would rather be swallowed whole by the Earth than walk a red carpet to church. In this case, however, it seems that the ability to get the practicalities dealt with, the personality of the bride in question, and the weather all cooperated to make Phil’s vision a happy reality.

Samantha and Adam are currently honeymooning in Egypt, and I hope that all of you will join with me in wishing them a long, happy marriage full of charming surprises.