Manolo for the Brides

Please forgive my terrible pun in this post’s title, but the temptation to make it was irresistible. You see, Andrea Parrish and Peter Geyer of Spokane, WA have decided to pay for their upcoming nuptials using naught but the proceeds collected from the recycling of aluminum cans. According to their web site, they’ve collected 25,781 cans thus far, and have inspired others to donate the proceeds from their recycling excursions to the tune of 56,571 cans. Parrish and Geyer have a ways to go, however, before they can finance their relatively inexpensive July wedding. They’re planning a modest affair costing around $4,000, which will require them to collect a total of 318,648 more cans.

While it is a pretty insane idea — though a wonderfully create one — I must say I do like it a lot better than the “pay for my wedding just because I asked you to” schemes or the “pay for my wedding” registries. Parrish and Geyer are putting some real effort into paying for a wedding in an offbeat way. And is having your living room stuffed with bags and bags of aluminum cans all that much worse than having it stuffed with wedding favor boxes, ribbons, silk flowers, and seating chart mock-ups? All right, maybe it’s a little worse, if only because donated cans might not be entirely clean.

Like the idea? If you’re in Spokane, you can drop off your cans for this quirky couple at the Instant Sign Factory or they’ll gladly pick them up from your place (if you have enough to make it worth it, I imagine). For those not in Spokane, Parrish and Geyer recommend that you recycle your own aluminum cans, buy yourself a coffee or beer, and if you’re so inclined, send the leftover cash to them.

(Photo via)

Imagine stepping off an airplane into the arrivals terminal of the closest airport. You scan the crowd of people waiting for their loved ones and business associates, waiting for your fiance or fiancee. Unexpectedly, you see a woman in a long white dress or a man in a tux, along with someone who looks like very much like a wedding officiant. You might smile, wonder who they’re waiting for. Then you realize they’re staring at you, waving like mad in your direction. Smiling. That nut in the tux or that crazy lady in a wedding dress is your spouse-to-be and they have a big surprise for you. Do you… run over with a huge grin on your face? Book it in the opposite direction, trying to pretend you didn’t see? Sidle over cautiously, hoping it’s all a joke?

If you’re William Acosta or U.S. Army Pvt. Cody Beckwith, you choose option A.

Robyn Moore and William Acosta exchanged their vows at Corpus Christi International Airport after he got off a plane arriving from Toledo, Ohio. She was waiting in her wedding dress, with a justice of the peace at her side. granted, they were planning on marrying in December anyway and hadn’t chosen a site. More importantly, they both travel frequently for business and spend a great deal of time in airports. Acosta told reporters that he was speechless, but thrilled when he said Moore.

Shawna Hodge surprised her fiance U.S. Army Pvt. Cody Beckwith in much the same way, though their circumstances were very different. He was caught in all that winter weather that rolled over the U.S. slightly more than a week back and was stranded, missing his own wedding. Every flight he tried to book was delayed or canceled except for a midnight flight into Tampa International Airport. So that’s where Hodge and Beckwith said their “I dos” with their wedding party looking on.

My take? I love the second surprise wedding — the wedding hour came and went, and the couple made do. They’ll have a great story to tell people, maybe kids and grandkids. But the first surprise wedding? I don’t think Moore would have shown up in her wedding dress if she didn’t think Acosta would go for it, and they had picked up the license application the week before. While nothing was set in stone, however, I can’t help thinking that he might have had some idea of where they should say their vows. It worked for them, and that’s awesome, but I think I’d hate being put on the spot like that.

What say you?

Imagine you live in Philadelphia. Imagine you’re getting married. Imagine you intend to marry out of doors. What time of year would you choose for your ceremony?

Well, if you’re Blair Kahora and Matt Cardinal, you choose December 19.

You read that correctly, they chose December 19 for their outdoor wedding at Headhouse Square open air market. They even went ahead with their plans despite the fact that more than twenty inches of snow fell that day.

The makeup artist decided to bow out of the proceedings, but Matt and his groomsmen jumped into the fray and called to confirm all the other vendors.

Guests were told that formal clothing was optional. Most of them chose to show up, though the dress code rapidly turned into sweatpants rather than party dresses. As for the bride and her bridesmaids, they gave a nod to the weather by wearing Uggs and pashmina wraps.

After the ceremony, the happy couple stayed outdoors to get some pictures.

Me? I wouldn’t do it. After all, part of the reason I live in California is that I don’t want to deal with snow. For them, however, it seemed to work. Best of luck, Blair and Matt. And keep warm if you can.

Don’t like cake and, by extension, wedding cake? There’s always pie or pastries or chocolates or a sundae bar, candy buffet, and milk and cookies station. Cheese is considered a dessert by some, which means you wouldn’t be going out on a limb to offer a literal cheese cake. Or you could even skip dessert altogether with a sushi cake or a, um, pork pie cake.

That’s right, there be pork in them thar cakes.

“We are always looking to extend and improve our [product range] and hit upon the novel idea of a collection of giant-size celebration pork pies,” said Wilsons partner Andrew Green. “The pork pie wedding cakes, hand-crafted in our own in-house bakery, come in squares of ascending sizes of either seven, nine and eleven inches or five, seven and nine inches. They can even be personalised to include names, date and a suitable message.”

If you and your spouse-to-be absolutely cannot get enough piggy in your diet or your wedding, the Wilsons pork pie cake is one way to really load up on swine!

Tweeting at the wedding reception is one thing… tweeting from the altar is another. That’s what Dana Hanna (aka TheSoftwareJedi) did at his wedding to Tracy Page.

Here’s what he wrote after saying his I dos: “Standing at the altar with @TracyPage where just a second ago, she became my wife! Gotta go, time to kiss my bride. #weddingday”

As you can imagine, he caught some flak for calling a time out to text. In response to criticism, Hanna posted a new tweet: “To all the criticizers of my video out there questioning my sanity: You don’t get it. I was having fun at MY wedding! Loosen up, have fun!”

True, and the bride didn’t seem to mind. She even updated her own status when Hanna handed her a second phone after she herself asked for it. So if you’re thinking of updating your Twitter or Facebook accounts in the middle of your wedding ceremony, well, I can’t stop you. Just make sure that your officiant is in on it and that your spouse-to-be is cool with it, lest you find that he or she has changed their Facebook relationship status from ‘Married’ to ‘It’s complicated’.

There are as many ways to propose and get married as there are people doing the proposing and people saying their “I dos”. Here are two, with the proposal coming first. A uniformed policeman proposed to his girlfriend at the headquarters of the Police Tactical Unit (Hong Kong’s emergency police squad) while flanked by colleagues cheering “Marry him, marry him!”.

With all those men with guns, how could you say no? I kid, I kid. How wonderful to say “Yes, I will!” in front of such an ebullient and happy crowd!

The second, the wedding, comes from Brittany. Some weeks ago, Lorien Gabel (the CEO of pingg) and his fiancee Jessica Lichtenstein made their wedding a private-public affair. First, the pair hopped a plane to Vegas and were secretly married in the dessert while also filming a movie featuring their alter egos. The movie concluded with the surprise ending, Lorien and Jessica exchanging vows.

Three weeks later, 200 of the couples’ closest friends and family traveled to NYC to celebrate Jess and Lorien’s combined 30th and 40th birthdays… after responding to an invitation that advertised that they each had other SOs when they first kissed, uh. Guests were shown their matrimonial movie and were reportedly shocked and awed that they were witnessing the couple’s actual wedding vows.

You can see stills from the movie and the filming process here. I can’t say I was enthralled by the film itself, as it’s a little “here’s us in a car, here’s a manga figurine, here’s us dancing, here’s some crotch grabbing, we’re so edgy sexy, now we’re married surprise!” for my tastes, but I do suppose I’d be a lot more interested if the couple in question was made up of people I actually know. Still, it’s an interesting idea. Flashy, too, and I love flashy.

I’m not usually one for fairies or frou-frou, but I’m loving this A Midsummer Night’s Dream themed wedding recently featured on Brides.com. The bride, Kristen Gullion, wanted her nuptials to be a modern fantasy fairytale, which was brought to life by event designer Sasha Souza. Here are some highlights:

Can you imagine how delighted most little girls would be to not only be invited to participate in the wedding as flower girls, but also to wear wings and fairy dresses while doing it? I would have been climbing the walls in anticipation of the wedding day as a wee one!

Lavender lighting? Oh, baby. I’m also digging the mismatched table linens, especially here where they tone down the fanciful bunting. I guess it doesn’t hurt that the space is awesome — for those looking for elegant reception venues, barns are not just for country weddings!

The bride and groom, Todd Gullion, took their photo booth to the next level with an interactive family photo wall featuring snapshots of family members and family members’ weddings. Guests could pose in empty frames, becoming, as the bride put it, part of the family history. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this.

Overall, the Gullions’ fairytale affair was totally not my style, but totally awesome nonetheless!

Hey ho campers! It’s time once again to play Twistie’s Sunday Caption Madness!

You know the drill from here. I post the pic, you send in captions via the comments box, and next week I declare a winner.

Today’s image was brought to my attention by our own Never teh Bride, who now has my undying thanks. That is, in between the convulsive laughter.

Since it’s kind of not safe for work, it’s going under a cut. Enjoy!

UPDATE: Never teh Bride here! The lovely Twistie is away attending a wedding and I cannot see anything wrong with the image other than it’s simply not showing itself. I’m afraid that Twistie will have to re-upload it when she returns since for the life of me I cannot find it… until then, let your imaginations run wild!

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