Manolo for the Brides

Photographer Corinna J. Hoffman took this beautiful picture of one of the more unusual and interesting save-the-date announcements I’ve seen.

One of the brides-to-be whose wedding Ms. Hoffman will be photographing loved the handkerchiefs Lucky Luxe created for her so much that she had them sent to Ms. Hoffman first so she could photograph them before they were sent off to the wedding guests.

I’ll come right out and say that I LOVE the idea. While save-the-dates are not at all a necessary piece of wedding stationery in most cases, they have become a commonplace part of the wedding stationery package. I like the idea of a save-the-date announcement that is also a keepsake that goes above and beyond the usual postcard or magnet. Plus, a save-the-date handkerchief can be used at the wedding itself by those guests who know that their eyes are going to spring a little leak during the vows.

What say you? Awesome or a little too frou-frou?

Brides and grooms who choose to incorporate flowers into their reception menus more often than not turn to that old standard, the wedding cake decorated with blooms that match the bridal bouquet or reception table centerpieces. And as common as it is to see cakes with edible flowers like roses, violets, pansies, or lilacs, go to enough weddings and you’ll eventually see non-edible flowers on the cake as well. These are removed before the cake is served… in fact, most floral embellishments on wedding cake are removed before serving since not that many flowers taste really good on wedding cake unless sugared first.

I said “on cake” because there is no rule stating that flowers must be used on or in desserts. Cooking with flowers is coming back into vogue and has a long history. Flowery cookery can be traced back to ancient Rome, China, India, and the Middle East. Edible flowers were particularly popular in the Victorian era during Queen Victoria’s reign. And now edible flowers are starting to appear in dishes at wedding receptions.

I think it’s a fun (and potentially delicious) idea that can add a little pizazz and personality and color to a reception meal. If you go this route, make sure your caterer has some experience working with or cooking with flowers to avoid things like, oh, food poisoning or pesticide poisoning. That’s important, since even though there are plenty of edible flowers, not all of them are grown to be eaten. Stick to organically-grown blossoms or blooms grown specifically for human consumption.

Thinking about DIYing your wedding menu? Rosalind Creasy’s book Recipes from the Garden has plenty of recipes featuring fresh flowers, from stuffed zucchini blossoms to vibrantly colorful fresh salads.

Brides and grooms not putting together their own reception lunches or dinners can still approach their caterers with floral recipes they’ve found in cookbooks and online. SheKnows has recipes for things like rosemary flower biscuits and pansy herb salad. No matter who is doing the cooking, be sure they know that flowers should be used sparingly in recipes since most blossoms function like herbs. They can have strong flavors (think spicy or minty) and can also be difficult to digest in large quantities.

Doesn’t that look lovely… and yummy, too?

A lot of the pre-wedding jitters experienced by brides and grooms revolve around the wedding vows. And is it any wonder? For those ladies and lads not particularly used to public speaking or performing or giving presentations to groups, getting up in front of a mass of people to speak can be a harrowing experience. Personally, I liked it, but I am somewhat of a ham and absolutely love commanding the attention of a group. At the same time, I’m a bit of a perfectionist so I can totally understand the anxiety of wanting to say one’s wedding vows perfectly.

Unfortunately, I didn’t say them perfectly. I was doing all right until I got to a word on my wedding vow crib sheet that I couldn’t read. My usually neat handwriting had devolved into something terrible when I was jotting my notes down the night before. Oops. I stopped mid-sentence. Squinted at my paper. I could sense guests shifting in their seats. But if there was one rule from the theatre that I’ve internalized it would be Roll with your mistakes. So instead of just stammering and moving on, I finished my sentence by saying “…and I can’t read whatever this is supposed to say.” Then I cracked up, giving everyone else permission to laugh at me or with me. Whichever they preferred.

So what happens when you flub your wedding vows? Absolutely nothing if you don’t make a big deal about it. A little slip of the tongue can even make for a more enjoyable wedding ceremony if you let it. For example, here’s a couple whose vows didn’t go exactly as planned, but they had fun with it:

What can brides and grooms learn from my experience and the experience of Mr. Waffle Wedded Wife? How about that it’s okay to experience some wedding vow related anxiety, but that there’s no reason to get overly stressed out about it. Stress, I think, will more often than not contribute to slips of the tongue. In other words, worry too much about saying waffle instead of lawful, and you up your chances of doing just that. Even if you’re planning on a really solemn wedding ceremony, give yourself the freedom to laugh at yourself or your spouse-to-be or the officiant or the bridesmaid who drops her bouquet or the groomsman who trips down the aisle. I guarantee you’ll be glad you did!

We here at Manolo for the Brides know of at least one couple getting married on this fine Labor Day, and we hope that they and you have a ton of fun today. For those reading this outside the U.S. (and those in the U.S. whose jobs necessitate working today), have some fun even if you are actually laboring.

Just not feeling it? Take your inspiration from Scott and Jessica (as photographed by the always fabulous qousqous) who obviously know how to have a good time.

For me, one of the most enjoyable aspects of wedding planning was deciding on food. I love to eat, I love to cook, I love to feed people. Mr. Twistie and I were bound and determined that nobody but nobody was going home hungry from our reception.

On the other hand, when one of my cousins got married, my aunt was convinced one single, solitary salmon was going to feed all two hundred people coming to the wedding. If my grandmother and great aunt hadn’t stepped in bringing a brigade of church ladies with them, goodness alone knows how many would have starved that fateful day.

I feel very sure nobody here wants to host a reception that peters out due to famished guests making a run for the nearest fast food option. I feel equally sure nobody here wants to offer up something that half their guest list can’t eat. And of course due consideration must be paid to budget concerns, family or ethnic traditions, your own food morals, and availability of ingredients.

Sound complex? Don’t panic. This is mostly a matter of common sense intersecting with taste and a touch of consideration for your guests. You do this every time you invite someone over for dinner. This is just putting the same principles to work on a larger scale.

Read the rest of this entry »

I love our readers. I do. Deeply and profoundly. Last sunday I presented you all with this deathless image:

and you came back swinging with five different captions for it.

In the end, though, there can be but one winner. This week, that winner is the superfantastic gemdiva for this equally deathless take on the subject matter:

In defiance of convention, Doctor Detroit and Sugar Puss O’Shea became the first couple ever to tie the knot at the Player’s Ball.

Congratulations, gemdiva! And thanks to everyone who played.

As I’ve said before, there aren’t that many things that truly can ruin a wedding. A death in the family or an ill loved one. Circumstances that prevent someone important to the bride and groom from attending. Natural disasters. Being left at the altar. Now designer Britta Kjerkegaard has proven that there is indeed another way a wedding can be ruined… well, another way a wedding dress can be ruined, and for some that can gum up the whole works.

Brides-to-be beware of the perils of fertilizer! The September issue of Brides Magazine features an image of bride who apparently spilled Miracle-Gro on her Kjerkegaard gown.

But don’t think you’re immune to the dangers of fertilizer over-usage just because a wedding gown doesn’t feature any botanicals, for this Kjerkegaard frock from the August issue of You & Your Wedding demonstrates that all embellishments can fall prey to the powers of Miracle-Gro if the bride isn’t careful.

Quick, kill it with fire before the bow expands to epic proportions!

We’ve all heard of the “little black dress,” but how about the little white dress? The little white dress might be a bride’s main wedding dress or it could be the dress she changes into before arriving at the wedding reception. Obviously the little white dress is best suited to weddings that are perhaps a tad less formal or at the very least a tad less somber. It is not, in other words, for the grand church wedding with the full Mass.

Amsale seems to have pioneered the little white dress concept, or at least to have taken the idea to the next level by creating an entire collection of them in one place. Too bad all of the little white dresses are so much like other wedding dresses in that they have no sleeves, there are a lot of strapless necklines, and the bride would have to be quite slim to pull most of them off. Alas.

But even with all these strikes against them, I LOVE these little white dresses! They’re quite fun and fresh and a little cheeky in that they take the bride into the realm of the unexpected. That’s what I say — what say you?

(image via)

From the reader mailbag category comes this very simple question from a certain Jackie:

I found this wedding dress on your website through a Google search. Is there any way you could give me some more information on where I could purchase it or who it is by?

For whatever reason, I did not go immediately back to the original post containing the image, which clearly stated that the bias-cut silk wedding dress was created by Natalia Misslin Designs. I even linked the image to the designer’s web site! However, since I assumed I couldn’t have put the deets in the post itself if people were asking to know more about the dress, I embarked upon a fruitless GIS journey searching for bias-cut silk wedding dresses. Oops!

However, before referencing the original post, I did get to experience the joy of rediscovering Natalia Misslin, who creates beautiful, airy wedding gowns and accessories like these:

And hey, finding pretty things is what this job is all about!