Archive for July, 2012

« Older Entries

If At First You Don’t Succeed…

Tuesday, July 31st, 2012


This is Lena Henderson and Roland Davis. They’re getting married on saturday in Buffalo, New York.

What’s so unusual about that? Well, there is the fact that the couple married as teenagers, had four children together, and divorced in 1964.

The article I read didn’t include any information on why they broke up in the first place, but that’s something of a moot point now, isn’t it?

What’s important is that since the divorce, Henderson and Davis have remained in touch and on good terms. In fact, when Davis’ second wife had issues with him, she turned to Henderson for advice as often as not.

A few months ago, Davis found himself widowed and alone in Colorado Springs. When his oldest daughter, Johnnie Mae Funderbirk, encouraged him to come visit the family back in Buffalo, he did. And he fell back in love with his first wife. She happily accepted the marriage proposal he made over the phone.

So at the age of eighty-five, they’ll tie the knot for a second time.

Here’s hoping that in this case, twice is a charm!

Posted in Unusual Weddings | 3 Comments »

LOVE/HATE: Something Fishy

Monday, July 30th, 2012

A couple weeks ago on Bridezillas, there was a bride who insisted on a fantasy wedding cake (which was going to be paid with by someone else’s food stamps until the baker informed them that would be illegal!) featuring the concepts of castles and under the sea. So it was for aquatic royalty, apparently. Alas, I can’t seem to find a picture of the specific cake online, but one thing the baker added – seemingly of her own volition – was real, live fish.

Fear not, though! For I have found other illustrations of what this looks like:

Okay, I admit this melting blue icing and guppy creation isn’t the best illustration I found. Let’s be fair. Here’s another that is far better made, and actually includes some apparatus dedicated to keeping those poor fishies alive through the reception, unlike the one on Bridezillas which wound up with a sadly ironic illustration of the relationship well before the cake was cut:

Even with the better organization and decoration of the second cake, I’m going to have to go with Hate on this one. I frankly disapprove of using living creatures as pure decoration. Also, there is far too high a likelihood of the poor creatures suffocating because even though they breathe under water, fishes still need oxygen to live.

What about you? Do you find it exploitive and icky? Harmless fun? Painfully unappetizing? Tell me what you think!

Posted in Cakes, Decor, LOVE/HATE | 4 Comments »

Worst. Reason. Ever.

Sunday, July 29th, 2012

There are a lot of reasons why a couple might have to change wedding venues at the last minute.

You may wake up on the day you planned to marry out of doors to weather like this.
(more…)

Posted in Wedding Venues | 2 Comments »

Quickie Question: Do You Consider It Cheating?

Friday, July 27th, 2012


As many of you know, I’m a fan of the bridal reality show Four Weddings. And now TLC has added Four Weddings Canada to the mix, too.

Again, I like it. It’s real couples having real weddings, without a lot of the staged nightmares of Bridezillas and similar shows, let alone their histrionics.

But I did have a bit of a thought about the episode aired last night. See the lady second from the right? That’s Jessica. She won the episode. I’m down with that, because I did feel she had the nicest wedding of the lot.

Still, I have this one niggling concern. You see, Jessica is a professional wedding planner. Not only was she allowed to participate in the show, her fellow contestants were not informed of this fact. She only revealed the truth as the winner’s limo was pulling up with her husband in it.

The thing is, I can’t think of another episode of either version of the show that has featured anyone who used a wedding planner, let alone was one. And I know that simply being in a profession isn’t proof positive that someone is good at it. After all, there was at least one professional wedding planner featured on Bridezillas who not only needed subtitles because she mumbled so horribly nobody could understand her, but seemed to have no clue at all how a wedding is organized.

All the same, it could be perceived as an unfair advantage. I kind of perceived it that way, and I know how little it takes to set up shop as a wedding planner.

What do you think? Should Jessica have been allowed to play the game? Should she have had to reveal her professional status before her wedding was rated? Am I being over sensitive about something that’s all in good fun?

Tell me what you think!

Posted in Media, Quickie Question, Television, Vendors | 1 Comment »

What’s It Worth? That’s Up To You

Thursday, July 26th, 2012


The HuffPo wedding page recently began a campaign entitled Take Back Your Wedding. It’s about how you don’t have to bow to the pressure to have a traditional wedding blowout your family and friends want.

Today they are running an infographic on what else you could spend that much money on.

Taking the average cost of a wedding in eleven major cities across the country, they tell you what else that money could buy. For instance, the $65,824 for a traditional wedding in New York City could get you two year’s rent on a one-bedroom apartment in the East Village. In Dallas the $28,717 could get you 164 pairs of cowboy boots, just in case it’s your ambition in life to be the Texan Imelda Marcos.

Now you all know that I’m foursquare in favor of bridal budget sanity. I believe strongly in not spending more money on a wedding than you have to spend. I’m big on making the day personal to you rather than a set of traditions followed for the purpose of not upsetting people who aren’t the ones getting married, and in favor of dumping the trappings that don’t matter much to you personally. So if you would truly rather buy 32,715 beignets from Cafe du Monde than hold a traditional wedding, I will be the first person to have your back… and help you dispose of your beignet surplus.

But really? If you’ve got the money and want to spend it on a wedding, I will also be the first person in your corner. Your money, your priorities. Your choice.

It is my firm belief that a wedding will cost precisely what you are willing to spend on it. Whether you have a potluck backyard gathering for ten or a million dollar extravaganza in an exotic location where you fly in four hundred of your nearest and dearest, if you can pay for it and it makes you happy, then that’s what you should do.

The value of your wedding isn’t something that can be measured entirely in cold dollars and cents or comparison of how many hands of blackjack the same money would buy.

Base your budget decisions on your value system. And don’t let anyone else tell you what that is.

Posted in Advice, Bride Blogging, Budgets | Comments Closed

If Mohammed Won’t Come to the Mountain….

Wednesday, July 25th, 2012

… then the mountain must come to Mohammed, right?

And if you’re in Las Vegas and don’t feel like going to the wedding chapel, well, now there’s a wedding chapel on wheels that will come to you.

The Las Vegas Wedding Wagon will meet you anywhere in Sin City to get you hitched for $99.00. Just call or text and tell them where you want to get married. All you need to provide is your own marriage license, and they’ll even help you with getting that on their handy website. Oh, and they do point out the license is unnecessary if you’re having a vow reaffirmation or a commitment ceremony. You only need it if this is a legal wedding ceremony.

Included in the price is a fifteen minute ceremony, the licensed minister, the witness, and up to five candid photographs. But for a little extra, you can buy matching tee shirts, too. There are no hidden fees, they announce on their website, but gratuities are cheerfully accepted if you feel like giving them one.

All in all, I’ve heard a lot worse ideas… like the Vegas firearms shop that features actual shotgun weddings.

Posted in Alternative Ideas, Ceremonies, Fun stuff, Officients, Unusual Weddings, Wedding Sites | Comments Closed

The Thing About Bridal Sizing

Tuesday, July 24th, 2012


There’s one aspect of shopping for a wedding gown and bridesmaid’s dresses that horrifies an awful lot of women: the size tags in the dresses.

So let’s talk about that.

I’m guessing every woman reading this blog has at some time or another taken a piece of clothing in her usual size into a dressing room only to discover that it doesn’t fit correctly. Depending on the general cut and the vagaries of non-standardized size charts, you may find yourself unable to pull those pants over your thighs, let alone any higher! Or you may slip on that dress only to discover you could slip two of you into it.

Well, for some reason unexplained to the world, the sizing in bridal runs smaller than average… a lot smaller. As in two to three sizes smaller than the same size in an average line of clothing.
(more…)

Posted in Advice, Beauty, Dresses | 4 Comments »

« Older Entries