Real Weddings | Manolo for the Brides

Archive for the ‘Real Weddings’ Category

Two Brides, One Dream of Social Justice

Tuesday, August 14th, 2012

Fish Huang (on the right) and You Ya-ting, both thirty, made history saturday in Taiwan. They were the first same sex couple to marry in a Buddhist ceremony in their country.

The wedding remains a symbolic statement rather than a legal one, since Taiwan law does not officially recognize same sex couples. A bill legalizing same sex marriage and the rights of gays and lesbians to adopt children has been making the rounds since 2003, but has yet to be either adopted or formally rejected. President Ma Ying-jeou cites the need for more public consensus before going ahead with the bill.

Still, Fish and You wanted to formalize their union and share the moment with friends and family. Female Buddhist master Shih Chao-hui presided over the ceremony in which both brides wore western-style white gowns and veils and exchanged prayer beads.

Said Fish Huang:

â€œWe hope with the masterâ€™s support, the wedding will change many peopleâ€™s perspective even though it is not legally binding. We hope the government can legalise same-sex marriage soon.â€

Some three hundred well-wishers attended the ceremony. Sadly, the parents of the brides were not among them.

I hope you will all join with me in wishing the happy couple every joy. I further hope that one day same-sex weddings in Taiwan will be legal, as well as symbolic.

Posted in Law, Real Weddings, Same-Sex Weddings | Comments Closed

LOVE/HATE: Natalie’s Understated Gown

Wednesday, August 8th, 2012

The first blurry pics are available from Natalie Portman’s August 4 wedding to dancer/choreographer/baby daddy Benjamin Millepied in a moonlight ceremony in Big Sur. As you can see, the bride looks as happy as every bride should feel inside. As you can also see, Natalie went for a simple look for her outdoor wedding.

Opinion is divided on the dress, And I am nothing if not opinionated.

My take? I LOVE this dress. It’s the right sort of length and level of formality for an out of doors wedding. No train to get full of twigs, no flashy rhinestones to look just a bit out of place amidst Mother Nature’s bounty. Just a wreath of flowers and a short veil on her head, flat shoes on her feet, and nothing to distract from her brilliant smile. And yet there are some nice design details that probably looked even better close up (or at least with a better focused camera), such as the layering of the skirt and the contrast fabric used for the sheer sleeves.

But that’s my opinion. What’s yours?

Posted in Brides, Celebrity Brides, Celebrity Weddings, Dresses, LOVE/HATE, Real Weddings, Wedding Dresses, Weddings | 4 Comments »

Thirty Years and a Kayak Later….

Monday, July 23rd, 2012

Once upon a time, a young couple named Debbie Pray and Larry Crooker dated for a while. They were head over heels in love, but not quite ready to settle down. After all, Debbie was only nineteen! After a passionate time together, they decided to split up and went their separate ways.

Both married other people, had kids, and eventually got divorced from those other people. Along the way, though, they remembered each other and wondered what might have been.

When Larry heard that Debbie was divorced, too, he decided to look her up and see if sparks would still fly. They did. Last October, they moved in together. On the third of July, they made it official tying the knot in a ceremony in kayaks on the Mystic River.

Why kayaks? Well, aside from the obvious question of why not kayaks?, there’s the fact that the couple kayak together nearly every night when the weather cooperates. And then they decided it would just be fun.

Some twenty guests joined in a flotilla of kayaks that evening, with the bridal kayaks decked out with red white and blue lights and bunting, to witness the heartfelt ceremony.

All I can say is that looks like it was one fun wedding.

Best of luck to the happy couple! May they spend the next thirty years (at least!) making up for time lost.

Posted in Real Weddings, Unusual Weddings, Weddings | Comments Closed

Wool You Marry Me?

Thursday, July 19th, 2012

If you’ve been reading this blog for more than two minutes, you know I’m a huge fan of DIY for weddings. Choose your projects carefully, give yourself plenty of time, and it’s possible to save big as well as add uniquely personal dash to your big event.

The lady shown above is an excellent example of How It’s Done Properly.

When Ash Pears asked lady love Lydia Taylor to marry him, she did try on some commercially made wedding gowns… but only for inspiration. She designed and made her own gown. In point of fact, she knitted it.

Watching as much bridal reality as I do, I know well that moment when the bride walks into a bridal salon and announces she has only two grand to plonk down on her wedding gown and accessories. They do their best not to react, but you can always see a flash of worry and an involuntary breath taken in on the part of the consultant. Bridal runs to big bucks.

But Taylor’s elegant knitted frock set her back less than two hundred pounds and needed no alterations, since it was made to measure.

Between knitting her gown, finding reception plates at garage sales and thrift shops, making her bouquet out of fabric flowers and a vintage brooch or two, creating her own favors by hand (pear shaped pin cushions) and doing her own decorations, Taylor and Pears kept their overall wedding budget down to around five thousand pounds… allowing them enough left over to have an eighteen night honeymoon in Bali and Singapore as well as a down payment on a house to raise a family in.

Would they change anything if they had had more money? Says Taylor:

‘If we had won the National Lottery the only change we would have made is a free bar for our friends.’

Fair enough. I have to say, I love that gown.

Posted in Alternative Ideas, Brides, DIY, Dresses, Real Weddings, Wedding Dresses | 2 Comments »

Three’s a Charm

Thursday, June 14th, 2012

This is Sarah Clark and her new husband, Jonathan Humphreys at their wedding last saturday.

This is Clark’s parents on their wedding day in 1984:
(more…)

Posted in Dresses, Fun stuff, Real Weddings, Wedding Dresses, Weddings | 2 Comments »

Please Don’t Lob the Lobster Thermidor

Tuesday, June 12th, 2012

For those of you who don’t know (as I didn’t until the following wedding incident), this is Danny Guthrie, former star of the Newcastle United Football team.

This is Allerton Castle, where Guthrie was married on June 1st:

And this is an artist’s rendition of Guthrie’s wedding reception:

… except that the original is said to have featured a lot less pajamas and a lot more lobster thermidor than grapefruit.

According to the story in the Daily Telegraph yesterday, a brawl broke out at the wedding reception resulting in not one, not two, but three separate calls to the authorities to break up the ruckus.

An anonymous source said:

“They were chucking the lobster thermadore about. How can you comprehend such behaviour?”

I must admit it’s certainly beyond me. Wasting good seafood like that!

Despite reports that the bride wound up in the hospital, the police accounts of arriving on the premises three times to handle disturbances, and statements from the staff of the castle that the behavior of the wedding guests was ‘disgraceful and upsetting,’ not to mention the door that was physically broken in, the new Mrs. Guthrie is denying all rumors.

I can certainly understand a bride wanting to forget that much mayhem at her own wedding.

Still, once the dust has settled, I do hope that the Guthries have now seen the end of all violence in their marriage. Best of British luck to them… and since a great deal of the problem seems to have started with their respective families, I suggest not inviting them all to Christmas dinner this year.

Posted in Celebrity Weddings, Real Weddings | Comments Closed

Love Through Rose Colored Goggles

Sunday, June 3rd, 2012

Once upon a time, there were two boys.

Well, maybe not those boys and not quite that long ago.

Still, two boys who met and became good friends. For years they were quite close.

Alas! Over the years they eventually drifted apart. It wasn’t any one thing or on purpose, but it happened nonetheless. Still, they never forgot one another.

Well, a few weeks ago, Mr. Twistie and his childhood friend found one another again on Facebook… and it turned out John was about to get married.

And so it was that yesterday Mr. Twistie and I repaired to the Benicia Clock Tower to attend our first ever steampunk wedding.

(more…)

Posted in After the wedding, Catering, Ceremonies, Decor, Real Weddings, Weddings | Comments Closed

Manolo for the Brides