Your Love is Lifting Me Higher

Their love is lifting me way higher than I have ever wanted to be lifted before

Cake Pulls

Just like today, brides of days long ago past were considered to be exceptionally lucky.

Unlike today, that bride was lucky if she made it to her getaway vehicle with any of her dress - or dignity - intact.

See, the wedding guests often hoped that some of that bridal luckiness might rub off on them. In the form of a piece of her dress. How'd they get it? There was some chasing, and them some shredding and ripping, and then much rejoicing. On the guests' part, of course.

You can see why getwaway cars and garter tosses are traditions that endure until today.

A tradition that has fallen by the wayside but is starting to come back into vogue is the cake pull. A Victorian method of appeasing guests keen on doing some ripping and shredding for luck, cake pulling involved tying ribbons around silver charms that were placed inside the cake. When the ribbon was pulled, the guest was rewarded with something shiny to distract them. The fact the shape of the charm symbolized their destiny added to the fun...and gave the bride a head start out the reception door.

Charms and their meanings:


Heart: Everlasting love
Ring: an engagement is imminent
clover: good luck
frame: happy family
button: old maid
rocking chair: long life
wreath: contented life
carriage: babies on the way

I'm thinking if the bride was hoping to avoid full frontal assaults on her special day, she might not want to include that button charm...

Inspiration

Today's anniversary announcement comes from my local paper, and I couldn't resist. Not only are they an absolutely inspiring couple in their love and dedication to one another, they are about the cutest couple I've ever seen.

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Joyner on seventy-five years!

(Photo by Mike Maple)

Martha Stewart Blogs

My wedding took place on a gorgeous fall afternoon in October. The only problem with a gorgeous October wedding? It's only a few weeks if not days after the fall issue of Martha Stewart weddings is published. Even worse, I had gone with a mint green/chocolate brown color combo and had been tipped off that the fall issue was devoting pages upon pages to my dream color scheme. Nevermind that the wedding was two weeks away. The issue finally came out, and sure nuff, my wedding planner was ready to send me and Ms. Stewart on a slow boat to China.

To the relief of wedding planners and brides everywhere, no longer do you have to wait months for your latest MS wedding fix. Editor Darcy Miller has finally joined the blogosphere (what took you so long??) and will dispense little wedding bon mots until the world's loveliest bridal porn thuds on your doorstep.

I'm highly anticipating a post on how to have the wedding of your dreams, again and again and again, on a miniscule budget...

Brides Decide

There are many combinations that the world viewed with suspicion before taking a bite.

Peanut Butter and chocolate. Michael Jackson and monster makeup. Raw fish and wasabi. Hall and Oates.

And then there are those combos that should have stayed buried on the To Do list :

New and Coke. Britney and Kfed. Clamato. Michael Jackson and any other kind of makeup.

Today's curious combo? Marriage and politics. More specifically, weddings and politics.

The Knot and The Wedding Channel have joined forces to create Brides Decide, a website aimed at the newly engaged that hopes to pry their googly eyes off images of cake toppers and honeymoon destinations and onto, well, slightly more important issues. Like who will be taking over the running the country in 2008. The website features the usual bios and platforms on all the candidates, and with a bridal twist, there's also a section that features pics and reminisces of the candidates' own wedding day.

So what's your vote? Is Brides Decide a spot you'll be returning to in order to get your political fix? Tell me what you think!





(photo courtesy of Brides Decide)

Bride on Fire

And speaking of brides on fire, I have to pass along this very mysterious blurb from Arab News...


ABHA, 7 August 2007 — A candle ruined the big day for a bride and groom here. In the middle of the wedding procession, the lights went out. Determined to continue the ceremony, the family of the bride lit candles and placed them all over the wedding hall.

The bride went into her room and started changing into her wedding dress when it caught on fire. Together with her sisters, she tried to douse the flame but the damage had been done and the wedding dress was ruined. The bride had a nervous breakdown and was taken to a hospital.

The families of the bride and groom decided that it would be a while until the bride would be well enough to take part in her wedding, so instead of postponing it, they went ahead with the procession, brideless.



Errmkay..so, is she married? Did the groom cut the cake and toast...himself? How was that first dance? Most curious...

Let's Get Trashed

You can see that I'm a bit stuck on a particular topic these days. As I'm a very enthusiastic shutterbug with a whole world of learning left to go, I can't get enough of photography websites, especially the kind that encourage innovative spins on the genre of wedding photography. I don't know if I would go so far as to light my wedding dress on fire for the sake of a good photo, but I am all for seeing photographers shake things up. The recent Trash the Dress craze has not surprisingly spawned some offspring, namely Trash the Prom Dress which, happily, is getting the boys into the mix as well.


I think what surprises me is the dearth of Trash the Bridemaids' Dresses sites. Of the all the maligned traditions involved in getting hitched and dragging your friends into it, the bridemaids' dress is the apex of bad taste and a deliciously terrible photo op waiting to happen. Did any of you trash your bridesmaid's dress and have the pics to prove it? If so, please pass em along!

(Images by Nicole Hensley and Denise Heysfield)

Tag I'm it!

My fellow Cancerian Mackenzie of Kenzie Kate Invitations "tagged" me, so I now have official permission to hold forth on truly one of my most favorite subjects :)

Eight Little Known/Random Things About Me:

1) I discovered a bat giving birth at the zoo. It made the local news as the bat cave was supposed to be boys only.

2) I seriously believed I was a werewolf when I was nine. Turned out all the fuss was growing pains – which led to the Rolaids addiction.

3) I am told I look like somebody else approximately once a week. If the person is under 40, I get Hilary Swank. If they are over 40, it’s Mia Farrow, the Frank years.

4) I ran the LA marathon in 2000 and saw my future husband for the first time at mile 20.

5) I had a Xanadu-themed roller skating party for my 29th birthday. It's neon lights still shine.

6) I like to hula hoop and do it fairly well.

7) I am extremely bitter that: I can’t sing; Thin Mints are only available for sale once a year; I failed to graduate cum laude by one thousandth of a point. I no longer live in Los Angeles. I think this one was kinda cheating.

8) I'm married to a real life MacGyver - except that he's cuter, more considerate and was bringing the sexy back when JT was just a Mouseketeer.


So they can entertain you (and me!) with 8 little know facts about themselves, I'm tagging some of my favorite bloggers: Elizabeth, Jules,Justine, Never Teh Bride, Elana, Riona, Secret Agent Mom

Funniest. Engagement Photo. Ever.

The groom swore he had the superpowers thing under control. Except when he got nervous. Or hiccupped. Or agreed to the engagement shoot at the beach.

Stunning

I'm probably the umpteenth person to post about this absolutely gorgeous wedding, but because I'm not scared to be a follower, here I go posting some of the most heartstopping, delirously pretty wedding images I've ever seen. They've even got those adorable caketoppers from Patch NYC.

Pardon my dust. I'm commencing work on that time machine back to October 15, 2005...

(Pictures via Mighty Goods and Oh Joy)