Heyyyyy APW,
It’s the first day of summer! It’s been a good and chill week over here! It’s APW Pride next week, which is my favorite week of the year. We just talked about cocktails, so we all should be in the perfect mood for happy hour. YAYYYY! Let’s do this thing. It’s your Friday open thread, hop on it!
xo
Meg
Highlights of APW This Week
Have you written your ceremony yet? No? Time to get on that. Here is some help.
My thoughts on unplugging and work-life balance.
The wedding I wish I’d had. (I lovelovelove our wedding, but this was our first-choice venue that we couldn’t quite swing. Sigh.)
We somehow eluded the Angry Bakers with this grocery store wedding cake hack. I almost feel disappointed.
Resigning Wife. The beginning of our anonymous series from a regular contributor on the process of divorce.
The APW staff hasn’t debated advice this much in forever. We found out in the comments that we weren’t wrong. Pheeeewwwww. (Much love to the question asker from the whole APW team! Group hug!)
Easy summer cocktails for your wedding. In other news, I’m probably having a 4th of July BBQ just so I can make the watermelon one. Damn.
And the big one: We really, really, really want APW to make an impact on National Donate Your Hair Day. This is big deal stuff for the staff. Let’s make it happen.
Link Roundup
If you weren’t sold on the idea of an unplugged wedding, reader Rachel offers visual proof that guests taking photos during your wedding is distracting, and ruins key shots for your photographer. I did a slow scroll of horror through this post. Who knew flash from guest cameras was so bad? Or how about the wedding where she could not get a shot of the couple getting married because guests were blocking the whole aisle, and she wasn’t allowed to get closer?
While we’re on the topic of unplugging, consider writing with a pencil instead of a keyboard once in a while. Personally, if I’m trying to process something emotionally. Forget it, it has to be pen and paper. It’s interesting that studies back that up.
This article about giving up Twitter is one of the best things I’ve read in awhile.
Speaking of best things, this Pinterest board featuring an imaginary well-dressed toddler named (wait for it…) Quinoa, is amazing satire. Because of course I’d buy a girl child of mine a fair amount of that stuff. (Headesk.)
An economist speaks to the “declining demand for husbands” in The New York Times.
The largest Christian Ministry to offer a “cure” for homosexuality is shutting down and as someone who remembers this movement’s influence in the 90’s, this seems like a huge step forward. But more than that, having grown up in the gay rights movement in the church, I find the founder’s apology deeply moving, even though it’s certainly imperfect.
The men of the world ask Cosmo to kindly please stop giving their girlfriends sex advice.
If you’re looking for a fun DIY project to take on, we’re into this sequined elbow patch sweater. Start it now, finish it by the time temperatures drop in the fall (in true lazy fashion, it’s best to allow yourself time).
This week, in “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” news, a couple of brides behaved very, very badly in response to a totally thoughtful wedding gift they received.
This one is from APW Intern of Awesomeness Lucy, since I can’t even begin to claim geek status: Even if you’ve never read A Song of Ice and Fire, this discussion on “strong female characters” is worth reading for its take on the way “girlie” behavior is so often seen as bad.
And, let’s end it strong. If you really want to dismantle the patriarchy, this feminist makeup tutorial will show you how. That’s my kind of feminism, ladies. With eyeliner.
