This week, I feel compelled to write a little list of things I’m loving and hating around the wide world of weddings. Disagreement is fine, as always. Rock your opinions in the comments (kindly):
The bad:
- The new trend of mandating your guests attire. Sure, you can tell people it’s semi-formal, it’s casual, it’s a garden wedding, and let them run with it. They’ll be grateful for the guidance. But by the time you are telling people that the dress code is “seersucker suits for men and brightly colored cocktail dresses for women,” as the New York Times reports this week, you can stick a fork in it, because you’re done. Your wedding is not a fashion shoot, and you are not a dictator.
- Gay Weddings By The Knot. I suppose you can say that you know we are making progress when same-sex couples are being subjected to the ridiculous dictums of the wedding industry, and goodness knows gay couples need more resources. But here is the thing: this is separate but equal, and we learned in the last civil rights movement that separate is not equal. The Knot is not linking to its new gay weddings site from it’s main page. It’s not featuring gay weddings on its main site. It clearly doesn’t want to offend its “more traditional” brides. I’m sick and tired of how the wedding world consistently sweeps LGBT weddings under the rug, and I’m not going to be quiet about it.
Now, on to the happy. I’m loving:
- Peonies and Polaroids unexpected splurge on wedding shoes after creating the world’s most beautiful, most budget, most heartwarming wedding. In particular, I love her Aunt’s comment “No pockets in a shroud, as Granny says.” It takes a little of the pressure off, and makes me smile and breathe more deeply.
- This idea for a “Being the Change You Wish To See In The World” party. How great would that be for a shower, or a bachelorette party? Nothing makes you feel better then doing something kind, and a scavenger hunt where you deliver flowers to a nursing home, give canned goods to a soup kitchen, and give a candy bar to a security guard on duty? That’s my kind of party (especially if you end the night with cocktails).
- These kind words from the new blog The Sweetest Occasion made my day.
- The New York Times scores one with a quirky simple wedding in the vows section. The best part: “In November 2006, 11 months after they met, he gave her a ring box — with the yellow stone inside. “I told her, ‘You are my yellow stone,’ ” he remembered. Then, magician-like, he opened his other hand, which held an engagement ring. She accepted, though she does not think of him as her yellow stone. Instead, she said “He is a piece of sun-warmed granite I can lean my back against.”
Other then that, all I can say is that with all the economic turmoil going on right now, it’s nice to re-focus on the point of getting married – sharing your life with someone you love. We may not all be able to have wildly expensive weddings right now, but you are just as married if you go to city hall and have a picnic in the park to celebrate.
Photo via the New York Times
