The Best of APW 2014

Dear APW,

As usual, the whole APW staff is taking a (well deserved) holiday break! There are some wise souls who publish during the two-week Christmas to New Years downtime, but then there are other wise souls (um, us) who have cocktails and naps on the brain. Naps we haven’t gotten in all year, because 2014 was a doozy for work (a good doozy, but a doozy). For you regular readers, this is where we leave you. We’ll meet again on Monday, January 5th, when we have the best line up of January and Febuary content that we’ve EVER had. But don’t worry, there is a open thread below, and if you want to revisit it on the next two Fridays to hang, well, you know the drill.

In the meantime…

If You’re Brand New Here…

May I suggest our pre-engagedengaged, and married pages. And our pages on City Hall WeddingsAt-Home Weddings, and Elopements will help you think outside of the wedding industry box. Plus, The APW book is just waiting for you to write in margins and hand off to your mama. In January, we’ll be back to delight with you over your engagements.

Best Of 2014

For those you wanting a walk down the memory lane of 2014, those of you looking for good stuff to read and reread over the holidays, and for those of you who just got engaged (Squeeee! Congrats!) and want to get started, here is the best of APW in the last year. We think so at least. Feel free to leave your favorites in the comments.

Till January 5th, cheers! Wishing you naps, long quiet walks, cozy time with the ones you love, and some mulled wine and cookies. We can’t wait for the New Year. Till then, our love.

xo,
Meg & The APW Team

Best of 2014 Rev

Wedding Planning

Happy Engagement! (It’s Okay To Freak Out): To send to all your newly engaged friends.

Engagement Ring (Again): When you have to replace your engagement ring five years later, it turns out you’ve figured out what you wished you’d known the first time around.

What To Do When You’ve Got Wedding Sticker Shock: For when you realize you can’t afford that Pinterest wedding.

You Could Buy A Car With That Wedding: Don’t let anyone shame you, your wedding, or your wedding budget. Turns out, cars are not as emotionally fulfilling as advertised.

What My Second Wedding Taught Me: The things you do differently, when you get a second chance.

Elisabeth: Body Politics: Love your body on your wedding day.

Fuck You And The WIC Too: For when you care about the flowers, damnit!

Planning A Wedding When A Loved One Is Dying: You’re not alone, when it comes to making tough decisions.

Why I’m Having A Wedding: “It’s been a rough year for our family. Well, a rough several generations, but things have been especially hard for my mom for the last couple of years.”

Best of 2014 Logistics

HOW-TOS, Logistics, & Details

SPF & Weddings Makeup: Myth or Reality?: We bust the myths of SPF in wedding makeup, so you don’t have to.

10 Tips For Plus Size Wedding Dress Shopping: Practical advice for dress shopping, without the body shaming.

How To Prepare Big-Batch Cocktails For Your Wedding: No bartender can muddle a hundred drinks in an hour, so here are some shortcuts.

Putting Together A Couture Potluck Wedding Reception: How one couple did it, with everything from setup to cleanup.

How To Buy Alcohol For Your Wedding: The DIT guide to having enough booze on your wedding day.

How To Have A Parent-Friendly Wedding: Because the kids take care of their own entertainment.

How To DIY A Surreal Cloud Backdrop: Who says you have to get your head out of the clouds?

How To Make A No-Sew Wedding Backdrop: Make a bold statement with a big backdrop!

Best of 2014 Marriage

 

Marriage & More

APW Basics: The Self-Full Wife: The things we’ve learned on APW about being a wife, and so much more.

Five Tips For Couples Counseling: The who, when, why, and how of pursuing therapy together.

Personal Budgeting When You’re No Longer Broke: Real-life money management, from real-life people.

Losing The Key To Marriage: On fighting, and knowing that you’re fighting on the same team (even when you’re not).

Marrying Up: They tell you to marry rich. They don’t tell you that causes as many problems as it solves.

On Having Sex With Other People: An interview explains why, and how, one couple decided to pursue sex with other people.

Coming To The End Of Our Triumph: “I thought divorce only happened to people who were… not us.”

7 Tricks That Helped Our Interfaith Family Sort Out The Holidays: Ten years of lessons, applicable to any couple with two sets of December traditions. (Um, all couples?)

Best of 2014 Rev KIds

Kids/No Kids

Motherhood: Year One: It may not be the coolest to you, but it’s the coolest to me.

Waiting For The Stork: Lesbian conception, by way of FedEx.

Becoming A Mother By Marriage: Life as the third parent.

Do We Want Kids?: Decisions don’t make themselves.

Capitulation: Babies: Your partner wants kids, and you do it for them. Turns out, it’s great. Also: fostering.

proud of

Shit We’re Just Proud Of

Student Loan Debts And A Mortgaged Future: For richer, for poorer, and everything in between.

No Homo: Teenagers, gay weddings, and dog custody.

Letters To My Maid of Honor: “To my sister, who needed to leave, so I could become me.”

Letter From The Editor: Hungry (For It): “I could see that part of her performance came from a well of pure rage. It was a well I could identify, because it’s in me too.”

Proud Of Myself: When you can’t put “got gay married before it was cool” on your resume, sometimes you just have to learn from a three-year-old.

Nude Wedding Shoes: The task of finding nude shoes when you’re biracial.

Is That What I Really Look Like?: Reflections on joy and body image.

A Day In The Life: Twelve hours with APW’s Editor-In-Chief.

The Lena Dunham Special Report: We are those kinds of girls.

My First Call With A Psychic: Maddie test drives California Psychics.

Holidays When Your Family Isn’t Picture Perfect: Managing family conflict and drama during the holidays.

On Loss, Self, and Sequins: “Now, if we were married and something horrible happened to me, he’d be a young, gorgeous, and haunted widower, instead of a messed up guy who’s basically-what-amounted-to-a-live-in-girlfriend died. That was my generosity of thought in a very dark week.”

The Magic We Lost When My Father Died: “Our hero, the bell still rings for you.”

Goodnight Noises Everywhere: “Your task is to comfort the only survivor, who is four years old.”

Happy Holidays, y’all. We’ll miss you.

A Flashdance Christmas Music Playlist

Unless you live in one of those plastic bubbles that protects you from having to interact with the outside world, chances are you are presently being inundated with holiday music. (Yesterday, at the coffee shop I sometimes work out of, a man was playing the Charlie Brown Christmas Song on the store’s piano, all hunched over like Schroeder himself.) Since holiday music is all but unavoidable this time of year, we thought we’d offer up a smattering of alternative holiday jams to make your workday a little jazzier, with some help from our friend Michael at The Flashdance. Michael is the original cool kid LA wedding DJ, and his playlists are top notch (seriously, as soon as you’re done here, head over to his page for about a hundred more playlists to satisfy all of your party needs).

This playlist obviously leans Christmas-heavy, but since there are many more holidays this time of year, including those celebrated by our own staff, we’ll gladly accept any non-Christmas music suggestions in the comments. Meg says the first person to throw down some Hanukkah funk gets a gold star. (Because… there is so much… Hanukkah music?)

Happy almost holidays, you guys. We both know you don’t want to work at all today, so here is to hanging out with Loretta Lynn while you avoid doing anything.

A Flashdance Christmas Playlist from APracticalWedding on 8tracks Radio.

1. “There’s Trouble Brewin'” by Jack Scott
2. “Christmas in Jail” by The Youngsters
3. “Santa Claus Blues” by Champion Jack Dupree
4. “Country Christmas” by Loretta Lynn
5. “Truckin’ Trees For Christmas” by Red Simpson
6. “I’m Gonna Lasso Santa Claus” by Brenda Lee
7. “Back Door Santa” by Clarence Carter
8. “We Wanna See Santa Do the Mambo” by Big John Greer
9. “I’d Like to Have an Elephant for Christmas” by Hank Thompson
10. “Put the Loot in the Boot, Santa” by Mae West
11. “Old Toy Trains” by Roger Miller
12. “The Little Drummer Boy” by Ray Charles
13. “Happy Christmas (War Is Over)” by John Lennon
14. “Someday at Christmas” by Stevie Wonder
15. “Merry Christmas Baby” by Otis Redding
16. “Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto” by James Brown
17. “Fat Daddy” by Paul “Fat Daddy” Johnson
18. “Christmas Time Is Coming (A Street Carol)” by Stormy Weather
19. “Santa! Don’t Pass Me By” by Jimmy Donley
20. “Sleighbells, Reindeer, and Snow” by Rita Faye Wilson
21. “I Wish You a Merry Christmas” by Big Dee Irwin & Little Eva
22. “Blue Christmas” by Elvis Presley
23. “Santa Claus Is a Black Man” by Akim & Teddy Van