According to wisegeek.com, (and doesn’t that sound like a credible source?) the age that women are getting married is on the rise, and has been for the past 20 years. In the United States, the current year women are wedding is 25 years old.
This has some serious, serious implications.
Anyone who saw 27 Dresses last year chuckled along as Katherine Heigl did her montage of all the bridesmaid dresses she’s worn. One of my sisters and I both got married in the past year. There are five girls in my family, of which the youngest is 23. That means we were all in each others’ weddings, along with other girlfriends’ weddings! One of my sisters was a bridesmaid for 4 weddings this year. Four dresses. Four pairs of shoes. Four sets of accessories. Four manicures, pedicures, makeup sessions, hair styling appointments… and that is all without adding the shower gifts, bachelorette party gifts, and wedding gifts!
IT GETS EXPENSIVE!
Which is why I’m really excited to introduce a fabulous website for brides and bridesmaids. If you are a considerate bride, PLEASE pass this along to your dear bridesmaids: www.bargainbridesmaids.com. I met the gorgeous owner of the website at a networking meeting at Butler’s Courtyard in League City. She herself had worked in the wedding industry, along with being in several weddings, and came up with the brilliant idea of connecting buyers and sellers of gently used bridesmaid dresses!
Here’s how it works: A bridesmaid, take my sister Mags for example, posts 4 dresses up on the site for resale. Four different bridesmaids find the dress that they need for an upcoming wedding that they are in for a fraction of the cost. The dress has been worn once, and there’s a great chance shoes, handbags, wraps, and jewelry that coordinate could be sold as well.
Let’s face it ladies: we have more time to marry. A career can come first. Why settle for the college sweetheart when there could be a potential grad-school sweetheart? My point is that while there’s more time to be in other peoples’ weddings before our own, why not be a fabulous recessionista about it? So post the gowns you paid good money for, especially if you can’t “shorten it and wear it again!”

While I realize this exciting news doesn’t seem pertinent to weddings, it is.  Just watch.  When my childhood friend Becca got married last July at Heather’s Glen, she was wearing the same pearl ring!  I commented how perfect it was with her gown, and she said it was her ”something borrowed.”  Wait a minute…did she “borrow” it from me…?  Just kidding, Becca

So, spill it brides and fiances: what was/will be your ”something  borrowed?” 

*Yoga Update:  No, Jeannie and I missed our first day but will hopefully try again on Monday.  The wedding industry has kept us on our toes, but not on our downward dogs.*

**Birthday Update:  My birthday is coming up on March 23rd and luckily I will not be receiving my 3rd sister ring.**

Jeannie: I’m thinking about trying Bikram yoga.
Anne: The yoga they do in a heated room and you sweat a lot?
Jeannie: Right.
Anne: That’s funny! Can you imagine?
Jeannie: I’m serious. Let’s go on Thursday morning.
Anne: Do we have to wear shorts?
Jeannie: No.
Anne: Okay.

Warning: The recorded material above has probably been edited and exaggerated for your entertainment purposes.

Well, it went something like that. Evidently, Bikram yoga is one of the (I have to say it) hottest new workouts among brides. Strictly for research purposes only, Jeannie and I will indeed try a 90-minute Bikram yoga session on Thursday morning. Please stay tuned for a follow up blog for guaranteed laughs and information!

How did it get so late so soon?

It’s night before it’s afternoon.

December is here before it’s June.

My goodness how the time has flewn.

How did it get so late so soon? 

You may think that there are 24 hours in every day.  But I assure you that there are not.  As you prepare for an event like oh, say a wedding, you will notice that each day is a little shorter than the one before it.  And as you get closer and closer to that momentous occasion, each day has fewer and fewer hours until…well, until there just isn’t any time left to do all those things you were going to do months and months ago!

As Big Kahuna Mama (aka Mother of the Bride), one of the things you did do months ago was order wedding invitations, right?  Or maybe you ordered them weeks ago?  After all, you don’t send them out until 6-8 weeks before the big day.  And at the most, it takes the stationery department only a couple of weeks or so to receive the order.  You knew, of course, that finding the wedding gown was far more important than looking for the invitations because the dress takes several months for the bridal shop to get, and that’s after your daughter has taken several  months to decide which five are finalists.   Then there were all those other decisions to make.  The invitations may have easily dropped fifty checkboxes on the to-do list.

IF you haven’t ordered yet, and if you are still in the period of actual 24-hour days, I’d like to share a short game plan that could save you a bridalveilful of dollars.  It begins by telling your daughter she’s grounded for the weekend.  (Doesn’t that sound like a fun thing to say?)  Suggest that she may obtain early release by doing a serious online search for that special wedding invitation.   It shouldn’t take long before she’s bouncing from site to site, speed-scrolling the catalogues, and finding her frontrunners sooner than it would take to button up a satin gown.  Once she shows you her selections, call the manufacturer of each card (not the online retailer), and ask the name of retail stores in your local area who sell their line.  Then take your daughter to the nearest stores to see the actual invitations.  With the field narrowed before you walk in the door, she’s prepared to make a final decision on the invitation and applicable options.

Now your real fun begins when you go home and start to comparison shop that same invitation online.  You will be amazed at the difference in prices, discounts, and deals you will find among online retailers, as well as free shipping in many cases, and no tax if the company is outside of Texas.  I saved enough on my daughter’s invitation to treat myself to one whole 24-hour day away from wedding planning. (Sigh!)  When you come back from your own 24-hour break, let’s chat about those wedding gowns!  But in the meantime, take it from Dr. Seuss:

Will you succeed?
Yes you will indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

Hands down, the fun part of wedding-planning is deciding on colors, attire, music, and favors.  However,  I will never be able to stress enough how important wedding etiquette is during this time.  Remember that etiquette is not a bunch of silly, out-dated “rules” that people used to comply for no reason.  It is actually a considerate way to let others know what kind of behavior/response/action is appropriate for any occasion.  For example, you send a thank you note upon receiving any gift or gesture not only to express gratitude, but to let the giver know you RECEIVED said gift!  Wedding etiquette is not typically ingrained into most people’s lives until they or someone close to them gets married.  Don’t be shy at this point.  Go to the bookstore or library and load up on books!  If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably somewhat internet search engine savvy, and so I recommend this site:

http://www.emilypost.com/weddings/weddings.htm

While you may want to cringe to discover that you’ve actually, unbeknownst to you, insulted the hosts of a wedding (“You mean I wasn’t supposed call up the bride and threaten to not attend a wedding because my 13-year old son wasn’t invited?!), don’t panic.  The answer is, of course, no.  The important thing is that it’s never too late to become a well-mannered, gracious person.  Emily Post’s web site is particularly helpful because of the scope of information.  Browse the site to find out the best way to write appropriate and thoughtful thank you notes or what to do if you’re a clueless bridesmaid.  While that web site is my favorite, there are tons and tons out there.  Google “parents of the groom wedding responsibilities” if that’s your function, and go from there! 

Good luck and happy wedding planning! 

♪ ♪ Here comes ♫ the bride… Oh, wait, I forgot.  I’m not the bride.  I’m the bride’s mother!   

Well, I was just reminiscing about the glory days, that’s all!

Hmmm, glory days, maybe; but also very stressful, those days of marriage preparation.  Now that I recall them more clearly, I remember a panicked plea to my fiancé:  “Please, puhleeeeeeze, let’s elope… NOW!”  That was right after the session with my mother on the final seating plan for our wedding reception.  After all the months of careful preparation and diligent attention to every detail of wedding etiquette, she was deliberately (actually, downright gleefully) intending to place the groom’s guests in all the “choice” seats at the elegant Darien Holiday Inn:  some right next to the band, some very close to the doors leading to the kitchen, and none anywhere close to that head table!

What had caused an otherwise gentle woman to abandon all the good will and social grace that she had cultivated in herself and instilled in her children?  The Response Cards.  Specifically, the response cards that were, well, not quite the responses one hopes for when planning a formal dinner:

Mr. Lou Foster  (1)

√ will attend  “if I don’t have a National Guard meeting that day.”  (I promise you, he wrote that!)

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Brown (2)

4 persons √  will attend  (Only Mr. and Mrs. were invited, but, hey, children don’t take up much room, right?)

Miss Laura Daly (1)

2 persons √ will attend   “Moe, hope you don’t mind – wait ‘til you see who I’m bringing!”  (I was curious.  Mom was furious.)

Mr. Jack Daniels (1)

√ will attend   “I’m sorry, where’s the wedding?  The dog ate my invitation!”

Ok, I made up that last one because I really can’t remember the rsvp that put Mom over the edge, but she did indeed take it out on the groom’s whole family and guests with a bizarre seating plan.  Never, ever make the bride’s mother mad.  She has too much power!

And now I’m the bride’s mother!  This is looking better all the time!  The upgrade and the experience of two weddings within a year (thankfully, both at Heather’s Glen) have provided me with some insights, discoveries, successes, and, er…errors that I’m excited to share with you.  My name is Maureen and I’m the Mother of the Bride.  But if you’re reading this, you’re probably a Mother of the Bride, too.  So you can call me Moe.

Over the years, we have certainly seen our share of brides who have gone down the aisle to meet their kilted groom, and/or processing down the aisle with a bagpipe kilted musician.  Which is really the most exciting part of my job: seeing families and couples enjoy the freedom of not being restrained by cookie-cutter wedding traditions.  The growing trend of personalizing a wedding is booming.  For example, we recently witnessed a wedding in which the bride wore a huge, bright-red, stunning ball gown style wedding gown!  Her bridesmaids were in…white!  Her groom wore a white suit, with red patent-leather shoes!  You don’t believe me?  Come on in and we’ll show you the pictures.  Only a bold, passionate, and comfortable woman could pull that off, and she was.  Personalizing a wedding goes well beyond simply attire.  Our coordinator, Lela, once told me about a unique farewell that was given to one couple.  Instead of bubbles or sparklers, they were jetted off with paper airplanes!  Why?  Because the groom was a pilot.  I found that so extremely charming.  Other areas that couples can show off their personalities are in the groom’s cake, wedding favors, and music.  Are you a Russian family?  Use bride and groom nesting dolls, symbolizing long life and fertility, as your table centerpieces.  Is your profession in dentistry?  Do “his” and “hers” toothbrushes for wedding favors with your wedding date inscribed on them.  Tie a bow in your accent color, and voila: favors no one else has! 

The sky is the limit (ask the pilot!) and your guests will always remember a wedding in YOUR style.  I encourage all of the brides to really have fun with personalizing their weddings.  It is a party you are throwing for your family and friends, so make sure they’ll never forget whose wedding from whose!