I can't find the webcam thing yet either...its driving me batty. If its not up by noon tomorrow, I'll call 'em and ask them. I'm not sure where the information that it takes 4 days to get it posted came from but 2 different unrelated sources say that (so of course now I believe them).

okay so its really cryin' all the time but whatever...its Elvis

I just teared up at the wedding of 2 people I've never met.

Bridal Bargains: A guide for planning a wedding on a realistic budget

The Knot Wedding Planner: I wish I'd bought this as my planner, but I didn't want to drop the $$ twice.

Emily Post's Wedding Ettiquette I bought the corresponding planner, which wasn't all that helpful... this book is much better served, and trust me, she'll use it! There is no ettiquette hell like wedding ettiquette hell.

Martha Stewart's Weddings. Yes, the M-word... but she has some awesome stuff (I admit it.. I dig Martha)

I hope this helps your friend get a start!

edit: I forgot my favorite book!!! It's not so much about the wedding planning itself, but I think it's a must read for anyone who's engaged, almost engaged, or even already married. What No One Tells The Bride. Read it, learn it, love it

It has a kind of charm modern planning books just don't have, and its "simpler is better, and spending beyond your means is not only stupid, it's also tacky" approach is refreshing.

You can find it online here, but you can also find a nice used copy for about 10$ on ebay or in used bookstores.

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Originally posted by Aryn:
Well. The meeting went really well, the priest was actually a really cool guy! When we got there, he was writing a review of "the passion of the christ". He is a member of the white robed monks, a unitarian minister, and he has a PhD in philosophy! He also swore twice. Heh.

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Wow...that sounds like a great Order. I wish I lived somewhere that had more "contemporary" churches!

I don't really have anyone that lives in my area that I feel close enough to ask to be my bridesmaid, I think mainly because I have this idea in my head that being a bridesmaid is this horrible disease you inflict necessarily upon others.

But the problem is I KNOW I'm going to need help pulling together a multicultural wedding of more than 250 people.

I do have two first cousins in the area, but I'm not really close to either of them. We probably see each other once or twice a year.

I was thinking of asking them to be a bridesmaid to help, but would that be strange because I'm not close with them? Also, both of them are older than me and I don't know if they would harbor any grudge toward me for getting married first (I'm among the youngest of my female cousins on both sides.)

Since everyone knew that they were'nt "required" to do things, I think it made it a little easier for them to help more. Kind of like a reverse psychology thing. It keeps the resentment and hard feelings that sometimes come with brides/bridesmaids from happening.

And I have to say, my friends really stepped up and did a GREAT job. I mean, I had so much help with the wedding that I was never sorry I didn't have "real" bridesmaids.

So, it's just something to keep in mind.

I think that if you really want bridesmaids with the matching dresses and the whole shebang, then go ahead and just choose your out of town friends. Once you let your family know that your bridesmaids won't be able to help you out, I'm sure you'll get plenty of help from them. (family)

So, I asked if I could finally tell my parents, because then it will finally seem real to me - plus then we can find out how much help we can expect from them, and then we'll know how much we need to save ourselves.

Well, no, I can't tell them, until we decide on a last name, he says. Here's the abbreviated story about that: basically, he doesn't want to keep his - he got it when his stepfather, who he can't stand and who his mother is no longer with, adopted him. He doesn't want to keep his name, because he doesn't feel like it's his. He also doesn't want to take his birth father's name, because he can't stand him either - he wasn't around for most of his growing up, left him & his mother w/out child support, etc. etc. So, he doesn't want to take his name either. His mother already agreed to pay for the cost to legally change his name - we just can't settle on one that sounds ok and means something to both of us.

I feel like this is all a big joke, and like I'm a fool when I talk about us getting married. I told coworkers at my old job that I was "engaged" four years ago.

We're going home to my parents' for Easter - maybe I'll just announce it there, in front of my whole family, without telling him I'm going to do so. He won't be able to get mad with my whole family fussing over us!!!!

Is that a possibility for you and your guy Bekkaboo? I think I've also heard of people creating new last names from letters in their names rearranged.

I'm annoyed because I want to go and buy the fabric for my dress, and my mom keeps blowing me off. Well, not really, but our plans have been cancelled twice already and she's sort of blowing me off about planning when we can go. I wish I had a girlfriend to go shopping with, but I don't, and I don't think the boy would be terribly helpful in this paricular instance. Haha, any digsters up for helping me fabric-shop in NYC?

"Hi, I'm Aryn, thanks for doing this, really, I'm not a basket case all the time, it's just the wedding, I swear... Hey, come back!"

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Originally posted by journeygirl:
didn't bother to tell us she got married until they seperated three months later.

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that's the thing that gets RIGHT up my nose about all those bigoted poo-holes who think that allowing homosexual people to wed would "debase" the concept of marriage. Britney Spears can get off her tits and be married for 54 hours, yet it's going to destroy civilization if two women or two men who've been together for 30 years and raised three children are allowed to solemnise their love.

ugh.

quote:

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Originally posted by Sophie:
that's the thing that gets RIGHT up my nose about all those bigoted poo-holes who think that allowing homosexual people to wed would "debase" the concept of marriage. Britney Spears can get off her tits and be married for 54 hours, yet it's going to destroy civilization if two women or two men who've been together for 30 years and raised three children are allowed to solemnise their love.

ugh.

[This message has been edited by Sophie (edited 04-07-2004).]

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I got engaged!

Three weeks ago, M. proposed. We've been living together four months, so I didn't think he'd be able to get away with a surprise. But he managed to surprise me after all! On a random Saturday just before we went out to dinner, he pulled a ring box out of his pocket and asked me right there in the living room. I didn't know what the dinner plans were, because I often let M. pick a place. But he took me to a fancy romantic restaurant in an old Victorian house. I never saw that one coming! We ate gourmet food and shared a bottle of champagne, and the waitstaff eventually figured out we were engaged and bought us another bottle of champagne. We shared a piece of chocolate cake decorated with a single candle. It was the most perfect, intimate proposal I could have imagined. And I was totally surprised.