"One Perfect Day"

I just spent the better part of my afternoon fixing every single image and web-site link on this blog so that a new window or tab opens when you click on it, instead of over the blog page you are reading. That's been annoying you all right?! (Well, all two of you. Hi Mom and Dad!) Anyway, I know it's been annoying me and I'm happy to report that the issue is resolved!! So when I tell you to click here, you can view TheKnot.com in a whole different window while at the same time still continue to read my blog!!

Sorry, I'm just very excited by this revelation.

I don't have a whole lot to talk about right now. For whatever reason. I can NOT get motivated to look into bands and/or DJ's for our reception. But I KNOW that's my next step in the wedding planning process.

I will say that I'm getting very excited for my dear friend Mandy's wedding coming up this May. Plans are well on their way for her big day as well as her Bachelorette party!! I can't talk about it here...but trust me, her sister has planned a night that's going to be epic! Or, Legen......wait for it......Dary! (for all you "How I Met Your Mother" fans out there)


Last week I finished reading "One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Weddiing" by Rebecca Mead.

I thought this book was pretty interesting. One wedding coordinator had been hired to plan a "Divorce Ceremony", complete with a ceremonial burning of the marriage contract in front of their friends, followed by a party. I guess this was quite the amicable divorce..but still! Mead talks about Las Vegas (of course), Gatlinburg Tennessee weddings (apparently a HUGE wedding town), Elopers, Destination Brides, and My favorite: Walt Disney World Weddings! (which was the most interesting chapter for me.) Chris and I LOVE us some Disney World and I seriously would be ok if we honeymooned there, BUT some of the "add-on's" for a Disney Wedding are kind of hilarious. For $1000 dollars you can have your ring bearer dress as a horseman from Cinderella and carry your rings on the pillow that Cinderella's glass slipper was presented on. I mean, come on...can you get any better than that??? (I also just signed up online to have a Disney World Wedding brochure mailed to my house....details to follow!!)

I read Jodi Kantor's 5/13/07 NY Times review of this book, and she didn't like it! She wrote: "In other words, Mead has reduced the American wedding to its cheesiest and most venal elements, and then written a book about how cheesy and venal American weddings are."

Yes...Jodi Kantor has a point. Mead does take a rather cynical perspective when talking about weddings. She was focusing on those crazy Bridezillas! Weddings are not all bad and they are not all overly elaborate. I think Mead was trying to explain how easy it is for weddings to be turned into these crazy affairs because of how many things are thrusted upon a bride from the moment she gets engaged, how everyone is trying to "reinvent" the wheel and how many resources we have available to us in this day and age. I could write more..this wasn't very insightful, but I have to catch my train.