Wedding Do or Don’t: Will You Be My Bridesmaid?

Believe it or not, I’m not one for big, flashy, over-the-top weddings. I may be a romantic at heart, but this romantic’s heart beats to a more subdued tone. I’m all for low-key when it comes to saying “I do.”

But my sentimental side does love the idea of “Will You Be My Bridesmaid?” cards. They’re such a nice touch and such a special way to ask the women closest to you the big question. I can just picture me one day, inviting my favorite ladies over for lunch (with root beer, of course!), and have their cards waiting for them at the table. A round-up of some of my favorite cards, starting with these cut-out cards that let you choose dress and hair color ($26.25 for set of 3), above…

Rifle Paper Co., $4.50.

Gold foil bridesmaid card, $5.25.

Scratch-off card to build a little suspense, $4.50.

“GIRL!” card, $3.50.

Colorful floral card, $4.25.

Black-and-white dress card, $3.50.

“You’ll Wear It Again” (funny yet true!), $4.

Is this a wedding do or don’t, friends? Would you ever do something like this? Did you? Have you ever been on the receiving end of such an invitation? It sounds pretty magical, if you ask me! xoxo

P.S. You can even make personalized bridesmaids cards! How fun! 🙂

Sponsor Spotlight: Best Fall Wedding Ideas

As summer begins its path towards the fall season, people begin to think of weddings, bridal showers, anniversaries, baby showers, birthdays and other events. HotRef has some great items perfect for the change of weather!

Fall Leaf Theme — Traditional

With the crisp weather and shorter days, many people love watching the leaves change color. A traditional theme for this time of year revolves around the orange, red and yellow colors that leaves become in the autumn time. You can enjoy the many fall-leaf-themed items HotRef has.

Gold Theme

The gold-colored favors are another popular choice for the fall season! It’s difficult to go wrong when choosing golden favors for a classy and classic touch to your wedding or birthday.

Country Chic Theme

Horseshoes and cowboy boots are definitely the way to go with a country chic wedding! Check out even more western favors from HotRef!

For this autumn, keep HotRef in mind when you’re planning your next event! Be sure to follow HotRef on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest!

Love Lounge: Thoughts on Weddings

A not-so-surprising confession: I’m a wedding fool. We’re talking seriously, madly, deeply, I’d-show-up-at-random-weddings-if-I-could in love with them. They make my heart beat just a little faster and life’s possibilities seem just a little rosier. After all, weddings are the Hopeless Romantic’s equivalent of a kid jumping with wild abandon into the ball pit at Chuck E. Cheese. Or a chocolate lover’s takeover of the Godiva Chocolate factory. You want to roll in it. You want to absorb all your senses in it. And, really, you want all those feelings to last forever, long after the last piece of cake was cut and the bride threw the bouquet.

I’ve been thinking about weddings lately, probably because summer practically screams “I DO.” It’s Wedding Season at its finest, full of bridesmaids and groomsmen and dresses and vows and first kisses and first dances, and now that same-sex marriage is FINALLY legal in all 50 states, there’s even more to love and celebrate. When it comes to the big day, thoughts and ideas pop into my head at freakishly alarming rates sometimes, so I suppose it’s only appropriate that I record some of them for posterity — at the very least, I can most definitely use it as a blueprint for my wedding with a certain Mr. Melissa Blake. Here are my four recent wedding-related musings…

1. Writing Your Own Marriage Vows: I always assumed that I’d do this. There’s something so special and romantic when couples take the time to really give voice to what’s in their heart. It doesn’t mean that you have to come up with some elaborate prose that rival Shakespeare himself, but a few carefully chosen words are something I’d remember forever. When you think about it, who knows you and your relationship better than, well, you??

2. Bursting Into a Chapel and Stopping a Wedding: I’ve got Taylor Swift to thank for this one. Well, Taylor and Julia Roberts a la My Best Friend’s Wedding. I sometimes think of that one moment — those nail-biting final seconds — when you’re asked, “Does anyone here object?” — and you wonder what people are thinking. Is someone going to rush through those doors and declare their undying love for the bride or groom? Are you that person? A lot could change in the span of a couple minutes, and I’ve always been fascinated by that. And it also begs the question: Would you ever run away from your own wedding? What would it take for you to walk away?

3. The Whole Hook-Up Culture at Weddings: Do people even “hook-up” at weddings anymore? It’s all seemed very awkward and tawdry to me. I mean, how do you make a move on that guy you spot across the room while the DJ is blaring YMCA and the disco lights are spinning everywhere? Ironically, it doesn’t seem very romantic or dignified to me.

4. The Post-Wedding Romantic Buzz: If I were a scientist, I’d commission a large-scale study of this phenomenon because it’s a real thing. I’m sure of it. In fact, it’s happened to me many times. It’s that romantic buzz. It’s that buzz you get driving home from a wedding. It’s butterflies in your stomach, except instead of scary ones, they’re magical ones. They’re the ones that get you excited, that make you daydream and want to believe in the fairytale again, even if only for awhile.

Are you going to any weddings this summer, friends? Do they make you googly-eyed? Or more down on love? What are you most looking forward to when it comes to your future wedding? If you’re married, what was your favorite part of it? Let’s chat about all things wedding, shall we? xoxo

[Photos via We Heart It]

Vintage Circus Wedding

I’m not sure how I missed Stacey and Josh’s amazing wedding the first time around, but I’m so glad I found it. The lovely pair wanted to combine two of their favorite things — vintage and the circus — into a 1940’s-themed wedding.

“We go to any type of circus, freak or burlesque show as often as we can because they are so much fun,” says Stacey. “We decided if we were going to have a big wedding, we were going to do it the way we wanted. We wanted to look back at this day 50 years from now and know truly in our hearts that it was exactly the way we wanted it. Our goal was to throw the bash of the century and — SUCCESS!”

Stacey’s hair piece was made by hand, and the pearls were passed down to her from her father’s mother…

…and the couple held the ceremony and reception under the Big Top!!!

How gorgeous is their color scheme? I love the cool oranges, reds and whites, don’t you, friends!! xoxo

[Photos by Cameron Ingalls, via Green Wedding Shoes]

Will You Keep Your Maiden Name?

Maybe it’s because words are my bread and butter, but people’s post-wedding names have always fascinated me. How do you decide on your last name? Do you take your partner’s? Do they take yours? Do you hyphenate? Or, do you get created, like some family friends did a couple years ago when they took each of their last names and made a completely new moniker?

I’ll be doing an Open Letter on this topic tomorrow, but have you seen the recent New York Times article on the recent rise of the maiden name? It looks like they’re coming back in vogue after declining in the ’80s and ’90s. But, as sociologists note, the trend resurgence seems to be more practical than political.

“The pressure is huge,” said Laurie Scheuble, a sociology professor at Penn State who studies marital naming. “This is the strongest gendered social norm that we enforce and expect. When they do get around to marrying, they’ve already lived in a household with two names, so maybe it seems normal to them.”

Scheuble said several factors could be swaying the modern woman’s decision: Women now go to college at higher rates than men, celebrities often keep their names and couples commonly live together before marriage.

The article also cited some amazing stats, including…

*Roughly 20 percent of women married in recent years have kept their names, compared to about 17 percent of women who married for the first time in the 1970s. 


*Last year, 29.5 percent of women featured in the wedding pages of the New York Times kept their name, up from 26 percent in 2000 and a recent low of 16.2 percent in 1990. 


*Women are more likely to keep their names if they are older, not religious, have children from a previous marriage or have an advanced degree and established career.

What do you think, friends? Are you married? If so, did you keep your maiden name? Will you? And, perhaps even more interesting, what are the reasons behind your decision? I’d love to hear all about it! xoxo

[Photo by Linus Moran, via Moment Junkie]