Mini Weddings 🩷 Celebrant 🩷 Elopements

Tips for a summertime wedding

I attended a beautiful wedding just before Christmas – the setting was picturesque – a view across the fields on one side, the harbour on the other. The weather was scorchingly sunny… the bride was traditionally late… but the guests were melting!

Of course, we didn’t mind, but It did remind me to make note of a few good summertime wedding tips for you!

Diamonds are a girls best friend

I hope you all had a merry Christmas and Santa brought you what you wished for!

Some girls wished for bling… and got diamond engagement rings.

A couple of those girls are:

♥ Janet Jackson is now engaged to her longtime boyfriend, Qatari billionaire Wissam Al Mana.

♥ Kelly Clarkson, American Idol winner, who was just nominated for several Grammys, is newly engaged to boyfriend of about one year,Brandon Blackstock.

She tweeted “I’M ENGAGED!!!!! I wanted y’all to know!! Happiest night of my life last night! I am so lucky and am with the greatest man ever :)”

Biggest Engagement Rings in Hollywood

All I want for Christmas… is a flashmob!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8MWQa3-QiA]

Celebrity Babes

Ummm, we’re not talking about Justin Bieber or Selena Gomez – Biebez as they’re known…

And yes, we all know Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge is having a baby…

but – do you think it’s true that Selena is pregnant with a baby Biebz?!!

That’s one teen pregnancy I’m sure none of us saw coming (Justin is only 18 and Selena is just 20)!

It seems it was only a short time ago that the two stars hooked up after “eating some lollipops and playing videogames.” Gomez reportedly said. Gomez was also impressed with Bieber in bed. “He didn’t mind sleeping with my teddy bears.” Gross.

Crazy, Stupid, Love

Ok, I’m sorry – that Hugh Hefner post was disturbing, so here’s something to help you get over it…

This shot is from Ryan Gosling’s 2011 movie Crazy, Stupid, Love – it was less cringeworthy than I thought it would be and very cute. Of course, Ryan plays the most gorgeous part… check this out…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay9QMnrLWTo]

Scary Celebrity Couples | Hugh Hefner

Anything involving Hugh Hefner has to be the creepiest!

For those of you girls who have had a giggle creating your own Celebrity Nightmare couple during Round 2 of a Lucky in Love Hen Party – I don’t think anyone could create a scarier couple!

Seriously – who in their right mind would even consider someone 60 years older than them?? It’s gotta be for the money. Read this…

Hugh Hefner and Crystal Harris’ wedding is back on.

The aspiring singer left the Playboy mogul shocked when she called off their wedding just five days before they were due to marry in June 2011 but the moved back in together last May after Crystal, 26, begged Hugh, 86, for forgiveness and are now said to be planning to get married on New Year’s Eve at the Playboy mansion in Los Angeles.

According to gossip website TMZ.com, the couple have only invited close friends and family members to celebrate their special day later this month.

They are said to have completely resolved the problems which previously led to the model getting “cold feet”.

Speaking after she backed out of the wedding last year, Crystal explained she knew it wasn’t the right step for her.

She said: “I got cold feet. Over time I just realised it wasn’t for me, it was all happening so fast.

“I actually spoke to Hef about it before I left and we both came to the decision that getting married wasn’t the best for either of us.”

Crystal also admitted they didn’t have sex very often.

She said: “There was couch cuddling, movie nights. Hef’s like a big kid.”

Asked if the relationship was physical, she added: “In the beginning, but after a while it just wasn’t the most important thing to him.” (C) BANG Media International

All a girl really wants is…

All a girl really wants is for one guy to prove to her that they are not all the same.

Marilyn Monroe

And I’m lucky enough to have found that one guy!

Happy 80th Wedding Anniversary

On Nov. 25, 1932, FDR had just defeated Herbert Hoover, the daily newspaper cost two cents, and Ann Shawah said “I do” to John Betar in Harrison, N.Y.

Fast forward through 13 presidents and 80 years to 2012: the Betars are still happily married. After five children, 14 grandchildren and 16 great children, the couple from Fairfield, Conn., will celebrate their 80th wedding anniversary Sunday.

“We are so blessed. We are fortunate,” John Betar, 101, said.

“We are very fortunate. It can be repeated and repeated,” Ann, 97, echoed. “It is unconditional love and understanding. We have had that. We consider it a blessing.”

Humble Beginnings

John Betar met Ann Shawah growing up in the same Syrian community in Bridgeport, Conn. Betar immigrated to America as a young child in 1921 with his brother, he explained, joining his father who put down roots for them in Bridgeport. After attending grammar school, Betar began working as a fruit peddler and met Ann Shawah, the daughter of Syrian immigrants, in the neighborhood.

“I fell for her right away,” he said. “I used to have a Ford Roaster and I used to pick her and her friends and drive them to high school. Gradually she liked me and we got together.”

It was slightly more complicated than that. Ann was arranged to be married to another man, 20 years her senior, whom her parents thought would be the best provider for their daughter. The 17-year-old was less than pleased with the arrangement and taken with Betar, then 21. Breaking with tradition and going against her family’s wishes, the two eloped.

“At 17, you wonder if you’re making the right choice,” she said. “I had grown up with him and we had good times together and we knew each other very well. And it’s turned out to be 80 years. ….God seems to have been with us. And we’ve been very fortunate and wonderful.”

The two built a life together, a home, a family and lived out their own version of the American dream. Betar continued peddling fruit and in 1938, opened up his own grocery store, Betar’s Market, in the south end of Bridgeport.

“We worked hard and never got tired of making money,” he said. “This is the land of opportunity.”

Ann stayed at home and raised their children. “She was a great mother,” Betar said. “She raised five children and she was a wonderful caretaker.”

Five children spawned 14 grandchildren and 16 great children. The couple said the later generations “bring new life” and light into their lives.

“Last year at [John’s] 100th birthday party … there was group of little 2 year olds and 5 year olds and a group that’s just turning 19 and 20,” Ann recalled. “We had it at the beach and we had fireworks. It was very special. The younger children went out on the beach and wrote ‘Happy Birthday Jiddo,’ [Grandpa in Arabic], in the sand, all along the beach. … How can you not feel God’s right with you and blessing you?”

Along with joyous moments and good memories like this one came bad times for the Betars.

“The hardest thing in our life was losing two of our children. That’s the sad part. It’s one of the worst thing a parent can face is losing a child, no matter how old they are or how young they are,” Ann said.

But despite the trying moments that can test or break a marriage, the two have stayed together.

“There are so many things in a lifetime that can make you very, very happy and very, very sad, but if you can do it together then it’s happiness,” Ann said.

That’s easier said than done for many couples today in the U.S. where the divorce rate hovers around 40 to 50 percent. What’s their secret?

“They have this wonderful ability to accept life as it comes,” their daughter Renee Betar said. “They have a way of trying to look around at the things that they do have — the family and the blessings. They came from a generation where there is such respect for each other and caring.”

The Betars consider themselves “fortunate.” Hesitant to dole out advice to newlyweds, they each offered simple, guiding mantras to a lasting marriage.

“Get along. Compromise. Live within your means and be content,” Betar said, before adding, “And let your wife be the boss.”

“We don’t have bosses,” she said. Her advice: don’t hold a grudge.

“You know what your commitments are and you try to live by them and understand one another. If you don’t hold a grudge, you can face anything,” Ann said.

The couple still lives independently on the beach in Fairfield and has kept active, pushing the boundaries of aging. In their later years, Ann discovered a hidden talent as an artist and took up painting in oils and watercolors. The two cook soup together, always from scratch. (The retired fruit peddler-turned-grocer continues to make outings to shop for the best produce and can’t help but dispense recommendations to fellow customers at the store, his daughter reports, saying: “Oh no, don’t buy that tomato if you want to eat it tonight.”) They spend their days reading and proudly keeping up with what’s going on in the world.

Celebrating 80 Years of Marriage

On Sunday, the couple will mark their 80th wedding anniversary with a quiet celebration surrounded by family and friends at the St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church in Bridgeport, where they are original founding members.

Ann said one of her daughters ordered a cake for the occasion and the baker called back, slightly confused, to confirm that it should read — “Happy 80th Anniversary” instead of “Happy 80th Birthday.”

After eighty years, Betar is still sweet on his bride and she is still sweet on him.

“He is a wonderful man. He is a very giving man to his children, to his family, to people that need it. He is a very generous, giving man,” she said. “Can you blame me for living with him for 80 years?”

To the later generations of children and grandchildren, the Betars serve as role models for how to live and love in life.

“I’m always blown away by their incredible optimism, deep sense of compassion and modesty,” said granddaughter Heather Mitchell of Fairfield, Conn. “They are true beacons — inspirational people who emit such joy without even knowing it.”

Celebrity Weddings | Cynthia Nixon

When New York State finally legalized gay marriage last year, Cynthia Nixon had only one hurdle left before marrying her girlfriend of eight years, education activist Christine Marinoni: finding the dress.

I never thought about my wedding dress growing up. Not once. I’m just not one of those girls. It has nothing to do with being gay— when I was with a man, I didn’t fantasize about my wedding dress either. In fact, I’ve spent most of my life not wanting to get married. But once I finally decided to do it, I knew I wanted a beautiful dress for the occasion.

I was engaged for three years—waiting for New York State to make same-sex marriage legal—and I didn’t start worrying about the dress until four months before the ceremony. Planning a wedding can sort of be a black hole that sucks all your energy. My wife handled most of the details, for which I am eternally grateful, but I didn’t want the process of picking out a dress to swallow me alive.

I knew I wanted Carolina Herrera, because I’ve had so much luck wearing them in the past and they know my body so well. I was shopping for several things at once: my wedding dress, my opening-night dress for Wit on Broadway, and my fingers-crossed Tonys dress, which, happily, I did get to wear. But in one-stop shopping, my mind began to play tricks on me. I started to think, What if I wore this dress to the Tonys and this dress to my wedding?

With a same-sex marriage, it’s different. There isn’t the archetype of the demure bride, the strapping groom, and the big ol’ white dress. You have a lot of flexibility. I actually said to them, “Don’t think of me as a bride. Think of me as a grown-up woman who needs a dress to get married in.” But Carolina—or, rather, Mrs. Herrera—kind of nipped that in the bud. She said, “You need to get a dress with a capital D. So even if it’s not poufy or white, there’s a certain level of ceremony.”

I liked that this dress kind of looked like an art deco skyscraper. One of the lessons I’ve learned from years of wearing gowns to awards shows is that people are always stepping on your train. This one had a train, but it was minimal enough that you could still walk and dance in it. I’m not a big dancer, but you have to dance at least a little bit at your wedding.

I decided on green by process of elimination: I already knew I didn’t want white—I wanted to leave that little-girl fantasy out of it. I didn’t want red—that would have been shocking. I didn’t want black—that would have been shocking. Maybe it was also years of playing red-headed Miranda: Even though in real life my hair is blond, green has become my go-to. And this particular shade—so light it borders on yellow—was especially apt, since it’s the color of early spring, and no matter how long you’ve been together, a wedding is a certain kind of beginning.

Aside from the dress, the big question was, What am I going to do about my hair? I’d shaved my head to play a professor with ovarian cancer in Wit, and my hair had just started to grow back. My wife was worried that my being bald was all anybody would want to talk about. My mother kept making suggestions like, “What about a little hat?” Or, “Look at this cunning beaded cap Whitney Houston wore to her wedding; isn’t it great?” She was concerned I’d have a little pinhead on top of this great big dress and was fixated on my covering my head, which was ironic, because when she got married, in a small ceremony in a judge’s chambers, her own mother was very upset that she was bareheaded—my grandmother, who was from the Midwest, thought that was improper for a bride.

I considered a veil, but Hervé Pierre, the creative director at Carolina, came up with something better: just a little bit of silver-and-white ribbon wrapped twice around my head, to which we affixed some small Fred Leighton diamond love-birds. It made me feel like Titania from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and you want to have that kind of magical feel on your wedding day.

This always surprises people, but my wife is much more into clothes than I am. She had a suit designed by [hipster bespoke tailors] Doyle Mueser. We didn’t want our colors to match, but we wanted to complement each other—her tie and jacket lining had elements of green. She also had these beautiful Fred Leighton sapphire cuff links to match my wedding ring. Still, even though she wore an amazing, beautifully built, exquisitely styled suit, it’s hard for a suit to compete. The dress is the main event.

My wife and I were not at all traditional about not seeing each other before the wedding. I sent her pictures from my various fittings. I won’t say what she said to me about it—it’s personal—but she said many, many nice things. The day of, we dressed together at the wedding venue with our kids upstairs [Max, 19 months; Samantha, 16; and Charles, 9]. But I did hold on to a different tradition: I managed to wear something borrowed, a brooch that’s an heirloom in my wife’s family; something blue, my sapphire ring; something new, my dress; and something old…me.

I suppose I never thought about my wedding dress until I needed to, because that’s the way I approach a lot of things, not just fashion. When I take on a project for work, I’ve learned it’s better not to come in with a rigid idea of that role. You have to wait for all the elements to come together—cast, crew, director—before you can anticipate how to approach it. And in the case of my wedding, when it all came together, it was perfect. interview by Elle

With President Obama re-elected (thank god), I’m sure we can expect to see many more same sex celebrity weddings!

In a relationship

 

Well, it’s been a few months now and things have moved fast, but so comfortable it’s just fallen into place – including moving in together. And adopting a dog.

Since reading about Mark Zuckerberg and how he dated his girlfriend for years before eventually changing his FB status – I’ve been thinking I must get around to changing mine.

So last night, finally, we got around to changing our Facebook relationship status to ‘In a relationship’. Of course I changed it on mine and it tells you it will send a request to the person you have listed as in a relationship with. Social media is a weird thing. My gorgeous man threatened no to ‘confirm’ and I countered that with how about I list us as ‘engaged’. hmmm that kept him quiet! haha

I didn’t realise why I kept getting so many comments and ‘likes’ until I logged in and saw it. The announcement virtually takes up a whole page worth of space!!

Wow, what does it do when you change your status to ‘engaged’?? haha I’ll have to wait and see! haha