PLANNING A WEDDING

A bridal party dressed as fairies and pirates? Freshly carved pumpkin centerpieces? Frankenstein groom and a equally frightening bride? A hand-tied bouquet crawling with rhinestone spiders? Halloween weddings are a real thing and it might be the theme of your upcoming nuptials.

Buried in "How readers scored first presidential debate," today's letters to the editor section of the Denver Post, is one with a slightly different twist. Kelsey Kenfield noted: "What truly frightened me to the core was Mick Romney's unabashed disregard, arrogance and lack of respect shown for the moderator, Jim Lehrer, an equally learned and accomplished person, a man doing nothing to Romney but offering him a forum to express himself. [… His] attitude towards someone he perceived as standing in his way is … more a measure of the man than anything else that happened Wednesday night. This behavior should not be ignored."

While we live in a time where big weddings are, for some, a major importance, others are realizing that the greatest day in their life doesn't always need to be a ridiculously over-the-top and over-priced event. If we do take a moment to recall the reason behind marriage, it's historically based on love (or arranged situations in certain cultures), and not about competing to see who can spend more on their nuptials.

Getting ready for the "Big Day" is exciting, and nerve-racking. You want everything to be perfect on the day you will commit to spend the rest of your life with that one special person. Or at least that's how the tradition was intended; but with the divorce rates being announced in the media frequently, you know you really only have a 50/50 chance. Here might be why.

By Holly Lefevre, Author of The Everything Bridesmaid Book, for GalTime I was a wedding planner in Los Angeles for years. I loved it. I quickly caught on to the do's and don't of selecting my clients. I can honestly say that after all the years spent walking people down the aisle, I worked with some amazing couples and families (really, I am not lying!)

Today's culture is more about buying something because it's a cheap and immediate thrill rather than buying a well-made, beautiful item that will last forever. However, focusing only on the dollar amount and not thinking of quality is never the way to go.

No matter how much your pet is part of your family, it is important to consider potential landmines of having Fido join you on your big day. Here are four tips to avoid a frenzy:

As couples plan a wedding, they all too often let the wedding details take precedent over the relationship. Once upon a time, there were dinner dates, texts to say “I love you,” and hand holding. But, now, dinner means menu tastings, texts are sent to the wedding planner and hand holding is out of the question. Instead, a bride’s hands are full of clipboards, wedding notebooks and smart phones.

Congratulations, you're engaged! If you plan to have a wedding, even a small one, here comes the next part: planning the biggest party of your life. But when do you mail the invitations? How should you style your hair? Do you have to give out favors? There are tons of choices when it comes to weddings and tons of books, blogs and websites to help brides with those choices. But wading through so much information could easily send you into wedding overload, so we did the work for you and selected our 10 favorite resources for all things wedding.

By Vicky Sullivan of aspiringsocialitenyc.com According to E! Online, the War of the Roses has once again taken to the British Isles. After details of the much-anticipated royal wedding between Prince William and the lovely Kate Middleton were announced, Queen Elizabeth II was less than enthused. In fact, she was livid. Apparently, her royal highness learned of her grandson’s wedding plans just as the rest of us did, by watching the news.

The first thing you need to know is that Dan asked me to marry him while we were brushing our teeth. We had been together for almost 10 years at that point, living together for five, and we had plenty of people despairing as to whether we would ever get around to tying the knot. We finally settled matters after flossing. Big romantic gestures? Not our thing. We like to lie around eating ice cream straight from the container and watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia reruns. But then we jumped into planning mode for the wedding, a day that's supposed to be nothing but romantic moments and symbolic traditions. And even two cynics like ourselves couldn't help getting caught up in all the excitement. But when it came to walking being a bride and walking down the aisle, did I want my father to give me away?

It turns out that planning a wedding isn't that easy. The stress of minor issues such as where to have a wedding can be overwhelming. Now throw in the guest list, a wedding budget, and the inlaws and even the sweetest woman can turn into a bridezilla... months and months before the actual wedding. Kelly Bare explores the idea of that it's not 100% 'your day' after all and that a New York wedding probably isn't worth the hassle.