Last week a couple of our former library kids got married. I’ve lived in Humboldt almost nine years and I watched these two grow from middle school to married couple. Kayla was a member of our Teen Advisory Board for several years. Adam was our hero when we first started video games at the library. Dance, Dance, Revolution was our first adventure into gaming. Adam knew all about it and the younger kids thought if DDR had Adam’s approval, it must be socially acceptable. Those two helped get our teen library corner and programs off the ground. We are grateful for their contributions.
Attending that wedding made me realize that this is probably the time of year I ought to tell you about wedding-planning resources at the library. I usually don’t think about it until late spring when the invitations begin to arrive in the mail. By then, summer weddings are all planned. It’s too late for the library to help out.
First, we have a subscription to Brides magazine. Sure, like any other magazine, this one is chock full of advertising. Isn’t that the fun of all fashion magazines? Even a bride on a budget can drool over the designer gowns and track down a less expensive version. Any mother of a bride could tell you that bridal magazines are expensive. Check out an armload of them at the library when planning gets underway.
One of my favorite wedding guides is Wedding Goddess: A Divine Guide to Transforming Wedding Stress into Wedding Bliss by Laurie Sue Brockway. This book is about five years old, but it hasn’t lost any of its punch. It divides the whole process into do-able chapters, beginning with a “What Is your Bridal Personality” quiz to get you started off in the right direction. A Wedding Goddess is a Bridezilla but with more grace and poise. The bride will still have the perfect day of her dreams, but she accomplishes it with tact and a winsome smile.
Green Wedding: Planning Your Eco-Friendly Celebration by Mireya Navarro is filled by ecologically sound suggestions such as : the invitations shouldn’t require trees to die, and the food should be local, seasonal and should never have said “moo”. Some of the photos in this book scream “hippy, dippy wedding” or “I got married in a cow pasture”, but many of them don’t. Many of them are gracious and classy. Whatever your style, it never hurts to hug a tree.
How to Plan Your Own Wedding and Save Thousands Without Going Crazy by Tracy Leigh is another one to consult. It’s loaded with charts and checklists. There is a short list of duties for every member of the wedding party and lots of I-probably-wouldn’t-have-thought-about it lists, such as the right time of day and location for various styles of tuxedoes.
Colin Cowie Wedding Chic: 1001 Ideas for Every Moment of Your Celebration is worth looking through for no other reason than to appreciate the lovely photos. No one I know can afford to do the stuff in this book (cuffs for the reception room drapes made of a particular variety of roses?), but it is full of many wonderful ideas that could be adapted to any budget.
The Portable Wedding Consultant by Leah Ingram is full of the practical stuff. Rules and rules of thumb for almost any decision a bride or groom may be required to make. One thoughtful nugget I read in this one says “Remember that planning the wedding is a dress rehearsal for the rest of your life.” I think that must mean that if all the members of each family are still speaking to all the members of the other family when the wedding is over, the marriage may have a pretty good chance at success.
Stop by the library. We will start you off down the aisle on the right foot.