Newlyweds share tips for memorable wedding day

For many newlyweds that moment of saying I do was preceded by countless dizzy spells and stumbling steps, bouts with butterflies and clashing color schemes, as well as panic attacks over changing checklists and growing guest-lists.
Casey Baum, who married the love of her life, Jeb Baum, at Owen Farm in Ashland City recently took time to reflect on her experience.
"My biggest concern at our wedding was to make sure everyone had a good time," Casey said. "We kept our ceremony as short as possible so that we could spend the majority of the time with our friends and family celebrating the wonderful moment. We also made sure there were plenty of food, drinks and dancing so that everyone would have a memorable time as we became husband and wife."
Casey said she and Jeb wanted everybody to be involved in their wedding as much as possible, but noted that they were fortunate to have family and friends that wanted to just be there and to help out if needed.
"The wedding is for the bride and groom — not anyone else," she said. "So overall, the feeling of the bride and groom need to be considered over everything else."
For Casey and Jeb, the wedding location was a critical consideration, reflecting something moving and personal about the couple.
"We chose Owen Farm because it overlooks the river that we very first met on," she said. "My husband and I have a love of boating, canoeing, fishing and anything else outdoors. The water and the county atmosphere of the beautiful Owen Farms was a reflection of who we are."
Casey believes that personal touches are vital to a moving, memorable wedding ceremony that makes it unique.
"Every single thing we did was personalized," she said. "Our ceremony referenced our love for the water, outdoors and loyalty to one another for the rest of our lives. We displayed black and white photos of our parents at each of their weddings, had my mother's wedding dress as a decorative accent, and had a collage made of baby pictures of Jeb and me."
Sticking to tradition, Casey wanted to ensure that Jeb would not see her in her wedding dress until the ceremony was underway.
"The look on his face when he first saw me in my dress is something I will never forget," she said. "It meant more for me to see that expression at our ceremony with all of our friends and family."
Casey offered several additional pieces of advice for planning a wedding.
"My main tip is to not stress," she said. "At the end of that day, no matter what happens, you will be husband and wife and that is all that should matter."
She also added the importance of not being afraid to ask for help.
When it comes to the bridesmaids and the groomsmen, choose people you hope to have in your life for many years to come.
"To me, the most overlooked part of the wedding is the pictures," she said. "At the end of the day, the decorations get taken down, the cake is eaten, the music is gone, and all you are left with are the pictures that were taken. Our wedding photos mean so much to us because they capture such a wonderful time in our lives."
Also, it's not so much the budget as those helping hands from the heart that will serve to make a memorable wedding event.
"As long as you are smart about what you spend it on, money should not be an issue for your wedding," she said. "This is the biggest day of your life. It is the beginning of your life as husband and wife."

It rained on my wedding day – and I wouldn’t have spent £100,000 to stop it

Phew. Everything’s sorted. All lists ticked off. Done. So you follow the advice and you have an early night and just before you go to bed you check the weather forecast, and you sigh and then you scream as you realise all the planning has been for nought. Because it’s going to rain. Of course it’s going to rain. And the rain will ruin everything. But then your parents call with good news: they have remortgaged their house and spent £100,000 to stop it raining. Everything’s fine. Better than that: everything’s perfect.
There’s no doubt that Oliver’s Travels, the company boasting of an Ariel-like ability to control the weather, is offering a product that some will want. The problem is it’s also reinforcing the idea of the “perfect wedding”. And I of all people should know such an idea is nonsense: my wedding was great, even though my bride’s wedding dress caught fire (didn’t think of that, did you, Alanis?).
Actually, it was great precisely because my bride’s wedding dress caught fire. And because the church hall that housed our reception was a little shabby (albeit lovingly decorated by terrific friends) and because I exposed the price tag on the sole of my new pair of shoes as I knelt before the priest, and because my face was still bleeding from the almost literally cut-throat shave I’d had that morning. And because, yes, it rained.
Of all the things we do, getting married is among the most real. The wording of the Anglican service is unsparing: for every better there’s a worse, for every richer there’s a poorer, for every health there’s a sickness; joy is soon followed by sorrow, love by death. It’s not the stuff of soapy romance. And yet, your wedding day is invariably sold as flawless, bright, shiny and perfect. Utterly unreal and unlike the life on which you’re about to embark. Yes, there will be fun and excitement, but your boiler will break down, your chimney will need repointing, your cavity wall insulation will need replacing. No wonder divorce rates are risingif marriage is marketed as a fairytale.
Besides, there’s enough scope for nuptial control-freakery as it is without bringing the weather into it. It might be preferable if couples actually had fewer options, fewer details, less to customise, less to get tone-perfect. Then they’d be able to focus on the only things that matter, which are a) that they both turn up, b) that someone turns up to officiate, and c) that some people turn up to watch. (If you have £100,000 to spare, don’t spend it on meteorological manipulation like you think you’re Jesus. Spend it on food and drink for everyone. That’s pretty much all your guests will want, and frankly, they deserve it.)
If you’re lucky, your wedding won’t go according to plan. If you’re lucky, it won’t be the day you’ve always dreamed of. If you’re lucky, it’ll look nothing like it does in the brochures, nothing like it does in any film you’ve seen or any book you’ve read, nothing like any fairytale (although a wedding that looked like Rumpelstiltskin would be quite something). Flawed masterpieces are the best sort: give me the Beatles’ White Album over the Beatles’ blue album any day.
My wife’s wedding dress, once pristine and brilliant, hangs singed and sooted (blame the cake). It was beautiful, and it’s now even more beautiful, but it’s only a dress. All that really mattered was that my wife was unharmed: the swift actions of a friend saved us from having to spend our wedding night in our local burns unit. So may your wedding day be gloriously imperfect. May the sun shine, yes. But may it rain, too.

Amal Clooney's Oscar de la Renta Wedding Dress Is for Sale

Now you too can become Mrs. Clooney. OK, not at all. But you can look exactly like Amal Clooney did on her wedding day.
Today, Oscar de la Renta revealed an Amal-inspired wedding gown as part of its bridal fall 2015 collection. It's not the exact dress (Amal's gown was custom-made, after all!), but the copycat design embodies all the elegance and grace of Amal's wedding gown. The same lacy overlay, off-the-shoulder style and romantic silhouette characterize the replica design. In fact, the only noticeably missing details are the lengthy train and cathedral veil.
"It's the most important dress in the life of a woman," Oscar de la Renta told Vogue after working with Amal. "Any girl from any walk of life dreams of that special dress, and I try to make that dream a reality for her."
Mrs. Clooney and de la Renta collaborated on the dress design together, ultimately deciding on an effortless dress with Chantilly lace and hand-embroidered embellishments. The end result? A truly regal gown, fit for a Hollywood royalty wedding.
The 36-year-old's human rights lawyer has evolved into quite the fashion icon since announcing her engagement to George Clooney back in April. She regularly sports designer confections, with Dolce & Gabbana, Giambattista Valli Couture and Alexander McQueen all being familiar labels in her enviable wardrobe. And that crisp Stella McCartney two-piece suit and hat ensemble Amal wore to her official civil ceremony? That, people, was pure sartorial perfection.
But back to Amal's designer du choix, Oscar de la Renta. Mrs. Clooney's worn several eye-catching designs by 82-year-old de la Renta (especially this fierce little frock). And the world -enowned designer is no stranger to dressing fashion icons, even dressing Jackie Kennedy, who many claim is Amal's style doppelgänger. Two bold, beautiful, intelligent women—we see the resemblance too!
As for the designer's Amal-inspired wedding gown? We're not sure if it will spurn a full-on Kate effect, but we're guessing the luxe wedding gown won't stay on racks for long.
Price and release date are yet to be announced.

For a happy marriage, have a cheap wedding

If you're serving burgers and Bud Light at your backyard wedding, don't worry. You and your spouse may have the last laugh.
A new study found that couples who spend less on their wedding tend to have longer-lasting marriages than those who splurge. The study, by two economics professors at Emory University, found a similar correlation between less-expensive engagement rings and lower divorce rates.
The study's authors didn't examine why, although they floated a few theories.
"It could be that the type of couples who have a ... (cheap wedding) are the type that are a perfect match for each other," said Professor Hugo M. Mialon, who co-authored the study with Andrew M. Francis.
"Or it could be that having an inexpensive wedding relieves young couples of financial burdens that may strain their marriage," he said.
The research was based on a detailed survey completed by 3,151 adults in the United States who are, or have been, married. The authors believe theirs is the first academic study to examine the correlation between wedding expenses and the length of marriages.
Specifically, the study found that women whose wedding cost more than $20,000 divorced at a rate roughly 1.6 times higher than women whose wedding cost between $5,000 and $10,000. And couples who spent $1,000 or less on their big day had a lower than average rate of divorce.
The study won't be cheered by the booming wedding industry, which encourages couples to spend freely on everything from invitations and flowers to videographers and Champagne. Couples in the United States spent an average of $29,858 for their big day in 2013 -- a record high -- according to a survey of 13,000 brides and grooms by wedding website TheKnot.com.
"The wedding industry has long associated lavish weddings with longer-lasting marriages. Industry advertising has fueled norms that create the impression that spending large amounts on the wedding is a signal of commitment or is necessary for a marriage to be successful," Francis told CNN in an email.
"Overall, our findings provide little evidence to support the validity of the wedding industry's general message that connects expensive weddings with positive marital outcomes," he said.
Planning a wedding? In addition to slashing costs, you might want to invite those extra co-workers and far-flung cousins, too. The Emory study also found that the greater the number of people who attend a wedding, the lower the rate of divorce.
"This could be evidence of a community effect, i.e., having more support from friends and family may help the couple to get through the challenges of marriage," Francis said. "Or this could be that the type of couples who have a lot of friends and family are also the type that tend not to divorce as much."

Prenuptial protection

JUST as each wedding creates potential business for divorce lawyers, so each engagement gives insurers a chance to drum up business. Future spouses, says Alan Tuvin of Travelers, an insurer, may wish to protect themselves against something going wrong on the wedding day. It is unlikely that your betrothed will scarper on horseback, as Julia Roberts did in “Runaway Bride”, and most insurers wouldn’t cover that anyway. But you never know what might happen. Mr Tuvin launched the firm’s wedding-insurance business; he and his wife were its first clients.
A typical American wedding costs $25,000 or so. This has fallen a bit over the past quarter-century but still seems lavish given how tight American belts are these days (see chart). Weddings are pricey because the rich are more likely to marry than the poor, and the average age of newlyweds has gone up, so couples are more prosperous when they eventually tie the knot. High prices, and the fact that many venues require couples to take out liability insurance, feed demand for wedding insurance. A fifth of couples buy it, says theWedding Report, a trade publication. “If some fat lady slips on a canapé and breaks her hip, she doesn’t give a rat’s ass that this is her boyfriend’s cousin’s wedding,” hypothesises Robert Nuccio of Wedsure, an insurer. “She just wants to get paid.”
Wedding insurance began in Britain: Cornhill, an insurer, wrote its first policy in 1988. But there were few takers. The idea only took off once transplanted to America. In the early days, says Mr Nuccio, there were incidents of couples faking engagements to collect a payout. Since then, most policies have a clause that excludes “change of heart”. Wedsure does insure against cold feet, but its policy will pay out only if the wedding is cancelled more than 12 months before it is due to take place, thereby guarding against fiancés (or their parents) phoning the broker once the relationship is already on the rocks.
This does not mean policies are useless. Common causes of payouts include the venue or caterers going bust after having taken a big deposit. Extreme weather, a spouse being deployed by the armed forces and an absent priest can all trigger payouts. Most policies will pay to re-stage the photos if the snapper fails to turn up or disappears with the pictures. “DJs are flaky. Florists? Flaky. Cakemakers? Flaky. They are all flaky as hell,” warns Mr Nuccio.
For some, even a small risk of something going wrong on a day that has been planned for months is worth paying to avoid. Who says romance is dead?

Boston site auctions outtakes from Kennedy wedding in Newport

Never-before-published outtakes from John F. Kennedy's Newport wedding to Jacqueline Bouvier are being auctioned by a Boston auction house this month.
Taken by Fall River freelance photographer Arthur Borges, the 13 negatives were found in his darkroom after he died in 1993. Borges had been hired as a backup photographer for the 1953 Kennedy wedding.
Bobby Livingston, executive vice president at RR Auction in Boston, said he believes that Borges took hundreds of wedding-day photos "and left behind these few."
Bidding, which started Sept. 26 and reached $3,141 by 4 p.m. Tuesday, has "already surpassed our consignors expectations, and we expect it to soar," Livingston said. The online auction will end sometime after 6 p.m. Oct. 15.
Already in 1953, "Senator Kennedy and his beautiful wife were media darlings," Livingston said Tuesday. "You can see the policemen holding back the crowds. It was the society event of the year. It's mayhem," he said.
Borges, "a blue-collar guy," lived in Fall River and worked at Firestone. "He was there professionally. He's got opposite angles to the ones taken by Life magazine."
The Life photos show the couple cutting a cake outdoors. A Borges photo shows the couple cutting a cake indoors.
"Two Boston-area bakeries still fight to this day over who made the cake for Kennedy's wedding," Livingston said. He believes the indoor cake was for the family and the cake pictured in the Life photo was for the huge reception outdoors.
"The thing that you'll notice, in these outtakes, or whatever they are, they're posing the wedding party on that hill, and our guy is getting them in between moments, where they're laughing. The wind is blowing Kennedy brothers' hair all around. It's just great." In another one, Jackie's eyes "lock right into our photographer, Arthur, right outside the chapel. She's glowing."
The auction house, which has been in business since 1980, has sold other Kennedy memorabilia. The white Lincoln in which the Kennedys rode to the Air Force base in Fort Worth before flying to Dallas on that fateful morning in 1963 was auctioned last October for $318,000.
One lot was a collection of letters from JFK to the family of Harold W. Marney, one of two crewmembers killed when their PT-109 was destroyed by a Japanese ship, as well as the Purple Heart awarded to Marney. "This letter is to offer my deepest sympathy to you for the loss of your son, Kennedy wrote in one of the letters, in 1943. "I realize that there is nothing that I can say can make your sorrow less; particularly as I know him; and I know what a great loss he must be to you and your family." That lot sold for $200,000 in a live, gaveled sale on Sept. 19, Livingston said.
"We have several institutional clients, university libraries, private collectors, people who have an affinity for the Kennedy family," Livingston said. "A lot like this speaks to a lot of different people than maybe our normal typical auction," he said.
"With worldwide attention on these photos," he expected the bidding to be "very vigorous."

Newfound images of JFK wedding up for auction

A Boston auction house is selling 13 negatives from the wedding of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy that were discovered in a photographer’s darkroom after his death, and have likely never been shown before.
“They’re magnificent, unpublished,” said Bobby Livingston, executive vice president of RR Auction, which is selling the negatives in an auction that ends Oct. 15 . “He was a young senator, already a known figure, and his beautiful bride.”
The negatives are still in their original folder, labeled “Pres. Kennedy 1953.” Four show the newlyweds, two show the entire wedding party, and the rest show the cake, reception, and wedding attendees, according to the auction website. Some of the pictures capture candid moments in between posed shots, with the Kennedys talking or laughing or simply looking intently at something outside the frame.
Each negative is accompanied by a print — the first ever made from the negatives.
The pictures were taken by freelance photographer Arthur C. Borges of Fall River, who served as a “back-up” photographer for the Sept. 12, 1953 wedding in Newport, R.I. LIFE Magazine documented the wedding in its pages, and the negatives now on sale were likely outtakes that never made it to the family, Livingston said.
“He shot everything, but from the other side,” said Livingston.
Borges, a World War II Army veteran who worked at the Firestone Rubber Co. and did freelance work in his spare time, died in 1993, according to his obituary. Displayed on the auction website is his old business card, which promises “wedding candids” and shows his face obscured by an old-fashioned camera.
The auction began Sept. 26, and as of noon on Oct. 4, bidding for the set stood at $363. But Livingston said he expected the bidding to rise into the thousands of dollars. The auction house has sold many Kennedy artifacts, he said, including Jacqueline Kennedy’s shoes that went for as much as $35,000.
Last month, RR Auction sold a collection of letters John F. Kennedy sent to the family of a lost PT-109 crewmate for $200,000, and a collection of letters from Robert Kennedy for $31,250, according to the Associated Press.
RR Auction is also selling a 1963 holiday card that was signed by John and Jacqueline Kennedy just days before he was assassinated in Dallas.
“What we have is really rare, and kind of tragic,” said Livingston. “Right before Mrs. Kennedy and President Kennedy went to Dallas, they signed their Christmas cards, basically wishing people a happy new year in 1964. And, tragically, of course, we know he’s killed before the holiday. And so these were kind of left behind.”
Also for sale is a Kennedy presidential document from 1962 that appoints a black woman to the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity; a twice-signed 1952 JFK letter on an “appointment to the Coast Guard Academy; and a vintage Marilyn Monroe autograph with a personal inscription to a fan, according to a release from the auction house.