Not Holli & Steve, but the only decent image on the Wedding Day website ;)

Maybe I have been out of the loop, but it seems like there has been an explosion of new wedding shows hitting cable - especially prime time!  Sure, I expect a good dose of wedding tv to be shown on TLC throughout the day, but last night I quite surprised to catch the premier of “Wedding Day”, a new reality wedding series on TNT.

The basic premise is that the hosts of Wedding Day track down “deserving” couples and give them their dream wedding.  I was a bit skeptical on what “deserving” might mean (trust fund dried up and now you can’t afford that Monique Lhuillier gown?  Sorry, I just can’t feel bad for you).

Well, I was pleasantly surprised as the deserving couple was Steve and Holli, a couple scheduled to marry in 2007, but had to postpone when Holli was in a near fatal car crash four days before the wedding!  The poor gal spent 6 months in a wheelchair with her fiance by her side every step of the way.  I must admit I may have actually shed a few tears.

The hosts of wedding day surprised Steve and Holli and the whole community got together and threw them a big bash, complete with a Badgley Mischka gown, Manolo Blanik shoes,  and a surprise appearance by Boys 2 Men (?) during the reception.  I found the Boys 2 Men appearance a bit odd, but hey, whatever floats your boat.

All in all, a sweet show, but I wasn’t really blown away by the wedding goodies.  For me, there wasn’t a huge “wow” factor, and i wasn’t really that inspired by the design stuff they did.  Sure, sure, weddings are about the emotion, the meaning, etc.  but if they are going to be putting this on tv, I better entertained!

So speaking of entertainment - I am really looking forward to the newly proprosed (no pun intended) wedding reality show called “I Married A Stranger” on Fox.  Apparently the producers of the show find people who are utterly fed up with the dating process and agree to marry someone they haven’t actually met.  Yes, you heard me, someone they have never actually met.  Now *this* excites me.  It’s like the Bachelor on crack.  The parents and friends pick out the prospective partner and they head right down the aisle.  I’m so excited

CBS has been planning a similar show called Arranged Marriage since February that tracks a single couple while “I Married A Stranger” will feature a different couple every week.  It sounds like Fox’s version is a knock-off, but when hasn’t a Fox knock-off been more entertaining than the original?

My first year wedding anniversary was a week and a half ago on the 31st of May.  My husband and I were out of town visiting family and friends and ended up driving 5 hours back home on the actual day of our anniversary.  Needless to say, we didn’t really do anything big.  I got an adorable card from him and we quietly celebrated our first year together as a married couple.

A year ago today we were getting leied.

A lot of people take their first year anniversary very seriously, but for some reason I felt sort of cheesy making a big deal about it.  Heck, we’ve been together for years, and come on, if we didn’t make it *at least* one year, then god help us!

My husband and I have always loved each other, and we continue to love each other.  For me, a single day, event, milestone, whatever, just doesn’t hold as much significance for me as much as each and every day we spend together.  So that is probably why celebrating our anniversary feels kind of corny to me.

This got me thinking.  While our wedding was a public announcement of our life long commitment to each other, let’s face it, it was also an excuse to throw a big fun once in a lifetime shing-dig!  A shin-dig with lots of pretty flowers, stationery, favors, and dresses!

Drool.

I must admit, being able to have only one wedding kind of sucks!  Especially when the internet is constantly shoving all this cute wedding stuff in your face!

This got me thinking… I’d like to propose celebrating  your anniversary with a  Weddiversary.  Not only a celebration of the joy of being married, but a mini re-creation of that awesome party you had to commemorate that commitment!  Send out DIY invites to 10-15 friends, make up some fun favors, serve some yummy food, and require everyone to dress up!  Get your ipod out to act as the DJ for the night.  Have fun planning it and use your creativity.  A small dinner party with a twist and a purpose!

Having a  Weddiversary party also solves a lot of planning problems.  Having a hard time deciding what you want for your wedding? Aqua or fuschia as your wedding color?  A classy invite or a funky invite?  No biggie, just pick one and use the other for your first year Weddiversary!  Takes away the pressure instantly

I am definitely doing this next year.  It will be funny, something different, and will take the mushiness out of celebrating our anniversary.  It will also be a blast creating little favors and fun details.  I only wish I had thought of it in time for our first!

Hello modern brides.  Today I would like to discuss addressing your wedding invitations.  There is much debate on whether wedding invitations should be addressed by hand, and whether or not it’s “tacky” to run the envelopes through your home printer.

Printed Addresses - sure beats my chicken scratch handwriting (image from www.letterperfectdesigns.com)

I mainly wanted to write this post for all brides who are considering using printed addresses for their wedding invitations but are worried that they might come off as “tacky” or “not personal”.  I would like to go on record saying that there is nothing to worry about!   This is a totally acceptable thing to do!  Addressing your wedding invitations by printing directly on the envelopes or using a label is completely fine (and in 99% of cases it looks fabulous too!).

I personally love the idea of printing out the addresses on your wedding invitation envelopes and I did it for my own wedding.  It looks neat and clean and you can often use the font that matches your invites for a cohesive look.  Did I mention that it’s a huge time saver and remedy for deadly hand cramps!?!  The US postal service will probably thank you too.  In this day and age of technology, why NOT take advantage of something that will make your life 10 times easier and look great to boot?

Some argue that by *not* addressing your invitations by hand it looks as if you don’t care.  As if you can’t be bothered by the time it takes for a gesture as personal as handwriting an address.  I can understand this sentiment to some degree, but why does using a computer to address an envelope mean that you don’t care?  Just because you can take advantage of a convenient way to print on envelopes that didn’t exist 30 years ago doesn’t mean you aren’t sentimental or that your guests aren’t important to you.  I don’t see anyone “hand-writing” invitations - could you imagine?!?  Inviting your guests to the wedding itself and showing your gratitude that they were able to attend is what really conveys sentimentality and personal gesture, not the way in which you put ink on a card.

How my wedding invitations *would have* looked.

So the message here is that if you’re considering printing the addresses on your envelopes and are on the fence, don’t be.  Just go for it!  If you are really in love with hand addressing and want to do it that way, that’s fine too!  Just do what works best for you and don’t worry too much about this one.

For those of you who have decided to actually attemp to print the addresses themselves, stay tuned.  I had a few *kinks* to work out when I did mine, so in the next few weeks I plan to post a “how to” guide on getting this DIY task done!