I mentioned this story in my post about Wedding Firsts a few weeks ago. Here are a few pictures from the first zero-gravity wedding, which was held last weekend. Noah Fulmor and Erin Finnegan said “I Do” aboard a modified 727 jet that allowed them and their guests to experience bursts of microgravity.

Here they are, walking down the aisle of sorts.

Everyone locked arms for a not-so-traditional bridal party photo.

I know that the bridal party is supposed to help tend to the needs of the bride, but this is a little bit much.

The couple took precautions with their wedding bands, affixing them to nylon strings to prevent them from floating away.

Congratulations to the newlyweds. I’m sure they will have many exciting years together!

Hello, Weddiquette readers. My name is Caroline and I just got married to a wonderful man named Kyle on April 18, 2009. Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing the details of our wedding here at the Weddiquette Blog and hopefully help you guys save a lot of time and money. And just so you guys can put a face to the name, here’s a fun picture of me and Kyle booking it out of the church.

I was really nervous about taking on the wedding planning process, but by the end of it, my friends and family members assured me that I could start a second career as a professional wedding planner. I like to think of myself as a very calm laid-back person (my husband and friends will probably agree) but i definitely had a freakout or two during the wedding planning process. As calm as I am, I’m not really known for my organizational skills, and I am a notorious procrastinator. To avoid procrastinating big items, I started pre-planning the wedding in great detail. Here are a few of my tips to hit the ground running on wedding planning.

Guestimate

We knew we wanted to have a fairly small wedding, but we didn’t sit down and write out our guest list immediately. We did, however, count our family members and close friends that we knew we couldn’t leave out. This gave us a baseline number, which we then added about 25 to in order to reach our target of 100 guests. I didn’t realize how important this step was until I started looking at reception venues (some had minimum guest quantities, others maximum). We set our ideal number at 100 guests and planned accordingly when searching for just about everything. Turns out the difference between 100 and 150 guests is epic when it comes to planning.

Ask Around

In talking about the engagement, I started talking to people about weddings that they had attended to start getting ideas. Really, I found that single ladies were the best source of information. They had been to weddings and told me what they liked and didn’t like about the venues, rather than a bride (or her parents) trying to sell me on the venue they used. Big wedding websites are great, but so many vendors and venues pay them just to be listed, it’s by no means a comprehensive way to do research. I looked at my favorite restaurants around town and did my own Google searches to come up with a few ideas for wedding places.

Set Up a Web Page

One of the first things I did after we became engaged was set up a wedding web page. This helped me to establish planning priorities: I looked at the blank web page as the blank slate of my wedding planning and used each page as a stepping stone to accomplish tasks. Sure, there are checklists galore available online, but I found a lot of the time lines to be ridiculous and many of the items didn’t apply to our wedding.

There are a lot of sites out there that offer free web sites for engaged couples, but I found that these sites were not a good match for my needs. Several wedding sites charged a fee to keep the website online for more than a few months. I didn’t want to take money out of our budget to pay for a web page if it wasn’t completely necessary, so my main criteria for choosing a web page provider became free, ad free. Other wedding hosting sites had annoying advertisements, banners for their services and . I didn’t care for most of the templates that the wedding-specific services offered, either. We set up a Google Page (which is now Google Sites) because it was free, fast and ad-free. As an added bonus, I found a nice, simple template that matched the colors and natural theme that I wanted for our wedding. I went ahead and reserved the domain name before we picked a date, just to be safe. You can check out our site here.

Just Dip Your Feet In

I purchased or was given a copy of just about every bridal magazine and attended a bridal fair within a month of getting engaged. I stared at the pile of picture-perfect wedding swag and thought of the many things that had to be planned and would end up not getting anything done. The pile on my nightstand grew along with my feeling of being overwhelmed, so I decided to just recycle it all for fear that the pile would crush me in my sleep and give myself a fresh perspective. Yes, I liked the dresses and the cakes that were in the pictures, but I knew I would find my dress on a rack, not a glossy magazine and the fate of the cake was ultimately up to the baker. I didn’t want to get too attached to a certain look or duplicate a photo shoot. The one magazine I kept was a local bi-annual magazine that highlighted local vendors and weddings.

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. I hope that my experiences will provide a little guidance to all of you newly-weds-to-be.

It’s June - the biggest month of the year for weddings! Here’s a news round-up with everything you need to survive wedding season as a guest.

This quick little article provides some great reasons why June is the most popular month for weddings. According to Hallmark, August may have crept ahead.

And not only do a lot of people get married in June, but many people receive multiple invitations for the month. Here are a few cost-saving tips from the Wall Street Journal for those of us watching from the pews or tables. And, it’s always good to read up on manners, here are 10 tips to being a great wedding guest. And if you’re single and attending a wedding, here are a few survival tips.

Didn’t get an invitation to a wedding? Check your e-mail inbox, not your mailbox. This New York Times article discusses the paperless invitation trend. Although I don’t know anyone that has spent $2000 on invitations, it is a very viable solution for the budget-conscious couple.

Every bride wants to look her best on her wedding day, and sometimes a little help is needed to bring the wow factor. Corsets are a great way to achieve a perfect hourglass shape, and there are several on the market that are designed specifically for brides. A good, well fitted corset will draw attention to your figure by emphasizing your bust and hips while, at the same time, drawing-in your waist. Many dresses feature a lace up back, but do not provide the cinching effect of a corset. You may want to wear a corset underneath your dress to give yourself extra shape.

The Elegant Satin Corset at Corsets Diva

When considering a corset, be sure to try it on before or during your wedding dress search so that the size and shape the corset gives your body matches your dress. Plus, you want to make sure that your corset does not peak out of your dress. Some brides may want to try an underbust corset which stops below the bust and allows you to wear a bra.

Ivory Empress Corset by Maya Hansen at Corsets Diva

Many bridal corsets also feature a garter belt so you can secure your garter for that all-important tossing tradition.

The Basque-Stlye Bridal Corset by Axfords at Corsets Diva

Try to wear your corset a few times before your wedding so that you can acclimate to the constricted feeling and estimate how tight you will want it to  be laced on the big day. You certainly don’t want to be laced in too tight since you will be wearing it for an incredibly long and busy day.

For more tips on picking the perfect bridal corset, read this highly-informative article at Aabsinth.

The tradition of marriage has been around for so long, it’s difficult to imagine that there is anything new, but since June is the biggest wedding month of the year, there are a few zany new weddings out there.

Zero-Gravity Wedding

New York couple Noah Fulmor and Erin Finnegan will be the first couple to wed in zero gravity on June 20. The couple and a few close family members are boarding a recreational flight from the Zero Gravity Corp., which modifies Boeing 727-200 aircraft and flies them on elliptical flight paths that create a weightless environment. They are still looking for one more passenger on the flight, if you’re willing to pay at least half of the cost of the ticket.

In case you can’t tell, the couple are space enthusiasts. To keep with the theme, they will even exchange special wedding bands made with pieces of metal from a meteorite. Famed space tourist Richard Garriott will serve as the officiant. And don’t worry about her dress flying up in her face; her custom dress will feature pant legs.His tux will feature tails and other details designed to take advantage of the weightless environment.

After touchdown, the couple and their in-flight guests will great additional guests at Kennedy Space Center for a reception.

While the couple are first to wed in microgravity, someone has already beat them to their original dream wedding in space. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko got married in space while he was flying aboard the International Space Station. The ceremony was conducted via video, because the bride was back on Earth at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

[More at Space.com]

First Wedding at Juliet’s Balcony

Getting married in the home of a love-struck, suicidal teenager isn’t exactly my idea of romance, but it might be for others. Italian soccer player Luca Ceccarelli exchanged vows with Irene Lanforti under the balcony from which Juliet is thought to have summoned her Romeo. After years of neglect and vandalism, the renovated area is now owned by the city and is available for weddings. The residence is believed to have once housed Juliet because it was the family home of the Cappello family, who, according to legend, were the Capulets of Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. There is, of course, no solid proof of this theory, but the beautiful Verona home is a major romantic tourist destination.

The house is known for young vandals scrawling love messages on the walls and there is also a ritual linked to the bronze statue of Juliet which stands in the courtyard. Visitors to the house often caress the right breast of the statue as it’s believed to bring good luck. Getting married here isn’t cheap - the cash strapped city of Verona charges 600 Euros for residents, 700 for foreigners, and that’s just to get the marriage license. Regardless, the list of applicants is quite extensive.

MySpace Wedding

Social networking mega-site MySpace is sponsoring their very first wedding for a young couple, Tito and Elle. Certainly many couples have met through MySpace and gone on to marryMuch like the annual tradition on The Today Show, the wedding couple and all of the details are voted on by the people. You can watch the webisodes each week on their web site and vote for your favorite wedding details.

One part of a wedding ensemble that is easy to overlook is the handbag. While you won’t be carrying one around the whole time, it is nice to have one with your identification, cash, touchup makeup and other small necessities.

You probably don’t want to spend too much money on a handbag that you will probably only use a few times. All of these bags are made by Colorifics and are completely dyeable, making them great for a bride or a bridesmaid. Even if you end up using it as a bride bag, you can have it dyed for a later occasion. As an added bonus, all of them are available online for around than $30 through World of Bags.

Bag information, clockwise from the top left:

• Coloriffics HB274 ($29.70)
• Coloriffics HB885 ($31.45)
• Coloriffics HB835 (26.99)
• Colorifics HB-925 ($28.90)
• Coloriffics HB776 ($27.20)

Soaps make a great favor because everyone can use them, either in a guest bathroom or as a decoration in their own. These soaps not only smell great, but are creatively packaged and will surely get your guests talking.

These cute pink fortune cookie soaps are cute on their own, but their clever packaging takes it to the next level. Each white take-out carton with matching pink detail contains two soaps. You can personalize the label for free with orders of 25 or more. And at $3.00 per favor, it’s a good value for such a cute product. [Link]

For spring weddings, I don’t t hink there is a cuter theme than “two love birds” and these robin egg soap favors make the perfect statement. Each favor comes with four 1.2″ robin egg soaps arranged in a straw nest. These favors are only $2.25 each and can be personalized for a quarter more when you order 25 or more. [Link]

And for all the beach wedding types, these seashell soaps are a fun and easy way for your guests to take a little bit of the beach home with them. Each shell-shaped soap is accented with real scented seashells and wrapped in white tulle. While there is no customization option on these favors, the unique properties of each soap will add that extra touch. [Link]

Of course, there are many, many more soap favors out on the market right now. And if you aren’t doing favors, these can make creat centerpiece accents that can be taken home by a lucky guest. The possibilities are endless!

The lighting of the Unity Candle is becoming increasingly popular in modern weddings. While the tradition is meaningful, the selection of Unity Candles out on the market is pretty sad. Many Unity Candles available online and in chain stores are unoriginal and gaudy. Of course you can always use a run of the mill store bought candle, but that doesn’t make a very good keepsake.

If you’re looking for a unique Unity Candle with a touch of personalization, check out the Personalized Floating Unity Candle from Wedding Favors To Go. The simple glass candle holder is simply delightful and seems like something worth putting on display after your wedding. At $28.50 it’s a little bit less than most non-personalized Unity Candles out on the market right now. The individual candles and candle holders are not included, but many churches have extras on site (just ask!).

An alternative ritual to the Unity Candle is the Sand Ceremony, in which the bride and groom combine their separate containers of sand into a single unit. Part of this trend’s popularity is attributed to the increasingly common outdoor wedding because there are no flames to be blown out by the wind. The Personalized Sand Ceremony Complete Unity Set his personalized set comes with sets of silver and white sand. The pictured tea lights are not included but make a nice touch when on display. The complete personalized set is $51.00 and includes the separate sand containers and two pounds of each color of sand.

No matter which Unity Candle or Sand you decide to use in your ceremony (if you choose to use one at all) just make sure that it is what you truly want and not something you settled for.

After the success of the last post about centerpieces, I thought I would share some helpful hints I have heard from friends (and learned the hard way too) for putting centerpieces together. A lot of these tips are for the planning process.

Putting it All Together

If you are making identical centerpieces that don’t require much assembly, try to buy just one of everything at first, or open and customize just one of each item. You may love the visualization of your completed centerpiece, but you may find it flawed when everything comes together. By setting up just one, you can still return any undesired components pretty easily. Feel free to add and subtract from your centerpiece and play with the look, you never know if you can improve it. It’s also a great idea to have a neutral pair of eyes to help you decide how things look.

Once you know that you want to use all of the components in your centerpieces, open the packaging before the big day to save time. If you are bringing assembled centerpieces, make sure they are well-protected, but not encased in tape, plastic, or an entire Sunday edition of the newspaper. You and your wedding decoration crew will need every minute you can get on the wedding day!

Personalize

If you don’t feel that your centerpieces are standing out or completely match your wedding theme, feel free to get extra creative. Dress up your plain glass items with a paint pen, bows or ribbons in your wedding colors. You can stick little monogrammed labels into potted plants, or write your favorite love-themed quotations inside or on the container itself. If you’re using water as a part of your centerpiece, try adding a little food coloring or fruit to the water to match your primary wedding color. There are so many ways to personalize just about any centerpiece item; for a few more ideas, visit this eHow page (for the above pictured centerpiece, click here).

These little extra touches will really impress your guests, but make sure it isn’t overkill. If you are planning to give away your centerpieces at the end of the night, make sure that the personalized elements are easily removed from the centerpieces. Chances are, guests don’t really want a votive with your monogram permanently plastered on the side.

Dry Run

Set up one of your centerpieces on your dining room or kitchen table, light the candles when making dinner, and enjoy a long, leisurely meal with the centerpiece. Make sure to use a table cloth, if possible, one that is a similar color to the ones you are using at the wedding. This way you can make sure that the colors are not washed out, or worse, there’s just too much of the color in the table setting. Have someone, or a group of people, enjoy dinner with you and the centerpiece between you. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Is the centerpiece distracting?
• Am I talking “around” the centerpiece?
• Do the candles behave or dance wildly?
• Do the flowers aggravate any allergies or look wilted?

This simple trial is a great way to ensure that your centerpieces will turn out exactly the way you want, and most importantly, will still look fresh and lively at the end of the night. Be sure to take a picture of your centerpiece so you can send or print it out for your decorating crew if you aren’t going to attend the decorating (or even if you are).

Yes, the table centerpieces really can be the center of your wedding, but that doesn’t mean you have to go overboard with them. Planning your centerpieces can be a tedious process, but with the proper preparations, you can avoid critical centerpiece mistakes. Follow these simple rules to get started with your reception centerpieces.

Know the Rules

Make sure you check with your reception venue about their policies for decorations. Many places require that candles be contained in a votive or floating in water to avoid a fire and or damage from dripping wax. Other venues might not allow flower pedals, confetti, glitter or other potentially messy items. Better to know ahead of time so you don’t get hit with a cleaning fee or deduction from your deposit.

Keep it Simple

Perhaps the most important part of selecting the perfect wedding centerpiece is making sure that they are not too tall. Don’t obstruct your guests view of others at the table. Keep the colors and the theme simple; you will be much happier with your pictures. You want something that will catch the eye, but not take it hostage.

Give and Take

Most reception halls have a do-it-yourself approach to clean up, so whatever you bring in you (or someone in your family or bridal party) have to take out as well. If you want to get out in a hurry, encourage your guests to take the centerpieces home with them at the end of the night. Chances are, you won’t need all of those vases, plates or candles anyway and the flowers can be appreciated for a few more days while you are on your honeymoon.

To encourage guests to take the centerpieces, you can make it a fun game, place a card under a chair, plate, or favor that says “you won the centerpiece”. If the guest cannot or does not want to take it, let them pick the new winner.

Flowers

Before you plan to use fresh flowers, get a price estimate from your florist for the season that your wedding will be held. Tulips may be cheap in April when you’re planning, but can be pricey in the fall and winter. And while you have them on the phone, ask them if have any centerpieces or vases for rent. Be careful with deposits when renting, chances are someone will break or mistakenly leave with one of your centerpieces and that can cost a pretty penny in the end.