Weddings and Romance!


I'm not getting married but my cousin did Saturday and it has put me in the wedding mood! I have always loved weddings but I've only attended a few in my life (FYI: I've never caught the bouquet).

To me, as a true romantic, weddings are always special no matter if they're elopements or big fancy shindigs, as long as there is love shining from the couples hearts everything else doesn't matter so much. There was definitely a lot of love in the air Saturday. July 31st must have been "the day," hey even Chelsea Clinton tied the knot!

Below I've featured some miscellaneous wedding stuff that I like besides the romance of it all, including some things from my cousins wedding Saturday!


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The Songs:
Bride and Grooms first dance,
Leather and Lace by Stevie Nicks and Don Henley





And my personal favorite, the bridal party dance:
All I Ask of You from The Phantom of the Opera





The dress:
Ok so who doesn't love a pretty dress and too me nothing is more gorgeous than a wedding gown. My tastes tend to lean towards the more traditional type gowns, I love lace on a dress!

Check out my fave from Maggie Sottero!
http://www.sotteroandmidgley.com/dress.aspx?style=VSM7047

The cake:
Yummmm! Isn't this a gorgeous cake?



The book:
Since this is a book blog I figured I had better include a wedding story in the mix! Here's one of my favorites that is being re-released with a new cover from Thomas Nelson in 2011. Not sure how I feel about the new cover since it kinda looks like the bride is picking her teeth but the story is so cute!!

The Convenient Groom
by Denise Hunter
Copyright 2011
Thomas Nelson
320 pages
ISBN: 9781595549136
Fiction/Contemporary/Romance



She wrote the book--literally--on finding the right mate. But does she really understand what love's about?

Five hours before her Nantucket beach wedding--and on the eve of her big book launch--celebrity marriage counselor Kate Lawrence has everything in place.

Everything, that is, but the groom. She might not have a career, either, when her nationwide audience finds out their marriage guru has been left at the altar.

Enter Lucas Wright, who offers to stand in for the missing husband-to-be and marry her. Kate's desperate enough to agree--although she's sure this Mr. Wright is completely wrong for her. Can they pull it off? And why would Lucas marry her in the first place?

With her life spinning out of control, Kate wonders what good her carefully laid plans are if they only lead to chaos. Could it be that "Dr. Kate" doesn't know the first thing about love? When she seeks God's will instead of her won, Kate finally discovers true and lasting love.

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I could go on and on about the flowers, decorations, the church, etc. but that would take at least a few days worth of typing and it's almost my bedtime.

So what are some of your favorite things about weddings? What was the favorite part of your wedding? If you're single, what's your wedding dream? Your dream dress? Come on, as readers of romance I know y'all have thought about weddings at some point even if you've never been to one or are single. I'd love your thoughts on anything wedding related. Don't be shy! :-D

Comments

  1. Renee--
    That dress is gorgeous!

    As someone who hasn't been to a lot of weddings in my life either (well, more now that my myriad of younger cousins have all started getting old enough to get married), I had to do TONS of research on weddings when I wrote STAND-IN GROOM, and especially when I wrote Anne and George's wedding in MENU FOR ROMANCE. I'm ashamed to say I had to find a book that would tell me what the schedule for a sit-down-dinner reception would be because, at that time, I'd never been to one (been to two since, my two female cousins who both got married within the last year).

    Now that I'm older, I'm seriously considering either a Justice of the Peace or small home wedding. Both of my female cousins had "destination" weddings (one in the mountains of N.C., the other in Charleston, S.C.), and I just don't want to feel like I'm competing with them.

    Still, who doesn't dream of her wedding day/dress? Even if I stick with the small-theme, I'd still want a special dress. I'm thinking something like this: http://tinyurl.com/24abjl7

    or like this: http://tinyurl.com/2cyc3eu (I actually have a dress almost identical to this in dark aqua, which I've worn to two special events this summer!)

    My first dance song--at the party we'd throw to celebrate with our friends--would be a toss-up between Dean Martin's "That's Amore" and Etta James's "At Last":
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVI254QGSQ4

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  2. Gotta love weddings! :D I LOVE that song from Phantom of the Opera. You inspired me, Renee--I've been listening to Phantom of the Opera music for a little while now. And I entered that contest going on at Seekerville today--and I named my heroine Christine in honor of Phantom of the Opera. ;) Check it out if you get a chance!

    Thanks for the happy thoughts!

    ~Amber

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  3. Hi Kaye! I'm so glad you stopped by, you know I loved your Brides of Bonneterre series. It's so fun to hear about different people's dreams for their weddings. After my dad learned the cost of my cousin's wedding Saturday, he told me if I ever got married he would give me $3000 to "elope." I told him that was definitely NOT an option, I'm the kind of girl who wants a church wedding or even a beach wedding with a bunch of my family and a few of my closest friends.

    I just love those dresses that you have picked out, if I were you I would go with both! One for the actual wedding and one for the reception. BTW The dress that I linked to is definitely a dream dress since I would never be able to afford a Maggie Sottero dress.

    I love your song selections too, you can't go wrong with Dean Martin or any of those Rat Pack singers, they're awesome!

    Amber! Thank you for stopping by! I am so glad I could inspire you hahaha! The night after the wedding I totally came home and watched the entire Phantom of the Opera movie...terrible ain't it? :-P

    XOXO~ Renee

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  4. Hahaha, my tastes change so much from year to year that I could get married every year and have a completely different wedding each time. I wish I had tons of friends who liked big extravagant parties, just so I could throw something big and fun and fabulous every year for our anniversary. *sigh* Maybe someday. ;)

    Anyway, I love the website oncewed.com - they have so many cute, original ideas for weddings, and feature photos from real weddings. This is one of my favorite ones: http://www.oncewed.com/32185/wedding-blog/real-weddings/sweet-brooklyn-wedding-ii/. I love how it's so urban, but totally sweet and romantic.

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  5. Oooh, I love weddings! Your favorite dress is gorgeous. When I got married, I looked at a couple Maggie Sottero dresses and they were some of my faves.

    My favorite part of a wedding is when the bride walks down the aisle! It's her big moment and the groom always looks star struck. :) One of my favorite pictures from our wedding, is the look on my hubby's face when he saw me walking towards him.

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  6. Renee,

    Too funny! :p But I can't blame you a bit--I love Phantom of the Opera, too!

    And thanks again for the inspiration. ;)

    ~Amber

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  7. I love weddings. Never been in one though. Sigh. Someday though I hope! I love to attend them (That dress is stunning!), love to even just look at pictures of people I don't even know getting married. I know... odd.

    I LOVED that book, but was more thrilled with the old cover. It was such a good novel. Is that picture of your cousins? Or just one you found on the internet?

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  8. My favorite thing about weddings is how each one is so different. I got married right out of college (yes, yes, we fit into the popular Christian college "ring by Spring or your money back" mantra). Two weeks after graduation. 22 years old.

    We decided to spend on one or two things that were important to us. Place was a biggie for us. Here's a picture of where we were married in the midst of lilac season:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/luxhunter/2309717527/
    We had the full traditional old-fashioned wedding with a pipe organ, etc. Our reception was a more informal picnic in the park. We're both shy and not very crowd-oriented people...this was perfect for us.

    And the best part of the wedding...when you get to leave, of course...

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  9. Wow I leave for a while and come back to all your wonderful comments! Keep 'em coming!

    Rachel! I sooo wish I could have been at your wedding, it had to have been one of the most romantic settings! People, I know this girl personally and she got married in a castle in Scotland!!!! I love that site too Rachel, and those wedding photos are so cute.

    Sara, I just love to watch the grooms faces at weddings. You totally know when the bride first comes into view from the complete change of expression on the groom's face! *Sigh*

    Amber- You're welcome :-P

    Casey- I've never been in a wedding either and it's totally not weird to like to look at wedding photos. When their is so much sadness in the world it's nice to be able to look at wedding photos where everyone is always so happy.

    Julia- The location of your wedding is gorgeous! It looks gothic. I can just picture that pipe organ and all! A picnic reception sounds very cool, did you eat at tables or on blankets? If you ate on blankets at least the people couldn't beat on the table to get you to kiss every 2 seconds hahahaha!

    XOXO~ Renee

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  10. Casey, that is just a pic I found on the Internet that I thought was so cute and I agree the older cover for TCG is better!

    Rachel I LOVE this wedding! It's so Victorian and definitely something I could see myself doing! :-P
    http://www.oncewed.com/9742/real-weddings/rustic/multi/adam-tess/?currentPage=1

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  11. Renee, The whole ceremony had a kind of Victorian feel to it (my very favorite era) :). It was in a park pavilion so we did eat at tables. And there was plenty of beating on the table, :).

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  12. I am obsessed with the number 5! It's my lucky number. I don't believe in luck, exactly, but I think God humors me with my "5" obsession.
    I always joked for years that I would marry on May 5, 2005. I didn't even have anybody at the time. My anniversary ended up being May 5, 2005. We even got married on a Thursday, so it would be on the 5th day of the week.
    We decided on a Hawaiian themed wedding. We even had sand brought in(it was put on top of plastic for easy removal). A friend from Hawaii sent me and Jonathan a wedding headband and a lei. I'm still so grateful for those!! Instead of the traditional wedding song, I had the Elvis wedding song playing. We're both shy, so it was short and sweet! :)

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  13. One of my favorite things about a wedding is the dress. Your dream dress is so pretty. I had never heard of that designer but she has some pretty dresses.

    My husband and I got married in Gatlinburg, TN (http://www.chapelwedding.com/index.html) The funny thing is I first went to the Smokey Mountains in 1999 with my mom and aunt and fell in love with the place and really wanted to get married there. Then we went back in 2005 and my aunt kept saying we probably wouldn't ever go back so we better see everything we wanted to see. Well, my aunt was wrong cause she was back the very next year to see me get married. :D

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  14. @Bluerose OK, you've got me cracking up on your 5 obsession! So this was your 5th anniversary, too, then! How fun! I love the Hawaiian theme!

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  15. @Renee- you're right, i love love love that victorian-style wedding! better save some pictures so you have something to refer to when your big day comes up. ;)

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  16. Julia- Oh gosh I'll just bet your wedding was lovely. From my profile and the earlier comment I made you know that the Victorian era is my favorite too!

    Tammy- A Hawaiian theme?! That is soooo awesome! Did you go to Hawaii on your honeymoon?

    Angie! That little chapel in the woods is so pretty!!! I can definitely see why you chose that spot!

    Rachel- Hahaha you know I will keep it in mind :-)

    XOXO~ Renee

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  17. @Julia- lol-I could go on and on with my 5 obsession. We had string lights, so i wanted it a little dark for some of the pictures. So the wedding started @ 6:55, just to get in the number 5. I know, that's kinda sad!
    @Renee-We still haven't actually been to Hawaii yet. "sigh" Someday, though! :)

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  18. I think a wedding at a beach would be so pretty, but since I am not really a beach girl, that probably isn't where I would get married.

    Here is something you might not see everyday: I actually found a knitting pattern for a wedding dress. Though the thought did cross my mind, I would probably not make my wedding dress!

    Ah good, Renee, I'm not the only one who likes to look at random wedding pics. :)

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  19. Wow! There is a lot to this post. I will need to visit again to watch the videos soon.

    Lovely post! Gorgeous photos!

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  20. 1. I heart Stevie Nicks!
    2. Ooooo Phantom. Be still my heart!
    3. Gorgeous gown!
    4. FAB cake!

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  21. Thank ya ladies for leaving comments!

    Juju you crack me up! :-P

    XOXO~ Renee

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