Blogs

A week after his wife of 43 years, Carol, lost her battle with lupus and lung cancer, Lee Ballantyne, 65, dined alone for the first time at Cicco's Ristorante, an Italian restaurant in Barrie, Ontario. When he spotted a young couple enjoying a romantic meal together, he initially felt jealous — but then realized the reason was because the couple reminded him so much of his relationship with his late wife.

Lee and Carol Ballantyne (photo via Facebook)

"Watching them smile and chat as they studied the menu at first made me envious, but the longer I watched, the more I came to realize they are on the same journey as Carol and I experienced over the years," Ballantyne told the Daily Mail. The high school sweethearts were married in 1970 and together have three sons and five grandchildren. 

Ballantyne tracked down the couple's waitress and paid their bill, leaving them this note:

Loverly is the heart of weddings: a visual inspiration search engine designed to help brides discover ideas, people to hire, and things to buy. Loverly makes finding beautiful wedding inspiration easier than ever! Their images are powered by the best wedding publishers and wedding shopping partners on the web. Find Bridal Guide on Loverly >>

We’re looking forward to seeing temperatures rise (sooner rather than later, please!), but while it’s still chilly outside, we can’t help but daydream about beautiful bridal cover-ups. For those tying the knot in the cooler months, adding a beautiful wrap or bolero to your big-day look is a chic way to stay warm at your wedding. Here are a few stylish options for winter brides.

1. A faux-fur jacket is the perfect topper for a vintage-chic bride.

Finally decided on the big date? Next it's time to share the happy news with your closest friends and family members by sending them a save-the-date that reflects who you both are as a couple. If Amy DeChristopher and Hunter Cain's creative video is any indication, then we have no doubt that their May 30, 2014 wedding will be awesome!

The couple had two children reenact their love story — with some seriously sweet motivation, of course (they were promised ice cream). From Hunter's guitar wooing to Amy's memorable gift, we feel like we know them now. Watch this awww-worthy save-the-date for yourself and try not to crack up:

Save The Date - Amy & Hunter from Dozenaire on Vimeo.

—Stefania Sainato

Did you receive an extra-sparkly gift under the Christmas tree or while ringing in The New Year? If so, congrats! One of my best friends just got engaged (hey Stella!) and I’m looking forward to sharing in her joy as a bridesmaid in the coming year.

Since she relocated to Jacksonville from New York a couple of months ago, I couldn’t celebrate with her in person and I was really bummed out about it. So, I did the next best thing I could think of: I mailed her a huge stack of my old bridal magazines and used Post-It notes to tag all of the things that reminded me of her, whether it be a dress, reception detail or bouquet. Stella loved it and she said my inspo package arrived at just the right time — the engagement euphoria was settling down and she was gearing up for planning.

Learn how to make this cute engagement gift on Ruffled.
Photo Credit: Anniemade

Someone asked me recently how I still get so excited about weddings after marrying my husband Jason just four months ago. Shouldn't I be swearing off taffeta and color palettes forever and just indulge in all of this free time that I have, now that I'm not painstakingly coordinating a 300-person event?

I've been fortunate to visit many different places around the world through my work as a news anchor. I currently live in Reno, but I grew up in Los Angeles, San Diego and Texas (Go Longhorns!). I also lived in both Spain and Costa Rica. Needless to say, my fiancé Chris and I have many friends from different area codes, so throwing a destination wedding is the best choice for us. 

Ideally, we want to spend a few days with our guests to have more time to catch up and create special memories together. The thought of having just one night with friends who we haven't seen in years sounds heartbreaking! However, we also understand that not everyone can afford a full-blown vacation to a far-away place, so we'd like to choose an affordable destination located in the United States.

Photo by: Jessica Hannon Photography on Jessica Hannon Photography via Lover.ly

Well, that certainly wasn't in the script! During a performance of "Peter Pan" at SSE Hydro in Glasgow, the lead actor, Sandor Sturbl, broke character right before a scene where Peter gives Wendy a kiss to pop the question to the love of his life — the actress playing Wendy, Jane Mary Sullivan.

Watch the adorable video: 

“Only a few people knew about my plan but I had to tell some of the production crew so that they knew to cut the music on time,” Sturbl told Daily Record. “I was really nervous and just hoped she would say, ‘Yes’ – otherwise it could have been pretty embarrassing.”

“It was a magical moment, and one I’ll never forget,” the bride-to-be, whose stage name is Lilly-Jane Young, added.

—Kristen Klein

We are just about halfway through the month of January, and so far, I am sticking to my resolutions! I was weighed at my training session with Bonne Marcus yesterday, and I'm down four pounds since my last weigh-in two weeks ago. Next week, we will take my measurements and see how I am looking there, which I am feeling confident about — my clothes are getting bigger and bigger. How is everyone doing with their own resolutions?

Last week I had a very successful week with my workouts and diet. Here is a recap:

I kept up with the “no starch” diet throughout the week. For breakfast, I ate hard-boiled eggs or just hard-boiled egg whites, snacked on unsalted almonds and fruit when hungry, drank only water and coffee, ate my veggie burgers and vegetables for lunch, and made lots of healthy dinners. We had plenty of grilled chicken and vegetables, split pea soup, and salads. At the beginning of the week, I found myself craving carbs, but by Thursday, I didn’t even want them, which was awesome.

Yesterday, I went food shopping and stocked up on healthy dinners: Mahi Mahi to cook tonight with asparagus and spinach, ground turkey to make turkey meatballs, and some more chicken and tons of vegetables to grill. I didn’t have time to make my own veggie burgers this weekend to eat for lunch, so I bought Boca veggie burgers to test them out. I cooked them on my George Foreman grill last night, then added steamed sugar snap peas and a cut-up apple to complete the lunch. I’ll let you know how I like them next week.

In The Emily Post Institute's latest book, Emily Post’s Wedding Etiquette: 6th Edition, Emily's great-great-granddaughters Anna and Lizzie Post tackle modern-day wedding questions that the original etiquette expert never could've dreamed about, from how to use (wisely) use technology, the rules for same-sex weddings, and much more. Here, the fourth generation of Posts tackle your biggest wedding guest problems.

One unadvertised perk of being a university resident hall director — your dormitory can help you pull off a truly memorable proposal!

Photo via Reddit

When Frank Tierney, a resident hall director at the University of Buffalo, popped the question to his girlfriend Katelyn Illingworth in front of his dorm, "Will you marry me?" popped up in the windows of the 10-story building.

"[We] blacked out all the windows with poster board," shared Tierney's friend on Reddit. "Then we traced out letters and poked holes along them, inserting the lights into the holes."

The process took about two weeks of planning for the group of 10 friends who helped pull off the proposal. 

"When he stopped her in the middle of the parking lot, he gave his speech and we all waited for the signal. When he got down on one knee, we turned each floor on in descending order with a person in the stairwell shouting to each floor when to turn their lights on."

Watch the video here!

—Kristen Klein