Blogs

Photo Credit: Diana Lewkowicz Photography

Most everyone loves taking photos at weddings. We all want to capture those special moments: the bride’s walk down the aisle, the first dance, the toasts, cutting the cake and more. I’m a huge photo-taker myself, but at a wedding I recently attended, I couldn’t help but notice how impossible it was to get a decent shot due to the number of other guests armed with cell phones, iPads or digital cameras. Just when I thought I had a great picture lined up, someone would pop in front of me, block the view and start clicking away with her own camera or cell phone. I gave up and later asked the couple if I could just take a few photos of them. They happily obliged.

Now, if I found it impossible to get some decent photos, imagine how frustrating all the guest paparazzi are to professional wedding photographers. Their goal is to present the bride and groom with a beautiful portfolio sans the interference of guests’ heads, arms, cell phones, iPads or cameras blocking the view. Plus, all those flashes can cause a picture to become blown out or create red or green focus dots on the subject. And some couples simply do not want any photos posted on social media sites before they’ve had a chance to receive professional pictures from their photographer.

When my fiancé Gray and I were deciding where to have our wedding, we had three choices: Tallahassee (our current home), Pittsburgh (my hometown) and Satellite Beach (where Gray grew up). Ultimately, we decided that Pittsburgh was just too far for us to be going back and forth and we didn't want to burden my parents with too much responsibility. (Also, flying out of Tallahassee regularly would have been a monstrous expense.) We crossed Tallahassee off the list because I wanted a fall wedding, which meant that we'd be competing with Florida State and Florida A&M football.

So, we picked Satellite Beach and signed a venue contract this past week (!) for a beach wedding at a Crowne Plaza in Melbourne Beach. Our wedding venue is located just 10 minutes away from where Gray's mom lives, but it's more than four hours away from our home in Tallahassee. We're currently dealing with the challenges of planning a long-distance wedding and we're sort of learning as we go. Here are some of the things that have worked for us so far.

Photo courtesy of Crowne Plaza in Melbourne Beach

To glow is one thing; to glisten and shine is quite another. Such is the challenge of oily-skin care — especially during the summer months. Here are three products that have become permanent members of my hot-weather beauty arsenal. If you have oily skin, you’ll thank me.

Step 1: Cleanse

Keeping pores clear is the key to a smoother complexion. The trick is to find a way to exfoliate regularly without irritation — if you have clogged, oil-prone skin, scrubs meant to be used only once or twice a week aren’t going to do much good.

A better idea: daily gentle sloughing. G.M Collin Active Exfoliant refines and exfoliates with rice powder granules, plus fruit-based enzymes derived from papain and bromelain (papaya and pineapple).

$39, available at spas and skin1.com

Step 2: Mattify

Finally, a mattifyer that really and truly works (take it from me: I’ve tried them all). Avène Eau Thermale Mattifying Fluid does precisely what it says, sans oily-feeling silicones. The star ingredient here is patent-pending Glutamic acid, which works to inhibit sebum production. The formula itself is a gel-fluid, with just enough hydration for people like me, who feel that regular moisturizers just exacerbate the oil-slick syndrome. Skin is left with a naturally fresh, matte finish.

This past week, I unfortunately did not lose any weight (on the plus side, I also didn’t gain any!). After my disappointing weigh-in on Saturday, my trainer Bonne Marcus took my measurements, and that cheered me up — I am down another six inches from the last time she measured me five weeks ago! I lost one and a half inches from my chest, two inches from my waist and two and a half inches from my abs! I had a good week last week eating and exercise-wise, and it definitely bothered me that no pounds came off, but the inches are important, too.

Bonne points out, “The scale is a poor indicator of whether or not you are overweight. Your body composition is not simply determined by how much you weigh, but by how much of your body weight comes from fat. Appropriate amounts of both fat and lean tissue are necessary for optimal health.” A better way to measure yourself is to through a body fat test with a skin caliper. Using the tool, “a trainer will pinch certain sites on your body to get a measurement. It is not completely accurate, but it does give you a good picture.”

Photo Credit: Jennifer Roper Photography on Oh Lovely Day via Lover.ly

Q: My maid of honor is planning my bridal shower and we both agree that children shouldn’t be included. Are we wrong? And how do we let people know?

A: No, you’re not wrong. Bridal showers are traditionally for grown ups. Little ones can become bored quite easily, especially if all those pretty packages don’t hold toys for them! Have your maid of honor and bridesmaids address the envelopes to invited guests only and spread the word that the gathering will be just for adults. 

—Diane Forden

Guest Blogger: Jessica Hochstadt, MS, Nutritionist and owner of “I Do” Nutrition
Jessica was a Nutritionist and Health Educator in a Boston-based hospital before deciding to focus her practice on brides with “I Do” Nutrition—a global weight-loss service that caters to brides and their bridal parties, on their schedule. She understands that everyone has a different relationship with food, and enjoys guiding bridal parties to appreciate the importance behind meal planning, understanding nutrition, and building a healthy lifestyle. In a time where our world and kitchen cupboards have become overly saturated with misinformation about nutrition, Jessica brings the simplicity back to a field that has sustained us through life.

Your wedding day is a lifetime milestone and will be one of your happiest memories. And while there will be plenty of unforeseen surprises on this day, there certain things you can plan for — like what you'll eat as you're getting ready.

About nine months before our wedding took place, my now-wife Claudia and I were entertaining some friends when someone asked who was going to officiate our ceremony. Without missing a beat, our dear friend Patty Woods proclaimed that she would. After the laughter died down, she stated that she would love to officially unite us in marriage. Having no previous experience with officiating, we didn't think much of it, and we assumed that the likelihood of this actually happening was very small.

A few days later, to our surprise, Patty presented us with the requirements needed to legally officiate a wedding. Armed with this information and her willingness to perform our wedding ceremony, we made our decision: Our best friend was going to marry us! Needless to say, it was all very exciting.

Although the process of obtaining her license was relatively simple, it did require diligence on Patty's part. First, she researched our state's minister credentials (we live in Indiana). There are many websites that can aid in this process; we used firstnationministry.org to obtain a step-by-step application. There are different packages available based on the duration of the license (two years, five years or 10 years). After paying a processing fee that cost around $32, Patty completed and submitted her application. Within a week, she received her officiant license from the State of Indiana, as well as detailed procedural requirements and instructions for filing our wedding license. 

Guest Blogger: G.E. Masana
G.E. Masana's roster of wedding clients have included magazine editors, models, art directors, actors, opera singers, cinematographers, fashion designers, graphic artists and photographers. He's been seen in Bridal Guide, Town & Country, New York Magazine, among many more. He currently writes about weddings for Huffington Post. A sought-after documentary wedding photographer, he's been interviewed by the two leading international professional wedding photography journals and was awarded by the International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers. 

Sure, it was an ancient superstition that bad luck would soon follow if the groom saw the bride in her gown before the wedding. In today’s modern world, though, even non-superstitious couples still wrangle over the question whether to see each other prior to the ceremony. The main reason couples today seem to keep the tradition alive is because they believe it builds up the mystique before the walk down the aisle. However, other couples recognize the time manage benefits of seeing each other before the ceremony — meeting earlier for photos gets you to your party sooner.

Drew Barrymore hasn't lost that newlywed glow yet — she and husband Will Kopelman recently celebrated their first wedding anniversary, but she still finds herself "smiling bigger than big" when thinking about weddings. 

In her latest tip video for her beauty line, Flower Beauty, she answers one fan's question about how to find the right lipstick for her wedding day. (Psst — Barrymore's The Wedding Singer costar Adam Sandler makes a special appearance in the video with a message for the couple!). 

A long-wear formula seems like a natural choice, but Barrymore had some major issues with her own long-lasting lipstick on her wedding day. Here's what she recommends instead:

Tell us: Have you chosen your wedding-day lipstick?

—Kristen O'Gorman Klein