Wisdom from "Say Yes to the Dress"

This weekend, Sharon endured the Dodgers' visit to Washington (two games in person, one game on TV). Since I figured I owed her one, we watched the Season 5 premiere of TLC's "Say Yes to the Dress."

I'm usually pretty opposed to the Exploitation Channel ... errr, I mean, TLC ... with shows about people with too many kids, who are too fat to leave their own homes, or who are barely 4 feet tall as adults.

Anyways, SYTTD did a nice episode showing brides who were in violation of fashion consultant Randy's "rules" for dress shopping, which I'll paraphrase:

(1) Don't keep shopping for dresses once you've bought one.

(2) Don't try on a dress that's out of your price range.

(3) Don't keep secrets from your consultant (such as, "I already have my heart set on a dress I saw at another store").

It's easy to see how any of these three can result in disappointment.

I don't think we've explicitly announced it here, but Sharon bought a dress a few weeks ago. It's sitting in a garment bag in our closet, and I've been admonished not to touch it or look at it in the 365+ days until our wedding.

Yet SYTTD episodes continue to clog our DVR. Maybe Sharon is in violation of Rule 1? Even more so the woman whom Sharon bought the dress from; she bought five wedding dresses because she couldn't decide. Such indecision can be expensive, as it's hard to sell a dress, even unworn, for what you paid for it, not to mention the hassle involved. Maybe it's better to do a little more thinking before whipping out the credit card?

Review: Anti-Bride Etiquette Guide

This past weekend, Greg and I flew to San Diego for the oh-so-awesome wedding of my Phoenix buddies Chelsea and Joey. I was lucky enough to snag sale nonstop flights (thanks Southwest!), giving me plenty of time to dive into the world of wedding-planning book.

First off, let me say that for this and future reviews on this site (not that it attracts much attention anyway), I have/will not receive compensation, nor have the materials been provided from the company of the product I review. The Federal Trade Commission updated its guidelines for endorsements in October, stirring up much attention in the blogging world, especially around the wedding sphere, in which giveaways and contests are a main draw. The call for transparency and disclosure is one I support. Anyways, to the fun stuff...

When describing how I live life, family and friends usually use "different," "her own way" or "well, that's just Sharon for ya." So when I saw "Anti-Bride" in the title, I was sold. Well, not literally. I borrowed it from the  D.C. public library. (Go libraries!)

The subtitle, The Rules and How to Bend Them, rang true. I knew most of the traditions, but what mattered to me most was just how far I could go without totally offending people. Chapters were split into parts of the wedding (engagement, guest list, ceremony, etc.) and within those, there were very helpful comparison charts and histories of most of the traditions.

The most essential aspect of this handbook is the Q&A sections, which address many modern-day situations (divorced parents, money woes) in actual rational paragraphs, not just "Hate your engagement ring? Yeah, just suck it up, sweetie."

Its conversational writing style makes for a very fun read and the page layouts are varied — so you don't get bored — and mindful to the reader — so the info's actually useful.

My only con is that the few pages on interacting with vendors (mostly on tipping) wasn't expansive enough. I get that interacting with family and friends should be a priority, but that's not to say you shouldn't be courteous to vendors. Sure, they're the ones getting the money, but you're the one ending up with the experience.

Even if you don't necessarily think of yourself as an Anti-Bride, grab this book if you're planning a wedding. If anything, it'll show you that there are other options you might not have considered but could save you time/money/your sanity.