For centuries, wedding traditions have been borrowed from across cultural lines to ensure luck, happiness, fertility and fortitude. Most wedding customs Americans hold dear are rituals that in fact come from somewhere else. The tradition of a bride wearing something old, new, borrowed and blue stems from Victorian English times. The classic American wedding cake […]
Wedding Feature
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Vintage Restoration
Right now, I know half a dozen couples planning nuptials behind the Redwood Curtain in 2018, with varying degrees of determination and exactitude. Peeking in from the friendship sidelines, I’m reminded of the Sasquatch-sized behemoth that is planning a wedding. No less than a jillion moving parts must synchronize on the big day and, unfortunately, […]
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Home is Where the Wedding is
While styles are fleeting, the meaning behind a wedding is timeless. A public celebration of a very intimate relationship, a wedding is designed to reflect a couple’s unique history and individual personalities. What better setting to tell this story than your own home? Seasoned DIY-er Jennifer Nolen married her sweetheart of 10 years, Brian, at […]
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Gifting Outside the Big Box
It’s nice to think a wedding gift might hold the same potential for permanence as a marriage. In our break-and-replace society, this notion is challenging at best. However, if carefully considered, the items on your bridal registry will put you on course for building a practical and enduring domestic armory. We’re not just talking housewares. […]
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Beyond Cake
Everything is coming together for a celebration as unique as you are, but that big, tiered, white frosted cake that is oh-so-traditional just doesn’t excite you. Consider some fun alternatives. First question: Do you really love cake but just don’t like the size and shape of the traditional tiered one? Cupcakes might fill the bill. […]
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Stocked
Stock-the-bar parties have been around — for housewarming or welcoming a new bartender into the fold — but recently there has been a lot of buzz about them as wedding showers. Guests bring two bottles (one for the party and one for the couple’s bar) or bar-related gifts. The host sets up food and mixers […]
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And a Sense of Humor
I recently read a wedding article that declared, “If you follow these steps, you’re sure to have the wedding of your dreams.” I’m calling bull. No amount of planning will save you from potential nuptial disaster. Before you even start with the Googling and Pinteresting, brace for the connubial stress — there will be drama. […]
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The Wedding Singer
It’s your big day, and you need music. For the ceremony you want piano, maybe light flute and/or guitar. Then there’s the reception. A DJ? Band? A sonic dose of get-up-and-dance is required to get the party fully stoked and started. Good thing Humboldt’s creative climate is rich with high-quality musicians — we’re flush with […]
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Bittersweet Romance
Those little tulle bags of Jordan almonds you get at Italian weddings are meant to symbolize the bitter and the sweet in life, and to wish the happy couple more of the sweet side. They also make you wish you had some chocolate. Locally crafted chocolate makes an indulgent top-off for your dessert table or […]
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Tie the Knot and Tie One On
Your wedding day is the greatest day you will never remember.” Although not exactly accurate, this proved to be the most apt wedding advice I was given before my wife and I tied the knot. I still smile to think about the blur that was my big day, and find it difficult to recall details […]
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The Internationals
Roberto Valle Kinloch and Jane Leer spied one another in the hallways of the Inter-American Development Bank in Managua, Nicaragua for almost two years before ending up on the same beach one afternoon. Roberto had recently left his post in energy policy to follow his passion for photography and was there taking pictures. He and […]
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Wedding Quilts
The advent of registries has taken a lot of the hassle out of buying wedding gifts, but also a lot of the charm. Sure, the happy couple isn’t going to end up with three toasters, but registries leave little room for the handmade, the heartfelt and the personal. A wedding quilt is one way to […]