Why engaged women should get to know Anderson Cooper

If you turn on the nightly news, sometimes it can seem overwhelming. There’s so much going on, and a great deal of it is about pain, conflict and disappointment. So why on earth would you want to stay in the loop at a happy time when you’re planning a wedding? Here are three good reasons.

1) just because you’re planning a ceremony and a party doesn’t mean you’re no longer a member of your community, or a citizen of the world. Keep at least one ear out for what’s going on outside of the World Wide Wedisphere.

2) building on 1, not everybody wants to hear the latest developments in your wedding centerpiece development. It’s handy to be conversant in what the rest of the world’s been up to.

3) and building on 2, your friends and family will be so grateful that there are non wedding thoughts in your head. Try bringing up other topics of conversation- watch the relief spread across the dinner table.

Live well, and love well.
Dinah

What’s In a Name? When you’re Getting Married, It Feels Like A Lot!

Marriage License Signing 2
Marriage License Signing 2 (Photo credit: Scott SM)

When planning your wedding, as a woman in our society, you get to contemplate whether or not you will take your partner’s name.  Some women have known all their lives that they’d be transitioning along the way, others have watched friends’ adventures as they hyphenated, kept their own, or invented new names. Some guys are very giving on this issue.  My stepsister and her husband BOTH hyphenate.  We have another set of friends where the gentleman (he’s the real deal, you’ll see) took his wife’s name so that her family’s line would not die out. Oh, that’s nutty, crunchy California, you must be thinking. But no – they are in that bastion of old-fashioned traditional behavior, Mississippi.  A gentleman indeed.

 

So what to do? I spend a lot of time in this space talking about not following the crowd, and respecting your instincts as you make decisions about your wedding.  I’d like to think that if you replace the word “wedding” with the word “life,” most of the advice can be extrapolated, since it’s mainly about being who you are, and trusting your choices.  This decision requires you to flex those emotional muscles in the most literal way possible, and to think hard about what you need to “be yourself.” One thing I know: it’s not all in a name. Not by a long shot.

 

Be well, and love well.

 

Dinah

Anne Hathaway Believes In Fairy Tale Weddings For All

Can we just say – Anne Hathaway is awesome?  My Little Flower Shop salutes you, Anne.  Reprinted from The Huffington Post.

Anne Hathaway To Donate Money From Wedding

Photos To Gay Marriage Advocacy Groups

Posted: 10/17/2012 1:27 pm EDT Updated: 10/17/2012 1:30 pm EDT

anne hathaway marries adam shulman

 Anne Hathaway is no stranger to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advocacy, but her latest effort might be her most profound yet.

The 29-year-old Academy Award-nominated actress, who tied the knot with Adam Shulman last month, will now reportedly donate some proceeds from the sale of her wedding photographs to marriage equality groups, The Advocate is reporting.

“Hathaway is doing her part to ensure that same-sex couples across the country can enjoy a fairytale wedding like hers,” Adam Polaski at Freedom to Marry is quoted as saying. “This week, she announced that she’ll be donating some of the sales from her wedding photographs to non-profits advocating for marriage for same-sex couples, including Freedom to Marry.”

Polaski went on to note, “We thank Hathaway adn Shulman for their support and appreciate their decision to take the opportunity of their nuptials to speak out about why marriage matters.”

The “Devil Wears Prada” star, who will next be seen in the highly-anticipated movie musical “Les Miserables,” reportedly grew up wanting to become a nun, but she says she shunned Catholicism after she learned her older brother, Michael, was gay.

“The whole family converted to Episcopalianism after my elder brother came out,” she told British GQ. “Why should I support an organization that has a limited view of my beloved brother?”

Accepting an award from the Human Rights Campaign in 2008, Hathaway once again spoke of her experience with a gay sibling. “In my household, being gay was, and is, no big deal,” she said. “When my brother came out, we hugged him, said we loved him, and that was that.”