Wishing You Good Luck

So, on a personal note, I am having a string of bad luck lately. Day after day it is one thing or another. Nothing major, but when all put together I really need for my luck to change. So I thought I would write about wedding luck. Take this with a grain of salt because if all of this is true, I have nothing but misfortune ahead!! Yikes!

The first worrisome fact is that Saturday (the most popular wedding day and the day I was married) is not the best day of the week to choose. The saying goes like this:

Monday for health,

Tuesday for wealth,

Wednesday best of all,

Thursday for losses,

Friday for crosses, and

Saturday no luck at all!

The next tidbit relates to what month you are married (note that my wedding month, May, is not so wonderful):

Married when the year is new and he'll be loving, kind and true.

When February birds do mate, you wed nor dread your fate.

If you wed when March winds blow, joy and sorrow both you'll know.

Marry in April when you can, joy for maiden and for man.

Marry in the month of May and your surely rue the day.
Marry while June roses grow, over land and sea you'll go.
Those who in July do wed, must labor for their daily bread.
Whoever wed in August be, many a change is sure to see.

Marry in September's shrine, you'll be living rich and fine.
If in October you do marry, love will come but riches will tarry.
If you wed in bleak November, only joys will come remember.
When December snows fall fast, marry and true love will last.

Then there is the issue of colors. Since the majority of the brides wear white or ivory, I will take this to include bridesmaid dresses (once again, my mocha bridesmaids are doing me in in the luck department as I love my hometown). Maybe we can extend it to flowers also if we are pushing it:

Married in white, you have chosen right.

Married in grey, you'll go far away.

Married in black, you'll wish yourself back.

Married in red, you'll wish yourself dead. (NOT a fan of this one)

Married in green, ashamed to be seen.

Married in blue, you'll always be true.

Married in pearl, you'll live in a whirl.

Married in yellow, ashamed of your fellow.

Married in brown, you'll live out of town.

Married in pink, your spirit will sink.

Here are some random things that denote good or bad luck on your wedding day:

Bad Luck:

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  For the groom to see the bride before the wedding.


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  If the groom drops the wedding band during the ceremony.


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  To practice writing your new married name before the wedding.


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  To wear your complete outfit before the ceremony. Many brides often leave one stitch out of their dress to ward off this superstition.

Good Luck:

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  To see a black cat on your wedding day.


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  For it to rain.


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  Seeing a raibow.


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  Meeting a chimney sweep (not likely in this day in age).


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  To see a police man.

Superstitions - Things we can do to help:

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  Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a sixpence in her shoe!


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  For good luck, the first gift the bride opens should be the first gift she uses.


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  The new bride must enter the home through the front door and must not trip or fall (why we get carried over the threshold).


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  It is said that looking in the mirror just before you leave your home for the ceremony is good luck. However, any peek in the mirror after that before the ceremony will bring bad luck.

And lastly, some random factoids to expand our mind for the day:

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  It is believed that at your shower the person who gave you the 3rd gift you opened will be the next to become pregnant.


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  If a girl sleeps with a piece of the wedding cake under her pillow she will dream of her future husband.


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  You always hear of ladies wanting to be a "June Bride". This actually dates back to the 1400's because May is when people took their annual bath. So then in June, everyone would smell fresh.


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  In Roman times, May was a bad month to get married because that is when the Feast of the Dead occurrs (once again, great news for me).


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  Brides used to wear silver. It was Queen Victoria who defied this tradition and wore white. All of her subjects wanted to be in fashion and copied the Queen resulting in a new tradition of white wedding gowns.


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  The veil now represents purity. But in the days of old it was to trick the evil spirits from seeing the bride.


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  Having bridesmaids all dressed alike was to trick the evil spirits into not knowing which one was the bride. When this tradition was in it's prime, the bridesmaids would wear white along with the bride to trick those pesky spirits.


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  Again with the evil spirits - tying cans to the back of the newlywed's car came from tying items on the back of horse carriages to make noise to scare away the evil spirits.


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  Superstition says that the first person to buy an item after the marriage will be the dominant one in the relationship. And as a result of this, many brides arrange to purchase something from one of their bridesmaids immediately following the ceremony.

I love this last fact! Shows how smart the brides can be since the groom didn't come up with it!

Well that is all I have for today. I hope this gives you some wedding conversation starters. Now when your husband to be complains that all you care about it flowers and dresses you can tell him that you care about your future very much and you need those colored flowers to ensure your future happiness :) Do you like how I can justify just about anything?

Trash The Dress

Blue Nalu Photography

I finally put Trash the Dress (TTD) in my blogroll, so I thought it deserved a little spotlight. TTD is just what you would imagine it to be. "The Dress" being your beloved pristine wedding gown and then you trash it. Literally. The couple above took it to a new extreme level and I LOVE it - but a lot of times it just involves fun frolics in the ocean with your new husband, etc.

I will be the first to admit that I did not have the guts to trash my dress. First of all spending an absurd amount of money on a dress you wear for one day seemed bad enough, but now I was going to trash Ms. Herrera? Now that is just blasphemy! However, every time I see new photos displayed on this edgy website, I get a tinge of....not regret....but a little voice inside me wishes I was a bit more daring! I envy those who have the confidence enough in themselves to even book a photography session like this! I imagine it to be very liberating.

Simply put, hiring the right photographer and letting go of all inhibitions make for some truly inspiring photos...it is like the following brides stepped right out of a magazine.

If this even slightly appeals to you I urge you to look into it! There is only going to be one opportunity for you to wear your dress and so if you can drag out that moment any longer - good for you! You really will treasure the photographs for years upon years to come.

You can get more information on the TTD site. A popular thing to do is hold a "Trash Bash" in your local area. Find a bunch of recent brides that are wanting to do this and share the cost of the photographers time. I think it would be ridiculously fun to have 15 brides on a beach running around and playing. Again, check out TTD to find out more.

Below are some photos of some real brides/knottie friends of mine who trashed their dresses. They will tell you they had an amazing time and it shows on their faces!

Sarah and Eric

Shelby and Drew

Emily and Phil

Rachel and Jack

So let loose and have fun getting "Trashed" :)

Our New Look!

So instead of writing thank you notes and doing laundry like I was supposed to today, I gave Wedding Pearls a new look! How do you like it? Leave a comment if you preferred the old layout and overall look better as I would love to hear from you!

Timothy and Katharine

Today's entry is on a personal note - I am back from my Houston weekend getaway. As you know, I went to a very near and dear friend's wedding with my husband last weekend.

First let me say that I LOVE TEXAS!! Specifically, Houston. I just loved it! Everyone was sooo nice, the weather was gorgeous (although humid), the town was hustling and bustling without being too overbearing, the crowd was young and seemingly up and coming, the shopping made me extremely happy - it was all just fabulous, definitely want to go back!

I think this was the *first* wedding (as a guest) where I had a LOT of emotion involved. I have been to friends' weddings before. Even my bridesmaid got married before me and I was at her wedding, but this was the most sentimental. As I said, my gorgeous and kind bridesmaid, Becky, got married a year before me and I was very invested in the wedding and loved the two of them so much, but since I knew her now husband so well, there was more of a sense of calm about my emotions.

Tim is a good friend of mine. You will never hear me speak more highly about an individual in my life. We went to high school together and even to college together and yet we never dated (a fete my husband does not believe and my mother wish she could have changed). Then he moved out to Houston to complete his post graduate work and got engaged to Kate.

I had never met her before and while I trusted in his judgment, I was still hesitant. I don't even consider myself good enough for this caring guy so WHO would be good enough for the person I hold on the highest pedestal of all? Well, as far as I can tell, she is! I was elated upon meeting her!

And I can tell you why she is special too - it isn't just a hunch, but more of the little things she did to make sure she became my friend and not just know me a bit through Tim. Many girls could have been bothered by the bond that Tim and I had, but instead, she emailed me directly (more than once) telling me how she can't wait to meet me, she became my friend on My Space, etc. It was GENUINE - a quality I don't think I ever fully felt from someone in that situation before. I truly felt that since I was important to Tim, I was important to her, and I felt the same way right back.

So here me and my husband are, sitting in the church - giving the eyes to Tim (I am giving the eyes, hubby is just sweating because we are in Texas) - hoping that he KNOWS how much I love and support him....here we are - can you picture it?

Okay, now the doors open and here comes this breath of fresh air - young and drop dead gorgeous bride!! I am kind of just standing there at this point wondering how Tim and I grew up in the blink of an eye and are old enough to be getting married (our weddings were a mere 2 months from each other). I almost wanted to press pause and ponder it for a while (preferably back at Florida State with some Pokey Sticks, but that is another story). Kate is with her dad, walking down the aisle, and she spots me....from pictures, she just spots me (granted I made sure I got the prime aisle seat, but whatever)....so she looks at me and seriously takes a moment (during her grand, look at me moment, only time she will walk down the aisle ever) and whispers "Hi Stacy" in the cheeriest whisper EVER! Well, needless to say I had verification right then and there that she IS special and I started crying for the remainder of the ceremony.

Without giving away the personals - their ceremony was in a quaint chapel with gorgeous gold metallic tiling on the walls and indoor columns. The preacher was very Texan and I loved listening to the drawl.

The reception was at Hungry's Bistro, one of their favorite hot spots. The owner, Ash (don't quote me on that one as I had a few glasses of vino at the point of introduction) was so very kind to all of the guests and was quite the storyteller too - great guy!

The couple are presently honeymooning somewhere wonderful in Napa.

I admit that I am a TERRIBLE person here for taking extremely limited photos - but my camera did not fit well into my pretty red clutch I was carrying, and we didn't know too many people, so the camera didn't come out much....but here is what I have.

THE HAPPY COUPLE

ME AND THE HUSBAND

(excuse the ciggy terrible habit of his!)

BEST PICTURE EVER - OLD FRIENDS

(me and the groom of the hour)

At the end of the night, I had to try to grab my friend and let him know how much he meant to me...it wasn't coming out well, but I hope he got it. I wish them a lifetime of happiness and I know they shall have it!

CHEERS!

Going to the Chapel

The Rice University Chapel that is...

Hubby and I are out of town this weekend going to a dear friend's wedding in Houston!! Since he is probably one of the most charismatic, smart (seriously he is the smartest person I know and I would venture to say he is the smartest person most of his friends know) and sincere people I have ever met, I am thrilled to see him on the happiest day of his life! We have been great friends since the ripe old age of 16!

I was promised great music (a jazz band from New Orleans) so I hope to have some photos and reviews to report when I get back. (Although no promises since my clutch is a bit too small for my camera)

CONGRATULATIONS TIM!

Rain Is "In" - Sun is "Out"

I prayed to God (literally) that it wouldn't rain on my wedding day. I searched historical records for my local area to find out that there has only been a tenth of an inch of rain on May 19th in the last ten years! I pleaded with the clouds and sun gods when I felt a "rain like burst of wind" come through my backyard on my wedding day. I attempted to hide my neurotic rain issues from everyone around me so I wouldn't hear the "don't worries" or the even more dreaded "rain on your wedding day is good luck" bull @#$#.

Luckily for me, my day turned out sunny as can be. But I am here now to tell you NOT to worry about it. Seriously. It rained on my bridesmaid's wedding day and she was so upset that she wouldn't get the outdoor photos and I was so upset for her. If I had seen the following photos then as opposed to now, I would have told her to EMBRACE IT!

My favorite examples of why rain is "in" are these gorgeous photos of my friend Rachel's wedding to her adorable hubby Jack. She is the one that I feel green with envy about in terms of photography (another issue I will delve into later). More of her utterly outstanding photos can be seen on Mandi Marie's blog which is linked to the right of your screen.

See the (beautiful) storm clouds closing in? I wonder if at that moment Rachel was thinking "Crap this is really going to put a kink in my plans."

Here, her and Jack are thinking "Hurry up and smile honey, we better get inside."

And here the lovely newlyweds are doing the dance of joy saying "It may have drizzled, but our photos are going to AMAZING!!!" This is my absolute favorite of all! I seriously stare at these photos non-stop because they had such a beautiful location (Rockhouse Negril), are beautiful people, and had a gifted photog to boot.

I kid around by interjecting my comments, but I seriously doubt tornados would really upset any bride because once you are there, you don't care about anything other than marring your beloved. And since I know Rachel, I can say that only she could embrace the rain as good naturedly and laid back as she did because she is just that sort of bride that professionals would die to work with. So we should all learn something from her photos (since my obsession is apparent - I will probably spot light her more when she gets more of her photos in).

Some other rainy day brides that made the most of it are knotties: Drzwife and Minotosgirl (currently cannot find her bio).

Drzwife

Minotosgirl

If any of you have more great rainy day shots, leave a comment and let me know. I would love to add more to this post.

So to sum up the topic: Whatever natural disasters or other supposed catastrophes come your way on your wedding day, go with it, work it, embrace it. Make it the new "in" thing because as long as you smile big like these smart brides, no one will notice it but you. And the right photographer can make any situation beautiful!

Also, random side note: If you are inclined to stick to the whole "rain on your wedding day is the worst possible thing that could happen to me EVER" school of thought....don't be surprised if it rains in "rainy season" in Florida or the Caribbean. Seriously. We don't call it the rainy season for kicks.

Once again, if you are stuck with your date make it work. Bring a chic black umbrella or a bright festive one to match your BM dresses. Bring brightly colored cheerful galoshes, etc.

More Flower Clips

In my pursuit of the perfect flower clips, I found this site. These flowers look much more realistic that the site I posted a few weeks ago. Some even have pretty pearl accents.

Late Bloomer Boutique