Rant/prettiness

So I know a few people have mentioned it already but I'm totally over "trends". Like the word is no longer allowed in my vocabulary. As far as fashion goes, I feel like I've really got a good handle on my personal style, what I like and what looks good on me. I'll look to the runway for fresh ideas and inspiration, but by no means will I buy things because it's what's "in" (plus most of those items don't flatter a curvy figure ...90's comeback I'm looking at you...).

And as far as weddings go I feel like a trend doesn't mean anything anymore. (google it, the things that come up for 2010 are birdcage veils, sit down dinners, and strapless dresses...I'm pretty sure those have been around for a bajillion years already). People are just going to do whatever they want to do. If they're doing it solely because someone else did then that's their problem. I saw a wedding the other day with some beautiful bird imagery, which many people use as inspiration, and they seemed to feel the need to overemphasize that this was very personal to them, the groom learned ornithology from his father or something. Which is very cool and I'm glad that they could incorporate that, but since when did we have to JUSTIFY our wedding decisions to complete strangers? I could maybe see explaining key things about the ceremony or deciding to walk down the aisle together or something like that relating to your belief system (though that really doesn't require justification to strangers either).

But decor? Is it really super crucial to preface your choice of stuff you put on a table with elaborate stories for fear of backlash about the cliche? I think personal blogs are an exception. This is our space to sort out our thoughts for ourselves and find the true purpose and meaning in this day. But the general wedding blogs that feature "real weddings", your very personal story is being thrown out into cyberspace for random people to see. There's too much objectivity and no context. Personal blogs allow the viewer to follow the whole story and get to know your personality. The tiny wedding features we ogle are literally a snapshot. If a photographer ends up taking 1500 pictures we'll see maybe 1% of that one day. There's a difference between a little summary of the day and trying to one up each other.

There were some posts going around about wanting to see more emotion and (real) people photos and less photos of menus and vases. Which I'm all for. I'm not sure when the details became the focus of weddings, all my grandparents and parents' wedding photos are of people and the occasional cake (but a cake cutting so there's still people). Because while I am a detail loving lady, I'd much rather have more photos of me laughing out loud than perfectly arranged food platters (maybe after shots of demolished said food platters...)

(I was caught mid-laugh as we were displaying how awesomely white all of us were. pale and proud!)

So...after all that I'll show you what spurred this little monologue and present my "justification". My dear mother doesn't read wedding blogs, she's looked at maybe three magazines. She likes to secretly watch platinum weddings when my dad isn't around and balk at the ridiculousness. I grew up thrifting and antiquing. My parents were out and about today and my mom found this:

An antique bamboo birdcage. She suggested it would look so pretty with flowers to display somewhere at the reception. See she came up with this all on her own because she has awesome style, not because everyone and their mother last year used birdcages at their wedding. And I love old-world flea market bazaar type decor (dude cost plus world market is like my sanctuary. I'm still bitter they don't have a registry).  Also it is approximately $25. I get the thrifty genes from my momma. So I'm all for it. It's not that i-have-to-have-birdcages but my mom saw it and thought of me, it's inexpensive (I'll totally be repurposing it for future apartment) and I will not demand a refund if the photog doesn't get a pic of it. Especially if she's too busy snapping away at fiance and i enjoying each other's presence.