Something borrowed, something blue ... and something you.
Tomorrow, on Valentine's Day, 600,000 Americans will get engaged, or so Bride's magazine estimates. The weddings that result will be romantic, fun and very, very personal. These days many brides and grooms are rejecting traditional ways of getting married in favor of a wedding that reflects their personalities, interests and ethnic heritage. The emphasis is on creativity and personal style.
Jon'lethia Adams, 29, and her fiance, Lyle Roebuck, 30, both grew up at the beach - she on the shores of New Jersey, he on the shores of St. Thomas. They had their first date at the Baltimore harbor.
Because of where they're from and where they met, Adams says, "We're having a beach wedding July 1, 2006," although which beach hasn't been decided on yet. It's likely to be hot, so her bridesmaids will carry white parasols instead of bouquets, and bottles of water with the couple's names and the wedding date will be passed out with the programs. The bride and groom will probably jump the broom.
"It's not the parents' party anymore," says Cynthia Hornblower, executive editor of Bride's. "Couples are older" - the average age of the bride is 27, of the groom, 29 - "they may be living together, and they know each other. The weddings they create, they want to be personalized."
Because they have usually been working for a few years, many of them are picking up part or all of the tab, which can be considerable. (The average cost of an American wedding is now $26,327.) He who pays the piper calls the tune, and in the new millennium, the tune is as likely to be "Take My Breath Away" as Mendelssohn or Pachelbel.
It used to be that girls dreamed of a fairytale wedding like Princess Diana's royal nuptials. It was the sort of event their mothers could plan almost in its entirety. All the bride-to-be had to do was show up for the dress fitting.
Personal touches
Nowadays, the bride-to-be and her fiance want even the most formal ceremony to be original. They have definite ideas about everything from the save-the-date cards to the getaway transportation.
Kelly Zimmerman, who lives in Charles Village, is getting married in June. The ceremony will take place near her parents' home in Virginia.
"We're getting a friend ordained to personalize it," the 27-year-old says - like the Friends episode in which Joey gets ordained over the Internet so he can perform the ceremony for Monica and Chandler. "We wouldn't want someone we didn't know to marry us."
