Erin and Cooper Davis attended the University of West Georgia, where they met and fell in love. They became engaged early last year and we asked Erin to keep a diary of how her wedding evolved from month to month, and to share those excited days of planning with our readers. This is a diary of one couple’s wedding, but we think it could be the story of any couple, whether they married years ago, or if they marry years from now.
January 8, 2017 - Engagement
Ninoshka Alvares-Delaney
The first thought that newly engaged brides-to-be have is starting their search for their perfect wedding dress. Most women have dreamed of their big day all their lives, and the pressure to find the wedding dress that matches those dreams is unreal. Although planning the wedding and finalising the design of the dress is a fun process, for many it can be extremely stressful and confusing. Relax! De-stress and enjoy the experience.
One theme that keeps popping up over and over again is the bizarre idea that bakers need legal protection so they aren’t forced to bake cakes for same-sex weddings. As dumb as this sounds, it’s a real thing conservatives have been banging on about.
The No campaign have regularly brought up the spectre of Christian bakers being forced into baking gay wedding cakes during their campaign against marriage equality. Earlier this week, when it looked like the Yes side would take out the postal survey, a draft marriage equality bill from Liberal senator James Paterson included provisions that would grant bakers (along with tailors, florists and other wedding-related occupations) the right to circumvent anti-discrimination laws and refuse service to gay couples.
Scottish business owners, Duncan and Vicki McConchie from Gatehouse of Fleet in Dumfries & Galloway are set to officially open their £1.9 million investment project on 30th November, GG’s Yard, a ‘Rural Venue of Excellence’. The new corporate and wedding events business is expected to inject *millions into the South West Scottish economy and there is already positive evidence of an early business boom in the area.
Local accommodation providers are reporting a significant knock-on effect to their bed nights as a result of more than sixty wedding bookings already taken at GG’s Yard. The venue took 18 months to complete meaning bookings to date have been based solely on its conceptual designs and exceptional customer service, with couples from as far as New Zealand and Australia keen to snap up a new, rural Scottish wedding experience when tieing the knot.
For Leah Dickerson Andrews, nursing has taken a different direction.
She said she has known since her teen years what her chosen profession would be. “When I was 16 years old, my grandmother was in and out of the hospital with congestive heart failure and I saw what the nurses did for her. It became a calling.”
Weddings are fun but they can be a tedious affair too, especially for the bride and the groom’s family. Indian weddings are known to be elaborate and grand and there’s a lot of effort that goes into making them special and a whole lot of money too. People tend to spend huge amounts on decoration and food so as to make sure that their guests have a memorable experience. Your catering bill can put a big strain on your budget but it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are six clever tips that can help you save money spent on food on your big day without comprising on the quality while making sure your guests are entertained.
1. Cut back on the number of courses: Keep a variety of cuisines and foods but you can definitely cut back on the courses. Include wholesome and filling snacks in the first course instead of small bites to avoid overspending on mains. For instance, you could skip salads and soups and keep a live counter for khao suay instead that serves the purpose. Similarly, don’t get carried away with a number of cuisines, focus on a limited but delicious menu instead of having a whole lot of dishes that end up tasting the same.
October is the global equivalent of a new year for fashion lovers. Already we’ve seen great fashion come out of the international fashion week and have been excited to see what our favourite designers from our favourite fashion capitals had in store for us. Even more, Guardian Life cannot wait to see what our homegrown designers offer for the new fashion season at the Lagos Fashion and Design Week happening next week and the Guaranty Trust Bank Fashion Weekend sometime in November.
For the newbies for whom this is their very first fashion season, here are few tricks to make the best of the festivities.
I have to touch one before I can believe it isn’t real. Before me is a garland of leaves, flowers and berries, with each element as delicate and nuanced as the real thing.
I am in a cake-decoration studio, not a florist’s. The flowers before me are ‘sugar art’, with each petal carefully created, before each flower is painstakingly constructed from several, dozens or even hundreds of petals. The whole garland is then arranged with a precision that belies its natural appearance.
If your last name is Waterhouse, chances are you know a thing or two about the races. So when we heard that Kate Waterhouse, the stylish daughter of Gai, was in town for the inaugural TAB Everest Day at Royal Randwick, we tapped the Spring Racing Royal for her beauty and fashion go-to’s, along with her tried and trusted tips for making it through race day in style.
What trends are you predicting to be everywhere by the track this season?
As we round out the traditional wedding season, you might be faced with a daunting task after saying “I do:” changing your last name!
It can be a cumbersome process, but if you create a list of all the places you need to change your name and stick to it, you might have an easier time.
