Please Don't Ever Use the Word Gorgeous Again

The other day, Sara at $2000 Budget Wedding (which I feel is a little like my blog kindred spirit), posted an article from the Washington Post about wedding reality shows. I don't watch these shows (mostly because I don't have cable haha), but I found the last point of the article very insightful--that there is homogenizing pressure from our culture to remake ourselves in that majority-culture image of perfection. From letterpress personalized wedding stationery to base plates to THE dress, we are supposed to recognize weddings by these markers. I am constantly amazed and sort of frightened by the ingenuity and sheer focus of other brides on these items. I have never thought about publishing a bridesmaid newsletter, making bathroom-amenities baskets, decorations etc. I don't really feel guilty about not caring about these things, but I am not immune to the mania. I've been to many weddings, and the only thing I remember from most of them is that everyone there really loved the couple and that was what made them so much fun. Yet, I still find myself scouring the web for remarkable, unique venues (piers at the National Harbor, anyone?) and wondering if I will have time with my classes and internship to learn how to sew and make fabric-covered wedding programs. Even if you don't buy the messages from the "wedding-industrial-complex," you are still obsessing about the details of your wedding. You find yourself writing a blog. Knowing perfectly well that after the wedding, you will realize that most of these things were not that important, no one else cared as much about these details as you did, and all the things you worried about beforehand didn't amount to much in the end. We are funny, ironic beings.