There have been a few ads in the NY Times weddings section that spoof the real wedding announcements. For instance, we believe we recall a few for divorce services, but less ironically, there have been ads for marriage-related movies, like The Starter Wife. And this week, there's an ad for an upcoming wedding on the ABC comedy Ugly Betty. Of course, the ad is a lot wordier than the usual NY Times wedding announcement,......

Couples planning their weddings and receptions often face a dilemma with their guest lists. With relatives to consider and budgets to stay within, some send invitations to single friends without a plus one. The NY Times spoke to a few people about the single invite. Some understand that given per-head costs of $200, some guests' feathers will be ruffled. But one single woman says, "if Ms. Bridezilla who is so not a virgin but still......

This week, the NY Times has some suggestions for wedding gifts from stores affiliated to museums, reasoning that those stores have wonderful gifts that are appealing to "people who are tired of shopping in the same old places — and might enjoy spending a couple hours in a museum as well." We wholeheartedly agree - when you know the couple well, that is. If you are wedding gift shopping for a couple you're vaguely acquainted......

In this week's NY Times Weddings & Celebrations announcements: There are 50 announcements (49 weddings, 1 civil union) this weekend. There are 26 announcements with photographs of couples and 2 announcements with bride-only photographs. The youngest bride is 25, the oldest bride is 42. The youngest groom is 26, the oldest groom is 56. The Vows column couple had a long, comedic courtship since meeting at Yale; in fact, when the groom dropped to a......

People planning weddings - or people wondering why they've seen so many weddings outside lately: Theres a nice article about the trend towards weddings in parks and other public spaces in the city in today's NY Times Style section. With parks - complete with dazzling views - getting cleaner and safer, couples are getting married in Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in Brooklyn and Gantry Plaza in Queens. The most important thing to investigate is......

This week's NY Times Weddings & Celebrations announcements include: Forty-five weddings announcements, one civil union announcements, and the Vows column Twenty-five photographs of couples The youngest bride is 24, the oldest bride is 64 The youngest groom is 25, the oldest groom is 70 One couple had corresponded via an online dating website but never set up a date...only to meet randomly at a party and not realize their online connection until two months later.......

This week's NY Times Weddings & Celebrations announcements include: Forty-five weddings and one same sex civil union, plus the Vows column Twenty-four photographs of couples and one photograph of a bride-only The youngest bride is 24, the oldest bride is 62 The youngest groom is 25, the oldest groom is 65 The artist Fred Wilson unwittingly drew the couple in the Vows column together One bride is the program coordinator for the Kings County DA's......

The NY Times has a slide show of assorted items that could be perfect wedding gifts for book lovers. Suggestions range from whimsical bookshelves to personalized book plates. We were most intrigued by Levenger's Thai Book Rest - we suppose you could get a pair of two for a wedding couple. Or one, plus some massage oils and a copy of the Kama Sutra as a cheeky bridal/bachelorette party shower gift. Anyway, on with this......

With all the news of identity theft, of course it would have to hit couples who are getting married. The Post has an alarming story about a number of couples who, when applying for a marriage license, have found themselves already "married." It's believed that thieves use other people's identities to get marriage licenses and green cards. Denise Daskalkis "filed two appeals, multiple petitions, and attended a hearing at the Office of Administrative Trials and......

There's an excellent Vows column in this week's NY Times Weddings & Celebrations. It's the one for Fran Boyd and Donnie Andrews, two Baltimore residents whose difficult lives were the basis for the HBO dramas The Corner and The Wire. Boyd and Andrews were featured in a page one story in the Times last week, and the Vows column explains more of how they met and how they supported each other during prison sentences,......

We all knew the real estate bubble was causing insanity, but we should have known it's encouraged people to divorce. There's a NY Times Styles section article about some who wait until the market's at its peak to divorce - that way, they can benefit from an even bigger profit when selling their homes. There are quotes from Nobel Prize-winning economist Gary Becker, who showed that couples with a drastic rise in net worth were......

Customizing your wedding is standard these days, and wedding planning businesses aren't the only ones who are benefiting. There's been a boom in people applying online to be ordained to officiate friends' and families' weddings. But there's an unexpected catch: Sometimes those Universal Life Church ordinations aren't legal in the county or state where the wedding is being performed! The NY Times has an article about the issues with ordained-online ministers. One couple, a lawyer......

Aha! We were right when we suggested that August 8, 2008 might be another coveted wedding date to consider, now that July 7, 2007 has passed. The date 08/08/08 is considered very auspicious by Asian cultures (in fact, the 2008 Olympics in Beijing will start on that day), and some weddings planners who specialized in Chinese weddings are seeing a big rush. One told LJWorld, "We like to do three weddings max a day, but......

Before we dive into the Times' weddings and celebrations announcements, we'd like to note that the Styles section has an article for guests thinking about buying tableware gifts for upcoming weddings. The article suggests buying colorful accessory plates and bowls for couples who may have registered for white-only dinnerware. We're fans of white-only dinnerware, because it's very versatile, it doesn't have to be too expensive, and it can be dressed up or down. If you......

The most powerful suggestions in this week's NY Times Weddings & Celebrations? If you write about dating or a hapless love life, all is not lost! Actually, we got that idea from Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City, too, but not everyone can end up with Mr. Big or marry a hunky principal dancer at the NY City Ballet. Anyway... The most intriguing meet-cute is that of Kristina Grish and Scott Mebus, who were......

One couple who got married this weekend had a leg up on many other brides and grooms: They know event planning. As Lauren Berger and Stuart Ruderfer's NY Times wedding announcement explains, Berger works for NYC Big Events, a city agency that works on landing and promoting high-profile events, while Ruderfer is the founder and CEO of Civic Entertainment Group, which creates marketing opportunities and events. And they met when Berger worked at Civic......

If there's one NY Times Weddings & Celebrations write-up you read this week, read the one for Claire Israel and Oren Silverstein. Not only did the couple get married at Cupid’s Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas (but they'll have another service in Brooklyn next month), they also described how their initial online courtship had its roadblocks:When the couple met online in April 2005, Ms. Israel was as concerned about where Mr. Silverstein lived (New......

The wedding season is in full swing: Second week in a row where there are over 30 weddings in the NY Times Weddings & Celebrations section. Here we go: Total Number of Weddings: 32 (including Vows column) Total Number of Same-Sex Weddings: 2 Youngest Bride: 24 Oldest Bride: 47 Youngest Groom: 24 Oldest Groom: 62 Biggest Age Difference: 17 years Number of Couples Where Bride and Groom Are the Same Age: 2 (24, 38) Number......

The rain may be keeping people in, but by the looks of theNY Times Weddings announcements, many local weddings were yesterday. otal Number of Weddings: 32 (including Vows column) Total Number of Same-Sex Weddings: 0 Youngest Bride: 25 Oldest Bride: 54 Youngest Groom: 22 Oldest Groom: 54 Biggest Age Difference: 14 years Number of Couples Where Bride and Groom Are the Same Age: 3 (two couples are all 25, one is 29 ) Number of......

It's a holiday weekend for the NY Times Weddings Announcements! Total Number of Weddings: 9 (including Vows column) Total Number of Same-Sex Weddings: 0 Youngest Bride: 25 Oldest Bride: 51 Youngest Groom: 28 (two grooms) Oldest Groom:52 Biggest Age Difference: 17 years Number of Couples Where Bride and Groom Are the Same Age: 0 Number of University of Arizona Graduates Married: 2 (to each other) Number of Dartmouth Graduates: 1 Number of Yale Graduates......

It's time go over this weekend's NY Times Weddings Announcements! Total Number of Weddings: 24 (including Vows column) Total Number of Same-Sex Weddings: 0 (but the Styles section had a feature about "Dinah Shore Weekend," aka "The L World") Youngest Bride: 22 Oldest Bride: 38 Youngest Groom: 23 Oldest Groom: 42 Biggest Age Difference: 11 years Number of Couples Where Bride and Groom Are the Same Age: 3 (25, 32, and 35) Number of Columbia......

After a many months absence, here are some stats about this week's NY Times Weddings and Celebrations announcements: Total Number of Weddings: 9 Total Number of Same-Sex Weddings: 1 Youngest Bride: 24 Oldest Bride: 55 Youngest Groom: 26 Oldest Groom: 50 Longest Relationship Before Getting Married: 27 Years Number of Cornell Graduates Married: 1 Number of NYU Graduates Married: 1 Number of Princeton Graduates Married: 1 Number of University of Pennsylvania Graduates Married: 2 Number......

Amy Sohn, Novelist/ Journalist...