weddingrisk

…and three days since the proposal (coded Operation Enchanted Forrest by those in-the-know). Though I continue to grin goofily at strangers and spend far too much time gazing at my ring finger, the brain fog seems to be diminishing and little pink hearts no longer shoot out of my mouth whenever I speak.

Most of what I’ve been doing on the planning front has been orientation. I’ve bought a couple of magazines and looked at numerous websites trying to get my bearings.

My favorites include:

Indiebride - A site that rails against the Wedding Industrial Complex, but importantly not weddings themselves, Indiebride has already risen to the very top of my favorites list. I adore the “weddings we loved” thread and have already poured over recommended North Carolina vendors.

Martha Stewart Weddings - I like Martha for her pert, frank domesticity. The approach to weddings is no different. There are lots of free planing features, including a budget tracker which is at once very helpful and a little horrifying (weddings…are expensive). Of course, the site also offers up an enormous variety of farmhouse-elegant ideas and DIY projects ranging from templates for save-the-date magnets, to baking your own wedding cake. NB: Martha Stewart Weddings is also my favorite of the wedding magazines.

Once Wed - I’m sure sure how I stumbled here but the site showcases unique photos of real weddings, wedding concepts, and other snippets and ideas. The result is a kind of luscious online wedding collage - it’s really gorgeous. This site features weddings that are less traditional than the carpeted-ballroom, miles-of-taffeta confections that seem so omnipresent in the wedding world. There is also an expansive listing of used (”once wed”) wedding gowns.