Photo by Richard Israel
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love,
melanie
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Tag Archives: bride
Books to Give as Wedding Gifts
Photography property of Corey Balazowich. Discovered via Flickr.
It is upon us! Wedding season! For many of you wedding season has already begun, but for George and I, the majority of our wedding activities are beginning this weekend. The dresses, and devotions, and drinks will kick off with a trip to a friends’ wedding in West Virginia. Then, we’ve got two more weddings in September and our own wedding in December.
Questions always arise about a gift when one is playing the role of wedding guest. The majority of the weddings we will be attending do not have a registry– which can be a blessing or a curse. The idea of a gifting on such a momentous occasion has inflicted a little bit of worry in my mind, but going registry-less can also be exciting. It gives the chance to show-case talents or give the people what they really want– CASH.
With registry-less weddings, I like to give a thoughtful book with money inside. Picking out books is my talent. And yes, I’m spoiling the surprise. Oops! Here’s some of my tips and favorite books for wedding gift-giving.
1. If the couple is going somewhere exotic on their honeymoon, a phrase or guide book is a helpful and entertaining choice.
For our friends who were going to Italy on their honeymoon, we got them a Dirty Italian phrase book stuffed with cash. I hope they stunned the Italians with their knowledge and dirty-word skills.
2. I think marriage help or marriage advice books are way too personal to give at a wedding. Those types of books may even send the wrong message to the happy couple. But a book of other people’s love letters? Well, that just sounds divine.
3. Have the bride and groom expressed interest in learning a new skill or do they have a collective hobby? Now would be a great time to give a book on canning, gardening, or homemaking skills– if your couple is into that sort of thing. I particularly like Canning for a New Generation: Bold, Fresh Flavors for the Modern Pantry. It’s filled with hi-res pictures and makes canning look surprisingly hip.
4. Does your couple like fiction? Classic love stories like this illustrated Bronte Sisters collection would be fitting. Personally, I would prefer a few lovely classic novels to start a personal library in our home together. I’ve been swooning over this classic novels box set for over a year and would love to receive it as a wedding gift. Hint, Hint!
Do you have any tips about wedding gift giving? Have you ever given a book as a wedding gift? Let me know in the comments!
love,
melanie
Why My Wedding Blogging Hobby Didn’t Last
I may hold the record as the world’s shortest hobbyist. I get interested in something for maybe 5 minutes (long enough to create this blog, I suppose…) and then I’m over it. But in some ways, I’ve never been that interested in my own wedding. Other people’s weddings? Sure, those are interesting, but I didn’t have to plan those.
I started this blog because I felt like I needed to be excited about my own wedding. But over the short course of this blog, I’ve come to believe it’s ok to not be excited about your wedding. Crazy, huh?
Sure, I’m excited about making George my husband. I love him to pieces. He is my rock, my partner in crime, my soul mate, but I don’t really care that much about a wedding. Sure, I want a nice dress and some (gluten-free) cake, but I don’t want 5 bridesmaids, 100 guests or a boat load of debt.
So, where is this all going? In short, I probably won’t be blogging my wedding much anymore. I just don’t like it very much. Plain and simple. After all, I believe in the sunk-cost fallacy. But I do enjoy this blogging hobby. In the future you can look out for book reviews, style posts, recipes, and whatever the hell else I want to write because… wait for it… THIS IS MY BLOG!
So how did I become so liberated? I read, I researched, I did what good librarians do. Here are some links that have helped me:
- A Practical Wedding : This blog has helped me to feel less alone in my wedding unexcitement. The tagline is weddings. minus the insanity, plus the marriage.
- Tick Tock Vintage : This girl is cute, cute, cute, a full-time teacher and a blogger– for fun. Her insights about why blogging is not your life are really inspiring.
- Freaknomics : The Upside of Quitting.
- NY Times : Eloping Does Not Mean What It Once Did
love,
melanie
Rocky Mountains: How Do You Deal with Everyday Stress?
The Rocky Mountains aka My Desk
This started off as a completely different post. I wanted to write about the importance of being lovable if you want to be loved in return. But honestly, I am exhausted and I don’t feel very lovable right now.
Maybe it is the Mars retrograde. (Mars in retrograde presents a series of events over which we seem to have little or no control.) I don’t know if I even believe in astrology, but I know shit has been hard lately. All the little speed bumps in my life seem to be adding up to a large, rocky mountain.
And I don’t want this to be a whiny, woe is me post. Because my life isn’t bad. I have a place to live. I have food in my fridge. I am in (relatively) good health. I have people that love me. But damn, home girl is tired.
How do you all dig a tunnel through the rocky mountains in your life?
Let me know in the comments. I hope to roundup some tips and publish them later.
love,
melanie
Bookish Brides: Hunger Games
I love the idea of fiction-inspired wedding inspiration, so I am starting a new series called Bookish Brides. Bookish Brides will feature wedding inspiration from some of my favorite fiction. I am happy to be kicking off the Bookish Bride posts with one of my favorite series, The Hunger Games.
Warning: The Bookish Brides Post may contain spoilers. Don’t read any further if you haven’t finished the series or if you don’t want to spoil the movie.
Clockwise from top:
- Bunting by FreshSqueezedBaby on Etsy
- Flowers by Judy Stalus on Etsy
- Bread Recipe by Rose Levy Beranbaum as seen on Epicurious
- Cake as seen on Martha Stewart Weddings
- Dress via Temperley London on Net-a-Porter
I imagine that Katniss and Peeta would have a small, intimate wedding with close family and maybe a few friends. I imagine Katniss’ mother would make a few decorations, like the bunting above. Katniss would carry primroses, of course. Peeta and Katniss would toast bread over a fire, as is custom in District 12. The cake would be beautiful and delicious because Peeta would make it. Finally, I like to imagine that Katniss’ dress would be elegant, but not elaborate. I’d like to imagine that Cinna designed the dress prior to his passing.
I hope this brightens your Monday! How do you imagine Katniss and Peeta’s wedding?
xoxo,
melanie
A Simple Love
Although I decided against working in an archive, I still love moseying through boxes of old documents and photos. Luckily, more and more photos and documents are being digitally archived and shared with the public through the magic of the Internet!
In “A Simple Love” I hope to post my archival, love-related findings. This week while browsing through the National Archives (on Flickr!), I came across the following images.
I adore these photos. The bridal party looks grumpy, there are minimal decorations and the reception appears to be held in a gym. But the couple looks so young and genuinely happy. It all just makes me think about the unimportance of centerpieces and flowers and cake. Sure, those things are lovely. But what makes the wedding is the couple.
I hope this couple is still together. I hope she still loves his slightly crooked nose and I hope he still looks dreamily into her eyes–even if it is just over a bowl of Beefaroni.
I’ve obviously thought way too much about these photos. Do you have vintage wedding photos of your relatives or loved ones? I’d love to see them! Email me at lovelibrarymelanie@gmail.com.
P.S. These photos were taken by Art Hanson for the Documerica Project. The Documerica project emerged when the “Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hired freelance photographers to capture images relating to environmental problems, EPA activities, and everyday life in the 1970s.” You can see the whole project here.
xoxo,
melanie
Welcome!
Welcome to my little blog. I became engaged last June and like most brides-to-be, I started looking at bridal magazines and blogs for inspiration. But I quickly became jaded– and quite frankly, discouraged by what I found. I kept asking myself the same questions:
- Since when did weddings become so elaborate?
- Since when did weddings cost $35,000?
- Since when did engaged couples have time to make 4,000 origami swans?
- Since when did everyone look like models?!
After becoming exasperated, discouraged and unenthusiastic about my own wedding, I decided to start this blog. I hope that love library can be a place to document small expressions of love. And I hope that it can be a place to share small, chic, refreshing weddings, easy DIY projects, and easily translatable wedding inspiration.
Join me in my journey.
xoxo,
melanie
