celebrations 2012

CelebrationsJanuary 20, 2012 • Journal & Courier • jconline.com

Traditionalglamour

Secrets of awedding DJPage 4

Brides clamor for delicatedetail of lace Page 2

That perfectfirst kiss2

2 Celebrations jconline.com | Friday, January 20, 2012

ON THE COVERA model wears a Mori Lee by

Madeline Gardner gown at theMoses Fowler House in Lafayette.The dress is available at The BridalBoutique and Mr. Penguin Tuxedoin Lafayette. (Photo by MichaelHeinz/Journal & Courier)

COMING TUESDAYPlanning a wedding on a

budget? Check out Tuesday’s YourFinancial Health section for tips onsaving for the big day.

High-society bridesLace dresses evoke royal, Victorian styleBy TAYA [email protected]

It was only befitting that KateMiddleton would wear a gown thatincorporated lace to marry PrinceWilliam in what became the mostfairytale wedding ceremony inrecent memory.

Her dress was a merger of tra-ditional beauty and royal glamour,subdued but quite unforgettable.One couldn’t help but be captivat-ed by the intricate lace appliquédetailing that ran over such a fit-ted bodice and flowing skirt.

The open-work fabric has elic-ited a sense of regal high societyever since Queen Victoria donnedHoniton lace at her wedding toPrince Albert in 1840.

“Lace evokes a sense of deli-cateness and fondness for detail,”

said Dan Rentillo, design directorfor David’s Bridal. “Dependingon the gown, it can also reflect asense of romanticism, traditionand timelessness.”

Last year’s royal wedding isn’tthe only ember fueling the bridallace furor. Another iconic weddingdress surfaced last year stokingthe blaze.

Carolina Herrera’s weddingdress worn by “Twilight” charac-ter Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart)in the latest movie was a moderntake on Victorian elegance. Thebody-conscious fit enumerated ev-ery slight curve while the Frenchlace paid homage to an era of tra-dition without prudish inhibitions.

The open back also added a bitof contemporary sex appeal.

Given the new fashion icons forbridal gowns and the overall trend

of incorporating lace into ready-to-wear collections, it has onceagain become a wedding dressstaple for 2012.

“We have tons of girls coming inasking for lace and vintage-look-ing (gowns),” said Tabitha Freije,a sales associate at The BridalBoutique and Mr. Penguin Tuxedoin Lafayette. “The royal weddingdefinitely helped, and a lot moregirls are having traditional wed-dings these days. Now that theeconomy is getting better, theyare able to spend a little more andhave that dream wedding.”

Lace has been incorporatedonto modern dresses in severalways. At times, it’s in the details— lace tiers to give a dress tex-ture or lace masked underneath

See LACE, Next Page

Celebrations 3Friday, January 20, 2012 | jconline.com

organza overlay.“Designers create unique pat-

terns by mixing different lacestogether or carefully layeringthem on top of each for depth anddimension,” Rentillo said.

Other times it’s in the embel-lishments — lace appliqué sewnright onto the satin in floraldesigns highlighted with detailedbeadwork.

But these days, it’s often in fullview — a lace train trailing behinda gown or a ball gown covered inlace.

The silhouettes vary as well.There’s lace on all kinds of wed-ding gowns from mermaid to ballgowns, Freije said.

Lace also has been used ondresses with shorter hemlines,either the actual wedding dress ora second reception dress, Rentillosaid.

“Styling can range from tradi-tional to a little sexy,” he added.

Although a delicate fabric, laceis a strong indicator of a bride’sfashion sensibilities.

“It shows she wants a tradi-tional wedding,” Freije said. “Shewants to look classy instead of themodern, fun look. It shows thatshe’s serious about what she’s do-ing and that she has some style.”

Many brides are going the tradition-al route with lace-covered dressesthat evoke classic styles. (BY MICHAEL

HEINZ/JOURNAL & COURIER)

LACEfrom Page 2 Grooms’ cakes get elaborate

By LISA A. FLAMThe Associated Press

Baseball stadiums, poker chipsand racks of saucy ribs don’tusually come to mind when youthink “wedding.” But these manlypursuits have found their way tothe dessert table through a newbreed of groom’s cake that is moreelaborate and personal than ever.

Traditionally a gift from thebride to her new husband, thegroom’s cake was usually asimple affair, made with fruit andliquor, and perhaps chocolate. Itis believed to have originated inVictorian England and arrived inthe United States in the mid-19thcentury, where it became popularmostly in the South.

Take today’s trend of highlypersonalized weddings, addthe fact that more grooms areinvolved in wedding planning,and throw in the popularity ofextreme baking shows such asTLC network’s “Cake Boss,” andyou’ll find that humble groom’scakes have evolved into works of

edible art.While traditionalists still honor

the groom with a plain, roundcake, many couples are orderingcakes in the groom’s favorite fla-vor and in the shape of golf clubs,fishing gear, football helmets,smartphones, and guys-nightfoods such as burgers, pizza andhot dogs.

“It’s really about the groom’sinterests and his hobbies andsomething that’s reflective of thegroom,” said Darcy Miller, edito-rial director of Martha StewartWeddings. “A wedding is aboutthe two of them. That’s one detailthat can be all about the groom.”

After last spring’s royal wed-ding, at which Britain’s PrinceWilliam requested a groom’s cakemade of biscuits, the popularityof the cakes among U.S. couplesis likely to get another boost,Miller said.

“All eyes were on that wed-ding,” she said. “I think (Wil-liam’s) groom’s cake will defi-nitely help inspire the growingtrend here.”


Getting theparty started

By TIM [email protected]

To make it as a DJ in GreaterLafayette, you have to be versa-tile.

DJ Mixmaster J — also knownas Jerry Strok — has a home baseand a booth he built himself at theEnd Zone, a sports bar and grillthat doubles as a booty-shakingnight club on Friday and Saturdaynights.

When he’s not spinning beatsfor the party people in Lafayette’ssouth side, Strok provides musicfor weddings, after-prom parties,Central Catholic High School foot-ball games and other events.

No matter what the gig, Strokrelies on beat-matching and avoid-ing “trainwrecks” — when themusic loses the beat or stops all-to-gether — at his gigs, whether it’s aclub or a wedding.

Strok gets wedding DJ jobs inGreater Lafayette, Indianapolisand in his home state of Wisconsin.

On a snowy Thursday afternoon,Strok told his secrets of keeping awedding reception dance floor go-ing, what happens when you com-bine a broom, stripper music andGrandma, and how “The ChickenDance” makes it into the weddingreception.

Question: How do you balancethe club and wedding gigs?

A: All my weddings are word-of-mouth. I have cards. I get a lotof brides who come up to me here(at the End Zone) and say “This isthe kind of DJ I want at my wed-ding.” A lot of DJs — I call themjukebox DJs — don’t do the art ofDJing. That’s how I get a lot of mybusiness.

Q: What is the “art of DJing” toyou?

A: Just the mixing, the blend-ing of the music transitions. Yourjukebox DJs and iPod DJs, they’llbe playing “Baby Got Back” by SirMix-A-Lot and then all of a sudden

DJ Mixmaster J — also known as Jerry Strok — is a DJ at many events inLafayette, including weddings. (BY TIM BROUK/JOURNAL & COURIER)

Wedding DJ shares his secrets,tips for a rocking reception

See DJ, Next Page


DJfrom Page 4

they’re playing something wayoff-beat and people will be outdancing and that will mess themup. We can blend in that slowerbeat. We can gradually get therewithout missing a beat.

Q: What process do you have inplanning your set for a wedding?

A: I send them a packet, itiner-ary and order of events. I letthem go over that. I send them apacket of songs of the first dance,the removing of the garter, thingslike that. Usually, it’s a six-monthgap before the wedding. I havethem review that and look atthat all over. Between then, theymight come up with somethingelse.

I send them a wedding DJ top-200 list with songs you hear atevery wedding: “Dancing Queen,”“Sweet Caroline,” “Don’t Stop Be-lievin’.” I say “X” off the ones youdon’t want to hear. Then, we gettogether about nine weeks beforethe wedding and we’ll go over ev-erything and talk it out and then

I’ll meet with them about a weekand a half or two weeks beforethe wedding to make sure wehave all the right songs. We don’twant to have the wrong songs.

Last year down at the CrownPlaza (in downtown Indianapo-lis), I actually did a weddingceremony also. So I do both theceremony and the reception.

Q: What are some songs guar-anteed to get the people moving?

A: I’ve been lucky. The lastseveral weddings I’ve done, thedance floor has been packed.“Mambo No. 5” is a big one. Ofcourse “Love Shack.” I try tostay away from “Celebration.”I do “We Are Family” by SisterSledge, which gets the familiesout there. A big entrance song is“I Gotta Feeling.” That’s anotherthing we do is the grand entrance.We’ve done some crazy thingswith that. I come in with FrankSinatra, real slow and elegant,and we’ll flip it to Black EyedPeas or something like that.“Sweet Caroline,” AC/DC’s “YouShook Me All Night Long,” thingslike that.

Q: What’s one of the craziest

things you’ve done while DJing awedding?

A: I did a couple’s wedding atThe Trails and the father was awedding DJ who recommendedto do this thing called the broomdance. Everyone gets in this bigcircle and I play the song andthey pass the broom around andwhen the song stops and you’reholding the broom, you have togo in the middle and do some-

thing with the broom. The bridecame up to me and said “Watchmy grandma. ... You gotta get mygrandma.” When it came aroundto her, she had no way to get outof it. I stopped it on her and tookher out to the middle and put ona stripper song. That was prettyfunny.

Q: What’s the most annoyingpart of the job?

A: The little kids who come upand say, “Play this. Play this. Playthis,” while I’m playing some-thing. Go back to your parents.

Q: What’s a song that you’resick of?

A: Uh, “Chicken Dance.” Mostof the brides will say “Don’tplay ‘The Chicken Dance.’ ” I’llsay, “Well, I’ll only play that ifsomebody requests it and I clearit through you.” Usually, it’s thebride that will end up wanting itplayed and she’ll be the one outthere doing it. So usually the onesthat are totally against it are allfor it when it comes down to it.“The Macarena” is another one,but I don’t play that.

Online: www.facebook.com/mixmasterj.gee

“Usually, it’s thebride that will end upwanting (‘The Chick-en Dance’) playedand she’ll be the oneout there doing it. Sousually the ones thatare totally against itare all for it when itcomes down to it.JERRY STROK,DJ Mixmaster J

8 TGIF | Ready, set, GO!8 TGIF | Ready, set, GO!

jconline.com | Friday, January 20, 2012 Celebrations 7Friday, January 20, 2012 | jconline.com6 Celebrations

8 Celebrations jconline.com | January 20, 2012

Couples’ letters take ceremony to ‘deeper place’By JENNIFER DOBNERThe Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY — The taskassigned by the minister aheadof our May 1999 wedding seemedsimple enough: a letter from eachof us telling her why — out of allthe possible people in the world— we had chosen to marry eachother.

The answer, too, seemed simple:love, of course.

“But you can’t use the wordlove,” the Rev. Constance ReddingSidebottom said. “That makes ittoo easy.”

Sidebottom, 68, a retired UnitedMethodist minister and my aunt,always asks couples for weddingletters and is certain they havetransformative power.

“Often weddings are for show,”said Sidebottom, of Polson, Mont.“The sacredness is removed bythe glitz and the money spent.But when couples are asked towrite the letters, they often moveto a deeper place. Their effortto be honest and genuine for oneanother is honored by God andmade holy.”

Beyond the ban on the word“love,” Sidebottom has other rulesabout the letters, which she readsout loud during the ceremony.Bride and groom are forbiddenfrom sharing their letters witheach other ahead of the wedding,and Sidebottom won’t officiatewithout receiving them.

Over her 11 years of full-timeministry, not one person has failedto write the letter, although some

have cut it close, Sidebottom said.One groom delivered his to herdoor at 7 a.m. on the day he was tobe married.

“Every single bride and groomsays they agonize over writing theletters because they understandhow important they are,” Sidebot-tom said.

Nearly every faith traditionhas a well-scripted formula forwedding ceremonies. There arespecific prayers to be offered,scriptural passages to be read andvows to exchange.

But the letters bring something

different.Through their own words, the

couple essentially writes theirown sermon about life, love andtheir expectations for marriage,Sidebottom said.

They add a personal touch toa ceremony much like self-writ-ten vows, a trend that began inthe 1960s as some couples movedaway from religious tradition, saidDiane Warner, author of the “Com-plete Book of Wedding Vows”(New Page Books, 2006). Warnerhad not heard of Sidebottom’sletters, but said that, especially instricter faiths where customizedvows are discouraged, they mightbe a way to satisfy both clergy andthe couple.

“And for those who have chil-dren, someday those letters willbe a really valuable gift,” saidWarner, of Tucson, Ariz.

The letters can reveal moreabout a couple’s individual per-sonalities and tell the “truth aboutwhat’s really going on” betweenhearts, Sidebottom said.

A stack of love letters sits beside the wooden box they are kept in at APstaffer Jennifer Dobner’s home in Salt Lake City, Utah. Dobner and her hus-band write a love letter to each other each year and keep them all in thewooden box. (BY JENNIFER DOBNER/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

See LETTERS, Next Page


LETTERSfrom Page 8

A carpenter she married someyears ago, for example, scrawledhis thoughts on a bid sheet, whilehis bride carefully penned hers onbeautiful stationery. The contrastmade the congregation giggle.

Another groom, a Naval officer,compared the bride to his favoritesandwich, peanut butter and jelly.

“He said all these things aboutthe stickiness and the sweetnessand the savory, how all the rightelements for a perfect dish hadjust happened to show up in her,”said Sidebottom, who confessesthe letter is her all-time favorite.“We couldn’t stop laughing, andwe couldn’t stop crying.”

The simple act of reading theletters out loud can add emotionalheft to a ceremony.

“It’s like the Holy Spirit infusesthe place and it becomes (thecouple’s) wedding with God,”Sidebottom said. “Everybody thatis there is affected.”

She said many wedding guestshave told her their own stories oftransformation. Some have beeninspired to begin writing anniver-sary letters to their spouse.

Sidebottom often hears fromcouples she’s married that the

letters have had a lasting impacton their marriage. At a visit to achurch where she once was pastor,Sidebottom was approached bya man whose wedding she per-formed more than 16 years ago.

“He and his wife are stillmarried — always a relief to me— and they read their lettersevery anniversary, and at timesin between when life was so hardthat they had to remember whythey wanted to marry,” she said.

Thirteen years after my ownwedding, my husband, Bill Kesh-lear, and I are also still married,and still writing letters. We writea new one each year and readthem out loud to each other on ouranniversary.

“It seems to help us re-commitsomehow, through the ups and

downs,” he said.We keep our letters in a wooden

box carved with Xs and Os, on thedresser in our bedroom. The boxwas a gift from Sidebottom.

Even now, the letters aren’teasy to write.

Some read like long bookreports that chronicle the years’events — the job loss, the death ofour parents, our struggle throughinfertility and a failed attempt atadoption.

Others are shorter, more liter-ary and sweet. I’m not sure ifthat’s a function of how much timewe made for writing or some signthat we had fewer hills to climbthat year. I doubt it’s the latter.

Some are messily scrawled onlined, yellow notepaper (mine),others (mostly his) are neatlytyped and printed from the com-puter. Neither of us has everskipped writing, although Billlikes to tease me each May by say-ing he’s not going to do it this year.

What’s most interesting to meis how the threads from those firstletters continue through each ofthe 24 we’ve written since.

Our commitment to the idea ofmarriage hasn’t changed, despiteour mistakes and missteps. Welove each other and like eachother. We respect each other, andin each other we have found acomfortable place to call home.

“It’s like the HolySpirit infuses theplace and it becomes(the couple’s) weddingwith God. ... Every-body that is there isaffected.”THE REV. CONSTANCE

REDDING SIDEBOTTOM,retired United Methodist minister

The Journal & Courier

MAKING A CONNECTION


Weddings ready-made for social mediaBy LEANNE ITALIEThe Associated Press

NEW YORK — As her grand-father sat pleasantly perplexedat her wedding, Lauren Barnesreached into the recesses of herstrapless white gown, whippedout her iPhone and accepted hergroom’s Facebook relationshipchange to “married.”

“Nothing’s official,” she said,“until it’s Facebook official!”

In today’s $78-billion-a-yearbusiness of getting hitched, thosewacky viral videos of whole wed-ding parties dancing down theaisle seem positively 2009. Socialmedia, mobile tools and onlinevendors are abundant to offer thehappy couple extra fun, savingsand convenience, though most ofthe nation’s betrothed aren’t readyto completely let go of tradition.

Some send out video save-the-dates, include high-speed scanna-ble “QR” barcodes on invitations,live-stream their ceremoniesfor far-flung loved ones to watchonline, and open their party play-lists to let friends and familieshelp choose the tunes.

They invite guests to live tweetthe big day using special Twitterkeywords, called hashtags, andcreate interactive seating chartsso tablemates can chat onlineahead of time.

One couple featured a “guest ofthe week” on their wedding blog.Another ordered up a cake withan iPad embedded at the base to

stream photos at the reception. Athird Skyped in a “virtual brides-maid” who couldn’t make it, so shewas walked down the aisle by agroomsman via iPad.

For Steve Poland, 31, in Buffalo,N.Y., it was the whole shebang forhis Sept. 10 wedding.

“We used the Twitter hashtag‘polandwedding,’ our nuptialswere read from an iPad by ourfriend, who got ordained online,and our wedding invites wereprinted by the hip Us.moo.comas postcards that we mailed out.I was really hoping to use Turn-table.fm as our music, but it didn’t

work out,” he said.Oh, and Poland and his wife,

Caryn Hallock, spent part of theirhoneymoon in a Hawaii tree housethey found on Airbnb.com.

According to surveys by themagazine sites Brides and TheKnot, tech is on the rise in theworld of weddings, with 65 per-cent of couples now setting upspecial sites to manage RSVPs,stream video of the ceremonyand/or reception, and keep guestsin the loop.

One in five couples use mobileapps for planning. That includeschasing down vendors and

virtually trying on and locatingdresses. Seventeen percent ofcouples use social media to plan,shop or register for gifts, alongwith sharing every detail online.About 14 percent to 18 percent ofbrides buy a dress online, accord-ing to Brides.

Nearly 1 in 5 couples go paper-less for invitations or save-the-dates. Many of those who havepreserved the tradition of paperinvites have dispensed with theinserts usually tucked inside en-velopes, opting for email or Webtools for RSVPs, maps, and detailson destinations or related events.

From proposals on Twitter toFoursquare check-ins from thechurch or honeymoon, weddingsseem ready-made for social mediasharing — or oversharing, depend-ing on whether you’re invited.

Alexandra Linhares, 23, is ner-vous about that.

She just moved to Marietta, Ga.,but she’s getting married in Aprilback home in Highlands Ranch,Colo. She and fiancé BradleyGarritson, 24, are taking care notto gush too much to their hun-dreds of Facebook friends. Othercouples turn off their Facebookwalls so premature messages ofcongrats don’t show up beforethey’ve announced their engage-ments.

“There are a lot of people Iwork with on Facebook and whofollow me on Twitter,” Linharessaid. “We don’t want to hurt

Groom Steve Poland, right, and bride Caryn Hallock say their vows duringtheir wedding ceremony in Buffalo, N.Y. Robert Palgutt, center, a friend ofthe bride and groom, got ordained online in order to perform their ceremo-ny and read the nuptials from an iPad. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

See MEDIA, Next Page


MEDIAfrom Page 10

anybody’s feelings.”But apps and online services have

saved her life, logistically speaking.“Since we’re planning a wedding from

thousands of miles away, we’re relyingheavily on technology to help us,” shesaid. “We have a private Facebook groupthat we use to communicate with every-one in our bridal party since we’re all indifferent states and countries.”

Linhares found her gown with thehelp of an app. She and Garritson relyon Skype meetings to interview vendors.They’re keeping track of RSVPs on theirphones, along with the usual tangle ofdeadlines. And they’re using an app tokeep track of their budget. The couplewent to the cloud — for online data stor-age and sharing — to maintain a masterspreadsheet everyone can access at anytime, avoiding the need to push updatesaround in email.

Such tools can be a godsend, so long asolder or not-so-techie folk aren’t strandedon the wrong side of the firewall. “Butthat list of people is shrinking fast,” saidAnja Winikka, site editor for The Knot.

Brides found that 17 percent of cou-ples register for gifts exclusively online.Sites have popped up making it easierto combine multiple registries into one— such as MyRegistry.com — and ask forcash at the same time for honeymoons orhome repairs.

Cris Stone, 33, will marry Jerry Delp,44, in San Antonio, Texas, in May.

“I already have a wedding website,”she said. “People will be able to watch thewedding via live streaming, though it’sonly for the ceremony because I considerthat the most important part of the wed-ding.”

John Ham, co-founder of Ustream, saidabout 10,000 weddings have been broad-

cast live from the site — Ustreamtv.com— over the past 12 months. “People wantto participate in the moment,” he said.

Stone is using DepositaGift.com. Itoffers a button on her wedding site sopeople can give cash for the couple’shome remodel “without ever worryingabout checks or actual cash envelopes,”she said.

“It’s proven extremely popular so far,and surprisingly not with the youngercrowd as we had originally assumed, butwith the 40 to 55 set who like not wor-rying about losing the envelope,” Stonesaid.

She jiggered her Deposit a Gift sopeople can contribute $25 increments ofbrick, for instance, or $100 toward thecost of new windows.

Nicole Endres, 25, in Centreville, Va.,and fiancé Dan Rodriguez, 28, asked forcash, among other gifts, on their weddingwebsite using Honeyfund.com, to helppay for their honeymoon in the Domini-can Republic.

On invitations, some couples are usingthe small, square QR codes to lead guestsonline for additional details, and shar-ing photos and video on Tumblr, Flickr,Picasa or numerous other fast, free sites.

As for the Barnes and James Williamsnuptials held Sept. 3 on the grounds ofthe Long Beach Art Museum, their offici-ant and friend Andrew Pachon used aniPad for the ceremony, but that and theFacebook fiddle to “married” was about itin the way of tech flourishes.

Williams and Barnes, a 29-year-oldphysician from Long Beach, had Pachonexplain toward the end of the ceremonythat the couple wanted to share themoment with their 400-plus Facebookfriends.

Before the ceremony, Williams hadsent his bride a Facebook request tochange his relationship status to “mar-ried to Lauren Barnes.” Once they werehitched, she accepted using her iPhone.

James Williams, right, watches his bride Lauren Barnesuse her iPhone to accept his Facebook relationship statuschange to married during their wedding at Long Beach Mu-seum of Art in Long Beach, Calif. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Brought to you by jconline.com

Find your very own “Home Sweet Home”.


Pucker up: Tips for the perfect wedding kissBy DEE-ANN DURBINThe Associated Press

When Prince William gave hisnew bride, Kate, a brief kiss onthe balcony of Buckingham Palacelast spring, the crowd of thou-sands wasn’t satisfied.

“Kiss again!” they chanted.When the two shared a slightlylonger kiss, onlookers erupted incheers.

Few other wedding kisses willever be subjected to so muchscrutiny. But there’s a lesson here:People love the wedding kiss, andthey have definite opinions abouthow a couple should seal the deal.Some want passion; some don’t.Some like staged moments; oth-ers want to keep things natural.Everyone wants the kiss to beheartfelt.

“There are extreme thoughtsabout the kiss,” said Kristin Koch,a senior editor at the weddingwebsite TheKnot.com.

Here are some tips to makeThe Kiss cheer-worthy instead of

cringe-worthy:

Talk about it.You talk through everything

else about the wedding, fromthe guest list to the bridesmaids’dresses. You and your partnershould talk about what kind ofkiss you want to share, or evenwhether you want to share one atall.

Chelsea Kopperud, 26, and herfiancé, Jeffrey O’Donnell, havealready agreed on what the kiss

should look like: classy and loving.“I would guess it will probably

be about five seconds long,” shesaid

Practice.It sounds silly. After all, most

couples have a lot of practice kiss-ing. But you might want to put ina little practice time, especially ifyou’re doing something you’re notused to, like having the groom dipthe bride.

Hope Bourgeault, 21, a socialwork student at the University ofWisconsin-Eau Claire, says sheand her fiance, Jeff Betterman,are planning to do a dip at theirwedding next August. They’realready practicing so it won’t lookawkward.

Or don’t practice.Some people insist that the

kiss should be natural, and thatyou should do whatever you feelis right at that moment. AndreaFassacesia, a New Yorker who’sgetting married in April, said sheand her fiance have decided to

“wing it.”“A rehearsed kiss looks re-

hearsed,” she said. “It should benatural, intimate and romantic.And, while it’s in front of hun-dreds of people, it should just feellike the two of you.”

Do something you’re bothcomfortable with.

Don’t plan a dip or any otheracrobatics if you’re not sure youwant to go through with it. Kochsaid grooms often feel more pres-sure than brides about the kiss,since tradition dictates that it’ssomething the groom initiates.

Don’t be gross.Just about everyone agrees that

extra-long, over-the-top displaysof affection are a no-no. Theycan look forced and make guestssquirm.

“Have fun with it, be true toyou, but a huge make-out or atongue kiss is just not appropriate,especially if Grandma and Grand-pa are watching,” Koch said.

Prince William and the former KateMiddleton kiss April 29 on the bal-cony of Buckingham Palace.(FILE PHOTO/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

celebrations 2012

Documents

theres lace

gown thatincorporated

delicatedetail of lace

masked underneathsee

wedding dressstaple

ball gown

years royal wedding

wedding toprince albert