Want people to “bet” on your relationship?

Monday’s Thrillist New York leads us to the strangely amusing WeddingBetting.com. It’s like Hot or Not (and the rest of ‘em) except it rates people’s wedding photos, and allows you to check back and see how they did. Man, if that’s not the most pessimistic thing I’ve seen in awhile, I’m not sure what is. Either way, it definitely qualifies as a stupendous time suck, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.

What’s the planning conversation look like?

I seriously wanna know what this looks like in the planning stage. Like, does one of the bridesmaids, in some pre-wedding meeting, say “Okay, girls. I’ve got an idea. We’re going to throw together some choreography and do Flo Rida’s “Low” at the reception!!!”

Is there, like, strategy involved, how many times do they practice, and did other songs get tried first? Inquiring minds wanna know.

Yep, Thriller always works

See, all you need to get your reception crowd up to dance is Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and a best man who’s more than happy to attempt to turn bridesmaids into zombies.

So this is what goes on…

For those of you who have been wondering what exactly goes on at the bachelorette parties when you’re told “a few of the girls are gonna come over and we’re gonna have some drinks and have a good time together,” perhaps it’s this.

Oh, and I most certainly didn’t tell you to skip to 1:36. This is probably NSFW for some of you, so I’m warning you here.

Listen to the lyrics, please

Okay, so I’m sure that some of the lyrics aren’t 100% spot on in the songs we’ve previously pointed out for playing at your wedding, but there are always going to be songs that you definitely shouldn’t be dancing to for your first dance as the new couple, IMHO. Let’s regroup on a few of those. And yes, I’ll be writing another post like this in the future, and we’re more than happy to take your tips, if you’ve got ‘em.

Over at Bridalwave.tv, they’ve brought up two Sarah McLachlan songs, both of which are great songs as far as songs go, but I can’t say that “I Love You” is a solid suggestion, considering how the song “turns out” towards the end. They’re spot on about “Angel” on the same record, but let’s consider the whole song when putting these dances together, no?

Howabout this classy, super popular song that we all can probably recite the lyrics to at karaoke, but probably haven’t actually listened to: Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On,” made monstrously famous by the film Titanic.

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

That’s not to say the song doesn’t mean what we think it does, but it’s not really “about” starting off a life together. It’s kind of dedicated towards two people who’ve been separated, only to be back again “one day.” Check it out: “Love was when I loved you, One true time I hold to, In my life we’ll always go on.” Again, beautiful song, as songs go, but not the best choice for your first dance.

Going WAY back to the summer of 2006, the ever-awesome Stereogum offers up a post where people have stacked up poor song choices at weddings they’ve been to (or been in, no doubt - “My friend chose this one, really!”). Some highlights (and really, scroll all the way through) are the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams,” or an absolutely random choice with “One” by U2 - even The Edge says that “it’s not that kind of song.” Now if only commenter Jim was serious when he writes that he’d gone with NWA’s “I Ain’t The 1″ which Ice Cube sums it all up in the closing with “I don’t see no rings on this finger.”

While we’re having fun, we’d be remiss if not to point out that Ten Car Train’s got a great list of songs that you probably just shouldn’t be playing at your wedding, unless you’re typically that humorous. Not that they’re inappropriate for first / last / parent / whatever dances, but they’re ones that if you were to play them randomly throughout, without being completely tongue in cheek (most people aren’t, sorry), then you’ll leave a few guests confused. That said, I can certainly appreciate the use of a totally inappropriate song as your intro, just because it’ll be a good kicker, but playing Luda’s “Area Codes” in the middle of a dance-happy segment probably isn’t in your best interests, as good a song as it is. My personal fave of that bunch is Pearl Jam’s “Betterman,” which isn’t exactly about relationships where a lot of positive reinforcement is going on.

[ed: it should be noted that, sometime soon, we'll have a batch of Grand Entrance songs that you should *absolutely* use because they'll a) make a lot of your guests cringe inside, but dig it or b) make an absolutely heart-thumping moment become just a bit more awesome. So don't get all snippy if it seems like a contradiction to this post]

Let them have fun

Over at AisleDash, Meg Massie points to an excellent item from Groom411 - Wedding Bingo. It’s probably something like a cross between bullshit bingo, for those of us in corporate America (Google it, trust me), and a State of the Union address drinking game. Except with weddings. And you’re probably part of the joke.

[We'll be keeping an eye on Groom411, a site we hadn't come across until now. Seems like it is another good regular resource to pop into. Now if only they had RSS....]

Vanishing dog shows up at wedding reception

In what has to be one of the more randomly coincidental - or impressive, depending on how you look at it - stories I’ve ever heard, check out this video report from WMUR in Manchester, NH about a lost dog, Bo, who found his way home by showing up at someone else’s wedding.

Bo had escaped from a kennel a couple of weeks ago, while his owners were away celebrating a 10-year anniversary, and was found when he “crashed” another couple’s reception - where a woman from the same kennel happened to be bartending. Now that’s pretty darn random if you ask me.

You’ve seen Dirty Dancing, right?

We’ve all probably seen Dirty Dancing, and I know a whole lot of people who’ve gone and taken dance lessons in advance of their wedding. But I haven’t seen a couple manage to recreate a scene from a movie. At their wedding. Until now, that is.

Friday Links: June 27, 2008

• Crystal and Nick share a quick-and-dirty run through of comparisons between platinum, tungsten, and titanium, three popular options for ring shoppers to choose from
• If you’re wondering what it costs, in general, to keep yourself well-suited (and we mean that literally), then check out Will’s roundup at A Suitable Wardrobe of what buys what (short and sweet, but on point) when it comes to a businessman’s wardrobe
• Leslie of Leslie-Manning Events, a wedding planning shop in DC, notes an interesting big of news from a local venue used for weddings, namely their drive towards going “green,” and what that might mean going forward.
• IDoSugar wants to know whether you think the wedding or the honeymoon are more important.

Following up on eBay and bridesmaids

This morning, I’d posted about Virginia Beach hairdresser Kelly Gray having auctioned off a bridesmaid slot in her 2009 wedding on eBay, with the winning bidder offering $5,700. The winning bidder, who had just opened up an account yesterday, turned out to actually be a representative from the Dr. Pepper / Snapple group. On top of that, Good Morning America reports, the winning bidder is going to pony up $10,000, almost doubling their winning bid. There’s a bit more to the story as well - go check out the GMA report for the rest.

Additionally, the Dr. Pepper Snapple announcement is here.

Now here’s an idea I hadn’t thought of

I know a lot of people who’ve tried to come up with really creative ways to pay for their weddings. Most of them end up borrowing some money from the fam, taking a loan on their 401(k), or just put it on plastic. Then there’s Kelly Gray of Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Ms. Gray, the NYT reports, managed to auction, on eBay, the fifth bridesmaid slot in her wedding next April for a whopping $5,700. Yep, that’s right $5,700. We haven’t heard for sure that she and her beau have landed the cash to pay for this event, but it’s pretty cool nonetheless. Let’s just hope the winning bidder - who joined eBay on 6/25 - doesn’t turn out to be a practical joker.

Looking for some wedding planning Websites?

Well, grooms-to-be, if there’s one thing that Groomify it should be about it’s pointing you in the right direction for cool stuff, and that includes other sites that can be of help to you in the whole wedding process. Thankfully for us, Emily Chang’s fantastic eHub has a great post Wednesday by Kim Lau that rounds up all the wedding-focused sites you could possibly want into a couple of categories (who doesn’t like sorting?). So head on over there and check it out, just try and remember to come back at some point.

YouTube IS educational, after all!

See, and all this time your bride-to-be said that the hours and hours per week (day?) you spent on YouTube were a waste. Now, you can just point to the video below, and point it out as something you’d like for her to learn how to do. Wait, nevermind. Just watch the video and enjoy.

I must say, the reason I’m re-posting this and not just linking over is that I thoroughly enjoyed the use of “hen’s night” and “pissed” in the context they’re in. Here in the U.S. you don’t hear “hen’s night” in place of “bachelorette party” or whatever very often, and “pissed” in place of “trashed” or “drunk” is something I heard my bride-to-be’s aunt - who’s from Canada - say a slew of times while she was in town to visit lately. That is all.

[via Christine @ Our One Heart]

Photo Frenzy: June 24, 2008

It’s the bachelor party edition!

• Well now this is most certainly not politically correct, and is probably NSFW for a lot of you, and is probably offensive to just about all the women reading this, but what can you do. Check out what these guys asked for while driving to their camping destination, followed by their threat for noncompliance. Nice. [censey]
• Who needs wine flights when you can take a beer tour? [anufoodie]
• Make sure if you go go-karting on your bachelor party, you bring your juice boxes. [TimvdS]
• Who doesn’t like some whore cake? [flight0001]
• And what bachelor party would be complete without the bird? You know, the finger.

Need some three-stone rings?

The Bargainist posts about Amazon’s 40% off deal. Turns out, buying certain three-stone rings will get you an extra bunch of bucks off.

Just a thought.

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