Revenge and eBay

Just caught this story from CBS3 in Philly about a man who is selling his soon-to-be-former wife’s wedding dress on eBay because said wife cheated on him shortly after getting gastric bypass surgery. It appears to be a pretty harsh situation involving credit card debt, lawyer bills, and so on.

[via Across-The-Board]

Survey says….

Dexie at She Knows Best linked away to AskMen.com’s Ultimate Great Male Survey, and I’m going to do the same thing so all y’all can check it out.

You’ll notice some key items of interest to Groomify readers (or at least I think so), such as 75% of men believing in soul mates (#1 in the Dating Survey), that 31% of men thought Bill Clinton “best represented men’s interests” as a president (#32 in 2008 Trends), and 46% of men are just not down with anal stimulation (#39 in the Sexuality Survey).

Enjoy!

Amazing and sad all at the same time

Via shop friends, I invite all of you to take a look at some of the wedding photographs taken in the Sichuan province of China on May 12 of this year, when a 7.9 earthquake hit the region. Leland Wong (mentioned in shop friends’ post) points us to these intense shots at sohu.com, which range from calm and collected to blurred and full of destruction.

With a hefty death toll, it’s hard to break it down to the fact that it’s not just about shattered buildings and wreckage, but that this will be the “I was there when that happened” for the rest of their lives. While we don’t have a solution or can’t say there’s an easy way to help those who were devastated by the earthquake, there are some small things that you might be interested in doing, such as snagging a shirt from Fifty Thousand Shirts as part of a contribution to those who remain in the Sichuan province and have to rebuild, among other charitable organizations.

News: July 15, 2008

Some news tidbits from the last day:

• The AP reports that a little girl who found a ring in a Wal-mart parking lot turned out to have picked up the real 1.26-carat ring of a new bride.
• Just because you think you’re making a grand entrance doesn’t mean you’re really making one, like this Indian Air Force official.
• Southern Weddings has a quickie about how someone who supposedly upgraded their iPhone this weekend ended up temporarily (hopefully, at least) bricking their phone, just before their nuptials, for which a whole slew of people were coming into town for.
• Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas got married.

Getting your first dance on (again)

If there’s one thing that you’ll continue seeing here, it’s going to be random first dances from people’s weddings. Now I hadn’t seen this one featuring Alya & Aaron before, but it’s made a few rounds and has almost 200k views, and it’s worth checking out.

 
It was shot by NYC-based Rockmelon, who posted about it on their blog back in February. [link via IDoSugar]

The first thing I noticed upon watching it was the number of camera angles that appeared to be involved. I mean, it’s not every day you get a two or three camera shot at a wedding, cuts and all, with this kind of precision, is it? Rockmelon video producer Leyda Cordova tells Groomify via email that their crew had three cameras present (one fixed, two manned), and they snagged footage from a fourth camera that a guest shot. Additionally, Leyda let us know that this was the first time that one of their customers had asked them to shoot a dance with the end result of it being the video getting posted online. She also said that most of the couples they meet with would be “horrified” at trying to do a dance like this. Not surprising, IMHO.

Some interesting facts came out of the conversation, though… Cordova ballparks that 2 out of 3 first dances shot last year were choreographed (which means that yes, guys, you probably need to get your dance lessons on), and that those of you who are thinking that the whole choreography and online video is a new thing need to get a grip. Turns out that the Rockmelon folks were seeing that three years ago while working in Australia, on the reg, with “Dancing With The Stars,” probably being an influence.

While I can see some of this type of thing being a bit of a fad, Cordova suggests that the millenials crew - along with Gen X & Y - are always going to be looking for a way to spice up an event, and their wedding will fall right into that bucket. She’s probably going to be more spot on than I am about this sort of thing, but I’m wondering how long it’ll be that people are specifically shooting something just to see what kind of chart they can top on YouTube or somewhere like that.

Props to Leyda & the Rockmelon crew for taking the time to share their thoughts on first dance videos, and we’ll be keeping an eye on their blog to see what’s coming next!

On Michael Ballack and WAGs

For those of you who happened to pay attention to the Euro 2008 tournament, recently won by Spain over the favorites from Germany, you might be familiar with the name Michael Ballack. Ballack is Germany’s captain, and the word on the street is that he’s all set to marry his longtime girlfriend, Simone Lambe (photos at JAMD) sometime in July.

The reason I wanted to post this is really to throw a dart or two at those of you who choose to drink entirely too much haterade when it comes to soccer. I’m not going to drop the whole “it’s the world’s sport” blah blah here, that’s not where I’m coming from at all - I like soccer, have for some time, and appreciate the better coverage it’s been getting Stateside in recent years. But earlier this week, my pal Mark from Nashville sent me a link to this post at the UK’s The Spoiler blog, featuring an “all-star” team of its own, based on the WAGs (wives and girlfriends) of the Euro players, by position. As you can see, playing soccer isn’t all bad, and maybe those orange slices would have been worth it to keep grabbing on the sideline after all.

[Photo credit: wax115 / morgueFile]

Recycling: Another option for when it doesn’t work out

Okay, gentlemen… What’s a guy to do when it just doesn’t work out?

Well, you Recycle Your Ex, of course. As part of the promo for the upcoming Bravo series “Date My Ex,” there’s a set of events where you can apply to recycle yours at a charitable auction on July 9 in NYC, July 15 in Chicago, or July 17 in Los Angeles. As far as the recycling goes, the proceeds will benefit the Natural Resources Defense Council.

In the meantime, you can feel free to check out the Crazy Ex Stories, peruse the auctionees, or post your own story.

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.

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.

Bridesmaid dresses from where?

Okay, this would totally be an OT (off-topic) post for this place 99% of the time, but I figured this would pique the interest of a few of you… Turns out that our fine friends at Victoria’s Secret are now rocking bridesmaids’ dresses. As if you and yours needed an excuse to pop into that store, now you have another one.

Turns out, it’s quite the chatter among the bride bloggers, and here are a choice few links for your reading pleasure.

• Sasha Souza at Sparkliatti “dares” brides to take photos like the “bridesmaids” in the VS catalog online. I dare y’all to suggest it.
• Leslie at Decidedly Uncomplicated cracks a joke, and a commenter makes a statement about dresses in general.

Here’s a wedding photo disaster

John tips us off to this post from Shoot! The Blog about a disastrous wedding camera story from Newburgh, NY. Yep, that’s right…a brawl launched out after a “dispute” about a camera that had gone missing. Not good, not good at all.

So when you hear that someone’s had a disastrous wedding reception, you should probably point them to this particular story. It probably will blush in comparison, and everyone should feel better afterwards.

Not in the cake. Never the cake.

Putting your engagement ring in a cake at some point for a proposal might seem like a good idea, but it’s apparently been confirmed. Not a good idea.

How do you counter this?

The Vancouver Courier’s Sandra Thomas writes about a fascinating opportunity offered by Vancouver’s Stiletto Storm, an exotic dance production company. Stiletto Storm is offering women the opportunity to take a “workshop” to learn all about exotic dancing, clothing, and whatever else goes along with it, for $235 (you do the exchange rate, I’m lazy today). They’re stating it’s a great option for stagette (read: bachelorette) parties, and I can’t even decide what I’d do in the case that my bride-to-be was having her par-tay in this fashion. On one hand, you could use these newfound powers for good - oh, okay, you could use these powers for good.

Rock on, Stiletto Storm.

Weekend Roundup: May 10-11, 2008

Here’s a batch of stuff you should probably be reading elsewhere this fine weekend.

• AisleDash’s Ilona Peltz points out a service that helps you use statistics to choose a weather-positive day for your nuptials
• The NYT’s Ginger Thompson writes about Jenna Bush’s wedding this weekend and how it coincides with the “winding down” of George W. Bush’s presidency
• Robin at The Road Less Unraveled has some things to say about a bride she saw on television that didn’t see how her groom should have any input in the wedding
• *ahem* Here’s an amusing statement about where a particular blogger will be this weekend should people not see him on his blog, given a “bachelorette party” he suggests being a part of in a certain part of Texas
• Interested in doing something a little different when it comes to the Wedding site concept that’s been around for awhile? Ning is offering up the opportunity to do a wedding network / community space if you’re so inclined
• The sports stadium thing doesn’t go over big with most women when you discuss it, but the Kansas City Royals offer up a pretty spiffy deal should you choose to do it at the stadium. For $500, you get quite a bit of stuff, including a honeymoon suite at a four-star hotel.

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