I’ve recently found one solution to several problems and it fits in nicely with our recent topics of finding things on the cheap and being “green.” It’s recycleyourwedding.com!

What do you do when the wedding is over and now you’re left with the dozen or so copper colored table linens you had to buy instead of rent?

Or

You splurged on your wedding dress, so you will have to save on your escort cards?

Or

You’re left with 4 never used guest books that various family members gave you?

Buy or sell it all at Recycle Your Wedding! It’s an eBay like site, specifically geared for wedding accoutrements. With categories like Clothing, Crafts, Candles, Relaxation Services and Travel you are bound to find anything you might need at a fraction of the regular cost.

I love this idea because I find so much wedding day gear is disposed of, while not necessarily being disposable. There are several amazing dresses (some worn once, some not at all) up for sale on the site. I have no problem buying a designer gown that is outrageously priced knowing that I can sell it later. Living in NYC, storing a wedding dress indefinitely is not always practical anyway.

How do you feel about re-selling your wedding day? Would you be comfortable buying someone else’s wedding?

Since Wedding Belle, wedding advisor to the whacky, asked for exteme wedding ideas in her post a couple of days ago, I figured I’d chime in here with two words sure to strike fear in the hearts of wedding guests everywhere: Renaissance Wedding.

It was my cousin who did it. Some people, including the bride, her mother, and a few guests with too much time and money on their hands, actually rented costumes. The rest of us just cobbled together what we could out of velvet skirts and brocade jackets, throwing in a quick trip to the crafts shop for braided trim and veils.

I was not looking forward to this.

And yet. And yet, it worked. It was really fun, everyone was quite spirited (well, the mulled wine didn’t hurt), and it was one of the most festive, fun weddings I’ve ever been to.

I mention it here because it has a lot to do with design, and how we think of design. The wedding was outdoors, so there wasn’t a lot of decor to consider, but all the flowers were loose, casual bouquets, and the other decorations, like table cloths, were simple white. So the design, as it were, just served as a blank slate on which the color and creativity of the wedding party and the guests could splash.

So you don’t need, for example, a castle in order to have a Renaissance-themed event.

And nor do you have to be up on your history—most people, with a little research, will be able to dress for the occasion, without being able to tell you which famous painter died in 1564.

While you’re thinking of whether you’ve been to an extreme wedding, have you ever had a themd party or event? Have they succeeded?

Apparently a couple in Alaska recently hosted their wedding at a swimming pool. Not just AT the pool, but actually IN the pool. Instead of a walk down the aisle, the bride slid down a 136 foot slide into the water to meet her groom.

Alaska + March + Swimming pool = Wedding?

Thankfully, the pool was both indoors and heated. The bride and groom are both fitness fanatics and their wedding guests were treated to a pool party after the ceremony complete with a pool shaped cake (which is what… oval? square? kidney shaped?).

Even still, this is one of those off-beat nuptials that one hears about from time to time. Like the couple that gets married in mid-air after jumping out of an airplane or while snowboarding down a Colorado mountain. Has anyone ever attended one of these “extreme” weddings? I’m interested to hear a first person account of how it went down. Were all of the guests behind the couple’s choice? Did people enjoy it? Were the bride and groom pleased with the adventure, I mean, day? Perhaps I am most interested to find out how many of you would have a wedding like that for yourselves?

Let me know!

At this weekend’s wedding I experienced something I never expected…well really a few things I never expected, but here’s just one of them. Adam was quite surly all evening. Suzy wanted a massive dance party that went on all night. When it was time to do the chair dance and the Hora the (Jewish) groom had no desire to participate. The (Chinese) bride was obsessed with making sure that it went off perfectly.

This dynamic made for a pretty thn line for us to walk that evening. We had to get everything in that Suzy wanted, without pushing Adam too far. And we were pretty successful with the first dance, the Hora, the cake cutting, etc. Adam was grumpy, but did what he was told. But then the evening was drawing to an end. At midnight Adam made no bones about wanting to leave. The reception was slated to go until 12:30 a.m., so Suzy was having none of it and kept dancing. I was in charge of calling a car for the couple at the end of the night and knew it would take at least 20 minutes for the car to arrive. I told Adam I was going to call a car and have it here ASAP…then I ordered it for 12:40…and I told Suzy it was coming at 12:30.

Did I care that I told each of them a white lie? Not at all. I knew that Adam would feel better knowing there was light at the end of the tunnel and I knew Suzy wouldn’t want to leave one minute before 12:30 but that it would also take her a while to actually get out the door. In the end, they both got what they wanted and were none the wiser.

Coda: If you’re like me, you’re wondering why Adam was such a pill at what is supposed to be the happiest day of his life. Well, it turns out that they had already had a big wedding in China and he’d been sick for the past week. The poor guy wasn’t being a jerk, he was just partied out.