According to Brides magazine, December is the most popular month for wedding proposals. I attributed this to December being romantic. Wrong. December is practical. It's the month families are most likely to be together, which makes it easier to make plans. Of course, December includes New Year's Eve, which is a popular time for proposals, as well as resolutions - and marriage is a hard resolution to keep.



Then there's the Association for Wedding Professionals. It says the average American wedding costs between $21,000 and $24,000. Because this is often 50% more than couples have budgeted, they could cut their costs by cutting their cake differently. Smaller cakes can be made to look bigger with faux bottoms. Then slices of sheet cake the same flavor can be discreetly served to the guests. In this way couples can have their cake and eat it too.

More and more couples are having environmentally-friendly weddings. In addition to invitations on recycled paper and pesticide-free flowers, couples are giving charitable donations as favors to wedding attendants. Couples getting married for the second time are asking for charitable donations instead of gifts. Of course, if charity had begun at home in their first marriages, second marriages might not be necessary.

The Knot, an online wedding shop, says the choice of colors for a theme is as important as the reception location and the music. Because of this they recommend couples consult a color wheel. Colors next to each other compliment each other and colors opposite each other attract. For couples needing more help, Brides Web site provides a virtual color wheel. You can spin a specific color family or spin all color combinations. I chose to do the latter, spun and got Orange + Robin's Egg + Gold - otherwise known as dramatic contrasting colors. How times have changed. For my wedding Great Uncle Emerson's over imbibing provided the dramatic color.

For most weddings grooms rent their tuxedos. In spite of it being very likely they'll wear tuxedos again and in spite of men being able to wear the same tuxedo over and over, grooms rent their tuxedos. Brides on the other hand - the hand clutching Brides magazine - wear their dress once. Then it becomes a constant reminder of how much weight they've gained since they've been married. Because brides spend hundreds of dollars on their dresses, wouldn't renting them be a fashion statement that made cents?