Why you should read this blog

So you're over 35 and you're getting married! Maybe this is your second time (or third - we don't judge). Or maybe, like us, this is your initial trip down the aisle fantastic, because you didn't find anybody awesome enough to marry before now. Anyway, congrats (or in the words of Leslie's husband's people, Mazel Tov!)

Like any bride, you might be hitting the wedding salons, grabbing every magazine with the word "bride" in it, or Googling ideas for dresses and hairstyles and funky trendy places to get your photos taken (is EVERY  hipster wedding at a carnival now?).

And if you've done that already, you may have noticed that you're apparently supposed to be the mother of the bride.

Because what else could explain the lack of women over the age of, we don't know, 25, in bridal gowns in the ads at your national chain bridal emporiums? Or their absence in bridal magazine ads or most features that aren't obviously meant to be a token inclusion so you won't get disgusted and not pay $6 for their rag. Or just the weird looks you get when you walk into a bridal store and ask to try something on and the clerk tries not to look surprised when you say, yeah, the appointment's for you.

Yeah, yeah, we know. Youth and beauty sells. And we get it. We fully expect beautiful, thin, young girls to populate those amazing, slinky, expensive gowns and to look awesome doing it. Here's the thing - if you NEVER see yourself reflected in a store, or an ad, or in cool awesome blogs, you start to think that maybe you're not supposed to be there. It's like "Take your old wrinkly butt over to Chico's bridal department...wait, they don't have one? Whoops."

Remember that awful Newsweek story from 1986 that said that women over 30 had only a 20 percent chance of getting married, and that for women over 40 that went down to 2 percent? First of all, screw that story. Apparently, it wasn't even true then, and it certainly isn't now. In 2006, Newsweek revealed that 40 year old women now have a 40 percent chance of getting married.  Now, that's better, but we have a feeling that in this day and age of people waiting later and later to walk down the aisle that number will continue to grow. Shoot, among a random sampling of people whose last name is Streeter (our maiden name) and were born in April of 1971, that stat goes up to 100%!

Bottom line, we're not the unicorn.  That's why we wanted to provide a place for brides over 35 (or even those under 35, if you feel like it) to post their photos, look for advice, encouragement and signs that say: You're not weird. You're just in love!