Wedding-themed entertainment in Broward County!

Both of us Bride at 35 girls are big fans of the classic oldies sing-a-longs - we're still swooning over Darlene Love's girl group-tastic "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" performance from "The Late Show With David Letterman"`last week (That woman has to have an aging picture hidden in her closet, because I think she looks younger every year).

Which is why "A Taffeta Wedding" caught Leslie's eye. OK, the fact that this play, happening down her neck of the woods in Coral Springs, has the word "wedding" in the title has something to do with it too (Them things are on the brain, you know), It's about a sister act girl group called The Taffetas, who marry the four members of a doo-wop group called the Cardigans (also, incidentally, the name of the Swedish pop group that sings "Love Fool," Lynne's karaoke jam).

The play, a musical review with all your favorites of bobby soxed yesteryear ("Sh-Boom," "Do You Wanna Dance," the slightly culturally tin-eared but pleasantly catchy "Running Bear"), runs through Jan. 16 at the Broward Stage Door Theatre in Coral Springs. Check it out here here at http://www.miamiartzine.com/issue_main.cfm?btitle=taffetas+and+cardigans+wear+well&issuecatid=1007.

Go be cultured!

Merry Christmas from Bride At 35, Part 2!

As promised, this is the other half of the Bride at 35 team, Leslie, as I sit at a Little Rock, Arkansas sports bar with my husband, who is cheering on the Baltimore Ravens. And I'm writing about weddings, which is pretty much the antithesis of what he's doing. It also reminds me of the first time he took me to his favorite Baltimore sports bar with his old friends, where I interrupted him during a crucial play to ask him to look at a darling reception place setting idea in Martha Stewart Weddings.

Which brings us to why I, and my sister, am so thrilled to be able to share our experiences as brides of a certain age with you. The above story is just one teensy example of those funny things that happen as you are planning a wedding and more importantly planning a life. I am learning to integrate my life with my husband's, as I learn about Ray Lewis and interceptions and he learns about place settings and guest books. He is my partner and I am his, and as we celebrate our first married Christmas, we are both happy for the gift of each other and the patience, at the age of 39 and 40, to be able to accept the things we can not change and be humorously thrilled about the things we're learning.

And here at Bride at 35, we're embracing the season as well as our mission: to celebrate the love and circumstance that can happen at any age, and the beauty and wisdom (or not) that accompanies it. We want to share in your joy, your questions, your hope and fears and just the fact that love is possible. As are awesome place settings.

Happy happy joy joy!

Today's Bride (over) 35: Lynne Streeter Childress

Last week, Bride at 35 featured the wedding of Leslie Streeter Zervitz, one half of our sisterly blog team (Check out the post. So pretty.) Today, we thought we'd share the October 2010 wedding of Lynne, the other half.

2 years ago, Lynne was at a time in her life where she really wanted someone in her life, but decided that she wouldn't stress about it like she had been. She let go and let God, as the old people say, and God sent her an e-mail that E-Harmony was having a sale! At least that's how she likes to think of it. So, she met Arthur Childress, and they fell in love, and 2 1/2 years later (I am sure that she will elaborate more as this blog continues), he proposed. And they decided to not listen to people who told them that they couldn't plan the wedding that they wanted in 2 months (because at that point, they wanted to get the party started), and that Lynne was too old to have 9 bridesmaids, and sifted through other loving advice, some of which they took, and some of which they did not (but it was all in love, we know), and 2 months after their engagement, got married at the AWESOME Circle D Farm in Maryland. It was a beautiful October morning, and they laughed and ate and danced and cried (both of them) and had a happy day. And are so blessed. Beyond belief.

Here are some pictures, taken by UCricket Photography (and the last one by our my darling friend Nikki)...

Today's Bride (over) 35 of the Day: Leslie Streeter Zervitz!

Part of what we want to do here at Bride At 35 is to show, in words and in pretty pretty pictures, what being an older bride can look like. And for Leslie, who got married February 28, two months shy of of her 39th birthday, that looked like a pretty day in Palm Beach, Florida, where she was 20 pounds heavier than she wanted to be and, in some pictures, wearing Ugly Cry Face.

However, she married the man of her dreams, Scott Zervitz, who she met in high school and found again on Facebook, in front of a collection of friends and family of every type (black, white, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, agnostic,atheist, young, old, medium-old, well-moisturized and ashy.)

And it's still her favorite day. Here is what it looked like, in photos by Nathaniel Corn and Nerissa Miller, our official photographers, and other friends and family. Enjoy and see the possibilities!

Real Bride At 35: Sarah Kelly

Well, all right!

We were hoping that we'd get some submissions for stories about the real BA35's out there, and we got one immediately, from Sarah Kelly, who we went to Baltimore City College High School with back in the 80s (our posted Facebook prom pictures prove this. We were cute, though.)

Anyway, here is Sarah's story:

"Before I met my current husband (and only one I hope!) I had been engaged three times... 4 if you count my engagement to my now husband! The first engagement was with a guy I dated for 6 years... just wasn't the one. The second engagement I call my "accidental" engagement. I had been planning to break up with him and he must've sensed it because he asked me to marry him over dinner with friends! I was so shocked and didn't want to embarrass him so I said yes.
"There was one more engagement before I found "The ONE". In my 20s I had always dreamed of my wedding and had everything planned right down to the flowers and the month. BUT when it actually came time to plan.. I had a completely different wedding. Things that I thought were important then.. just weren't that important any more. I did alot of the things myself, i.e. invitations, programs, favors.. and used a Tech School for my flowers! God Forbid!! BUT everything turned out absolutelly beautiful.
"The wedding date was Feb 24th, and two days prior there was a huge ice storm, but on that day, it was sunny and 45. Even got gorgeous pictures outside in my strapless dress! When we arrived the place was locked and we had to track down the manager to open the doors! I remained calm.. even after my sister (the maid of honor) sprayed perfume on her dress.... leaving a huge oil stain right in the center.. No problem... I said 'Just put your bouquet in front of it,' which she did. I was so calm that my father in law even toasted to it in his speech!
"When it's the right person and time, all that stuff doesn't matter. As far as I was concerned as long as my groom and the minister was there, that's all I needed. I feel that I have entered a marriage that will last my lifetime becuase I had the opportunity to do all the things I wanted to do."

YAY! That is just what we were looking for! (See more of her beautiful photos at http://www.jasonknauer.com/gallery/4417293_3ZRAe/1/259535017_eZ2WC#259663593.

And we like how Sarah touched on what Lynne and I found when we planned our weddings, that they were completely different than the ones that were in our heads in our 20s. We didn't have to please anyone, including any earlier versions of ourselves. And Sarah, apparently, felt that too.

OK...who's next?

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!