I [heart] Martha Stewart Weddings. I can’t stand most wedding magazines, but MSW just has the right combination of DIY and impeccable taste to make me anticipate each new issue. I call it my “wedding crack”. I love flipping through it for inspiration, but seeing some of my own ideas, the ones I thought were completely original, on the pages of MSW will ruin my day*. Despite this, I devour issue after issue.
Most of my friends managed to get married without magazines. I have failed to live up to their modern frugal woman ways. I try to read one issue of a news magazine (usually the Economist) to balance out my vapid reading habits, but now, thanks to an impulse buy, I have seven back issues of MSW on their way to me.
I won them in two eBay auctions. I hadn’t intended to buy them, I always get sniped out of whatever I bid on, so I expected them to go to someone else at the last minute. Five arrived today and I have been pawing through them instead of working on my machine translation system. They are so pretty and colorful, and one even smells like expensive soap.
The biggest problem with these magazines is that they plant ideas in my head that shouldn’t be there. They put me in a fog where giving out taper candles as favors and edging 200 treat boxes with artfully cut doilies sounds like a great idea…and then I’m internet shopping…and then disaster follows. It takes a brisk walk for me to come back to reality.
Yep. It’s time for a walk. I almost ordered 250 green metallic Chinese takeout boxes.
*I can’t believe you, Martha! Screen printing favors and place mats was my idea. How could you do that to me in the summer 2007 issue?
I hear ya! I’ve been reading MS Weddings for years, just for the pretty pictures, even though I wasn’t really planning on having a wedding, nor was I in a relationship heading toward marriage for most of that time. And I also bought older back issues on eBay once I was actively wedding planning. However, I think I’m going to sell my back issues on eBay starting this week. It will make my husband happy–one of the first things he said when we returned from our honeymoon was “now you can get rid of the magazines, right???”
But it was a great inspiration to me, even though I didn’t go bonkers with the DIY. Without MS Weddings, I don’t think I would have done my own flowers–and I’m very glad I did, I loved the results, and I saved a LOT of money. I also wouldn’t have created my own save-the-dates, designed my own invitations, or created my place cards. But the main thing I love about MS Weddings is that although many of the weddings featured are obviously high-budget, many of them aren’t, yet they are just as beautiful, sometimes even more beautiful, because they’re more personal. And that’s what I strove for in my wedding.
Reading that post was like reading my own mind. When I first got engaged, I thought we’d have a low-frills, fun-but-no-nonsense wedding. I was adament that there would be no STDs, OOT bags, or anything else unnecessary with an acronym I didn’t understand. Then I discovered MSW….
Mind you, I’v always been a crafty girl and it was only the “insipiration” that I needed to run with all of this.
Now, with 2 weeks left until our wedding day, our dining room has been turned into our wedding DIY factory! We designed 1″ buttons, made our own vases for centrepieces, sewed glassine envelopes for favours AND I ordered FAN HANDLES from the internet.. yeah, that’s right.. FAN HANDLES. Glorified popsicle sticks. But I needed them..of course.
That said, I don’t regret any of it.. everything is going to be oh-so-pretty and so personal and us. And still not one bit frou-frou.
P.S. Martha actually stole the screen printing idea from ME (we screen printed our invitations too! and we’ll be using the screen for our OOT bags).
So I’m not the only one this happens to!
I’ve noticed that as well, I’ll come up with an idea and then WHAM it’s everywhere. At least, I think I came up with it… by the time it’s everywhere I can’t even remember anymore.
A slight example would be the poppy boquet on the cover of said magazine. I was going to do that. I thought it would be original… sigh. (Now it’s anemones & roses but only b/c my poppies aren’t available in November. )
Don’t let them get you with their glossy photos Miss. Lolly, they know our weaknesses.
I do love me some MS Weddings…but I’ve also become addicted to The Bride & Bloom and Inside Weddings. Their publications are so stylish and lovely — I literally squeal when I see that there’s a new issue on the newsstand!
Yes, I agree MSW is hands-down the best wedding mag around, especially if you like DIY.
A close runner-up is the Better Homes and Gardens weddings series, which only comes out once in a while. Definitely worth checking out, and very beautiful. A bonus with BH & G is that if you have any questions on the DIY info, or if there are no instructions with something, you can email Meredith Corp (the parent of BH & G), and receive prompt instructions from the person at the mag who made it.
I too have that problem! And I dont think its going to end anytime soon…. :)P Our poor husbands….
Mrs. Lollipop, Pittsburgh
Age and Occupation: 26, Computational Linguist
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Project Manager
Engagement Date: August 2, 2006
Wedding Date: September 2, 2007
Blogging Since: July 17, 2007
Venue: The PPG Aquarium at the Pittsburgh Zoo
About Me: I'm a Pittsburgh transplant who grew up in the deep south. I have a weakness for exotic alphabets, DIY projects, mobster movies and international travel. My fiance and I are both non-native Japanese speakers and we have a bullfrog named Skinny.
you’re a better woman than i miss lollipop! i DID order the chinese take out boxes… but in white.