Milan Style

BUNDABERG same-sex couples could soon be legally recognised in the same way as lawfully married couples if a newly designed contract goes ahead.

Australian Marriage Service, based on the Gold Coast, recently announced that they have found an alternative to the ongoing equal marriage debate via a specifically designed contract.

According to director Michelle Anderson, a contract has been designed in association with a major law firm that specifically addressed the extensive number of components and particulars that applied to lawfully married couples under the Australian Marriage Act 1961.

Images: sexy wedding dress

"Paired with personally written vows to each other and celebrated at a 'wedding-style' celebration, same-sex couples will be legally united,” Ms Anderson said.

"When two people exchange loving promises at a wedding, what they are really doing is formalising a contract.”

The "Evermore Pledge” pairs romance with a legally binding contract that addresses the components that fall under the Marriage Act such as wills, beneficiaries, power of attorney, next of kin, superannuation, finances, estate planning etc.

While the Australian Marriage Service agreed that the contract is by no means the answer for marriage equality, Ms Anderson said it was a small step in the right direction.

"Up to 70% of Australians agree that gay couples should be included in the Marriage Act,” she said.

"For now, it is the closest we can get and an interim solution for those who are no longer prepared to wait for our government to catch up with the rest of the English-speaking world.”

Ms Anderson said The M2.1 Independent Legal Evermore Pledge had been formed with the cooperation of Melbourne-based law firm Nevile and Co., and would become available Australia-wide as celebrants from around the country become familiar with the concept and incorporate it into their existing commitment ceremonies.

"We are currently finalising partnerships with interested parties Australia-wide who want to be part of Australian history and envisage that our first wedding style ceremony will be held in six weeks to two months,” she said.

"There is definitely a good chance that this could take off in Bundaberg very soon if the community sees fit.

"It is also a great opportunity for businesses in the region as we are looking for local legal firms to get on board and once that happens and things take off, there is obviously opportunity for local celebrants, wedding photographers and more.”

Also see: A-line wedding dresses

For ten years, Alex Fisher has run Lucky Penny Creative, a busy event-planning company based in Asheville that frequently works on Triangle-area nuptials. We spoke about the state of the industry, what's changed, and what endures.

INDY: In the past decade or so, what changes have you observed in the wedding-planning world?

Alex Fisher: I've seen a shift from the standard wedding traditions, like the father giving the bride away, just a general shift in the way that couples want to celebrate their unions. There's less garter tosses, less bouquet tosses, less singling out of all of the patriarchical standards. Definitely more money spent. The average wedding budget in North Carolina is usually around sixty thousand.

Images: A-line wedding dress

What do you think has precipitated these changes?

People are getting married at older ages, so they're less inclined to use family money or parents' money to pay for everything. What I always recommend to folks is to choose one or two things that you definitely care about—like food and photography—then budget way more for those things, because you will remember them the most. Everything else we can totally work on a smaller budget.

That's just what my wife and I did. We said food and music were our priorities. So that hasn't changed much.

Not particularly. There are a handful of folks who, in the age of Pinterest and wedding blogs, feel a bit of pressure to have the picture-perfect wedding with regard to massive floral and décor and the best food ever and an incredible live band. And there are people who live up to those expectations, but I think more and more you're seeing couples wanting to do their own thing. It's less about the image and more about, "We legitimately want to celebrate our love, so this is what we're going to do."

What else is trending right now?

I've seen a huge trend in wanting to think outside the box as far as venue. It's very common, at least for the couples that we work with, to ask a coffee shop if they can have the ceremony there, or an art museum or art gallery, stepping away from the traditional church wedding or even the traditional wedding venue. The clients we work with, maybe we just end up with very creative people, but they're getting married in private homes or in gardens or up on a parkway somewhere.

A parkway? That sounds kind of unusual.

For the Piedmont area it's definitely unusual, but we do a ton of weddings up in Asheville, and everybody wants a small elopement or a small, intimate ceremony on a mountaintop. In the Triangle, I've seen a big trend toward private homes. People want to get married in a household that's significant to their life story or their childhood or something like that. Coffee tourism is huge, and so I've had a couple folks get married in coffee shops—and breweries.

What are some pitfalls to avoid?

This isn't just because we offer day-of coordination services, but every friend of mine, family member who has not hired a day-of coordinator has after the fact said it is the one thing they wish we would have done. If you don't have it in the budget to pay for a full-on planner, just hire somebody for eight hours to be there and be the point person so that you're not having to care about all the logistics and whether the cake showed up on time.

Any budget? There has to be a cutoff point.

I absolutely care about people enjoying their wedding day, so if you're working on a five-thousand-dollar budget, awesome, let's rock and roll, and maybe I'll do a little consulting along the way and they can figure out the rest, even just a tiny window of professional assistance to make sure you're asking all the right questions and getting all the appropriate information from all of the vendors you are working with.

Do you think the party barn will be a big thing in the area in the future?

Absolutely. And I hesitate to pick sides, but the more local small businesses, the better. In Asheville there are at least twenty if not more barn-type venues that have either been new construction or refurbished dairy barns, and there was a bit of backlash up front, but it has completely changed the economy for those smaller offshoot towns outside of Asheville. I'm a firm believer that if you are bringing folks into that rural part of town that they otherwise wouldn't have even attempted to visit while they were there, that's so awesome. They're getting a slice of that bigger city that they wouldn't have otherwise seen, and I think it can only benefit those rural communities. In the Triangle area particularly, it's fairly untapped, so I think you're going to see a trend in that.

Related: purple bridesmaid dresses

One-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three... Oh crap, I messed up.

"You're thinking too much, smart girl."

"I know, I'm sorry!"

I was dancing the salsa — or was it the bachata? — at Salsa Mississippi in Fondren, and my dance partner noticed that my brain was trying to lead my feet. Sounds logical, right? But linear thought and Latin music don't mix.

(Later, I found out he'd studied psychology in college. Go figure. But then again, just about anyone would've seen my mind's wheels turning.)

I should've had a drink before dancing.

Related: strapless wedding dress

It's like when I play piano and I either decide to stop and "correct" myself after every wrong note, or push through the mistakes and enjoy the music. The latter approach yields better results most of the time.

And, fellow Christians, can you imagine how our spiritual lives would improve if we actually followed Jesus, as he commanded? We can either stop and stare at our shoes after every sin, or we can repent, get back in the rhythm and let him lead.

Anyway — despite my stone cold sober, lead-foot brain, I had more fun salsa dancing than I'd had in a long time, doing anything.

First of all, this place was like "Dirty Dancing" without the dirt: The music was poppin', everybody danced with everybody else, and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves.

If any men were there just to creep on women, I didn't see it. A variety of skin colors and nationalities swirled around the room. The lights were dimmed, but the streetlights outside provided plenty of illumination.

In other words, this was a "dance club" in the best sense of the word. Energetic, not sketchy. If you require a little white tablet to get you high here, you need help.

It all came down to the dancing. The dancing was so. Much. Fun.

So yes, I tend to overthink stuff. But it's hard to mess up too bad when a dude is swinging you around in the right direction.

Also, salsa wasn't as tough as I expected. Basically if you've tried to learn ballroom dancing, imagine it being less difficult, and with better music.

Bachata was even easier than salsa, and the merengue was delightfully simple: Left, right, left, right. All hips. That's it.

OK, I'll admit: The dance partner I mentioned above had to make me close my eyes at one point so I'd stop analyzing and just dance. That helped, too.

I said everybody danced with everybody else: The owner, one of the instructors, a regular, and a random guy who'd taken that evening's class each extended his hand to me at some point. The owner tends to twirl you a lot, which was fun. All of them were gracious about my lack of ability.

As I write this column, I'm about to drive to Arkansas for the wedding of two dear friends. I'm excited to see if anyone at the reception can salsa. Either way, I intend to enjoy the music.

More info on Salsa Mississippi

As recently as a decade ago, Salsa Mississippi was doing house parties and lessons with no space of their own. Then they turned a Fondren house into a studio by knocking out the walls. They've since moved into a space on Duling Avenue.

On Saturday nights, they host a free beginner's salsa class at 9 p.m., and then at 10 it turns into a Latin dance party with a $10 cover charge. (Five dollars with military or college ID.) Beer and bottled water are available for purchase.

Besides salsa and bachata, Salsa Mississippi instructors also teach private ballroom and wedding dance lessons, and the facility also hosts zumba, yoga, hybrid kickboxing, tai chi and cardio classes.

Related: A-line wedding dresses

2016 was a pretty great year for Nollywood: from the pedigree of the TIFF-selected dramas, 93 Days and '76, to the box office power of Kemi Adetiba's debut feature, The Wedding Party – which is now the highest grossing Nollywood film of all time.

To capitalize on the traction the film got and is still getting – it just made it's Netflix debut – we will be getting a sequel set in Dubai, The Wedding Party 2.

In the original film, notorious bachelor Dozie (Banky W) sets out to marry Dunni (Adesua Etomi). Against a chaotic and hilarious backdrop of family squabbles and damaging stag-night revelations, they finally tie the knot.

Related: strapless wedding dresses

The Wedding Party 2

In the sequel, the groom’s brother, Nonso (Enyinna Nwigwe), has continued his romance with Deirdre (Daniella Down), the bridesmaid from London.

Nonso proposes by accident, while on a dinner date, and sets off a chain of events too powerful to stop. Deirdre’s upper-crust British family are against the pairing, as are some members of the Nigerian clan, but Deirdre’s determination can’t be stopped.

After a near-disastrous introduction ceremony in Lagos, both families reluctantly agree to a wedding in Dubai, setting off another colourful, chaotic and memorable journey to everlasting love.

Principal photography starts on May 1.

Also see: A-line wedding dresses

You know alternative facts? Now apparently there are also alternative wedding rings. Personally, I’d never heard the term in my life, but that’s what everyone is calling Blake Lively’s slightly annoying but also very pretty diamond ring that she recently Instagrammed, live from a “paint party” at the artist Ashley Longshore’s studio in New Orleans. Casual.

Rather than donning her 12-carat Lorraine Schwartz engagement ring, Lively wore a $950 14-carat Allison Lou “Mrs. R” ring, embellished with a diamond for the period, because of course.

Images: plus size bridesmaid dresses

“Paint party at my favorite gallery…

@ashleylongshoreart thank you for having me,” Lively wrote, showing off paint-covered fingers with a very … creative canvas in the background. (Let’s just say she shouldn’t quit her day job.) But—because this is Instagram/the internet/the world, no one cared at all about the fact that Lively is hanging out with a super cool artist in New Orleans in the slightest, and everyone fixated on THAT RING.

If you think the Mrs. rings are as annoying as I do, but you’re dying to get your hands on an Allison Lou ring, good news: She makes Gloria Steinem-friendly “Ms.” rings too, so—that’s good. (If you’re loving the Mrs. ring, though, don’t listen to me—I’m definitely in the minority here.)

By the way, Longshore has gotten a lot of attention by eschewing galleries altogether and selling her art directly on Instagram (for $5,000 to $50,000). In other words, she’s a total badass. “We love you B!!!” Longshore wrote on Insta after Lively’s visit. “@blakelively thank you for loving the artists, the poets, the chefs and the musicians… the wild ones who dare to be different… your enthusiam fuels the creative fire…. artists together can make quite a GLOW in a world that can feel a little dark and cold right now…. find an artist you love and be friends with them…make art.listen to music LOUD ..dance!!!!….have fun and laugh everyday……. life is beautiful… #ashleylongshore #fuckyeah#popart#blakelively.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

See more at blue bridesmaid dresses

Your wedding should be the happiest day of your life, but, according to one professional bridesmaid, there are quite a few warning signs to look out for to see if your marriage will stay the course.

Tiffany Wright charges $132-a-day for her services – which including helping the bride cope with family dramas, writing speeches and even picking out the wedding dress.

The 34-year-old reckons she’s seen enough nuptials to judge which marriages could end in divorce – but pressure from family and society mean many couples still go ahead with the wedding.

Credit: SheinDressAU

Speaking to the Sun Online, Tiffany said: “In today’s society, weddings are a huge thing.

“In the social media age, having the ‘best wedding ever’ is now a prerequisite for getting married, so just imagine the stress that also brings if the bride suddenly has doubts.

“Calling off a wedding has a lot of negative effects – family disappointment, gossip as to why it ended, financial strain.

“I think some brides just get to the stage where they have spent/planned so much that it’s just easier to go through with it than call the whole thing off!”

Tiffany has her own website, The Undercover Bridesmaid, and YouTube channel. These are her red flags:

1. Cracking under the pressure

Wedding planning is always stressful, but it’s how the couple deal with the stress which speaks volumes.

Tiffany told Net Mums: “Sometimes I see couples really collapse under the pressure.

“When you have a couple who really want different things for their wedding… this can suggest that they are both on different playing fields.”

2. Being apart a lot on the big day

You’d normally expect a bride and groom to be joined at the hip on their big day.

If they’re spending a lot of time with their bridesmaids and groomsmen instead, it could be because there’s trouble in paradise.

Tiffany told us: “It’s the simple, intimate gestures like a kiss on the head when they think no one is looking, or the desire to hold hands all the time that shows there is a real connection.

“Sure, kissing and hugging when the photographer demands a photo is all good and well.

“But if that’s the only time the couple are being romantically intimate then it might hint that in ‘real life’ (away from the camera) they are not as happy as they outwardly appear.”

3. When the groom forgets to mention his bride in his speech

According to Tiffany, this happens more often than you think.

She’s even seen speeches where the groom spoke about how gorgeous the bridesmaids look, but forgot to mention his wife at all.

She added to Net Mums: “If your groom mentions yours (or even worse HIS!) ex during the speech, it suggests there may be underlying issues or jealousy that hasn’t been dealt with.”

4. When the father of the bride gives a cliché speech

If it sounds like the best man or father of the bride has Googled a classic wedding speech, then he probably has. And this is not a good sign as it shows there’s not much of a personal connection there.

5. How they cut the cake

Tiffany joked: “Sure, it’s sweet to feed each other a piece of the cake tenderly, or smear a bit of icing on the tip of your partner’s nose.

“But I have witnessed times when one member of the couple will go full throttle and literally slam a piece of cake in their partner’s face.”

6. Family tensions

Tiffany explained: “I recently attended a wedding where the groom and bride’s brother got into a huge fight (punches were thrown) and the two different sides of the family had to be kept away from each other.

“This doesn’t bode well for the future of the bride and groom’s relationship if their families just can’t stand each other!”

See more at wedding dresses online

Jinger Duggar’s nine-year-old sister Jennifer got brutally honest when she was asked to share her opinion of Jinger’s wedding.

Jinger Duggar and Jeremy Vuolo got married last November, and their nuptials were filmed for a two-hour Counting On wedding special. However, viewers didn’t get to see everything that happened during the event, so TLC has been turning unused footage from Jinger’s wedding into Counting On webisodes.

As the Duggar Family Blog reports, the latest webisode puts two of the Duggar boys, 14-year-old Jackson and 12-year-old Justin, behind the camera. Some Duggar fans are unhappy that the little kids don’t get much screentime on Counting On, so they’ll enjoy getting to see what the younger Duggars had to say about Jinger’s wedding.

Jennifer Duggar was not impressed with her older sister’s wedding dress. Jackson filmed his younger sister giving Jinger Duggar’s gown the once-over shortly before she walked down the aisle, and Jennifer decided that it didn’t look very practical.

“Why is there so many buttons?” Jennifer asked. “You could do a zipper. That’d be a lot faster, probably.”

Related: black bridesmaid dresses australia

However, dress designer Renee Miller previously told the Duggar Family Blog that buttoning up Jinger’s dress was actually a breeze.

“Buttons aren’t difficult if they are put on the dress correctly,” she explained. “We have stretchy, elastic loops, and they just pull right over the buttons.”

Jackson later asked Jennifer if she was excited about Jinger getting married, and she told her younger brother that she was. However, Jackson wasn’t buying it.

“Hmmm. That’s not a very hardly excited voice,” he observed.

Instead of trying to convince her brother that she really was thrilled about Jinger Duggar’s wedding, Jennifer decided to quit “keeping sweet” and tell Jackson how she really felt. The third-youngest Duggar confessed that she thought Jinger’s wedding was downright weird for one specific reason: Her younger sister Josie had a glowing head.

“It’s the most strangest wedding in the world because Josie is wearing lights on her head,” Jennifer said.

The lights in question were part of a leafy crown that seven-year-old Josie wore during Jinger Duggar’s wedding. Michelle Duggar created a sentimental moment for the Counting On cameras by asking the NICU nurse who cared for Josie as a baby to present the flower girl with her special glowing headpiece.

Jennifer also complained about Jinger Duggar’s dress being “humongous,” but there’s a reason Jinger and her husband wanted the gown to have a really long train.

“Both Jinger and Jeremy desired for the dress to have what I call a ‘train fit for royalty,’ based on a Bible verse that Jeremy had quoted to his wife-to-be,” Renee Miller explained. “That verse was Isaiah 6:1 (…I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple).”

Justin Duggar also got to interview a few of his family members for the Jinger Duggar wedding webisode, and he decided to get Michael Duggar’s thoughts on the event. Josh Duggar’s oldest son had no response when Justin asked if he wanted to get married someday, but Michael did say that he would not want to get married in the historical building where Jinger and Jeremy tied the knot. According to the five-year-old ring bearer, his issue with the chapel was that it “was very small.” As Entertainment Tonight reports, Jinger Duggar and Jeremy Vuolo got married in front of nearly 1,000 guests at the Cathedral of the Ozarks in Siloam Springs, Arkansas.

Michael Duggar also complained about the exhausting wedding planning process.

“And then you’ve gotta pick a hundred bridesmaids,” he said. “And a hundred groomsmaids.”

However, People reports that Jinger Duggar only had 10 bridesmaids. She had zero groomsmaids.

Related: cheap bridesmaid dresses melbourne

In honor of Beyoncé and Jay Z’s ninth wedding anniversary on April 4, Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Lawson, shared a never-before-seen photo of the couple walking down the aisle on their wedding day, giving fans their best look yet at the singer’s gown. Lawson posted the photo on Instagram saying, “9 years already??? Congratulations to the Carters on their Anniversary (that’s my arm fixing the dress lol).” The font on the picture, which reads “2008, Wedding” is similar, if not the same, as the one used on Beyoncé’s Web site, causing members of the Beyhive to believe that this is one of many personal photos from the day that she’ll soon release.

Related: wedding dresses

Beyoncé enlisted the help of Lawson, a fashion designer who’s helped create a number of the singer’s costumes and red-carpet dresses, to design the billowing white gown. She wasn’t entirely thrilled with the end result, though. “She was so sweet to let me do that,” Lawson said during a 2016 interview on Today. “She came back later one day and she said, ‘You know, when my daughter gets married, I’m going to let her pick out her own dress.’ Maybe she wasn’t so excited about it at the time, but she’s a sweetheart.”

The couple kept most of the details of the 2008 ceremony private until they included some of the video footage in their joint “On the Run” tour in 2014. Beyoncé did, however, tease her wedding dress in her 2011 music video for “I Was Here,” showing a few brief moments of her wearing it.

Related: wedding dresses online