Weddings put brides in back seat

Monday November 15, 2010 My column will not be a wedding column. Or perhaps I should say, I promise it will not turn into a wedding column.I'm not sure why, but this diamond on my left hand possesses a magical power to make all things wedding-related. It's obnoxious, really, the obsession with the show of putting on a wedding.I wish I could say I'm different, but I'd be lying behind my stack of bridal magazines and vendor brochures over the background noise of some wedding reality television show I have on DVR.As I mentioned in my first column last week, I became engaged at the end of May. We set the date for September 2012, plenty of time for me to get a job, settle down, save money and for my parents to contact their financial adviser.Little did I know that September is the new June when it comes to planning a wedding.After casually telling a photographer I met at a wedding show (yes, I went to one of those -- please don't judge) that I hadn't booked any vendors yet for my very far away nuptials, I was startled when he disapprovingly sucked in air through his teeth like I was wearing last season's Prada."Girl, September is the new June in wedding months. You better start booking."He told me that he was already booked for three September weddings in 2012. Weddings are big business. The average cost of one in 2009 was $28,082, according to Brides.com’s 2009 American Wedding Study. With popular wedding reality television shows like and -- where brides-to-be make their families watch them try on dresses within their $5,000 budget -- it's no surprise there is pressure to make your wedding a one-of-a-kind affair that only money can buy.I'm trying to not let the planning get out of control, though I'm finding it difficult to keep my family in check. On more than one occasion I've caught my mother referring to my nuptials asAs in, she once said to a friend: referring, in fact to my wedding. When I correct her -- with a -- she's just shrugs and asks, To which I respond with silence.My sister and maid of honor, whom I commonly refer to as has tried to talk me out of picking my favorite color orange for the bridesmaids' dresses."Orange would make a nice accent color to something more muted." Or,I'm learning through this process that a wedding really isn't about the bride. It's more about stepping around the landmines on a battlefield of family emotions, which is why we've perfected the polite smile while giving each other the never-in-a-million-years-will-that-happen-at-my-wedding look across the table.nOn the Web there has been a lot of discussion lately about social media etiquette. Is it OK to tag 50 of your closest friends in one of those chain-mail pictures so they get a message every time someone comments on it? (It's not wrong, in case you were wondering.)Or, is it acceptable to blast your boss or ex on your status as a means of communicating to the work just how angry you are? (This one you should just know the answer to.)And yet, we've all been there, haven't we? Instead of keeping our drunken spouting to late-night phone calls, now we can embarrass ourselves on multiple media platforms. Which is why Web security company Webroot recently launched the new Firefox plug-inUsers download the plug-in and customize it to fit the social media platforms they use. Then, before they can log on to their Facebook page or Tumblir account during pre-set they must pass a sobriety test, such as writing the alphabet backward.If you can't pass the test, you can't blast your ex-boyfriend's new fling in 140 characters or less.But nothing is stopping you from posting those pictures from last night of you and the gals making the classy, and often misunderstood,Go ahead, everyone else does. Even the Baby Eagle, from time-to-time. Lindsey Hollenbaugh, aka the Baby Eagle, is The Berkshire Eagle's online editor. Her blog, also titled is online at www.blogtheberkshires.com.

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