The OurWeddingDay Blog

Is Your Groom Struggling with Chivalry?

OWD — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:51:31 -0500

The Independent is reporting on a recent study claiming modern men are struggling with chivalry:

"While the passionately composed love lyric was an important feature of wooing in olden times, today's men are more inclined to use their mobiles to dash off a text (21%) or an emailed message (11%) to their loved one, according to the Lindt Lindor Code of Modern Chivalry report."

Other non-chivalrous behaviour that too many modern men are guilty of, according to the Independent, include: Not paying the check, not turning off the phone at dinner time and having a "wandering eye."

Says relationship expert Jenni Trent Hughes, "We may no longer be knights in shining armour or damsels in distress, but we still want and need romance - it is part of our emotional DNA."

Agreed! But does a reduction in poetry writing really equal a reduction in romance? What do you think?

Do you expect your groom to be chivalrous this Valentines day?

Romance is Recession-Proof

OWD — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:37:13 -0500

Check out this great post over at Glamour about how one couple brought back the wonderful tradition of love letters. It's a perfect way to exchange romantic gifts even when money is tight.

They started exchanging the letters when they were engaged and struggling more, financially. Now they're happily married and not struggling nearly as much, but they still exchange the letters.

"Now I look forward to writing--and receiving--one every Christmas," says Kate, the bride. "If our house is ever on fire, those letters are the first thing I'll grab."

Check out the full post here.

We're swooning! We love this!

Is This The Most Romantic Proposal Ever?

alamster — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:34:29 -0400

This may be one of the most adorable marriage proposals we've seen to date... and trust us, we've seen a lot. Nathan and his friends found a nearby forest with a grove surrounded by trees. During the day, they set up over 200 battery-powered tea lights and struck then all along the trees.

Later that night, Nathan met Katie on the beach to go for a walk. As they approached the woods Nathan tied his sweater over Katie's eyes and brought her to the lit grove. What is even sweeter is that once he uncovered Katie's eyes Nathan stumbled over his proposal because he was so nervous, and Katie simply kept nodding her head yes unable to speak.

Check out both sides of the story here. Ahh romance!

25 Most Romantic Movies

OWD — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:05:55 -0400

In celebration of the indie rom-com hit (500) Days of Summer, Entertainment Weekly is featuring a fun slide-show of the "25 Best Romantic Movies of the Past 25 Years."

That means Annie Hall, An Affair To Remember and From Here to Eternity won't make the cut, leaving room for some of our favorites like In The Mood For Love, Amelie and Edward Scissorhands.

Of course, no list will make everyone happy: We never cared for When Harry Met Sally... or Moulin Rouge, and a quick perusal of the comments section shows a lot of people are furious The Notebook was left off!

What do you think? Do they nail it? What would top your list?

500 Days of Summer

OWD — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:39:37 -0400

With The Proposal soooooo last month, and The Time Traveler's Wife weeks away (we're just ignoring useless-looking The Ugly Truth, in spite of the fact that we like Gerard Butler), our unquenchable thirst for romance has but one new film in its sights: (500) Days Of Summer.

It looks a little too Garden State-style overly precious for our usual tastes, but we're willing to give it a shot. We like Zooey Deschanel, and we really like Joseph Gordon-Levitt. So why not, right?

Do you plan to get your rom-com fix with (500) Days of Summer this weekend?

Romance is In!

OWD — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:35:27 -0400

Apparently a lot of you took our advice on a girl's night out, because The Proposal opened big.

Not only was it easily the #1 movie of the weekend, opening at a huge $34+ million, but was also the best opening weekend rom-com queen Sandra Bullock has ever had!

Could we be entering a new era of romanticism?

We hope so!

The "Opposites Attract" Gene

OWD — Tue, 26 May 2009 10:59:08 -0400

Feel as though your hubby-to-be couldn't be more different from you? That may be cause to celebrate: Brazilian researchers may have discovered a genetic explanation for opposites attracting!

90 married couples were compared to 152 randomly-generated couples for differences in couples' major histocompatibility complex (MHC), a genetic region found in most vertebrates that is related to the immune system. They found that there were greater differences in the real couples than the virtual couples.

Professor Maria da Graca Bicalho explains, "If MHC genes did not influence mate selection, we would have expected to see similar results from both sets of couples. But we found that the real partners had significantly more MHC dissimilarities than we could have expected to find simply by chance."

Check it out.

That's not the most romantic way to talk about coupling up, but still... interesting!

Le Love Image

alamster — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 10:09:02 -0400

Check out one of our favorite blogs, Le Love Image. It's a site for new photos of people in love, and new phots are added daily. It isn't as cheesy as it sounds; actually, it's quite adorable and touching.

And the best part? Some people write in to have special messages and/or photos dedicated to their significant others, like this photo above for Karen and Bei's anniversary. Want to show your fiance how much you love him? Write in to leloveimage@gmail.com with your request, images, or dedications!

Common Sense

OWD — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:40:53 -0500

Another day, another "answer" to a lifetime of love!

It can seem as though everybody has an opinion on how to keep romance alive over the long haul, but if you read them as common sense reminders, rather than the one-and-only answer, then they may serve you well. We can all take others for granted at times, and we can all afford to take stock of how we treat each other.

Take this article, for example: 5 Easy Ways to Serve Your Relationship. It won't be news to you to 'love him as he is, not as you want him to be,' but it may be worth your time to remind yourself of it. And a few other nuggets worth keeping in mind, too.

Politico Romance

OWD — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:55:04 -0500

The OurWeddingDay team is surrounded by weddings pretty much all day. From brides to vendors to planning and the countless stories collected, we see a lot of romance. Whether it be people on our own team getting engaged (congrats Ty!) or just taking time out of our day every once in a while to look at photos of couples in love, we can't quite seem to help ourselves.

With the year closing out we wanted to take a couple of moments to take a look at presidents, future and past, and their wives... in touching moments. It is certainly nice to see that no matter what is going on with the country and the rest of the world that there is always a little bit of time for love.

Check out the Chicago Tribune's gallery here. We dare you to not walk away smiling.