The OurWeddingDay Blog

Reviewing NYT Nuptials... In Rhyme!

OWD — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:06:27 -0500

It's time for a new installment of one of our favorite blog series: Altarcations over at Gawker, in which Phyllis Nefler "reviews" the Weddings & Celebrations section of The New York Times.

This week Nefler attempts to review the newlyweds in rhyme! And while it's not the most lovely poetry we've ever read, the fun and excitement of the nuptials make up for the fact that Nefler is no Wordsworth!

Here's an example:

Friehling fell "immediately in love with her, without a doubt,"
And when he served their table he would always go all out.
Although Hali found him too young (at that point he was 22)
They ran into one another on a Tulum beach; sparks flew.

See what we mean? So cute!

Check out this week's special rhyming edition of Altarcations here!

New Altarcations: Couples Who Ski Together Will Be Together

OWD — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:15:46 -0500

It's time for this week's installments of one of our favorite blog series: Altarcations over at Gawker, in which Phyllis Nefler "reviews" the Weddings & Celebrations section of The New York Times.

Thanks to the Olympics and winter winding down, this week's Altarcations has Ski Fever!, as we are assured that "couples who ski together surely will be together."

Meet Elizabeth Scott and Kris Barber (pictured above): they "first met when they worked together at Kansas City investment bank, but it wasn't until they 'were part of a ski house in Breckenridge, Colo. for several winters' that their romance blossomed 'through winters of skiing and summers of biking.'"

"And because he didn't want to get engaged on a pending trip to Europe - "too much of a cliche" - Barber instead went with a completely novel plan: on a hike in the the mountains. Near the ski house, natch."

We love it!

From there we meet a photographer who just married a videographer (we wonder if they shoot weddings?), other couples rated on a point system (!) and a couple of fun videos. Check out this week's Altarcations here!

Real Wedding Crashers in This Week's Altarctions!

OWD — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 10:25:50 -0500

Of course Gawker's resident weddings expert Phyllis Nefler reviewed The New York Times' Weddings & Celebrations section on Valentine's Day... but in addition to discussing romantic nuptials she also unearthed something ugly: wedding crashers!

It all started when Nina Pajak was flipping through her wedding photos and the picture above caught her eye.

"Perplexed, she asked her husband Matt and her father whether they recognized the pair. No one did. The Pajak wedding was officially crashed. "They're such familiar looking, clean-cut hipsters that I had to reread our relatively short guest list a few times before I was satisfied that I wasn't accusing someone who was actually invited," Nina told me.

"Bemused and curious, the Pajaks made a Facebook page called Find our wedding crashers! "Do you know these people?" asked the description. "We sure don't, but they were at our cocktail hour."

They set up a Facebook page called Find Our Wedding Crashers! and it worked: Two days later the crashers were identified! Check out all the drama on that Facebook page here.

Check out this week's Altarcations here.

A Guy Took Over Altarcations and Made it Much Less Fun

OWD — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:25:19 -0500

Gawker's wedding expert, Phyllis Nefler, is on vacation this week, so someone else took over for her reviewing The New York Times' Weddings & Celebrations section. That in itself isn't unusual, but their choice for a guest writer is: Hunter Walker, a man! Can a male writer do justice to all the bride-centric goings on? Let's find out!

The answer is sadly, 'no.' Hunter starts off by declaring that weddings are a "bigger deal" for women, and refers to a recent study showing how men benefit financially from getting married. Hardly a romantic place to start an Altarcations column! The Gawker editor seemed to think so too, as three separate comments (playfully) admonished Hunter!

When he finally gets around to this week's couples he's pretty rude about it, calling couples names and everything! Check out this week's Altarcations here.

All in all, it was an especially sour Altarcations. We're not fans of this Hunter character. We miss Phyllis.

The Ridiculous and Adorable Video in This Week's Altarcations

OWD — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:39:14 -0500

It's time again for Altarcations, Gawker's review of The New York Times' Weddings & Celebrations feature, by Pyllis Nefler.

This week's Altarcations begins with Nefler discussing The Law of Curated Humor, which basically asserts that whatever example anyone could use to illustrate how "funny" someone else is will never be found funny by you. Or something. It may not really be scientific law, but it is clever.

To make her point, she introduces us to a couple who met when one of them heckled the other, during his stand-up comedy gig. Read all about it here.

From there we meet a couple who secretly became an item while they were the Best Man and Maid of Honor at their friends' wedding, and were only forced to reveal their romance when the bride and groom demanded to know if they were bringing dates!

And then there was the couple, Ming-Yi Chuang and Alan McIntyre, who met at a confusing-sounding audience participation/performance/movie thing. It resulted in a ridiculous film in which Ming-Yi had to break up with a kumquat. After they got together as a couple, they made a silly sequel, Kumquat II: Avocado.

Of course Phyllis had to give them a ribbing for such weirdness, but she was quick to stop herself ans write, "All kidding aside, these people are weird and wonderful and their video on the Times website is, as they always are,adorbs."

Check out the weeks' Altarcations is full here.

Altarcations is All Fun and Games This Week

OWD — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:02:37 -0500

It's time again for our weekly Altarcations, in which Phyllis Nefler of Gawker rates & reviews the nuptials in The New York Times' Weddings & Celebrations section.

This week Nefler's a bit sports & stats-obsessed, thanks to the big football game this weekend. She even ponders a "conversion rate" formula predicting the success of new couples who meet at parties, with these variables considered: "availability/price point of alcohol, gender of hosts, length of hemlines, interconnectivity of social grids, number of Party in the USA plays, and most importantly: LIGHTING."

It all leads up to the first newly-married couple: huge sports fans, but for rival teams. Uh oh! Then it's on to a couple who's romance started with a violent game of vollyball, and a lovely couple who began as platonic yoga buddies.

It's fun and games at Altarctions this week! Check out the full article here.

Altarcations Reccomends 'If You Blog About it, You Will Marry'

OWD — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 12:47:08 -0500

Before Phylis Nefler gets down to her weekly task of reviewing The New York Times' Weddings & Celebrations section, she discusses Tamara Duricka and her blog, 31 Dates in 31 Days.

There were, of course, "rules" to the 31 dates:

Each date lasts at least 31 minutes.
Each date costs less than $31.
Dates will take place in a public setting.
No drugs.
No alcohol (Yes, seriously. None.)
No married men.
AND… date #31 (Valentine's Day) will be a second date!

Why are we reading about Tamara in Altarcations? Duh! Her plan worked, and date #31 was in fact a second date, after which many more dates with her Mormon Prince Charming followed. Congratulations to them!

On to the featured couples: This week we have a Quaker girl & an NBC anchor, a 24-year-old comedienne who married the brother of the guy she was "supposed to" end up with, and so much more.

Check out this week's Altarcations here.

Funny Hats and Southern Weddings Fill This Week's Altarcations

OWD — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:32:28 -0500

Phyllis Nefler is back from her vacation, and as great a job as Lilit Marcus did filling in for her last week, we're thrilled Altarcations is back to normal. Check out this cute little 'welcome back' that Gawker inserted to the beginning of her post: "She's well rested from vacation and is in the shotgun position to take on this week's NYT's Weddings & Celebrations, filled with funny hats, Jews, iPods, and a serious lack of N.W.A. Typical."

This week Nefler expresses her new-found love of Southern weddings and suggests that Southern bridal parties require a special name. She suggests a few, before her Southern collegue settles the matter:

"I think we need to come up with a word for that particular bride and her ladies. A rhinestone of southern women? A gossip of gals? A cackle? A platinum? A whoopdedoo?

"Reached via Twitter, Lilit decreed: "The technical term is 'all y'all.' We will also accept "a pageant."

Then it's on to this week's weddings, which featured a surprising number of funny hats and unintentional connections to "Steel Magnolias" and "The Thomas Crown Affair!"

Check out this week's Altarcations here.

Welcome back, Phyllis!

Altarcations Guest Writer Discusses Regional Wedding Customs

OWD — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:49:32 -0500

Phyllis Nefler is on vacation this week, but unlike her last vacation when her column was cut short, this time a guest writer (Lilit Marcus) was brought in to review the Weddings section of The New York Times. Before she gets to that, though, she shares insight into some regional wedding customs, like this nugget:

"...growing up in the South, I learned many important lessons about marriage, many of which were funny and sometimes useful regional customs! Like: Did you know you're supposed to say "best wishes" to the bride instead of "congratulations," lest you accidentally imply that the bride won her groom through trickery or deceit?"

Interesting!

On to this week's brides: we have a couple whose Marc Jacobs Latin-inscribed leather bracelet earned them the "top position," drunken karaoke, adorable photos and so much more. We miss Phyllis, but Lilit did a great job.

Check out this week's Altarcations over at Gawker here.

If You Got Married This Weekend, Altarcations Has a Bone to Pick with You!

OWD — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 09:33:31 -0500

Every week week we direct you to Altarcations, the always fun and often snarky feature over at Gawker in which Phyllis Nefler reviews the Weddings & Celebrations section of The New York Times.

Altarcations has been a bit less "fun" lately, though. First when New York state politics briefly became a focus, and second when Nefler missed the following week for her well-deserved vacation. We were thrilled to have her back last week, but this week's edition of Altarcations reveals a new thorn in Nefler's side: Those who marry at Christmas time.

Of course, we're all exaggerating here; Nefter's recent and brief bits of "anger" are much more playful than how we're making them seem. Check out this week's Altarcations here.