http://cache.jezebel.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jezebel.com.png http://jezebel.com/tag/hells bells http://jezebel.com/tag/hells bells

According to numerologists the "row of perfect tens" created by the date makes today a very lucky day. To take advantage of the good fortune, couples around the world are tying the knots in record numbers. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5660368&view=rss&microfeed=true

I've never been the type of girl you would really describe as girly - except for one thing: I'm obsessed with weddings. Please don't tell my boyfriend. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5597589&view=rss&microfeed=true

More details about Chelsea's wedding have emerged! Supposedly, it is going to take place sometime this month at the Astor Courts part of Ferncliff, an estate on the Hudson. No word yet on whether they'll be serving chicken or fish. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5581347&view=rss&microfeed=true

The Crown Princess of Sweden will walk down the aisle next month by her father's side. Her decision to include him in the ceremony has been publicly denounced as a step back for gender equality. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5546124&view=rss&microfeed=true

Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd, two of the American hikers being held in Iran on suspicion of spying, have just gotten engaged. According to their moms, Bauer proposed in the prison exercise area with a ring made from thread. [AP] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5546239&view=rss&microfeed=true

Viv and Tracey Williams claim friends often told them how much they resembled Shrek and Fiona. In response to the underminer-y compliment, they planned an ogre-themed wedding. This is the second such event - will three make a trend? [UPI] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5536018&view=rss&microfeed=true

It's not exactly surprising that most people now accept a pregnant bride, and are willing to celebrate her big day, even with a baby bump. But is this a "trend"? And was it started by... J. Lo? More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5522808&view=rss&microfeed=true

Ladies, if you don't have a man, you already know it's all your fault. And if you are an African-American woman, Steve Harvey, Nightline and and host of others want you to know that goes double for you. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5514583&view=rss&microfeed=true

• A math professor from the UK recently created the "fiancee formula," which supposedly predicts the best time for a man to propose. Although it was created for men, the Daily Mail says it could equally apply to women. •  More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5482779&view=rss&microfeed=true

A Muslim woman was jilted at the altar after her husband pulled back her veil and "discovered" that she didn't exactly look like her picture. The always-classy Daily Fail notes "a divorce was inevitable" for the bearded bride. [Daily Mail] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5469407&view=rss&microfeed=true

Maddow is not altar-bound: "This spring, we will have been together for 11 years, and our relationship is serious and happy, mature, monogamous. We like having the right...but we're making our own decision about whether we should exercise it." [USAToday] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5466604&view=rss&microfeed=true

• Breakups hurt. Amber Lee Ettinger, aka Obama Girl, says she's disappointed in the President's first year, and would like to see him focusing more on "jobs and the economy." •  More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5458172&view=rss&microfeed=true

Nearly two years after Moe (and everyone else) criticized Lori Gottlieb's advice to just settle for Mr. Maybe, Gottlieb came back. And so did her critics, and some evidence showing why exactly her advice is crap. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5455439&view=rss&microfeed=true

Caught cheating in New Hampshire? You could be facing a $1,200 fine. And some lawmakers would like to keep it that way, on the grounds that taking the 200-year-old law off the books would somehow "diminish" marriage. [AP] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5425928&view=rss&microfeed=true

Teanne Harris was ready to get married and host a Halloween-themed reception, when her fiance suddenly called it off. Loath to let it all go to waste, Harris walked into a nearby retirement community and donated the entire bash. [NYDailyNews] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5396011&view=rss&microfeed=true

Can you imagine looking up to utter I do and seeing the smiling face of Sonia Sotomayor? A lucky couple got to do just that Friday, when she presided over their intimate wedding. [NYDailyNews] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5382268&view=rss&microfeed=true

Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski are on in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly talking about their TV wedding and pregnancy as super adorable Office-couple Jim and Pam. The hour-long wedding special will air Tonight! Pictures here. [JustJared] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5366836&view=rss&microfeed=true

Wok Kundor is 107. She is currently on her 22nd marriage to a man 70 years her junior. But she also has her eye on another potential hubby, who she considers a backup, in case No. 22 bails. [CNN] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5359788&view=rss&microfeed=true

After their wedding video rocketed to fame and sold thousands of downloads of Chris Brown's song "Forever," Jill and Kevin have launched a site of their own, soliciting donations to combat domestic violence. They seem pretty serious about it, too. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5327429&view=rss&microfeed=true

"There are sluts and whores and nice girls too." This line, from The Guide to Picking Up Girls, epitomizes the approach of men's dating guides, which can be summed up thusly: Women are still the problem. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5316233&view=rss&microfeed=true

A tipster sent us a story about Linda Wolfe, a 68-year-old Indiana woman who has been married 23 times. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5153170&view=rss&microfeed=true

• Entirely virtual sex? Perhaps, thanks to the RealTouch, which uses lubrication jets, heating elements and other gadgetry programmed to "give men the feeling of sex." No word, of course, on what women get. • More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5129775&view=rss&microfeed=true

After over a century of looking after herself, Wang Guiying, 107, has decided to get married. The Chinese woman avoided marriage after observing men scold and beat their wives. Guiying hopes by taking a husband, she will ease the burden on her nieces and nephews, who she fears are too old to take care of her. [Daily Mail] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5129231&view=rss&microfeed=true

I'll readily admit to being the world's worst most inept, overwhelmed, procrastinating bride. But! The one thing that's taken care of is my dress. I'll just wear the one I got for my first engagement. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5120773&view=rss&microfeed=true

Word on the street is that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady popped the question to supermodel gf Gisele Bündchen whilst on a private jet en route to Boston. Mazel tov to the ridiculously attractive couple. [Star] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5118562&view=rss&microfeed=true

"That ain't going to happen. I'm doing everything I can to try to get her away from him." - the father of Drew Peterson's rumored fiancee. [UPI] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5113375&view=rss&microfeed=true

We've heard of no sex before marriage, but no kissing? Melody Laluz, 28, and Claudaniel Fabien, 30, got married over the weekend, and when they smooched at the altar, it was their first kiss on the lips. They were friends for two years and in a "courtship" for one year, but since they both teach abstinence courses to Chicago public school teens, they decided to practice what they preach. Hence: A "no kissing" rule. To "avoid temptation," they were never alone together in a house. If they watched movies on a couch, they would snuggle sitting up, never lying down. Fabien says: "It really tested us and encouraged us to grow closer in our hearts and our minds, just expressing things verbally." All of this is very nice and romantic. But Laluz says: More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5100337&view=rss&microfeed=true

I am going to feel responsible for bringing y'all down from your Obama high, but there's this article in the Village Voice about one of the Experience Project's most popular threads about living in a sexless marriage and it's fairly bittersweet. The Experience Project is sort of like Post Secret: the message board — it's a place for people to anonymously share their stories. The "I Live in a Sexless Marriage" forum has over 3,000 members, and according to the Voice's Bonnie Ruberg, those sexless and sad spouses "run the gamut—men whose wives have lost interest after having kids, women who fear their husbands might be gay, men whose wives are marred by childhood trauma." More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5077444&view=rss&microfeed=true

It's undeniable that the spouses and families of Obama, Biden, McCain and Palin have played a substantial part in the election narrative, and their public prominence has inspired Slate's Melinda Henneberger to ask, "when is the public going to figure out what it expects from political marriages? How long are we going to keep insisting that political couples tell us lies and then punishing them for doing so?" More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5068462&view=rss&microfeed=true

Feeling uneasy about your marital status? Well the Washington Post's Wedding Week is here to ratchet your anxiety up several levels! And I'm here to summarize the paper's nuptial coverage so that you don't have to actually read it! Let's start with the most endearing story and work our way from there. Two disgruntled ex-bridesmaids-cum-Washington Post writers plan the "Anti-Wedding" for a very sweet couple named Jaqi and Chris. "It turns out that Chris is a pathologist, and Jaqi works for the IRS. This will be the union of life's only two certainties... death and taxes. A themed anti-wedding," remark the anti-wedding planners, Caitlin Gibson and Rachel Manteuffel. Long story short, even though the anti-wedding includes a protest (sample signs, "Til Debt Do Us Part" and "Money Can't Buy Me Love") and a pizza dinner, fighting the "wedding industrial complex" seems to take almost as much energy as submitting to its diamond-encrusted claw. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5047394&view=rss&microfeed=true

Screenwriter Kris Dyer married his girlfriend Jo Myddleton last October. Since he thought his last name was "rubbish," he decided to change his surname to Myddleton, and surprisingly the most irritating part of the process was not the bureaucratic leaps and bounds Kris had to go through to change his name, it was the prejudiced reaction of the Myddletons' friends. ""I always considered my friends to be pretty metropolitan, but they too seemed to have problems coming to terms with it," Kris Myddleton told the Independent. "They thought I was joking; eventually I had to show them my new bank cards to get them to believe me. They kept asking 'Why?' People seemed vaguely disapproving, as if we were breaking a sacred rule." But couples like the Myddletons are becoming increasingly common in the UK, as only 50% of women now take their husbands' names. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5038441&view=rss&microfeed=true Over on Feministing, there's a post about a the commercial at left, which has apparently been playing in California. In the spot, a bride encounters a variety of annoying obstacles on her wedding day. It's a struggle just to get to the aisle, and she never quite makes it down the aisle. The copy at the end of the ad reads, "What if you couldn't marry the person you love? Every day, gay and lesbian couples are prevented from marrying." Feministing blogger Ann writes, "On one level, I really like this approach because it uses the wedding-industrial complex against itself… Taking the ultimate heteronormative, capitalist celebration and turning it into an argument for equality. I like that." But even though Ellen and Portia may tie the knot in California this weekend, some people think the CA marriage decision isn't really something to celebrate: More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5037648&view=rss&microfeed=true

We know, we know: Ellen Fein, 50, she of nauseating self-help book The Rules, got married. Again. There's a big story in Sunday's New York Times. This is the woman who wrote all about snagging a guy — "Trust in the natural order of things," her book advises. "Namely, that man pursues woman." — and then had her husband leave her after 16 years of marriage. Was her divorce court claim of "abandonment" also the "natural order of things"? Anyway, after her divorce, this woman went to a singles weekend at sleep-away camp for adults in Connecticut. All together now: Ew. But wait! That's where she met Lance Houpt, her future husband. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5035658&view=rss&microfeed=true

The wedding from Planet Excess is going the way of the American auto industry, says a story in the Washington Post. Which brings me, it just so happens, to a story about myself! I'm currently stuck in Seattle, where I attended a really great wedding on Saturday only to get stranded because of bad weather, so in the meantime I've spent some time reflecting on the genius of what I just witnessed. I've gone to a lot of weird weddings, namely because my friends, while not conventional or "regs" in any sense, are the types of people other people choose to mix gametes and spend whole lifetimes with, so I know how it's done. And you know what? I never thought I would really address the subject of weddings beyond the yo, check out the limitless capacity of late capitalism to create vital imperatives from invented frivolities and turn consumption into hard labor angle. But the truth is that anyone who cares about parties has an opinion about weddings, and in that vein I thought I would write some down. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5029976&view=rss&microfeed=true

RoseMary Shell gave up an $81,000 a year job in Pensacola, Florida to move in with her fiance, Wayne Gibbs in Gainesville, Georgia. A few days before they were to be married in early 2007, Wayne left RoseMary a 'Dear John' letter in the bathroom (is that better or worse than a break up Post-it??) and instead of getting mad, RoseMary got even. She sued Wayne for breach of contract and just yesterday was awarded $150,000 for her troubles. RoseMary and her lawyer were on the Today show this morning, gabbing with Meredith about the settlement. The best part? Bitch still has the ring, and she's sure as hell hocking it. Clip above. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5029133&view=rss&microfeed=true

Yeah, yeah we know: the Times has a ludicrous article up about brides who pressure their bridesmaids, mothers and mothers-in-law to get Botox, boob jobs and chemical peels for their most special of special days. And yes, it's a disgusting display of materialism, looksism, narcissism and many other unfortunate -isms that we would not like to be associated with. But what I find more interesting is the friendship dynamics at play. Dodai already covered frenemies earlier today, and I wouldn't even say the women in this piece are frenemies, because no one seems to be insulted when their soon to-be-wed buddy suggests they get a little freshening up. Actually, they're delighted, because getting these treatments is the norm in their social circle. I think what this article is really about is how our friends' cosmetic choices affect our own self-images. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5028767&view=rss&microfeed=true

Tricia Walsh-Smith, the playwright who made made headlines earlier this year for posting a series of YouTube videos in which she revealed her husband, theater magnate Philip Smith, to be an erectile dysfunctioning cold-hearted guy, was divorced by said husband yesterday on the grounds of cruel and inhuman treatment. Walsh-Smith has been thrown out of the couple's Park Avenue apartment and will receive a settlement of $750,000 — the amount laid out in the prenup she signed back in 1999. Judge Harold Beeler was distinctly unimpressed by Walsh-Smith's YouTube caterwauling, and wrote in his court decision, "[Tricia] has attempted to turn the life of her husband into a soap opera by directing, writing, acting in and producing a melodrama…[it was] a calculated and callous campaign to embarrass and humiliate her husband." Tricia has called the settlement "disgusting" and added "I'd be better off in Baghdad." [Ed Note: No.] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5027649&view=rss&microfeed=true

As anyone who saw the brilliant (if heavy-handed) Marxist satire Sex & The City: The Movie can attest, Modern Love knows no more determined foe than excessive product placement. But some women were too busy planning extravagant destination weddings for 250 to go see the movie with their 10 bridesmaids in time to save their unions from consumerist soul murder, a Catch (the bouquet, ha ha!) 22 exposed yesterday in a poignant Page Six Magazine piece detailing the nuptial miss of Brazilian model Ana Maria Macedo, whose own Mr. Big, a Swedish financier, called off their wedding via a [popular video-enabled instant message program.] What to do? Instead of stopping off at [iconic luxury jewelry chain] to pick up the wedding jewels, she called her (gay) friend Sam and demanded he accompany her to the movie he had definitely already seen. "I watched it and cried. I started to see myself in what Carrie had done. I thought, 'Oh, no.'" Where exactly had she gone wrong? Well, scribe Rachel Syme can't exactly write "seriously New Yorkers, stop dropping names and buying shit already," so she couches the fable in distracting little asides such as how she has lots of plastic surgery, brought up marriage on their first date and went as a bride for Halloween. But let's get to the point! Employing the technique of this Orwell scholar I know I decoded the story's subversive message simply by removing the following words: More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5027342&view=rss&microfeed=true

Despite the terrible exchange rate and horrendously expensive air fares, I am currently in Europe celebrating the wedding of one of my closest friends — we participated in a high school exchange together in 1994 and have been friends ever since. I have heard a lot about how wedding traditions differ here, from having to be married twice if you want a religious ceremony to the relative simplicity of the festivities in comparison to the "average" $27,000 American wedding. But, folks, let me tell you: the Wedding Industrial Complex cannot be sated with the domination of American bridal traditions. Like an airborne virus, it is making its way through Europe and it cannot and will not be stopped. Some of the imported excesses from my eyes, after the jump. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5024817&view=rss&microfeed=true

The eminently reasonable Hanna Rosin, whom you might remember as the journalist guinea pig who agreed to stay within 15 feet of her husband for 24 hours, is dismayed by an O: Oprah Magazine article called "Divorce Dreams" by New York Times scribe Ellen Tien. And Rosin is piqued for good reason: Tien says some obnoxious and depressing things about the state of her marriage. "The story's first sentence is: 'I contemplate divorce every day.'" Rosin notes. "Three paragraphs in, I was shocked that someone would write this way under her own byline about her living husband, and not her ex…The premise is that women of certain class, flush with financial independence, yoga-toned arms and infinite choices, all yearn for divorce every day." Rosin pleads with her readers: "Help me out here, ladies. Is this true? Am I living in a fantasy land? Or is Ellen Tien as bitchy as she seems?" I can answer her questions: No, this isn't true; No, Rosin is not living in a fantasy land; Yes, Tien is as bitchy as she seems. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5023365&view=rss&microfeed=true