Q:My stepdaughter will be married in September and has asked me to work with her on planning the wedding. I feel honored, of course, but also terrified. I have no idea where to begin — and she doesn't either. Can you help?
A:There are loads of wedding how-to books, but reading is a solitary business. A wedding-planning DVD, on the other hand, is something you and your stepdaughter can watch together, pausing whenever you want to discuss a point or make notes. And if there are tips and ideas you'd like to share with the groom and/or father-of-the-bride, all you need do is hit "rewind” and "play.”
Believe me, it is easier to get most men to watch a DVD than read a bridal magazine.
One of the best DVDs I've viewed is "JustMarry!: Wedding Planning Secrets” by Orlando, Fla., wedding planner Susan Southerland. She covers topics including selecting a gown, invitations and venue, working with vendors — photographers, musicians, bakers, caterers — and more. Packed with no-nonsense tips for saving time, money and stress, the DVD is aimed at do-it-yourself brides and those working with professional planners.
Southerland, with 20 years of experience in the wedding-planning and travel industries and a member of the Association of Bridal Consultants, is founder and president of JustMarry! She has helped plan more than 5,000 weddings and appeared on the Style Network's "Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?” and The Learning Channel's "Wedding Story.”
The 68-minute DVD costs $29.95 and can be ordered online at justmarry.com.
Q:Instead of regular bras, I like wearing sport bras, the kind that come three in a package by Fruit of the Loom. I consider these to be like jogging bras, the kind you wear in public to go walking, jogging, grocery shopping, etc. But my daughter-in-law disagrees. She says it's like walking outside or into a store in your regular bra. Who is right?
A:I shudder to think where the "etc.” is on your list of places you'd wear your jogging bra. The mall? A restaurant? Your dentist's office?
As the name implies, sports or jogging bras are designed for athletic activities. They are appropriate indoors at the gym or outdoors on a sports field, jogging trail or beach. Anywhere else, including the grocery store, sports bras need a cover-up.
This is especially true of sports bras that don't look too different from regular bras. But even the colorful models that look like fitted, cropped, tank tops, which still reveal a great deal of bare flesh, would seem out of place in the aisles of the grocery store.
Finally, if your daughter-in-law is embarrassed by your uninhibited wearing of sports bras, I suspect others would be, as well. Take the hint: Cover up.
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
