Monthly Archives: June 2013

[photography] By Ryan Southen: Lauren & Tyler’s Colony Club wedding

by Steph | Leave a comment

Are you ready for some more Detroit wedding photography? Check out these lovely photographs from Lauren & Tyler’s Colony Club wedding. The Colony Club is located in downtown Detroit and was at one point a women’s club. Sean and I held our wedding reception at this gorgeous venue in 2011. The images are by Ryan Southen Photography.

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 Readers: Which of these photographs is your favorite shot? 

Don’t forget to take two to three minutes to fill out the anonymous LoveintheD reader survey! I would love to hear from you about what you’d like to see more of on the LoveintheD blog. Lastly, please consider following LoveintheD on Twitter here!

LoveintheD reader survey!

by Steph | 1 Comment

So the LoveintheD blog has been up and running for about four months now. I would like to learn more about YOU, the blog readers. Can you take three minutes to fill out this really short survey? By doing so, you will help me understand what it is you are looking for in the blog.

Created using SurveyMonkey.

Thank you for your time! Happy blog reading! Are you following LoveintheD on Twitter yet? If not, click here to start today.

 

Handmade weddings – Interview with Indie Detroit Wedding Ring

by Steph | Leave a comment

In February of this year, not one, but two Detroit area wedding blog/websites launched into the blogosphere! LoveintheD came online as a socially conscious Detroit wedding blog. And Indie Detroit Wedding Ring also launched as an online and event resource for brides and grooms in the Detroit area looking to use locally sourced handmade goods in their weddings!

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Angela from Indie Detroit Wedding Ring for coffee. We chatted about our love for weddings, ways to support one another, and, you know, other bloggy stuff!

Check out my interview with Angela below.

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A Fox Wedding

How did the idea of the Indie Detroit Wedding Ring come about?

It all started at a craft show at the Loving Touch. Other vendors at the show asked me how I started to break into the wedding business with my company, Moving Beauty. We realized that while handmade weddings were popular here, it was really hard to find local vendors. Also, vendors had no where to promote themselves to engaged couples other than mainstream wedding sites, which may not be economical for small vendors. Thats when we first had the thought, “Wouldn’t it be great to have a wedding craft show?!” Shortly after that, Indie Detroit Wedding Ring was formed with two goals, to create an online resource and to host in-person events.

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Indie Detroit Wedding Ring is hosting a showcase on June 28, 7:30 p.m. at FLIP Hair Salon, 251 W. Nine Mile Rd, Ferndale, MI 48220. What should brides or grooms look forward to at the showcase on June 28?

We have hand picked a group of artists to give couples inspiration for their upcoming weddings. The IDWR team will also be on hand to meet soon-to-be brides and grooms and answer questions they might have as well as build the DIY wedding community here in metro Detroit.

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Chain Chain Chained

Describe the kind of Detroit bride or groom who chooses to have a handmade/indie wedding.

The ideal IDWR couples are people who want a wedding rooted in the values of handmade goods, whether they make it themselves or purchase from area artists and makers. They want their wedding to be a true reflection of themselves and would rather spend their money on experiences and items to make their wedding more special and authentic, not flashier.

What are your three top reasons why handmade is the way to go for a Detroit wedding?

1. Detroit is filled with artists and makers who want to collaborate with brides and grooms to make their weddings special. Its a great, hard-working community to support.
2. Handmade weddings are a great way to show your individual personalities and your relationship. It’s a lot of fun for your guests to learn more about you as a couple.
3. Planning a handmade wedding means you become part of the DIY community, where you are exposed to so many economical ways to recycle and reuse.

Readers: What handmade elements are you thinking about including in your wedding? 

Giving a great wedding toast: 6 do’s and 6 don’ts

by Steph | 3 Comments

In 2004, I gave the maid of honor toast at my sister’s wedding. I cried and rambled quite a bit. I would like to blame that on being only twenty years old at the time, but I am not sure that blame would be accurately placed…

Over the years, I have heard some great wedding toasts and I have also heard some not-so-great toasts. Below are six DO’s and six DON’Ts from LoveintheD for any of you readers who might be giving a toast at a wedding sometime soon! But first, here’s a photo by Orris Photography of my sister, Josie, giving her matron of honor speech in 2011.

Josie toast

DO

1. Introduce yourself. Who are you and how do you know the bride/groom?

2. Keep it short. Read your speech to yourself a few times and cut out pieces that distract from your main points.

3. Make your toast personal – share a personal memory of your newly married friend or your first time seeing the couple together, etc.

4. Think about the range of family members and wedding guests present at the reception. After you write the draft of your toast, think: What will grandmother/uncle think?

5. It’s fine to joke around, but please keep it classy and refer to “DOs” #4 and DON’Ts #4,5,6.

6. Be clear when you are ending the toast. “Now let’s all raise a glass…”

DON’T

1. Talk for a long time about just one member of the newly married couple without talking about BOTH individuals and how happy you are about their commitment to one another. The wedding is about both people, not just your friendship with one of them.

2. Make the toast about yourself or use too many inside jokes. Not everyone at the wedding is in the inner circle but everyone is there because they are happy for the couple

3. Give a toast while you’re drunk.

4. Mention any previous significant girlfriends/boyfriends/spouses of either of your newly married friends.

5. Try to make the toast something that doesn’t fit your style. If you don’t normally use a lot of fancy quotes, don’t feel compelled to use a quotation in your speech. If you normally don’t open a speech with a joke, you don’t need to do so at the wedding!

6. Think that the goal of a toast is to embarrass the bride or groom. You are giving a toast, not a roast.

Readers: What do you remember about the best wedding toast you’ve heard? What about the worst wedding toast you’ve heard?

Freedom to Marry – Celebrate Loving Day in Detroit

by Steph | 3 Comments

History was made on June 12, 1967. Can you believe that interracial marriage bans were struck down in the United States only less than fifty years ago?

The Loving v. Virginia decision anniversary is directly relevant to my life for several reasons.

First, my husband Sean and I are in an interracial marriage. The challenges that we have faced as an interracial couple are not anywhere near the institutional barriers that existed during the Lovings’ time. We owe a debt of gratitude to them for their courage.

Second, I worked for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan for a time, and am proud of the work that the ACLU does to defend our constitutional rights and civil liberties. ACLU lawyers Bernard Cohen and Philip Hirschkop represented the Lovings in their court case.

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Richard Loving (who was white) and Mildred Jeter (who was Black and Cherokee) were married in Washington, DC fifty-five years ago today, on June 2, 1958. They actually lived in Virginia, but interracial marriage was illegal in that state along with twenty other states. After returning back to Virginia, the Lovings were arrested, tried in court, and convicted of miscegenation.

They decided to leave the state, so that they would not be sentenced to a one-year jail sentence. They contacted the American Civil Liberties Union, which decided to take on the case. The case wound its way up to the United States Supreme Court. After nine years of a legal battle, the Supreme Court justices unanimously decided in favor of the Lovings! Interracial marriage bans around the country were found unconstitutional.

Chief Justice Earl Warren said in the 1967 opinion:

“Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides within the individual and cannot be infringed on by the State.”

With those words echoing today, decades later, what can we expect or hope to read in the Supreme Court’s upcoming decisions this summer about same-sex marriage?

So how does Michigan fare in the history of interracial marriage laws? Interracial marriage was illegal in Michigan from 1838 to 1883. The Michigan Compiled Laws of 1857 included this language: “No white person shall intermarry with a negro…” In 1883, Michigan was one of 17 states that allowed interracial marriage. [Source]

loving day detroit

On Sunday, June 9, 3 – 6:30 p.m. at the Cass Corridor Neighborhood Development Center, check out the second annual Loving Day : Detroit celebration! Join us for children’s games, story time, discussion, a showing of The Loving Story, and a potluck!

LoveintheD will have a photo and story booth at this annual celebration. Come take some photos and also share your story as a multiracial/ethnic person, couple, or family. Maybe you’ll see your face and story up on LoveintheD in the future! I cannot wait for this photobooth.

Happy anniversary, Richard and Mildred Loving!

Readers: What are your reflections on interracial marriage, multiracial identity, and multiracial families in your own life?