Free wedding at Bexar courthouse set for Feb. 14

Free courthouse weddings on St. Valentine’s Day, a popular San Antonio tradition for 26 years, are only a few weeks away.
The mass ceremonies conducted each Feb. 14 since 1989 are expected to draw scores of couples once again this year, and attendance could see a boost because St. Valentine’s Day is a Saturday.
Those hoping to participate will need to get their paperwork in order. Even though the marriage ceremony at the Bexar County Courthouse is free, there are other costs and considerations for participants, including license requirements.
This year there are five mass weddings and one renewal of vows ceremony, starting at 12:01 a.m. and ending at 5 p.m., all conducted by the Rev. Joe Sullivan.
Times of the ceremonies, all on the north side of the courthouse facing Main Plaza at 100 Dolorosa Street, will be 12:01 a.m., 10 a.m., noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., with the vows renewal at 5 p.m.
With a few exceptions, participating couples must obtain a marriage license 72 hours prior to the ceremony in which they’re participating. However, waivers may be obtained by members of the U.S. military on active duty. The 72-hour waiting period also may be waived by a judge for “good cause,” and for those who complete a premarital education course approved by the state and who provide the county clerk with the course completion certificate.
Marriage licenses can be obtained from the Bexar County Clerk’s Office on the first floor of the Paul Elizondo Tower at 101 W. Nueva St. The fee for a marriage license is $81 (cash only) and both applicants must provide proof of identity and age as well as their Social Security numbers (if any).

Rev. Sullivan will sign all marriage licenses and return them to the Clerk’s Office to be filed within one week after the ceremonies.

When the wedding is off but the costs aren’t, even with insurance

If a couple says ‘we don’t,’ bill collectors still say ‘yes you do.’
Weddings, as most Americans know, are expensive. As it turns out, canceling them isn’t much cheaper. Depending on how far in advance the decision is made, the couple (or their families) may be left with the entire bill to pay. “Anything the couple is going through canceling the wedding is far more difficult than the hotel canceling the event,” says Tobias Rimkus, director of catering and event management at The St. Regis Aspen Resort.
However, the emotional toll does not change the fact that vendors — hotels, caterers, florists, etc. — are also businesses and cannot simply surrender the cost of a reservation no longer being held. After all, planning (and purchases) usually happen far in advance of the actual Big Day. “Preparation time in the kitchen for a wedding typically starts three days prior to the event, but orders are placed much earlier with suppliers, especially with Aspen being a more remote mountain destination.” At The St. Regis Aspen, Rimkus explains, “The cancellation fee changes as the event gets closer: at 180 days out, it is 50%; 120 days it is 75%; and [within] 60 days it is 90%.” When pricing starts in the $200 per person range, as it does at The St. Regis Aspen, a seriously luxurious mountain resort, even a 50% cancellation fee is a hefty one.
That scenario — a canceled wedding, a big bill — is not uncommon. Americans spend $55 billion on weddings annually, according to IBIS World, a market research company. But a survey of 1,500 U.S. brides done by The Wedding Report found that 13% of engagements in the U.S. — or 270,000 — don’t end with a wedding. When those weddings get canceled, most of the bills still need to get paid — how much varies, but deposits are almost always non-refundable, many vendors charge cancellation fees, and the closer to the wedding date, the less likely they’ll be able to fill in with a new booking, making them more likely to charge higher amounts. And usually it’s the bride’s family that foots most of the bill. On average, 44% of a wedding is paid for by the bride’s family, more than triple the 12% contribution from the groom’s side, according to a 2013 study conducted by The Knotsurveying 12,600 U.S. brides. (The couple pays 42% and 2% is paid by other family members.)
Though few couples purchase it, theoretically, this is the purpose of wedding insurance: To cover unexpected costs like a last-minute catering replacement or an entire cancellation. (Statistics aren’t available, but every expert asked agreed that only a small minority of weddings are insured.) A family member might get ill, a venue may burn down, a hurricane or blizzard can blow in. But while insurance will probably cover those situations, it will almost never cover one where the cancellation comes from the couple.
Insurers offer several reasons for not covering what they refer to as a “change of heart.” Ed Charlebois of Travelers Insurance says the company’s wedding insurance is meant to cover events outside of the insured’s control. (This is the same reason your car insurance will probably cover an accident that’s the other drivers’ fault but usually not one that’s your own.) “People wanting to get married and then changing their mind—to us that’s not an insurable event.” What if it’s only one party’s decision, but the other one is left with the bills? “We’re insuring the couple,” Charlebois says. If one of them makes a mess, then, as if they were already married, the other one might be left to clean it up. He adds that the company is careful to make sure couples understand this.
Even a law firm that does cover changes of heart, does so with a strict time limitation. Robert Nuccio, whose firm offers change of heart insurance through wedsure.com, says that frequent fraud made more coverage essentially a losing business deal. He added change of heart coverage in 2007 because his policy recognized that it was usually the parents who were paying the cost of the wedding — parents who theoretically wouldn’t have known that the bride and groom might call it quits. “We called it ‘Innocent Party Change of Heart Coverage.’” But, he says, fraud quickly followed. “The mothers knew that [the bride and groom] were fighting, so they were calling in buying the coverage, knowing they were going to split up.” The mothers would lie on the applications, saying they didn’t know anything that might give rise to a claim. “Turns out the mother’s not so innocent,” Nuccio says. Since its initial offering, Nuccio has had to adjust the term’s timeline to deter fraudulent claims. While it originally gave couples four months, his change of heart coverage can now only be invoked if the wedding is canceled more than a year outside the planned date.
Luckily, it’s not all bad news. There are other ways to recoup some of the lost costs. CanceledWeddings.com, for example, brokers canceled contracts and last minute availabilities. One couple’s canceled four-star, paid-in-advance honeymoon can become another’s last-minute dream vacation — at a bargain basement price. But, CEO Peter Ulrich notes, the company is still in early stages, so not every wedding will find a buyer. Again, the more in advance of the wedding the cancellation comes, the better.

No matter how expensive it is, almost no one will say a couple should go through with a wedding it doesn’t want. Women with premarital doubts are 2.5 times more likely to get divorced than women without them, a 2012 study in the Journal of Family Psychology found. (Worth noting: “Men’s doubts,” it found, “did not predict divorce.”) Anne Milford, co-author of How Not To Marry The Wrong Guyand a wedding-canceler herself, tells women to focus on getting out of the relationship, not the financial problems that follow. After all, divorces are expensive, too. “Cancel the relationship. Let loved ones cancel the party.”

In Oklahoma, same-sex marriage brings concerns about acceptance and rejection

The "polite gays," was how Tracy and Kathryn described themselves. Not political or loud, not obvious or overt, but understated, in keeping with their Oklahoma surroundings. Never asking anyone to think too hard or talk too much about the fact that they were gay at all. Except now they were about to ask everyone they knew to think about it, because they'd decided to have a wedding.
"Okay, here are our wedding plans, right here," Tracy Curtis said, opening her notebook at the Hideaway Pizza and scanning the friends she and her partner, Kathryn Frazier, had invited to their inaugural planning session. "If you'll notice, this notebook's empty. We need help."
"Tracy, I don't know." Across the table, one friend half-raised her hand. "I just haven't been to many gay weddings. And I'm gay. We're in kind of uncharted territory."
They were at this restaurant because in October the Supreme Court decided to let several lower court marriage rulings stand, which made same-sex unions legal in some of the country's reddest states, including theirs. The next day, Tracy and Kathryn picked up a marriage license on the advice of a lawyer friend who told them to hurry before this suddenly opened window closed. But after a two-minute ceremony, Kathryn, 39, went to work and Tracy, 44, went to a doctor's appointment, and then went home and cried because what they'd just experienced felt like checking something off a list, not like getting married.
And so now, in November, they were at the Hideaway to plan an actual wedding, to take place in a state where 62 percent of people in a recent poll said they didn't approve of same-sex marriage — and 52 percent said they felt that way strongly.
One friend suggested that the reception could have a casino night theme. A teenager at the table wondered why the couple hadn't chosen their outfits a long time ago — "Because, honey, we didn't think we could ever get married in Oklahoma," Kathryn explained — and someone else started ticking off venues. Tracy had a vision of guests holding candles. But centerpieces? Flowers? Music? Thinking of it all made them feel overwhelmed, especially when it came to one question above all: Who would come to this wedding?
A few nights later, the couple sat at their dining room table and went over prospective guests. They still didn't have a venue, but they'd chosen a day, in January, and they'd made enough save-the-date cards to send to 86 people, a list Tracy had written on the bottom of her Bible study worksheet and kept re-counting.
"Are they coming?" Kathryn asked, pointing to one of the names in surprise.
"I don't think they'll come," Tracy said. "We're just sending a postcard to be polite." She looked at another name and laughed. "I just cannot imagine inviting her to this wedding."
But they would, they decided. They would invite everybody to this wedding and let them decide for themselves whether to come.
"It feels very emotional and vulnerable to be inviting all these people," Kathryn said.
"But that's why you have a wedding," Tracy replied.
So the next week, they put the save-the-dates in the mail, and soon after, the invitations, and then they waited.
---
Oklahoma. This was a place where Kathryn's workplace had a cussing jar, a quarter per swear, and the words written on it, "Let Go and Let God." Here, Christianity was the religion — Tracy and Kathryn were believers — and Oklahoma football was the religion — Tracy and Kathryn were believers — and people could be decent and kind and judgmental, sometimes all at once, which was why, when Tracy told some Rotary Club friends that she and Kathryn were getting married, she kept her eyes planted above their heads so she wouldn't have to look at their faces.
Tracy and Kathryn had been together for seven years and known each other for 18, but they began worrying about everything in their lives that could be disrupted by this ceremony. They worried about offending people. They worried when Tracy called their top choice for a venue. At first the woman who answered the phone said the location was available, then she asked for the bride's name — "Kathryn" — and the groom's name — "Tracy" — and then, when she figured out that Tracy was not a man but a woman, she explained that they didn't do same-sex weddings and wouldn't accommodate the party after all.
"We had our first run-in with meanness the other day," Kathryn told her mother, Jane Webb, the next morning when they met for breakfast at a Cracker Barrel.
"Well, did you have to tell them it was a gay wedding?" Jane brainstormed. "Couldn't you just say you were having a beer fest?"
"No, Mom."
"Now, I haven't told him about the wedding, and I'm not sure that I intend to," Jane said a few minutes later, bringing up her own worries about her husband, Kathryn's stepfather. He hadn't reacted well to learning she was gay.
Kathryn wondered: Would her stepfather come to the wedding? Tracy wondered: Would her parents come? Her empathetic mother and her ex-military father?
What about Kathryn's boss, Tim? He and Kathryn talked all the time about homosexuality and the Bible, and his wife, Kelly, was the leader of Tracy's Bible study. The two couples had eaten dinners at each other's homes and been friends for more than a decade — but would Tim and Kelly come to the wedding?
The person Kathryn wondered about most was her biological father. He had raised her; after his divorce from Jane, it was the two of them alone in a small, boxy house in the middle of open plains. He was a rural postman and the job suited him — a solitary route that took him down the same path, every day, a hundred miles of roads. His world was predictable and contained, and Kathryn hadn't found the right way to talk to him about the wedding.
Tracy didn't know they hadn't spoken. She sent his invitation in a batch with all the others — and now Kathryn had no choice but to call her father, or he would learn about the ceremony by checking the mail. As the words about the invitation came spilling out, they became words about why she and Tracy had decided, despite all their worries, to have this wedding.
She told him that she didn't think there was anything wrong with the way she and Tracy felt about each other. She said that marriage was an important rite in the history of humanity, something people had been doing throughout time, and something she wanted to be a part of. She told him that marriage, as a value, was American.
He didn't say anything. There was only silence on the other end of the line.
"I'd like for you to come," Kathryn said after a while. She left it at that.
---
The first RSVP arrived in the middle of December, addressed to "Bride Central." Tracy saw it in the mailbox but made herself wait until Kathryn was home to open it. Inside was a response from a teenage girl Tracy had mentored at a homeless shelter. "This will be my first wedding!" the girl wrote, and the couple took the card inside and started to make a pile: three more "Will Attends" arrived the next day, five the day after that.
By then they'd found a venue, a tea house on Main Street, whose owner recalled telling them, "I haven't been exposed much to that life, but I love all God's children," and by then Tracy's mother had phoned with a request.
"Tracy," Diana Lobrano asked her daughter in a serious voice. "Would you consider wearing your grandmother's wedding dress?"
Tracy snorted before she could help herself. The gown may have been an heirloom, but her grandmother was a diminutive size 6 and Tracy was a tall 14 — it would never fit. But in that moment, Tracy began to realize that other people were taking this ceremony seriously.
They ordered trays of cupcakes and truffles, downloaded dance tutorials and made multiple trips to Dillard's, where a white-haired clerk sold Kathryn a gray blazer and helped Tracy find an evening gown, then a different gown, and a different gown when she still couldn't make up her mind. They told the clerk they needed the clothes for a wedding; they were too worried about what she might think to tell her the wedding was theirs.
A few weeks before the wedding, Tracy's parents arrived from South Carolina, where they'd moved several years before. On their first night in town, her father came into the kitchen while Tracy and Kathryn were washing dishes. He told them he had a question he felt a little awkward about asking.
Bill Curtis was politically conservative. A retired technical sergeant with the Air National Guard, he thought that things might have been easier before the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, when someone would know another person was gay but not talk about it. He questioned news polls that said that the majority of Americans supported same-sex marriage. People on the coasts might, he thought, but he wasn't sure about people in the middle of the country.
He also thought that his daughter was a good person who deserved to be happy, with the same rights as everyone else, and so he had packed a gray suit and a selection of ties and driven 17 hours with Diana to be at the ceremony.
Now, in the kitchen, he asked, "Is there a role you would like me to have in this wedding?"
He didn't mean to presume or impose, he said — he just wanted to offer.
---
A week before the wedding, the pile had grown to 67 affirmative RSVPs: Tracy's sister, in California. An old friend in Washington state. Brandon, the 22-year-old Tracy and Kathryn gained custody of after his mother died five years before, would be driving up from Florida. There were a handful of no's — "This is our annual duck hunt weekend," one invitee apologized — but Tracy and Kathryn were starting to feel optimistic. "Maybe I underestimated the people around me," Tracy said. They still hadn't heard from Kathryn's boss, Tim, though, and they still hadn't heard from Kathryn's dad. They'd visited him for the holidays, but he didn't bring up the wedding then and neither did they, and finally, with six days to go, Kathryn telephoned and asked whether he was coming. There was another uncomfortable silence.
"I don't want you to hate me, and I don't want you to disown me," she would remember him telling her. "But I just want things to stay as they are." He would not be coming.
Kathryn didn't ask him why. "Mad is not the right word," she told him. "But I am disappointed."
Two days later, Kathryn's mother called. She would not be coming either — a medical procedure had been scheduled for a few days before the wedding and she didn't know whether she'd be recovered in time.
"It's really okay," Kathryn told herself.
A few hours after that call, Tim stopped by Kathryn's office to ask about a service request in Prague, a small Oklahoma town several miles out of their normal coverage area.
"I told them I'd have to bill them double," Kathryn said.
"At least," Tim said.
"It's about a 50-minute drive."
"I trust you," he said, and soon after he left, Kathryn's cellphone rang.
Tracy was on the other end. She'd just gone to the mailbox and found an RSVP, she said. It was from Tim and Kelly. They wouldn't be coming.
"Mmm-hmm," Kathryn said, staring at the window in front of her as Tracy told her about the thoughtful card the Lashars had sent along with their RSVP.
A few minutes later, Tim came back in. "Where is Prague, anyway?" he joked. "Isn't that in Europe?"
Kathryn took a deep breath. She laughed, and meanwhile, back at the house, after Tracy talked with Kathryn, Tracy's father pulled her into the kitchen and asked that his daughter hear him out on something.
Don't recite vows, he suggested. Have a party, not a wedding — it just seemed like that might be the sensitive thing to do. Besides, he pointed out, the couple was technically already married.

That wasn't the point, Tracy remembered telling him. Their ceremony in October had been done in haste with court decisions in mind. They wanted, she told her father, to feel married.

Good life beckons for St Minver weddings venture

A young St Minver couple are planning to take their holiday cottage business in a new direction in 2015 – by using it to host their own wedding.
Nick Cameron and Megan Brigstocke run the Mesmear cottages on a 15-acre smallholding.This year they plan to expand the business by providing wedding facilities and offering a bespoke catering service – Megan is a classically-trained chef who has worked around the world.
The former 18th century stone barns were converted to holiday cottages some years ago, but now the business is offering to prepare and cook gourmet meals as well – not just for their own guests, but for door-step delivery across the Rock, St Minver, Trebetherick and Polzeath areas.
“We’re offering a wide range of menus so there really is something for all tastes,” said Megan.“Everything is prepared on-site using only the freshest ingredients – we even have our own hens to provide on-the-day eggs.”
The couple are also looking to increase the agricultural element of their business by adding goats and a few pigs.But it the weddings sector that they hope will really take off in 2015.
“This is such a fantastic coastal location,” said Nick, “that people are drawn here from all over the UK and Europe.We offer a completely tailored and individual wedding service to ensure that the special day is everything a weddings couple ever dreamed of.
“We also offer the flexibility of self-catering and catered accommodation, in beautifully-maintained grounds - this really is the ideal boutique wedding location.”

Nick and Megan are due to marry in December.

COUPLE DENIED DATE CHANGE, REFUND BY WEDDING VENUE AFTER BRAIN TUMOR SURGERY GETS HELP

For the second time around, Destiny and Nicolas Brzuska are looking for a wedding venue.
"It's amazing. I never thought something like this would happen," Destiny said.
That's because three weeks before their Jan. 4 wedding, the couple was told Nicolas needed surgery to remove a four-ounce brain tumor.
And if that wasn't bad enough, The Garden Room in Garden Grove, where they had planned to host their wedding, refused to reschedule the date or give them back their $3,600 deposit, so they contacted Eyewitness News for help.
"Our whole goal was to warn future brides and grooms and make sure they don't go through something like this," Destiny said.
The story, however, got the attention of Sir Bruno Serato, the owner of the Anaheim White House restaurant. He offered to throw the Brzuskas the wedding of their dreams.
"When I saw that this young gentleman was fighting something that was in my family, I think my first thought was like let me help," Serato said.
He is providing the venue and preparing the food free of charge. Other Eyewitness News viewers have offered to give the bride and groom flowers, a cake, a photographer and a DJ for the day.
"It restored some faith in humanity that there actually are kind, warmhearted people out there," Nicolas said.
The couple tied the knot back in December in a simple ceremony at a 24-hour chapel when they feared the worst. Now they have a second chance at the wedding they hoped for.
"It's heartwarming to know there's people out there that would do something like this for us," Destiny said.

Monday's tasting was just one of many decisions the couple will be making, but the biggest decision they still have to make is setting the date for the celebration.

Desiree Hartsock And Chris Siegfried Are Married: ‘Bachelorette’ Wedding Finally Takes Place

Bachelorette lovebirds Desiree Hartsock and Chris Siegfried are married after a California wedding ceremony over the weekend. Fans knew that the two were getting married sometime this month, and now they are officially husband and wife.
As Us Weekly reports, Desiree and Chris’ wedding took place in California on Sunday, January 18. Gossip guru Reality Steve had previously said that the two were getting married this weekend, though throughout the week Chris and Desiree definitely made it appear that their wedding was still a week or so away. Their plan to keep their wedding date under wraps mostly worked and fans can’t wait for more details.
E! Online notes that Hartsock wore a one-shoulder lace dress with a sheer overlay at her neckline. Desiree had previously said she had designed two dresses with her Maggie Sottero line. One gown would be for the wedding ceremony and another would be for the reception. Desiree’s wedding dress reportedly had a long train that definitely made an impact.
Sources indicate that Hartsock wore a long veil at the back of her head and she wore her long hair in waves with a side part and one side clipped behind her ear. Desiree and Chris had previously shared a few other details about the colors their wedding party would be wearing and Bachelorette fans will be excited to see the photos this coming week via Us Weekly.
An insider said that Desiree and Chris were very excited to get married and he was amazed at how beautiful she looked as she walked down the aisle. The ceremony reportedly was short, sweet and emotional. The two walked out of the ceremony apparently kissing and holding hands. Insiders say that the private ceremony took only about 15 minutes.
Though Des and Chris’ Bachelorette wedding wasn’t done in front of ABC cameras to be televised, the two had previously said there would be a number of familiar franchise faces in attendance and even in the wedding party. So far the couple has kept mum on specifics regarding where the ceremony was held and what the plans were for the reception and honeymoon, but more details should be coming shortly.

Though there were many Bachelorette fans who doubted Des and Chris would make it down the aisle, they proved their doubters wrong. The two have had a fairly drama-free and low-key relationship since their finale aired and their fans are thrilled they finally got the wedding they had been working toward for so long. Congratulations to Desiree Hartsock and Chris Siegfried on their big day!

'The Wedding Ringer': Film Review

Kevin Hart and Josh Gad play a best-man-for-hire and a groom in need in this bawdy bromance
The first version of the script for The Wedding Ringer, a new comedy about a friendless schlub who rents a best man for his big day, was written back in 2002 — a fact that partly accounts for the whiff of stale leftovers that hangs over the movie from start to finish.
Several films have indeed been there, done that — or variations of that — in the 12 years since. Bridesmaids and The Hangover all but redefined the pre-marriage debauchery sub-genre, the former with its sharply drawn characters and refreshing all-female twist, the latter with its anarchic bravado and (sometimes) winning shamelessness. I Love You, Man was a knowing and ripely funny take on platonic man love. And in Hitch, Will Smith played a smooth-talking dating guru who helps a hapless white guy get the girl.
But a certain derivative, deja-vu quality isn’t the only sin this lazy, numbingly routine, very occasionally amusing comedy commits. An odd-couple bromance spiked with gross-out humor of a mostly unimaginative sort, The Wedding Ringer largely fails to accomplish its most basic mission: making us laugh.
Still, a welcoming release slot over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, coupled with the presence of stand-up star Kevin Hart (most recently seen as Chris Rock’s agent in Top Five), could give the movie a big boost at the box office.
Directed by Jeremy Garelick from a screenplay he wrote with Jay Lavender (the two formerly penned Jennifer Aniston-Vince Vaughn rom com The Break-Up), The Wedding Ringer opens with Doug (Josh Gad) nervously cold calling potential best men in preparation for his upcoming nuptials to Gretchen (The Big Bang Theory’s Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting). Alas, Doug is soft-spoken and overweight, which, in testosterone-drunk comedies like this one, means that he has no friends. Soon enough, he’s employing professional best man Jimmy Callahan (Hart) and a rag-tag team of groomsmen, each of whom is an ostensibly yuk-worthy “type”: the Fat Guy (played by Jorge Garcia of Lost fame), the Asian (Aaron Takahashi), the Redneck, the Beefcake (with a stutter — even funnier!), etc., etc.
As Doug and his homies-for-hire get acquainted, we’re treated to a variety of gags, including a boy getting hit in the gut with a baseball and a man breaking his own arm for show, as well as jokes about rape, child molestation and testicular deformities. Politically incorrect, lowest-common-denominator comedy and body horror humor can be sublime — see the best of those wildly erratic Farrelly brothers — when the timing is sharp and the staging inspired. But here, almost everything feels anemic. Dumb and Dumber To, to cite the brothers’ most recent (and overzealously maligned) film, for all its shortcomings, committed much more fully to its forehead-slapping idiocy, earning heartier laughs than anything in The Wedding Ringer. Garelick and Lavender consistently flirt with outrageousness without ever going all the way. Even a bachelor party set piece in which the term “service dog” is given stomach-turning new meaning (peanut butter lovers, be warned) feels half-hearted and half-thought-out; you giggle because of the situation’s bullying perversity, not because the execution is actually funny.
Slightly more amusing are some of the interactions between Doug and his future in-laws, thanks in large part to the skill of good actors slumming for a paycheck: Ken Howard as Gretchen’s macho dad, Mimi Rogers as her tightly wound mom, Olivia Thirlby as her too-cool-for-school younger sister and a sadly underused Cloris Leachman as her loopy grandma. If the movie has a high point, it’s surely the family dinner sequence that devolves into total chaos, culminating in Granny going up in flames. Moments like that one, as well as another that finds Doug and Jimmy hitting the dance floor at a wedding — breaking out moves ranging from hip hop to disco to Charleston with incongruous flair — momentarily breathe some much-needed comic life into The Wedding Ringer.
Too bad it’s not enough for Doug and Jimmy to have fun; they’re forced to learn something in the process, too, as suggested by the perfunctory heart-to-hearts the two have in the film’s third act, acoustic guitars strumming in the background.
Hart offers a more restrained spin on his usual high-pitched, high-strung persona, but the role is essentially watered-down shtick; the manic swagger he brought to last year’s About Last Night remake and even his endearingly yappy wannabe cop in another slapdash buddy flick, Ride Along, were more compelling. Meanwhile, Gad (who voiced Olaf in Frozen, played a sex addict in Thanks for Sharing and Zach Braff’s ne’er-do-well brother in Wish I Was Here) isn’t given much to do except look dim and dejected, the neutered straight man to Hart’s neutered real-life cartoon.
Some of the supporting players, like Ignacio Serricchio as a gay wedding planner who isn’t quite what he seems and Jenifer Lewis as Hart’s assistant, add some oomph to the proceedings.
Visually, Garelick doesn’t attempt much — graceless shot/reverse-shots abound — though an opening sequence in which the camera snakes its way through a crowd of wedding guests dancing with diligent enthusiasm has some panache. The filmmakers also insert winks at E.T., Rudy and The Usual Suspects — futile flourishes that only serve to remind us of better movies.

The rather obvious lesson here is that in the age of Apatow and his cronies, it takes more than fat dudes, dick jokes and dogs with wandering tongues to make us guffaw in spite of ourselves. Frankly, we’ve seen it all before.

A dream wedding 15 years in the making

On Wednesday, January 14, 2015, the Savannah, Georgia, historic district will be abuzz asWedding for Warriors 2015 makes dreams come true. The main events will be in historic places of worship for seventeen, brave and beautiful military couples.
For the handsome grooms and brides in white gowns, a corps of professional photographers will capture their full day and evening of precious moments with their 284 wedding guests in historic chapels with elegant flowers, harp or Renaissance lute music playing, and a grand reception with individual cakes and dancing.
For the seventh year, this magical day of gifted military weddings brings hundreds of volunteers together in support of the heart-warming Savannah-based initiative to honor military couples.
“It’s an American tradition to give back. Even in modern-day Savannah, we welcome strangers as we would family and close friends, as is the deeply rooted tradition here. Showcasing full southern style hospitality, our all-volunteer Weddings for Warriors initiative works year around to gift one-day military weddings in January each year. We’ve hosted as many as 40 in one day,” adds board member Dave Gibson. “The individual weddings afford a time for personal celebration that too many of our brave and beautiful USA service forces forego repeatedly while meeting their military obligations.”
The 2015 military couples hosted in Savannah will arrive from southeast USA points as far away as the U.S. Army base, Fort Eustis (Newport, VA) to include Shaw Air Force Base (Sumter, SC), U.S. Marine Corps and Air Station (Parris Island and Beaufort, SC), Fort Stewart (Hinesville, GA), Fort Gordon (Augusta, GA).
“This is the first year that we have reached out to the Wounded Warrior Battalions at both Ft. Stewart (Hinesville) and Fort Gordon (Augusta),” added event coordinator, Becky Byous.
One week earlier on January 8, 2015, at the plantation of The Mackey House, the Mackey family and Weddings for Warrior Board of Director members hosted the important meet and greet, rehearsal reception for the military couples receiving the gifted weddings from Weddings for Warriors. The Mackey House is a mansion-to-meadows special event and wedding venue located in the countryside eight minutes from downtown Savannah.
WHO:
Hundreds of volunteers, including wedding professionals, former Weddings for Warrior recipients, community volunteers, and generous vendors pool resources and enthusiasm annually to host the gifted military weddings in Savannah, Georgia, each January. It is Savannah-based writer Heather Grant who commented, “As beautiful as they are brave” when seeing two young WWII-era photographs posted on a friend’s Facebook page recently.
WHAT:
For the 7th year, the full day of FREE individual ceremonies — two weddings and 15 vow renewals in January 2015 — for active military men and women take place in the American tradition of gratitude and giving back.
WHEN:
Wednesday, January 14, 2015 ** all day, beginning at 11 a.m.
WHERE:
In Savannah, Georgia – once the military-strategic city founded by the British in 1733 — Georgia founder James Oglethorpe reserved solemn places of worship in the famous city plan. Two weddings and fifteen vow renewals will take place in those historically reserved settings — Mickve Israel Synagogue (Monterey Square), Wesley Monumental Methodist Church (Calhoun Square), First Baptist Church (Chippewa Square), Trinity United Methodist Church (Telfair Square), and First African Baptist Church (Franklin Square).
HOW:
The Savannah-based Weddings for Warriors initiative is laced with the spirit of American gratitude. From bridal gowns, flowers, photography, music, professional makeup and hair styling at the original Mighty Eighth Air Force headquarters (now American Legion Post located near Forsyth Park in downtown Savannah) to the grand reception at Savannah Station, the area’s wedding community and friends roll out the red carpet of appreciation to military couples. Lodging for wedding couples is free, thanks to local hotels.
Originated by Savannah’s wedding professionals, the non-profit Weddings for Warriors initiative is now coordinated by an active board of directors. Wedding planner Becky Byous is lead coordinator for the group’s efforts to produce the military wedding events over seven years.
WHY:

Deployment, resources, and military life had often taken priority for these military couples. Until Wednesday, January 14, 2015 – a day of fairytale weddings, full-wedding vow renewals and a grand reception.

Pairs skate: W.Va. couple's wedding held at ice rink

Alexis Donahoe had cold feet as she walked down the aisle and approached her soon-to-be husband, James "J.D." Rappold, at their wedding on New Year's Eve.
Although they had no second thoughts, the couples' toes were chilly as they gathered with a hundred of their closest friends and family members at the South Charleston Memorial Ice Arena to join in holy matrimony. It was an end-of-the-year celebration unlike any other.
"We originally thought about getting married in a church and doing a reception in Huntington," said Donahoe, 20.
But those plans changed after Rappold, 26, jokingly suggested they get married on ice.
Donahoe originally laughed at the idea, Rappold said prior to the ceremony, as he overlooked the rink that had been converted into a provisional wedding hall.
When guests arrived at the arena, they discovered half of the ice covered with mats that weren't quite thick enough to fend off the chill from the frozen surface below their feet, dressed up aluminum chairs and music playing on a system normally used for calling out hockey players' names.
As Rappold suited up — into a tuxedo — inside the men's locker room, the smell of hockey, his favorite sport, was undeniable. He told a groomsman how cool the scene was. "The dream," a friend responded.
Rappold, who set aside his hockey pads to become a figure skater with Donahoe a few years ago, was well aware of the strangeness of the scene. "It's not a normal sport, so why have a normal wedding?"
"We thought it would be very fitting," Donahoe said.
And with that, the two set out to make their dream a reality. They brought in the Rev. Chris Perkins from Enslow Park Presbyterian Church in Huntington to officiate the ceremony. A relative of Donahoe, who served as their wedding planner, was tasked with figuring out the logistics of using half an ice rink as both the wedding site and reception hall. Rappold asked a college friend to sit in the announcer's booth — in between penalty boxes — and DJ the evening.
The couple first met four years ago when Rappold's mother, Heidi, suggested they become skating partners. Heidi Rappold had been Donahoe's figure skating coach since she was very young.
Although he was fearful of what his hockey friends might say, Rappold gave it a try. What began as a pair skating partnership blossomed into a relationship that was centered around their love for the ice. Since then, the skating pair has gone to nationals twice, finishing in the top 10 for the novice level.
While they no longer compete — Donahoe spends her time focused on earning her accounting degree at Marshall University while Rappold works as an exercise physiologist in Huntington — their love of skating remains strong.
Some gifts for the couple were decorated with a pair of skates and table assignments were denoted with purple signs containing ice hockey and skating terms, such as "death spiral" and "Zamboni."
The celebration even featured a display of the pair's talents on ice as they performed a first skate (their take on a first dance) to Jason Mraz's "I Won't Give Up."
The non-traditional wedding lasted into the new year, giving the couple an evening they would never forget.

"I never really thought of myself getting married on an ice rink," said Donahoe. "But it is a dream come true."

Store Nixes Engagement Photo with Shotgun

WFAA-TV employee Stephanie Wehner knew exactly what she wanted to do with engagement photos she took with her fiancé Mitch Strobl.
"It depicts our love for each other, and I wanted to be able to display those at the reception," Wehner said.
With their wedding scheduled for this weekend, she had to just tie up some loose ends — like printing out those photos. She ordered printouts online at Walmart.
Wehner submitted 13 photos with varying poses, lighting, and background.
"She came with the idea to take a creative picture where we include something that is important to us," Strobl said.
One of the 13 photographs submitted included Mitch's 12 gauge Ruger Red Label Shotgun. He said it was the first gun that he had purchased himself, calling it his "go-to" gun for outdoor sport.
When Wehner arrived at the Walmart at Central Expressway and Midpark Road to pick up the prints, she was told the photo with the firearm would not be released.
"She was very nice, but very matter-of-fact, like she was not going to budge or give me my photo," Wehner said.
She even recieved a slip from the clerk that read: "MINUS ONE 5 X 7. NO WEAPONS."
The clerk at the Walmart told Wehner it was the store's "policy." Wehner was told she can't print pictures of guns.
But it's the explanation that caught the couple off-guard. Wehner told News 8 that the clerk said the photo couldn't be released because the weapon would promote a "gang culture."
"To automatically to be lumped into that category of a gang... that hits a little close to home for us, because that isn't our intent at all," Strobl said.
Especially when you consider what he does for a living: Creating manuals for hunter safety and outdoor recreation.
"I did that in this picture; I made sure the action was open... that is was a safe photograph," he said.
A Walmart representative later told News 8 the chain has no policy against printing out pictures with firearms.
"We had a new associate who was misinformed. Her actions are not consistent with our policy," the spokesperson said. Walmart also told us that it has reiterated policies with its employees at this store.
Wehner and Strobl see this more as an attack on their First Amendment right to express themselves through photography.
What the couple didn't want to turn this into was a debate about the Second Amendment.

Wehner and Strobl hope to quickly remedy the problem and find another place to print the photo. For Wehner — who likes to check things off her wedding to-do list — this was a just a minor hurdle. She does say, however, it's a story that she can tell for years to come.

10 Married Girls Share: What I’d Change About My Wedding

I have yet to meet a bride who hated her entire wedding in hindsight. But most brides wish they had done a few things a little differently. So I asked 10 of my smart, stylish married friends what changes they’d make if they got a wedding do-over. (Spoiler alert: Lots of ’em would pick a different dress.) Here’s what 10 former brides learned the hard way—so you don’t have to:
“I would have thought more about my hair accessories for the reception. After I took of my veil, my hair was just in a plain half-updo. And I would have planned a better send off. We just got into my SUV with my mom and dad and drove off to the hotel.”
— Anne, married June 22, 2003
“I would have had a smaller bridal party. I don’t know what I was thinking when I had 12—yes, 12—girls as bridesmaids. Smaller would have been more meaningful. And I would have chosen a color and let them pick their own bridesmaid dresses.”
— Tara, married October 21, 2006
“I feel like brides aren’t as bound by tradition as I was a decade ago. There are so many more options now at more flexible price points. Two things I would definitely re-do: have food trucks cater my wedding and wear Houghton’s white leather moto jacket over my wedding dress.”
— Farrah, married 2005
“I wish I made a sign for our favor table. Without signage, no one knew to take one.”
— Madhu, married 2010
“I adore my wedding and still grin ear-to-ear when looking at the 10-year-old photos. If I could go back and do it again I would only change three things: 1. I loved my dress (and still do) but I have since come to understand and embrace my own style. I wasn’t confident enough 10 years ago to try something that wasn’t popular. Today I would pick a tea-length dress. Something with some tulle in the skirt, some delicate lace and just a hint of sparkle. Stay true to your own style ladies (and gents)! 2. Our officiant was our second choice and I regret that. The officiant has such a special and memorable role. Knowing what I know now, I would rather change my wedding date than compromise on that one. 3. Our DJ! He just wasn’t a “master of ceremonies.” It’s important to have someone with a great energy and presence who can play the crowd andannounce the arrival of the newlywed couple, the first dance, and the cutting of the cake. Our DJ definitely did not have that skill—but he did get every guest on the dance floor.”
— Amber, married 2005
“I wish I had wrangled someone into helping with clean-up the day after. All I wanted to do was luxuriate in our first morning waking up as husband and wife, not run around like maniacs cleaning the chapel, picking up stuff from the reception, and tying up other loose ends.”
— Leah (our Leah!), married 2014
“I wouldn’t wear a strapless dress again. I love my dress and it’s a flattering style—which is probably why the trend is still going strong—but I wish I had pick a more timeless look, like cap sleeves. Also, I would ask my photographer shoot more of the decor that I worked sooooo hard to DIY. There are no pictures of my place cards, center pieces, or favors. WTF?!”
— Seton, married 2009
“We didn’t have a large wedding party, which was OK, but I wish I had planned a gathering with my closest girlfriends for the morning of the wedding. I missed that bonding opportunity. Also, my dress was beautiful but so far from my style. I should have looked for something that felt more like me.”
— Kate, married 2011
“We had about 200 people at our wedding. I might opt for something more intimate if we got married today. Also, my gown was a full A-line, with more crinoline underneath, which was the style at the time. Today I would probably have a less full gown. (Although I felt SO beautiful that night, and I’ll never forget that feeling of never wanting to take off my gown.) Also, I would have asked our photographer to take more pictures of our family members and friends.”
— Jennifer, married 2007
“I would not have had three maids of honor. Longest speech EVER!”

— Alice, married 2006