LA Times does weddings. Cause anything NY can do, we can do [too].

Everyone who knows me knows I love the NY Times' Weddings &  Celebrations section. Well, the LA Times is now entering my the arena of love and nuptials as well. Because 'Asking is hard. Letting everyone know is easy.'

For a limited time, place a free wedding, engagement or commitment announcement in the new Together section.

Xs & Os: a 70 year romance and, finally, a wedding.

This is an incredibly romantic love story.

This is the kind of love story that kicks 'The Notebook's' ass.

This love story gives people hope that soul mates do exist.

This is the kind of lifelong romance that proves that when timing doesn't work out between sweethearts, sometimes the sweethearts just need to give it some time.

Beth Ashley and Rowland Fellows were childhood pals who spent summers in cottages in Maine and ran around a wharf and lived the authentic, romanticized life us newfangled modern kids tried to mimic in fancy summer camps in the Berkshires. They drifted apart, they married, they remarried, they bore children, they were widowed. And they found each other again 70 years later--both of them now in their 80s.

“Beth and I have been like two bookends, with almost 70 years of empty space between us,” Mr. Fellows said. “There’s a lot to catch up on, but we better do it quickly. We can always relax a little more toward the end.”

And this is why I love the NY Times Weddings section. Because out of every 25 or so stories about the MBA son of a Senator and a Mortgage Broker marrying the MBA daughter of a Professor of Political Science and a Lawyer, there is a story that is about love instead of graduate degrees. And this--this is truly inspiring.

[via the NY Times Weddings & Celebrations]
[Image Credit: NY Times]

Clowns and romance...Good morning Los Angeles.

Clowns. Romance. Acceptance. What better way to begin a Sunday morning.



Well, ok. Maybe sex, diet coke, and the NY Times' Weddings & Celebrations section would be better. But let's take what we can get here, ok people?

[You Tube: Ingrid Michaelson Video of 'The Way I Am', directed by Autumn de Wilde]

Xs & Os: Couple takes kooky to next level.

This couple really takes the cake (no pun intended). Featured in this past Sunday's NY Times' Weddings & Celebrations section, Michelle Rosen and David Zornitsky pronounced their 20 year love before love before family and friends (this is his second and her third nuptials) at Dylan's Candy Bar in Manhattan, where the bride wore a dress of candy wrappers and "their 50 guests dined on peanut butter and jelly tarts and candy sushi."

Ok, I get it. You gave him gummi bears on the first day you met. Love is sweet. Your lips are like sugar. So on and cheesy so forth. But really--couldn't you have left the candy references to cliches and gotten married at Tavern on the Green or somewhere respectable? I mean, some couples have begun their romances on line for lattes. You don't see them getting hitched at Starbucks and forcing a menu of Venti Chais and coffee mints upon their guests.

But hey, love is love and I'm a sucker for a happy ending. So, if this kooky couple has found their happy ending beneath a lollipop canopy, I won't judge. Not too much anyway.

P.S. If you think celebrating life's milestones at a candy store is a neat idea, Dylan's is happy to host your special day too. Check out their Special Events page for more details.

[NY Times: Vows - Michelle Rosen and David Zornitsky]

Xs & Os: Smart people DO get married.

The Vows Video section of the New York Times Weddings & Celebrations section (which you should know by now to be a favorite of mine) often evokes a lackluster response from me. The videotaped stories are generally cute (think: baseball games, blind dates, wet kisses), sometimes even practical (husband loses wife, wife loses husband, widows find each other in last attempt at lifelong companionship). But usually not smart--no, no, not very smart at all.

Today's featured couple, however, has proven both smart (think: ivy leagues, masters degrees) AND clever [well, sardonic, really]. Rachel Natelson and Seth Fogelman--cheers to you; you have my blessing. Because, c'mon now, you know you were waiting on it.

Watch their sort of weird, sort of endearing video here.