I’ve wondered why men’s wear is often so dull. You never see a guy really step out of the norm as far as suits and ties go. If I can have scrapbook paper that makes me drool for its lusciousness, why am I bored to tears looking at ties to buy for Honeysuckle Dude? And Honeysuckle Dude is a man who really loves ties.

It became my mission then to find really awesome ties to show Honeysuckle Dude. Here is my list of absolutely, undeniably rocking ties for any occasion:

Silk screened ties from Etsy seller Toybreaker: Odd and sometimes gruesome images silk screened onto silk ties. Honeysuckle Dude loves the squids and rope while I like all of the cool crests or flowers.

I love the idea of a monogrammed tie for the wedding to tie (pun intended) those little details together. Just buy a fun tie at a department store and get it embroidered with the monogram.

And Honeysuckle’s number 1 choice for a rocking tie goes to this corduroy beauty. The website is just a trip and humorous every step of the way. Honeysuckle Dude is eager to be a member of the Corduroy Club now. 

Some other options to consider are leather and suede, gingham, and tie dyed ties.

How is your future husband sprucing up his attire for the wedding? Coat tails? Colored shirt or suit? Nifty cuff links? Does he care or even have a say in what he wears?

Honeysuckle Dude and I are both English teachers, so our wedding planning naturally took a turn for the literary. Our save-the-dates would not be simply magnets or cards. We sent our guests save the date bookmarks! I don’t think sending Save the Dates improved the attendance of out of town guests for our wedding, but they did give a preview for the day. We incorporated the colors and design on other DIY elements.

I picked up the basic supplies from Michaels and Target: plain bookmarks and scrapbooking paper in our wedding colors (totalling less than $12). Then, I designed business cards on Vistaprint (same company Lily Bud used). The template made customizing the business card easy peasy. I changed all the contact info to our wording:

Howdy!

I’m so excited to be a Bridal Bud! It was an early holiday gift to be invited to be a part of this awesome community. I’m so eager to share my planning experiences (including the stressful and regrettable) with you readers who are planning right now. I hope I can help in some way. So…a little bit about me, huh?

Honeysuckle Dude and I met in high school when my family moved to NC. We were friends in high school but never dated (although we came close junior year). We’re a pretty close couple since we went to school together (high school and college), worked together, taught together (during our internship), etc. We are that couple that people refer to as one name; we’re HoneysuckleBlossomandDude. Initially, I would have thought all that time spent together would get boring or overwhelming, but it isn’t bad at all. He’s my best friend, and I enjoy his company. That doesn’t mean we have to do the same thing all the time. In fact, it’s wonderful to be home together but separately doing what we both enjoy (which usually means playing on the Wii for him and catching up on blogs for me).

First pictures of us as a couple from March 2004

When we began planning our wedding, the word that kept recurring in our conversations with family and vendors was intimate. Aside from the sexual connotations of that word, all of the definitions really seem to convey our feelings for our wedding. We wanted a warm celebration held with very close friends. We wanted it to be small and somewhat private and expressing our deep love for one another and those with us. Our favorite definition of the word intimate was: “showing a close union,” which is exactly what our intimate wedding did.

Similar pose from our October 2008 wedding; photo by f8 PhotoStudios

Challenge: What 3 words describe your wedding?