Love is the Greatest Adventure - TW Wed-Zine 2015

Behind the scenes of the TW Wed-Zine photo shoot
Photo credit: Antony Scully

So have you started planning your wedding?

More than half of single women have already planned their wedding before they have found a groom...
Millions of women still looking for 'Mr Right' have researched elements churches, flowers, reception venues, bridesmaids dresses and the car which will take them to the church.
...nearly two thirds of single females have planned their wedding day since they were a child.
And 34 per cent of unspoken-for women regularly browse the web for inspiration on flowers, dresses and elaborate venues.

- Findings of an Interflora survey in the UK, as reported by The Telegraph.

As a single gal, I can attest to this, and unashamedly. A woman's wedding day is something that has its genesis from perhaps as early as when she got her first doll. Whether it is a lavish 600 guests-strong affair, a simple beach wedding, a subdued civil ceremony or an intimate destination wedding, a woman's special day is something she has been planning in one form or another, for years.

When the question has finally been popped, the real work begins - taking the childhood dream from an idea to reality. A lot of times, the dream has been formed through media experiences - what a girl sees on tv, or in the movies, or in glossy foreign magazines. For local couples though, the search for ideas, concepts and recommendations is much closer than they think.

Trinidad Weddings has just released its latest issue of its increasingly popular TW Wed-Zine - a top resource for brides- and grooms-to-be (yes, grooms plan too), and is an official how-to, go-to, what-to for weddings in 2015. Also popular among wedding vendors, planners and students, the TW Wed-Zine is not only a great resource, but it is a locally produced resource and one that is of an exceptional standard.

TW Wed Zine 2015

TW Wed Zine 2015

The beautiful brides of the TW Wed Zine 2015 cover
Photo Credit: Aarti Gosine

I love that one gets a full feel of what a wedding can be - from the international trends to what can be delivered locally from industry experts. Editor and founder, Simone Sant-Ghuran launched the 2015 magazine recently at ZaZou Bistro Moderne at the Trinidad Country Club, which in my estimation, oozes love and romance so it was a perfect venue to talk love, marriage...

...and adventure.

This year, the magazine’s theme of “Love is The Greatest Adventure” ties in with an emphasis on outdoor weddings. This issue features several take-your-breath-away love stories from deep in Tobago’s mangrove, a Port of Spain hill top, a rustic log cabin, the Temple By The Sea at sunset, the Wild Fowl Trust, a residential garden and even, the first Catholic wedding held “down the islands.”

TW Wed-Zine Founder and Editor, Simone Sant-Ghuran at the mag launch at ZaZou Bistro
Beautiful dress by CLD - Charu Lochan Dass and accessories by Rachel Rochford

Roses and chocolate at the mag launch - what says love better?
Flowers provided by Latitude 0 and Floral Artistry by Flowers to Treasure
Chocolate Tarts provided by the awesome team at ZaZou Bistro Moderne

Weddings are not all cut from the same cloth and the magazine recognises that couples all want something unique to them. The assortment of wedding stories and ideas can only help the excited lovebirds to refine what they want out of their big day - or at least one hopes, if they are not like me - always overly excited about the choices available.

But it is a must-buy I think. I don't know of anyone who has been married, who has planned their wedding, and who has not referred to someone or something to bring their wedding dream to reality. Love is an adventure and planning a wedding should be an adventure - a good one. There was one day in London, a friend decided she just wanted to go try on wedding dresses. Neither of us were engaged - hell, neither of us were dating. But it was great fun telling the salesgirls about the dream wedding neither of us were having - at the time, But hope for the day is alive. Every girl has that dream wedding in their minds, and I think TW Wed-Zine is an amazing ride for those chasing the dream.

-----

• This year, readers anywhere in the world can also purchase a hardcopy if they wish. Both the digital and hardcopy versions can be purchased HERE.
• The TW Wed-Zine is sold at 30 retailers throughout Trinidad and Tobago
• For more visit the website - www.trinidadweddings.com 
• Check out the behind the scenes video for the Love is the Greatest Adventure themed cover below.

Read more »

Leftover Syndrome: The Last Single Woman Standing

A fridge full of leftovers. A society of leftovers?

I read this article this morning, and in my "It's 6am and I am already at my desk, sour and annoyed" state of mind, it elicited a bitter laugh.

It refers to the single, educated, urban woman - that woman over the geriatric age of 27 - and whom the Chinese society describes as "leftover women". You know, like that leftover turkey from Thanksgiving, or a leftover roti skin from the weekend get-together.

Well hear what - leftovers rock! Ask anyone who has made a good pelau this question - when is the best time to eat pelau? The answer: The day after. Leftover pelau. Hey, microwaves have made leftovers a Godsend, so China - bite me!

This whole notion of there being an age limit to marriage for WOMEN really grinds me. The Trini parlance is that you, the unmarried woman age 25 and up, are on the shelf, while all the other kids have been placed in the trolley and have been checked out by the cashier. Is there an expiration date guiding singledom? Is there a cut off date before you need to go buy knitting needles and adopt some shelter cats and get a t-shirt that says "Gnarly, Bitter Spinster"? And why are there no leftover men? Why this bias?

This is stupid. Okay, just stupid.

This part of the article was interesting and funny though.

Some local governments in China have taken to organising matchmaking events where educated young women can meet eligible bachelors.

How bizarre. Is there a Minister of Matchmaking? Ministry of Cupid? Can you imagine? Social programmes to ensure the best men and women get together and make some cute, bright kids. This is apparently as a result of the government actually wanting the leftover women - the creme de la creme of the society - to procreate. So we have come full circle, where the women being maligned are the women in demand to ensure the bright future of the society. Leftovers are awesome!

Read more »

A Squashed Social Life

When I woke up this morning, it was not good. Not good at all. I dragged myself to the bathroom, took a shower and went down to get myself some breakfast so I could pump drugs into my system. I am funny like that. Not about pumping drugs into my system, but about breakfast. I cannot, most times, eat breakfast without first having a shower. I guess I can add that to my list of neuroses - must be clean to eat a bagel. It's not as bad as all that. I have had breakfast in my jammies, but it's one of those meals I don't have as often as I would like, and it's also one of those meals that you can, when you do have time to have it, lounge about and relax - read the paper, read blogs, watch a little tv, etc. In any event, I don't like sitting around all morning in post-wake up mode - wake up face etc. Once I have rolled out of that bed, I like to have my shower first thing!

Anyway, despite feeling like rubbish, I still managed to do the house bunny type things. I cut up bits of dead chicken, seasoned and left to marinate, chopped veggies, and made not one, but 2 awe-inspiring meals - pelau and roasted butternut squash soup. The former I knew I could not stomach today with my poor tummy in knots, but which would be lunch/dinner for the rest of the week and it would be better to do everything today so I would not have to face the nightmare of cooking a second time this week. The latter, which I have been craving for weeks and which goes well with the crummy weather and crummy tummy, turned out pretty fabulous if I say so myself.

I was up until 4 this morning transcribing, and still managed to roll off the bed at 8.45, so I am pretty wiped out, especially after all the cooking and cleaning. I have not left the house since Friday and even though I am not feeling well, I sure as hell am looking forward to getting out this house tomorrow. I hope that's still on - no word yet from the tomorrow planner. But rain or shine, I am outta this dungeon.

One major plus of London over Trinidad is that the vast majority of my friends are all single, which makes going out more fun. Once upon a time, my friends back home were single and we would be out and about, enjoying life.

Then came men and marriage and babies and death sentence. Death sentence you say? Well, maybe that is being overly dramatic but while I recognise that life changes after marriage and I accept this - and would not really want to be friends with young mothers who stumble out of nightclubs drunk and disorderly after 3 in the morning - life really just ended. More so for the single friend. lol. Me.

Life definitely changed. For them - it probably changed for the better. For me - not so much. I think this is where my independent streak started - doing stuff I liked doing, no matter what. Going boldly where no cute Trininista had gone before...and on my own. It has made me bolder and more adventurous in some ways and more open to stuff I would not have done before while swathed in the normalcy of girlfriendhood.

Now my girlfriends had husbands and babies and somehow, despite our best efforts, we just did not do things together anymore that often - not even sister neutral things - things both the wives/mummies and the unencumbered single friend could do and enjoy. No resentment, but I just needed to fix my mix in my own way because life was still hurtling along - with or without them.

Still, it's always more fun to have buddies to share your interests with - even if you have to do them in the rain.  Thanks, London.

Read more »

Single and Fabulous?

Single and Fabulous? Is it possible to be both?
Hell yeah!

This evening, I was watching some simply prehistoric episodes of Sex and The City. This episode, "They Shoot Single People, Don't They?" was not only amusing but I am sure so many single people can relate. Carrie agrees to do a shoot for a cover story, and she has a late night and gets to the studio disheveled and ungroomed, but the photographer promises her she is just taking test shots.

Instead what ends up on the cover is a photo of a weary, frazzled looking, chain smoking train wreck, with the caption - Single and Fabulous??

I am not sure where the conspiracy began or who started it, but single people are not on the brink of destruction. Nor do we need rescuing or curing from this incurable disease known as singledom or spinsterhood as some may like to call it. There are many tired and lame stereotypes of single women especially that single women tend to be:

• Lonely
• Bitter
• Aimless
• Promiscuous
• Confused
• Incomplete

...and the list goes on.

I don't think single women need saving. I think sometimes society and some of the social norms push us into a corner and single women are somehow not supposed to be happy or feel fulfilled because they do not have a husband or a brood of kids. The lives we live, even if fulfilling to us personally, is never enough for the world in which we live. Careers and leisure and other pursuits somehow don't mean much to some. We have been brainwashed into believing that life does not really get going until you're hitched, but if your 30s come along and you're still not married - will you wait forever to start living? And while loneliness affects single women, guess what? Married women and women in relationships also feel lonely, even within the confines of marriage which is supposed to be a union of two souls. Loneliness is not limited to single people - or men or women. It strikes anyone at anytime and in any circumstances.

So why is it hard then for some to think that one can be single and fabulous? Maybe I am biased but I always thought being single was fabulous, having its own perks as does marriage and motherhood. There are pros and cons to every state of life. Husbands come in pretty handy when work life gets tough or you need a foot rub or a cinema buddy. Single women can wake up and jump on a plane and just go - no worries about babysitters, husbands etc.

It works both ways. So I denounce the question mark in the caption. Single and Fabulous?? Of course! Single and Fabulous!

Read more »