Ain't too proud to blog - I know there's a lot riding on it, but it's all psychological.

Personal blog entries now here. Blogger Boobie-Thon moved here.
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Can...you...feel...the...love
The new September 2003 "Dress of the Month" is now online!
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The city that never sleeps
Next week is the actual ceremony on "Today Throws a Wedding". This week it's a chance to vote for the couple's honeymoon destination. (The New York souvenir gift pack was the audience choice last week.)
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With this ~~ring~~ lugnut...

Because nothing screams "timeless romance" like a lugnut wedding band...

Coming soon to a Tiffany's near you — the official platinum NASCAR collection! Tuxedo t-shirt not included.
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The best gift is your friendship *cough, cough*
More "Today Throws a Wedding" updates... The hairstyle I liked last week won. Another rather boring topic this week -- the wedding favors. I picked choice #1 merely because I'd probably pass out if I received a box like that from Sephora filled with Philosophy, Bliss and Jack Black stuff. Yeah, I'm a girl. Wanna make somethin' of it?
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Brides gone wild
Michele sent me this story and it was too funny not to pass along. Ever wonder what Jerry Springer guests do on their wedding day? Ask no more.
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God speed your love to me
A beautiful Lebanese wedding is this month's "Fifteen Minutes of Fame" feature.
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Darlin' don't you go and cut your hair
The cake I voted for last week won on "Today Throws a Wedding". This week, it's the bride's hairstyle up for vote. Make sure to click the "view details" link with the photos for a full front and back view. I picked the "Romantic" style. Her smile seemed to be the brightest and most genuine in it, and I really liked the pins in it...
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Let them eat cake!
Looks like traditional tuxes were chosen for last week's "Today Throws a Wedding".

This week is the fun part. The cake! Tough choices, but my vote went to #1. In different colors, it's exactly how our back-home reception cake should have looked...but so did not... (This was our actual wedding cake in New Orleans from a French pastry shop. Fresh strawberry filling and white chocolate flowers.)

Ok, now I'm hungry. Did anyone check out my t-shirt in those pics, btw?
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Gonna dress you up in my love
The August 2003 (wedding) "Dress of the Month" is now up!
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Every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man
This week's "Today Throws a Wedding" selections are pretty boring -- the tuxes. I think choice #2 goes best with the bridesmaids gowns, so it's what I picked. My selection won last week though in the invitation category. The monographed invites were chosen.
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Today I met the boy I'm gonna marry...
Dress #3 (the taupe/champagne colored number) was the audience choice for the bridesmaids' dresses on "Today Throws a Wedding". This week it's time to select the invitations. I ended up going with choice #2 because of it matching the dresses selected last week. Which ones did you pick?

And last but not least, another new advertiser for WM! - Fiji's Maravu Plantation.
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Better late than never
I'm behind on pimping these...but here are the July 2003 "Fifteen Minutes of Fame" wedding feature and "Dress of the Month".

I can honestly say it's the first feature I've done featuring Gwar in the essay...
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Oooh, I wanna take ya'...
WM! has a new advertiser -- the Hillcrest Guest House in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Please check them out if you are so inclined.
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Yesterday and Today
I totally missed giving everyone the heads-up on a couple of "Today Throws a Wedding" events like <gasp!> the wedding dress (picked that one right) and the reception location (you can't win 'em all). But this week you can pick the bridesmaid's dresses and wedding bouquets.

Just keep in mind when voting that one of the bridesmaids is rather short and is easily a size 16-20. I think I'd personally hunt down and mame/kill anyone who voted for choice #2 if I was her... And what kind of wedding coordinator puts baby blue and shit-brown together as a color combo (choice #4)? You know it's bad when your husband watches live with you and makes gagging noises!
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The royal screw
You have until noon tomorrow to vote for the rings at "Today Throws a Wedding". Normally, my vote would always go to Cartier just because -- but I have to say I'm a little disturbed by their choice of groom's ring. It has little tiny "screws" all over it. Does that imply the groom is getting screwed by putting it on?
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Live...from St. Pete...
Just a quick heads-up -- next Friday on TLC, a member of the "Blue Man Group" is getting married live at the Don Caesar Beach Resort & Spa in St. Petersburg, FL. Two of the Holga images below were taken there, as well as this Lomo photograph and this digital photograph. Tune in Friday, June 27, at 2 p.m. EDT to watch...
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Today is the greatest...
The Today Show on NBC is doing another "Today Throws a Wedding" summer series. This week, you can pick the couple.
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No huggin', no kissin' until I get a weddin' vow
WM! just got a new banner advertiser today -- Photos-To-Video. Please check them out!
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I do!
The new June 2003 "Dress of the Month" is finally online. Wedding season is finally upon us, so there's no excuse not to pass the application along to your friends and family -- or heck, even submit it yourself!
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We'll love until...the end of time
The quality on these is absolutely horrendous, because they weren't made with professional video equipment. Rather, I was just testing out my new tripod -- so I aimed it at the TV and shot captures of our wedding video. Yeah, I'm a sap like that. So forgive the scroll and bad colors...you should get the idea anyway...

I won't leave these up for long -- but for now, enjoy!

"the kiss" (retired)
the toast (retired)
the get-away (retired)
the carriage ride (retired)
"best couple in the world" (retired)

It seems like only yesterday...
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Drumroll please...
The new May "Fifteen Minutes of Fame" wedding is now online. And chances are you just might recognize this month's beautiful couple!
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Dear Abby,
I received the following e-mail to WM! today (exactly as it appeared). Anyone wanna help me decipher it, and / or add your guesses to the new riddle for the ages?

Can you please answer this question for me.

What do 11% of newleyweds do?

Kind regards.
Amanda

Yeah, I think it's going to be another one of those days...
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Better late than never
The new May 2003 Dress of the Month is now online, albeit a few days late this month due to our vacation and DSL issues. If you, or someone you know, were recently married -- make sure to submit the wedding dress (and wedding story) today!
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Isn't she ~~lovely~~ ugly?
Since I've now received this link at least 10 times in the last week (sheesh, you people think you know me or what? thanks!) -- I guess it's time to blog it here! Visit Ugly Dress.com for proof that 99% of the time they can't (and won't) "wear it again".
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Nice day for a white wedding
I was just out back taking photos of lizards, and Todd came running out yelling, "You've gotta see this!" Turns out, our next door neighbor's daughter is getting married today and we got outside just as the limo was arriving. I've never met her, but the bride looked beautiful. Wanna see? (Her, and the lizards of course...)

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She wore an itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini
I have just found my new favorite fashion company -- and of all things, they make swimwear! Check out the beautiful model front and center on their main page (and also in their print ads). She has an unairbrushed tummy roll. And moving along to page two, you'll find even more real women with real bodies in bikinis. The whole site is like this. With swimsuit season almost upon us, I know who I want to receive my $$ the next time I purchase one! Hurrah!

UPDATE: Oh how cute -- check out their honeymoon swimwear line!
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It's a Cinderella story...
The new April 2003 "Fifteen Minutes of Fame" wedding feature is now up over at WM!

If you know anyone who was married recently, please beg them on my behalf to submit their wedding summary. (Or do it for them!)
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First of the month business
WM! has three new wedding articles featured. If you'd be interested in writing wedding-related articles for the site, just drop me a line. We'd love to have 'em!
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A smile that could light up a room
The April 2003 wedding "Dress of the Month" is now online!
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Fun with numbers
So I had a guy...we'll call him "Mr. Blonde"...ruffle his feathers today at the $25 pricetag for 90-days banner rotation on WM!

Mr. Blonde has been a customer in the past, and had a problem with the number of hits his banner ad was bringing him. One day I linked him here at my blog when he signed up (as I usually do for new advertisers to give them the double-traffic boost), and he had almost 500 clicks that day from ATPTB. Back then, he wanted to know just why his banner wasn't giving him the same amount of click-thru traffic that my blog did. Well gee, let's see... A hardlink vs. a banner ad. Hmmmm. I don't know about you, but unless a banner really "grabs" me -- I won't click on it. That means, make it good. Not like something your 4th-grade child could put together in Paint Shop Pro. But I s'pose that's my fault since I didn't ask him to pay me to create a new one as well.

Fast-forward to today. His snide reason for not renewing his contract was because on investigation of my stats, I'd only had a half-million unique hits in three month's time. He claimed that was not nearly enough traffic into my site for his $25.

I decided to do a little research for Mr. Blonde using the same stats-tracking site he did. "The Knot" and WeddingChannel.com were not included (because if you have your own NASDAQ trading symbol you don't count as equal-competition) -- leaving my closest competitor as a site who averaged around 240,000 hits for the same 3-month period. A banner with them would cost several hundred dollars for the same time frame. My price? Again, it's twenty-five bucks. My traffic? Double theirs. My next closest competitor came in the 177,000 range -- followed by another with 50,000 unique hits, and another with 20,000 for the same 3 months.

Yeah, I'd say it was all my fault. Oh, and by the way -- I checked the stats for the site owned by Mr. Blonde as well. He averaged 54,951 unique hits during those three months. My traffic was ten times his. You do the math.
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Somewhere out there, out where dreams, come true...
The March 2003 "Fifteen Minutes of Fame" wedding is now online. Their story is very timely given our current events...
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We're gonna have a problem here...
Just a quick note that I put in for a DNS change at WM! this afternoon -- so starting this evening, if you need to e-mail me, can you please (temporarily) write

tobyn@tobynopoly.com

until I sound the all-clear? I don't want anything to get lost in the shuffle. Thanks! -Robyn
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Test patterns
Want in on a little secret? For the past several weeks I've been working on a redesign of "Wholly Matrimony!" to coincide with a server move, which will better allow for guest authors and extra input. It's a major move for me, because WM! has been on the very same server since it was born in March of 1998. And the current design has been around since 2000.

But tonight I finally put in for a domain transfer/renewal, and now I just have to sit back and wait for that to take place (and also change all of the secondary pages to the new design as I can). If you want a sneak-peek at the brand spankin' new logo/design, go here. It's not quite done...but close enough I can finally take an extra breath or two...
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It's a nice day for a white wedding
The March 2003 wedding "Dress of the Month" is now online!
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Right from the start, I gave you my

Obviously a few days late...but the February 2003 "Fifteen Minutes of Fame" is online. I just had to feature her dress one last time.
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Talkin' 'bout plans for a weddin'
I wrapped another design over the weekend (I'll link it when it goes live) and spent a bit of time on WM! during my down-time. The February 2003 Wedding Dress of the Month is online now.

Back in December I put out the call for assistance with WM!, and had a great response. Unfortunately, I'd been too busy to do much of anything with the help I'd received to date. D'oh. But this weekend I got the first series of freelance articles online. You can now find them linked on the main page (by the little computer monitor icon). Thanks to Geri, Amy, and Cheryl for stepping up to the plate. If you'd like to help, either as an editor or article writer, just drop me a line!

I'm crossing my fingers for a server move and redesign in the upcoming month, depending on my schedule. I'd love to have more fresh faces and perspectives with the change!
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Today's the day they'll say "I do"!

[Congrats and Best Wishes to the new Mr. and Mrs.]

UPDATE: They have a wedding-attire photo up now! She looks amazing!
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Sometimes you feel like a nut
I know the following e-mail I received about WM! was s'posed to be serious, but I had a hard time stifling the giggles. It seems Christine and Mike* have entered the porn biz and didn't even know it...

Robyn,
Hello, I am writing to bring to your attention something that truly concerns me. I am in the process of planning my wedding, and have been searching the internet for reliable information, recommendations, and general assistance. To that end, I arrived at your website about 20 minutes ago, and was intrigued by the resources your site seems to offer. An article of yours caught my attention, it was archived at:

http://www.whollymatrimony..com/...sept00.html

I clicked on the link, and read the article, noticing that there appeared to be a link from the photo next to the caption

"Christine and Mike were
married July 22, 2000, in
York Beach, Maine"

I moused over that picture, thinking it provided a link to the full article, as I was interested in learning more about the Justice of the Peace services offered in York, Maine. The file directory that comes up when you mouse over the picture is innocent enough but when I clicked on it, approximately 20 X-Rated pornographic websites immediately appeared on my computer screen. It took me approximately 3 minutes of continually closing each pop-up screen until it stopped. While this is most disconcerting to me, the area that really bothers me is that I had forwarded the article to my future-mother-in-law, who just called to inform me that she had also experienced the problem with the pornographic link. If your site is a pornographic website in nature, then it was hidden well by the facade of wedding information. Personally, I find it reprehensible to cover pornographic websites with the illusion of providing wedding information. Perhaps, your site is not pornographically based, and if that is the case, please forgive my anger, however, I would suggest you check the links from your site, and just please be aware that there is currently a pornographic link, from your site...

"I find it reprehensible to cover pornographic websites with the illusion of providing wedding information..." Yep, that's me! Spreadin' the weddin' love thru porn.

* They haven't actually entered the porn biz. An old domain that had lapsed was snapped up by a porn site, and I forgot to update the link on an over 2-year old article.
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That dweam wiffin a dweam
New January 2003 "Fifteen Minutes of Fame" featured wedding is up!
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Pretty as a picture
Finally...the new look for the 2003 Dress of the Month Contest...and the dress for January is up now as well!
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How do I love thee?
I just made a new wedding banner for a WM! client -- Poems To Go. If you know anyone getting married, or about to give a wedding toast, this would be a good site to pass along!
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B4 d++ t+ k+ s+ u f++ i o x+ e++ l c--
proudly sitting around the house in my underwear all day since 08.12.2001...
standard copyright applies - you take it, you buy it! © 2002 connect the dots
original text and graphics are all licensed under a "creative commons license"