Winter weddings are growing in popularity — December is now the #3 wedding month for BG brides, behind May and June — and with good reason. Harriette Rose Katz, a top wedding planner in New York City, breaks down the top 10 reasons why winter weddings rock.

Photo courtesy of Harriette Rose Katz

1. Seasonal Décor Gives Your Wedding a Unique Touch 
A winter wedding allows you to experiment with a themed décor. An easy way to incorporate this is with natural components, such as frosted pinecones, pine leaves, snowflakes, or holiday lights to enhance your winter wedding wonderland.

Photo courtesy of Harriette Rose Katz

Photo via Los Angeles Times

The 56th Grammy Awards will air live tonight, and we won't just be tuning in for the red carpet fashion — The New York Times just revealed that a mass wedding will take place tonight during Macklemore & Ryan Lewis's performance! As the hip hop duo perform their Grammy-nominated marriage equality anthem, "Same Love," 34 couples of various ages, races, and sexual orientations will join the pair and exchange vows. And as you'd expect at a star-studded event, a few other celebrities will join in on the fun: Queen Latifah will be officiating, and Madonna will join the performance. The weddings “will be, in our minds, the ultimate statement of equality, that all the couples are entitled to the same exact thing," said Lewis.

The idea arose after Grammy producer Ken Ehrlich learned from his daughter that couples often propose onstage during Macklemore & Ryan Lewis concerts. So when the producer met with the musicians to discuss their upcoming performance, they decided to celebrate all kinds of love with a mass wedding. A casting agency then began searching for the real-life couples who would join in on this one-in-a-lifetime experience. At the time, the couples just knew that the wedding would occur on live television; they learned a few weeks ago that it'd be on music's biggest night of the year. 

With a single stationary camera, A-Crew Media was able to create one of the most impressive wedding videos we've seen in a while! Since the couple, Mary Dvorsky and Steve Silver, hosted their ceremony and reception in one place, the camera was able to capture every moment of the big day, from the pre-ceremony mingling to the post-reception wrap-up. Then, the videography team sped up the footage at a rapid pace, resulting in a three and a half minute video that truly captures the essence of the wedding day. 

Mary Dvorsky and Steve Silver Wedding from Aaron Kroger on Vimeo.

This idea is such a great addition to a traditional wedding video — even though I love the video from my own wedding, it's quite a commitment to actually sit down and watch the hour-long production. How great would it be to re-watch the entire day (not just the highlights reel) in less than four minutes?

Tell us: What do you think?

—Kristen Klein

Photo Credit: W&E Photographie on Southern Weddings via Lover.ly

Q: Do I have to pay for my bridesmaids to have their hair and make-up done professionally? As much as I would like to, it would be very costly.

A: No, you aren’t expected to pay. Your bridesmaids can take care of their own hair and makeup. Some brides, of course, are able to absorb the fees as a thank you to their attendants. But if your budget is limited — and with costs being as high as they are — you are certainly not obligated to take on this additional expense.

—Diane Forden

I had a very successful week last week! I'm down another two pounds, and I also got to cross a bunch of things off my wedding-planning checklist.

Throughout the work week, I continued my no-starch challenge. For breakfast, I enjoyed coffee and hard-boiled eggs or egg whites. I had the Boca veggie burgers for lunch, and they were quite delicious! I think I like the Morning Star veggie burgers better, but these have fewer calories, so I would definitely try them again. Each day, I made a different vegetable to have with them, with such as steamed sugar snap peas, sautéed eggplant and zucchini, or a side salad.

For dinners, Rene and I ate protein and vegetables — no carbs! Now that I haven't been eating carbs as often, I realize I don't crave them as much. Instead of chicken with rice, I look forward to chicken and vegetables — definitely a good thing! For example, last night, Rene made one of my favorite meals from Skinnytaste.com — homemade turkey burgers with a broccoli slaw and blue cheese, with steamed asparagus on the side. We had them without buns and a little bit of fat-free cheddar cheese on top, and they were excellent! I recommend you try them for dinner this week — and the recipe makes enough so you have leftovers for lunch the next day.