EDITOR’S LETTER

Don’t miss the bliss.

CONGRATULATIONS! IF YOU’RE READING this, there’s a good chance that you’re knee deep in planning what will be one of the most important, and hopefully most enjoyable, days of your life. If you haven’t already figured this out, wedding planning is a process that you’ll want to buckle up for – emotions are high, decisions can be expensive, and sometimes it’s easy to get lost in what you think you have to do, versus what you and your beloved want. I know I did, and I dish on the advice I got that helped keep me sane (Page 20) while planning my own wedding.

You will, however, have an advantage I didn’t, just by reading this magazine. We’ve designed it to be the most helpful - and totally local - guide out there for couples who want to have their wedding in the Milwaukee area. These pages will help you find a dress (Page 32). They will give you an abundance of data on ceremony and reception venues in a format that allows you to compare them (Page 58). And they’ll hopefully introduce you to new ideas about everything from decor and stationery to music and flowers – all culled from the Milwaukeeans whose business it is to see you safely to the aisle or the dance floor. Many of those people are listed in our “Ultimate Vendor Guide,” which is packed with helpful planning tips about traditions, etiquette and other wedding-planning know-how that can otherwise be hard to find in one place.

Civic pride seems to be reaching new highs and, as we show you on Page 25, you can bottle some of that and use it to showcase the city as you say your I Dos. This is a mostly serious, occasionally silly feature packed with, you guessed it, even more ideas that scream “Milwaukee.”

My favorite part of this issue are the 20 local couples - some newlyweds, some married for decades - whose images color these pages. Their photos alone might offer a new perspective on a venue, or reveal a fresh twist on a tradition. Some, like Sue and Harrison Parker, who have been married for half a century, are just plain inspiring. And they help close the magazine with advice not for the newly engaged but for those who’ve already crossed the threshold into married life. It’s the perfect beginning to your next chapter.