… to remember and pay homage to the oft overlooked and under-appreciated alternate to the standard summer wedding: the Winter Wedding. Perhaps the colder weather mandates a higher standard of formality, but every winter wedding we’ve been to has been a positive bastion of cozy, festive, flat-out glamour. Case in point? Our own Melissa’s night-before-New Year’s nuptials, held at NYC’s Bowery Hotel and just oozing with… well, just look at these pictures. Need we say more?

(Above left and above right, Melissa and her husband Alex; above middle, Melissa and her father. Ridiculously amazing photos courtesy of Christian Oth.)

Ok, so there is a good chance you’ve heard about this darling new line of aprons–yes, aprons– called Smocks. If not, we don’t know why it has taken us so long to let you all know about it. First of all, the designer, Kelley Culp, is a longtime F.O.T (Friend of Thread.). Second of all, the aprons are so cute, so chic that we are literally racking our brains for reasons to cook and to look super cute whilst doing said cooking. (A dinner party maybe? Or perhaps a Christmas cookie-baking afternoon with the girls?) Third of all, and this might just be the cincher, is that these puppies go for, on average, about $40 a pop. This means these aprons are the perfect gift for: your soon-to-be mother-in-law, your five bridesmaids, your just-married-and-buying-a-new-home girlfriend, your super-stylish and loves-to-cook sister, and, er, yourself. (Hey, we deserve one, too, right?) So, in a word: everyone.

(For more information, take a peek at the Smocks site. Don’t you love love love the descriptions that go with each style name?)

No matter how often it happens, it is always a lovely surprise: Opening a magazine (in this case, Martha Stewart Weddings) and spotting one of our dresses (in this case, twelve of our dresses. TWELVE!!!). Ok, so “a lovely surprise” is a bit of an understatement in this case. Our reaction for this one involved an excited shout or two and lots of oohing and ahhing and hugging and happiness. Anyway, we are getting off track here. What we intended to focus on is the all-white aspect of the wedding party. First, the all-white jumping bridal party, and now this! Could the end of the traditional no-wearing-white-to-a-wedding rule be near? Or were we just lucky enough to have two very chic and forward-thinking brides choose all-white Thread for their bridal party within a few months of one another?

Questions, questions…

(Above: The beautiful bride, Caroline Beak Crown, with her Thread-wearing bevy of bridesmaids. Photo courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings, see more pics from the wedding here. It was in Charleston, SC, over Thanksgiving and they served a delicious turkey dinner after the ceremony. Amazing, cozy, clever, non?)