Thank goodness -- Martha you're a goddess!

I have decided that I hate bridal magazines. All of them. Except this one.

I love this magazine because it is the opposite of every other bridal magazines on the market. It distinguishes itself in several very important ways.

1) Not the usual glut of advertising nonsense. Sure, there are ads. I mean, Martha's got to eat, right? But the ads are actual targeted to the demographic which buys the magazine, so I sort of pay attention to them. And it is not 700 pages of ads in 1000 pages of magazine. It is definitely in a more reasonable proportion to editorial content, and I find it inoffensive in every way.

2) Loads of do it yourself projects. Interesting that Martha has made a big pile of money by giving practical and money-saving advice to women with a lot of time on their hands. Even though my job and life would prevent me from really taking advantage of all the great ideas in the pages, it does give me lots of visual images to work with. I have collected my year's worth of MSWeddings and now that I am down in the nitty-gritty of planning, I can take what time I do have and devote it any number of crafty ideas. And, as Martha & her editors frequently point out, these sorts of projects help you to personalize your wedding, so that it's something uniquely "you" and not a cookie-cutter event straight out of Brides.

3) Projects and suggestions are lovely and tasteful. When I look at other bridal mags, I see suggestions which make me literally cringe. In MSWeddings, everything is realistic, simple and elegant. Each month, a different aspect of the wedding is covered in detail, such as invitations, favors, cakes or flowers. These articles answer any question you could possible have about the subject, giving thorough, updated, mannerly advice as well as detailed visual examples. I have learned a lot from these sections, as well as the other regular sections on gowns, etc.

4) Advice column is not insipid, but rather useful. In most bridal mags, they have some surreal sex problems column or manners columns which have no basis in practical application. But MSWeddings is delightfully free of such nonsense and devotes itself thoroughly to the topic at hand -- weddings. Martha answers thorny etiquette questions, providing prescedent and some background information so that her advice makes complete sense, even if you don't personally agree.

I cannot say enough about this magazine as a planning tool. I hope that more magazines will take the cue and cater to women who are just looking to have a nice, classy wedding which is uniquely theirs.