AisleDash

Lots of American couples think of going south of the border for destination weddings and honeymoons, but it's just as lovely to the north -- maybe even lovelier in the summertime.

Vancouver, British Columbia is a popular tourist and wedding destination. It is the largest city in Western Canada, and certainly one of the most beautiful. It's also one of the most expensive cities in the world, so make sure your budget can handle it before you dive head first into a Vancouver wedding.

Compared to the rest of Canada, Vancouver has a relatively temperate and warm climate. Winters are chilly, sure, but rarely bitterly cold, with temperatures hardly ever more than a few degrees below freezing and very little snowfall. Summers are sunny and dry with moderate temperatures and calm sea breezes -- gorgeous wedding weather.

A couple walked into a Norfolk, Virginia courthouse and married a few months ago, after successfully applying for all the necessary legal documentation. At the time, no eyebrows were raised and the short ceremony went off without any complications.

Since then, Virginia officials have realized that the bride, Justine McCain, was actually Justin McCain. Same sex marriages are illegal in Virginia, and now the couple faces charges.

There is some gray area, though -- if the couple intentionally misled officials, then there's trouble, but if McCain is transgendered and actually identifies as female, then there may be no fraud, though the marriage still may not be legal. There is very little legal precedent for transgender marriages.

Newport News marriage application paperwork has since changed the words "bride" and "groom" to "male applicant" and "female applicant."

Colin Farrell has been keeping a pretty low-key profile lately, but has he kept a major event under wraps as well?

The smoke-ensconced 32-year-old actor has been seen on several occasions wearing what looks like a wedding ring on his all-important finger, sparking rumors that he has secretly married his dewy sweetheart, 22-year-old Muireann McDonnell. In fact, he was recently spotted at an airport, smoking (of course) and talking on the phone. When he saw the photographers, he awkwardly hid his left hand, adding some credence to the rumors.

It doesn't look like he's currently working as a married character in any films, so it seems rather possible that the ring is the real thing.

Usher is having a hard time being a faithful husband. His marriage to Tameka Foster has been plagued by insults and rumors from the start, prompting him to go just a little crazy on a recent TRL appearance, but he's now speaking out in a more subdued manner about his wandering eye.

He told Cosmo, "I'm good at making love, but I'm not good at being in love. It's a conscious decision every day to love the person you're with."

We couldn't disagree more. While we appreciate the fact that he's trying hard to stay faithful after making a commitment, love shouldn't be a decision -- and if it is, it's a big problem. We get it -- he's Usher, and he's surrounded much of the time by gorgeous women who are throwing themselves at him, which has to be hard to ignore. But, that being the case, if he's having to wake up in the morning and choose to be in love with his wife, we don't give this marriage much time at all.

Charlotte York might have had a bit of a one-track mind when it came to guys (find the right one and marry him!!!), but the actress who plays her, Kristin Davis has a very different opinion about men and marriage.

She's very happy being single, and says, "I grew up in the South so all everyone talked about was marriage. But all I wanted was to move to New York and do theater. And in my thirties, I was busy doing the show so I just didn't have time."

However, there's a little spark of Charlotte in there, somewhere. Kristin might not be fixated on marriage, or sitting around waiting for her real-life Harry to come along, but she says she's "open" to the idea of marriage.

Over twenty years ago, a now infamous Newsweek article discussed the likelihood of single women finding a mate. The cover headline read "The Marriage Crunch," and there was a downward sloping line graph below it showing a single woman's chances of getting married. It didn't look good.

Fortunately, it was wrong.

A study by demographers at Harvard and Yale was behind the story (and subsequent discussion by every single woman who hoped for marriage). The story itself said that "white, college-educated women born in the mid-1950s who are still single at 30 have only a 20 percent chance of marrying. By the age of 35 the odds drop to 5 percent." You might have heard it said that a single 40-year-old woman is more likely to be killed by a terrorist than to ever marry -- this study and story is where that came from.

While it has been widely rumored that Harrison Ford popped the question to his girlfriend, Calista Flockhart, on April Fool's Day (either 2007 or 2008, depending on the source), the couple's rep is denying the engagement.

The Indiana Jones star, 65, first met the erstwhile Ally McBeal in 2002 and have been dating happily ever since. However, Harrison has two divorces under his belt, one of which cost him $100 million, so it's understandable that he might be a little hesitant to take a third trip down the aisle.

We're going to go ahead and hope that he's just putting the proposal on hold so he can film one more Indiana Jones movie before getting hitched. Wishful thinking, perhaps, but we're hoping all the same.

I recently posted about my thoughts on my wedding day, one year after the fact, but what about the first year of marriage? What have I learned over the last twelve months that I was surprised -- perhaps even shocked -- to figure out, about myself and my relationship? And what have I learned that may be of use to a soon-to-be bride perusing AisleDash? Well, first things first, I learned that the wedding was the beginning and not the end of things. Although coming off the wedding high did cause me a few blue days -- it was just such fun day to look back on that returning home to bills and thank-you cards didn't quite measure up -- but it kicked off the journey, it didn't end it. Thinking in those terms helped me get over the back-from-the-wedding doldrums fairly quickly.

Something else I learned soon after we returned home: use some of the wedding cash you get from family and friends to plan a mini-vacation a few months after the honeymoon. The first year of marriage is tough -- although that's the only year I have under my belt so far -- but recharging really can get you through some rough patches. If you have a mini-trip to look forward to (even a night in a local hotel) it can carry you through some of the monotony of the first few months after the wedding. You don't have to break the bank, you just have to break up the routine.

In February, a New York state appeals court ruled that same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions are entitled to legal recognition in the Empire State. Around the time of California's court decision to legalize same-sex unions in the state, New York governor David Patterson issued a memo to all state agencies to make New York's policy clear: if a same-sex marriage is legally performed somewhere else like California, Massachusetts, Canada, or another country that allows gay marriage, then it will be legally recognized in New York.

New York is still not one of the handful of states where gay couples can legally wed or have a civil union, but perhaps this new policy is a sign of things to come. It seems a little silly that gay New Yorkers can't get hitched at home, but if they cross the state line into Massachusetts for the big day, then it's totally legal. Sillier still, though, that with the economy in shambles, wars being fought, and people starving all over the world, legislators and lobbyists still want to spend so much time debating the issue of whether or not the government will recognize certain kinds of love between consenting adults.

Jenna Jameson wants to be like Angelina Jolie. No, not because she wants to step up her humanitarian efforts. Also not because she's planning to hold out for quality acting roles. She wants to be like Ang by having babies without getting married.

The former porn star has two failed marriages under her belt, she's in no rush to get hitched to her boyfriend of two years, Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavy weight former champion Tito Ortiz. She says marriage is just a piece of paper, but she does want to have his children.

Jenna goes on to say they've been trying already, so she's hoping to be pregnant in the next couple of months. If only they can figure out how they're made ...

Ask yourself -- is your marriage a 50/50 partnership? If you answered yes to this question, now tell us, is that something you are proud of? Do you feel good about your abilities to compromise right down the middle?

A recent essay on I Am Husband suggests that this is not a good way to look at marriage. Instead, suggests the author, we should consider marriage a 100/100 partnership -- and we couldn't agree more. Asking whose turn it is to do the laundry or take out the trash is nothing more than self-serving score-keeping. It might be the ammunition you use in divorce court, but when is it handy in a healthy relationship?

If you only worry about doing your 50% of the work, what happens when your spouse has a bad day and needs to decompress? Here is where you should be swooping in to cover whatever chores are necessary, and tell your spouse to relax. This is just as important a form of support as being a crying shoulder.

I Am Husband suggests the best question to ask is not "Whose turn is it," but "How have I shown my wife [or husband] that I love her [or him] today?" What a beautiful idea.

Just a couple of months ago, reports circulated that Amy Winehouse's incarcerated husband, Blake Fielder-Civil was asking for a divorce. Apparently she had spent the holidays partying with her ex-boyfriend, which didn't thrill her hubby. Shocking. Alas, English laws prohibited them from going through with a divorce until they had been married for at least a year.

This month marks the anniversary of the wedding Amy's mom calls "a joke," but divorce no longer seems to be the plan. Now, Amy is telling friends that she wants to renew her vows as soon as her hubby gets out of jail. Blake seems to be amenable to staying married as well, seeing as how he sent her a large bouquet of red roses to mark their anniversary.

He's been locked up for the majority of their marriage, so it's anyone's guess as to how they'll get along when he gets out. Our guess is that there will be a lot of incoherent screaming in the streets.

We thought Beyonce and Mariah Carey were secretive about their nuptials, but they don't even hold a candle to newlyweds Jessica Alba and Cash Warren, who made their relationship legal on Monday. Her publicist confirmed the marriage rumor yesterday. However, not only were they secretive leading up to it, but after the fact as well. Jessica's brother is rumored to have found out about it when he was contacted by a gossip publication.

The couple swapped vows at the Beverly Hills courthouse. Cash wore a white shirt and brown pants, and Jessica donned a long, blue dress and had her hair pulled back. They said their "I dos" about 40 minutes after applying for their marriage license. Their only witness was the one provided by the court.

Jessica and Cash broke up for a short time last year, then got back together, and in December they announced their engagement and Jessica's pregnancy, not necessarily in that order. Their bundle of joy should be coming along in a month or so.

They might not be household names in your home, but Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor are new but major Bollywood stars, and they have announced their engagement. Or maybe they haven't.

Most sites are saying the engagement rumors are confirmed -- just one or two are saying it's a lie -- and it's actually not terribly recent news. Deepika stated that Ranbir actually proposed to her after their debut releases last November, and that she "happily said yes." She also said they had the blessings of their parents, so her dreams of becoming "Mrs. Kapoor and the leading lady of Bollywood" in the next five years might just come true.

Speaking of dreams come true, the couple's relationship sounds like just that. It was love at first sight, but they tried not to put too much pressure on their relationship so that the could give their love "time to grow." And, we feel confident that, should this wedding take place, it will be a spectacular event, so rest assured we'll keep you up to date!