The New York Times has a report on and a shocking gallery of photos taken by a photographer who was shooting a wedding in the affected region of the country when the recent earthquake struck China.

The bride-and-groom’s first dance is a sweet wedding tradition, but one that often makes one or both of the participants nervous. Not only is it another moment on the day when everyone they know is staring at them, but it’s one when they’re expected to put on performance. Despite this, some brave souls really do stage a show.

One of the most moving things I’ve ever seen at a wedding was a groom, who wasn’t a guitarist or a singer, get up on stage with the hired band, pick a guitar, and perform the entire first verse of Snow Patrol’s Chasing Cars for his bride, who was standing on the dancefloor watching. He’d obviously been rehearsing in secret for weeks—and it was worth every minute of his sweat and terror. Of course the band then kicked in and he joined her in their first dance.

Thanks to the global reach of wedding videographers and YouTube, you can check out lots of interesting wedding happenings, but first dances are a popular source of entertainment so you’ve probably seen several of these fun variations on the theme. Given the age of couples getting married these days, Michael Jackson is a popular soundtrack, especially Thriller, of which you can find several performances of the moves from its original video, usually involving a fair number of the guests. Norm and Renee, however, segue from politely dancing to Jack Johnson into their own slick self-choreographed interpretation of The Way You Make Me Feel. Similarly, Dave and Anna kick into Boyz II Men at 1:45, these guys mix Johann Strauss and Afrika Bambaataa, and this inspired wig-out [also here] is probably one of the most famous wedding dance on the Web, for now.

It’s up to you as well as your photographer if you want to look great in your wedding album. My top tip for brides is to make sure you have any rebellious ringlets pinned firmly away from your eyes before you walk down the aisle. I’m not going to stop you and your dad to hold stray bangs back for you.

If you want more advice, then hop over to wikiHow, where there’s a whole page on how to be photogenic.

I’ve added a few shots from a wedding I did in Melbourn, Cambridgeshire to my main Sepial Website.

This time the wedding money-saving is more to do with adopting a smart strategy as early as possible.

The Frugal Panda has “50 Ways To Save Money On Your Wedding“.

Rich McIver wrote to point out that Credit Card Lowdown has just published 100 Creative Ways to Cut Wedding Costs.

YouTube has a Brides Magazine video about how to choose a hairdresser and how to wear your hair on your big day.

With the wedding season approaching, The Times has advice for brides-to-be: about wedding make-up [embedded video] and about wedding diets. For dress-wearing guests, TV style advisors Trinny and Susannah have body-shape specific tips on what to wear [video].