Lifestyle
Some Couples Prioritize Wellness as a Key Part of Their Weddings

Kara Ladd-Blum said she was “pushed into the wellness world” after being diagnosed in 2016 with synovial sarcoma, a rare form of cancer affecting the body’s soft tissues.
“I became hyper-aware of what I was putting on and in my body, and that evolved into this spiritual awakening,” said Ms. Ladd-Blum, 32, of Brooklyn, who has been cancer-free for eight years. Now, she works with wellness brands as a conscious marketing consultant and hosts a podcast focused on mindful living.
While planning their Sept. 15, 2024, wedding, she and her husband, Brandon Blum, 32, who runs a content marketing agency and apparel brand, were eager to incorporate some of their favorite wellness practices. On the morning of their wedding, they meditated and journaled together, as they often do at home, and incorporated healing crystals and tarot cards into the celebration.
“I feel like weddings are just an extension of people’s energies,” Ms. Ladd-Blum said. “We both love, live and breathe that world.”
For many couples, health and mindfulness are an integral part of their everyday lives, and they want their weddings to reflect these values. And with more event planners and venues catering to the needs of those who prioritize wellness, it’s easier to accomplish that.
“It definitely has weaved its way into weddings and events,” said Ali Phillips, the owner of Engaging Events by Ali in Chicago. She said around three-quarters of the weddings she planned each year contained a wellness element.
At Ocean Edge Resort and Golf Club in Brewster, Mass., wedding groups can enjoy candlelit floating sound baths, acupuncture happy hours and beach yoga sessions. At Canyon Ranch Woodside in Woodside, Calif., couples and their guests can sign up for spiritual growth sessions, botanical tea making and strength-training workshops.
Miraval Berkshires Resort and Spa in Lenox, Mass., specifically offers a mindful weddings program, which includes spa treatments and guided morning meditations. There’s even an anniversary “reflection visit” for couples, where they can participate in a sacred stone ceremony, hike or work out in a nature ropes course.
“We live in this fast-paced, extremely distracted world where self-care and also relationship care can often take a back seat,” Danielle Vega, a senior group sales manager at Miraval Berkshires, said.
On the morning of Ms. Ladd-Blum’s wedding, at Corrida, a Spanish restaurant in Boulder, Colo., she met with Maureen Dodd, the spiritual mentor she had worked with throughout her cancer treatment, to engage in a solo healing session, which she described as “a self-love ritual.”
“As someone highly sensitive to others’ energy, I wanted to anchor in my own energy and love before welcoming others into the space,” Ms. Ladd-Blum said.
While getting ready for the wedding ceremony, she listened to some of her favorite so-called love frequencies, or frequencies of sound waves believed to have healing properties. Ms. Ladd-Blum also performed other rituals like a lymphatic drainage massage. She then met a few of her closest friends and her mother for a bridal blessing, which Ms. Dodd, who is based in Phoenix and Sedona, Ariz., also led.
To ensure positive energy for the day ahead, Ms. Ladd-Blum placed her engagement ring and wedding band in a selenite crystal bowl, which is said to have protective properties. But her favorite practice from the day involved having guests — who received welcome bags that included palo santo sticks, which are meant to help get rid of negative energy — pass around and bless a heart-shaped twin crystal during the wedding ceremony. “They were all infusing it with good energy,” she said.
Samantha Cutler, 33, and her husband, Trevor Mengel, 36, who live in Delray Beach, Fla., have also actively embraced wellness practices as a couple, some of which they integrated into their May 4, 2023, wedding at the Addison of Boca Raton.
“Wellness and nutrition and all the pieces of health have really been a core foundation of my lifestyle and my relationship with my husband as well,” said Ms. Cutler, the founder of Mindfull, a meal planning and health coaching app. “There was wellness sprinkled throughout our entire wedding.”
She described the welcome bags that she curated for guests with Mr. Mengel, the founder and chief executive of Cloutdesk, a creator marketing platform, as a “wellness bundle.” The bags included vitamin supplements and a copy of “The Five Minute Journal,” which is designed to promote reflection and gratitude.
The day after their 69-person celebration, the couple hosted a wellness day at the Ray Hotel in Delray Beach, where guests were treated to matcha, vitamin B12 shots and drip IVs containing electrolytes and vitamins claiming to revive the body following alcohol consumption, stress and more. After a Pilates session led by one of Ms. Cutler’s fitness instructor friends, attendees could participate in a golf session or relax by the pool.
“It was just really fun seeing your husband and your best friends working out with your parents,” Ms. Cutler said. “It felt like a family affair in so many ways, without it feeling too gimmicky.”
Even an hourlong meditation session before the wedding can be helpful for wellness-focused couples. Katharina Kutscher, 30, and Zane Witherspoon, 28, who runs a tech startup, hosted a small wedding celebration on Aug. 30, 2024, in Central Park but started their day together at the Ludlow Hotel.
“I was very nervous for the wedding day,” said Ms. Kutscher, who lives in Manhattan. She tapped a meditation and mindfulness coach friend to lead a meditation session for her and Mr. Witherspoon via Zoom.
While completing breathing exercises and setting their intentions for the day, Ms. Kutscher, a content creator who also works in marketing, was able to reflect on what was truly meaningful. “The whole goal of this day is to get married to the love of your life,” she said, “and that’s the most important thing.”

Lifestyle
Soo Catwoman, ‘the Female Face of Punk,’ Is Dead at 70

In 1976, Susan Lucas asked a local barber in Ealing, West London, to part the back of her short hair — which she greased on the sides to emulate the Bride of Frankenstein — and shave off the entire middle section.
“He was very shocked and I think he thought I was kidding at first,” she recalled in a 2009 interview. But eventually he relented. When he finished shearing off almost all her hair, she said, “I think he felt bad about what he’d done.”
Two tufts remained, one on either side of her shaved head, flared upward to resemble cat ears.
“I was really pleased with it,” she said.
She dyed her new ears black, slicked them up with dabs of Vicks VapoRub and christened herself with a new name: Soo Catwoman.
That summer, she met and befriended Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols at Club Louise, a hotbed for musicians on the growing punk scene. She emerged as the face of that scene when she graced the cover of Anarchy in the U.K., a Sex Pistols fanzine.
With long tendrils of eyeliner swiped across her lids, a black star on her cheek and a skull dangling from one ear, her look, as well as her expression — a devil-may-care gaze that refused to waver — became a defining image of the vibrant, corrosive glamour of British punk.
“For me, rock ’n’ roll is all about haircut and attitude,” Bob Gruen, a photographer who documented the early punk era, said in an interview. “And she had both.”
Soo Catwoman died on Sept. 30 at a hospital in London. She was 70. Her daughter, Dion October Lucas, said the cause was complications of meningitis.
The fanzine photograph was published without her knowledge, and her face was soon reproduced on countless T-shirts and posters, often without permission or payment.
“It seems that my face and image, my ‘art’ as some have called it, has been hijacked,” she said in 2009, adding, “I’ve lost count of the amount of things that my face has since been used to publicize over the years, from books to clothing and everything in between.”
As her likeness became synonymous with punk, Soo Catwoman was a frequent presence in British newspapers. She was later portrayed onscreen in Julien Temple’s mockumentary “The Great Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle” (1980) and in the 2022 mini-series “Pistol.”
Her D.I.Y. ethos influenced designers including Thierry Mugler, Chanel and Junya Watanabe, whose models strutted down the runway wearing warped Union Jacks and spiked hair. Keith Flint of the band the Prodigy fashioned his own acid-green cat ears after hers.
Soo Catwoman “was the female face of punk, the sexual opposite of Johnny Rotten,” Mark Perry wrote in his book “And God Created Punk” (1996). “Next to Vivienne Westwood she was the most influential woman in punk fashion. If she wore something, others followed.”
Susan Helene Lucas was born on Oct. 24, 1954, in London to John William Lucas, who was in the merchant navy, and Mary (Cobb) Lucas. She was the 10th of 15 children, and her parents joined two houses in the Chiswick area to make room for their large family.
As a teenager, inspired by the flamboyance of glam rockers like David Bowie, Susan dyed a pink stripe into her pointed bangs.
At 21, after debuting her signature haircut, which she paired with jewelry made from found objects like needles and broken razor blades, she became a fixture, photographed with Billy Idol and members of the Damned. For a time in the 1970s, she shared a flat with Sid Vicious and earned the nickname Auntie Sue for her kindness toward him.
In 1979, she contributed backing vocals to the Invaders’ album “Test Card” and sang lead on their single “Backstreet Romeo.” In 1989, after a long absence from the scene, she resurfaced to record a cover of the O’Jays song “Back Stabbers” with Derwood Andrews of Generation X and Rat Scabies of the Damned.
As punk permeated the mainstream, Soo Catwoman largely withdrew from the public eye. She went from being “insulted on a daily basis,” with people avoiding her on public transportation “as if I were contagious,” to watching privileged strangers infiltrate the scene. “Those of us with holes in our jumpers didn’t actually put them there on purpose,” she said in a 2007 interview with the website Punk77.
“I had an exhibit in London a while ago, and Soo came to the opening,” Mr. Gruen said, “and she was this sweet English housewife.”
Speaking to The Times of London after her mother’s death, Dion Lucas said, “Although she was the epitome of punk, as far as her image, she was a hippie underneath it all.”
She home-schooled her children for a while and led an effort to save a tree outside their school. In her free time, she read the Romantic poets and listened to music ranging from Neil Young to Motown.
In 2008, her daughter launched a campaign to reclaim her image. She silk-screened T-shirts and printed tote bags, which she and her mother sold online.
“My mother’s image has at times been associated with negativity, words like ‘destroy’ and ‘anarchy,’ and the mental pictures they conjure up don’t really fit with the person she is,” Dion Lucas said in 2009. “Her beliefs are more about a mental revolution — about people learning to think for themselves.”
In addition to her daughter, Soo Catwoman is survived by a son, Shem Lucas; 10 brothers, Paul, John, Tony, Steve, Joe, Jim, Dave, Robert, Roland and Adam; a sister, Linda Lucas Kenny; and four grandchildren.
Reflecting on her legacy on her Myspace page years ago, Soo Catwoman seemed bemused by the evolution of the look she helped create.
“It still seems strange to me that what happened back then could bring about so many changes, in hair, music, fashion, etc.,” she wrote. “It seems quite funny that what started out as anti-fashion became fashion in itself.”
Lifestyle
Jake Paul Reveals He’s Sparring W/ Shakur Stevenson To Prep For Gervonta Davis

Jake Paul
Shakur Stevenson Is Helping Me Prep For Tank Davis!!!
Published
TMZSports.com
Jake Paul‘s admittedly nervous for his upcoming tilt with Gervonta Davis, but he tells TMZ Sports he’s got a bit of a secret weapon in his corner to help him make sure he’s ready — Shakur Stevenson!
The YouTuber-turned-superstar-fighter revealed to us on Wednesday that Stevenson — who’s had his share of beef with Davis over the years — is slated to meet with him in just a few days to give him an assist in the ring.
Paul said the two will spar — and he’s hoping it’ll get him as prepared as possible for Tank.
Paul also let us know he’s got a few other famed pugilists — Raymond Ford and Montana Love — working to prime his fists for the massive Nov. 14 bout as well.
Jake, though, did confess he’s still losing some sleep over the upcoming matchup … admitting, “Internally, I’m the most scared going into a fight that I’ve actually ever been.”
“Being vulnerable for a second,” Paul said, “this is crazy. This is scary. It’s kind of keeping me up at night.”
Paul did say he’s got a game plan — one that involves him trying to shed muscle so he can be fast enough for the smaller Davis. He also said he’s working on a way to “walk Tank into a knockout like I’ve done with other opponents.”
The scrap will all go down at Kesaya Center — and Paul was adamant, “I’m going to prove a lot of people wrong.”
Lifestyle
Video: The Knicks’ Josh Hart Shares His Secret to a Strong Marriage

new video loaded: The Knicks’ Josh Hart Shares His Secret to a Strong Marriage
transcript
transcript
The Knicks’ Josh Hart Shares His Secret to a Strong Marriage
Josh Hart of the New York Knicks takes us beyond the court to his home. Mr. Hart and his wife, Shannon, open up about their relationship and love languages, and he shares with us a side of him you don’t see on game day.
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“We’ve known each other for about 15 years, basically half of our life. And we’ve always been that consistent person in each other’s life. We always were there for each other.” “It was like consistent communication.” “We push each other to be better. We both give each other tough love. It’s never what we want to hear. But it’s always what we need to hear. We never try to sugarcoat anything.” “My love language, I would say quality time and probably physical touch.” “Definitely physical touch. That’s her love language. Back scratches is her love language. For me, my love language, I probably would say words of affirmation.” “I’m not very lovey-dovey in my words of affirmation, but I think just through my support during the season and my tough love — He doesn’t see it as affirmation, but it is.” “Do I see it as affirmation? That’s a great question. You always appreciate someone for always being real with you. I’m the super laid back, calm one. When calmness is needed, it’s a hundred percent going to be me.” “Yeah, but sometimes he’s too calm. Which is also like, What’s wrong with you?” “On the court, it’s totally different. My role on the court is to be fiery, to play with my heart on my sleeve and show that passion and that competitiveness. But me as a person is super chill, super laid back, kind of just going with the flow. Whatever happens, I’m going to figure it out.” “I’ve got to win every argument, every conversation.” “She’s super competitive. Becoming parents probably changed our relationship, for sure, for the better.” “You always hear that kids can tear you guys apart or it’s so hard, this and that. But we’ve honestly gotten closer, so it’s helped us.”
By Chevaz Clarke, Sadiba Hasan, Thomas Vollkommer and Srdjan Stojiljkovic
October 21, 2025
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