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Some Couples Prioritize Wellness as a Key Part of Their Weddings

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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.

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“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.”

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“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.”

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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.

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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.”

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The second life of a classic: ‘Amores Perros’ is remastered and back in theaters

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The second life of a classic: ‘Amores Perros’ is remastered and back in theaters

First released in 2000, the acclaimed film Amores perros, which was produced and directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga, has been remastered and is returning to theaters.

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Before Amores Perros became widely regarded as a modern classic, it belonged to Mexico. The film premiered at the 53rd Cannes Film Festival in 2000, where it won The Grand Prix, launching a run of international acclaim that has never quite ended. This month, Amores Perros is back in theaters in a fully remastered format from its original Kodak film stocks.

The film’s plot centers on three strangers whose lives intersect at the scene of a car crash. Each story wrestles with overlapping issues of social class disparities, crime and familial betrayal. The release in Mexico coincided with the end of the Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI’s 71-year hold on power. Amores Perros was followed by a period of original, contemporary films in Latin America that would prove the region’s studios could compete with Hollywood in scope and complexity.

One of the film's lead charachters, Octavio, is played by actor Gael García Bernal.

One of the film’s lead charachters, Octavio, is played by actor Gael García Bernal.

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The film marked the directorial debut of Alejandro González Iñárritu, who would go on to win four Academy Awards including back-to-back best director awards for Birdman (2014) and The Revenant (2015). In a recent interview with NPR, Gael García Bernal, a lead actor in Amores Perros, called the film’s launch “a new geography in cinema.”

González Iñárritu and García Bernal spoke with Morning Edition’s A Martinez about their early collaboration and the film’s continued resonance with new audiences.

Listen to the interview by clicking on the blue play button above.

The broadcast version of this story was produced by Margaux Bauerlein.

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What — and who — will be at the Great American State Fair? Here’s a primer

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What — and who — will be at the Great American State Fair? Here’s a primer

Preparations underway for the Great American State Fair, as seen on Washington, D.C.’s National Mall last week.

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A lot is changing these days in Washington, D.C., with even more on the horizon: 10 city blocks of the National Mall will soon transform into a multi-week state fair spectacle, complete with a Ferris wheel, in honor of the country’s 250th birthday.

The “Great American State Fair” will run from June 25 through July 10, promising to bring state-themed pavilions, movie screenings, musical performances, military flyovers, nostalgic snacks, a daily rodeo — and potentially scores of tourists — to the nation’s capital.

It will feature more than 150 exhibits, with full participation across the United States and several U.S. territories, as well as “businesses, innovators and civic organizations,” according to Freedom250, the White House-backed campaign that is organizing the fair in addition to other semiquincentennial events.

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“A master-planned celebration will unfold along the National Mall from the Capitol to the Washington Monument, featuring vibrant pavilions representing every U.S. state and territory,” says the White House website, adding that the beaux-arts style tents will also highlight national themes like agriculture, the arts, faith and family.

Workers started setting up the fair, in view of the U.S. Capitol, in late May.

Workers started setting up the fair, in view of the U.S. Capitol, in late May.

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However, not all states are sending official government delegations to the fair. Officials in more than half a dozen states — including Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington — confirmed to NPR that they are not participating directly. Most cited financial considerations and a desire to prioritize celebrations in their own communities, though others voiced political concerns.

Rachel Reisner, a spokesperson for Freedom250, emphasized in an email that there is “a vast majority participating” among the states. Additionally, others are being represented by local businesses and organizations — such as two companies from North Carolina and a museum from Illinois.

“Whether represented by a governor’s office, a tourism board, or a beloved state company or organization, every community will be celebrated, and every American will see themselves in this once-in-a-generation event,” Reisner said.

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The state fair is one in a series of patriotic anniversary events planned for D.C. this summer, including the UFC fight night outside the White House last Sunday and a fireworks-heavy July Fourth celebration that President Trump rebranded as a political rally in a Truth Social post on Monday.

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Greetings from Maputo, Mozambique’s capital, shaped by a modernist architecture

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Greetings from Maputo, Mozambique’s capital, shaped by a modernist architecture

I took a ride on a tuk-tuk motorcycle taxi around Maputo, Mozambique, with my buddy and fellow All Things Considered producer, Vincent Acovino. We were in the country reporting on changes to U.S. funding for AIDS in Africa.

Vinny noticed it first: There was something magical about a number of the concrete apartment blocks and government offices here. With half a day off and a little googling, we gave ourselves an impromptu tour of the architecture of Amâncio “Pancho” Guedes. The late Portuguese-born architect designed some pretty cool buildings here in the 1950s and ’60s. They include the Prédio Abreu, Santos e Rocha pictured above, and other structures with evocative names like The Smiling Lion apartment block and the Lemon Squeezer church. Step into a small interior stairwell of The Dragon House, and you see a mural in sparkling black and white stone of a spiky dragon with a toothy grin. It transforms what would otherwise be a dim stairwell.

Guedes designed more than 500 buildings in the city, from churches to bakeries. I don’t have the language to capture it: the use of heavy materials, combined with the playful use of shapes and murals. “Eclectic Modernist,” I later learned, is how his work is described. One critic wrote that his work brilliantly mixes the “sculptural and figurative with practical requirements and traditional local identity.”

Maputo will change and I have to imagine not all of his work will survive. But stumbling into a town with a visual landscape that still shows Guedes’ thumbprint was a delight. For an afternoon, riding through the city streets in the open-air tuk-tuk, looking for what might have been his handiwork was a good time. Like an Easter egg hunt in concrete.

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For more Far-Flung Postcards, click here.

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