The Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation's mission is to grant wishes, including memory-making events, for metastatic breast cancer patients, while continuing to support, educate and increase resource awareness.

One of the Making Memories fundraisers is Brides Against Breast Cancer. It can give brides-to-be, an opportunity to find the wedding gown of their dreams (at an incredible savings) while making wishes and dreams come true. Click here if you wish to donate your gown.

The Drexelbrook Wedding and Banquet Facility is hosting Nationwide Tour of Gowns on October 10th and 11th. If you live near Drexel Hill, PA you can attend this event and browse over 40 racks of exquisite, named brand and designer wedding gowns costing from $89 to $799.

Event Details:

Drexelbrook Wedding & Banquet Facility. Drexelbrook Drive & Valley road

Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026

Wednesday, October 10th, 10am - 8pm

Thursday, October 11th, 10am - 8pm

Contact: mminfo@makingmemories.org

Cancer Research UK is about to increase its wealth -- once a signed honeymoon photograph of the Prince and Princess of Wales is auctioned.

The photograph reportedly came from an unnamed member of the Royal Household and had been purchased by a collector. Taken on the Royal Estate at Balmoral just days after the wedding of Charles and Diana, it's Diana's signature prominently displayed on the photograph -- it reads, Lots of Love, Diana.

The auction, organized by a businesswomen whose lost her mother-in-law to breast cancer, will take place on June 9 at a charity ball at the London Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square. It is expected to sell for £3,000.

In addition to a writer, I'm a photographer too and I'm always scouring the Internet for good photos. I found this photo essay a while back and have been haunted by it ever since. I visit it every few months or so but not too often because it's so bittersweet, I can hardly handle looking at it. It's the story of Katie Kirkpatrick, a young woman whose body was ravished with cancer by the time her intended wedding day started getting close. Knowing it would probably be the last celebration of her life, she decided to go ahead with the wedding and marry her high school sweetheart, Nick Godwin. Weak, frighteningly thin, in constant overwhelming pain and in need of constant medical attention, she walked down the aisle, professed her undying devotion to the love of her life and spent an evening surrounded by friends and family who loved her the most. She didn't let her disease get in the way of her dream to one day have that fairy-tale wedding.

She passed away five days later.

Breast cancer survivor Catherine West was married to her husband, Jason, in a very public ceremony in May. The couple beat out 450 other couples battling in the ESPN Marriage Madness competition and celebrated with sports fans everywhere their beautiful union, inspired not only by their love for one another but also by the one-year anniversary of Catherine's double mastectomy for breast cancer.

What fans didn't know at the time of the wedding was that Catherine knew in her heart something was very wrong. And just after she returned from her Indianapolis 500 honeymoon, Catherine learned her breast cancer had returned.

The 37-year-old from Jupiter, Florida underwent three more surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation and is happy to report her treatment is complete. She is also certain breast cancer came to her life -- twice -- so she could make a difference.

"This happened to me so I could help other people,'" said West, who volunteers her time for the West Palm Beach Race for the Cure, a 5K walk and run sponsored by Susan G. Komen For The Cure.

Women whose wedding dresses are created by bridal gown designer Aimee Lauren get a little something extra when they purchase their dream dresses. They get something of a twist -- a pink twist, in the form of a ribbon.

Each of Lauren's brides gets a pink breast cancer ribbon sewn on the inside lining over the left breast of their custom gowns -- a reminder for them to check their breasts for life. It's Lauren's way of saying, don't forget, please don't forget.

Most of Lauren's clients are young -- in their 20s and 30s -- and are not thinking of breast cancer. But they should be. Because breast cancer happens to young women -- like Lauren, who was diagnosed with the disease at a young age and in the midst of climbing the New York fashion ladder. She found a lump in her left breast during a monthly self exam. And now she is forever diligent about breast cancer awareness and early detection.

At fittings, Lauren never misses the opportunity to educate her brides about taking charge of their own health.

"I don't ever want to hear somebody say ever again that it doesn't happen to young people," she says. " It can happen to anyone."

Celebrities can bring awareness to cancer causes. Celebrities can attract money to cancer fundraisers. Celebrities influence our society in fashion and lifestyle trends. Whether you are one who thinks celebrities have too much influence, and wondering why there seems a global obsession with celebrity -- or you are someone who applauds the efforts of those who have risen to success in fame and fortune and take time to give back, there is no doubting celebrities have power. And even when celebrities aren't trying to make a difference, they do, by the simple fact they are a celebrity.

A news story out of Canada is reporting that young girls, inspired by fair-skinned celebrities like Australian actress Nicole Kidman, are rejecting the fashion standard that a tan makes you attractive and embracing what they are calling the pale and proud of it attitude. When it comes to reducing the rising incidence of skin cancer, this couldn't come as better news. Really good news since it is in the young where a shocking number of new skin cancer cases are being diagnosed, a trend that is fairly recent to our times.

One lucky couple was chosen -- from a pool of more than 450 couples who competed in ESPN's Marriage Madness competition -- as winner of the ultimate ESPN sports wedding. With listeners of the Mike & Mike in the Morning national TV and radio show as voters, Catherine and Jason West, now husband and wife, were married May 26, 2006 on ESPN. Noteworthy is the fact that both Catherine and Jason are die-hard University of Florida Gator fans -- they met at a Gator tailgating party and were engaged at Lake Alice, a popular outdoor spot on campus. The bride wore crystal Gator beadwork on her gown and the groom's tuxedo jacket was lined in Gator orange. The maid of honor wore a Gator blue dress and carried an orange bouquet. The wedding vows included the traditional messages of love, honor, and respect -- but some sports twists were sprinkled in too. The Wests took away a check for $20,000, compliments of hosts Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic, and they will soon head off on an all-expense paid sports-inspired honeymoon.

This wedding is inspired not just by sports.  It is also inspired by cancer survival. Catherine -- who became engaged on the one-year anniversary of her first breast cancer surgery -- is now in full cancer remission. And a $2,500 donation was made in the couple's name to the V Foundation, a cancer fund in memory of Jim Valvano, a former North Carolina State basketball coach and ESPN broadcaster. This is surely an event to remember.

While attending his caddie Steve Williams wedding in New Zealand, Tiger Woods announced he is taking time off to be with his father and will not be playing in any golf tournaments until the U.S. Open in June. "It's kind of up in the air with the situation back home, so I don't know what's going to happen," said Woods. "I'm taking time off. I'm here for this event and for Steve, and to enjoy time off and be with my father, so I won't play for a while." Woods has been very clear in his priorities when it comes to his father, Earl Woods, who is battling prostate cancer. Back in March, Woods remarked, "It puts things in perspective. You hit a bad shot, and you want to get upset with yourself because you know you can hit better shots, but in the whole scheme of things, it's just a golf shot."

It is also reported that Darren Clarke withdrew from the Shell Houston Open after his first round to return home to be with Heather, his wife, who has been battling breast cancer for the last four years. Sadly, the cancer has spread to her bones and liver. They have two sons. He did not make any public comment. The PGA issued a statement on his behalf, letting everyone know he had left the tournament. In 2005, Clarke took much of the season off to be with his wife as she underwent chemotherapy.

According to the American Cancer Society, three out of four families will be touched by cancer -- but each time you hear news that another family is facing the tough circumstances of cancer never lessens the heartbreak felt for each one of them.

August 13, 2006 Update: Darren Clarke has lost wife after long struggle with breast cancer.
May 03. 2006 Update: Tiger Woods loses father to cancer.

April 21-22, Midway Paintball of Duncan, B.C. in Canada is hosting the Redneck Rampage 2 Family Feud fundraiser for breast cancer. According to the paintball feud, the fundraiser is based on a video game called Redneck Rampage. Basically, the feud involves Ramtack, an alien, who got redneck Betty Smith pregnant shortly after Redneck Rampage 1. In redneck tradition, the solution is a quick shotgun-type wedding. The two families are not thrilled about each other or about the wedding, but tradition is tradition and the alien needs to make Betty an honest woman. However, as tensions are already running high, it does not take much to break the peace between the two families, and it appears the feud begins when the families cannot agree on a name for the unborn child.

Who will win the feud? The Canadian Cancer Society for Breast Cancer Research who will receive the money speedball players raise during the feud. It's definitely a fun event for a serious cause. According to Robin Bienvenu, Midway Paintball field manager, "My aunt died from it, my mom beat it and my sister recently had both breasts removed because of it. It's something that everyone's familiar with and we need to do something about it."

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are expecting the birth of their first baby together in a few months. Marcheline Bertrand, Jolie's mother, is gravely ill with terminal uterine cancer and not expected to live much longer. Bertrand has asked her daughter to give birth in France, where Bertrand was born, to maintain a "circle of life." But her mother will not be in France for the birth of her grandchild. Bertrand is in Los Angeles California. Reports say Jolie father, actor Jon Voight, Jolie and Pitt, make regular visits to the hospital where Bertrand is being treated.

Jolie is in a difficult position. Do you honor the dying wishes of your mother, if it means you may miss precious last moments with her before she dies? Or do you ignore what your mother wants, so that you can be with her and share with her, the birth of your child? Jolie will need to decide soon. What would you do?