Weddingbee Blog

From planning the bridal shower to the bachelorette party to being a source of support for the bride… a bridesmaid’s role can be indispensable.

Whether you’re a veteran or novice, these are some good resources for anything and everything bridesmaid.

• Bridesmaid 101
• Bridesmaid
• Bridesmaid Aid
• The Bridesmaid Guerilla Handbook

The Hankyu-Daichii Hotel chain and Sanrio Puroland in Japan both offer Hello Kitty themed wedding packages.

This is truly scary.

(via facepalm)

• Couple marries at age 6… and again at 22. (via dahliasday)
• Bride gets scammed out of $2400 on ebay over Monique Lhullier gown. (via bridesclub)
• Color is in for wedding gowns.
• New wedding stamps are a huge hit!
• Big day beauty tips.
• Wedding Day fashion advice for men.
• Catherine Zeta-Jones’ wedding suit nightmare…almost.
• New York Times weddings by numbers. (Gothamist)

So sticking with the green and brown theme is a MUST when planning my wedding. Here is a little preview. Remember when I ordered all those cylinder vases and I told you I’d post once I was ready? Well I’m ready but I’m not done. I just got started and wanted to share with you ladies. I need to buy more ribbon and more paper.

Note: The brown patterned paper was the same paper I used for my envelope lining on my save-the-dates.

(Double click to enlarge)

With Flash:

Without flash:

With candles:

I’ll post more once I’ve done everything with more paper and ribbons galore! I’ll also post where I got all my supplies.

Stay tuned for later this week when I post up my DIY floral monograms (sneak peak) which I know some of you have been patiently waiting for.

With time to kill on a Sunday afternoon, my best friend and I headed to Bloomingdales so that I could get a free makeup trial.

I hate makeup. Sure I’ll wear some mascara, eye shadow, and lip gloss; perhaps Yves Saint Laurent’s Touche Eclat to brighten up my face when I go out. But I don’t do foundation, coverup, concealer, or even powder. I have pretty good skin (knock on wood) and I think part of the reason is that I generally keep it bare.

I’ve had my makeup done several times for weddings, parties and just for fun, and generally, I haven’t liked the outcome. I might look pretty all done up, but I don’t look like me. I want to look through my wedding albums and recognize the girl in the white dress.

So without further ado, the before and after at the Laura Mercier counter at Bloomies. Whadya think?

Pretty… but not quite me.

I ordered my magnets a while back, and they came out really great! Considering that I wasn’t that happy with the picture itself, the magnet looks fantastic!

For you DIY people, here is what I did to send out the magnets in a nice, simple fashion.

First, I bought some cardstock, 3.5″ x 5″ in ivory color. I think ivory is a much better color for wedding stuff. Plain white is too office-like. This size was perfect for my magnets, since the magnets were 2″ x 3.5″.

I searched everywhere for a store that would print some words on the cards. However, as soon as you tell them it’s card stock paper, they tell you no (Kinkos and Staples) because it will jam their printers. Apparently the paper is too thick.

Well, they are all liars. I printed mine on a HP DeskJet printer (a nice one) and it printed just fine. You have to remember to set the paper size to match the card size you are using, both on the page setup as well as the printer setup. Also, there is a place on printer setup where you can specify the type of paper you’re printing on - if you set it to something similar to matte paper, or thick paper or photo paper, it will print fine. You just have to specify to the printer that the paper is thicker than ususal.

On top, it says “We’re getting married!” On the bottom, it says “Invitation to Follow.” I also drew a box (smaller than the magnet) in MS Word, so that I could align the magnets later without any hassle or guess work.

To glue the magnets on, I used glue dots. They also have pop-up glue dots, which will raise the magnets above the paper, however I opted for the regular glue dots.

To apply the glue dot onto the magnet, do NOT peel it off. Press the magnet against a glue dot and it will attach automatically. If you look carefully at this picture, you can see that I circled the glue dot in red. And when your guests receive the card, the magnet will detach itself from the glue dot without any work.

After putting two glue dots on the magnet, I pressed it down on the card. Here is the finished product.

I then printed addresses on clear address labels. A small one for my own address on the back, and a regular sized label for the front. Remember to buy inkjet labels if you have an inkjet or deskjet printer. If you buy laserjet labels and print them on an inkjet printer, it will take forever to dry and it might smudge if it is not dried completely, making the entire label unreadable (and undeliverable!)

Here is a completed product of my Save the Dates! I’m so excited! Just to be extra cautious, I am sending out an example one to a friend to make sure that it goes through the mail without any problems. You can never be too careful…

One final note - please use stamps that are more wedding appropriate. Don’t you think they look so much better than the usual American flag stamps? It’s just more…romantic and classy.

The annual Running of the Brides event at Filene’s Basement in Union Square began at 8 o’clock yesterday morning.

The brides didn’t even wait to hit the dressing rooms, as they stripped down to their underwear right where they stood to try on dresses. It was a fever stoked by $1,200 dresses selling for as little as $250 and $5,000 dresses selling for $700.

Moshe Penceal, 26, of The Bronx, who is getting married in August, said she and her mom decided to line up at 4:30 a.m. to get a chance for the perfect dress.

Some people even showed up in uniform.

Women tried dresses on right on the sales floor.

Brides even posted pictures of the dress they were looking for on their backs.

Check out corig123’s flickr for 129 entertaining pictures of the entire event.

(source: Gothamist, images courtesy:corig123)

I wish subscriptions were available for In Style Weddings and all the NYC renditions of wedding magazines (NY Metro, Knot, Modern Bride, etc.). Alas I’m relegated to regularly perusing the magazine racks to see if new issues have been released.

In Style Weddings is definitely one of my favorite wedding magazines and I get excited every time a see a new issue. FYI the spring issue with Nikki Cox on the cover was just released! Plus our friend Paper-Bride is featured.

So yes, my friggin wedding is 43 friggin days away (OMIGOD! I am literally taking deep lamaze breaths right now at my desk and most likely will go for a nic fix after this) and I have yet to buy a veil. To tell you the truth I don’t want a veil ’cause the first time I put one on the first thing that popped in my head is “Madonna”. When I put the veil over my face the first thing that popped into mind was that little girl from “The Others.”

I have been researching for the past 2 weeks and I love the mantilla veils. I tried one on at Kleinfeld and the one that I loved cost $1200. F-ing bastards! I went home and was bitching about it to Mr. Ladybug about how it’s such a waste of money and how can a piece of material cost that much and I’m only going to wear it for one day blah blah blah…

And then he goes “OH! So THAT’s considered a waste of money if you’re only going to wear it for ONE day but the dress isn’t?” My retort?

“….I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I CHANGED MY MIND!!!!!!!!”

What a punk man. The only thing that I can’t decide on is the length. The chapel is too short. It would look better for a dress with no train. So I would have to go with the cathedral length but I also like the hip length ones as well. I’m planning on wearing my hair half way up. What do you think?

I borrowed some of this from Nabiwedding but also added a few extra links in addition to hers.

Here’s a breakdown on the veils and some links:

Different Lengths - (I love how this lists the different measurements)

Blushers Elbow Finger Chapel

18″ Shoulder 22″ Past Shoulder

30″ Elbow 34″ Past Elbow

42″ Fingertip 65″ Waltz

75″ Chapel 108″ Cathedral

Width
As you can see, the greater the width, the fuller the veil.

Edging

Plain Pencil Edging

Rattail Lace

Organza Satin

Metallic Pearl

Accents

Rhinestones/Crystals Pearls

Something Blue

Comb/ No comb

An attached comb works perfect if you plan to place the veil directly in your hair, unattached to a headpiece. All of our combs are “hidden” which means they are glued to the underside of the veil so that it does not show once placed in your hair.

A gathered top works perfect if you plan to attach the veil to your own headpiece. The veil is gathered at the top and finished without a comb.

Vera Wang, $3,750

Vera Wang, $1,110

Online Resources:
Affordable-Bride
Ansonia Bridal Veils
Bel Aire Veils
Edward Berger
Erica Koesler
Net Bride
Toni Federici
Veil Shop
Wedding Veil

-Or -

Make Your Own
For the sewers out there–you may be adventurous enough to make your own veil.
This website gives you a step-by-step.

1. I booked the wedding site today.
2. I bought my dress/veil/lingerie/shoes today.
3. My shoes are gold sandals with 4″ heels, similar to the ones above. Not so appropriate.
4. I looked at bridesmaid dresses. But at Carolina Herrera, which is just mean.
5. I bought some other shoes today, just because I wanted them. They’re 4.5″ round toe pumps.
6. I refused to buy the recommended bodysuit/contortionist contraption because it had a thong. Thongs are gross.
7. I bought the 4.5″ shoes in tan, but I really wanted them in black and white snakeskin.
8. I am being pressured to send Save-the-Date cards, but I think they’re kind of weird.

Last night I was reading Jo Gartin’s Weddings (one of the better wedding idea books out there) when I came across this irresistable midnight snack package on one of the pages.

Your guests will feel so pampered when they take home one of these cases at the end of the night. 2 bottles of milk and a couple of krispy kremes…. the perfect midnight snack!

The boxes and labels were from My Own Labels - a site that’s featured extensively throughout Gartin’s book. I first came across My Own Labels when I was planning my own wedding and looking for labels. At the time it was called My Wedding Labels but the company has since expanded and added a lot of great new products.

They even have an idea of the month complete with recipes and how tos.

This is the site to go to for all your stylish, customizable wedding label needs.

Mr. Butterfly has an old friend who is invited to our wedding. He hasn’t seen her in a few years, but has kept in touch every few months for the past 4 years. She also happens to be some sort of an investor in a restaurant. Since Mr. Butterfly and I were looking for an appropriate place to have the rehearsal dinner, he thought it would be a great idea to ask her.

I just found out that he basically sent her an email asking, “Hey, can I get a discount on your restaurant?”

Seriously?

SERIOUSLY.

I can’t believe he actually did that. So in case any of you don’t know the proper way to ask someone for a discount, especially a friend, this is what I would do.

1. Inquire about them first. “I hear you own a restaurant now. How’s business? I hope everything is going well. Good luck with it.”
2. Inquire about the service that you are buying. “Miss Butterfly and I were thinking of having our rehearsal dinner at a restaurant in the city. Do you think your restaurant is appropriate for a nice dinner for about xx people for a rehearsal dinner?”
3. Tell them that you are interested. “If you think it’s a good place for a rehearsal dinner, I’d love to come and see the place and look at the menu, if you dont mind.”
4. Go look at whatever they are selling, and inquire about price at this point. “I think this restaurant is a possibility for our rehearsal dinner. What do you think a price range would be per person if we were to have a rehearsal dinner here?”
5. Compliment on their service. “The menu is really great, and my fiance and I agree that this is a very good choice for us. However, we are on a budget and we can’t really swing the price that you quoted. I am so sorry that we took up so much of your valuable time. But unless the price can come down by xx dollars, we really dont think we can afford it. Do you think you can work with us? Thank you so much for everything. I really appreciate it.”
6. At this point, most vendors will come back and say that they can be a little more flexible. The negotiating starts here.
7. What can you offer? Sometimes, nothing but your gratitude. Othertimes, a guarantee of something else. Whatever it may be, use it.

I may be wrong on this, but I truly believe that with a little compromise and a little tact, you should be able to get what you want, or at least be happy with what you paid and not feel ripped off at the end.

The above example was written with this specific incident in mind, but this conversation can be tailored to meet any vendor. Recently, I met with a photographer and her price range was out of my budget. I basically said, “I really love your work and the way you capture the emotions of the day. Unfortunately, after taking another look at my budget, I’ve come to realize that your current quote surpasses my budget by xxx dollars. Thank you so much for meeting with me, and I am sorry that I wasted so much of your time. You are very talented and I am sorry that I wont be able to work with you.”

At this point, the vendor contacted me and told me that she could be flexible. (Unfortunately, she wasn’t as flexible as I would have liked, so we couldn’t make it work anyway. BUT the point is, she was willing to cut her price or offer more so that we could work together.)

Sometimes, though, I like to find out the price range first, before I go in for a meeting with a vendor, especially if I have a price range in mind. In that case, just start from number 2,and you’ll be fine.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go write an apologetic email to Mr. Butterfly’s friend.

My favorite kitchen goods store is Sur La Table and they have a location right here in Manhattan. I consider Sur La Table to be a funkier, rustic, more fun version of Williams and Sonoma. They carry all the standard high end lines you’d expect - All Clad, Le Creuset, Wusthof - but also a lot of cool items unique to the store.

I bought my dad this pig baking dish for Christmas and he absolutely loved it. It has a really great patina on it. Although you can cook with it (stovetop, oven, and microwave safe), I actually bought it for my dad to use it as a pot because he’s an avid gardener.
I also love this pig molcajete. Nothing beats fresh salsa.

Check out these mini tapas plates that fit over wine glasses! How cool are these?

I totally want this - a stovetop pepper/tortilla roaster. Hmmm…. maybe I’m just obsessed with Mexican and Spanish food.

Plus they have an enormous line of “bee” themed kitchen items!

We registered at Bed Bath and Beyond because we needed a lot of basic home goods but if we had to do it now, I’d definitely register at Sur La Table. I love this store!

An email from a reader…

Hi Mrs. Bee,

Since attending the Great Bridal Expo in NYC, I have been bombarded with spam mail and “free hotel” scams. So far I’ve received three calls about us “winning” 3-day, 2-night stays at nice hotels e.g. Hilton, Marriott etc. They always ask you to come in somewhere to pick up your vouchers.

After some trusty google searches I always find out it is some scam to sell you cookware or timeshares. Any more knowledge on this phenomenon? Here is a link to one of the companies that called me.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/royal_prestige_trip.html

Crunch Fitness was also there and they called me a few weeks after the expo telling me I had “won” a gym membership and for me to come in to claim my prize.

After some probing I found out that I had to take a 30 min tour with a manager and then I would receive a scratch-off card for a 1 yr, 6 months, 3 months, 1 month or 1 week free membership. As I was talking to the rep I went to their homepage and there in big bold letters was the same offer of a scratch-off card for ANY person who came in for a tour. How did I “win” anything?

I should clarify that each vendor at the Expo held a drawing for a free prize and the expo coordinators pre-printed address labels for me to submit to each vendor.

Thanks for looking into this!

Sandy

~~~

Dear Sandy,

I’ve only attended one bridal show and that was this past weekend with a friend of mine who’s a bride-to-be. They weren’t interested in any of my contact information since I wasn’t a bride, but they haven’t sent a single piece of junk mail to my friend either.

When I registered for the liweddings website though, I remember being bombarded with solicitations from wedding vendors. Our mailbox was filled to the brim daily. I contacted liweddings, and they immediately took me off their mailing list which solved the problem. Still, I’d assumed that the information I provided was for that website/vendor only.

The wedding industry is a very competitive and lucrative one, and eager brides may be an easy target. On the more permissable end is what Crunch Fitness did - offered you an existing promotion leading you to believe that it was a prize unique to you. On the more blurry end is what these cookware/timeshare companies often do - offer a prize but only if you sit through several hours of a hard sell on their products.

I’ve done some preliminary research and found a lot of interesting information pertaining to bridal shows and these “cookware/timeshare” offers. Unfortunately you’ll have to wait until Part II on Monday because I’m off to Boston to celebrate my one year anniversary this weekend.

Meanwhile, I’d like to ask our readers about their experiences with bridal shows. Have you ever been spammed or scammed?

Here’s another cute idea for guest favors - Address books with your new address stamped inside!

(image courtesy: paperantics)