Beehive
Feature Launched: Aug 31, 2006
About: A forum for readers to post questions and get feedback from the hive, aka the weddingbee community.
In today’s beehive:
- peony is wondering about your good/bad experiences with day of coordinators, and what the cost was.
- Amber is looking for a good printer to print invitations and for everyday printing.
- iris wants to know where you purchased your veil, and how you decided on length & detail. She’s petite so she’s debating between the elbow and fingertip length.
- JW wants to know if it’s tacky to send her invites out in batches after she receives responses to control her guest list.
- bean is wondering what’s appropriate and what’s not when giving her speech as a bridesmaid. Any advice/tips?
- Lovebug wants to register at 5 places - is that too many?
See all past beehives here. To add your question to the beehive, leave a comment below and we’ll update this post to include your question.
18 Responses to “Beehive”
Hi Peony,
I don’t know what I would have done without my doc! They were absolutely fabulous, resolved so many crises and ensured the day flowed smoothly. i highly recommend doc’s for everyone! 
What area do you live in? Prices for doc’s can vary greatly according to area…
We’re considering DIY invites, what is a good printer for everyday stuff as well as printing on cardstock and vellum? Thanks!
Hi,
I would like to know where everyone got their veils, how you decided on the length, details, etc. I’m debating right now between the fingertip or the elbow length. I’m petite (5′2) so wondering if anybody had a fingertip veil. Thanks!
Peony, I’m still @ the early stage of my wedding planning, but I’m definitely hiring a DOC after hearing many good things from different people. My own new SIL who just got married keeps singing praises about her DOC and how the DOC made the day so much more smooth and so much less stressful. And I could see that on her wedding day for sure.
I was the MOH for both of my best friends weddings and they didn’t have DOCs. Let me tell you yes the weddings were beautiful but they were simply a lot more hectic and tiring.
I think my SIL said they paid around $1500 for the DOC, and she’s in the Los Angeles area. Well, good luck with your decision! Hope this helped!
I have a question regaridng sendng out invites. We are TRYING to keep our guests to a maximum of 150. Is it tacky to send out the invites in batches and wait for responses to come back on the first batch before sending out the second? Help!
I’m one of four bridesmaids for our girlfriend, whose wedding is coming up in less than a month. I don’t believe the other girls are planning on doing a toast or a speech as they’re all ‘camera-shy’ and there is no Maid of Honor. I, on the other hand, would love to put together a really funny, touching speech for the bride and groom, but I don’t know what is/not appropriate for a wedding toast/speech from a bridesmaid. Any tips/advice on a bridesmaid toast/speech? Thx!
bean - i say make sure it’s not too long or filled with too many inside jokes. i wouldn’t talk about any sordid details either [no ex-boyfriends, illicit stories, etc]. keep it simple and heartfelt and you’ll be fine. i gave one speech with a friend and we both talked briefly [like a sentence] about how we met and how long we’ve known each other and one funny anecdote about the bride before the dh and one of the couple [how we knew they were meant to be] and then ended it with a well wish for the marriage. i say focus on the bride and mention the groom since she is your friend. at that wedding, most of the toasts were about the groom, even from the bride’s own brothers and moh!
Peony,
Here I wrote about mine.
Miss Sunflower is using her as well.
http://nycib2.blogspot.com/2006/09/planning-wedding-planners.html
Hi Iris,
I purchased my veil at the Bridal Atelier and it was fingertip length. I originally thought I wanted an elbow length because I’m petite too (5′2″), but I’m glad that I went with the longer veil. In fact, I think I could have gone with an even longer one! They just look so lovely in pictures. Good luck!
I have a question about registries. Currently I have 5 places I would love to register at. Is that too many?
I registered at 5 places, but a few were national companies and 2 were local stores (one where I live, one where my mom lives). It seems to have been just fine for us.
I am also petite and I went with a two layer veil, one was fingertip, one was elbow. I really liked the double layer, and since they are so thin, it look dimensional and not bulky.
hi! thanks everyone for all the advice… my wedding is in new york city. looks like i should spend the $ and get a DOC…
I bought my veil at the same small town shop where I bought my dress. I had decided on a elbow length veil with a tiara and went back with my dress to actually decide and ended up looking ridiculous (I am 5′2″ and I have short hair). So I tried on long veil that had no embellishment and was two feet longer than my dress, which has no train. I loved how it made my dress super elegant. And it didn’t make me look super short like the shorter veil did. Good luck!
Sorry Amber! Don’t have any printer recommendations.
JW - I think it’s ok, but keep in mind that if guests find out that they were on the “B” list they might get offended. I would if it were me!
bean - just keep it heartfelt - that always works.
Lovebug - that is quite a few places and to tell you the truth some guests might find that off putting. Is there any way you can narrow it down to maybe 3?
Good luck everyone!
bean check out these tips for a great moh speech - http://www.wedalert.com/blog/2006/08/tips-for-amazing-maid-of-honor-wedding.asp
Thanks to Tea and Mrs Bee for all the great advice! I really appreciate it. This is a good place to start. =)
Hey there,
I was wondering how you ladies formally asked your friends to be your bridesmaids?
My girls already know that they’re going to be in the wedding. It’s been a given for years. But i want to make it special and send each of them (2 of them live out of my state) something special to make it formal.
Did you do anything formal or was it just a phone call/email type of thing?
Thanks!
Sea
Fi asked me to marry him this past August 30th, though we had already booked our venue 2 weeks prior. [We really wanted our “anniversary of dating” date as our wedding date. Anyway, all of my girls already knew that I was going to ask them, but I decided to ask them in a formal way. I decided to NOT tell any of my bridesmaids that I was engaged until I saw them in person.
On Aug. 31st, I woke up early, went to Staples and picked out lovely blank invitations cards. I then went home and spent about an hour trying to figure out how to print out a Bridesmaid Poem that I got from one of the girls on the Knot, onto the cards. After I was all done, I started my journey around Long Island.
I called up each bridesmaid and made up an excuse to go see each of them that day! Luckily 2 of them are teachers and were not working, 1 just had a baby, and the other- I saw after she came home from work! So, I started at my MOH house, and showed up with a dozen yellow roses and my Bridesmaid Poem. She was flabbergasted and thrilled!! She had read the poem, said “YES!” and then I proceeded to show her my super-sparkley E-ring!! I then worked my way to the other BMs, each giving them a dozen roses [different colors] and the Poem. Luckily, I found inexpensive roses near each girls home!! Hope that helps!
