In today’s beehive:
- Jenny wants to know how soon she should send out save the dates and invitations. It’s one year to her wedding now.
- bean is planning on a big church ceremony followed by a Korean church reception for her parents friends, and then an “Americanized” reception at another venue for some of the guests. How far apart should she time the two receptions? Or is she trying to do too much - should she cancel the church reception?
- AB wants to know if it’s tacky to reuse the ceremony flowers at the reception.
- Tristan wants to know if anyone has a nontraditional ring. She’s considering using a right hand ring as her wedding band - what do you think?
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27 Responses to “Beehive”
my wedding is on sept. 3rd. we’ll probably do it 6-8 months ahead. we don’t have as many out of town guests but our wedding does fall on labor day.. then again, we’ve told many people verbally to save the date.
bean - it does sound like a lot to me and you’re doing it all in one day too.. but if that’s what you want, then go for it.
I’m mailing out my STDs next week and it’s not until June 2007. But, our wedding is a semi-destination wedding, so sooner the better- so people can plan a vacation around the wedding and what not.
Bean- It sounds like a lot. You’re burn yourself out at the wedding and forget to enjoy it. 
What will the other guest be doing while you’re at the korean reception? What if you made the korean reception the following day or the next week? I think Mrs. Ladybug did something similar.
do you think its tacky at all to have the same arrangements used for the ceremony to be transferred to the reception venue?
Its one year till my wedding 
I just sent out Save the Dates this week.
I think its a good idea the sooner the better.
This way people can stop asking if I’ve set a date yet.
And for those coming from out of town, they can schedule if they might be able to take time off with what whatever else they have planned to take off.
I think it’s totally smart to re-purpose the flowers. Make sure that you have someone designated to do so, and that they have enough time to get them over there.
AB: don’t worry! that’s totally normal — ask any wedding coordinator.
bean: wow. that sounds a little exhausting for you, and it also sounds like the “american” reception guests will have a lot of time to kill while you finish up your “korean” reception. or is this an issue of “invited to the ceremony, not invited to the reception”?
Jenny - six to eight months; that way guests have enough time to block off vacation days and consider travel arrangements; if you send them out too early, then you run the risk of it being forgotten because it is “so far away.
Bean - you may want to ask your parents how long the church reception should be, or ask them if they would be comfortable wrapping things up - that way you could leave before the reception was over. I would say that you and your intended should plan to spend 1-2 hours at the church reception before heading to the friends reception. And no, it isn’t too much, many of my friends have done the exact same thing!
AB - absolutely not tacky, in fact, it is pretty standard to move the ceremony flowers to the reception site. As fizzy mentioned, however, make sure you have someone to be in charge of that, and of course doing this will affect what sort of arrangements you choose.
Question- Does anyone have a non-traditional wedding band? see link…
http://www.ice.com/customer/product_detail.jsp?product=83598431
I love basket & right hand rings so much, that I’d rather have one as a wed. band. What do you think?
tristan–I say, go for it! If it’s what you want, then why not? Nontraditional engagement rings are really popular right now, too. The one you linked to is really pretty, but I notice that the quality of its diamonds isn’t all that spectacular. I recommend taking the picture to a local jeweler and seeing what they can do for you–the clarity especially is sort of concerning: I1-I2 means that the diamonds will have visible inclusions.
I saw that too!! For the price I thought to myself, “yeah right!” but we do have a local jeweler that we purchased my e-ring from but thought they might look at me like I was crazy!! (They’re very traditional!)
tristan- that ring rocks.. make your own traditions!
bean - i had a separate reception for my parents friends as well… there were just too many of them to be held at the country club… we had a section block off at a teppan restarant near by… we took our horse carriage up during cocktail time, thanked them & went back for our grand entrance… koreans in general don’t care about the cake, bouquet toss or garter toss… they just want to see you get married & get & go… if you have any question feel free to leave me a message… have both receptions at the same time…
AB - OF COURSE NOT… i think most of us reuse the flowers from our ceremony site… we used our big flowers from our arch to place at the headtable. everything went straight to the reception site
Tristan - that ring is beautiful… you do wha YOU want to do
Tristan,
I have a nontraditional engagement ring. I am all for finding something that reminds you of the love that you have with your partner and that makes you feel beautiful. The following websites have great pieces that you might enjoy.
Best of luck!
http://www.moondancejewelry.com
Barneys carries great options in store!
Tristan, you will be wearing the rings so if you like nontraditional e-ring and wedding band then I say GO FOR IT! I feel like wedding dress, wedding rings, wedding STYLE should suit the bride’s personality =) Good luck!
Reply to Adriana from 8/23/06
I’m interested in your America dress. Could you share pictures wearing the dress? We seem to be about the same size, but I’m an inch shorter
Does anyone have pictures of brides wearing Pronovias America? TIA!
AB, that’s very normal… done all the time. So not tacky at all!
does anyone know how to create their own slideshow? is it powerpoint or another software program?
Powerpoint is probably one of the easiest to use for a slideshow. You can use your own picture for a background across all the slides, choose any font, insert any pictures, choose the transitions even add sound. If you already have powerpoint I would just use it since it’s paid for. If you don’t know the ins and outs take a tutorial or use the help section. I think the library may have a Dummies book on it. Good luck!
For slideshows, I would highly recommend PhotoStory 3 for Windows. - which you can download for free at download.com It’s very easy to use - you can easily select the pictures you want to use and add the mp3 song(s) you want to be played. You can even add multiple songs to correspond with the different pictures you have - i.e. one song for the bride’s pictures, another song for the groom, another song for both of you, etc. And you don’t have to play out the mp3 to the end, you can add the song at any part of the slideshow, the program will automatically fade out the previous song and timely start the new song. It saves it in different formats, but I usually save it in winamp form and I have the option of playing it in a big screen in my computer. I’ve used it multiple times already for family gatherings, birthdays, and just as a personal gift for my fiance - and everyone loves it!!! My future brother in law has used it for his wedding reception in the past, too. Enjoy!
Tristan, I have a nontraditional wedding ring (a right-hand ring) and have love it from the moment I saw it. Only one person has ever said that it’s not a REAL wedding ring (he was a stupid, stupid person). Everyone else has just said that it was unique and lovely. And most other brides seem a little envious of the fact that my ring doesn’t poke up so will never snag or catch on things. If it’s the ring you love, then that is the ring you should get. Don’t settle for the traditional just to be like everyone else if it is not your first choice.
is anyone buying the copyrights to their wedding photos? how much did you pay? i am trying to decide if I should buy all the hi-res photos on disk so I can keep them, print them, and share as I please.
Thanks for all your insite reader!! Right hand ring, here I come!
I’d avoid using Powerpoint for a slideshow especially if there will be a large number of slides. I’ve seen too many shows go wrong with Powerpoint. Karen’s suggestion of using Photostory is a good idea. The ideal solution would be to make a DVD. And make sure you test the slideshow all the way through on the computer that will be used.
Windows Movie Maker will let you time your photos to the music, is free on a lot of computers, and fairly easy to use. Or try the free version of Muvee Autoproducer- it will automatically make a movie for you of up to 54 pictures, about one 3.5 minute song’s worth.
I’m not sure what a ‘right hand ring’ means. Just that you prefer to wear your wedding jewelery on the right hand? Or is there another meaning?
Beehive
Feature Launched: Aug 31, 2006
About: A forum for readers to post questions and get feedback from the hive, aka the weddingbee community.
Jenny–we’re mailing our STDs this week, and it’s eight months until the wedding. Our wedding is on a busy weekend (memorial weekend) so we wnat to be sure guests have plenty of notice. I’ve also seen 6 months as the common date for STDs.