Weddingbee Blog

In a Reader Buzz on quality time earlier this week, I mentioned that most couples I talk to spend time together by watching tv. In yesterday’s Reader Buzz on date night, Mrs. Grasshopper said that her weekly date night is Thai Thursday where she and Mr. Grasshopper order in Thai and watch their favorite Thursday tv shows.

This got me to thinking about tv shows we watch with our significant others. I love home design/remodeling shows and girly shows like Veronica Mars, but Mr. Bee isn’t into them. The shows we do watch together are Law & Order, Project Runway (our first season watching), and 24. When I was at Miss Butterfly’s bachelorette party last weekend, Mr. Bee caught a Scrubs marathon so now he’s sucked into that show too which is great because it’s one of my favorites!

What tv shows do you and your significant other enjoy together?

Awhile back I had an idea to use peacock feathers in our wedding. I thought they would look beautiful with navy or teal or green dresses and beige linens. But… then we changed our colors and the rest is history. I forgot to blog about it until this morning when I was cleaning out my old “favorites” bookmarks (since I bookmark everything, maybe vaguely / kinda’ tidying is a better description). Anyway, here are some cool plumes I found:

From Oriental Trading Company: $7.95 for 24 pieces:

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Dear Bees-

I need some ideas for centerpieces. I am having a winter wedding in Colorado on December 2nd of this year. My reception is in an art gallery that used to be an old train station-the room is brick and wood and quite dark.

My original centerpieces were going to be tall white pillar candles and a 24 inch ring of greens, pinecones, pepper berries etc… We were also going to add some red votives around the tables as well.

I am now starting to have some second thoughts - I don’t want a big flower arrangement but I would like maybe something with some height-or not! As this wedding gets closer, my mind has turned totally to mush when it comes to making decisions.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

Erin (sometimes posting as snowbride… :))

Top: Mrs. Grasshopper, Miss Daisy, Miss Lily, Miss Beetle; Bottom: Mrs. Ladybug, Mrs. Bee, Miss Bluebell, Miss Butterfly, Miss Violet

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When I got engaged in May - I was a nervous wreck for at least a month. I couldn’t sleep well, I was anxious and moody. Unlike most brides, I was not the kind of person who wanted to shout out to the world “I’m getting married.” I felt oddly weird about the whole thing. When Mr. Violet proposed to me in Paris, out in public, I was a little embarrassed (luckily no one noticed). Then there came the realization of responsibility. Being a DIY girl, I knew I’d want to do things myself - so there was just a lot of work looming over my head. I panicked even more when I started researching weddings - there’s just too much information out there and too many choices. (This is true with many things by the way - as simple as choosing toothpaste at the drug store!) Anyway I digress.

I’ve finally calmed down since then - and right now I feel good about everything. Mr. Violet needs a kick in the butt, but for the most part, he’s been very supportive. I don’t have to do everything alone. I have my bridesmaids, my fiance and thank God I have weddingbee!

I never knew I would meet such a fun and diverse group of ladies like this - but we’re all (well most) bride-to-be’s with one mission, to plan our perfect wedding. Let’s meet up again with the rest of the bees that couldn’t make it. Thank you Mrs. Bee & Miss Daisy for setting up such a lovely dinner. I look extremely big compared to everyone because I was kneeling closer to the camera.. Sigh.

This has been driving me nuts since we first got engaged. It’s something I read in this article on the Knot with a suggested schedule for a bride having an evening wedding. There are several things in the article that seem antiquated, if not downright presumptuous (you MUST stay in a hotel on your wedding day! You MUST have a gaggle of bridesmaids at your beck and call!–makes me want to vomit). But there’s one bit that just stands out and REALLY irritates me:

12:30 p.m. Hair and makeup stylists arrive. Maid of honor is first on the get-ready list. You can focus on visiting with the girls, packing for your honeymoon, knitting, or some other quiet activity.

KNITTING?! Barf! I’m surprised they’re not admonishing me to sit and demurely mend my fiance’s socks, or perhaps practice batting my eyelashes and introducing myself as “the humble wife of Mr. Hoops”. Are we still living in the 1950’s or, worse, the 1880’s?

I’m probably overreacting, but I can’t believe this article. I understand and certainly agree with the point they’re trying to make–don’t stress yourself unnecessarily–but I can’t believe they’re so oblivious to the contemporary woman that all we’re fit to do in our nervous, pre-marital state is knit. And this is coming from someone who does enjoy crafting and handiwork.

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J.Crew and Scully & Scully are hosting a Weddings & Parties Trunk Show and afternoon champagne reception this Saturday. (I totally love this outfit, too bad the skirt is $1500.)

Scully & Scully
504 Park Avenue at 59th Street
New York City
September 30, 2006; 12:00 - 5:00

RSVP to Ms. Sanders at 212-755-2590.

Couples who register with Scully & Scully at the event will receive a 5 piece place setting and the ultimate engagement gift bag.

(via nymetro)

When I got engaged, one of the first things I panicked about was my weight. I’ve always been very skinny, but in the last few years (i.e. after college), I gained a looooot of weight. I’m talking 25+ pounds.

As you readers may know, I signed up with a trainer from the Buff Brides program. Julian (my trainer) worked my butt all the way until the last session. It was not easy. I was sore, I complained, I flat-out refused to do certain exercises, and I even walked out on him out of frustration. But through it all, he guided me and I can proudly say now that I feel really good about the way I look now. I lost body fat, I toned up a lot, I gained muscle and energy, and I lost many, many inches.

Of course, I don’t look like I did in college (oh, the good old glory days!!) but I look much better than I did before.

Here is a picture of me from this May (about 6 weeks after I started my training sessions):

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Entry #1 - JJ

We had each guest bring a panty for the bride and had the bride guess who the gift was from. For each one she got wrong, we punished her by having her chew bubblegum. (We punished another bride by placing stickers on her face.) It was hilarious because the selection was so far off from the people you’d expect it from!

Entry #2 - Suzycat

My favorite game is where someone asks the bride questions about her fiance and for every question she gets wrong, she puts a piece of gum in her mouth (bubblelicious is great cuz they are big pieces). My sister played this game for my bachelorette party and she sectioned it off into 3 categories, Things I Should Know, Things I Might Know, Things I Probably Don’t Know. It also gets the fiance involved, which is always fun.

Entry #3 - Jennifer

It’s not really a game, more of an activity I guess, but the shower I threw really seemed to enjoy it. Ahead of time, I asked the bride’s fiance for 24 reasons that he loved her. Then I bought 2 dozen roses (to be used as the centerpiece on the food table, I love cutting costs!) and tied a small piece of paper to each rose in a matching color so it didn’t stand out too much.

At the end of the shower, I grabbed the vase, handed it to her, and told her that it was her fiance’s time to shine. She was confused because she didn’t even see the paper, so she was suprised! She sat down and read them one by one. Some were funny (you bought me my favorite Star Wars movie) and some were sweet (you are the most beautiful girl I know).

I thought this one was cool because it gave all the girls an intimate look into their relationship while reminding all of us why we were really there to celebrate!

Send your favorite bridal shower game entry to stories@weddingbee.com.

Have you ever heard of having to pay to taste wedding cakes? We’re getting married in Turks & Caicos, so there’s really only one good island cake lady, and she must know this because she charges $25 per flavor we want to taste! Is it me or is this crazy???

thanks,
melanie

My blissful morning shower was abruptly interrupted when Mr. Spider came bursting through the door in the following scene:

Him: BABE, I accidentally shaved my eyebrow!!!

Me: WHAT?!?! Why the heck were you shaving your eyebrows??!!

Him: I shaved it accidentally…

Me: Why the heck was the shaver around your eyebrows?

Him: (No Response)

This is when I step out and take a look and sure enough a huge chunk of Stinky’s left brow is missing.

Me: OMG. How did this happen?

Him: (No Response)

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A Long Journey Down the Aisle

Those of you who have been following me on this journey since day one know how indecisive my fiance and I have been on picking vendors/sites and sticking to one. I’m just a very indecisive person sometimes - I second guess my choices/vendors and have to go back and forth and weigh the pros and cons.

UGGGGGGHHH!!!! It’s so frustrating!

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I know I am not the only one to have ever seriously questioned the appropriateness of a wedding gift, so now I’m calling all my fellow candy underpants recipients to spill the beans.

Tell me all about the bad wedding gifts you’ve received. I’ll post the entries, pick the worst, and reward the winner with a lovely Eternity Garter from Spoylt.

How about that?

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1. Email entries to Mrs. Caterpillar at caterpillar@weddingbee.com.
2. Pictures are always welcome.
3. Contest closes Thursday, October 5th.

This isn’t really wedding related, but when weddingbee reader Connie sent me the following email with the title “All brides need a break for free ice cream :)” … how could I resist?

~~~

FREE ice cream @ Cold Stone Creamery TODAY

http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/secondary/calendar.asp
5th Annual World’s Largest Ice Cream Social at participating Cold Stone Creamery locations nationwide, a special night to join together and share the simple pleasures of life with a FREE ice cream, family activities and good-natured fun. Search our site for a location near you.

On September 28th from 5:00 - 8:00pm, guests will be treated to a serving of Cole’s Creation*. In exchange for the free Creation, customers are encouraged to make donations to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

My FI and I love playing with our cousins, nieces, and nephews. I have a large family consisting of more than 10+ cousins ranging between 2 to 11 years of age. If we go without seeing them for more than 2 weeks, we get sad and yearn to be a superhero (either Superman or Star Power) with them again.

Since we love kids, I pitched the idea of incorporating them into our engagement pictures to my FI. How cute would that be to have pictures of us with them in the park? I was thinking of doing it at a local park that has a historic trolley and gazebo. I know, I know that the pictures should be representative of us, but when I think of a wedding I think the love extends to the rest of the family as well - two families uniting.

Well to my dismay he thought it was a cute idea but realistically wasn’t do-able. How can we manage 10 kids from toddler to pre teen in one photographic shot? Not to mention how would our photographer feel about agreeing to this idea? Has this ever been done in an engagement photo session before? After asking my FI 10 times, I finally agreed to not do it. I was bummed man.

Picture something like this…

I couldn’t find any engagement photos with kids in it that weren’t the couple’s kids. What do you guys think of this idea?