Weddingbee

Ihateweddings.com is so mean…just reading some of the horrible things that people were saying made me cry.

I can understand not being all *that* excited about someone’s wedding, and I even agree with some things they are saying on the site, but they just went waaay over the top :(.

Thanksgiving Day for most people is a time to gorge. You eat, you laugh, you lie on the couch and rub your swollen belly. This year, we had a full week of non-stop eating — we squeezed in FOUR wedding tastings on top of the normal holiday fare and my mom’s compulsive need to feed people whenever they set foot in her house. Here’s a little recap of the tastings. They went so fast, I wish I could do them again!

1) Rehearsal Dinner, Lazy K Bar Guest Ranch

Mr. Lily’s Mom and my family picked out the space without him ever seeing it. This was his first time visiting the ranch and he loved it as much as the rest of us (phew). They simply could not be nicer there. If you live in Tucson and are wanting to host a wedding or rehearsal, see the Stardance section because it is so beautiful. And the food was awesome. They sat us down in the dining room and brought out more plates of food than I can even remember. BBQ ribs, chicken, fish, jalapeno corn bread (my personal favorite — yum), the softest biscuits on earth (Mr. Lily’s favorite), corn, stuffed potatoes, cowboy beans, cole slaw, salad, peach cobbler, brownies… I know I am forgetting something, but who knows what? There was not one bad dish. And did I mention how nice everyone is there? We even got to see a baby horse that was born the day before while we were there. This was a fun, fun night!

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In today’s hive:

• Keri is getting married in late April and her bridesmaids are wearing navy blue, springish style dresses. Her wedding is at the beach and she’s wondering what a good complementary color would be?
• Aleta was planning on buying a wedding organizer, but yesterday’s open question piqued her interest. She’s wondering if the readers can share where they found all their checklists, timelines, planning info, etc.?

To add your question to the beehive, leave a comment below and we’ll update this post to include your question. See all past beehives here.

Oliostyle is offering 10% off their custom wedding invitations and invitation supplies for weddingbee readers!

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Now that our wedding is over, it’s time for vendor reviews. In addition to blogging on Weddingbee, I’m also a member of other wedding related forums. This got me thinking - should I mention to a few of my favorite vendors that I’ve raved about them and rated them? Has anyone (bees or not) mentioned to their vendors that you are involved in a wedding blog or wedding website? If so, did you mention it prior to the wedding or after? What were your reasons and how did you let them know? Or, are you a vendor who wished more people let you know they posted about your services, good or bad?

Ever thought of using a real mailbox for the tons of wedding cards you’ll be receiving? Check these lovelies out at artfulcreations. Have it personalized for your wedding, then use it at your new home!

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Hello Bees! A quick update on Weddingbee. The site is growing nicely, but we’re not yet at the point where I’m making minimum wage. That’s fine with me, but I’d also like to hire an intern! That way I can focus more on building features for the site and writing posts…

I’ve checked out all the top weblogs (Gawker, The Superficial, Gigaom), and a lot of them are using a new ad unit: a small clearly marked image ad interspersed with the posts. I didn’t like that the ads weren’t always clearly marked, and that some of them used text ads (it seemed like it was too easy to confuse the ads with blog posts). Also, one of the sites had the ad right after the first post! That was just too much…

So we thought we’d try this new ad out for a bit, but with some tweaks. It’s located three posts down, and is clearly marked with a border and the word “Advertisement.” It’s also an image age, not a text ad - to make it even more clear that it’s an ad.

I’m trying to balance ads with the need to grow the site - hopefully this is a good compromise? Check out the ad a few posts down… and please me know what you think!

Mrs. Bee

ps While we were at it, we added tags back to the site. With our new webhost in place, we should be able to support them again without slowing down the whole site! A huge thanks to BIL Bee who actually does all the behind the scenes work.

Here is a cute wedding favor idea - miniature liquor favors! I’ve been to quite a few weddings that incorporated this into their favors.

You can just go to your local liquor store and ask for “mini liquor bottles” but they usually have them displayed somewhere in there store. They’re super cute and quick wedding favors that don’t require a lot of time to put together. I’ve seen some that are wrapped in little sachet bags tied with a ribbon tied or with just a plain ribbon.

They’re inexpensive and run on average about $1.00/favor - depending on which bottle you purchase. You could also pick colors that match your wedding color scheme.

I like the personalized bride and groom feature on the champagne bottle below.

mini grey goose bottle

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It’s time for Mr. Blueberry and I to decide if our officiant will run our rehearsal. This is the difference between a $150 fee and a $300 fee (and we’re paying for the officiant ourselves).

I’ve made a list of pros and cons in my head:

Pro: Of course, he’ll know just how to do things
Con: $$$

That’s pretty much what it boils down to. I’m sure I could run the rehearsal myself–I know lots of brides do–but I worry (don’t laugh) that people won’t listen to me. And if I assert myself, I’ll come across as b*tchy, and will make people mad. There’s no one else really to run the rehearsal besides me, since I know just what’s going on and how I want things to work–i.e. I can’t really ask a friend or someone. Yes, I’m a control freak :P.

So what do you think? Should I shell out the big bucks (it really is a lot of money to us) to have the officiant there? I don’t know if the peace of mind will be worth it or not. Who’s running your rehearsal?

Dear Weddingbee,

Thanks!