Wedding Blog

Personally, I’ve never seen a problem with the ethnicity of the bees on the site. Everyone who blogs here has great advice, taste, and all around I enjoy coming here to get tips on my own wedding. Its not a matter of ethnicity, its a matter of the quality and the content.

It would be nice to have a more diverse cast, but I understand if you have more Asian applications than other races that you would ultimately have more Asian bees. If you rejected applications on the basis that they’re Asian then that’s reverse discrimination. I say as long as they have a great blog and are able to contribute great information and/or anecdotes about wedding planning they shoud be a Bee.

What if you scouted out other blogs and specifically recruited bees who are planning weddings that are not represented here? I know through theknot or Indiebride you can link to blogs that really represent a diversity of backgrounds.

i would love to see more diversity! just personally, trying to plan a sephardic jewish wedding… i would love to see more on that type. each wedding is just so different, and needs so many particular aspects from tradition and religion… would be facianting to see!

I especially love wedding bee. I’ve never been bothered by the ethnicity factor. I have however, learned a bit about some asian cultures such as the wearing of the qipao(spelling?), the huge feasts, the importance of the huppah in the jewish culture and etc. I think there is nothing wrong with creating a variety of wedding ideas across all the cultures. But by no means does wedding bee disappoint with what it currently offers.

PS sidebar: I never got any feedback about my webblog.

As with the comments above, I love WB & don’t take a Bee’s ethnicity into consideration. A good blog is a good blog. That being said, I would absolutely love to learn about or get ideas from some brides of other ethnicities just because it would enrich the experience that much more…

As a Latina it would be wonderful to see how similar Bees are bringing their ethnicity into the ceremony or reception. Some Latinas incorporate Hispanic traditions that are beautiful in a very contemporary way. Other than this, I really enjoy the site and still learn a lot from the blogs regardless of the age or race of the author.

I don’t feel that people really are bothered by ethnicity unless they are purposely looking for a particular ethnic wedding. Besides, by naming everyone Miss ____, it makes it seem more like it’s a Weddingbee family which I really like!

I also agree that turning down future Bees just because there just happens to be more Asians is a reverse discrimination and that doesn’t seem fair. I mean most of these weddings incorporate a Western wedding anyway right? It’s like saying that there are too many Caucasian weddings, but that doesn’t make any sense. Most other races are also doing Western weddings in addition to their own culture weddings, so what’s the harm there?

If most of the readers don’t care about ethnicity, should Weddingbee focus on the statistics for the few that feel there should be more to be done about diversity?

I would like to say that perhaps it should be pointed out that being “Asian” refers to quite a lot of different types of people. I am Vietnamese and I know very little about Chinese, Japanese, or Korean wedding customs. It is my experience that people tend to group “Asians” all together when really the “Asian” ethnicity categorization encompasses a wide variety of cultures. I understand that people not familiar with Asian culture do sometimes think that it’s all very similar (I do not know very much about the different types of African cultures, for example), so I thought it would be helpful to point it out.

I agree that a good blog is most important. I have thought of applying (I’m a Latina BTW), but am not positive of what makes a good blog good. I know when I read a good blog, but I’m not sure I could say exactly WHY it’s a good blog. Could you share what makes a blog good, great even, so that I (and others) can work on it for the next round of bees? Thank you.

I think what Red says has a lot of merit. If you’re looking for specific bees- tell us

I think that while every one of the bees has great taste and are helpful… I also think bees in certain predicaments such as a same sex couple, a couple with a destination wedding, etc would really help the site and bring a more diverse readership (is that a word?!).

I find it more amusing than anything else that so many of the bees are Asian. Like several other people have already said, there are lots of topics discussed that have nothing to do with ethnicity, and those that are fascinate me.

Of course, I’m not sure how much my opinion counts because I’ve only been around here for a few weeks now.

The thing that gets to me more than anything else, though, is that everybody seems to have so much money! My boyfriend is going to propose sometime soon (yea!) so I’ve started doing a little bit of planning, which is why I’m here. But because of our price limitations, we’re going to have such a ghetto wedding compared to . . . everybody.

But I’m probably part of a very small minority in this particular situation.

Anyway! In regards to the ethnicity diversity, I think it’s fine! More would be fun, but it’s not worth losing the quality of posts and bees chosen thus far.

I love weddingbee and find it to be my favorite wedding planning resource. I’ve never considered a bee’s ethnic background while reading their blog - although I do find it interesting to learn about different wedding customs.
What I do think is important - and well represented on this site - is geographical diversity. Planning a wedding in New York City is very different from a wedding in the midwest…from traditions to cost to vendor services. I love getting a nation-wide (and Canadian!) perspective on how people are planning their weddings!

I personally wouldn’t care if all the bees were “asian”…. I really love this blog because of all the DIY projects. This is the only blog I’ve found that actually explains projects and after reading you feel you can actually do that!
I didn’t even know that the bee comminity was mostly “asian” until I saw some post mentioning it.
It doesn’t matter to me and I think if you are a good blogger, with great ideas we will all want to steal, then bring them on!! Please!!!

It sounds like you’re facing the same issues any membership organization, university, or employer faces when looking at a stack of applicants. We get that question a lot at work: why is the group so predominantly white? Well, we take the candidates we get, and select the best one for the job. The last audition I sat in on was two unqualified white guys and one vastly qualified Korean. So we hired the Korean, duh–there wasn’t even a question.

Absolutely, without question, base your decisions on the quality of the blog alone. You really don’t need any standards beyond that.

Of course, that means that I’ve been turned down twice based on the quality of my blog. Hmm.

Sarah, your last comment cracks me up! Don’t feel bad. I’m quite confident that my blog (if I had one) wouldn’t make the cut either. I’m much better off as a “back-seat blogger”

While we are on the subject of pro-diversity, this is as good a spot as any to mention that it’s been bothering me to see the word “ghetto” tossed around a lot on this site (bloggers included). In the spirit of encouraging diversity, I would encourage folks to revisit the history of this word.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghetto

Please do not bring affirmative action 2 the site. I don’t want new bloggers who are crappy cause you think you need to fit some sort of p.c. ideal. I want the best blogger, rather than a sub-par blogger who fills the “jewish” slot, or the “greek” slot. that would be a disservice to the site.

I agree with Andrea in the comment above requesting more diverse budgets and geographies, particularly Southern brides. (I’d also like to give a shout-out to the other 2% weddingbee readers in my age bracket, providing some more diversity!)

i have absolutely no problem w/ the diversity of the bees on this site. as everyone has said, it should be about the quality of the blogs, not the blogger’s ethnicity. i think most, if not all, the weddings are western style so i don’t even think twice about the blogger’s ethnicity. if diversity is what’s really wanted, the focus shouldn’t be on ethnicity alone…it should be diversity in cities, venues, budgets, personalities, religion, blogging style, etc.

keep up the great blog, bees! this has been, hands down, the best wedding blog i’ve encountered.

Only 3% Hispanic and 2% African American.
Yikes.
I know I’d like to see those 2 represented more.

I think the ethnic diversity is less of an issue than say money, or where the money is coming from, or age or location of the wedding. I think there are more NY weddings than Asian brides or at least close on here, I think as the website expands more and more people will apply to be bees which will bring all around more diversity. I also think that something weddingbee is missing is the begining of wedding planning, by the time someone becomes a bee they only have a few months left until their wedding, and I think advice on dealing with vendors and finding a reception and setting a date and all those important things and emotions in the begining could be really helpful to the readers. It might also help people remember one bee from another.

Also I think more guest bee posts would be great. On my blog I have a ton of helpful stuff, but I haven’t applied to be a bee because most of my stuff is based on lower income weddings and I really don’t want to have to censor everything I write and make sure that it geared towards the weddingbee audience. So maybe there could be a weekly guest spot and the readers could send a copy of one of their posts they think might fit with weddingbee. Might be a lot of work though.

robyn,

regarding adding bees that are just beginning their planning process, we’ve found that it’s really difficult for most people to blog consistently over a year+ during their entire engagement. So we’d have to have a lot of writers to counter that, and when we have too many writers on the site, it’s difficult for readers to keep up with all of them… especially if they update infrequently.

keeping the site fresh is also a priority because we only have so many bees in any given year. more bees = more ideas, but adding new bees at the beginning of their planning process is something we’ll definitely consider.

oh and guest blogs on most any topic are also always welcome for consideration!

Mrs. Bee,

I actually really liked the idea that WB started out Asian b/c I felt like it was a helpful resource for Asian brides. That’s actually what kept me hooked on to WB because it’s actually something I could relate to (though I’m not engaged, but being able to relate to identity issues like Didi mentioned). I had come across The Knot a few times before and it was just so overwhelming and “unrelatable” that I didn’t even want to go beyond the main page. Maybe it’s because I am Asian that I am partial to appreciate the fact that there are quite a few Asian bloggers here. I have actually learned about customs/traditions in Asian weddings that I did not know about previously or might not have considered to incorporate in my future wedding but now I do! See what a positive influence WB can be? =)

With that said, I’m not trying to discourage your growth. I really love what WB’s turned into, with the increasing diversity and added features. I’ve never thought there were any problems with WB (except for that one issue with Miss Broccoli…I really liked her! But that wasn’t even WB’s fault and I won’t get started on it). I think everyone just needs to understand that all this transitioning has to take time. I mean, this blog started with your very own Xanga and when you created Weddingbee, I’m sure it was much easier to find other bloggers who are your friends to join (which are probably predominantly Asian and from NYC; this is just an assumption from personal experience, I’m REALLY not trying to be racist and prejudice).

I do remember when Miss Lovebug first joined, she blogged about looking for more diverse bloggers, so y’all are on the right track. To keep this from getting any longer, what I basically wanted to say is keep up the good work! It’s actually really crazy to look back on how far WB has come in this…year and a half? You’re great Mrs. Bee!! (and everyone else too!)

mrs. bee, thanks for addressing the concerns of all your readers and for striving to make wedding “work” for everyone. i definitely think that you should keep selecting the best bloggers out there, regardless of race or ethnicity. i know that as a cherokee/irish/jamaican/columbian bride, i will never be represented on here, but i think other brides would like to see brides who identify with the same cultural planning ideas or struggles that they face. and miss pie, i never meant to imply that vietnamese/korean/chinese/japanese (and i forgot thai) traditions are all the same. it’s actually through weddingbee that i’ve come to know the different traditions that go with each different asian nation. weddingbee is still my favorite wedding resource and the place from which i’ve “stolen” all my ideas, and even if diversity doesn’t increase, i’ll still read and it still will remain my favorite wedding site. so thanks for taking the concerns of the weddingbee community in to consideration.

and i meant to mention that weddingbee deserves kudos for the inclusion of brides of all sizes. this site is size-friendly for all brides, be they size 2 or 22. that’s something that most of the wedding world neglects, yet for weddingbee, it has never been an issue. props for that!!

I really enjoyed reading everyone’s comments above and really appreciate the feedback. I just want to reiterate that I hope we are looking for more diverse bees simply because we want more diverse bees and not because there are “too many asians”.

I have lots of Indian and Persian friends and their weddings are just beyond phenomenal and I wish it was something everyone could see.

I love WB because I felt it was a safe community with other brides who love to craft and pay attention to details. I thought I could really contribute to frustrated brides who really want to do DIY and on a budget. I loved it so much that I applied. I did not get the impression that it was an all asian site. I just knew Mrs. Bee was korean by a photo she posted when I applied. I found out about WB through the knot.

The stats were thrown into these broad categories. “Asian” doesn’t define me. Neither does Caucasian or “white”? There’s Italian, French, English, Irish, and so forth. All of which have their own wedding customs and traditions…so by 59%, that seems mighty diverse. Just because my photo is up there and 19 other bees and I “look” asian on the outside doesn’t mean that the only focus is on asian wedding traditions. It’s just about weddings.

Weddings are all about tradition. If it weren’t, we would all be here wanting to pull our hair out wondering do I wear a blusher or not, who walks me down the aisle, how to do the tea ceremony, etc. I know it may seem overwhelming with asian brides and traditions, but from my perspective, I am having an all American wedding with the addition of a cheongsam and possibly a tea ceremony.

I am speaking from personal experience but perhaps the reason why we don’t have more indian or as k said, practicing religious brides is that I find with my practicing christian girlfriends, they have such a great network of people that they dont need to come online to look for it. Same with my indian girlfriends. First generation Asian-Americans are definately a new “breed”. We’re taught to retain every bit of our culture and yet to assimilate. Who do we go to for advice then when it comes to such a momentous occasion? Our elders who want nothing but red red red! I know I went online looking for some middle ground. I wouldn’t change a good thing.

As for diversity, I second same sex, older, lower budget, smaller city brides.

Ok, getting off my soapbox now.

i agree with 2 cents. nonsense. i also think having certain race “requirements” is ridiculous.

I think how long you’ve been visiting the blog is a major factor in your opinion, it definitely is for me. When I first discovered the site several months ago I was attracted by all the neat ideas and the friendly feeling which can be lacking in a certain other site…
That said I felt very poor, white and rural. I wrote Miss Bee and said I would really love to see a diversity in income, she was so sweet and wrote me right back reassuring me that I would soon see a variety of Bees from around the country. Next week there a was a desserts only reception in Kansas City. My point being that the site is evolving and I think that diversity in location, budget and ethnicity will be part of that but the friendliness and quality will stay in tact. Knock on wood!

I would love to see more diversity. Especially same sex, Jewish, Hispanic and Black. I think Mrs.Bee should put out a call on specialty boards on the knot etc.

Wow, lots to think about in here!

For my 2 cents worth I just wanted to say that as a plus sized Metis Canadian on a lower than average budget I think the fact that I am a blogger on this site proves that there is already “diversity” in the WB community.

What I loved about the site when I first discovered it was absolutely the quality of the posts. I am so honoured to have been chosen to be a Bee and I try to live up to the high standards set by all of the past and current Bees with every one of my posts so in my opinion that is what should rule the decisions, not ethnicity of the blogger.

That said, what makes WB interesting and fun to read is the differences in customs, traditions, options and ideas. What fun would it be if we were all throwing the same wedding?!? So, I would also love to see some Indian, Greek, Aboriginal, LGBT, destination, etc weddings because they will add different ideas to the mix. However, WB has a reputation as a quality, stylish blog and so I do appreciate the fact that the applications are weeded out to uphold a certain standard.

Long story short - Quality over Ethnicity hands down!

I both agree and disagree with needing more diversity. I do have favorite bees, for whatever reason, and some are asian, some not. I do also really enjoy reading posts that are relative to me and my wedding, and while I ususally skip reading a post about a quaipo (sp?), maybe it’s relative to someone else. What I like best about weddingbee is the ideas - I’m totally stealing some of the craft projects and song lists that have been posted. Even if someone isn’t a great blogger, maybe you could bring in more diversity with a craft corner - like each week ask brides from different circles to share pictures of their menus, or a tradition they are incorporating into their wedding. You could find a representative from certain cultures to share their details through pictures. Or maybe you could make a blog out of a great wedding by a woman who isn’t a great blogger herself. Kind of like you, as weddingbee, blogging about a highlighted wedding.

Maybe there is a way you could pull old entries from the bees to at least show the begining of the planning process

robyn - there is a feature we do every friday called one year ago that links to old posts from a year ago. for some reason i’ve completely forgotten to do it in recent weeks!

thanks for reminding me!

ah we actually do go back and pull as many old posts as we can once a bee starts, but often an applicant only starts a blog just before they decide to apply so there are no old posts to pull from.

[...] I always get those two confused, sort of like Tai Chi and Chai Tea….), in response to Robyn’s comment in the Diversity post I thought I would write a little sumpin’ sumpin’ about the start of my [...]

[...] certain ethnicity, geographic region, budget, religion or gender.  We haven’t blogged about diversity and the hive since May 2007, so I thought it was about time to write another post on the [...]