Mrs. Eggplant, San Francisco
Age and Occupation: 28, Human Resources
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Associate Marketing Manager
Engagement Date: January 19, 2007
Wedding Date: October 20, 2007
Blogging Since: May 31, 2007
Venue: Ceremony at a cement and stained glass cathedral and reception at a boutique hotel ballroom
About Me: I'm a shopping junkie who lives to discover great deals and a craft addict that loves to scrapbook and knit. My profile picture was taken on the day I got engaged which is why my smile is so huge!
…as evidenced by this picture at age six with my wedding gown Barbie. 
I’ve been scanning pictures for our slideshow and it’s brought back a flood of childhood memories. Poring over my family’s old photo albums has actually been one of my favorite parts of wedding planning. It’s so much fun reliving my childhood!
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Mrs. Cherry Blossom, San Francisco
Age and Occupation: 27, Administrative Asst.
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, District Sales Manager
Engagement Date: December 23, 2006
Wedding Date: May 3, 2008
Venue: Zen Garden in the East Bay w/ reception in a floor-to-ceiling window Atrium with views of the Zen Garden
About Me: After 5 years of dating, we're finally ready to get hitched! I am a lovah of all things wedding, creative, crafty, and definitely DIY bc I love to add a personal touch to everything I gift or make. In my free time, I like to bake, spend time with our family, friends, and my doggies, read my guilty pleasure celebrity gossip and catch up on TV shows.
I just discovered these awesome cool gadgets today. I was in desperate need for a perforating blade for a birthday present I was making for Mr. CB’s birthday. PaperSource was out of blades for my cutter BUT they had these awesome mini gadgets made by Tonic Studios. Check out this mini perforator . . . it was $4.30 at PaperSource .
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Mrs. Tulip, DC
Age and Occupation: 36, Retired
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Counsel/DOO for Small Gov't Contractor
Engagement Date: August 8, 2007
Wedding Date: March, 2008
Venue: Still Looking!
About Me: In all my dreams of the man I'd someday marry, I never pictured anyone as perfect for me as Mr. Tulip. So now we just have to make it through the craziness of the wedding and the moving in together! I love crafts, sewing, jewelry making, and photography, so am looking forward to this chance for DIY fun. When not wedding planning, I'm playing with our dog and 4 cats, Ebay shopping, or watching too much TV (often simultaneously!).
My parents more than approve of Mr. T, but we discovered that my father is the old-fashioned type when it comes to engagements. Like, really old-fashioned — he demanded three cows as a dowry in exchange for my hand! Every time we brought up our upcoming engagement, Dad would say it couldn’t become official until he received his three cows….
Well, as with all problems in life, I turned to Ebay for the solution. I picked up this winning trio of ladies for $1.00 ($5 after shipping):
(The cows enjoying their new life in Iowa — photo vignette courtesy of Dad)
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Mrs. Kiwi, Los Angeles
Age and Occupation in 06: 27, Bookkeeper
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, P.E. Teach/Coach @ private schools in LA
Engagement Date: March 31, 2006
Wedding Date: November 3, 2007
Venue: Radisson Hotel
About Me: I'm a bookkeeper who failed high school algebra. I'm currently living in Los Angeles, literally a street over from where I grew up with Mr. Kiwi, my honey of three years. We have a jumbo mini-dachshund (seriously, he's huuuuge), and we're planning an autumn themed wedding on a shoestring, paid for by ourselves. The wedding date is my late grandma's birthday, I needed her there somehow, and that seemed like the best way for us. I can't believe I'm a Bee! I couldn't be more proud!
The invites are stamped, most of the addresses are in, and thankfully, we are ready to mail. Well, most of them. A few will be given by hand, as the guests are moving or the addresses are unknown, things like that. After work today (I get out early- yay for Labor Day!), I’m going to go home, pick up my box of invitations and head to the local post office.
Lately I seem to have a grudge for all post offices. At the office we have a fantastic mail person, all mail is usually in by 11am, sometimes even hand delivered. When he is on vacation, or takes a day off, we have the most horrible mail delivery person imaginable. Mail doesn’t come in until four, and mostly it’s not even delivered correctly. Take the instance with my return stamp: I came to work at 7am, checking the online tracking for the stamp I’ve been waiting for. Boy, was I surprised to see “Notice Left” at 5:32pm the previous day. First of all, there was no notice. Second of all, we’re an office building that closes at 5pm, and she knows this. Mail is supposed to be delivered by 5pm to businesses in our ‘hood.
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Mrs. Lollipop, Pittsburgh
Age and Occupation: 26, Computational Linguist
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Project Manager
Engagement Date: August 2, 2006
Wedding Date: September 2, 2007
Blogging Since: July 17, 2007
Venue: The PPG Aquarium at the Pittsburgh Zoo
About Me: I'm a Pittsburgh transplant who grew up in the deep south. I have a weakness for exotic alphabets, DIY projects, mobster movies and international travel. My fiance and I are both non-native Japanese speakers and we have a bullfrog named Skinny.
Our cake baker has finally returned one of my messages and now I am officially on my own for my wedding cake. Strangely, I feel relieved. I won’t be stuck with a cake that I haven’t seen before the wedding and I won’t hurt my baker’s feelings if I show up with a backup cake. She’s a friend and having a tough time, so instead of being irritated I have nothing but sympathy for what she is going through.
Anyhow, full speed ahead!
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Mrs. Petunia, Ft. Lauderdale
Age and Occupation: 31, College Professor
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Engineering Student/Part-time Barista
Engagement Date: December 8, 2006
Wedding Date: March 2, 2008
Venue: Riverside Hotel
Blogging Since: August 6, 2007
About Me: Our original idea of running off to get married quickly turned into an event with 100+ guests once other people got involved and I, too, got swept away in the lovely madness that is wedding planning. Mr. Petunia and I are obsessed with all things World of Warcraft, Monopoly, and Nintendo, so we’re planning on including some fun “game-y” details into our wedding.
Often, Hispanic Catholic weddings include the ritual of the arras, or unity coins, which the groom presents to the bride (I bet there are others cultures that do it, too, and I just don’t know about it: please excuse my ignorance and be sure to tell us who else incorporates this tradition!).
Arras consist of 13 gold coins. When the groom gives these to his bride, he’s symbolically saying that he will be there to provide for her. The number of coins is also significant: they represent Jesus Christ and the 12 apostles.
As you can probably guess from one of my last posts, as a now Jewish bride, I didn’t feel comfortable incorporating this tradition into my own wedding, but I do fondly remember that my oldest brother did, and I can appreciate how beautiful some of these coins and sets can be.
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Miss Onion, NYC/Burlington, VT
Age and Occupation: 26, PR & Marketing and Jazz Singer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Data Analyst
Engagement Date: April 2, 2006
Wedding Date: September 2007
Blogging Since: July 11, 2007
Venue: Restaurant in Burlington
About Me: I didn't think I'd be "that girl," but I am having so much fun planning our wedding (mostly by myself). I'm a PR and Marketing Director for a major jazz festival and camp by day, and by night, a romantic jazz singer and bride-to-be! I hope all my research can help other brides in their planning.
Last night I had a very telling dream. I was in a car with my future in-laws, Mr. Onion and my FBIL’s girlfriend. Mr. Onion’s father was driving, mother in the passenger seat and the rest of us in back. We were on the highway and driving very fast!All of a sudden Mr. Onion’s father got up from the driver’s seat (as if the car were big enough to do that all of a sudden) and walked into the back. I said “What are you doing?!” scared half to death as we were now flying down the highway with no one at the wheel. He said “Oh, this thing practically drives itself,” then he laughed and walked to the “back” (somewhere different than were Mr. Onion and I were) and I woke up so nervous I had to take a few deep breaths to calm down.
Pfew. Inhale…exhale….and repeat. My FBIL and his girlfriend actually got us this great aromatherapy product that was in my shower gift, so I took a few “hits” from this morning after I woke up from my dream.
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Mrs. Lime, Los Angeles
Age and Occupation in 06: 25, Design
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, IT
Engagement Date: July 7, 2006
Wedding Date: August 5, 2007
Venue: An historic estate
About Me: Between work and wedding planning, I try to squeeze in napping, drawing, random spurts of craftiness, tennis, and eating lots of Sprinkles cupcakes, dark chocolate, and noodles of all kinds. Mr. Lime and I have spent our adult lives growing up together, and we're very excited to finally be getting married!
These were my tiny tokens of appreciation for the lovely ladies who have been such a great part of my life these past years.
- Professional hair and makeup, including tip.
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Mrs. Orchid, New York
Age and Occupation in 07: 28, Database Programmer/Analyst
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Physician
Engagement Date: November 19, 2005
Wedding Date: September 29, 2007
Venue: Ocean Jewels Restaurant in Flushing
About Me: Asian woman of Thai/Chinese/Japanese decent, although I am raised Thai. Born and raised in NY. I graduated from The City College of New York with a Graphic Design degree, however I'm doing database programming. (I know go figure!) I'll be marring my college sweetheart of 6 years next September. I have 2 furbabies ages 1yr and 8 months. I'm born on the cusp of Capricorn & Aquarius, I guess that accounts for my diligence and streak of creativity!
I took off from work early a couple weeks ago to make it to a Trash the Dress bash in Atlantic City. I drove 2 hours from NYC to meet the group there at 5:00pm, and I got there just in time. About 11 brides showed up where the famous Mark Eric and Jason Dominguez greeted us. We were taken up into a suite to get changed and ready for the shoot. It was lively to say the least in the suite, with all the girls running around getting ready, and doing hair and make up. There was also a camera crew there from Germany documenting the bash.
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Mrs. Gummi Bear, San Francisco
Age and Occupation: 25, Japanese Importer/Illustrator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Game Developer/Programmer
Engagement Date: April 15, 2006
Wedding Date: October 13, 2007
Blogging Since: June 19, 2007
Venue: Organic farm an hour from San Francisco
About Me: I live for anthropologie, design blogs, sweets, japanese zakka, and vintage goods. We just bought our first home together and live with our two puppies and cat - it's a strange mixture of vintage, high-tech (we have 7 computers and 21 video game systems in all), and a whole lot of fur. Our wedding tries to embody the Japanese idea of "slow life", which is truly taking the time to enjoy food, company, and your environment!
We’ve finished up the designs for the table numbers (yay!) and found ourselves some cute pedestals to put the numbers in. 12 verticals and 4 horizontal… just in case! I imagine we’ll need them for something, and I’d rather be better prepared than scrambling to make something out of wire hanger and spray paint the night before.
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