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Last night Mr. Bee and I attended a wedding at a unique and intimate Manhattan venue called the Explorers Club. Mr. Bee called it an “intellectual wedding” because it was a wedding between two lawyers, presided over by a judge. There was also very little dancing and partying as the focus was on eloquent and heartfelt speeches by the father of the groom, father and mother of the bride, best man, maid of honor, the mc, and the groom interspersed throughout the evening.
Despite my not even knowing anyone there and Mr. Bee not being a big fan of weddings in general, we both agreed that it was one of the best weddings we’ve ever attended.
It was perfect weather for an outdoor ceremony. This intimate venue seats a maximum of about 100 people.
Only now that Mr. Penguin and I are engaged do I realize what a bummer it was that a few people in our lives, especially my parents, didn’t take our relationship REALLY seriously before we officially got engaged. Despite the fact that we had been dating for 6 years, had lived together for 2, and had co-signed on a home, they still treated me like a “me” and not a “we.” Although we weren’t officially engaged, Mr. Penguin and I had settled into a married-ish relationship a couple years before we made it official.
My parents really love Mr. Penguin, after all he is a great guy. Before we got engaged, Mama and Papa Penguin and I would often discuss my future. They never really mentioned his presence in it, and I was too hesitant to outright discuss the fact that he would be in my life 10 years from now. We often would discuss the future of my business. In my heart, I knew that if Mr. Penguin wanted to start his own private practice in another part of the country, I would be more than happy to follow. And to make sure that we had an income, I would drop my own business to get a steady job with a steady cash flow, just so we could be sure that we could pay our bills while he got off of the ground. BUT, there was NO WAY I would have ever been able to say this to my parents, pre-engagement. Even though he was my long-term boyfriend, even the MENTION of me making a career sacrifice for someone other than myself was a little upsetting for Papa Penguin.
As I mentioned in a previous post, we shared a photo slide show with our guests at the reception and it was very well received. I think our families enjoyed seeing childhood photos of both of us as well as photos of themselves (we had a photo of almost every single guest). After the historic and childhood photos we moved on to photos of us with our friends and family during our courtship, and finally some engagement photos. Enjoy!
Best friend, his wife and Mr. Onion
Part 1 - What we were looking for.
Part 2 - So Mr. Dahlia vetoed Mexico.
“But what about Spain?” we thought to ourselves. So many people have said that Barcelona is amazing. And you can rent out really nice apartments for way cheaper than you would get in a comparable hotel. Check it out here.
Just a sample of what is available:
Studio apartment in Las Ramblas for 120 euros, or roughly $160.
Nice kitchen
Featured on Weddingbee
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
“Make an elegant invitation statement without the fuss. Stylish invitation sets with matching envelopes, reception and response cards included.”
Weddingbee will be down for maintenance for the next hour or so. Sorry for the inconvenience!
We’re backing stuff up now, and will start the maintenance when that’s done…
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1:30 pm EST - We’re all done except for some bugs with boards, which we’re working on now. Please let us know if you encounter any other bugs. Thanks! 
During the countdown of the last month before my wedding, I suddenly realized I had forgotten to book a make-up artist for my Chinese reception down in Southern California. I panicked as the first two people I contacted were already booked. Would I, Ms. Never-Wears-Makeup, be left to my own hands?
I scoured both The Knot and Weddingbee, and soon found a few more contacts. Natalie Buketov was the first to reply back to my emails (score for promptness!) and within a few days we had scheduled the time and date, as well as negotiated a price. Since I mentioned I found her on The Knot, and that it was just for a reception and not a wedding, she was willing to do my hair AND makeup for only $95 on location! Being used to the higher prices in NorCal (average of $400 for hair/makeup on location) I was both surprised and pleased. Obviously I would not have a chance to do a make-up trial, but since the Chinese reception was less formal than a typical wedding/reception, I wasn’t too worried. Plus Natalie had been given rave reviews on The Knot, so I figured I was safe.
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
After months and months of searching for our rehearsal dinner venue we finally decided to host it in our favorite Thai Restaurant. Yummy! My mouth starts to water just thinking about it. *drooling*So after making that all important decision, I was finally able to start creating our rehearsal invitations. Mr. Jelly Bean’s reaction was quite priceless “Do we really need another invitation?” Silly wabbit!
I knew I wanted to incorporate our vintage Parisian theme but also keeping in mind our increasing wedding costs. So I needed something vintage, adorable and cheap. It was the cheap part that was challenging. I found so many I loved but cost was a major factor.
I finally hit the jackpot during one of my shopping trips to our local Winners. Vintage Postcards - $5.99 for 24 postcards. What a steal! And I wouldn’t need to purchase envelopes. As simple as printing and mailing. Well kinda!
This is how I felt putting on this borrowed Korean Hanbok. My mother was very adamant about wanting to involve us in a Korean ceremony. She’s trying to block a full hour for it, but honestly, our main ceremony is 20 minutes at the most and most of our guests don’t speak a lick of Korean, including Mr. GB. But she’s my mom and so I gave in and put on the outfit for a few minutes while she pinned it.
sorry for the blurry weird image, it was late at night and very dark… although I do let off my own florescent glow…
We ended up having a great time at Hearst Castle and started heading back to Malibu towards our favorite spot on a hill. This peculiar sandy hill, just off the Pacific Coast Highway in the middle of nowhere, was discovered by Mr. Caramel when he went on one of his drives to think. It doesn’t even look like it’s for the public, but you can veer your car off the road and park in a safe distance away from oncoming traffic. It’s very difficult to make your way to the top because your feet sink into the sand, so Mr. Caramel and I have never made it because it’s too tiring.
However, that weekend Mr. Caramel insisted that we make it to the very top since we had never done it. After tons of huffing and puffing, we made it to the top to see the gorgeous view of the beach. It was quiet, and very serene. I always jokingly called this spot Pondering Places, because we’d go there to think and talk about God and life. It’s always easier to talk about those things when you’re surrounded by nature.
Got a few teaser pics from our photographer, Jan Domek. They are from our day after shoot. I really dig the first running picture. I did a lot of running and skirt twirling that day. Later that day we met up with Von Trapp family.
Earlier this week you told us your favorite sites and blogs for inspiration (remember you can still vote!).
Our next category is favorite planning resources. This includes:
Have a great weekend everyone!
When I first started researching how our invitations should be worded, I was met by a barrage of templates, etiquette, and guidelines on the subject of wedding invitations. In short, I was a bit overwhelmed.
For example, I never knew that traditionally, the party/parties paying for the wedding should have their names on the invites. If a bride and groom are paying for the wedding without any financial assistance from their families, it’s acceptable to leave the parents’ names out. Or, if the bride’s family is paying for the event the groom’s parents’ names do not need to be on there at all.
Well, eff that. We’re paying for the wedding ourselves but I want both sets of parents on there to honor them. Are any other brides bucking this tradition?
I got a lot of comments on my short wedding dress in my post, Informal “Formals” so I thought I’d address this in more detail. I didn’t set out to buy a short wedding dress. After looking at many different dresses at many salons (see my “dress shopping” post), Anju, the wonderful woman helping me at Mark Ingram’s Bridal Atelier said, “I have an idea, I’ll be right back.”
When I first started looking for my wedding dress I was drawn to lace and all things romantic! I also knew (or thought I did anyway), that I didn’t want a strapless gown. Basically I was trying to avoid the standard A-line long strapless wedding dress I’d seen in every magazine! Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lovely silhouette, but I just wanted something that was more “me,” you know?
So, Anju brought me two dresses. The first was a short Monique Lhuillier similar to this one (except on my five foot nothing frame it was more mid calf):
I just came across this amazing place. New York Wedding Ring, located in both New York and in San Francisco, lets you make your own wedding ring or engagement ring. How cool is that? The price strikes me as being a bit on the high side, but think about how awesome it would be to tell the grandkids that not only is your wedding ring completely original (you can design it yourself), but that you also made it with your own hands?
Now, these rings definitely do not look “homemade” at all.
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