Hi everyone, I’m Meg, and am very excited to be part of the community at Weddingbee! I’ve been following the site since the beginning of the summer, and can’t wait to share my thoughts and ideas on wedding planning and learn from experiences of everyone!
Why did I choose Miss Dahlia? I must confess that from the time I saw the flowers introduced, I knew that Miss Dahlia had my name all over it. First, it is red, and as you will quickly see, red is my favorite color and will play quite an important part in our wedding. Second, and more importantly, it has strong family connections.
My grandfather lived with my family in the last years of his life. Up until he had a stroke and passed away three years ago, one of the greatest joys in his life was gardening. Grandpa Dahlia’s specialty was, in fact, growing dahlias. He was famous for them. Not just any dahlias, mind you, but dahlias the size of a dinner plate. Like this:
Image from here.
While dahlias are very much out of season in May (and I did contemplate half-seriously having the wedding in August so that dahlias would be in season) and we won’t be having them at the wedding, I love that my name pays homage to my maternal grandfather.
Grandpa Dahlia in August 2004, less than 2 months before his stroke.
So now that you know why I chose to be Miss Dahlia, I thought I’d share a bit about the Dahlias. We started dating our senior year of college, when we were both involved in a non-profit coffee shop and worked as college radio DJs. We love to travel, are considered “foodies” by our families, and like to think of ourselves as connoisseurs of cheap wine (basically, anything less than $8/bottle. $10 or $11 is considered a splurge). And we have a high geek factor. In the month prior to us dating, we would caffeinate ourselves with the leftover coffee from said coffee shop to stay up late and program (or play chess). I was learning html (to build my own website! in notepad!) and Mr. Dahlia had programming for his computer science classes. Since graduating from undergrad, I moved to Michigan to further my education and after a year of long-distance, Mr. Dahlia moved up here to work (and spend some time with me!).
We are getting married in Cleveland, which is our hometown and where most of our families reside. While it is not the most exotic locale, it enables our living grandparents to be part of the wedding. Both of our families go back several generations in the city, so we will always be Clevelanders. Plus, we are excited to show off our hometown in as positive a light as possible! While Cleveland is the butt of a lot of jokes (yes, the river really did catch on fire in the 1970s), it has a lot of great things to offer. I can’t wait to share my thoughts and ideas about wedding planning with all of you!
Welcome!
Think you might share some cheap wine recommendations? I’m looking forward to your future posts…
Actually the Cuyahoga caught on fire twice!
Can’t wait to see all your highlights of our fair city! Happy planning!
Welcome Miss Dahlia! I am actually looking into dinnerplate dahlias for my garden. They are all sold out though!
Welcome again! Yes, please do share your vino recommendations 
Welcome Miss Dahlia! Mr. Chickadee and I are big fans of wine of the cheap variety as well. Looking forward to all your posts!
Welcome Miss Dahlia!
welcome, miss dahlia!
your story was so sweet. it’s wonderful that dahlias remind you of someone so special.
i can’t wait to read more of your posts!
Hooray for a Cleveland Bee!! I’ve been waiting for this day!!! I’m a May 2008 Cleveland bride as well. I’ll look forward to hearing more about your wedding!
thanks for sharing. my grandparents have passed but continue to be a major part of my life– people who honor their folks always resonate with me great story and what a way to honor him.
i went to oberlin so i spent many a nights in cleveland.. its not bad at all! many good times in the flats. congratulations to you!
…oh yea and i’m a doctorate student too! it was a challenge for me to balance school and the planning and excitement of the wedding- but in the end it worked out…. we are married… it was beautiful and i am still in the program moving to the next level!
double good luck to you in this next year
What a lovely story! (It matches a lovely name — I have a friend with the first name “Dahlia”, and the name always strikes me as so musical and sweet…. Maybe if you and Mr. D ever have a daughter, ha ha?)
Look forward to reading more about the wedding plans!
i was a bridesmaid for a wedding in cleveland… it was actually a really nice trip. the bride had the pictures at the art museum and there were 5 other couples doing the same thing. unfortunately, that meant we had to wait for some spots. all the groomsmen were telling the bridesmaids we could take the other bridal parties but we were patient and waited our turn…
welcome!!
Welcome! I am focusing on red for my wedding too so I am eagerly awaiting your posts on what red items you will be incorporating into the wedding. I haven’t been able to figure out what I want to go w/the red, but maybe white and silver although my FI insists that red does not go w/silver!
Yea for another midwest bride! Congrats and welcome 
wow, you sound a little like me– i’m a grad student whose partner just moved to my university town, and will probably be having the wedding in an area my grandparents can easily travel to. Also same with the cheap wine love and foodie-ness.
can’t wait to hear more about your wedding planning! good luck!
Welcome! 
Welcome Miss Dahlia! I’m so happy to finally have a Cleveland bride!! I found your story so touching, as I am/was close with my grandparents… best of luck with all of your planning. I look forward to reading your future posts!
I wrote my webpage in notepad too! What are you studying for your phd?
Welcome! And I love dahlias too. Such beautiful flowers.
Welcome!
My husband grew up in Cleveland! And, while I love to make fun of it to get a rise out of him, we attended a wedding there 2 years ago and it was just lovely. I would go back in a second!
you know, the giant dahlias would make a great minimalistic center piece, esp the color shown above.
Welcome Miss Dahlia! What a lovely story and reason to be a Dahlia! My fave $8-10 wine is Clos du Bois chardonnay - what do you think? Nice to meet you!
Thanks so much for the very warm welcome, and I’m glad to hear that there are other Clevelanders out there! I will definitely be posting in the future about our wine habits
Vivian, I’m going to have to check that one out- unfortunately, Mr. Dahlia is the one who remembers the names, whereas I’m more able to remember the shape of the bottle and what was on the label.
My boyfriend is from Cleveland and its not as bad as all the jokes make it out to be! I look forward to reading your future posts….since maybe one day Cleveland will be my location as well
Awww… that’s so sweet about your Grandpa.
I saw a Godspeedyoublackemperor show in Cleveland a few years ago. It’s a good town.
Can’t wait to hear more about your wedding.
i never heard of dahlias until i was looking for flowers in season for september - and i fell in love with them! we used them in everything, along with bamboo and roses. lovvvve them! welcome!
Ms. Dahlia, Detroit/Cleveland
Age and Occupation: 24, PhD Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, IT System Administrator
Engagement Date: December 31, 2006
Wedding Date: May 2008
Blogging Since: September 19, 2007
Venue: United Methodist Cathedral & historic downtown hotel in Cleveland
About Me: I enjoy cooking, dancing and swimming. I am a geek and apply game theory to my everyday life. Winter is my favorite time of year, especially when spent curled up with good coffee and a book by Madeleine L'Engle.
Your story got me all misty eyed. I look forward to more of your posts.