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.
I’ve talked quite a bit about our honeymoon, and now that it’s coming close, I realized there are some things that I need to figure out.
Like what to pack. As we are traveling with carry-ons only (since spending a month backpacking in Europe, I have a hard time packing more than just a carry-on), space is pretty limited. I thought I’d share my packing list for other people traveling to warm climates who hope to pack light, as well as open it up to any suggestions for items that I have forgotten.
Clothes (including what I will wear on the plane):
2 knit dresses
1 pair shorts
1 pair pants
2 short sleeved shirts
1 cardigan or long sleeved shirt
birkenstocks
sneakers
socks
underwear
3 swimsuits
1 pashmina
rain jacket
(I plan on buying some nicer sandals once we’re in Bali.)
Toiletries/makeup:
sunscreen*
bug repellent*
after sun lotion*
toothpaste*
facewash*
toothbrush
razor
deodorant
mascara*
lip gloss*
contacts
contact solution*
glasses
First aid kit:
neosporin*
band-aids
rifaxamin (for traveler’s diarrhea)
malarone (for malaria prevention)
personal medications
pepto-bismol chewable tablets
imodium AD
advil
purell*
Important documents:
passport
plane ticket confirmations
doctor’s note about prescription meds
1 bank card
2 credit cards
$100 bills (number TBD; supposedly you get the best exchange rate in Bali if you have 100s)
Misc.
money belt
2-3 paperback books
2 travel guides
Ipod
sunglasses
*means that it is a liquid, and therefore must go in a 1 qt bag. I’ve figured out how much contact solution I’ll need (2 small bottles), and Mr. Dahlia and I will split the load as far as the remaining liquids go.
Anyone have any recommendations for things to add to the list?
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Contests
Feature Launched: Oct 5, 2006
About: Weddingbee contests and giveaways.
Congratulations to commenter #129 jenniferb - the winner of the Perfect Details Earrings!
~~~
Today’s giveaway comes to us from Perfect Details, purveyor of elegant bridal shoes, accessories, gifts and more. They’ve also recently opened a boutique in lovely Santa Cruz, CA, and to celebrate they’re giving away a pair of earrings to one lucky weddingbee reader!

These are some of their bestsellers: clockwise, dangling pear drop chandelier, vintage teardrop, pearl drop w/ cz, godfather waltz
Simply comment below with your favorite, or click on over to their gorgeous earring section and let us know if there are a pair that you like better – one lucky winner will win her pair of choice!
You have until midnight 4/30 to enter. Good luck! 
Miss Hydrangea, Dallas
Age and Occupation: 26, Administrative Assistant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Network Analyst
Engagement Date: June 2007
Wedding Date: September 2008
Blogging Since: January 14, 2008
Venue: Catholic Church and Reception at The W Hotel
About Me: Mr. H and I come from very different cultures and backgrounds so I'm excited to plan our wedding with a balance of both traditions. My mom has always been a DIY queen, and I'm just now starting to get into it with a new house and a wedding to plan!
Working on all of the little details for our wedding is turning out to be WAY more difficult then searching for vendors. Right now I’m on the hunt for 8-9″ black table stands. I don’t want anything fancy or theme related. Just some decent, plain looking stands. So far, these options are the only two that I’ve come up with (found at Food Service Direct):

Both options involve some sort of swirls, which seem a little busy to me, but could easily work for the tables. I know this is me being super nitpicky, but which do you all prefer, option 1 (swirl on the bottom) or option 2 (swirl on the top).
What are some good resources for table stands out there?
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Miss Cream Puff, San Francisco Bay Area
Age and Occupation: 25, Illustrator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Merchandise Planner
Engagement Date: May 27, 2007
Wedding Date: August, 2008
Blogging Since: February 7, 2008
Venue: Ceremony at Crissy Field and Reception at the Green Room
About Me: I never dreamed about my wedding as a little girl because I was too busy playing in the mud or pretending to be Martha Stewart–but now that it's here, I'm having a fabulous time DIYing everything in sight! We’re planning a very fun multicultural wedding (I'm Jewish and Mr. Cream Puff is Chinese), filled with as many personal details as I can muster.
When first faced with the task of planning a wedding, I honestly thought I could have a super fabulous wedding in San Francisco for 10k. After only a tiny amount of research, I discovered that I was seriously out to lunch. Most of the venues in San Francisco have rental fees upwards of 6k–which, in my fantasy budget, left us with only 4k to decorate and feed people. Not gonna happen. So the budget was re-evaluated, and I found much less expensive options for pretty much everything. But everything is still adding up, and recently I crunched some numbers and started to freak out a bit.
First, we added 20 people to the guest list. This was sorta-kinda necessary, as the 130 people we were aiming for only covered our families, but not our friends.
Second, there was the videographer, which we all agreed we should have, but we hadn’t budgeted for.
Third, there were the decorations–our flowers are WAY under budget, but we went with fancy linens and chivari chairs (which, as it turns out, we will now only get to split 2 ways, as the 3rd couple can’t afford them). All of this would have been fine, if it weren’t for the extra tables. The extra tables mean extra centerpieces and extra fancy linens, not to mention extra service staff.
I have a call into our coordinator, who will hopefully be able to cut some service staff and condense some tables. I hope so, at least. Thinking about money and/or the guest list are the two things I hate the most about planning a wedding. They both stress me out.
It seems like people say, “planning a wedding is stressful,” but for me most of it comes down to the guest list and the money. What do you hate the most about wedding planning?
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Mrs. Flamingo, Montreal, Canada
Age and Occupation: 25, Graphic Designer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Nursing Student
Engagement Date: December 2004
Wedding Date: June 21, 2008
Venue: Imperia Hotel (modern chic hotel)
About Me: I am a passionate designer who loves anything pretty. I heart all paper products (eco-friendly of course). My passion revolves around anything considered glamour; vintage and modern. In my free time, I love reading Martha mags, designing jewelry and making a pit-stop at Starbucks for a chai latte. I'm also a chocoholic at heart and my family drools over my homemade truffles.
As time passes, I seem to change my mind on what I want to do for the table numbers. At first Mr. Flamingo had suggested having vintage movie posters, but I soon realized that they could be very complicated and hard to understand. First off, if the guests don’t know the movie specifically, they will need to search to find the actual title on the poster. In those years there was type all over the place - the actors’ names were more prominent than the actual movie title - so I think it may be hard for the guests to find their table. Another important point is that the majority of the guests are French and all the movie titles are in English.
I really liked the imagery of the 1933 movie The Songs of Songs. Not only is the imagery beautiful, but it’s vintage and wedding perfect… and it’s actually a love story too.
Here is the original poster :

source
Then I thought why not use that poster for all the table numbers? That way the same message will be on all the posters, which means less confusion and we’ll actually use numbers. So I used my Illustrator and Photoshop skills and tried to re-create this poster to suit our wedding.
This was the criteria I needed on the poster:
- It needed to look like a movie poster
- It had to keep the actual feel of the original poster
- We needed to write our names in there somewhere
- It had to be bilingual
This is what I came up with… (click to enlarge)

I really like the outcome of the poster, I think it’s perfect. But I haven’t shown Mr. Flamingo yet, and I’m afraid he won’t like it. He really wanted to go more towards the glamour route but I think that this poster is kinda glamour - no?
What do you think?
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Mrs. Hummingbird, Toronto
Age and Occupation: 25, Publishing Coordinator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Videogame Designer/Cartoonist
Engagement Date: May 4, 2007
Wedding Date: June 28, 2008
Blogging Since: September 18, 2007
Venue: A garden wedding followed by a tented reception on Mr. Hummingbird's father's property.
About Me: I’m a pop culture loving, vintage obsessed foodie living in Canada’s biggest city with my fantastic fiancé and our lovable fluffy cat Bettie. I’m stoked to marry my best friend and to throw what I hope will be
the most fun and colourful party of our lives.
After putting it off for months, Mr. Hum and I finally bit the bullet this past weekend and picked out our rings. We had looked at some conventional jewellery stores, but in the end, we decided to go with Kalupe, a Toronto jeweler we’d known of for a while and who Mr. Hum had dealt with a few years ago when he purchased a beautiful necklace for my 23rd birthday (I’ve worn it constantly since I got it, I love it so much).
Because we were looking for something a little original and funky, their pieces were perfect for us. Not only are they customizable, but many take their cue from historical designs dating back as far as the 5th century which I totally love. I mean how cool is it to think that something you’re making the commitment to wear for the rest of your life has endured for so many years?
Anyway, as for what we ended up choosing, I’m not spilling the beans on the specifics just yet, but suffice it to say Mr. Hum picked out a band design he liked and I am getting a customized version, using the same design motif but modified for my smaller hands.
The wax mold version of my ring should hopefully be ready in a couple of days to go check out (squee!) but for now, I’ll leave you readers with a couple of teaser pics of our jeweler’s custom work.





I know we’re not the first ones to pick atypical rings, so I’m curious - what kind of wedding bands did you and your fiance/husband go for? What played a factor in what you picked?
(All photographs taken from www.kalupe.com )
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Classifieds
Feature Launched: April 30, 2008
About: A roundup of the best Weddingbee Classified listings.
We’re thrilled to see that so many people are using the Classifieds right here on Weddingbee to buy and sell all kinds of wedding related stuff, so this week we’re launching Weddingbee’s Classified Roundup!
Every week we’ll feature the best of what’s currently for sale by readers. So if you’ve got something that you’d like to sell, post it in the classifieds, include a link to pictures, and you just might see your item featured here on the blog! As usual, you’re always welcome to check out everything that’s for sale over in the classifieds section.
Today, reader janeoak is selling four brand new sets of Swarovski pearl necklaces and earrings. They’re beautiful, classic, and would make a great gift for your bridesmaids. They’re all for sale for $100 plus s&h, a fantastic deal!

Other great items currently for sale:
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Mrs. Toucan, Boston
Age and Occupation: 25, Full-time Research Assistant, Part-time Graduate Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Actuary
Engagement Date: February 18, 2007
Wedding Date: June 7, 2008
Blogging Since: November 07, 2007
Venue: St. Catherine of Genoa, Jin Asian Cuisine Restaurant
About Me: I’m a Gemini to the extreme. On one side, I’m a girly girl. I read countless bridal and fashion magazines, and have an obsession with keeping up with the latest Hollywood gossip. On the other side, I’m a sports fanatic. Despite being a full-time bride-to be, full-time research assistant, and part-time student, I’m also a full-time Red Sox fan from spring training to October, and a full-time Patriots fan from mini-camp to February. I devote almost as much time researching my for fantasy football team as researching for our wedding!
A couple of weeks ago, I posted about adding a pop of pink by having my bridesmaids wear hot pink shoes with their blue dresses. Finding pink shoes for two of my bridesmaids (one of my sisters and FSIL) wasn’t hard at all - they have “normal-sized” feet. The other two were an entire different story - my cousin is a size 5.5 like me, and my little 17 year-old sister is a freakishly small size 4!
If you recall, the two with “normal-sized” feet had picked the same styled-dress, and the two with tiny feet chose the another dress, so I didn’t feel the need for them to have matching shoes either.
But now, the hard part - where to find size 4 pink heels?!?!
Tra-la! Nordstrom to the rescue!

BP. ‘Dazzle’ Satin Sandal*
Nordstrom actually carries a few shoe brands that range all the way down to a size 4! After not seeing the sizes I needed online, I, crazy-lady Miss Toucan, called my local Nordstrom and had them track down the 2 pairs of shoes in the sizes that I needed and had them ship it (for free!) to my bridesmaids. All then that was left to do (other than pay for them of course) was to sit back and pray that they fit. I finally got word today, that they both fit perfect!
My little sister is especially happy because these are probably only heels she’s ever found that she not only fit (um, who else is a size 4?!), but actually really likes!
Has anyone else had sizing issues (in clothes or shoes) with their bridesmaids because one or more were rare sizes?
*I’d like to make an extra little note that this might be an excellent option for bridesmaid shoes because they do come in a large range of sizes and 7 different colors!
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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!).
While planning our wedding, I loved the idea of staying at a nice hotel the night before the wedding (by myself) and on the wedding night (joined by Mr. T). Unfortunately, we couldn’t spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars for the privilege. Originally, my plan was to bid on Priceline a few days beforehand and see what came up. But then my favorite travel discount site, Travelzoo, shared the great news that a new Hotel Monaco had opened in Alexandria, just 3 blocks from our ceremony site, and they were having a $99/night special.
And it turns out, staying there was a fantastic decision — they made the wedding weekend an absolute dream!

(Taking a pre-ceremony break on the world’s most comfortable bed)
First, when I returned from the rehearsal dinner and afterparty the night before — absolutely exhausted from socializing and 40+ hours without sleep — I found the most AMAZING thing waiting for me on the hotel room desk.

There was a card whose front said “For your last night as … Ms. Maidenname”, and inside it explained that the gifts were something old (an old quote on a bookmark), something new (a book called Autobiography of a Fat Bride, by Laurie Notaro, which turned out to be hilarious!), something borrowed (a pack of cards), and something blue (a blue journal). Plus a couple of super-tasty heart-shaped chocolates. It was the most unexpected and most charming thing I’d ever seen!! [And here’s an Internet shout-out to wonderful, wonderful Joanna at the front desk, who put it all together and wrote the card….]
The second night, there was wine and cheese (next to my bottle of wedding perfume):

We felt genuinely welcomed by everyone at the Hotel. They put a note about our wedding on their computer system, so everyone we spoke to knew about the Big Event and congratulated us repeatedly. And of course, once we starting walking around in wedding finery, there was no keeping secrets! Everyone from the other guests to the valets to a housekeeper passing through the lobby stopped us to offer the warmest of wishes.
We took advantage of the beautifully decorated lobby for a quick pre-ceremony photo session. Here, I was cracking up because a tiny elderly lady in a tweed hat was peering shamelessly through the windows from the sidewalk outside:

For anyone planning a visit to Alexandria, VA (or to DC itself — Alexandria is very close, extremely charming, and joined by Metro), I can’t recommend the Hotel Monaco highly enough. It was a special experience for us because of our wedding, but even as a normal hotel stay it ranked very highly. We spent ages at the day-after brunch raving about the hotel with other wedding guests who stayed there — the beds! the decor! the location! — and all agreed it was a genuine treat.

(The bathroom wallpaper was the coolest.) (1st and last 2 photos by Punam Bean)
Oh, and P.S.: The last morning of our stay was Easter. They put a chocolate egg on our bed the night before, and hid Easter eggs all around the lobby the next morning. How cute is this?

Where will you spend your wedding night? Splurge or budget??
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Miss Gingerbread, Vancouver
Age and Occupation: 32, Psychologist
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Software Engineer
Engagement Date: Sometime in the fall of 2004
Wedding Date: July, 2008
Blogging Since: March 24, 2008
Venue: Rainforest wedding, beachfront restaurant reception
About Me: I recently moved to Canada from Southern California. Trying to plan a wedding in a new city, not to mention a new country, is tough, but the fact that we can get legally married here more than makes up for it! The wedding will be an opportunity for most of our family and friends to see our new city for the first time so it will be both a wedding and a reunion. Besides my future wife, I am also madly in love with a good bargain, Swedish pastries, Tivo, and my two dogs and calico cat (in no particular order).
When we first started planning the wedding, we ran into the question of how we’d get down the aisle. Would each of us be walked down the aisle by someone else? Would one of us be waiting at the end of the aisle as the other walked towards her? Would we each walk towards each other? Would we walk down together?
Of these options, I liked the idea of either walking towards each other or walking down together. We are well past being given away. But our ceremony site presents a bit of a challenge to either vision.
Here is where the ceremony will take place.

We can either seat guests on the deck or in front of the deck. I like the idea of having them on the deck because it gets them closer to the amazing view. However, the shape is funky. And where is the aisle? On the left? But then we have to snake around to get to the front. Or on the right? I suppose that could work if we have everyone seated on the left. The asymmetry is not making me happy.
The other option is having the guests sit in front of the deck. Then we can put an aisle where ever we want. It just feels like we are wasting the deck in that case.
What do you think?
Bonus question: Is anyone else planning to walk down the aisle with their future spouse?
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