Weddingbee Blog

A few weekends ago would have been our wedding weekend, had we not decided that we needed more time. How do I feel? A little bit relieved and very much at peace with our decision.

All along, Mr. Cheese was very clear that he wanted to be married to me, and soon… but he had very little clue about getting married (read: wedding stuff). As I became accustomed to (and excited about) the idea of marrying my favorite man, the greater my desire became to do it quickly. Honestly, I wanted to get it over with*.

A long engagement seemed to me to be a side effect of the need to make your wedding a big production. Long engagements implied that you needed time to save money so that you could spend as much as possible on your wedding day. I’m not saying you shouldn’t, I’m just saying that we didn’t want to break the bank on one day. And if we didn’t need time to save money, why NOT get married soon?
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If you haven’t checked out Amy-Jo Tatum’s custom bridal gowns, then get on the train! She designs each gown to order, using imported silks and fabrics—and they’re simply gorgeous! From innovative to traditional, right-now to retro… her work really stands out as fresh and lovely.
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Guiseppe Zanotti Champagne Peep Toe Shoes

I knew it had to happen sooner or later. It was just too good to be true. Remember my dream shoes? I had to return them yesterday. I walked into Saks with a box of beautiful Zanottis, and I walked out with a heavy heart and a little tear in my eye. I would never see them again. I tried to make them as comfortable as I could, but I could tell things were not going to work out between us- at least not for an entire eight hour day on my feet.

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There have been so many great DIY projects by the Bees, that we thought we’d highlight some from our archives that you may have missed!

These are Mrs. Tomato’s DIY invitations, originally posted on May 2, 2007.

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Here is my labor of love (heh) for the past six weeks… the wedding invitation!

Edwardian Script and Felix Titling font (I’m all about combining style and practicality). “True Blue” stamp (I wanted something whimsical) in the upper right hand corner.
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Which brands were the most comfortable? How high was the heel? I’d like to wear 3-4 inch heels. Am I crazy? I have wide feet. Any recommendations would be helpful.

Thanks!!

sal75

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Please comment on this thread here.

First of all, thank you all SO SO much for helping us pick our monogram!! We haven’t made a final decision but we’re leaning towards #5 and #1!

So about this wedding website situation…

I can’t say I was a complete newbie. I did take a web-designing course in college—but it was my senior year, I did the assignments an hour or two before class, and it was one of those “easy” classes. So when it came time to make our website I didn’t have enough confidence in my web skills (or lack thereof) to design one from scratch, so I started the hunt for free and easy, but stylish wedding website providers.
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Most of my life I’ve worn glasses. They don’t aggravate me when I wear them at all day. It’s something I’ve gotten used to, but just recently, in thinking about our wedding, I decided I want to be a bride with no glasses. No, I’m not just taking off my glasses. If I did that, everything would be blurry and my klutz level would rise to dangerous proportions. The reason for the switch then? Glare… yeah, you glasses wearing brides know ALL about glare!

I’ve been HAUNTED by glare in yearbook pictures, candids, prom night and almost in our engagement pics, too. However, our wedding photog is excellent and she just wasn’t going to let it happen! Check out our e-pics for proof!

Look at an example of my tragic glare that I found all over my Facebook pictures. Sorry for the bad quality.

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Our foodiemoon began every day with a wonderful breakfast from the Brownstone Inn Bed & Breakfast just two miles from the heart of downtown. The inn was such a wonderful choice by Mr. Pineapple. I loved staying at the Brownstone Inn because for the most part, a beautiful hotel is still just a hotel and often they lack charm and character. There was definitely no lack of character here.
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Note to Mr. Fondue: I know you really don’t want to see my dress, so if you are browsing Weddingbee for whatever reason, please do not read this post if you want it to remain a secret.

I went forward in time in my last post to tell you about my disappointing shopping trip. Now it’s time to rewind!

Bridesmaid Becka and I arrived at The White Room one Saturday morning to a mass of girls trying on prom dresses. I was a little worried at first, but I was soon escorted to a separate room with the wedding gowns that was much more calm and quiet. The room had three long racks of dresses, mirrors in the center of the room, and about four dressing rooms along one side. One of the dressing rooms had my name on it, waiting and ready.

My assistant, Meagan, let us go through the racks of dresses ourselves and instructed me to pick out five gowns to start with, so I immediately went over to the Maggie Sottero dresses. It was a little overwhelming at first, but soon Becka and I came up with five, three of which were Maggies.
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After reading about how Miss Sweet Tea had her invitations mailed and postmarked from the city where she will be married, I was triggered to write a post about getting special postmarks on any piece of mail you send.

When I send out my Christmas cards every year, I go an extra step to add a special detail by getting them postmarked in a Christmas-themed city*. I’ve mailed my Christmas cards from North Pole, NY, Bethlehem, PA, and Santa, ID. No, I didn’t have to travel all over this great nation to have this done. I mailed my Christmas cards to the Postmaster of each of these cities, and the post office there did it for me.

Bethlehem, PA specialty postmark - Christmas 2006

Having a love-themed postmark on your wedding invitations would be a sweet, personal touch, and there are lots of U.S. cities with names that would make them a perfect fit.
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Reader chardani1012 is selling (2) David’s Bridal flower girl dresses, (2) bows, and (2) baskets. The flower girl dresses are all-over white satin tea-length ball gowns and are both size 3T. They’re $70 each, or $125 for both. The sashes are apple red snap-on bows, $15 for both. The flower girl baskets feature apple red bows and a jeweled flower, and are $35 for both.

Have a wedding item for sale? Post it with pictures in the Weddingbee classifieds and you might see it featured on the blog!

Other great items for sale:
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At this point in our planning, I am 98% sure that I will be a two veil bride. I don’t want anything to cover my face during the reception, so I have been thinking about wearing something small, ivory, and ruffled instead. I’ve locked myself in my sewing room (OK, dining room!) and have been testing out some veil alternatives. Here is a tutorial on how to make this lovely little hairpiece:

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Last month, Mr. Meatball and I had just started working out to Jillian Michael’s 30-Day Shred. We eased into the process very slowly—starting one or two times a week, and working our way up to every other day. The best thing about it is how fast it’s over! 20 minutes goes by so easily, and I feel less inclined to say “I don’t have the time” because I know that’s just crap. Everyone’s got 20 minutes to spare for their wellness, yo. It’s been two weeks now of alternating The Shred with days off, and I have to say this moderate approach is much easier to swallow than my normal all-or-nothing tendencies. Moderation has never been my strong suit, but this year, I’ve been trying to integrate it into many facets of my life. Slow and steady wins the race, yes? The tortoise is moi.

Speaking of slow… we’re still on Level 1, but our goal is to start Level 2 next week and keep on schedule. Eek! But already we’re seeing results! We’ve got definition in our calves, thighs, arms and abs where only softness used to reign… which is really encouraging… but it also makes me more aware of the need to lose fat so the muscle can shine through.

To that end, we’ve also been eating better to try and get some of that pesky fat to melt away. I’ve tried a million “fad diets” over the years, and find the key rules across the board seem to be low-fat, high-protein, less refined sugar, more fiber. Here are a few of my favorite tips and tricks to eat well, and be satisfied.
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I get ahead of myself when I’m excited. I get all caught up in the options and possibilities, then I get lost in them, then I get stressed and frustrated and overwhelmed and stuck in indecision. I’ve known all along that I would struggle to enjoy our wedding planning process, to embrace the joy and accept the stress without letting it suck me in.

When we decided to take more time and get married in the spring instead of October, we agreed not to decide on a new wedding date until Thanksgiving for a variety of reasons. One of them was everything I just mentioned about myself. Mr. Cheese also needed time to get through his enormous to-do list at both houses without the addition of a bunch more wedding-related tasks. We were in the middle of our post-engagement challenges, so very little that we dealt with at that time could be called joyous (ya know, because we could barely speak to each other without riling each other up). In a nutshell, there was no way that we could plan a wedding together with all of the joy and happiness that the journey deserved.

Because I’ve been married before, I realized that I needed extra time to not only become accustomed to being engaged (and eventually, a wife) again, but also to assess and find closure with my past marriage. Every wedding task brings up memories—some good, some bad—and I’ve decided to take the time to get through them so that I enter my marriage to Mr. Cheese with a clean emotional slate.
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Thank you all so much for your thoughts about the Lady Champs’ attire! It seems as though there is a discrepancy as to how a new mamma can flaunt her new goods. Some said strapless is flattering, and others thought straps would be much more supportive. Seeing as I’ve never been a new mamma, I just asked the ladies what they thought. And the verdict???

The Pretty Woman
Belsoie style L1021

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