Mrs. Shortcake, VancouverAge and Occupation: 24, Marketing Manager/Children's Lit WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Master's Student/Personal TrainerEngagement Date: August 7, 2007Wedding Date: October 2008Blogging Since: Venue: Ceremony in a historic church, tented lawn reception at a golf and country clubAbout Me: 1950's housewife sent to the future, reborn as crafting-obsessed, jill of all trades. I enjoy decorating, writing, baking sweet things, singing show tunes/dancing in public, wearing pearls, and knitting sweaters for my furbaby, Harvey, to chew upon. I heart pink, and believe that sparkles are the new black.
Ten days after our cross-country road trip, six days after my father and I took our engagement pictures, five days after I met our photographer, baker, and florist for the first time, we had our rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.
The rehearsal was held, naturally, at our wee itty bitty church. My sisters and I were very late, even after previous admonitions from our minister to not be “that bride”. We couldn’t help it - I had lost so much weight (almost twenty five pounds) in the last two months from stress that I had literally no. clothes. that. fit. My planned outfits hung on me like a stick-insect in drag. It was awful. I managed to not cry as my sister literally safety pinned one of her dresses into looking like I wasn’t a size Richie, but the wardrobe drama still delayed Team Bride.
But, making an entrance was fun. Carrying my hand-made felt-and flower bouquet was fun. Getting told off by the minister for being late, and, later, being warned that she had a gun and a knife in the font, was not so much fun - and, actually, was rather creepy.
We ran through the processional without music the first time (not because I forgot the CD, but because the minister wouldn’t let us touch the “new” circa-1980s stereo system ). I’ll never forget walking down that two-metre aisle with the minister bellowing, “dum, dum da dum,” Longherin-style, and our wedding party awkwardly following suit.
“This is really surreal!” I yelled down the aisle.
“Just keep walking!” The minister yelled back. Read more…
Mrs. Peep Toe, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 29, Policy AnalystFiance's Age and Occupation: 36, Olive Oil Production ManagerEngagement Date: December 16, 2007Wedding Date: May, 2009Blogging Since: November 26, 2008Venue: Hotel VitaleAbout Me: I am a west coast lady who loves the San Francisco Bay Area. I love living with Mr. Peep and our animals: Huck the Dog and Ferris the Cat. I work to save the environment in San Francisco, while Mr. Peep makes ridiculously delicious Olive Oil. On any day you can find me reading the latest book I have gotten my hands on, eating Swedish Fish, and perusing wedding blogs! We are both champagne drinking foodies on a Bud Light budget. We are planning an eco-chic, intimate, and interfaith San Francisco City wedding.
Hey Hive, I am back from the holidays and my drug-induced coma that was Twilight (swoon). Much to Mr. Peep Toe’s delight, I finally finished the series last night and returned to the human race. And my, my, it is so worth the read.
So I come to you this morning fresh from a morning workout. Where like Miss Crab Cake, I started the 100 push up challenge! I have 66 days until my first dress fitting, so it’s time to hunker down and get my booty in shape.
I also need to get back on the wedding bandwagon. Yesterday a friend asked how the wedding planning was going. Well, it’s going all right! Where— I’m not so sure? I still have a lot of details to do and things to catch the hive up on, so I thought I would take some time to revisit a previous post: re-vamping Mama Peep Toe’s 42-year-old veil.
It was a total success!!! Thanks to Miss Taffy and her fabulous Veil Tutorial post!
I know that a lot of people really loved the bow on the veil, but it was faded and yellow beyond repair, plus just a little too retro to go with my gown.
Essentially, the tulle itself was sewn straight onto the bow, so I had to detach the tulle from the bow and start from scratch with the tulle. Read more…
Mrs. Cupcake, PhiladelphiaAge and Occupation: 27, Graphic DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Construction Project ManagerEngagement Date: February 10, 2007Wedding Date: September, 2008Blogging Since: December 7, 2007Venue: The Desmond Hotel in Malvern, PAAbout Me: Mr. Cupcake and I hit it off at a Halloween party and immediately began a long-distance relationship. After two years, he moved to my neck of the woods, and a year and a half after that, he proposed at the “place we fell in love.” I am a true perfectionist who enjoys designing and creating more work for myself, so wedding planning is my perfect outlet. Mr. Cupcake and I are both old souls, and we hope to weave that aspect of our personalities into our wedding day.
I didn’t have the time to create any then, but I kept the idea in the back of my mind, and with the hopes of having a semi-homemade Christmas, I decided to make some wreaths as gifts for some family members. I am really excited at how they turned out and everyone seemed to like their gifts (at least I hope so!). This is an easy project that could possibly spruce up a ceremony or reception space, bridal shower, or newlywed nest, or perhaps it would be a nice hostess gift for someone who hosted a shower for you… so I thought I’d share the how-to with the hive!
So, I was supposed to get married on NYE this year (in a few days!) and we had to postpone due to his mother being diagnosed with cancer, family stress, me starting my doctoral program, etc. So our new date is Aug 22, 2009. We changed the date a good 5 months or so before it would have happened.
Our problem is that we were initially inviting 450 people (gasp!) because we’re both Greek and neither side could cut down the list. STDs were sent, but no invites, obviously. Honestly, now that we have more time, so many things have changed from what they were going to be initially about our wedding, and we’d really like to scale it down a bit. Also, with the economy and everyone’s finances right now, we kind of NEED to scale it down. So we’d like to only invite like 300 or so. Our parents are mostly OK with it, even though they’re worried about what to say to some people who are asking about the new date and probably won’t be invited now.
Is it really bad to do this? I’ve heard mixed reviews. I know we technically should invite all the people who got the original STD, but they were sent so long ago (and some people that got STDs I never talk to anymore), and for a different wedding all together. It just seems like we should be able to do what we want for our big day. That’s what other people have told me- not to worry because you can’t please everyone. But we don’t want to ruffle too many feathers.
Any advice?! I hate this situation!! EEEKK!!!
monalisa670
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Dear monalisa670,
I would evaluate the invitations of the 150 potential non-invitees on a case-by-case basis. Read more…
Mrs. Avocado, SeattleAge and Occupation: 23, StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, ConsultantEngagement Date: July 27, 2008Wedding Date: October, 2008Blogging Since: June 30, 2008Venue: LDS Seattle Temple & Hotel 1000About Me: Somehow this little farm girl found herself a genuine Pole to fall in love and eventually move away to Poland with. I am an LDS bride attempting to plan a private religious ceremony, ring ceremony, seated reception for 100, and an open house while coordinating for guests flying in from across the United States and as far away as Poland. I try to avoid fads, excess waste, and saturated fat. I strongly endorse photography, DDR, calorie counting, rss feeds, cooking, and utilizing your resources.
After mentioning my trip to Poland in May several months ago, a few of you asked to hear about the trip. I was a slacker and never wrote such a post, but I’ve been to Poland once again and thought you might like to see what Christmas in Poland is like.
Our trip was delayed by several days because of bad weather in Chicago, so instead of spending 6 days in Poland we were there for 3. This is NOT something the Avocados recommend. On the bright side, we were somehow able to score a free plane ticket to Seattle, giving us the chance to surprise my mom with a visit from the newlyweds while we waited for a flight to Poland. She screamed and cried when she saw us.
Then it was Monday morning, time to board the plane for a direct flight from Seattle to Frankfurt. Mr. Avocado and I were, in short, miserable. He had laryngitis or bronchitis (or something like it, we never did get it checked out by a doctor) and because the airline delayed my bags I was without them for 3 days, causing me to miss several doses of my birth control. Missing my birth control meant starting my period as we walked onto the plane. Yuck. Here we are in Germany, 20 hours into the trip.
Mrs. Hot Cocoa, Boston/Los AngelesAge and Occupation: 31, JD/PhD StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 32, Medical StudentEngagement Date: May 30, 2008Wedding Date: March, 2009Blogging Since: April, 2008Venue: Ritz Carlton, Marina Del ReyAbout Me:
I am a professional student by day and an amateur cupcake taster, bargain shopper, and wedding planner by night. I am obsessed with NPR, the Food Network, paper, dance shows, Anthropologie, post-structuralist theory, Weddingbee!, "The Office," and celebrity gossip. When not procrastinating from my dissertation, I spend time catering to Jellyby, our overly anxious shih tzu, and getting to know Mr. Hot Cocoa. We have only been dating for fifteen years, so it's like I'm in love with a stranger! From the East Coast, we are planning a Jewish-Chinese Extravaganza in L.A., where we both grew up.
Hot Mama Cocoa, Sister HC, and I went to Shenzhen, China, today to pick up a few more wedding-related items. We returned with the most adorable outfits for our flower girls! Get ready for some mega cuteness, Asian-style:
Mrs. Glitter, Los AngelesAge and Occupation: 27, Research Consultant/WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, AccountingEngagement Date: May 6, 2007Wedding Date: June, 2009Venue: Millenium Biltmore HotelAbout Me: I was born and raised in West Los Angeles, California. I spent eight years in the Northeast working and completing my education. Having split time between two sides of the country has given me a true appreciation for both coasts. It has also provided an overabundance of cross country drives, flights and long distance relationship fun/misery! I love my family, my doggy Emma, fabulous wine, Anthropologie, politics, reading, being outdoors, exploring new cities, and good movies! My fiance and I are complete opposites, but somehow we have managed to fall completely and hopelessly in love.
NancyKay’s Confections, a lovely cake shop in Los Angeles, has our business and they don’t even know it! You’re probably wondering what the heck I’m talking about. Well, let me explain. When we were booking our venue, one of the reasons the hotel won our business was by throwing the wedding cake into our catering package. Well, we took the bait… and one of our vendors got checked off the list without us having to lift a finger (just our checkbook!).
We had a number of bakery options to choose from, but we were most impressed by NancyKay. Here are a few options I found on NancyKay’s website that I find absolutely divine.
An Antique Cake: Simply adorable. It would go great with a vintage flair theme.
Mrs. Deviled Egg, PittsburghAge and Occupation: 27, Public RelationsFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, AccountingEngagement Date: December 24, 2007Wedding Date: May, 2009Blogging Since: October 21, 2008Venue: Historic auditorium and meeting hall in one of Pittsburgh's commuter citiesAbout Me: I am obsessed with all things crafty, especially scrapbooking, knitting, jewelry-making & cake decorating. I also love being an aunt, wrapping presents, watching football (Go Steelers!), shopping at yard sales and consignment stores, procrastinating, singing and learning to play the guitar. When it comes to wedding planning, I'm excited about working on DIY projects and finding creative ways to stay under budget. Of course, nothing is more exciting to me than knowing that the wonderful Mr. Deviled Egg will be my husband.
Let me preface this post by saying that blood and vomit are two things that gross me out like nothing else. (If you feel the same way, I forgive you completely for skipping over this post.)
In high school, I went with my sister when she went to donate blood and the workers were offering me cookies and juice because I was looking pale. A few weeks ago, my dad had an accident involving his finger and a log splitter and I was the one tossing my cookies. Situations such as these are the reason I would never be able to have career in the medical field.
This Christmas, Mr. Deviled Egg, someone who rarely gets sick, put me in one of those situations. Poor guy. He was feeling all right when I was at his house early in the day, but started to feel a little off on his way to my family’s Christmas celebration in the evening. Shortly after we all exchanged presents, Mr. DE had what can only be described as some of the most explosive and impressive digestive pyrotechnics, capable of rivaling Zambelli’s best Fourth of July displays. Read more…
Mrs. Powder Puff, ChicagoAge and Occupation: 25, Preschool TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Career ServicesEngagement Date: May, 2008Wedding Date: July, 2009Blogging Since: November 12, 2008Venue: Outdoor ceremony, banquet hall receptionAbout Me: I am your typical Midwestern girl attempting to plan a sane, budget-friendly, fun wedding to the man of my dreams. I love shoes, laughing at “Platinum Weddings”, crafts, inspiration boards, candy, and basically anything I can DIY. While weddings can certainly be all-consuming, I honestly can’t wait until the ceremony is over and I can finally call Mr. Powder Puff my husband!
While I’m home here in Michigan, I decided to take advantage of my free time to do a little crafting.
After battling through piles of fabric, burns from my hot glue gun, and pricks with a needle, I’ve emerged victorious, and am ready to share my results with you all!
Here it is- the wedding sash DIY.
Materials:
Fabric
Ribbon
Needle
Thread in coordinating color
Small pearls (optional)
Velcro
Hot glue gun and glue
1. You’ll need about 1/2 yard of fabric, depending on how many fabric flowers you’d like to make. For the sash itself you’ll want about 1 yard of ribbon. Adjust this to your waist size, of course. To secure the ribbon around my waist, I bought a pack of Velcro squares.
Mrs. Taffy, Ann ArborAge and Occupation: 28, Color and Materials DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Automotive DesignerEngagement Date: May 9, 2008Wedding Date: May 2009Blogging Since: September 14, 2008Venue: University of Michigan UnionAbout Me: I’m a girl who is crazy about Mr. Taffy, sewing, dancing, almost all types of sweets, and our cute pet canaries. I dislike touching fuzzy fabric of any kind, eating somewhat squishy food, and Michigan winters. Mr. Taffy and I are having a blast planning our Ann Arbor wedding, and cannot wait to share our day with friends and family.
I’ve already posted about our decision to use our engagement photos for holiday gifts, but I did not mention our holiday card! I didn’t want to spoil the surprise for our friends before the cards reached their mailboxes.
Miss Fondue, NashvilleAge and Occupation: 27, Technical AnalystFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Network Admin Student/Senior Game AdvisorEngagement Date: December 25, 2007Wedding Date: May 2009Blogging Since: September 14, 2008Venue: Ravenwood Golf ClubAbout Me: I’m your average computer geek marrying a gaming geek and trying to find a good balance of elegance and geek chic in our wedding. I adore The Sims, Nintendo, cosplay, (good) music, TiVo, theme parks, and our two crazy felines.
One of the gifts I received from my brother and his girlfriend for Christmas was a game called Wedding Dash 2. I’d never played the first one, but if you’ve played any of the Dash series of games, then this one is fairly similar.
You play as Quinn, a top wedding planner. She is competing to have the honor of planning a very exclusive wedding. She travels to many different places to plan weddings for each leg of the competition.
She first receives a letter from the bride and groom. This letter will give some brief ideas of the theme of the wedding.
Mrs. Martini, New JerseyAge and Occupation: 30, Telecom by day, Superhero by nightFiance's Age and Occupation: 32, Investments & Finance by day, Hip hop dancer by nightEngagement Date: May 24, 2008Wedding Date: March, 2009Blogging Since: August 18, 2008Venue: The VenetianAbout Me: Things that make me happy: Haribo Happy Cola gummies, TV shows on DVD, buying books although I never read them, 80’s rock ballads, ramen, and of course Mr. Martini! He is the calm, logical and number crunching finance guy. I can’t even multiply double digit numbers in my head and I am so indecisive that trying to choose between light green or slightly lighter green paper stresses me out (Wedding planning is going to be soooo much fun). We both find great joy in nabbing great seats at the movie theater for a blockbuster movie on opening weekend, and we are both absolutely crazy about snowboarding. And he loves to cook, I love to eat!
I first saw the idea of a handmade gift card holder from Mrs. Eggplant’s blog. I thought it was the most adorable thing I’d ever seen! I wanted to try making one myself, but I had a bit of a problem: I can’t follow written instructions! I refuse to read manuals and just thinking about assembling anything gives me a headache. It might be because I’m very right brained, but the best way I learn how to do things is to watch someone else do it first. I’m pretty quick with that - usually I get it after just one demonstration. But I try to stay away from manuals or step by step written instructions and would rather have Mr. Martini (who prefers learning from a manual) learn it first, and just teach me. So when I saw that Mrs. Eggplant linked to the tutorial on how to make this gift holder, I assumed it was going to be complicated and didn’t even bother checking it out.
Fast forward to the Christmas season. My FSIL wanted only music for Christmas, so Mr. Martini and I decided to get her two CD mixes, one from Mr. Martini and one from me (since we have such different tastes in music), along with an iTunes gift card. So all of a sudden I had a gift card to give, but no gift card holder. I thought back to Eggplant’s blog, took a deep breath, and clicked over to the tutorial. I was going to try and tackle this paper craft once and for all. Read more…
Mrs. Crab Cake, Columbus, GAAge and Occupation: 25, Registered NurseFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Director of Education and Living History for a museumEngagement Date: April 6, 2008Wedding Date: June, 2009Blogging Since: November 26, 2008Venue: Holy Family Catholic Church, reception: National Infantry MuseumAbout Me: I'm a perfectionist trying to balance two jobs, motherhood, my craft obsession, and wedding planning. I am obsessed with all things wedding, especially creative ideas for saving money and DIY projects. A Southern Belle at heart, I love anything southern, especially sweet tea, grits, afternoon thunder storms, crab cakes, and good old Southern hospitality. Mr. Crab Cake and I are planning a vintage inspired wedding with tons of Southern flare (can y'all say that with a thick Southern drawl?).
I was on the colorguard (or flag corp, whichever) in high school, and I was in the best shape of my life. I could easy do 100 pushups and situps. My legs were in great shape from dancing on the football field 5-6 days a week and my arms were cut from throwing equipment around while dancing on the field. And I was bloody skinny. Not so much anymore. I started gaining weight before Mini CC was born, and while I did lose most of my pregnancy weight, there’s still some hanging around.
Now that Christmas is over, and I no longer have the holidays as an excuse to not bother losing weight, it’s time to get serious.
The weight that needs to go isn’t a lot (about 15-20 lbs.), but it’s there, and I can feel it making a negative impact on my health. My back hurts, my hips hurt, and I’m tired all the time. I don’t have a lot of energy. It’s definitely time to make a change.
What I don’t want to do is crash diet. I’ll gain the weight right back and those crash diets are usually not very good for you. I want to make a positive change in my lifestyle. Read more…
Mrs. Penguin, Northern CaliforniaAge and Occupation: 27, Weddingbee Editor in ChiefFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Doctor of Physical TherapyEngagement Date: January 29, 2007Wedding Date: June 7, 2008Blogging Since: September 14, 2007Venue: Winery in the Gold CountryAbout Me: I love the Spice Girls, dogs with underbites, bean burritos, making messes, high fives, avoiding showers, crossword puzzles, blogs, weddings, and blogs about weddings!
). I’ll never forget walking down that two-metre aisle with the minister bellowing, “dum, dum da dum,” Longherin-style, and our wedding party awkwardly following suit.
