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Weddingbee Blog
1. Prelude, 2. Tea Ceremony, 3. Getting Ready, 4. The Kids, 5. Wedding Party, 6. Down the Aisle 7. Ceremony, 8. Group Shots, 9. Couple Shots, 10. Jump Shots 11. House Shots, 12. Cocktails and Dinner
After our over dramatic lip-syncing introduction (note the standing ovation for our performance behind us here), we walked over to our sweetheart table to drop off my bouquet and headed right back out to the dance floor. Though of course, not before presenting the fountain like it’s in The Price Is Right’s showcase.
I love choreography, and had wanted to DIY that too. I dreamt of a first dance like this one:
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Before I unveil our invitations, I have a confession to make.
I am a textile whore. A fiber snob.
That’s right. I love textiles! I need to touch everything. I can’t make a purchase, any purchase, without touching the item first. It’s very hard for me to order clothing and fabric online because I can’t touch it. I have to rely on natural fibers to guide me towards good fabric online. I even have a hard time with simple things like pots, pans, and dishes, because I need to touch and feel them. Silly? Yeah, probably, but my skin has a strong aversion to synthetic fibers.
How did I get to be this way? It’s all Mr. CC’s fault. Before I met him, I loved textile arts, and by that I mean knitting and sewing. I liked natural fibers, but I was not nearly as snobby about them back then. I was able to justify sacrificing natural fiber for price (in some instances). Then I met Mr. CC. And soon, I was introduced to Civil War reenacting. Now, I know what you all are thinking. Yes, it’s redneck and Southern. I don’t care. It’s fun. I get to go camping, which I’ve always loved, and wear (as) authentic (as possible) Civil War Era gowns, complete with corsets and hoop skirts. Anyway, it is an extremely expensive hobby. A good dress runs anywhere from $200-$400, depending on the material, and a ball gown runs upwards of $600. People, this is highway robbery. Okay, I’m totally getting off topic. Long story short, I couldn’t afford to buy my gowns, so I make all my own clothing, right down to the crotch-less drawers (yes ma’am!) and corsets. And that’s where my fiber snobbery was born. You cannot wear synthetic fibers in Civil War reenacting. Period. You will die. Okay, so the wool is bad enough. And with 6-8 layers of clothing on during the dead of summer, you need to get some air in there. Plus, polyester didn’t exist in 1861. All of my gowns and garments are 100% natural. They’re mostly cotton, but there’s some silk in there too. The snobbery spilled over into my knitting as well. You won’t find me knitting with anything synthetic anymore.
So, let me show you the array of fabrics that have been purchased in honor of our nuptials.
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Alright, let’s be real. How many wedding magazines have you bought thus far? I am not even sure I can count. Plus, I “inherited” a pile from one of my best friends who got married shortly after our engagement. I definitely have my favorite magazines. I’ve found that some magazines are so full of advertisements and other random things that they aren’t too useful. The websites and blogs I’ve discovered seem to be more useful and original than what I find in magazines. But I still can’t resist when Martha Stewart Weddings comes out, along with some others.
In the pile of magazines there is one that has stood out to be the most useful, readable, and practical. Real Simple Weddings has to be one of my favorite finds since I started wedding planning. It’s like an easy, dummy-proof wedding manual. They just came out with their 2nd issue (I think they publish once a year) and it is just as wonderful as the first.
One of the best things is that Crate and Barrel is the only advertiser in the pages, so the publication is clean and easy to read.
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I’ve been thinking about just having the ushers wear black suits for the occasion - it seems silly to me to ask them to shell out money on a tux, especially when we’re doing black and white anyway… I figure most of the guys have a basic black suit in their closet.
Since buying gifts for the guys always seems to be a struggle, I thought ties would be nice for the groomsmen. I mean, if they’re already wearing black suits and a white shirt, we could tie their “look” together with matching ties. Etsy’s Rabbit Stop has an amazing selection of ties, and they’re pretty much all $17.50 - what a steal!
Source: Etsy
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.”
Sorry for the delay with Part Two of photos from our fabulous Valentines swap (and in case you missed Part One, it’s here). Without further ado…
AliCherri1’s fabulous and fun collage Valentines.
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Mr. Joey and I have been dating for a little over 4 years, but have known each other for almost 5 years. We met when we both worked at EMP. I had just left my job and DC, and was planning to spend the summer in Seattle before heading to grad school in England. I had such a rewarding but stressful job in DC and was looking for something fun and super easy for the summer. I got a job as a Guest Services Representative (slave with light labor) and started the following Monday.
I remember the first time I saw Mr. Joey. I thought, “Hmm, he’s cute and I could see myself liking him.” Of course I was trying to be practical and decided I wouldn’t date anyone over the summer. Mr. Joey was a great friend to make. I really enjoyed our time together that summer as friends. Dating wasn’t really an option then as he was dating someone already and I ended up having a nice summer fling. That’s practical right?
Mr. Joey and I left EMP on the same day. While I was headed over the Atlantic, he was headed to St. John’s University in New York. We parted ways but promised to stay in touch. Over the next several months we shared a lot of emails. I really valued his emails and though he didn’t know it, he helped me get through the initial adjustment to Manchester a lot. Moving to England isn’t as easy as one might think. I kept myself sane between Katie, Mr. Joey and my friends at the Cafe I worked part-time at.
We were both headed home for Christmas and arranged to do a little gift swap over dinner.
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Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
On one particular day this past week, I received two emails from readers asking why we don’t have any African American Bees. That same day, I received another email asking why there were so many Asian and Caucasian bloggers on Weddingbee. We get a lot of emails from readers requesting that we feature bloggers of a certain ethnicity, geographic region, budget, religion or gender. We haven’t blogged about diversity and the hive since May 2007, so I thought it was about time to revisit the topic.
While we’d love to have the most diverse hive possible, we can really only select bloggers from our pool of applicants, so our Bees are indicative of the type of applications we receive. In the past, we’ve encouraged bloggers of all different backgrounds to apply, but other than that, we don’t have too much control over the types of brides (and grooms) that apply.
So how do we decide who becomes a Bee? Well the Bees help us decide — they know what it’s like to be a Weddingbee blogger better than anyone. 
While we do look at many different factors when evaluating applications, ultimately it comes down to the quality of the blog. We’re not going to turn a blogger away because their demographic is already represented on Weddingbee. And we’re also not going to accept a blogger who has a weak blog for the sake of diversity. Do you think this is a good policy?
We’ve had Caucasian, Asian, Southeast Asian, African American, Hispanic, groom, lesbian, bisexual, plus-size, Jewish, Christian, Catholic, Mormon, British, Canadian, encore brides, brides with children, big budget and small budget bloggers on Weddingbee. I hope that we’ve made it clear that potential Bees of any and every background always have been and always will be welcome!
Is the diversity of the Weddingbee bloggers something you think about? Do you think we need to be taking specific steps to make the hive more diverse? If so, what? We’d love to hear your thoughts!
I got my wedding band from the jeweler’s the other week, and I must say that I don’t love it. He is the same jeweler in New York who made my engagement ring, and he has excellent prices (and we trust him). After a couple very specific emails back and forth, he sent me an image of the ring. It’s everything I wanted: bead set, milgrain, thin band, with engraving detail on the sides.
We are sooooo excited that we have found our rehearsal dinner space. We have been going back and forth about locations and finally found the place. Wait for it… it is called The Apple Barn. How perfect for the Apple Ciders. I have been to a wedding reception at The Apple Barn and fell in love with the rustic, country feel.
It’s unjust. You spend hours, days, even months searching and agonizing over finding the perfect dress. Then you finally find it, order it, wait forever for it to come, and go through the expensive alterations process. It’s finally completely perfect… and you get to wear it for a total of less than 24 hours!
I’ve been putting off this decision for a while, but the time has come to decide what to do with my beloved wedding gown. To be honest, I had always thought I would sell my dress. It’s the practical thing to do, considering how much it is worth and how much joy it could bring another person. Plus, I really never will have an opportunity to wear it again. Plus, we could use a new couch. Plus, it doesn’t deserve to be in a box forever. I could go on and on. So selling my dress was always the plan. Except, it’s been eight? no, NINE months, and I still can’t quite bring myself to put it out on the market.
You see, I’m a pretty sentimental person, being a scrapbooker and all. I love little keepsakes and saving things or pieces of things that elicit a beautiful memory. It is so easy to forget and take for granted all your blessings, and there is something about having a tangible keepsake that helps to keep those moments alive. My wedding gown… see, that is something so special and personal.
But keeping it doesn’t make any sense!
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Aside from meeting a bunch of the East Coast bees (which no tour/sight would even come close to comparing to!) the Original Greenwich Village Food Tasting and Cultural Walking Tour was by far my favorite experience of the week. I’m not ashamed to say it: eating was very very high on my list of important things to do in New York. Culture is nice, but um… have you SEEN the burgers at Shake Shack? Hook me up! So, having the opportunity to learn about the history of one particular neighborhood and getting a sampling of its finest tastes was just incredible. Even if you’re a local, I highly suggest taking one of the several food tours that this company has to offer. Especially as a tourist, you’re able to knock out a lot of the “must eat foods of New York” all in one afternoon.
The tour started at Joe’s Pizza, where we kicked it off with an authentic slice of New York pizza. John’s Pizzeria is also nearby, which I hear is absolutely amazing and I’m sad we didn’t have time to go there.
Cake cutting sounds pretty straightforward, doesn’t it? You and your new husband find a spot on the cake, and slice right through. Surprisingly, lots of bees have noted that cake cutting isn’t exactly cut and dry! From discovering that the cake is MUCH harder to cut than anticipated, to staff forgetting to lay out plates and utensils for the cutting, to the awkward cake feeding, the cake cutting is a portion of the wedding that could use a little practice and setup beforehand!
What are your tips for a smooth cake cutting? Have you ever witnessed a particularly memorable cake cutting? What made that cutting so memorable? The cake cutting wiki needs a lot of love, and we’d love it if you could pitch in with your tips, tricks, and links to help current and future brides out!
If you’re unsure how you can contribute to the wiki, take a peek at this wiki article on how to edit a wiki. Check it out and share your expertise! Or, if you’re shy, just leave your tips in the comments, and we can add them to the wiki for you!
I posted previously about Japanese kusudama, which are paper balls usually made out of flowers or other shapes. The origami skills needs to create these cute little flowers is not anything that should intimidate anyone who hasn’t done origami before. But actually finishing a kusudama is time consuming! One kusudama is made up of 12 flowers, or the equivalent of 60 petals.
After a full Sunday afternoon of work, I had my finished my practice kusudama!
Wedding planning and the preparation for a transition into a new chapter of life is stressful. We learn to balance it along with our regular lives of work, school, family, and everything else going on. We have our to-do lists, countdowns, Excel spreadsheets, and the plan in place to make sure that everything happens without a blip on the radar. This described me; I had lots going on, but I had a schedule, a routine, and plan to get it all done. And then came this thing called “life” that messed with my carefully organized plan.
I’m having surgery today, but let me back up and start at the beginning.
In December I went in for my routine physical and my blood tests came back abnormal. I had an extremely high level of blood platelets, specifically I had 1.6 million, when normal is between 100,000-400,000. Your platelets are what make your blood clot, so I was at risk for clotting, heart attack, stroke, and also bleeding, when so many platelets will become ineffective. Basically, to make a long story short, I was immediately placed on a mild form of chemotherapy in pill form to lower my platelet levels. It’s not the traditional form you think of that causes you to lose hair, but it lowered my red blood and white blood count, along with my energy and immunity. I had to be careful about coming in contact with any germs and be constantly aware of my energy levels.
To determine what was happening with my blood I underwent blood tests, ultrasounds, a bone marrow biopsy and a CAT scan. From the bone marrow biopsy they were able to determine that I did not have a life threatening cancer or other disease, but that something was wrong with the production of my blood from the bone marrow.
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