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Weddingbee Blog
WPPI is the largest gathering of wedding and portrait photographers in the entire world, and when that many cameras converge in the same place, photo shoots are bound to happen. The subjects are sometimes “real” people (posing for engagement shoots or bridals), but usually they are local models. Between the photography conference and bunches of Valentine’s Day weddings, it’s a tough weekend to rent a wedding dress (I know, because we did it!).
A lot of the shoots are “group shoots”, with lots of photographers gathering around the same subject. What you see below is actually a shoot happening for a class my mom was taking (she is standing in the far left side of this photo holding the camera to her face). My mom flew in a few days before the conference officially started to take a class with one of the world’s best portrait photographers, Bambi Cantrell. I’m pretty sure my mom mentioned that Bambi photographed the family of Vanessa Williams once, and that her photo shoots can sometimes cost upwards of $100,000. The classes sound really fun, with a few hours of classroom instruction with the pro, and then some time with professional models attempting to reenact the principles that were just taught in the classroom.
There is a new printable Michaels coupon out! Get 40% off of one regular priced item, valid through 3/14. The coupon can be used once per person, per day, per store (did you get all that?!). But, in case you are wondering, no one is stopping you from hitting up NINE Michaels stores and using a new coupon at each one! Take advantage of this coupon and stock up on pricier items such as:
As you all know, my beloved music snob is in charge of music. Now that he’s got the ceremony music out of the way, his next task at hand was the first dance song. For someone with hundreds of CDs, finding one song has proven to be a daunting task. Mr. Joey just couldn’t come up with anything!
Knowing his musical tastes, I tried to help suggest a few songs. I thought I had a winner with When the Stars Go Blue by Ryan Adams, but I swung and missed. I thought for sure any number of Stevie Wonder songs would do, but again, nothing. I decided to give up temporarily and concentrate on other things. We have a while, after all.
On the second day of assembling invitations, I put on a CD I love, Another Country by Tift Merritt. I was never a country fan before I met Mr. Joey. While I’m still not big on Popular Country, I have come to really like Alternative Country, which apparently Tift Merritt’s work is categorized as.
So, I’ve already posted about the lovely clutches I’m working on for the bridesmaids. After I started thinking about what little things I wanted to tuck inside of the clutches (beyond their jewelry), my mind immediately went to vintage handkerchiefs. Since the bridesmaids dresses have pockets, the girls can easily stash these hankies, to be pulled out **just in case** the tears of happiness start flowing.
I’d started my search on Etsy and was determined to get hankies with monograms for each girl… which proved to be a rather unsuccessful effort. If you’re willing to take the time and acquire these one by one, it’s completely possible. If you’re antsy like me and want to get it done all at once, you’re probably going to wind up empty handed.
Instead, I set my sights on finding 5 different hankies that I felt all went together in some shape or form, but were all different - kind of like my bridesmaids! Each is unique in her own way. I came across Etsy seller Kindred Thymes who had a great selection at fabulous prices. And, it’s a much better deal overall to buy these from the same seller, if possible.
Each and every one of these hankies is sweet and special, while also being crisp and snowy white.
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.”
No, this isn’t a proposal story — but without this piece of the puzzle, we might never have gotten to where we are today! So, let me explain…
Midway through high school, I’d had it with boys. Vowing to avoid awkward moments henceforth (yup, that’s all the detail you’re getting) I threw myself into my studies. College visits, tours and applications marked the rapidly-passing months. Soon, I was waiting to hear from schools, and preparing for a hectic spring.
Hectic because, see, I was a self-confessed “choir dork”, actively involved in the choral music program at my high school. The warmer months meant a musical, “Broadway Night” (all 300 singers in matching t-shirts on stage performing thematic medleys, like oldies and Disney) and a music trip (as an “off” year, we were just riding down to Virginia Beach).
Imagine my surprise when, in the midst of this craziness, I suddenly began “noticing” one of the juniors in my curricular choral group. And my initial reaction? Frustration at myself! (Why are you losing focus? You’re graduating in a few months! Is this really worth it?)
Amazingly, reckless and daring Miss Bruschetta won out, and I found myself wandering up to said junior in the cafeteria during the final Broadway Night intermission.
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I think I’ve been living in a dream world, because I just realized that the Los Angeles County tax hike is occurring PRIOR to our wedding. As of April 1, 2009, our new tax rate will be a ginormous 9.25% instead of its previous rate of 8.25%.
Great. And the hits just keep on coming. I guess I should be happy we aren’t having our wedding in Pico Rivera (an area of Los Angeles county) where their tax increase will bring them to 10.25%. Jeez.
If you are living in L.A., or anywhere in California for that matter, and are wondering how you will be affected, check out this link: http://www.boe.ca.gov/news/pdf/l212b.pdf.
Have you hit any unexpected budget bumps along the planning road?
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
The Rehearsal, Rehearsal Dinner, Rehearsal Dinner Gifts, Getting Ready, First Glance
This post could be alternately titled “The Pineapples Publicly Display Affection”. Mellon Park is a popular spot for skateboarding teens and pooping pigeons. Luckily, I think we managed to scare off both. We did have a small audience of on-lookers, one of whom said to her husband, “Look at those beautiful flowers!” She must have been wondering how we managed to get peonies in October.
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When Mr. M and I got engaged, I decided I wanted to ask the girls to be my bridesmaids in a special way. Since the girls are spread out all over the place, I knew a taking them out to dinner was not a viable option. I didn’t want to just ask them over the phone, but I wasn’t going to see most of them for quite a while. I decided that sending something was the most logical option. But what would I send them? After searching the internet for original ways to ask them (I had not discovered the world of wedding blogging just yet) I came across a cute, yet slightly cheesy poem:
“Roses are red, violets are blue, will you be my bridesmaid? Please say I do!”
This sparked an idea… I decided I’d “propose” to them! So I searched and searched and searched (for weeks) for a pretty, yet affordable ring that they would all like. It was torture keeping the secret from them, especially since I saw one of the girls every day at work! Finally I came across this ring on Overstock, and I knew it was the one!
While waiting for the rings to arrive, I made each of them a card with the poem on it and a little personalized note inside.
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During the final few songs that were played at our reception, I didn’t want to let go of my new husband. We kept asking each other, incredulously, “Did you have any idea how much FUN this was going to be!?”
I think in this photo we are screaming at each other the “BUM BUM BUUUUM” part of “Sweet Caroline”… you know, “good times never seemed so good”? It was appropriate. 
10. I stumbled upon them. I wasn’t even looking for shoes when I was at David’s Bridal the other day, and then BAM… there they were! I love it when that happens.
9. They are dyeable. I can have them dyed to match my somewhere-in-between-white-and-ivory dress, or get a punch of color by going for a nice shade of celadon green. Oh, and dyeing at David’s will only cost $3!
8. They are comfortable! They seriously have the potential to stay on my feet all night. They feel that good when I have them on.
7. They fit! When you have size 11 feet, it’s hard to find cute shoes in your size, so finding this pair was a huge relief.
6. The heel is the right height! I’ll be able to verify this for certain on Saturday when I have my first gown fitting, but from my initial calculations, they will be just the right height to eliminate the need to hem my dress. With all of the beading at the bottom, I’m excited that I won’t have to pay extra fees for alterations and beading.
5. They are satin! I love how the sheen of the fabric makes them look glamorous without being too over-the-top on the shiny factor.
4. They are peep toes! I have never owned a pair of peep toes before (this comes back to the cute, affordable shoes in my size issue) and I love that I get to wear my first pair on my wedding day!
3. They are accented with rhinestone buckles! I love how that gives them just the right amount of sparkly!
2. They were on clearance! As a bargain shopper, there is nothing better than getting something you need and love for way less than you expected to pay.
And, the number one reason why I am in love with my shoes is…
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I am so excited about the ties my dear Mr. AC has picked. I will admit I was nervous about what he would pick. I wanted them to be “cool” but wanted them to be 100% his choice. Well, choose he did, and I am in love with the ties. I have purchased ties from Cyberopitix before, but Mr. AC hadn’t been introduced until recently. Once I introduced him to the ties, the ideas flowed.
His pick was this awesome tie called “swinger” - get it? They are swinging from the chandeliers. We are thinking either the olive color, or possibly a deep purple, to match the girls:
I am the absolute worst Bee blogger ever. I went to my first dress fitting—and the camera in my battery was dead!! I feel like I committed a blogging crime by doing something so important and not taking my camera. If it’s any help, my Mom was a bit disappointed that I didn’t take any pictures either.
The good news is: the fitting was fantastic. To my surprise, it wasn’t just a muslin of my dress—but the actual dress. At first I was totally disappointed because it was so big on me that it just looked like a satin sack. Then, two fabulous seamstresses came down from the 6th floor and did their magic. Using tons of pins and a seam ripper they completely modified the dress to fit my body. At the end of the experience, I got to meet Lilly—the woman who actually sewed my dress. The even better news, I will have at least 3 more fittings—-and I promise to take my camera to the next three!!
Since I feel like I owe the hive a picture of me in a dress, I thought I should follow up on my fabulous DVF dress. I’ve already introduced you to Peyton, but here she is on me (Sorry, I had to cut off my head):
After our post-ceremony photo shoot on the beach, Mr Breezy and I headed back to our suite with the wedding party to freshen up before dinner (read: the guys smoked cigars while the girls touched up their makeup and then almost wet themselves over the hilarity that was me almost dipping my dress into the potty - I’ll spare you the photos of that).
Then we made our way to the oceanfront seafood restaurant where everyone was standing outside, waiting for us.
I’m not too sure why I felt that tooting my trucker horn was an appropriate thing to do in this moment but what can I say? I was reaaaaaally excited.
Why?
Because we were about to do our hugely fun Polish wedding tradition!
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