Weddingbee Blog

If I could change the caption on this cartoon, it would say, “I’ll be back later — I’m going to Marshall’s to practice my registry buying resistance techniques.”

I have a problem. No, it doesn’t have to do with shoes or clothes (though that can be a problem). Yes, my problem is that I keep buying stuff off our registry. Our registry is small enough as it is, and now I’m buying stuff off of it.
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I love this:

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This lovely cupcake tower. Did the couple in Martha Stewart Weddings make this? It’s so modern, simple, streamlined and perfectly un-cutesy. The thought of a DIY project makes me cry after another long day of work, but perhaps I should get over myself and do it anyway? Sigh… props and kudos to anyone who can: 1) tell me how to make this, or 2) tell me where I can buy something just like it. I will be forever grateful.

We all gripe talk about the nuttiness of wedding planning, how our previously sane selves suddenly find ourselves in a heaping pile of sobs over our invitations or color schemes. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I don’t really find wedding planning fun and I didn’t really expect it to be, and you all know that I’ve been reduced to a snotty sobbing mess more than once. How does it happen? And why?

I think I have an inkling of an answer, everything suddenly coming together for me in recent experiences involving forgotten flowers, honeymoon plans and the photography schedule. Let me explain.

You all know by now about the forgotten flower order, but I didn’t really forget, I just didn’t get around to it. Why? Don’t know, but every time I pulled up the website and my credit card, I felt weird and I’d do something else instead.

Mr. C and I spent hours and hours last night finally booking our honeymoon. We’d known where we wanted to go for a while (more on that later) but we just hadn’t gotten around to it. I’d start researching, get overwhelmed by all of the options, and do something else (now you know why I’ve been blogging so often — AVOIDANCE). Even with my excited fiance at my side, I struggled to think of it all as fun! and exciting! rather than stressful and overwhelming.
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Way back in December of 2008, Mama and Daddy Frenchie threw Mr Frenchie and me an engagement party. The idea of the invite started with a picture taken by the very talented Jessica Claire at the wedding of my very good friend Tiffany Michelle. FH and I had been dating about 2 months when Tiffany married her awesome hubbers, Dan, and Jessica caught this shot of us laughing on the dance floor.

It has been my mother’s favorite photo ever since, and she wanted it incorporated into the invite. Here is what we came up with, and how we did it…
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You’ve seen our save-the-date and the gorgeous horse that Mr. Cowboy Boot drew. The horse wasn’t exactly planned for. There were several ranch-themed ideas Mr. Cowboy Boot played with–barns, barn swallows, and prairie grass–before whipping up the image that adorns our save-the-dates. He put a lot of time into “our horse” and it shows. We plan to use this image as a monogram of sorts.

Mr. Cowboy Boot’s horse

Now, because I love this horse as much as I do (and because Devil’s Thumb Ranch has hundreds of horses and a gorgeous stable), the horse theme started to grow. I suddenly wanted to thread horse-related objects and images throughout our decor. To be honest, it’s not like we’re horse people. We didn’t grow up riding nor do we own horses or anything like that, but we do love the animals. They are just so gorgeous.

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1. Little Dumpling Surprise! by Mrs. Dumpling
2. Try #2… by Miss Gloss
3. I Want to Be Mrs. Joe Blow. by Miss Mary Jane
4. Lucky by Miss Cheese
5. With a Woof and a Smile… I’m Miss Yorkie! by Miss Yorkie
6. I Like Pedicures, But I Also Like Money by Miss Deviled Egg, A Good Dog Down by Miss Joey
7. Hair Here? by Miss Swan
8. Sewing Clutches for the Ladies by Miss Peep Toe
9. The “W” Word by Miss Swan
10. Le Honeymoon by Miss Cowboy Boot

Pink ribbons, vintage roses, a long veil… I never knew I was that girl!! I’ve talked about her before here. It’s just uncanny how wedding planning turns a person into TG. So, I own it; I’m in love with all that flowery, pink, and sparkly stuff. I surprised myself. I know, it was obvious to everyone, but me.

Aaaaanyway, after I saw this image (like so many other bees) on Martha last week, I decided that I need the petal toss. I never planned on the toss, so this last-minute addition really was a surprise.

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I didn’t consider it before because, well, it didn’t appeal to me. Plus, the way the chairs are arranged around the boxwoods in the garden where our ceremony will take place, it would be difficult to get a good aim!
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Today, I’d like to tell you the story of my hair!

For most of my life, I had long hair like this:

(Me, December 2002)

Then when I got older, I decided to try shorter hair, like this:

(Me, November 2007)

But it really bothered me that I couldn’t have a ponytail or braid. So I started growing it back out, until it got like this:
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Once again, I spent a boring day at home. I decided to break up the monotony by doing what so many bees before me have done: take some artistic shots of my e-ring. It’s like a rite of passage! Besides, my last mention of my ring broke the first rule of Weddingbee PRO Anne Ruthmann’s tutorial on amazing engagement ring shots. I couldn’t leave you guys with those amateur shots to remember my ring by!

So, with the help of some items laying around the house and editing on iPhoto and Picnik.com, I came up with these new photos using my Sony Cybershot!

*WARNING* My ring was being a camera whore, so you’ll have to excuse the number of photos. I took over 100 photos of her and narrowed them down to the 11 you’re about to see!

This is a picture holder with a champagne bucket base. I had to play around with the adjustable threshold in Picnik until I couldn’t see the pole for attaching a photo sticking up out of it.
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Reader michart is selling chocolate brown taffeta tablecloths. There are (16) 120″ ROUND CLOTHS AND (5) 90″ tablecloths available. They are slightly used but in good condition. Make an offer!

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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Presenting our sandalwood fans! I purchased 50 of them on sale through The Knot shortly after Mr. Yorkie and I got engaged. They were actually my first wedding-related purchase, if you don’t count that copy of Martha Stewart Weddings. At the time, I knew that our date would likely be in June. While we hadn’t yet decided on a venue, we definitely wanted it to be outdoors. So, in an effort to keep our fairer guests cool while we say “I do”, we’ll be providing these fans. I think they’ll make a much nicer alternative to them flapping our ceremony programs!

Here’s what I used to make them:

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On the Fontalicious post, many of you brought up VERY important points, so I decided to put the fonts into practice. I printed out the fonts on our test cardstock - which was actually several shades lighter than the actual envelopes (oops) and traced over each of the fonts.

As you probably know, writing with a manuscript/calligraphy pen is different than writing with a normal pen. This means that it took me a spot of time to get used to writing with it. But once I got into the swing of it, I started to have fun! Creating the thicker/thinner lines, the flourish of the scroll - all those things were fun. What wasn’t so much fun? Figuring just how much ink I should have on my pen at any given time. This is why a few of the lowercase “Es” just look like blobs. LESS IS MORE! LESS IS MORE!

I kept having flashbacks to bottle cutting where my haste (seriously) made waste. I, however, do not have an endless supply of envelopes like I do wine bottles, so I need to learn patience with this project. Or, I could hire a nun to rap me on the knuckles when I get ahead of myself. Either one.

On to the Font Tracing Superlatives:
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In addition to wonderful ceremony traditions, some who want to bring African traditions into their weddings opt to wear ethnic-inspired attire. While I tend not to be too traditional in my view of what one should do for weddings, I do love the look of a traditional wedding dress. At the same time, I think it would be cool to rock an nontraditional dress/outfit like these below, all while expressing your culture.

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Who says grooms can’t get involved too? I love gold and white, especially in the summer.

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Everything happens to everybody sooner or later if there is time enough.

George Bernard Shaw
Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 – 1950)

With nine days to go, I’m ready to unveil my super-duper effective prioritization technique, the one I use when “if I remember it it’s important” isn’t working (hi, I forgot to order flowers!): Sooner or Later.

I have a thousand things floating in my head, and I find myself feeling frazzled and unable to get anything done because I’m trying to get everything done. Every bridal site and magazine tells you to make lists, but none of them tell you what to do with them. Looking at a to-do list a mile long doesn’t make me feel better, it makes me feel worse. And if I try to put a schedule around everything left to do, I end up losing my shit because we’re behind my schedule (yea, yea, I’m a project manager by training). As Miss Meatball would say, no bueno.

{Brief aside: I hate running, and if I have to run, I’d prefer to be on a treadmill. Why? Because I cannot handle being on a track or trail and seeing how far I have to go. At least on a treadmill, a mile is just a number.}

So I have this long long list and a headache. Now what?
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The accursed and unofficial “state bird” of New Jersey loves my O Negative something fierce. Come summer, I can’t venture outside without a container of insect repellent close at hand. If and when I do, the results aren’t pretty.

Weather permitting, I’ll be spending several hours outside on the wedding day. While I know that being in the city makes me less of a target for mosquitos, I’m still afraid the bugs will be a-nipping, particularly while we’re in the lush, green historic park areas.

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