Mrs. Green Tea, SacramentoAge and Occupation: 30, Tea AnalystFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Coffee CriticEngagement Date: November 17, 2006Wedding Date: August 23, 2008Blogging Since: June 10, 2008Venue: Vineyard on the DeltaAbout Me: I'm just your average obsessive compulsive, arts & crafts loving, funky-on-the-inside/boring-on-the-outside girl, who dares to say 'Hey! I can make that!' Nerdy professional by day, goofy won-ton by night. The won-ton sometimes comes out during the day when I'm fed the dollar breakfast at Ikea. Since our engagement, wedding planning has put me on high alert for bargains and I've been pushing my nimble fingers through callous building experiments!
EDIT: Apologies to those who were asking about this post, I had to take it offline for awhile and completely redo the photos. I know it took me a long time and the photos aren’t as good as before, but everything is harder to do sinceI’m far from home, sorry about that.
Here are the invites I designed for MOH-Ho’s wedding. I worked really hard on making these efficient (the set is printed on a single sheet of 8.5×11 cardstock). While I thoroughly enjoy receiving a pretty invite, I also feel terrible when I throw out fancy sets that include so much material. So I was thrilled that MOH-Ho and her parents appreciated the compactness as I did!
Mrs. Swan, New York CityAge and Occupation: 31, Legislative RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Finance GuyEngagement Date: August 9, 2008Wedding Date: August 2009Venue: Battery GardensAbout Me: I am an un-crafty but resourceful, Caribbean-born but New York-raised woman who's been known to analyze "Dancing with the Stars" and “So You Think You Can Dance”, buy stinky cheese, and use way too many parentheses. I keep lists for fun, am constantly daydreaming of my next international travel adventure (four continents down, three to go), debating sports (let’s Got Mets/Giants!) and dancing around my apartment to stay sane. I am excited to share our wedding planning journey as I hope to plan a streamlined, personal, and fun wedding with the greatest life partner I could ever imagine, Mr. Swan.
While many people of African descent may not incorporate African/African-American elements into every aspect of their weddings, there are many small things that brides can do to add a little cultural flair. I hope to highlight some in the next few days.
Since Mr. Swan and I are an interracial couple, I am not sure whether we’ll incorporate many of these traditions into our wedding. While I doubt we’ll be having many of these elements, don’t get it twisted. I will be incorporating my Afro-Caribbean culture in some way. I’m still doing some fine-tuning. Also, while many of these traditions come from African/African-American culture, I think there is a beautiful universal meaning that anyone from any culture can take away from these celebrations. Read more…
Mrs. Bruschetta, PhiladelphiaAge and Occupation: 25, Communication ProfessionalFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Physical Therapy Graduate StudentEngagement Date: November 30, 2007Wedding Date: August 2009Venue: St. Thomas of Villanova Church & the F.U.E.L. HouseAbout Me: I’m a self-proclaimed grammar geek who loves singing (like, really belting it) in the car. My mister and I are planning a vibrant summer soiree celebrating our passions – including food and Philly – and when we make it official, we’ll have been together for eight years! Being super competitive is in my nature, and talking excessively is in my genes. I’ve got a terrible sense of direction, but can always easily find my way into Mr. Bruschetta’s arms.
Sure, I have my share of wedding-related secrets. Mr. Bruschetta’s made it clear I should conceal every aspect of my wedding day look from him, and I’m happy to comply. Daddy Bruschetta and I will be the only two, prior to the father-daughter dance, who know the song to which we’ll spin around the dance floor. And I’m definitely planning a few surprises for the Bruschetta ’maids and bridal attendants.
So I suppose it’s only fair to expect some secrecy directed my way. See, recently, I haven’t been able to shake the feeling that my gals — and even my mister — have been working to keep something from me. I’m intrigued. I’m nosy. I’m wondering when they’re going to let the cat out of the bag.
And I’m speculating exactly what they’ve got in the works. Read more…
Mrs. French Bulldog, Orange CountyAge and Occupation: 28, Administrative Assistant & Interior Design StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Purchasing AnalystEngagement Date: November 8, 2008Wedding Date: August 2009Venue: Bernardo WineryAbout Me: I've lived in Atlanta, Dallas and Laguna Niguel; although I've lived in Orange County, CA most my life, I'm a Southerner at heart. I work full time for a Commercial General Contractor (aka my father) and I go to school for Interior Design at night. I love modern design, music, wine, crafting, DMailing, my family, my Westies, and of course, Mr Frenchie! Mr Frenchie and I met 3 years ago on Match.com and have been best friends ever since. I love his "old soul" and how he laughs with his whole body, among many other things. We are planning our summer wedding at the winery near his hometown, just 45 minutes south of Orange County.
Mrs. Gloss, Boston/MaineAge and Occupation: 24, Designer/soon-to-be ArchitectFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Systems EngineerEngagement Date: May 23, 2008Wedding Date: August 2009Venue: SS Katahdin/Lakeside TentAbout Me: I don't like nickels or the skin that forms on pudding when it's in the fridge for too long. I couldn't live without Pantone markers, fountain soda (3/4 diet, ¼ regular Coke), run-on sentences, or ridiculously oversized sunglasses. I will try to DIY almost anything and am just OCD enough to make most of it work. I am truly excited about having all my family and friends together, becoming Mrs. Gloss, and having amazing photos to prove it!
My mom was in town this weekend to help me with the invitations (a post is coming soon, I promise!) and to celebrate Mother’s Day, so we took advantage of our time together and decided to search for her wedding day dress! In my mind, my mom is wearing a short dress in some type of champagne-y color, or maybe a light taupe or oyster. We looked everywhere for something in a style like this:
Today’s photo of the day was uploaded by naangel55. She is wearing a Maggie Sottero “Aurelie” dress, and shared with us her elaborate and beautiful bustle!
Keep on loading your inspirational wedding pics to the gallery to see them featured here on the blog! Remember, your images must be under 5MB in size, or they won’t load.
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?).
It’s hard to explain to people outside our social circle how much we like to turn everyday events into costume parties. Seriously, people’s birthday celebrations turn into costumed events. So, when Mr. CC wanted to costume our rehearsal dinner, I wasn’t terribly surprised, but I was a little dismayed by the idea of asking our families to dress in costume. A friend of ours suggested a costumed engagement party of sorts, and offered to host it.
The theme was Love Throughout the Ages, and everyone was asked to dress as a famous romantic couple.
Mr. CC and I, given our propensity for military history, dressed in ’40s era attire.
Our friends hosted the party in her parents’ historic home in Uptown. Read more…
Mrs. Mascara, Chicago/Upper MichiganAge and Occupation: 25, Biomedical EngineerFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Process EngineerEngagement Date: July 27, 2008Wedding Date: September 2009Venue: Catholic ceremony, reception at local armoryAbout Me: A lover of Mr. Mascara, crafting, baking, Gossip Girl, diet soda, and all things wedding. A Yooper girl somehow displaced in the Chicago suburbs, planning a wedding from a distance, and counting down the days until I marry my best friend.
I still haven’t finished the design of our invitations, but since I am easily distracted, I couldn’t help but move on to finding ideas for our rehearsal dinner invites. Imagine my excitement when I came across this lovely invitation from paper loving bride! I love the kraft paper, the simplicity of the design, and the address block on the envelope. It even has the flourish pattern that we’ve been carrying as a theme within all of our paper goods! Perfect!
Mrs. Joey, SeattleAge and Occupation: 28, Project Administrator for Public Health NGOFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, High School History TeacherEngagement Date: June 24, 2008Wedding Date: August 2009Venue: Eastside Catholic Chapel and Lake Union CafeAbout Me: I'm a Seattle girl through and through except for the fact that I don't drink coffee. I love my job most of the time because I get to travel and work with brilliant people who are trying to prevent Malaria. I love DIY projects of all sorts, cooking, and watching sports. I'd wear anything at Anthropologie and could spend all day on Etsy. I love to travel but shouldn't because I always get myself into unbelievable situations!
Mr. Joey and I don’t have any pets. I really want a dog, but we can’t have them in the apartment. Mr. Joey is lobbying for a Vietnamese Potbelly pig. He says if they are good enough for Clooney (as in George), then they are good enough for us. Even though we don’t have a dog together, I do have a dog — Mieko. He’s been part of the family for 13 years. He’s half shar pei and half lab. Think of a dog that looks like a lab but is the size of a shar pei — that’s him.
When we picked out venues for the reception and ceremony, we didn’t really consider having him be our ring dog. He hates crowds. It turns out that both our venues don’t allow animals inside. It’s no big deal since he wasn’t taking part in the actual big day. The rehearsal dinner was another story. When we visited the house where the dinner is going to take place, I thought to myself, ’Hey, Mieko can come too.’ The group will be small, and he’d know most of the people there. I don’t have to worry about him jumping into the lake or the pool, because he hates water. He’d be happy just smelling all the new smells and rolling around on the pretty grass. Perfect.
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.
I regret to inform you that I did not get much done on my dissertation this semester. Lest you think I have just been sitting at home watching “The Real Housewives of New York City”, I would like to let you know that I wrote a book; I’ve titled it “my wedding program”.
Will that count toward the completion of my degree?
Sincerely yours,
Ms. Hot Cocoa
Photo credit: Leigh Miller Photography, Luna Photography, & Della Chen Photography
Our programs were a labor of love (or maybe just laborious) but so important to us for two reasons: first, we worked hard to make our ceremony into an expression of our personal cultures and histories and of our combined Chewishness, and we wanted to share with our guests the significance of the rituals; and second, since we had a number of guests (including my grandparents) who didn’t speak or read English, we wanted to have a trilingual program (English, Chinese, and some Hebrew) so that all of our guests would feel included. Read more…
Mrs. Yorkie, Miami Age and Occupation: 30, Graduate Admissions CoordinatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 41, Asst. Professor Engagement Date: July 3, 2008Wedding Date: June 2009Venue: Red Fish GrillAbout Me: I’m an East Coast girl with a crafty streak who loves traveling, photography and being outdoors (barefoot, if possible). When I do have to wear shoes, I prefer Mizunos, and have worn out a few pairs running marathons. I have a thing for chai, crossword puzzles, Apples to Apples, The Office and my real-life Yorkie, Bella. My West Coast transplant, Mr. Yorkie, roots for the Buckeyes, loves baseball, and climbs mountains for fun. We’re planning a fun little seaside wedding filled with handmade details and vintage charm. I can hardly wait!
I’ve always been the artsy-craftsy type. As a little girl, I could usually be found off somewhere in a corner coloring and pasting to my little heart’s delight. There’s just something about creating things that I’ve always found to be personally satisfying. Whether it’s beading jewelry, crocheting doilies, embossing paper or any other of a number of crafts… I’m up for it!
Needless to say, as soon as Mr. Yorkie and I got engaged, I started my list of DIY projects. While I was never the kind of girl that dreamed of her perfect wedding and all of its littlest details, I have always known that I want our special day to be unique and a reflection of us as a couple. This wedding has become the ultimate opportunity to craft for crafting’s sake. The best part has been that no one has asked me whether there’s something more important that I should be doing!
I decided to tackle the biggest of the DIY projects first: designing the invitations. I knew that I wanted an invitation with a vintage feel that would hint at the wedding’s semi-formal tone. This is important since our ceremony will be on the beach and the reception will be outdoors, and the last thing I want is for someone to show up in a loud Hawaiian shirt.
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.
All photos below by The Wiebners unless otherwise noted. We purchased a disc of all unedited images from our wedding day, so some post-processing has been done by me for the purpose of sharing the photos with you. Click on any photo to enlarge.
In between my dance with my dad and Mr. C’s dance with his mom, dinner courses were served to our guests to keep the evening flowing. While we had promised ourselves that we were actually going to eat at our wedding, we admittedly ate fairly quickly so we could mingle with our guests.
Mrs. Mary Jane, Grand Forks, NDAge and Occupation: 26, Instructional DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Lead ProgrammerEngagement Date: February 28, 2009Wedding Date: September 2009Venue: City HallAbout Me: I'm a career woman on the surface and a homemaker at heart. I love fast cars and high heels, and my favorite food is cake. Mr. Mary Jane and I are both full-time employees and students, and we just bought our first house. We love to curl up on the couch with buttery popcorn, Sour Patch Kids, and the latest Netflix arrival -- whenever we can get a break from everyday life.
I think about my mom a lot as I get older. She has always been the best mom possible to me, even though I wasn’t always the best daughter to her. (I was a pretty “typical” angsty teenage/college girl.) My mom, an intelligent, witty, polite and sensible woman, devoted her whole life to raising me with those same traits and more. She wasn’t my best friend growing up, but now that I respect her firm attitude toward parenting, she means more to me than ever.
So it really sucks that she lives over 1500 miles away. (Yes, I did grow up just 20 miles from Grand Forks, but just as my parents and I were starting to forge a healthier relationship, they had an opportunity to move to a more desirable location on the East Coast. Of course, I supported this… but it sucks not having them around.) Read more…
Mrs. Swan, New York CityAge and Occupation: 31, Legislative RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Finance GuyEngagement Date: August 9, 2008Wedding Date: August 2009Venue: Battery GardensAbout Me: I am an un-crafty but resourceful, Caribbean-born but New York-raised woman who's been known to analyze "Dancing with the Stars" and “So You Think You Can Dance”, buy stinky cheese, and use way too many parentheses. I keep lists for fun, am constantly daydreaming of my next international travel adventure (four continents down, three to go), debating sports (let’s Got Mets/Giants!) and dancing around my apartment to stay sane. I am excited to share our wedding planning journey as I hope to plan a streamlined, personal, and fun wedding with the greatest life partner I could ever imagine, Mr. Swan.
… may not be Mr. Swan and me. Yes… can you imagine that? Me, who takes pride in ticking off yet another country on my travel list, may not actually go on a honeymoon. Don’t get me wrong. We’ll take a trip eventually, but in my mind, it just won’t be a honeymoon. Here are some of the criteria that we have discussed, and for the most part, have agreed on for a honeymoon destination:
We’d like to be in a place that has activities/sites AND be able to relax, preferably by a beach
We’d like to go someplace we’ve never been before
This is always important to me: I’d like to learn about a new culture and to get to experience some of that culture.
Picking a honeymoon is easy for most people, especially here in the U.S. Many people opt to spend a week on the beach in the Caribbean, Mexico, or Hawaii. Well, I have to admit that those options don’t really make Mr. Swan and I jump out of our seats very much.
First, I am from the Caribbean, and most of my family lives there to this day. Seriously, I can pick up my cell phone, call my family, and I’ll have a free place to stay for at least a week (and a few free meals) if I absolutely wanted to. Plus, I hope that the Caribbean one day will offer more/be known for more than just its great beaches and pretty darn good cricket players. There’s lots of interesting history, beauty and smart people there. These countries can and should offer more to the world. Read more…
Mrs. Labrador Retriever, Athens/SavannahAge and Occupation: 24, Student/Sports ReporterFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Physical Therapy Assistant Student/Future Dr. of PT
Engagement Date: December 31, 2008Wedding Date: November 2009Venue: Whitfield Square/Savannah StationAbout Me: I'm working on my second degree from UGA (Go Dawgs!). I'm a self-proclaimed attention-w****. If it involves a camera, I'm in front of it! You'll never meet a girlier tomboy than me. I can go toe to toe with any guy on the subject of college football, and lift more than any girl in my gym, all without chipping a nail. I hope to someday be the only person you want delivering your sports news. My FI and I are the loving parents of three Labrador Retrievers (one of each color) and are planning a "Southern Romantic Charm" wedding in the beautiful, historic city of Savannah. I'm not extreme in anything except moderation... and wedding planning.
Mr. Lab and I went back to his hometown this weekend to celebrate Mother’s Day with his family. I called up my mom to see if she’d like to join us for dinner (my treat!). So, she and my younger brother made the 40 minute trek over to my FMIL’s house. This was a good thing for 3 reasons: 1) I got to see my mom & brother, 2) We could discuss wedding stuff with both mothers present, and 3) I didn’t have to go back to my hometown and face possible family drama with my sisters. Win-win-win!
Me & Mama Lab eating at a Mexican restaurant for Mother’s Day 2009! I’m guessing my hair was all messed up because I downed an entire pitcher of strawberry daiquiri almost all by myself!
But, I bet you’re wondering what the title of this post is all about. Well, starting next week, I will be spending a little over a month with my FMIL. Read more…
Mieko enjoying Thanksgiving a few years back
All photos below by The Wiebners unless otherwise noted. We purchased a disc of all unedited images from our wedding day, so some post-processing has been done by me for the purpose of sharing the photos with you. Click on any photo to enlarge. 
