Weddingbee Blog

So, a while back I asked for the hive’s advice about having an after party. We knew we wanted to have one, but didn’t know the who, where,, and when. We decided to do a late evening event. The reception ends at 4PM and we’re thinking the after party will start at 9PM. We want some time to take in what just happened (the getting married part), enjoy the fancy hotel room, and maybe take a quick power nap.

As for location, we decided on something central in/near downtown Seattle. We want somewhere accessible by bus or cab, and somewhere away from stadium area of town called SODO. It turns out that there’s a sold-out Kenny Chesney concert that night, and it’s going to be madness.

The guest list? This was a little more controversial with the hive. Should we invite friends who weren’t invited to the wedding, or not? I asked friends who are and are not invited to the wedding, and they all unanimously said that we should invite everyone. There are going to be a few people who might be upset that they aren’t invited to the wedding, but I think there will be so many more who will be happy to just be able to celebrate with old friends.
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I’ve been watching the countdown to “the day” on my Facebook page continue to shrink. I was excited at the 365 mark (only a year… it will just fly by!), and then we got down to 200 days left… and now we’re getting precariously close to the 100 day mark. And then, we’ll be on to double digits!

So… what about all of those projects that 12, 9, or even 6 months ago I wouldn’t even let myself think about because it was “too far off”? We’re about there. Decisions must begin to be made… followed by some major action to make everything happen.

First up - the ceremony programs. I had kind of a leave ’em attitude about programs when I first started planning. We don’t necessary need them. I don’t think our ceremony (which, sadly, I haven’t yet given a lot of thought to, either) will be incredibly intricate. But as I continue to go through the planning process, I wouldn’t mind having a “play by play” of the ceremony, and a place to give extra thanks to our wedding party and family. Besides, we need to keep the ushers busy. They’ll be there to work, people! (I kid, I kid!)

When I saw these poster-style ceremony programs featured somewhere last year, I fell in love. I wish I could have been at that wedding, because if the programs were that great, I can only imagine what other splendid details were at that wedding.

Mr. S loves the programs as well, and we’ve brainstormed different ways we could make this happen for us. But I’m worried that between printing and then folding, we may kill our budget (well, our non-existent program budget, as I hadn’t really factored these in, heh) and would just be adding one more project onto the pile with all of the folding. I don’t know that we’re up for that, but seriously, how great are these?! Of course, we would only be using these as inspiration:
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I’d like to introduce you to our venue, Battery Gardens. We’ll be having our ceremony outside (at least that’s the plan… please pray to the weather gods for us) at the restaurant facing the New York harbor. While I love the water view (Mr. Swan and I are really coastal people), it does not have the “Va Va Voom” view of that the River Cafe in Brooklyn does (we looked there too), but I think it’s pretty, nonetheless.

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Above are some photos courtesy of Mrs. Firefly. (Thank you, Mrs. Firefly!!) If you look really hard in the photo on the bottom, you can see the Statue of Liberty.

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I know you might be sick of me posting about my bachelorette, but as I said before, I wasn’t really down for the typical bachelorette. Yet, the weekend was more typical than I thought it would be. And I think that is what made it so AMAZING.

First off, the weekend allowed me the opportunity to relax and have fun (surprisingly, we aren’t actually drunk in this picture):

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For a while I’ve been thinking about when we could have our guests throw stuff at us. I guess “toss” is a better word than “throw”. We’re not getting married in a church, so we can’t do the classic toss outside the church. Plus, I always wondered how the logistics worked on that one. I guess in the past, the happy couple walked down the aisle before everyone else, then hung out in a room until the guests have emptied the church, and then they left being showered with rice.

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Although my heart melts for a guy wearing a suit, Mr. Beagle desired to wear a tux on our wedding day. We’ve gone to look at tuxes at a couple of different places, and have finally settled on the Men’s Wearhouse for our tux supply. Mr. Beagle likes the look of a two-button coat similar to this:

Here is where my dilemma begins. Mr. Beagle will be wearing a white/ivory vest/tie combo, but we can’t seem to make a decision on the GM’s vests and ties.
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[If you like, revisit: Part I; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4.]

Let’s face it. This dress thing is never going to end. I’m fairly confident that by the time my wedding day rolls around, I’ll have at least 6 or 7 cheap-but-pretty dresses hanging in my closet demanding that I make a choice.

I feel like I’m really jerking everyone around. Myself, mom, FMIL, and all of you. I find a dress, I say, “HEY GUYS, I FOUND MY DRESS!” Then a day, a week, a month later, I find another dress. I hope you’ll bear with me. This on-going process has really helped me to think about what kind of wedding day garb I like and want.

So without further delay, on to the “meat” of this post. I like my white eyelet dress a lot. It’s fun, flirty, flowy, comfy, and at $14, it is definitely budget-friendly. Here it is again (I took better pictures).

As a reminder, this is an American Living dress. It’s from JCPenney. It retails at $100, but the website has it for $75, and it was even cheaper in the store.

I was perfectly happy with this dress… until I was chatting with my mom one day.
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Remember way back when I posted about the perfect pair bridal shower? I know a lot of you were really inspired, so I’ve kept my eye out for other amazing ideas like that one. Well, last week, Courtney from Joyful Weddings and Events did a whole series on some of the amazing showers that she and friends have planned. I think I seriously was oohing and ahhing over every picture. Well, now all I’m thinking about is who I can throw a shower for so I can put some of these ideas into use.

These were made by Melody, one of the newest PROs.
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LittleMissBride: married bio, planning bio

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Flush Designs

• A swanky rustic wedding in Palm Springs by Flush Designs
• All kinds of traditional and non-traditional dessert inspirations from Kate Parker
• Eclectic Unions on incorporating readings into your ceremony
• A Miami save the date by Laura Hooper
• 6 of Princess Lasertron’s favorite gifts
• The gift of spring, all in one box, by Wiley Valentine
• A DIY book page hurricane tutorial from The Treasured Petal

I have some fabulous bridesmaids. This wedding has been a loooong process, and they’ve supported me and encouraged me through it all. So naturally, I’d like to get them presents that reflect their general fabulosity, while sticking to a budget, of course.

I’ve always known I wanted to get my girls cute little clutches. That was easy. Finding them for a reasonable price… not so much.

Until I saw the fantastic Etsy seller, Baffin Bags. She has an adorable collection of clutches, key fobs, and mini wallets that are totally swoon-worthy, and completely reasonable! Check out some of her designs:

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It’s finals week for me, which means a week full of some major procrastination. Luckily, I exempted 2 finals, and only have 1 left. The test isn’t until Friday, so I’ve been getting lots of wedding planning done in the meantime. I wish studying for a test was as much fun as planning for a wedding! Ah, in a perfect world…

Anyway, I was out scouting the floral section at my local Michaels and Hobby Lobby, when I made a very big decision. I am going to use as few real flowers in our wedding decor as possible. I know, I know! Some of you are thinking I’ve gone completely bonkers. But trust me, I’ve thought long and hard about this. I’m just not a flower person. Plain and simple. Because of this, I see no reason to spend tons of money on something I’m not into (and neither is Mr. Lab).

Source

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Many months ago, Mr. G and I were shopping and found ourselves at Macy’s. On a whim, we decided to start our registry. We were like kids in a candy store. Armed with our complimentary Swiss Army tote bag, we used the scanner to swipe anything we imagined might look “cute” in our condo. Eventually we grew tired and confused by all of the options, so we gave up and went home.

A few months later, we were at the mall and registered at Crate and Barrel. Again, we got sidetracked by looking at pretty things. I think I scanned three different cake plates, a dessert cookbook, and Mr. G scanned a ridiculously expensive chair. Are we sensing a pattern here? Yep, Mr. G and I were suffering from what I deemed “purposeless registry syndrome”. Purposeless registry syndrome usually occurs when couples get “scanner happy”, experience confusion over what they need versus what they want, and generally waste a bunch of time.

Creating a registry is a process, and I’ve realized a few things along the way.

1. Take On As Much As You Can Handle. The task of managing two registries stressed me out, so I made the executive decision to nix the Crate and Barrel registry. While I love C & B, I wanted to be able to look at one list and focus on one store.
2. Get Organized. Arrive at your store(s) of choice with a good idea of what you might need; perhaps bring a list of your own. Most stores provide a generic list of common registry items for you, but it never hurts to do your homework ahead of time.

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Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

We are BIG fans of this holiday around here! Here’s to a full margarita, sizzling fajitas, and fantastic amigos to share them with!!

On a side note, I hope to have more pictures of that little party we threw a few weeks ago very soon. I can’t wait to share them with y’all!

*(Not useful for other unwelcomed relatives)

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Having Aunt Flo as a houseguest is basically equivalent to me taking handfuls of crazy pills each morning. Not to mention, every time she visits, I get really agitated, bloated, my face breaks out, and I’m just generally uncomfortable. I take on a ton of ‘water-weight’** which makes me discouraged and therefore even more irritable. This is not what I want to feel like walking down the aisle, thankyouverymuch.
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