I was watching Neil Patrick Harris on Conan O’Brien recently, and he mentioned a scavenger hunt/mystery tour that he did called Accomplice New York. He loved it so much that he helped the founders open a Los Angeles chapter called Accomplice Hollywood. If Barney thought this tour was legendary enough to invest in it himself, I knew it would be awesome and I had to check it out.
This past Sunday, my friends and I took Mrs. Butterfly on the downtown tour (there is also one in the Village) for her 30th birthday. The day before the tour, you get a cryptic call telling you a place to meet. Twists and unexpected turns ensue over the next three hours. The New York Times says that Accomplice New York is like being in the movie ‘The Game’” — I couldn’t have said it better myself! I wish I could share pictures and tell you more about it, but trust me — the less you know the better.
All of us had the most amazing time, and I can’t recommend Accomplice highly enough as an alternative to the traditional bridal shower or bachelorette party, because it’s being in a group that makes this so much more fun. I hear that they’re opening a chapter in San Francisco on August 1st, and perhaps one in Austin as well! Whenever I discover something I love, I try to spread the word as far and wide as I can, and this is something that I know you will love.
Wear comfortable shoes, be prepared to walk a lot, and get ready for the time of your life. 
I’ve explained to you my philosophy of makeup: Success in makeup is about being happy with how you look, not in following makeup rules. Get professional advice when necessary. Take some time to adjust to a new style before returning to your comfort zone.
What does this mean for a DIY makeup bride?
I would tell a DIY makeup bride to give herself a few weeks to try out different styles before the wedding. Set aside time to do your makeup and snap some pics of yourself (or have your fiance take some for you). Write down what products you used and how you applied them. You’d be surprised how quickly you can forget what color eyeshadow you used where. You’ll probably want to find products with staying power, so ask around for recommendations and take note of how long they last during your trials.
OK, so you’ve talked to the friendly makeup counter gal or guy and picked out some foundation and maybe some other products, too. You’ve got time to play around and you’re ready with a pen, piece of paper and a camera.
If you have dry skin, or even if you have slightly oily skin, I definitely recommend applying a thin layer of moisturizer before you put on your foundation to help it go on more smoothly and to give a more even layer of coverage. You can even mix your foundation with the moisturizer if you find it helps to do it that way. I use the back of my hand or, when I get down near the end of a bottle of foundation, I squirt some moisturizer in and shake it up to make it last longer. I recommend Clinique’s Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion, but you can use whatever you like.
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Okay, so laughter is the best medicine and humor is the best antidote for anger, right? To that end, I’m going to start my own little list of the best passive aggressive wedding related comments I’ve heard - mine and other people’s - and remind myself that in the end they are so ridiculous you have to laugh!
Rose999
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Here are three comments from readers that caught our attention!
- creme_de_violet
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You can read the full thread here.
I have been in love with these flavored honey favors for a while now. They’re from a company called Bee Raw Honey, based out of New York. They come in all kinds of delicious flavors, like cranberry, wild raspberry, and orange blossom. While I would love to give them as wedding favors, they are a little out of my price range. Rather than sit and mope about how much I wish I could have these little guys, I decided to make some of my own!
Here’s the plan:
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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.”
Over the weekend we had a few friends over for wine tasting and Wii to determine what types of vino we should buy for the wedding. Eight bottles later, we really only remembered what the first two tasted like… but we tried.
News flash… the Mascaras are not good dancers. I danced for seven years waaaay back when, but I definitely didn’t retain much and now I feel ridiculous trying to dance. Mr. M is just… not good either. We have this weird fear of doing the high school sway while everyone is watching us dance for the first time as Mr. and Mrs. I mean, it will be our first dance as a married couple, so it should be done right, don’t you think? We’ve been talking about getting lessons since we first got engaged, and we finally found a ballroom dance studio this past week. We had our introductory lesson and really enjoyed it!
We learned the very very basic steps of the rumba, foxtrot, waltz, and the hustle. We very quickly decided that we were not fans of the hustle. The rest were enjoyable, though. I kind of like using the whole floor in the foxtrot! Our instructor was a fun guy and was pretty outgoing, which is just what we needed to break out of our shells a bit (we are engineers, after all). He did a lot of the “BAM”, “BOOM”, “POW” business (apparently channeling his inner Black Eyed Peas?) but we’ll forgive him for that.
At the end of the lesson, while we definitely didn’t feel as though we were ready for the real deal, we at least had the confidence that we are capable of pulling it off.
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Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
Several Saturdays ago, we threw my sister a surprise bridal shower. It has been months in the making with my mom and I busy behind the scenes, including multiple secret trips to Portland, Maine {where I am from, where my parents and sister live, and where the shower was}.
My sister’s July wedding colors are black, white, pink, and green. The wedding does not have a theme, but elements Jess would like to harmoniously combine including hydrangeas, lighthouses, and…peacock feathers -all with a vintage twist. The peacock feathers will come into play for the wedding invitation and reception decor, but for now we focused on hydrangeas for the invitations and lighthouses for the centerpieces for the bridal shower. The invitations were letterpress in a fabulously bright pink on fluorescent white Lettra paper with coordinating envelopes. I knew her fiance would not want pink envelopes for the wedding invitation so now was my chance to get girlie. 
After two months of keeping these a secret from Jess, I was finally able to show them to her and she loved them {and understands why I did not want to use hydrangeas on her wedding invitation}!
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Originally, when thinking about the details of our wedding that I wasn’t going to stress myself out over, favors leaped to the forefront of my mind.
Yes, I admit it. I was planning on not giving our guests anything to take home with them.
Why? Well, I’ve been to more than one wedding where all the time/effort/money spent on making or ordering favors ends up being a colossal waste because, let’s face it, most of your standard wedding favors are pretty run of the mill and end up getting left at the reception or thrown out. My argument was that the favors aren’t going to be the stuff of memories and that’s what any great wedding is about for guests: the memories.
Well, in true bride-like fashion, over the two-year-period of our engagement, I totally changed my mind.
This happened when I was struck by a moment of brilliance and thought: make the favors something that fits in with the theme and will help create awesome memories. My answer to that was: masquerade masks!
Just a sampling of our 90 completed masks
I would say that I have been pretty stress free for most of the planning thus far. I’m not stressing about the wedding actually coming together or whether things will be perfect. Mr. Swan and I will be married so the perfection will happen for sure. BUT I can’t help shake some worries from my mind as we stare down the wedding two months away. So, what am I worrying about now?
What do you buy for the guy who has everything he needs? While I might lust after something for months, Mr. Quiche is one of those people who, when he wants something, just goes out and buys it. (It has made birthday and Christmas shopping quite difficult at times. Grr.) I needed to think of something truly unique for his wedding gift. He loves french cuffs, so naturally I thought of cufflinks. Having already bought him Wrigley Field wooden links the year before, I was fresh out of ideas. Until I saw Mrs. Tiramisu’s gift for Mr. T - map cufflinks! Mr. Q loves vintage maps, so these would be perfect for him!
I searched for the best deal on Etsy and contacted the seller, dlkdesigns. She will custom make your links to your desired locale. Montego Bay was the obvious choice for one, and I went back and forth between Chicago (where we live) and Dublin (our honeymoon spot), ultimately deciding on Dublin to keep it in the wedding family. What’s great is that she actually emails you pictures of the map that will be used, so if you don’t like them, she’ll find something else! In keeping with our pink accent theme, I told her I’d prefer there to be some pink in them.
Here was the proof:
My wedding date twin, Mrs. Toucan, and her one year anniversary post got me thinking about picking our own favorite picture from our wedding day, one year later. Mr. Peng and I both have a hands-down favorite. It’s the only one we have displayed in our house, and the one we sent out as our thank you cards. I feel a bit like a love poser though, as the picture doesn’t exactly evoke warm and fuzzy memories for either of us. It was T-minus 1 hour to the ceremony, and Mr. Peng was still battling a hangover from the night before (THE NERVE!), and he was afraid I’d be upset if he told me he was hung over. So he kept it from me as long as possible, but I could tell at that moment his face was turning green. And in a fit of panic at that moment, I feared his queasiness had to do with our impending vows. He was gonna be in it FOR-EV-ER.
I remember blurting out at that moment: “Oh my god. Do you not want to get married?”
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Paper Chez Letterpress does a beautiful elegant monogram letterpress invitation.
Don’t forget to check out all the professional inspiration in the PRO Folio! Remember, your images must be under 1MB in size, or they won’t load.
Hi y’all! I already briefly blogged my budget (say THAT three times fast!), and I do plan to give you the “actual costs” breakdown after the wedding has taken place. But when Bee asked us all about this awesome Bee Budget series, I figured that as possibly the cheapest Bee thus far, I owed it to you ladies to weigh in.
[source]
Without further ado, here we go!
Important Deets
Date: 9/2009
City, State: Northwestern Minnesota (I’ll fill you in soon.)
Budget: $1000
Guests: 7
All Inclusive Costs:
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News flash:
You can look at your wedding dress forever after your wedding, even if it’s in the closet!
The incredibly talented Introverted Wife (formerly introverted bride) will paint you (your dress) and your husband (his attire) on canvas –
Reader darkchi is selling her Maggie Sottero Dallas Marie wedding dress. The dress is strapless and in size 8. She is asking for $450.
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: Read more…
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