Weddingbee Blog

I’ve been a fan of Etsy for quite a while.  It’s a horrible great place to waste an afternoon and is chock full of inspiration for the DIY inclined.

In spite of my secret love affair with Etsy, I’d never made a purchase until last week. I just never found something I liked enough to justify the shipping charges! I’ve been trying to keep my online purchases to things that I can’t find around town in order to save money.

Bakers twine, it turned out, was one of those things that is too hard to find in Columbus. Back when I was planning a red, cream and blue-ish palette for our fourth of July weekend wedding, I loved the look of this:

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Ah, the playlists. Yes, I said playlists, as in more than one. Mr. Joey has to come up with 3 playlists and being a music snob and a playlist perfectionist, all 3 may not get done in time. Since we’re going without a DJ, we need to come up with a light, cheery mix to play as background music at the rehearsal dinner, something for the reception, and something for the after party. I’m going to guess that the reception will have to have two playlists — one as background music while people are arriving, mingling, and eating, and one for dancing to.

I think the rehearsal dinner playlist will be easy for Mr. Joey to come up with. So will the background music for the reception. I think it’s the reception dance music that will consume his time. He’ll have to try to find dance music he likes (he doesn’t dance), that others will like, and is clean (no blatant sexual innuendos and swear words).

To help Mr. Joey out with the playlist, I think I’ve come up with a plan for the after party playlist — playing a pre-made mix.
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Hi Readers!

Here is a giveaway coming from an oldie Bee, aka Mrs. Emerald! Despite having been married for almost 2 years now, I am still a devoted Weddingbee reader… why? Cuz I am now a wedding planner with my own business! And I wanted to share a wonderful opportunity some Chicago vendors and I have put together for a deserving couple.

Do you know of a wonderful, engaged couple that has recently encountered some hard times in the midst of planning their Chicago wedding? Perhaps one of them was recently laid off, or there are some other extenuating circumstances that are making it difficult for them to handle all of the (numerous) wedding expenses…

Send them our way, we want to help! Led by Thomas of Slack Photography, a few Chicago-based wedding vendors and I have teamed up to offer our services at no charge to one deserving couple.

What’s on the line:

• Photography by Slack Photography
• Videography by Kiwimonkie Films
• Day-of Event Management by Sweetchic Events (aka Mrs. Emerald!)
• Personal flowers by Kio Kreations

REQUIREMENTS:
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Great news! We have our disk of images back from our photographer! You cannot imagine my and Mr. Q’s excitement. We look at them every. single. day.(!) Since it will take me a looong time to not only a) figure out how the heck I’m going to organize and blog my thoughts and experiences from the wedding, but also b) decide which pictures to use, I’ve decided to go back in time and blog about things that I didn’t have time to do prior to the wedding. And if you happen to get a glimpse or two of our wedding pics, well, so be it!

Let’s start with jewelry. From the beginning, I had this image in my mind of what I wanted my necklace to look like. Dainty. Dainty, dainty silver chain. Something omewhat long-ish, that incorporated pearls and crystals. I searched Etsy until my fingers bled, then decided to try my luck with Alchemy. I listed those previous requirements & added that I wanted to look like it was “floating” around my neck. A lot of great jewelry designers replied, but somehow A Finishing Touch was able to decipher my babbling thoughts and turn them into an awesome reality (Sidenote - the necklace is now a design available in their shop for anyone to purchase! Yeah!).

We went back and forth a few times, as they were open to whatever thoughts I had. Finally, this lovely image was sent to me, and I was sold!

And see? It’s “floating”!
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So I think I’ve finally made a decision about what kind of save-the-dates to send out. This has been a tough one for us because originally we didn’t want to send STDs. (As high school health classes now use “STI” instead, I think we’re safe to use “STD” as the standard way to refer to save-the-dates.) I thought they were a waste of paper, and since our goal is to have a “green” wedding, the more we can cut out, the better. But I started to think about the fact that we’re getting married on a Friday evening, which means people will appreciate knowing the date in advance—especially if they need to request vacation time at work.

We’re definitely sending STDs now, but it took us a while to figure out exactly what we wanted them to look like. The Dude and I love music. Correction: I love music; he worships it. So what better way to pay homage to something we both care about than a music-poster inspired STD?

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We didn’t have much time to recover from the minor embarrassment of the slideshow, for as the lights came up, our fathers were ready to take the stage and toast us. Mr. L’s dad was up first and kept his remarks short and sweet. A born public speaker, he did a fantastic job in thanking everyone for coming to his little party. He spoke on the nature of weddings and the beauty that comes in surrounding yourself with family and friends who have traveled near and far to celebrate your commitment and love. As Mr. L and I scanned the room and took in the faces of our many loved ones we realized truer words had not been spoken and we were once again in awe of the warmth and love within the four walls containing us.
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For days on end, I’ve compulsively checked our photographer’s website for teasers… quivering in eager anticipation.

Today, I got what I wanted, and oh man - it’s so much better than I ever dreamed.

Check out his post, here.

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There is a strong disconnect with the reality of time in the Gloss household.

We are coming up on the two month mark…..THE TWO MONTH MARK!! I get all nervous and flustered when I hear it, while an ever expanding to-do list races through my head.

I casually mentioned to Mr. Gloss the other night that the two-month mark is rapidly approaching and that we should really get a lot of major things done, like talk with the caterer about food options, figure out music for the reception and cocktail hour, find a location for the rehearsal dinner (and figure out who’s coming), and figure out what readings we are doing (and other program relevant information). And his response was, “Well, we have TWO WHOLE MONTHS!” (Like that is a lot of time or something?!)
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It’s about time I share with you my infatuation for France. I may live in South America, but my heart will always be in France.

About 8 months after Mr. Cubbie and I started dating (and 3 months after moving in together!) we took a trip to France. This was a big deal to me. I [nearly] double majored in French in college (it was either the last semester of 2 French classes or a semester doing astronomy research in Chile), yet had never had the opportunity to go to France! They don’t really offer science classes in study-abroad programs in Europe.

Finally in France, we spent a week at a gîte in the Drôme region, just north of Provence (a cute little cottage!). We went for runs every day through the countryside to town (not a bad way to pick up your produce!). By “countryside”, I mean something like this:

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If you’ve participated in our boards, by now you’ve met several of our fabulous Hive Hostesses! The Hive Hostesses are an invaluable part of the Weddingbee community. They have great taste and style, and create a warm and welcoming atmosphere in the boards. You’ll recognize the hostesses because they all are specially marked as “HOSTESS” under their avatars:

We’re currently looking for members to join this dynamic team of gals that has made the boards a fun, friendly, and helpful community for all of us. Each hostess heads up an individual board, and we’re currently looking for members to host the following boards:

• Accessories
• Beauty
• Destination
• Emotional
• Food
• Gifts
• Grooms/men
• Honeymoons
• Photos
• Rings
• Shoes
• Wellness

Additionally, we’re always looking local brides to host the city boards! Check out the Hive Hostess Wiki to see if your city is currently available! If you love participating in the boards and think you’ve got what it takes to become a hive hostess, check our these guidelines and submit your application today!

I found this vintage miniature chair on the Farm Chicks blog and thought it was such an awesome idea for a wedding. You could use tons of vintage dollhouse chairs as place cards. Like these:
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Argh. You might recall that I bought two wedding dresses and way back when, y’all helped me decide which one to wear to our wedding. It was perfect. I loved, loved, loved it, and was secretly looking forward to wearing it again at our hometown reception. I mean, who doesn’t want a second shot at wearing a dress that makes their waist look tiny, tush look proportionate, and keeps the boobage under control? Plus, the bustle swished around my legs like frothy water. I felt like Ursula the Sea Witch, but in a good way.

Happy sigh.

However, our hometown reception is in Southern New Mexico near the height of summer — July 4th weekend. Aside from the fact that my beloved dress is way too much for a casual reception, it’ll be WAY too hot to trudge around in it for a whole evening.

I have to find another dress. You all gave Miss Mary Jane such great suggestions that I thought I’d ask you for help as well. Here’s the catch: I’m short (5 foot) and busty (30F), and our reception is in about three weeks. I’d love something as equally sassy as my wedding dress. A short dress would be nice and cool, but (much like a six year old) my legs are perpetually covered in bug bites and scratches, so maybe a long dress would be better.
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As I’ve alluded before, I’m not the craftiest of brides.

I’m pretty good with ideas, good with starting projects (especially the “buying supplies” phase), terrible with follow-through, and execution… well… let’s just say I should leave most stuff to the pros.

I’ve never been a big stamper. It always seemed like a really expensive craft — always buying new stamps and new inks. And I remember failing miserably at embossing when I was in the sixth grade. That demoralizing experience was enough to scare me away for quite a while.

Only my wedding and a deep fear of the complexities of Gocco machines could drive me to use stamps. And after using them… well, I remember why I gave them up. Eesh.

Not trusting my own handwriting, I used Martha Stewart’s Laurel Wreath acrylic stamp set to address my RSVPs (and, in the end, to decorate the outsides of the envelopes).

Clear acrylic stamps have several benefits over their old-school counterparts. First, they are generally cheaper to purchase and often come in large sheets with a variety of designs. The whole acrylic stamp set I used was about $14 (and with a Michaels 40% off coupon, significantly less).
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When thinking of gifts to give each other for our anniversary, we both tried to stick to the traditional 1st year gift theme of paper (anniversary gifts by year).

Before I tell you what Mr. T’s gift to me was, I should explain that it is usually very hard for him to buy gifts for me. I think I have some sort of ESP that only applies to Mr. Toucan. I always guess what my gifts are. This time, I had absolutely no idea until about 30 seconds beforehand.

Sometime during the 3rd inning of the Red Sox/Texas Rangers game on Sunday (also, tickets are paper!), all of a sudden the Mister grabbed my camera, gave it to my friend, and said, “Take a picture of us.”

This was weird because, we already had taken about 10 pictures of us earlier in the game. It got more weird when Jess kept taking pictures. Like about 10 in a row.
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Since we received word that Mr. Bruschetta’s wedding ring came in this past weekend, I’d been hoping to share a picture of the mister’s hardware with the hive; instead, I only have a handful of numbers — and a frustrating conclusion:

• Approximate weeks spent looking at potential rings with Mr. Bruschetta? Eight.
• Number of “finalist” ring styles? Three.
• Cost (in dollars, natch) of the chosen ring — pretax — after Mr. Bruschetta’s skilled bargaining? 500.
• Days until the mister’s wedding ring (eeeee!) arrived? 12.
• Size of the imprecisely-measured band? Somewhere between 8-1/2 and 8-3/4.
• And my mister’s left hand ring finger size? Yeah, that’d be a 9.

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