Weddingbee Blog

Can we be friends? Please?

XOXO,
Miss Latte

For months, I drooled over my non-friends’ shoe lines, dreaming that a brand new pair of wedding shoes would magically appear on my doorstep. It took me some time to wake up out of dreamland, but once I did, I quickly jumped into a massive search for the perfect pair of shoes to wear on the big day. I didn’t really have a clear vision of what I wanted the shoes to look like, but I did know one thing… they had to be pink.

I absolutely love the colored shoe trend, and was eager to jump on the bandwagon with my own pair of stylin’ pink lovelies. It was actually harder than I thought… so, one night, in desperation (and enticed by a 30% off sale), I bought this pair of J.Crew shoes in ivory:

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Hello, hive! I’m so thrilled and honored to be a bee! I’ve been (obsessively) reading Weddingbee since last September, and I honestly can’t believe I’m the newest bee.

I chose Miss Mouse because my whole life I have been the quiet, shy one. In kindergarten I was so shy that I refused to say the pledge of allegiance or answer “here” for the roll call! I’ve developed considerably more social skills since then, but I still tend to be the quiet one, especially when I’m around new people. Don’t worry, I loosen up pretty quickly.

So, a little about me and my future intended…

I’ve lived in Texas my whole life, aside from a six-week program in Oxford when I was in college and a seven-week internship in Chicago during law school. (Can you really say you “lived” somewhere if it was only for six weeks? I doubt it.) Although I don’t fit in with most Texans, Austin has been my home for the past eight years, and I love it. It’s like a crazy liberal oasis in the middle of red-state desert.

I graduated from law school two weeks ago, and since then I’ve been studying for the bar exam at the end of July. Oh yeah, and I’ve been planning this wedding! Luckily I’ve been planning slowly over the past 18 months, so there shouldn’t be too much last-minute panic. In theory.
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With the majority of the wedding plans so far, I’ve had a clear vision as to what we’re going for. The ceremony music is one of the things that is a little fuzzy, to say the least. So, who better to help me combat my indecisiveness than you, hive?

Let’s start at the bridal processional, shall we? A lot of lovely brides-to-be have a specific song that they’ve been dreaming of walking down the aisle to since they were little girls. There is no such song in my mind. I have no clue what song I want to walk down the aisle to. I do, however, know a few songs I do not want to enter the church to, including Canon in D and the Wedding March (you know… dum dum da dum… that one). There is nothing wrong with those songs; I’ve just been to a ton of weddings in my day and I’m looking for something a little outside the norm. I am getting married in the Catholic church though, so whatever songs I choose cannot be too far outside of the norm. Also, we are having a pianist play at the ceremony, so I need songs that don’t need other instruments to sound right. So, what are the options?

The only two songs I’ve found that I like enough to use for the bridal processional are:

Prelude in C (Major)

(source)
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It was perfect, even when tripping over chairs… because we were making our way to the dance floor for our first dance, something I’d been anticipating for as long as I can remember. (Cue Lifehouse’s acoustic version of Take Me Away.)

We decided we were going to do it differently and dance as soon as we were introduced as Mr. and Mrs. Flamingo. We wanted to make sure that both Wes of Film Jones and the our photographer captured this special moment and officially opened up the dance floor with our first dance.
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Photo by Sarah K. Chen

As a floral designer, I’ve vowed to never stop learning. I still like to attend design seminars when I can, and I’m always asking other florists and my super savvy assistants if they think I could do something faster, prettier, or smarter. I might even go back to flower school to take some classes (and hopefully teach some classes someday.) In my new “Ever Wonder How…?” series, I’ll be posting some neat florist tricks-of-the-trade addressing some questions that I certainly had before becoming a florist. And please, if you have an even better technique than what I am showcasing, leave me a comment!

Ever wonder how to decorate a cake with fresh flowers? That’s one thing I didn’t learn in floral school, surprisingly. I’ve seen and tried many different techniques.
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Hey peeps, its time for another round of… save yo’ coin, woman!

Here’s what’s happening that you need to know:

1. Like my dress? My designer, Deborah Lindquist, is hosting a free spring fashion, beauty, and wellness event at Point du Vue salon in West Hollywood tonight. At the event, all of her spring, eco-chic fashions will be 50% off, plus there will be complimentary Point de Vue hair services, mini-makeovers by Lola Cosmetics, and spiritual relaxation by Lifestream specialist Brandy Rosenberg. Sounds dreamy, no? Tonight, 3-8PM.

2. San Diego/SoCal gals: Encore Bridal is hosting a huge sample/nearly-new couture dress sale this weekend! Get your Melissa Sweet, Christos, Vera Wang and more, for 40-70% off! General Admission (FREE): Saturday June 13, 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM and Sunday June 14, 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM. Where: The Omni San Diego Hotel, 645 L Street Downtown San Diego. More details here.

3. Free Destination Wedding Photography! Melissa Diep, out of Chicago (represent!), is offering a free package to any couples getting married ANYWHERE outside of the US. You just pay the airfare and hotel! What a score. Melissa’s work is really great and this deal is hard to beat! Check out the whimsy below, and contact Melissa here.

(source)

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Unfortunately our original lunching location didn’t work out. So a couple weeks ago, Mama Frenchie, Auntie S, BM J, and I went to check out The Crab Catcher. How could we choose a lunching menu without tasting the food? (Please, we’ll take any excuse for a ladies’ afternoon of good food and shopping.)

Auntie S and Mama Frenchie checkin’ out The Crab Catcher

It had everything we were looking for:

1 - Nice ocean view - check!
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When it comes to planning your wedding, a lot of women tend to have some driving ideal behind the details - be it money (the lack or abundance thereof), crafting, traditions, etc.

While there are definitely several factors I keep in mind in planning our wedding, the one I think of the most often has been the environmental impact.

Obviously “being green” is becoming more and more a popular aspect of wedding planning (frogs are such trend-setters, eh Kermie?). It seems to me, however, that one’s wedding gets the Green Stamp of Approval if you do anything that’s considered environmental - get local flowers, carpool, throw money at carbon offsets, etc. And with that Green Stamp of Approval we can all rest easy that our wedding didn’t have too negative an impact on the environment.

The fact of the matter is that no matter what, your wedding will negatively impact the environment. You can’t get around it. Maybe a little less than others, but it will have an impact.

You might be thinking now, ‘Well, hey! But you live in South America! And your wedding’s going to be in Oregon! Isn’t that a little hypocritical?’

Well - I guess. I don’t know.
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Regina B’s beautiful Victorian Era inspired vintage comb.

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.

Lately I’ve started thinking of what types of music we would like to play during our reception. I’ve got our cocktail hour taken care of (and I promise to blog about it soon!), so now I just need to square away the dinner hour and the dancing that will follow. I recently became smitten with local Austin artist, Kat Edmonson (one possible factor might be that I hear her songs daily on KUT). Her new CD is just lovely. After hearing her songs, I envisioned our dinner with soft jazz playing in the background. This is a snippet from one of her recent performances in Austin:

The jazz theme has evolved into a folksy, “Austin” sound, but I would really like to include Kat in the mix. Now I’m considering an Austin/Texas music playlist and I just need to come up with other local artists. This one will probably make the cut:

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Since my last shoe post, I’ve spent a good long while looking for an alternative for my tootsies come wedding day.

My retro friend JDubs directed me to ModCloth, where I found these two options:

Vintage-inspired satin heels, $26.25

Adorable, but at this point, I’d rather not mess around with blue. It’s just too much of a hassle trying to match my bridesmaids’ dresses.
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So I said in my last post that it’s been hard to get excited about anything, but that’s a bold faced lie. I can get excited about something — the honeymoon. Mr. Joey and I are going to the land of the Joeys a few days after the wedding, and frankly, I can’t wait. No wedding plans, can’t do anything about the house, no cell phone or email — absolute bliss. We thought about a long leisurely vacation on a beach somewhere but then we thought we’d be bored after a few days. Well, he would. I could see myself hanging out on the beach and reading for a long while.

So, what’s got my panties all in a bunch (in a good way)? The activities we have planned. We plan on heading north to spend 2 days and 1 night snorkeling on (or is it at?) the Barrier Reef. I can’t wait! We’re also doing a massive train trip from Cairns to Brisbane aboard the Sunlander to see some of the country the old fashion way. I love trains and I especially love trains when I have a private 1st class cabin. Once we get to Brisbane there is the possibility of cuddling koalas and feeding real joeys at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Koalas — here I come.

Janet knows what’s up

image

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Reader LouLousMama is selling her white strapless wedding dress. The dress is in size 14 and she is selling it for $800.

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…

WHERE WE HAD LEFT OFF:

• The wedding schedule is thrown off by late makeup appointments
• I come home to find that all of our bouquets are dead, after our florist put them into the freezer instead of the fridge!
• Bridal portraits begin, I begin to doubt my choice in photographer
• Bridal party portraits begin, the photographer embarrasses my family and friends
• Mr. Shortcake and his groomsmen get ready with the help of a ping-pong table
• We leave for the chapel, and the rain (and our nervousness) begins!
• The ceremony begins, and I take the biggest (shortest) walk of my life!
• We will, we do, we did: the ceremony

NOTE: As usual, my recap photos are from a variety of sources. All post-processing has been done by me with each individual’s consent and permission.

***

After the ceremony finished, Mr. Shortcake and I stood together outside in the pouring, freezing rain. The sky had opened up its black clouds and it was absolute misery. But, the bells on our two hundred year old chapel were ringing, and we were married. Married! Woot! Woot!

For those of you who have commented on how serene I appeared in photos, here’s a candid that’s a little more indicative of my emotions during the beginning of the day:

Quick! Someone tell that bride not to hike her hoops up so high!
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It’s a long and winding road that leads to our venue. If it weren’t for the three forks that diverge toward park offices, the marina, and God knows where else… I’d feel pretty confident that even the most disoriented guest would be able to find our venue. While we included turn-by-turn directions on the backs of the maps that accompanied our invitations, I’m quite certain that few guests will actually remember to pack theirs for the trip. So I’ve decided to add an extra layer of planning protection (and a quick last-minute DIY project) with some simple signs.

Here’s what I used to make them:
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