Weddingbee Blog

This is the mantra of Mr. Cubbie’s sister, bridesmaid T. It’s so true! Say it with me, now:

Happy wife, happy life!

Doesn’t that just make you smile?

Mr. Cubbie [thankfully] likes to follow this saying. He truly does love to make me happy - even when it means I ask him to read the Offbeat Bride book.

*Note - being caught reading a book about brides is not considered “cool” by most guys!

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For those brides out there who are perfectly fine with their taffeta-filled weddings, I think that’s fantastic! This book isn’t so much about filling your wedding with quirky details, and nixing the favors, it’s about empowerment over creating the wedding you dream of. And it’s hilarious, to boot!

There are just so many things some guys don’t get when it comes to weddings.
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I think our first anniversary was probably a little different from most, in a sense that we spent all day celebrating it with family and friends!

We started our day by going back to our reception venue, Jin Asia Cuisine Restaurant, for a dim sum brunch with my parents and sisters. It was somewhat surreal being there. The last time we were there, we were introduced as a new Mr. and Mrs.!

(Random Note: Despite being with the Mister for almost 8 years now, I still forget how tall he is until I see pictures like these!)

After stuffing ourselves at brunch, we had the good fortune of being invited to see the Sox play at Fenway!
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Well, I recently got my hair done, and I decided that I won’t cheat on my stylist, after all. She brought up my wedding before I even did at my last appointment. I’ve already told her that I will be stalking her the month of July so we can try to figure something out. At this point, I am going to just relax. She did tell me that I’d better be looking at pictures of styles that I like. Yes, ma’am!

I think I have definitely been moving towards wearing my hair up. Here are a few styles that have been striking my fancy:

I’m sure you remember my favorite old standby. This one really is one of my favorites for its simplicity:

(source)

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Heads up, hive! Tomorrow evening, beginning at 7 PM EST, click on over to Bee TV for a live Bruschetta broadcast.

I’ll most likely have a glass of wine in hand, and a penchant for foodie-focused subject matter… but am open to wherever the conversation wanders!

Will you be joining me?

Getting engaged without a ring was a good option for us.

First, I’m a pretty particular person and I can’t hide my disappointment if a gift doesn’t live up to the image I have in my head (this has led to many hurt feelings on Christmas morning. Sorry, Mom! I love you even though I return all of your gifts every year!).

Second, Mr. Bunny didn’t feel confident enough to pick out a ring on his own. He wanted me to have something I loved.

He did warn me not to expect anything lavish. We’re reporters for tiny local newspapers and can barely afford to pay our bills, so I certainly wasn’t expecting a large rock.

In addition, he’d just had to pay for his surgery — and shortly before that, his truck had been in a 4-car pile up caused by an uninsured driver, so he’d had to foot the bill for the truck’s frame repair, too.

Our family is good friends with the e-ring salesman, John, at the local Diamond Cellar, so I’d always imagined that I’d buy my ring from him. I just hoped that I would be able to convince Mr. Bunny to shop at DC.

The strange thing is that one of the other girls in the 4-car pile up happened to be John’s daughter! She and Mr. Bunny met on the side of the road while they were waiting for the police to show up. Mr. Bunny didn’t realize I knew her until he mentioned that she knew a friend of his — who, coincidentally, is the Diamond Cellar’s diamond buyer. Needless to say that it wasn’t too hard to talk Mr. Bunny into the idea that a visit to John was in order.

Initially, I was torn between a round cut and a princess cut diamond.
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Ladies! Guess what!

I’m floundering on my dress once again. Do I hate it? No. I love it pretty well*. But I’m open to suggestions. I’d love it if you could help me out and comment or PM me with your links** that meet the following qualifications:

1. White or ivory
2. No train
3. Knee length at least. (No shorty-short skirts!)
4. Under $200 (…Or could be found used for that - I’m willing to put in the leg-work.)
5. Dressier than a beach-wrap, but less dressy than a traditional A-line wedding dress.

You get bonus points if it’s lacy, eyeletty (it’s a word, I swear!), tea-length, and/or vintagey. Double bonus if it has a slight green detail that matches my shoes.
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For many years now, floral designers have been doing submerged flowers. Sometimes submerging is very easy, while other times they seem so intricate and require wiring, rocks, or weights.

The key to submerging flowers in a vase is to begin with a great vase. I prefer cylinder (24 to 30 inches tall) and unusual tapered vases. Of course, it’s important to put your own spin on it, so try different variations until you get it right. For this arrangement that I did, I choose a tapered vase.

The other key element is selecting a flower that would look great submerged. I have to be honest; orchids tend to be my favorite.

Believe it or not, some flowers don’t really work submerged. And others just look plain silly like hydrangea or carnations (trust me, I’ve tried them). There are many techniques for submerging. This one is one of my favorites…
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I have a confession to make. I went into my hair and makeup trials with only the vaguest idea of what I wanted the end result to look like.

I put off these very important decisions until just last week and found myself scrambling the night before my appointment to find appropriate inspiration photos. The problem is, there really wasn’t any combination of photos to illustrate exactly what I wanted… mainly because really I didn’t know what I wanted. (Oh, how I envy the bees who’ve known exactly what they wanted when it came to their wedding day looks!)

As far as my hair, I was only sure that I wanted a natural looking (i.e. not lacquered to my scalp) updo. These are the photos that I took to Mayerly, my super-patient stylist at the Biltmore Hotel Spa.
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This special moment was captured Barnaby Draper Studios photography.

Don’t forget to check out all the professional inspiration from the top wedding vendors in the industry in the PRO Folio!

No, I haven’t yet straightened out the DMV situation. That’s a story for another day, hopefully when it’s actually straightened out (I just love a happy ending, ya know?).

No, this post is about how name changing affects your life in much more insidious and PITA ways: email accounts and blogs. I posted a while back that I reserved a new Gmail account in my new name. Seemed like the right thing to do, since my current personal email account includes my maiden name.

I HAD NO IDEA HOW MANY PLACES THAT PESKY LITTLE EMAIL ACCOUNT WAS USED. Seriously. Bank logins, insurance accounts, benefits websites, online magazines… and blogs. Oh, the blogs.

See, you can’t switch the primary email address on a Google account. Say what? Yes, let me repeat: you cannot change the primary email address on a Google account if that email address is a Gmail address.

Editing Your Account: Username

You can’t change the email address on your account to an existing Gmail address, but we invite you to add a new Gmail address to your Google Account.

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I wanted to give you guys a sneak peek at my first DIY project. The soap project. I decided not to actually make soap. While I think that is an amazing project, my time is limited and I don’t mind a little Ivory soap every once in a while.

The soap will go in the hotel rooms of our guests and in the rooms at the Villa (where I will stay and my lovely ladies will stay - along with mom). I will also put a bar in the bathroom at the reception site.

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Way, way back in the dark ages… you know, in March of 2008 when I furiously started planning this wedding, I fell in love with escort cards tucked neatly in beds of wheatgrass. And really, what’s not to love? It’s bold, vibrant, matches our color scheme… and if we get really ambitious, we can make healthy smoothies with it the next day!

I didn’t, however, want to use the standard folded escort cards. I wanted paper flowers.

Source: Brooklyn Bride

For the past year (yes, year!) I have searched high and low for the perfect way to fulfill my vision. I’ve always loved origami, so I tried any and every folded flower I could find instructions for (beyond the basic lily… far too easy, and I wanted to show off some mad origami skillz). But every option I found either wouldn’t have set well in the wheatgrass, would be difficult to attach a leaf to, or just simply involved far too many steps for me to make 60+ flowers.

Another roadblock with origami was the paper.
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I never thought I wanted anything more than a few sprigs of lavender to top our wedding cake until I saw this:

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The little birdies that Lauren Alane makes are so cute! I didn’t exactly have a “I need to have it” sort of reaction, but the wheels did start a-turnin’. The thing is, I’m not exactly cheap, I just get this crazy idea in my head every once in a (frequent) while that when I see something artsy I like, I can re-create it. There are plenty of instructions on the net, right?
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Yesterday, Mr. Toucan and I celebrated our first anniversary. It’s hard to believe that one year has gone by! Since there are still so many married ladies buzzing around in the hive, I’ll be putting together a short little series of posts of how we celebrated our one year, and will share our paper anniversary presents! But first, let’s take a look back…

We decided to go through our wedding pictures and reminisce, and we each picked out one picture from our day to share with you.

Hers:

While this might not be the *best* picture, it’s definitely one of my most favorite pictures. It’s the best feeling in the world to love someone so much, and to know that they love you that much back. You can see the love on Mr. Toucan’s face. He looks at me like this every day.

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For the past 13 years, I’ve stuck to the same routine for cleaning my skin before hitting the sack. I’ve added in a few products over the years, but the base products (cleanser, moisturizer) still remain and I’ve even stayed loyal to one brand for the most part. My skin? Dry, dry, dry. Living at a high elevation sucks the moisture right out. I don’t break out very often save for the occasional zit. So, my main focus lies in moisturizing.

Lately, I’ve been straying from my brand-of-choice and trying out some different products. Mainly because I get a samples through work here and there and, what can I say, free product is free product. Some I love, while others leave my skin peeling or stinging. So, in preparation for the wedding, I’m going to keep it simple and head back to my staple brand for most everything.

You’re wondering what brand that is, aren’t you? Let me break it down for you.

My fountain of youth: H2O+. Their sea-derived skincare products are gentle and natural. While not drugstore-priced, they aren’t the most expensive out there and you get a fair amount for your money. Plus, they last a long time–sometimes it takes me six months to get through a product.

Step 1: Make-up Remover
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