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Weddingbee Blog
Okay now, where did I leave off… ah yes, Champ and I accidentally went to the county jail to apply for our marriage license. Oops! We were actually supposed to meet with our officiant the same afternoon, but because we took that small detour to the jailhouse, we sort of ran out of time. We only had two days before we would be married, and we somehow had to fit in a meeting with the man who would unite us in marriage. While this totally stressed me out, I knew somehow that it would all be okay.
Because the town of Vail is so small, I’ve known my pastor for nearly all my life and couldn’t imagine anyone else performing the ceremony. Our families are very close, and he’s really almost like a father to me. He’s met Champ a few times, but never really had the chance to get to know him, so I knew this meeting was important to both of us.
We decided to meet right before the rehearsal in the church basement, and even though it was last minute, I swear it made things so real for me. He asked us what we loved about each other, what marriage means to both of us, what we saw in our future, and my tears started flowing. I hadn’t really spoken out loud to someone about the character traits I love in my soon-to-be husband. I had written my own vows, but I hadn’t actually spoken them. It was during this conversation that I absolutely knew without a doubt that I was marrying my best friend. I heard the footsteps of our wedding party and family arriving upstairs, and I knew it was probably time for the rehearsal to start, but we both couldn’t stop talking about how we are both committed to a life-long promise to one another. Nothing else mattered… we were ready.
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Now that everyone has received their rehearsal dinner invites, I can finally share with the hive the project that occupied more time and patience than I had anticipated.
Do you remember the design I came up with that was inspired by a Banana Republic ad? I really liked the simple design. I was all set to go with that design until I tried to print it. The printer hates me. It wouldn’t print on the cards I bought (they were too small). I tried creating a folded greeting card layout, but the printer wasn’t having that either. The text inside came out slightly off center.
After a few hours wasted trying to negotiate with the printer, I finally gave up on my beloved design and went back to the Illustrator drawing board. After a few failed attempts, I came up with a design I didn’t hate and I knew I could print.
Behold…
From the Gallery:
Litlcloud’s custom cake was designed to mimic her wedding invitations!
From the PRO Folio:
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Immediately after we got home from our engagement-moon, I flew to Oklahoma to see my parents for the weekend. Ostensibly this was to make the wood engagement ring for Mr. Cubbie. This also happened to be a good opportunity to hit some bridal salons with my mom and my sister!
In case you’re wondering, “Why would she fly all the way to Oklahoma from southern NM to try on dresses? Why not just try on dresses in NM?”… let me tell you this: When you’re looking at designers like Monique Lhuillier and Priscilla of Boston, you don’t look in southern NM. You don’t look in the El Paso area. You can’t. I would have liked to, but they just don’t carry those designers anywhere there!
In my dress researching before the visit, I turned to the web and found my first wed-blog. In it was a picture of a dress that looks remarkably like the POB 2902!
The bride, a sweet eco- and vegan-minded girl named Amanda, told me that her dress was a Maggie Sottero named Libby. She chose this dress because it’s vegan! No silk = vegan! Best part is, it’s less that $1000! I told my mom I’d fallen hard for the POB 2902, but that we should try to find this Libby dress while I was in Oklahoma.
Mr. Bear Cub - NO PEEKING!! GO AWAY!
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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.”
I was far more focused on doing my cake tasting than the tasting with our caterer. Somehow tasting lots-o-cake was far more appealing than chicken or fish. But when we finally were headed to our tasting last week, I was SO excited! We were getting closer and closer, deciding the menu, and making more of these important decisions.
When we first booked our venue last May, they had an in-house chef that handled everything. However, we knew that they might be making some changes, but were ensured it wouldn’t make any significant changes for us… except for one important detail - the bar! Originally we would have had to stock the bar ourselves, an extra detail I just didn’t want to deal with. Our reception site’s recent partnership with 2MayToz Catering (a part of Cucina Paradiso Restaurant in Oak Park) means they’ll take care of the bar! Whew.
Prior to meeting with Anthony at Cucina Paradiso last week, we sent over our choices of hors d’oeuvres, salad, and two entree options we wanted to taste. We went in there ready to eat!
We had a wonderful day and it feels so amazing to be married to Mr. Deviled Egg!
After returning from our amazing honeymoon cruise, look what I found on my photographer’s blog:
Gosh, I love how that car looks in the photo! I can’t wait to see the rest of the pictures from Ticia! I think it will be about three weeks or so until we get all of our pro pictures and I can start tackling recaps.
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
As the post-wedding days fly by, I realized it was about time to design, think of, write, address, stamp, and send thank you notes. Seem overwhelming? Even typing all of those steps out makes me start to sweat and panic, and I only have a fraction of the “normal” amount to send.
In the past, I’ve divulged my love for Dear Abby and Margo. No B.S. advice, handed down to you daily. I also love Annabel Manners—etiquette and advice for the preppy girl in me. While perusing her site (and justifying my LOVE and expense for a LWD - little white dress), I came across this service - “That’s Gratitude” - personalized, handwritten thank you notes. Done by someone else.
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And slip one of these babies on?
Last week, I shooed my rehearsal dinner invitations out the door (and, thankfully, it was my last huge paper undertaking).
They should have all reached their recipients, and now I can share them with you!
These were way simple and fuss-free.
Can y’all tell I’ve discovered Picasa and the collage feature? I heart it big time!
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From our first stop at David’s Bridal, my three ‘maids and I drove across the street to Wendy’s Bridal, a smaller, Ohio-based chain.
I was worried that the prices would be much higher, but they really weren’t. The dresses were beautiful, and the designers they offered came in a greater variety of colors. The bad news: there were no photos allowed!
Our consultant told us they like to have the bride try on dresses first so that the bridesmaids can try on dresses that go well with what she likes. Even though I wasn’t planning on buying a dress (I wanted to attend the Running of the Brides at Filene’s the following month), I agreed to try on a few.
Knowing that most of the designer dresses would be out of my price range, we pulled some dresses off their sample rack in hopes of finding something I might actually be able to buy.
I tried on a two dresses, the first of which was similar to our favorite dress from David’s, but even better.
The second dress, which was raw silk, felt incredible, but the style wasn’t quite as flattering, so I went back to slip into a third.
The minute the consultant zipped me into the third dress, the words “I love it,” slipped out of my mouth before I even knew what I was saying.
It surprised me because I never thought I’d be one of those girls to have a moment and find “the one” dress for them. I don’t even believe in that sort of thing!
But there I was in my dream dress. It was amazing.
Mr. Bunny, if you’re reading this, STOP RIGHT HERE! You’re heading into spoiler territory!
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I’ve never been a veil bride. From the very first dress I ever tried on (almost one year ago!), I never pictured myself with a veil, even though my mom made me try on a few. I was drawn to a raw veil (love how modern this feels) and then to a mantilla veil (love how vintage this feels), but in the end, I’m pretty sure I’ll be walking down the aisle sans this iconic bridal accessory.
For a short while, I considered a headband made from ribbon like these brides, and I’m still kind of in love with the idea.
(source)
There wasn’t any music, but I sure was dancing today. Why? Cause I bought Mr. Lab’s wedding ring! Woot! AND I got it at an AMAZING steal! Double woot!
Mr. Lab came to visit me and his mom (remember, I’m staying with FMIL Lab during my internship) for the weekend and we decided to get some much needed wedding tasks done while he was in town. So we worked on our registries (our first shower is coming up in a few weeks!), mailed the save the dates, and met with our officiant (more on all of those later!).
The last thing we did was stop into Zales to peruse the men’s section. I took the opportunity to have my filthy ring cleaned as Mr. Lab began trying on rings. I must say, I was very surprised at how much interest he took in the matter. He already knew he wanted a ring that was very simple and manly, but he began grilling the lady at the counter about millimeter size, fit, and metal choices. After about 15 minutes, we knew exactly what we wanted. We left the store to head straight back home and hop on the internet. That’s right, we didn’t buy from the store. We used them to find out Mr. Lab’s ring size and metal preference then went straight to Amazon.com where we bought this bad puppy:
When we started planning out the wedding florals, Mr. Bruschetta made his petal preference known. And, since weddings are as much about compromise as they are love and celebration, the mister won this one.
There’ll be flowers aplenty at the Bruschetta wedding. So far, you’ve heard about my bridesmaid bouquets idea and seen a centerpiece inspiration photo. But, for all the vibrantly-colored petals that will be decorating tables and clasped as bright bunches in the hands of the bridal party ladies, none will be adorning our groomsmen’s lapels.
I’m totally fine with this decision. We’ll still honor significant relatives with boutonnieres and/or corsages, but frankly, none of the groomsmen seem to care that they’ll be flowerless. And although I entertained the notion of a non-floral bout, I’m leaning towards keeping it simple with bold ties to set the groomsmen apart. Mr. Bruschetta and I have also discussed adding pocket squares to the party — black for the groomsmen (which, I realize, you wouldn’t really see well against the black tux jackets, but it would add a little something extra) and ivory (matching my gown) for the groom.
(source)
Yes, that’s me. You see, hive, I’ve been doing this whole wedding planning thing pretty much all by myself. Why? Well, it’s a little complicated.
For one thing, Mr. Swan and I decided NOT to have a wedding party. It’s not that we don’t have any friends that we wanted to include in the wedding. If anything, it was the exact opposite! Mr. Swan would have been faced with the task of having a wedding party consisting of his brother and about eight other guys. I don’t have any siblings and very few close friends, so my half of the wedding party would have been pretty small, consisting of four people or less. Either way, the idea of a ten-plus person wedding party was not appealing to either of us. We felt we could still include people in ways we thought were important without having a formal bridal party. I know that’s not a popular sentiment, but that was definitely the right decision for us.
The only thing having to do with weddings that I ever thought about growing up besides the venue was my dress. My dream dress. Realistically, I think I just got so hung up on the perfect dress that I never got the chance to imaginary-plan my future wedding. Kind of like an endless loop, with no end in sight!
When I was about 5, my mom came home at night after work shocked to see her daughter (me) playing with her Barbies in bed. I didn’t see a problem at the time - I was just playing dress-up, and tonight it was dress-up, weddings edition. I had a little white dress - that worked good enough for my imagination. I just didn’t have a veil for my little Barbie. So I cut up a white blanket that I found in my room to make the veil. The white blanket my mom brought me home from the hospital in. She was a little ticked I had cut up this blanket - for her it was imbued with such strong memories of the day I was born! Needless to say, the next day she brought home a box called “Barbie Bridal Dress” - veil included.
In middle school, every opportunity I got I sketched dresses. Long dresses, short dresses, velvet dresses, pique dresses, applique dresses - all wedding dresses. I was convinced (for some insane reason) I could sketch my dream wedding dress. Most of these dresses looked a lot like Monique Lhuillier’s Scarlet.
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