Weddingbee Blog

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With what felt like a hundred dresses behind me, I found “The One”! It was a normal day. I was busy checking every wedding blog under the sun, tee hee, and I came across an absolutely adorable wedding on Style Me Pretty. What really struck me was the bride’s dress! Like a good stalker, err, detective, I found a link to the bride’s profile through the comments section. I was able to get an email and crossed my fingers for a response. Sadly she said she didn’t know the make of the dress! I thought she was blowing me off, and I was really bummed.

Then, a second email arrived! She had scoured the internet trying to find dresses like hers to help me out! How sweet is that? Here is what we found, and what I will be donning the day of our wedding:

Mr. Sunbeam, don’t you dare go any further!! Not even a peek, mister!!!

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Thanks to everyone who has uploaded pictures into our Gallery!  We’d love to keep the momentum going, so over the next two weeks we’ll be hosting a Gallery contest and giving away 10, $40 coupon codes towards a My Publisher PhotoBook!

My Publisher recently launched some upgrades to their service including a comprehensive error check to protect you from making inadvertent mistakes, a new streamlined interface, and the option to personalize default settings, making the design process easier than ever.

To enter the contest, simply upload a picture to the gallery.  If we feature it on the blog sometime over the next two weeks, you’ll win one of the 10 coupon codes!  If you don’t have wedding pictures yet, upload e-pics, ring shots, or inspiration boards!

The contest ends Tuesday, July 28th at midnight PST. Good luck!

One of our readers recently asked us to do an interview with the artist behind all the wonderful illustrations on Weddingbee and we aim to please, so here is the story behind our enigmatic illustrator!

I was perusing wedding related illustrations on istockphoto several years ago when I stumbled across Irene’s portfolio. I thought she would be a great fit with the Weddingbee style, so I reached out to her and commissioned the Mrs. Bee character I continue to use today. Irene has been working with us creating new bee generations and feature icons ever since. Other than her istock illustrations and the work she does for Weddingbee, Irene is mainly a motion graphic designer who designs and animates TV show packaging and promotions for network identities and more. Sounds pretty cool huh?

Without further ado, here is more from the gal of the hour!

How did you get started as an illustrator?

I usually draw for my design projects when there is a need for it. The turning point was when I drew icons for the various Disney consumer electronics products — that’s when I gained more confidence as an illustrator, and realized being an illustrator is a lot of fun on its own. I started to draw a lot more when I became a contributor to istockphoto.com, and that’s when Bee found me.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Everywhere - from traveling, books, movies, art, illustrations, photography, to the kwanzan flowering cherry tree in my backyard. Life is so beautiful, and it is a wonderful feeling when you can interpret and recreate it on paper with a twist from yourself.

What is your design process — do you sketch digitally, or on paper first? How long does it take to complete a generation of illustrations?

I first find as many visual and color references as I can on the internet, and place the images together in Photoshop as a mood board so I can see them all at once. I then analyze the characteristics that I like, and start sketching on paper. Then I scan, trace and refine everything in Adobe Illustrator. The initial illustrations for a generation of characters can usually be done in one day, then Bee and I work together to see how we can improve them if there’s a need for it. So I would say 1-2 days to complete a generation of illustrations.

People have asked me how I draw with a mouse - I don’t know but I just do. I cannot use a Wacom tablet for some reason.
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As I sit here writing to avoid the thing I actually should be doing (packing for my next work trip), I find myself questioning how to balance the two. Work has been a little stressful lately, as we have a very very very important deadline coming up. Wedding planning has been no less stressful, as we are now under the 2 month mark with no shortage of tasks left to complete.

I find myself a little torn between the two at the moment. On one hand, I usually enjoy traveling for work because it means we are out visiting customers; one of the parts of my job that I enjoy most. But it means sitting in an airport and working long hours and being away from my sewing machine. Have I mentioned I haven’t finished the table runners yet? I can’t help but wish that I didn’t have to go, but then I’d be coming home after a boring day of work in the office, and sitting down with my Kenmore and knocking out a runner or two. I’d feel much more accomplished on the wedding front, but not so satisfied with my other job… you know, the one I actually get paid for.

I feel like I’ve been working two full time jobs for the past eleven months.
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We have a thing for turtles.

It all started when I was 10, and our summer vacation — to the coastal New Jersey town of Sea Isle City — coincided with the Diamondback terrapin nesting season. Daddy Bruschetta and I first encountered a turtle wandering through our yard, and after shuttling her to a more private location to lay her eggs, we were hooked. For the remainder of our vacation — and during our subsequent summers in Sea Isle City — Daddy Bruschetta’s euphoria grew exponentially with each turtle we transported to safety (often stopping cars from crushing the poor things in the middle of the town’s busy streets), and he made sure I stayed involved in these endeavors.

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The task at hand was “turtle hunting”, a misnomer we coined for our pastime — seeking out and assisting turtles in distress. After studying their nesting patterns, Daddy Bruschetta and I began an annual grassroots rescue effort.

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Our RSVP deadline has come and gone. We are still waiting for people to get back to us about whether or not they’re coming to the wedding to the point where I have dubbed the past few days “Project RSVP”.

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No paper RSVPs for us, but you get the point.

I’ve tried Facebook, Gmail, Yahoo, and even sicced Mommy Swan on a few in an effort to a get straight answer. Some people have been apologetic and disappointed (at least their e-mails conveyed that). Others, not so much. Hmm….

It’s been interesting to see who RSVPs, who doesn’t, when and how. Most of the late RSVPs have come in the following categories. Some of which are surprising:
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I have to admit something. In a past life (read: when I was a teenager growing up in Los Angeles, otherwise known as La La Land), I’d made some very superficial moves. Hey, I was in the land of falsities, right? Nothing really mattered except for what brand adorned your denim, if the hood of your car read BMW, Mercedes, or Audi, and how recent your last mani/pedi was. Yes, I’m exaggerating a little, er, a lot—the entirety of the LA population doesn’t fall under the above prerequisites—but there is a lot of pressure put on material things and what “perfect” means.

All of the above is a little abstract, yes, but let’s apply it to guys and the reasons I broke up with a few of them. These are going to sound absolutely ridiculous: one wore a mustard-colored shirt I just couldn’t get past, one turned on gospel radio on our first date (I was more into pop), one had small teeth, one was short, one was a Sunday school teacher (cute, yes, but not for me), one was a year younger than me (wha? I like ’em older), one called his shoes “sh*tkickers”, and one drove a maroon car. In hindsight, all of these guys were probably good catches. Heck, I listen to gospel-y bluegrass nowadays and love it. But at the time, er, not so much. And, for whatever reason, I couldn’t look beyond these very, very minor blunders.

And then I met Mr. Cowboy Boot. I lived in Boston at this point and was a wee bit further from my previous self. But, just a wee bit. He charmed me, regardless of the fact that I wasn’t a big fan of his shoes, the way he wore gel in his hair, and that he didn’t fall under my “must-be-a-surfer-from-Southern-California” guidelines. Nonetheless, he surprised me for lunch more than once, went dress shopping with me all day for a work event, and schooled me with his cooking skills (seared tuna, anyone?).
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mypurplewedding

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Start your own Weddingbee Bio and you could be featured on the blog!

Reader indebride is selling her BCBG Feather Hem Dress. It is in size 12, retails for $400 but she is offering it for $300 + s&h.

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:
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Anyone got that song stuck in their head?

Anyhoo, I started formulating the content of our programs a few months ago, before I even knew what the actual programs would look like. We were told we had to get the content of our programs OKed by the ceremony coordinator (aka Mr. Joey’s school’s secretary). I wanted to get her the content before school was out because it would be easier for Mr. Joey to stop by the office and talk to her in person if there were any problems than it would be to go back and forth over email.

I guess I didn’t need to rush, because she said it all looked great and there were no problems.

First to decide on was how to organize the information. After playing around a bit, I came up with this template.

I liked the design alright, but wasn’t sure I had covered all my Catholic bases. I then went to Catholic Wedding Help to find examples of programs for Catholic blessings. There definitely seemed to be a prescription to Catholic programs, but nothing I couldn’t work with.

I played around with designs and finally came up with this:
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Reader mdarrah posted this inspirational photo of her wedding decor. The theme was “tropical elegance” and her wedding coordinator and floral design duo pulled it off perfectly!

Keep on loading your inspirational wedding pics to the gallery to see them featured here on the blog! Remember, your images must be under 1MB in size, or they won’t load.

As most brides are, I am trying to get in shape before the big day. I have been working at getting in shape for the last year. I have been working out more, I got a trainer at the gym, and have generally been trying to get healthy.

As most of you know, I had hip surgery in April that left me on crutches for 6 weeks, and basically out of commission for a solid 2 months. It was a major setback, but I am committed to getting back in shape and finally off crutches and cleared to work out full time.
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Shortly after our engagement I was itching to get one of our vendors booked - the baker! Seriously, this was the first thing we booked, because I LOVE wedding cake. I’m such a huge Martha Stewart Weddings fan, mostly for the cakes. So much so, that years ago I purchased a huge MS cake decorating set in hopes of making some fabulous cakes myself. Yeah… that’s still in the dream stage, but you can imagine my utter delight when I learned that Wendy Kromer, the woman behind most of Martha’s fabulous cakes, had a bakery two hours from my hometown in PA!! We were undecided if we would have our wedding in PA or CA at that point, but that just meant twice as many tastings, and Wendy Kromer’s Bakery had to be one of them!

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When I scheduled our tasting, I was told Wendy would be in NYC and someone else would be helping us with our tasting, much to my disappointment. So I wasn’t expecting to meet her when we went for our tasting, but when we showed up… she was there!
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When I was a little girl I knew that a pillowcase held on by a headband made a perfect veil and my mom’s long white bathrobe could pass for a dress train if I needed it to. I also knew to hold my flowers low near my waist, even if they were just really a hairbrush. I remember standing like this in front of my parents’ full-length mirror. But I was not playing dress up; I was practicing.

So, it’s no surprise that I planned to be all business when it came to finding THE dress. I planned a day to go to a few shops in the area, knowing just the kind of dress I wanted.

(MR. CLOUD– THIS IS WHEN YOU STOP READING! Thanks babe! Smooch smooch!!)
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I’d always been enamored with the Daily Candy illustrations because they were so iconic — as soon as you saw them, you instantly thought Daily Candy.  I wanted similarly iconic graphics for Weddingbee, so I scoured the net for a graphic designer until I came across the work of Paige Pooler, whose cheery, girly work instantly resonated with me. We worked together on the bride illustration until it had that perfect fun, friendly vibe that I envisioned for Weddingbee.

With the bride ready to go, I came up with an idea that I think has largely shaped Weddingbee’s brand to date. Instead of using our bloggers’ actual names, I decided that each author would blog under a character handle. Since my name is Bee, I would be Mrs. Bee, and our initial authors would select another character within the bug generation.

Working with a very limited budget at the time, I purchased the following illustrations off istockphoto for about $2 each.

Using characters like Miss Ladybug and Miss Caterpillar has served many purposes: 1) it allows bloggers to maintain some anonymity because they don’t use their real names, 2) it’s much easier for our readers to remember Miss Ant rather than Jane, especially when you have 25+ bloggers at any given time, 3) our bloggers really identify with the character they select, and 4) it adds to the fun Weddingbee brand.
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