Wedding Blog

Hello, hive! Long time no see. I’ve missed you! Man, does time fly. It seems like only yesterday that Mr. Cookie and I were smoothing out the last minute details for our wedding. Now here we are, almost a year later. Crazy, I tell you. Crazy!

When Pengy asked us bees to consider writing a post about our lives as bees behind the scenes, I too jumped on the bandwagon. Especially for those who are considering applying to be a bee, I think this series will give you a fantastic look inside the hive.

“The Rise of the Blogs”
Funny thing. In 2005, I wrote a paper for a design class I took in college called, “The Rise of the Blogs”. In the paper I talked about the political influence and growing mainstream popularity of weblogs, and then I did a presentation to the class on how to blog. Serendipitous? I think so. Ever since, I’ve had my own personal blog.

Immediately after Mr. Cookie and I became engaged, I started a separate blog to update my bridesmaids — who lived all around the county — about my planning process. As I started searching the web for vendors, I’d come across links to these great wedding blogs. Ironically, through our photographer’s blog, I found Style Me Pretty, which lead me to Weddingbee.

The blogosphere has grown so much since I started blogging. It’s been incredible to watch.

The wedding blogging community has become so influential in the wedding industry. I’ve watched little known Etsy designers and up-and-coming photographers become some of the leaders in the wedding industry, which I think is pretty awesome!

Bee-coming a Bee
Because I was DIYing most of our wedding, I immediately connected with the bees. I thought they were so refreshing, funny, smart and inspirational — very different and more real than wedding magazines. What they could do with a thing called a Gocco blew my mind, and like me, they sometimes too wanted to pull their hair out over planning a wedding. It was the inspiration and encouragement that I was searching for as a bride-to-be. I would refresh my browser every ten minutes waiting impatiently for the next post… but I was a little sad that there hadn’t been a Colorado bride on Weddingbee. I thought, “Hey, there hasn’t been a Colorado Bride. The bees are cool ladies. I can write. I am doing a butt-load of DIY projects. I want to be a bee!”

So, I turned in my application and waited for an entire month on pins and needles for a response. And then there it was—the acceptance letter. I was beyond thrilled! I did a little dance around my desk at work—my colleagues thought I was nuts. I called Mr. Cookie and his response was, “What is Weddingbee, again?” Hee hee.

I thought about what character I wanted to be all night. I don’t think I really slept. I had a bunch to choose from: Carrot, Taffy, Snapdragon, Cookie, and all the tropical fruits except Pineapple. We all get to choose what we want to be, but somehow I think our characters are a personification of us in real life. I have a big sweet tooth. I like all things homemade, especially chocolate chip cookies. And I’ll let you in one a little secret: Mr. Cookie’s and my last name starts with a “C”. Cookie seemed to fit perfectly. And thus, I became Mrs. Cookie.

Life as a Bee
When I was blogging for Weddingbee on a more consistent basis, I would post about 3-5 times a week depending on what was happening that week in my planning process. I usually wrote either early in the morning or very, very late at night — that’s when my brain functions the best. Writing a post took me anywhere from 30 minutes, if I had a very clear and concise idea, up to three hours, especially if the post was a tutorial or had lots of pictures. It was a big time commitment. But since this was something that I cared very deeply about, I felt it was worth every minute.

More, the community of readers and sister bees is UN-BEE-LIEVABLE! No, seriously. I am honored, humbled and very fortunate to be amongst the ranks of the most talented and smartest women I have ever met. I only hope that my blogging and recaps gave you all as much inspiration as you have given to me!

What I Have Learned
Writing and sharing your life in such a public forum has changed my life. I know that sounds sappy, but I am a better person today because of Weddingbee, and here is why…

Before Weddingbee, I was a huge people-pleaser; often sacrificing my own happiness for acceptance. It has plagued me most of my life. It would be dishonest for me to say that it wasn’t one of the reasons why I wanted to be a bee—for some external validation. But when you put yourself out there in the public, you are going to get criticism. There is no way around it. Everyone has an opinion and someone might honestly not like the dress you picked out or think ill of your choices. This was something that was very hard for me to swallow at first.

Shortly after I became a bee, I wrote a post called, “What’s in a Name” in which I described the internal struggle I was having over changing my name. The post stirred-up quite the conversation and debate about a woman changing her last name, and I was personally attacked in a few of the comments. This was a blow to my ego. I thought about the post for a week, mulling over what I did wrong. Why didn’t people like me? I was crushed, but I kept on writing.

For a while I tried imitating other bees’ writing styles, but I felt fake. It is tiring being someone that you’re not. And I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. After a while, and a lot of soul searching, I said f#*k it! I didn’t join Weddingbee for the comment counts or the notoriety, I joined to share an honest experience of planning my wedding, period. And slowly but surely, I stopped apologizing for who I was in real life; something that years of self-help books and counselors never seemed to help me outgrow. Sure, I can be a bit dramatic and opinionated at times, but this is who I am, DANGIT! And I like me.

My advice to all you out there who are thinking about applying: BE YOURSELF! Share all of your experiences: the good, the bad, the ugly. Be dramatic if you are a dramatic person. Be funny if you are funny. Be serious if you are serious. But be yourself and be true to your experience. It’s what make you unique and absolutely fabulous.

So, that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!