Wedding Blog

I remember 7 years ago sitting in my college dorm room, hooking my laptop up to the Internet for the first time ever. That’s right folks, my freshman year of college started my whole Internet experience. Prior to that, I thought the computer was for writing English papers and fighting with my siblings as to who could play Oregon Trail next.

I was slowly introduced to the Internet with my first email account and AIM screen name. I then learned how to search the Internet, which was just amazingly cool to have a wealth of information available to me without running to the 1964 encyclopedia set my parents had, or the library. I was hooked from then on!

The wonderful world of blogging

The first time I heard about a blog was when I was a resident assistant in the dorms. I was talking to this resident about classes, and he told me his English teacher made them all start a blog. I remember thinking, ‘Huh? An online journal? What a dork!’

After a few months of hearing my freshman residents talk about their little blogging community on LiveJournal, I took an evening to finally start my own blog. It was mainly about how much I loathed studying, fun campus activities I went to, and just normal, hormonal college girl vents. Looking back on my writing style then, I’m pretty embarrassed. Let’s just say this math/science geek was not good in her English composition classes.

I blogged on LiveJournal throughout my college career and after that, I realized I needed to focus on the real world and just left it at that.

A few months later, I started lurking around The Knot and The Nest just to get ideas of what it was like to be engaged and married. I had a feeling the proposal was coming soon, so I was curious. It was then that I found a cooking board and was re-introduced to blogs – this time, food blogs. I found the pictures and recipes drool-worthy, but I was hardly any good at cooking, baking, or better yet, photography. The ladies on the forums were so helpful and inspiring, so in January of 2008, I started Skinny Food by Amy.

How I found the ‘bee

Two short months later, I got engaged. I decided to join the ranks of bride bloggers, because I wanted to one day look back on our planning days and possibly even make a scrapbook out of it somehow. I became a wedding blog stalker instantly, curious to see the trends of brides. I was so inspired reading brides’ personal blogs, and somehow, in my blog stalking, I came across Weddingbee.

I added it to my Google Reader and started reading. I had no idea what Weddingbee was about, but I was gathering so many great ideas from there, so I decided to go to the actual site and play around.

I wasn’t really active on Weddingbee before applying, because I learned a harsh lesson on The Knot about internet snark. So, I lurked around mainly, and eventually, I found the page about applying to blog for Weddingbee.

Getting the guts to press “send”

I was very intimidated by the application page. Only 5% of applicants were chosen? I kept telling myself that as much as I would love the opportunity to blog here, there was no way I’d be chosen. Writing just isn’t my strong point.

After beefing up my wedding blog for a couple of weeks, the 8 month mark hit. I felt that I needed to decide if I wanted to go for it or not. My application was filled out, but I just kept seeing Weddingbee as the cream of the crop of brides. I thought I was too boring and didn’t really have anything unique to offer.

Then, I started trying to think about what I COULD provide to the Weddingbee community, because, hey, I could be cool like the other ‘bee bloggers, right? So, I wrote up an email to Weddingbee, attached my application and stared at the screen for a good 10 minutes before sending.

A couple of days later, there was an email in my inbox from Mrs. Penguin! My stomach sunk. I was scared to open the email, but I took a breath, quickly scanned the email for an “I’m sorry to inform you…”, but MUCH to my surprise, I was accepted! I found out at work, so all I could do was tell myself to take deep breaths and to get some Starbucks for lunch, because I earned it!

When it came to choosing my character, I emailed Mrs. Penguin immediately that I wanted to be Miss Flip Flop. The shoes and makeup icons were the newest groups, and that one was an instant fit for me, since I could live in flip flops and be completely happy in life. Unfortunately, another ‘bee blogger beat me to the punch, so I went with my second choice, Miss Ballet Flat. I wear ballet flats to work every day, because of my sloppy ankles and crazy height (I’m 5′10″/5′11″ish). Plus, the icon was pink, which is one of my favorite colors.

Blogging advice

While I don’t think I’m the best blogger out there, I like to think that I could lend some advice to someone starting out. If you were to see my first entries in my wedding blog, you would find me to be scatterbrained and just confused. I’ve come a long way since then, but I still have much to learn, as well.

I learned not to press publish when I’m done writing. I take a couple hours or a day to just get away from the post and then come back to it with a fresh mind, read it over, and make edits.

I’ve also learned, just like Flamingo, that pictures are everything. Just a bunch of words can be tedious and tiring for a reader to look over, and eye candy can just help to break things up. (Let this post be the exception. I have nothing really to illustrate about how I came to be a ‘bee blogger!)

If you think it isn’t blog-worthy, you are probably wrong. So many times have I sat there planning with internal struggles, thinking that I was all alone and pretty embarrassed about how I felt. I just couldn’t bring myself to blog about some topics at all. The next week, there would be a post from another bee about the same thing I was going through. Most of the time, you will NOT be alone with your thoughts and feelings. Someone will relate.

You will also need to develop a strong backbone. You are blogging on the Internet, and for the most part, everyone is very nice and supportive. However, the snark can sometimes come out, and you will need to learn to let these things roll off your back. Otherwise, it will drive you nuts and make you self-conscious about future posts.

Mostly, like many bees before me said, be yourself. Don’t try to fit into a mold or a stereotype here. Find and embrace your writing style. Once you do that, blogging will be much easier and enjoyable!

Life as a newlywed

I still owe y’all quite a few recaps, so this isn’t the last you’ll hear from me on Weddingbee. I still lurk around the boards and read every blog entry, and often times, find my newlywed self posting comments, since y’all are so awesome in this Weddingbee community. I just can’t let go of Weddingbee quite yet.

As far as my blogging goes since the wedding, I still have my food blog, which I am having a blast writing for. My photos aren’t the best, but I’m progressively learning. I also recently started my newlywed blog, which isn’t much for now, since life is really nothing but house cleaning and garage sale planning. Let me tell you, combining two of everything plus wedding gifts equals some serious cleaning and decluttering, so don’t think that life post-wedding will be boring. There’s lots to do!