Mrs. Dachshund, Fresno, CAAge and Occupation: 24, Legal Office AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Computer TechnicianEngagement Date: April 18, 2009Wedding Date: May 2010Venue: Victorian Gardens of Two SistersAbout Me: I’m a 24-year-old Californian bride-to-be who found love in the most unlikely of places - an online video game! I’m a farmer’s daughter living in rural Central California, but will always have a special place in my heart for the city. My future husband is a 27-year-old extraordinarily tall, exceptionally cute, and undoubtedly Canadian boy who was able to sweep me off my feet and take me for his bride. I love color, folksy songs that make me smile, interior design, kettle corn, my one-year-old puppy, Juno, and my fiance, of course! We’re planning a DIY garden wedding with a laundry-list of projects, all while dealing with the bureaucracy that is American Immigration!
I recently posted about my new Cricut and my save the date mockup I made using it. I know a lot of you are interested in the Cricut, or Sure Cuts A Lot, if you already have a Cricut. On its own, the Cricut is a very handy crafting tool. Paired with Sure Cuts A Lot, a program used to cut custom designs, the Cricut becomes a gadget with limitless possibilities!
In addition to the Cricut and SCAL, you’ll need a program that allows you to create .SVG files. You can find a list of programs here; my tutorial, however, will use Adobe Illustrator. I think I went a little overboard on the screenshots and photos, so bear with me if some of the steps are obvious. I definitely have a tendency to over-explain!
Mrs. Swan, New York CityAge and Occupation: 31, Legislative RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Finance GuyEngagement Date: August 9, 2008Wedding Date: August 2009Venue: Battery GardensAbout Me: I am an un-crafty but resourceful, Caribbean-born but New York-raised woman who's been known to analyze "Dancing with the Stars" and “So You Think You Can Dance”, buy stinky cheese, and use way too many parentheses. I keep lists for fun, am constantly daydreaming of my next international travel adventure (four continents down, three to go), debating sports (let’s Got Mets/Giants!) and dancing around my apartment to stay sane. I am excited to share our wedding planning journey as I hope to plan a streamlined, personal, and fun wedding with the greatest life partner I could ever imagine, Mr. Swan.
You can’t always have great weather, and that was the case this summer in the Northeast. We got so much rain that we didn’t know what to do with it all. That was most definitely the case during our final days in Newport.
So what’s there to do in Newport on a rainy day? Tennis, anyone?
Mr. Swan and I took a trip to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. I can pretty much appreciate most sports, and love live tennis. Mr. Swan and I have even had one of our most fun outings ever together at the U.S. Open. I think that it had a lot to do with the martinis they were serving, but the tennis was good, too!
Here’s Mr. Swan at the street entrance. You have no idea that you’re about to walk into this….
Mrs. Labrador Retriever, Athens/SavannahAge and Occupation: 24, Student/Sports ReporterFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Physical Therapy Assistant Student/Future Dr. of PT
Engagement Date: December 31, 2008Wedding Date: November 2009Venue: Whitfield Square/Savannah StationAbout Me: I'm working on my second degree from UGA (Go Dawgs!). I'm a self-proclaimed attention-w****. If it involves a camera, I'm in front of it! You'll never meet a girlier tomboy than me. I can go toe to toe with any guy on the subject of college football, and lift more than any girl in my gym, all without chipping a nail. I hope to someday be the only person you want delivering your sports news. My FI and I are the loving parents of three Labrador Retrievers (one of each color) and are planning a "Southern Romantic Charm" wedding in the beautiful, historic city of Savannah. I'm not extreme in anything except moderation... and wedding planning.
I’m slowly checking off the gazillion and one items on my wedding to-do list as the days quickly tick down. The latest accomplishment was settling on 3/5ths of my niece-entourage’s attire. After some serious lusting over Miss Ramen’s flower girl dress find, I set out on my own search for the cutest little dresses I could find to fit my cheek-squeezin’ worthy gals. I’m extremely excited about my finds and am secretly envious of all the dresses, especially this one with its precious rosettes:
Mrs. Ballet Flat, New OrleansAge and Occupation: 24, Geographic Information Systems AnalystFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, IT AnalystEngagement Date: March 16, 2008Wedding Date: May, 2009Blogging Since: September 25, 2008Venue: St. Charles Borromeo Church/Jefferson-Orleans NorthAbout Me: I absolutely love wedding planning, spending time with Mr. Ballet Flat, various crafts, watching football, baking, pop music, bargain hunting and ice cream. My idea of a great date night is dinner and clearance shopping with Mr. Ballet Flat! I currently live below sea level in the suburbs near New Orleans, where I make maps all day, everyday for my job. I'm slowly becoming more and more obsessed with anything New Orleans related for our wedding, and I can't wait for the big day!
After a successful walk down the aisle, it was time to make it official. Mr. Ballet Flat and I are both Catholic, so we had a full Mass for our ceremony.
Since we were married before the Pentecost, the church was still decorated for the Easter season. I’ll give you this picture in color, since it is absolutely beautiful.
I loved all of the Easter arrangements that adorned the Altar.
Mrs. Joey, SeattleAge and Occupation: 28, Project Administrator for Public Health NGOFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, High School History TeacherEngagement Date: June 24, 2008Wedding Date: August 2009Venue: Eastside Catholic Chapel and Lake Union CafeAbout Me: I'm a Seattle girl through and through except for the fact that I don't drink coffee. I love my job most of the time because I get to travel and work with brilliant people who are trying to prevent Malaria. I love DIY projects of all sorts, cooking, and watching sports. I'd wear anything at Anthropologie and could spend all day on Etsy. I love to travel but shouldn't because I always get myself into unbelievable situations!
Our delicious meal was followed by one of our favorite desserts—ice cream. We didn’t serve your run-of-the-mill grocery store ice cream; it was one of our favorites from a local ice cream shop, Molly Moon. It is oh so good. They have amazing flavors. I love the honey lavender, but we went with our favorites: Salted Caramel, Vivace Coffee, and Strawberry Balsamic. We love salty sweet desserts. We love popcorn with semi-sweet chocolate on movie night, and our favorite candy is a caramel surrounded in dark chocolate and topped with smoked grey sea salt from Fran’s Chocolates. Are you noticing a trend?
Mrs. Frozen Yogurt, DallasAge and Occupation: 28, Special Projects CoordinatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Equity TraderEngagement Date: March 19, 2009Wedding Date: April 2010Venue: Marie Gabrielle, DallasAbout Me: I was born and raised in Texas, and have lived in several of the cities across the state, but I currently reside in Austin. I went to college in Boston and have a special place in my heart for the Northeast. I love reading, shopping, wine, reuniting with college friends that are scattered across the country, reality TV, trying out new recipes, and attempting all the DIY projects that come along with wedding planning. I'm a "bleeding heart, save the world type" and thankfully my job allows me to work on legislation and policy to help out those in need. I met Mr. Frozen Yogurt in a bar, though he doesn't even drink! And now we are planning a modern yet vintage wedding in Dallas while dealing with the trials and tribulations of first time homeownership.
Statement necklaces are everywhere, and I love them. I even stopped a lady in the bathroom the other day to tell her that I loved her necklace. I don’t know if I’m brave enough to wear one with my wedding dress, but I saw that this bride did on Southern Weddings, and it looked great!
Mrs. Chick, HoustonAge and Occupation: 28, Rights and Reproduction ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Computer ProgrammerEngagement Date: November 15, 2008Wedding Date: April 2010Venue: A farm outside of HoustonAbout Me: Mr. Chick and I met almost ten years ago at Baker Blues, a college jazz party. He was attracted to my intensity, and I was mesmerized by his trivia pursuit skills and his dorm furniture adorned with his initials. We've grown more sophisticated through the years, with our love of wine, owning a house together, and parenthood (of a cat), but we have not lost our silliness or childish sense of humor!
You may remember our adventures in trying to find a venue in this post. At first, we thought (okay, really, I thought) I would want an indoor wedding, because I’m not a very outdoorsy kind of gal. But after seeing all the beautiful pictures of farm/vineyard/barn weddings (and comparing the budget spreadsheets for indoor vs. outdoor weddings), we’ve decided on having a farm wedding! After looking at these pictures, it just suddenly clicked that farm weddings suited both Mr. Chick’s and my budget and tastes!
The two places we are considering are Matt Family Orchards in Tomball, Texas and Cielitos Ranch in Pattison, Texas. We loved Cielitos Ranch, but unfortunately, the owner decided last week that since her daughter (who is an awesome Weddingbee reader!) is also getting married at the ranch at around the same time, it would be too much to handle. I totally understand, and I would hate to bring more stress to someone’s life (god knows I understand the stress of weddings!).
Last Wednesday, Mr. Chick and I went over to our friend M’s house to watch Glee. I was complaining about how it was impossible to find a cool affordable venue, when M asked me what we were looking for. As it turns out, her family owns a house and seven acres of land in Conroe, Texas! Read more…
Mrs. Lamb, NorfolkAge and Occupation: 25, Homeland Security ConsultantFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Graduate StudentEngagement Date: January 2009Wedding Date: January 2010Venue: Trinity Presbyterian Church/Harrison Opera HouseAbout Me: I’m a Homeland Security Consultant with a tendency towards pulling office pranks, taking lunch breaks, and drinking Wawa shakes. I’m also an English major with a serious obsession with alliteration and rhymes. While I’m not keeping America safe, I’m training for half marathons and the Escape from Alcatraz swim. Or moving for the third time this year. Or baking. Or wedding crafting. Or crying about wedding planning. All the while, I’m getting myself into Lucille Ball-esque scrapes and making Jim Carey-esque faces. Our big fat Czech/Baptist/Jewish/Italian wedding is a combination of vintage eclectic, DIY, and little spoonful of sugar from our Event Coordinator. It’s going to be a Norfolk flavored wedding with the verve of an only-daughter-blow-out bash!
One of my friends has a great blog about being a domestic goddess. The Part-Time Happy Homemaker gives great tips, recipes, and some how-tos.
I routinely catch up on the site on Mondays, and a few weeks ago, I think I hit a wedding jackpot! Check out this post and tell me you didn’t just think, ‘WEDDING!’ Read more…
Mrs. Penguin, Northern CaliforniaAge and Occupation: 27, Weddingbee Editor in ChiefFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Doctor of Physical TherapyEngagement Date: January 29, 2007Wedding Date: June 7, 2008Blogging Since: September 14, 2007Venue: Winery in the Gold CountryAbout Me: I love the Spice Girls, dogs with underbites, bean burritos, making messes, high fives, avoiding showers, crossword puzzles, blogs, weddings, and blogs about weddings!
We’re always working to improve your Weddingbee experience, and wanted to run a few new features by you all!
Launching the wider blog format was a huge improvement—the larger pictures and wider format provide a more visual experience. We hoped to carry that over to the other sections of the site! The bios and DIY sections you’ve gotten used to have looked like this:
Reader Miss Sakura posted a great idea for us last month, requesting that Weddingbee’s DIY section be more visual. It was a great idea! So we’ve incorporated it in both DIY and bios. The proposed redesign features thumbnails from each bio section or DIY entry: Read more…
Mrs. Parfait, ChicagoAge and Occupation: 26, TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Senior Online ConsultantEngagement Date: February 14, 2009Wedding Date: April 2010Venue: Signature EventsAbout Me: I have a soft spot for all things sweet and romantic. Desserts, love songs, sappy movies? Yes, yes, and ohh yes. My fiance and I enjoy singing to our dogs, creating crazy ice cream sundaes, and generally being lovey dovey cuddle bunnies. We also do socially acceptable things like dancing, throwing Frisbees, playing high stakes board games, and taking unreasonably fun road-trips. We're planning a Korean/Serbian wedding with plenty of playful, personal touches!
Mr. Parfait is a connoisseur of car frost art and mirror fog art. Read more…
Mrs. Cowboy Boot, Santa FeAge and Occupation: 25, Magazine EditorFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Artist and Whitewater Rafting GuideEngagement Date: April 28th, 2008Wedding Date: October 2009Venue: Devil's Thumb Ranch, ColoradoAbout Me: I grew up in Los Angeles and have since lived in San Diego, Boston, Italy, Hawaii, New York City, and Santa Fe. I speak Italian and love pasta. My real passion is the outdoors, though. When I'm not at work, I'm snowboarding, hiking with my two dogs, mountain biking, surfing, cross-country-skiing, or boating New Mexico's rivers. Despite my boyish love for adventure, I'm a girly-girl at heart and am overly-excited to pull off the romantic, vintage-inspired, country wedding of my dreams.
Mrs. Ramen, PhoenixAge and Occupation: 26, Optometry StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Industrial DesignerEngagement Date: January 3, 2009Wedding Date: December 19, 2009Venue: Phoenix Art MuseumAbout Me: I'm an SF-born, Seattle-raised girl, transplanted to Phoenix where I'll be getting married, and planning all the way from Orange County where I go to school (yes, it feels as crazy as it sounds). I loooooove Yogurtland, am slightly very obsessed with all things paper, am heavily addicted to wedding blogs, deeply desire a puppy, thoroughly enjoy cooking, cry when I watch (almost all) movies, thrive on solo car-karaoke, can't stop being sarcastic, am neurotic about taking pictures of almost everything I eat before I eat it, and aspire to travel the world. My super-talented fiance and I are attempting to DIY a majority of our massive (~350 guests) "clean & modern, yet romantic, but completely unexpected, with a teeny dash of vintage" wedding, stay within our not-so-massive budget, and somehow get a really luxe (but still fun!) look/feel at the same time. In music terms (since we're both really into music) think Coldplay meets Motown meets Kanye meets Sinatra.
Back in the day, when I started reading Weddingbee on a regular basis, I would read about all of these wedding photographers - Scott Robert, Jessica Claire, Jose Villa, Jen Skog, etc… and I started to check out their blogs on a regular basis. One of these amazing photographers was Lunaphoto, whose work I quite quickly fell in love with. I then tried to persuade myself to not love them, since I knew that they HAD to be totally outside of any photography budget I could fathom. Read more…
Mrs. Dachshund, Fresno, CAAge and Occupation: 24, Legal Office AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Computer TechnicianEngagement Date: April 18, 2009Wedding Date: May 2010Venue: Victorian Gardens of Two SistersAbout Me: I’m a 24-year-old Californian bride-to-be who found love in the most unlikely of places - an online video game! I’m a farmer’s daughter living in rural Central California, but will always have a special place in my heart for the city. My future husband is a 27-year-old extraordinarily tall, exceptionally cute, and undoubtedly Canadian boy who was able to sweep me off my feet and take me for his bride. I love color, folksy songs that make me smile, interior design, kettle corn, my one-year-old puppy, Juno, and my fiance, of course! We’re planning a DIY garden wedding with a laundry-list of projects, all while dealing with the bureaucracy that is American Immigration!
I love flowers. I’ll admit that I don’t know much about them, but I do appreciate their beauty and it makes me happy to have them in a pretty vase on my kitchen table! What I don’t love about flowers is their cost. Flowers are so expensive! I can imagine them eating, very quickly, through our very small budget. Originally our plan was to make all of our floral arrangements ourselves using flowers from the Los Angeles Flower District. That will mean we’ll have A LOT of work to do just a few days before the wedding. The more I think about how stressful that will be, the more the idea of “alternative flowers” grows on me.
Does anyone remember this movie? My grandma taped it for me when I was little; it was on the Disney Channel and we didn’t have cable. I remember loving this song! I would make paper flowers for my mom to take to work so that she wouldn’t miss m.
Paper flowers can be made to look very realistic, or not, depending on what you like. Read more…
Weddingbee GalleryFeature Launched: April 10, 2009About: A collection of inspirational wedding pictures from readers and bees.
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.
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
