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It seems to be a trend. I didn’t elaborate in my proposal post, but the one thread that runs through Mr Pretzel’s and my engagement journey is that I will hide in the bathroom if I need to cry. Funny, I know. But I want to elaborate on it—because LOVE is not all fairy tales and perfect—and my perfect imperfection is that when my eyes start to water I retreat to the bathroom to have a good cry.
So here it is from the beginning. *Warning: it’s a long post!*
Before I started to date Mr Pretzel, I turned 30—this is not so much a big deal, but Mr Pretzel is 4 years my junior. Being 30 while he was still in his twenties, I felt like the “older woman” and I definitely didn’t want to be the “pushy older woman”. You know, Marisa Tomei in my Cousin Vinny with the foot stomping and clock ticking?
In our courtship I got to places before Mr Pretzel—I knew he was exactly what I was looking for and what I needed early on. I said I love you first, I knew he was the man I was going to marry first (or at least I thought so).
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When Mr. French Fries and I throw dinner parties… I mean, er… when Mr. French Fries and I have friends over for drinks and apps while we decide where we should go out for dinner, we don’t put on smooth jazz, Kenny G instrumentals, or Rat Pack classics for background music. Typically, I put on one of the OnDemand music channels we get with our digital cable (that is if I can set my wine glass down long enough to grab the remote and turn something on).
When thinking about our cocktail and dinner music, I knew that going with the standard “Dinner Hour” selections that most DJs provide wouldn’t be exactly what we had in mind.
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In Mr. Beagle’s family, they have a tradition of gathering as a family and eating Menudo, which is a spicy soup usually served for breakfast, on the morning after the wedding. Although I’ve tried this soup, I’m not a big fan of it (it’s one of those things that you either love or hate), but Mr. Beagle loves it.
Even though we didn’t have a full-on dance ‘til you drop reception, we did have dancing and we did have some dancing machines.
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My master’s work involved lengthy research on veiling in the Middle East. My choice to veil is much less political, and not even entirely religious. I love the look of it, actually. Regardless of the symbolism, the veil appeals to me as delicious and delicate. Take at a look at these gorgeous photos by David Schwartz (a top tier local photographer) of Maya and Eric.
Right. So a veil it was. Like pretty much all my other DIY endeavors, this idea started with sticker shock and was followed by a little: “I could do that.” I searched around on the internet a little and found bridal illusion tulle at Save on Crafts. It was about $40 for 50 yards of it. I specifically ordered the 54″ width in ivory. I figured I could completely goof at least 3 veils with some yardage to spare.
The solution to our day of fighting was to take an hour together and just relax. Once we returned from getting our marriage license (during which we missed handing off a few out-of-town bags due to our fight), we decided we both needed a nap and little cuddling. I’d been with my girls for two nights, he’d been with his guys for two nights, and we’d been missing each other.
The unfortunate thing about needing a minute with your guy during the days leading up to your wedding is that it’s nearly impossible to get. We decided that we’d rather spend a few minutes canoodling than be on time for dinner with my family. Normally, I am as punctual as they get but this, I think, is where you are allowed to give yourself leeway; Be late, be early, be whatever you want. It’s your weekend.
Eventually, we sauntered over to dinner at The Ranch House Restaurant (at Devil’s Thumb). I invited everyone attending the wedding to this dinner in case they were looking for company. I listed it on our schedule of events note that I included in our out-of-town bags (more on those to come!) as a non-hosted dinner, but with a few familiar faces. In the end, most of my family came as did my bridesmaids and one groomsman.
The deck outside of dinner. Alpen-glow.
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
You may remember my previous dilemma regarding this topic. I was in love with that gray dress (the one that didn’t fit) and lukewarm about the purple dress as a rehearsal dinner ensemble. I ended up wearing it to my San Antonio shower, (belted, as many of you suggested) and think it was perfect for that. But I was in San Antonio with access to my MOH (sista MB), another bridesmaid (little cousin MB) and Momma MB, and wanted to do some dress shopping. Since my wedding dress is being made by Momma MB, it’s the only bridal dress shopping I really get to do.
With all of this in mind, we set out to the San Marcos outlets. Now, I normally hate outlet shopping. It’s crowded and everything is always in disarray. But this time, we went in the middle of a weekday. Very few people were there and there were plenty of things to choose from. And the pluses of outlets are pretty obvious: there are tons of stores, really low prices, and I really don’t care if things are from last year.
I went into Neiman Marcus’ Last Call, and most of the dresses were still 2-300 dollars, so we walked around and found our way in BCBGirls. I’m 5’10″ and so is my sister, and ’girls’ usually equals way too short. But my cousin is 5’4″, so we thought she could find a cute dress for the rehearsal dinner there. Well, I picked something out just to try something on, and didn’t think much would come of it. Though I loved the pleats at the bottom of the skirt, I assumed it would be way too short. I tried it on, and that was it. After trying on one dress and forking over a measly 50 bucks, this trip was deemed a success.
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I’ve just about finished shopping for outfits for all our remaining wedding events and wanted to give you ladies a preview! Some purchases were steals while others were splurges (luckily, FMIL gave Mr. Lab and me $300 just for wedding outfits as a gift last time we visited her). I even plan on reselling at least one of the dresses after the wedding, so if you see something you like, let me know to call dibs! 
First up, my bridesmaids’ brunch outfit. I’m throwing my girls a tea party at Savannah Tea Room. I’ve instructed all the girls to wear frilly dresses and floppy hats so we can channel our inner Southern Belles for the brunch! And of course, since I’m the bride, I’ll be wearing white:
This picture makes me want to dust off my spandex and go for a run on a cool, foggy fall day.
Sometimes, just straight-up running feels like too much. I have days where my legs feel like weights, my shins ache, my arms can barely move and even running for just 20 minutes sounds torturous and the very last thing in the world that I want to do. On days like these, I run-walk. And I’m not ashamed to admit it. 
Run-walking is exactly what it sounds like; you alternate a time period of running with a time period of walking. It’s an excellent way to get a workout in on days where running for 30 minutes feels impossible. I recently came across an article about it on the Runner’s World blog, you can read it here.
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Hello Kitty and Badtz Maru top cupcakes at honeymyheart’s wedding.
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.
Mama P says I was born in the wrong era. Perhaps she is right. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the music of the 1980s and the 1990s, but I have a deep love for the music of the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. Simon and Gar, CCR, the Beatles, and Janis Joplin played in the Pretzel car all the time growing up. My favorite song is Kodachrome by Simon and Garfunkel. I soon discovered that Mr Pretzel shares my love of this song. We love to cue it up on the iPod and sing like idiots. To us, the song embodies fun, vivid color.
When we started to select our color palette, I had a hard time eliminating colors. My favorite color is turquoise/aqua. But I am also partial to green, bright pink, and orange. With the exception of orange (it makes me look ill), I wear the other colors a lot. As I struggled to pick one or two colors, Mr Pretzel solved my problem. Use them all! Duhhh… why didn’t I think of that? We started to refer to our wedding as a Kodachrome wedding, and our vision of it started to come together. Check out our inspiration board:
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After the vows were said, the papers signed, and the hugs administered, it was time for more portraits!
We sent our families on their way back up to Grand Forks, and spent a little time touring Hillsboro (or the area directly around the courthouse, at least) with Shawna and Kory. They’d arrived in Hillsboro early and had already scouted out a bunch of fun backdrops for our couple portraits…
[All photos in this post were taken by the fabulous Shawna Noel Photography unless otherwise noted.]
What happens when a theatre gal and a graphic designer guy get married? Find out from our newest bee: Miss Snow! Join me in welcoming her into the hive!
Miss Snow, Madison, WI/Asheville, NC
Age & Occupation: 28, PhD student
Fiance’s Age & Occupation: 29, Graphic Designer
Engagement Date: August 5, 2009
Wedding Date: June 2010
Venue: Claxton Farm
About Me: I am true Southern gal displaced in the beautiful and blustery midwest. A true theatre geek at heart, I love any kind of performance and spend most of my time researching old productions in dank library archives. When not in the library, I love music (punk rock, bluegrass, and everything in between), design in all forms, any reality TV show on Bravo (especially those that feature housewives or sharp knives), beer and wine from Oregon, and exploring the outdoors. My fiance and I are true best friends, and he inspires me every day. After a long and happy dating relationship, we’ve decided to tie the knot in the mountains of North Carolina, our home state. We’re planning a long-distance, largely-DIY, eco-conscious hip farm affair that celebrates family, friends, and love.
I know that this is controversial, but we had a money dance. We were on the fence about it for a while but then everyone started asking us if we were going to do it. I don’t mean just my family where the money dance is tradition, I mean Mr. Joey’s family and our friends. When I realized that Mr. Joey’s family had done the money dance before, I was OK with us doing it because I knew we wouldn’t have to explain it to people.
I have to say, the money dance was actually one of the most fun things we did. I didn’t think Mr. Joey would enjoy it, but he did. And we were both surprised by the people who came forward to dance with us.
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