Mrs. Spaniel, Los AngelesAge and Occupation: 28, Law StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, PsychologistWedding Date: March 2010Venue: Calamigos RanchAbout Me: I'm a third-year law student trying to balance graduating with starting my career, keeping up a relationship, and, oh yeah, planning an Old World, multi-cultural, "mountain lodge" wedding for 180 guests! A South Asian Jewish girl getting ready to marry my handsome Catholic Dane, I'm hoping to blend our cultures in our wedding just a bit more gently than by providing samosas as appetizers and offering æbleskiver for dessert. (Although that would also be awesome.)
I’d love to be an attendant in a wedding where the bride gives just “a few parameters and lets each choose her dress.” It’s a great excuse to buy something new and cute that you actually like! I especially liked the look of the sparkly cocktail dresses.
I’d do this for our wedding, but I’m not quite so loosey-goosey. I don’t need them all to be “twinsies”, but I would like my bridesmaids to “match” a bit more.
Do you think the standards on bridesmaid’s dresses are changing? Are more brides opting for loosely matching dresses, or do you think matching dresses are still widely the standard?
Weddingbee GalleryFeature Launched: April 10, 2009About: A collection of inspirational wedding pictures from readers and bees.
Heather P Moore’s purple peep-toes pop against a weathered chair.
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.
Mrs. Cheeseburger, Baltimore, MD/State College, PAAge and Occupation: 25, Medical StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Medical StudentEngagement Date: June 28, 2008Wedding Date: March 2010Venue: Catholic Church Ceremony & Hotel ReceptionAbout Me: I'm a passionate girl from Pittsburgh, currently living in Baltimore for school, who loves Penn State, seeing movies, football, thunderstorms, black and white photos, Christmas, good beer, my amazing friends and family, and of course, my mister! We met, fell in love, got engaged, and will be married at our alma mater (go lions!) in a traditional Catholic ceremony followed by a hotel reception with lots of DIY details. It means so much to have our families and friends meet at our favorite place on earth to celebrate our love for one another - I truly couldn't ask for anything more!
When I envisioned our reception, I knew that I wanted thoughtful details to really make our wedding an experience for our guests. Our site provides a choice between white or ivory linens, and I knew we would be adding purple overlays of some sort… but that wasn’t enough. After scouring the web for inspiration, Martha came to my rescue!
Napkin rings, of course! While they can be ridiculously expensive to buy, Martha has plenty of ideas on how to make them (for way less).
Knowing that I had 250+ of these things to make, some seemed a little more complicated than I was willing to get into (but oh so gorgeous):
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!
Here are some more engagement pictures for your viewing pleasure!
These were taken the next afternoon at 13 Celsius. The owner, Mike, kindly let us use the bar before they opened. If you’re ever in Houston, I HIGHLY recommend visiting this wonderful wine bar! Aaron and I are regulars at this bar not just because of the intimate atmosphere and the way Mike and his bartenders carefully choose wines according to the customers’ tastes and moods. We adore this bar because of the people who work there, and the love and respect they have for wines and for everyone who enters their world.
Mrs. Champagne, DC/Vail/ColoradoAge and Occupation: 26, Eye DoctorFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, AttorneyEngagement Date: March 13, 2006Wedding Date: February 2009Blogging Since: July 30, 2008Venue: Small church ceremony with mountain-view log cabin receptionAbout Me: I'm a small town mountain girl with a city heart. Found my way to the east coast, and Mr. Champagne kept me here so we're planning a wedding from afar in my hometown Vail, Colorado. I'm secretly obsessed with reality TV, Wii games where I can shoot a gun, country music, and Caesar: Dog Whisperer. I also spend time pretending to golf, backseat driving, having one way conversations with our MinPin Maxwell, loving champagne, and wedding perfecting… I mean, planning. I use way too many repeated symbols and letters when I write, and I'll love Mr. Champagne endlessly…
So after the ceremony, we headed downstairs in the Chapel for a quick moment together. I felt a huge relief knowing that all we had left to do was.. well, celebrate! I’m all about the party. We both giggled at our rings, and gave a quick smooch before our wedding party joined us.
Mrs. Cloud, RichmondAge and Occupation: 25, Sales RepFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Customer Service Manager/DJEngagement Date: February 14, 2008Wedding Date: November 2009Venue: Cathedral of the Sacred Heart & The Jefferson HotelAbout Me: Mr. Cloud and I are Yankees planning a Southern wedding to show our families from Boston and New York our fabulous city. We are complete opposites, resulting in a wedding to include bridesmaids in pearls and groomsmen in Adidas shell toes. I’m a sorority girl at heart with strong addictions to my blackberry, cherry Chapstick, Coach purses, the Boston Red Sox and our fur baby, Bella. I can’t wait to the throw the party of our lives and of course, marry my best friend!
I’m BAAACK! And I have an extra little ring on my left ring finger! That can only mean one thing of course… WE GOT HITCHED!! It’s funny—after all the planning, all the projects, all the time that is spent leading up to the wedding, you still never really know what it is going to be like. I had no clue what it was going to FEEL like until it was happening, or what it was going to look like until I got to see it all. And I have to say, after all of the obsessing I did about how everything would turn out it was nothing like I expected… it was way, way BETTER!
Sure I still had a meltdown here and there, like when everyone took off to the rehearsal and I was left at the hotel alone with no valet ticket, and the ever important flowers weren’t what I really wanted. But a kind valet man took pity on a crying bride and hunted my car down, and even though the flowers were wrong, I have to admit they were still gorgeous and I was really the only one who knew. But those little things were worth it for the good stuff, and there was lots and lots of good stuff. Endless surprises from my groom, tear-filled dances with Daddy Cloud, seeing Mama Cloud with the biggest smile on her face looking more stunning than I have ever seen… and then there was the love. The love from all of our friends and family who I feel like finally got to enter the wedding bubble I had been living in for so long. And the love between my now husband and I that caused us both to have tears in our eyes most of the day. I have never seen and felt so much love in my whole life and I know I will carry that with me for a long time.
The problem is, everything was too perfect and by the time we were on day two of our honeymoon I was starting to feel a little bit of PWD. Mrs. Lab and I hit the wall at about the same time, but ironically for very different reasons. Read more…
Mrs. Mouse, AustinAge and Occupation: 25, Weddingbee Editor/AttorneyFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Civil EngineerEngagement Date: December 19, 2007Wedding Date: September 2009Venue: Barr MansionAbout Me: I just graduated from law school and will be taking the bar, getting married, going on a honeymoon with my guy, and then trying to figure out what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. I was born and raised in a small East Texas town, but I'm no country girl! I'm obsessed with British accents, fantasy (including Harry Potter, of course), and classic rock. My fiance and I consider ourselves both music and beer snobs--but every once in awhile we love to hear a crappy band and drink a cheap brew or two. We're planning an eco-friendly, casual, English garden affair for the end of summer, and we can't wait for it to get here!
Now that my honeymoon recaps are done, I thought I’d share with you guys some of the things we did wrong. Hopefully someone can learn from our mistakes! By the way, I see now why people tend to go to tropical islands on their honeymoons instead of gallivanting through Europe: it’s exhausting! (But totally worth it, in my opinion.) At any rate, here’s our list of “don’ts” (and some “dos”). Please, learn from our stupids.
On the last few days of your two-week long honeymoon, don’t try to squeeze in a million-and-one sites, activities, and adventures. Instead, save the relaxing parts of the trip for the end–you’ll appreciate those days of rest before returning to “normal” life.
Don’t buy two new pairs of boots on your trip. Especially when you’re literally carrying all of your luggage on your back and everything barely fits into your giant backpack as it is.
This is ridiculously obvious, but don’t neglect to check the weather before you go! Don’t rely on your partner who tells you that it’s going to be “nice” in Paris. Nice is relative, people!
Don’t bring your (brand new) Sonicare toothbrush and try to plug it in to a European electrical outlet. Even with a converter, that baby will get fried.
Mrs. Sprinkle, Los AngelesAge and Occupation: 26, Preschool Teacher
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Television Production/WriterEngagement Date: December 24, 2008Wedding Date: September 2009Venue: The Marvimon HouseAbout Me: I'm a Bay Area native trying to create a life for myself (and my fiance, and our three cats!) in the vast city of Los Angeles. I love vegan red velvet cupcakes, pilates ,and mid-century furniture. Mr. Sprinkle and I met when my band toured through his city (we bonded over cake and a mutual love of Morrissey) and we are getting married on the four year anniversary of our first date. When I am not teaching preschool (or blogging!) you can find me perfecting recipes, petting kittens, hiking in Griffith Park, and overusing exclamation points. We are planning a vegan, green-as-possible, DIY wedding, and I couldn't be more excited to share all of the details!
The week before the wedding was interesting for me. I did all of the things I had told myself not to do for the past nine months, and experienced every bridal cliche there is. I couldn’t eat, I definitely didn’t sleep, and I waited until the last minute on so many things, that a lot of it just didn’t get done.
I will spare you the details of the crazy week leading up to the wedding. Let’s just say I was a shaky, undernourished, over-caffeinated, sleep-deprived ball of mess. One of my favorite moments was getting a text message at 4AM from Mr. Sprinkle (who was sleeping in the bedroom, as he had to work early mornings that week and couldn’t stay up with me to work on projects) asking me to please stop drilling. Yes, I was drilling holes into chalkboard menus at 4AM.
The day before the wedding was insane. Absolutely mad.
I got out of bed at 5AM on Friday, after 3 hours of fitful sleep, to make it to the flower mart before all the good flowers were gone.
My mom and brother accompanied me (my MOH was not able to make it at this point, which was a bummer) and picked out all of the flowers, brought them back home and dropped them off at my preschool.
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!
Okay. So I’m not going to start this post with another apology for my absence. I know I’ve been a slacking blogger. But, even worse, I’ve been a slacking bride.
As you all well know, we’re more than halfway through the month of November. Wait, what? NOVEMBER?!? Our wedding is six months away and I’ve not accomplished very much.
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.
Because that’s how I roll. You know - wet T-shirts, body shots, throwing dolla-billz at half-nekkid men, not to mention all of the swinging around poles and dancing on bars while sipping on some boozy cocktails.
Uhm, except that I AM A TOTAL GRANDMA. My “wild and crazy” bachelorette actually consisted of dinner and some dessert with 3 of my cousins and a friend in SF. And then to end my night of wild insanity, we watched one of my fave girlie flicks - 13 going on 30. I know, calm down Ramen! You so crazy!
I had planned on hitting up SF prior to getting married, to spend some time with my grandma and cousins, run a few errands (hello, Daiso!) and eat my body weight in good food (and I did). So, once finals were over (I passed all of them, which is reason enough to celebrate!), I threw my stuff in the car, and headed up north! 8 hours, 1 order of chicken nuggets and an iced vanilla coffee later… I was finally in SF!
Saturday was spent with Cousin Fishcake, running errands, aka spending almost 3 hours at Daiso. If you have not experienced the joy and satisfaction and cuteness that is this $1.50 Japanese store, get thee to one ASAP. I could spend days there. Literally. Looooove it! They have the most random things - and lots of cute stuff that you could totally use as favors, decorations, or gifts. Sister Ramen and Cousin Fishcake actually bought most of my shower stuff from here - the heart shaped rice paddles, wooden forks, pink straws, and the jars for the jam favors! 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!
Mrs. Cola, Mountain View, CAAge and Occupation: 27, Product Communications and PromotionsFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Managing Partner and Senior DesignerEngagement Date: March 5, 2009Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: The Mountain Terrace, Woodside, CAAbout Me: I’m a Washington State native, enjoying life in Silicon Valley California with my fiancé, our three kitties and one leopard gecko. I like reading wedding blogs, Photoshopping wedding design mock ups, making lists, and planning, planning, planning! I’m a bit of an anomaly, on one side I’m a very girlie girl, I collect shoes, I lay out my outfits 4-6 weeks in advance, and I’d never leave the house without my hair curled and makeup on. But on the other side, I’m a total tomboy, I love to go camping and hiking, play drinking games (hey, I’m Irish!) and most of my closest friends are guys. My fiancé and I are planning a DIY-focused wedding with a balance between easygoing (what he wants) and chic and stylish (what I want), and are tying it all together with elements in lavender, sage, butter cream and chocolate.
Ever wonder how rubber stamps are made? Well wonder no further, cause I’m gonna show you!
Mr. Cola is a partner and senior designer for his smart product design engineering firm (aka, a really smart dude!). Because of this, we have access to lots of neat gadgets and machines that most of you probably have never even heard of before. Enter the magical laser cutter! This is a machine that cuts material in layers with a super hot laser. I have plans to use it for several projects, but for now, we’ve only used it to make rubber stamps.
I ordered 2 8.5×11 sheets of rubber from laserbits.com, for $9.98 each. We then went into Mr. Cola’s office on a Saturday with my two designs and the rubber. I made one design that is the vine motif from the wedding party invites, and one with our address on it. These will be used to decorate our envelopes for our STDs and invites. When you make a design for a rubber stamp, you have to provide the inverse of the image you’re trying to create, since you’re actually cutting out the parts that won’t be stamped.
So now, don’t cha wanna see the laser in action? Read more…
Mrs. Stiletto, ChicagoAge and Occupation: 26, Non-Profit/FundraisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Engineer and PhotographerEngagement Date: March 2, 2008Wedding Date: September 2009Venue: The 19th Century ClubAbout Me: My fiance and I love living in the city of Chicago with our cats Basil and Linus, and vow to never move to the suburbs if we can possibly avoid it! We’ve poured ourselves into planning a wedding that reflects our personal style - modern and high contrast with a vintage twist. Blogging keeps me creative, baking keeps me happy, and grande nonfat no foam sugar free vanilla lattes keep me sane.
Mrs. Cheeseburger, Baltimore, MD/State College, PAAge and Occupation: 25, Medical StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Medical StudentEngagement Date: June 28, 2008Wedding Date: March 2010Venue: Catholic Church Ceremony & Hotel ReceptionAbout Me: I'm a passionate girl from Pittsburgh, currently living in Baltimore for school, who loves Penn State, seeing movies, football, thunderstorms, black and white photos, Christmas, good beer, my amazing friends and family, and of course, my mister! We met, fell in love, got engaged, and will be married at our alma mater (go lions!) in a traditional Catholic ceremony followed by a hotel reception with lots of DIY details. It means so much to have our families and friends meet at our favorite place on earth to celebrate our love for one another - I truly couldn't ask for anything more!
The color scheme was something I really wanted to nail down early on so that I could start envisioning all the little elements of our big day. Part of that accomplishment came from purchasing samples of DIY goodies like paper, ribbon, and fabric!
After reading a lot about other brides’ DIY adventures, I hit up some of the major paper players first: PaperSource, Envelopments, and Cards and Pockets. I ordered samples online from some and ventured out into the ’burbs to pick up some of the others in person. What did I end up with? A crap ton of paper. BUT, I also finalized the color scheme AND got some great ideas for save the dates and invitations! Here’s an idea of how things went down: Read more…
Mrs. D'orsay, Baltimore/Lancaster UKAge and Occupation: 24, nonprofit communications Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Web site developer and designer; co-owner of men's skincare shopEngagement Date: August 10, 2008Wedding Date: August, 2009Venue: Oakland ManorAbout Me: I'm a Maryland raised environmental policy wonk/activist/organizer and communications aficionado. In the past year I've lived in Baltimore, MD, Tucson, AZ, Miami, FL and Lancaster, England. In my not so spare time I enjoy planning trips with Mr. D' Orsay, visiting friends and family and crafting like a mo-fo. I also enjoy modern dance classes, rugby and soccer but have been banned by my mother, MOHs, and Mr. D' Orsay from playing till after the wedding. I have an unnatural addiction to cheese and shoes, but love Mr. D' Orsay more than either and can't wait to become Mrs. D' Orsay!
As you know, I missed my bangs. A week or two after the wedding I went off and had them chopped back in. So, I took a photo that I looked silly in, just so you could see it.
P.S.- here’s a tip, don’t wear puffy sleeves if you have a large chest - it’s not a good look.
I’d do this for our wedding, but I’m not quite so loosey-goosey. 
I don’t need them all to be “twinsies”, but I would like my bridesmaids to “match” a bit more.
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
