Weddingbee Blog

I am so excited, honored, and a little in disbelief (more on that later) to be writing this post! I’ve been hooked on Weddingbee since I was first introduced to it about 4 months into our engagement, and am definitely guilty of hitting refresh more times than is healthy to admit!

A little about Mr. Guinea Pig and me: we live in Baltimore, MD - which explains the title of this post. I couldn’t resist throwing in a little Baltimore flavor! BELIEVE is one of Baltimore’s slogans, and Hon is a really common term of endearment used in Baltimore - there’s even a HonFest every year! I was at work when I found out that I was going to be a bee, and the only thing I could think or say was, “I can’t believe it!” I jumped up and down, then ran through my lab squealing to tell my labmate, who responded, “BELIEVE, hon!” It was perfect for Weddingbee with a little ’bee’ modification!

I’m a science PhD grad student and since I spend all my time working in a lab, I couldn’t resist being Miss Guinea Pig! But don’t worry, even though guinea pigs are the iconic ’test subject’ I don’t actually work on animals… only bacteria! It’s not as gross as it sounds. Plus, the adorable guinea pig icon looks suspiciously like one of our cats, Buster! It was meant to be.

(orange and white, pink nose, short little neck and stumpy legs!)

Although we’re having the wedding near Baltimore, I’m not actually from here - I was born in Florida to Canadian parents, and have since moved every 3-4 years growing up! I’ve lived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Florida; Connecticut; New Orleans, Louisiana; London, England (where I went to high school); Aberdeen, Scotland; college in North Carolina; a year in St. Petersburg, Russia; my parents have lived in the East Bay of California for 6 years now, and I live in Baltimore! Whew! Got that? There’ll be a quiz later.

Mr. Guinea Pig, on the other hand, was born and raised right outside of Baltimore in a large, loving, Irish-American family. We decided to get married near Baltimore because my family is spread out across the US and Canada and I don’t exactly have a hometown. We figured the wedding ought to be convenient for one family, as well as easier for us to plan! Also, Baltimore is where we met, fell in love, and live together and we’re so excited to have found such a beautiful venue on the water.

Speaking of meeting and falling in love, where did we meet, you might be wondering? Well, since you and I have just been introduced, I’ll tell you we met in a coffee shop…

(on our first vacation together)

Oh who am I kidding? There are no secrets in the hive: we met online! Technically the first place we ’met’ each other in person is a local coffee shop, but we found each other on match.com! Not to be cheesy and cliche (OK fine, I’ll be all out sappy), but we both knew almost immediately that this. was. it.! Love at first sight! We moved in together after 6 months and got engaged just before our one year anniversary - our engagement is going to be longer than our ’just dating’ period!

Our wedding will be across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Stevensville, MD (on Kent Island), a little under an hour from Baltimore. The goal is to get all our far-flung friends and family in one place to eat some delicious food, dance/sing their hearts out, enjoy a sunset on the water, and most importantly, witness and share in the happiness of the commitment Mr. Guinea Pig and I are making to each other! I’m so excited to share the journey with the hive - thanks for having me!