Weddingbee Blog

When I updated our wedding website with our new engagement photos, I took a quick gander at the old ones, just for fun. I knew the new ones were going to blow the old ones out of the water, but I saw something that I hadn’t expected: I lost weight! My workouts are working!

This is me in April of 2009.

Photo by FMIL Spaniel

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I suppose I should have started my dress-buying series with the caveat that the shopping experience happened months ago (in the summer, actually)… thank you to everyone who has offered advice/tips over the past few days, though!

So…where did I leave off? If you are behind:

Part 1: My inspiration , Part 2: I went shopping

And in Part 3, it’s the moment you’ve been waiting for. I make up my darned mind!

After shopping around at a few other stores, my mom, grandma, and I headed in to CC’s Boutique in St. Petersburg for my appointment. I filled out my info card, and then my consultant, Monica, met with me to start the dress process (by the way, she was amazing!). She had me describe the details that I was looking for in my dress… I provided her with 5 key words: lace, strapless, sweetheart neckline, fitted. Then we began.

Monica explained that the first dress she brings out is the one she feels is the closest match to your ideal dress. Depending on how you react to the different aspects (too tight? Too sparkly? Too poofy?), she adjusts her dress selections from that point.

And… wouldn’t you know it… the dress I purchased was indeed the first one she brought me. But first, let me show you another dress that almost stole my heart, before the big reveal…

If you are Mr. Buttons, AVERT your eyes! Go away! And, if you don’t want to see it, just don’t scroll down!!!
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It’s taken me a LONG time to write about this because it’s something that made me really upset. I wasn’t even sure I was going to tell you about it, but now I have to look back and laugh at how incredibly stupid this was.

What I’m about to say is going to shock you.

The caterer FORGOT to bring our wedding cake. Like, literally forgot all about it.

I had plans to have a cake and pastry buffet so everyone could enjoy a little bit of everything. I was already about $5K over my budget by the time cake ideas rolled around, so I decided on a cake buffet in an attempt to save money. Remember Mrs. Avocado’s cake buffet? That’s what I was going for. Something like this:

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So where were we in my rampant rambling about our photographer? Oh right—I hadn’t even told you who we picked yet…

Just that she let our smelly guy sit on her lap while she showed us a few STUNNING weddings she’d shot recently. Maybe you recognize a few?

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Mr. Pudding and I had no trouble deciding that we would skip the traditional honeymoon. With the wedding being such a huge expense, planning an extravagant vacation seemed impossible. Plus, we both agreed that a tropical getaway would be that much sweeter during the winter months - contrary to popular belief, Canada is beautiful and very warm during the summer! So is Vermont, for that matter!

So, with a tropical honeymoon postponed, we started thinking about a mini-moon. We considered visiting Mr. Pudding’s grandparents in the Finger Lakes, NY. They have a beautiful summer home, and we love spending time with them. We also thought about going to Maine, since we spent a beautifully romantic vacation there right before Mr. P proposed.

Mr. Pudding and I watching the sunset on a secluded beach in Maine. *Sigh*

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Miss Pug here!

As I mentioned, my sister developed an immutable ambition to create the following for our wedding as favors:

Source

We’re not sure yet whether the wedding cake cookie towers (WCCTs) will work out, but even if they don’t, she is trying a bunch of cookie recipes along the way, as well as testing their freezing power. If the WCCTs don’t work out, at least we will still have a cookie recipe to use for plain ol’, non WCCT favors.

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Hi, y’all! I am 3pugmama, the magnificent, the marvelous, the sister of the mostest Miss Pug! She asked me to write a ‘guest post’ re: the Making Of The Favor Bag Cookies. Since I am, well, DOING ALL OF THE WORK.

To begin.
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I doodle with words. In school, instead of doodling cute little images of doggies and flowers or sketching out self portraits, I would create word art. Words that I heard from my teachers, in different fonts and styles, all over my notebook pages, dozens and dozens of times over. I don’t do images—I do words. In wedding planning, I do words, as well. I’m having a hard time showing or coherently articulating to people what I envision for our wedding, and even more so, for our second, smaller reception in Idaho.

Inspired by my favorite style of writing learned in high school English, and an amazing wordsmith and fellow bee Ms Potato Chips, I have created a long jumble of words and phrases that represent what our wedding is and will be—a stream of consciousness image, if you will. (Check out Potato Chips’ post, linked above, for an even better assemblage of descriptive words!)

The Maryland wedding: surprising; warm but not hot; earth, sun and trees; surrounded by love; Canon in D and bagpipes; lace and ribbons; lush; modern lines and river rock; warm chocolate and cool marshmallows; comfort and excitement; heart flutters and firm kisses; strong arms around my waist and rain drop tears on my cheek; giggles and guffaws; sniffles and cheers; sunset; green grass and fresh leaves; smiles; crisp linen; rum and champagne; deep ocean blue eyes for the rest of my life.
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Before I begin to talk about our ceremony, I want to tell you a little bit about our “other” guests. Who were they? Well “they’re the people that you meet when you’re walking down the street each day.” (Thank you, Sesame Street!)

No, seriously… as a New Yorker, I’m used to doing everything “on the street”. The notion of public space is real to me. I’ve done darn near everything out in the open or on a sidewalk (um… well… not EVERYTHING, but you know…): I eat and buy food on the street; I stumble onto to street fairs almost every weekend in the summer; and I buy clothes on the street (my favorite summer dress for years was one that I bought, guess where? On the street!!). You get the idea.

When it came to our wedding, I guess I didn’t really think about the fact that it would end up being super public in the middle of a very touristy park on a Saturday morning/early afternoon with perfect weather. I guess subconsciously I just I didn’t mind, or rather, put it out of my mind. I saw our wedding ceremony as a public declaration of my love and commitment to Mr. Swan. It ended up being that in the literal sense of the word “public”. In that way, I wasn’t fazed that the only separation between us and passersby in Battery Park was essentially a barrier that our venue, Battery Gardens, had provided. We had guests that I hadn’t anticipated, but I was more than happy to share our loving words and promises of commitment with them, too.
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Previously on The Saga of the Magical Chair-Cover-Eco-Bag-Favor…

We had a sizing issue. If we were to make a couple hundred bags, it would be nice if they actually fit on the chairs in Hawaii, right? Well, I emailed the venue to ask what the dimensions were. They gave me a few numbers, but recommended I save myself some time by simply renting covers. Unfortunately, when in DIY-mode, practical advice falls on rather deaf ears.

Now, it’s not that I don’t trust their measurements; I’m sure they are correct. It’s just, I need to visually see the “end product”. For example, you can calculate and order a certain-sized part for a job, but you never really know if it will work out until you see it in action.

There’s a reason you can never do a worksheet without this baby:

(Theoretical - Actual)/Actual * 100 = % difference

So we made up three different-sized samples to try out.

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I know that not everyone does the “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue” tradition these days, but I’m going to. For no other reason than… well, why not?

I already had something in mind for my something old, which happens to also be blue, but my mom came up with options that are so much better! And options that I can borrow, taking care of that ’something’ too, as well as things that will honor women in my family who are no longer with us.

First, I will borrow a small purse that belonged to my great, great aunt. She was one of my favorite people in the world, and more like a third grandmother to me, since I spent so much time at her house growing up. This is a picture my mom took of the purse, which is probably from the 1920s or 1930s, since my aunt was born in 1902.

It will need a bit of repair, since some of the beading is coming loose, and it also needs a strap added, as it currently only has a finger sized loop at the top.
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TaraTJJ is selling her gorgeous Jim Hjelm gown. The organza and Alencon lace dress is model #8709 and is a bridal size 12. She’s asking $2000.

Have a wedding item for sale? Post it with pictures in the Weddingbee classifieds and you might see it featured on the blog!

Other great items for sale:

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Interestingly enough, one of the things that I did not give a flying flip about in the beginning of wedding planning was flowers. I had no desire for massive amounts of flowers—nothing over the top, no girly stuff, nothing of the sort. No pink was to come anywhere near the wedding. During this minimalist phase of early wedding planning, I loved the idea of having billy buttons and low potted plants. After a few months of wedding research and idea-sponging, I began to have second thoughts. Maybe I did want flowers. Maybe these weren’t such a bad idea. A few couldn’t hurt, right?

Then enter Amy Osaba and The Free Wedding. Ich bin game over gegangen. [Sidebar: "I went game over." This is what Mr. Scissors used to say as a kid when he lost a video game. He didn’t know what game over literally meant, but he knew it was all finished. OK, sidebar finished.] I have a serious, major, epic, colossal crush on her floral designs.

Just LOOK at these gorgeous flowers. Want, need, must have.
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Congratulations to the winners of this contest, #172 Gerbera and #116 snow101blue!

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Today we’ve got a great giveaway to kick off your china collection! Lenox recently introduced their new Lifestyle Collection, with patterns full of personality and modern shapes. All the designs within the collection are designed to coordinate, or to be mixed and matched for an eclectic vibe! The Lenox line is made in the USA, and dishwasher safe! Today they’re giving away (2) 5 piece place settings each, 1 in the Silver Song pattern and one in the Silver Mist pattern, to two lucky Weddingbee readers! The prizes are valued at $344 each! Each winner will win 2 place settings including 2 dinner plates, 2 salad plates, 2 bread and butter plates, 2 all purpose bowls and 2 mugs in one of the two patterns.

To enter, check out the Lenox Lifestyle collection on Facebook (and become a fan if you’d like!) and tell us, which pattern is your favorite? You have until midnight PST on Friday, January 29th to enter. Good luck!

Hellllloooooo Hive! ‘Tis I, Miss Hot Wings!

I was working on papers in front of the computer and checking email non-stop like I do every day. And then IT came. The email from Mrs. Penguin.

I thought, ‘They made a decision already? Darn. That’s fast. It’s gotta be a no.’ In anticipation of a no, I skimmed the email quickly.

… We’ve reviewed your application… la dee la… you’d be a great addition to the Weddingbee team…

You want who? me? No! Are you sure? Wait, what? Rewind.

I am shocked! Stunned! In utter disbelief! And completely honored. Wow. Thank you for having me.

Who am I, you ask? I’m Miss Hot Wings! Yay for me. I’ve only been obsessed with Weddingbee since I discovered it 4 months before I got engaged. (Don’t judge. I know some of you can relate.)

Why Hot Wings?
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This wedding budget thing is hard. And what I mean by that is that I am constantly bombarded by things I think I need to make our wedding perfect. Although logically I know this isn’t true, it’s still hard not to long for all these things. See, Mr. Fro Yo and I are paying for the wedding ourselves, which means that there is some “fluff” stuff that we don’t get to have because it just didn’t make the cut.

One major example is a gift for Mr. Fro Yo.
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