Weddingbee Blog

I realize that while I was planning I omitted some of the details on the special projects I was working on, but I have an excuse (don’t I always?). Some of my friends and family read this blog and I wanted some of the wedding to be a surprise. We’ve spoken before about how un-crafty I am and how my bee status should have been revoked a long time ago—you remember the invitations, the place cards and the hot glue-gun mess that I tried to pass off as pomander, right? Sadly, those weren’t the only DIY projects I had up my (very wrinkled) sleeve.

Our wedding didn’t really have a theme other than Neapolitan ice cream, so I really tried to incorporate some of each of our heritages into our big day. We used custom fortune cookies as our STDs, so I thought it would be nice to serve Southern food at our reception. But it didn’t stop there—we thought it would be a hoot to name the dishes after family members. Sounds stupid, right? I know. It totally does. Somehow we pulled it off, and people were so touched to be included like that.

All of these were made with Microsoft Word, a black & white laser jet printer and a stack of A7 Paper Source luxe cream flat cards. Don’t be jealous of my skillz.

My mom lives right in the middle of football heaven (or hell, if you’re like me and loathe sports), so we thought it would be funny to name one of our main dishes after her.

The car reads: “Mom’s “Alabama Roll Tide” Smoked BBQ Brisket-A tailgating favorite from Tuscaloosa, slow cooked to perfection.”

A lot of my family lives in Beaufort, South Carolina (near Hilton Head), which is commonly referred to as the “Low Country” (as in Low Country Boil). Shrimp & Grits are a staple in the South and everyone said these were yummo. The card reads: “Low Country Shrimp & Grits- just like they do it in Beaufort, South Carolina!”

This next one is a inside joke, but I’ll let you all in. My dad is FAMOUS for going on and on about how he never had any fun as a child because he was busy milking cows and walking in the snow, barefoot, uphill and carrying his own desk to school. The only part with any truth to it is the part about the cows, which is why baby dumpling calls him “Grandpa Farm”. The rest of that BS was just to get us to appreciate all of our toys and freedom—we were snotty little brats, apparently. This card reads: “Down on the Farm Southern Vegetables - Your parents didn’t have much fun growing up because they had to milk cows and pick squash. Really. So please enjoy every single bite.”

My dad lives in Valdosta, Georgia- home of the VSU Blazers, AKA the college I didn’t get thrown out of. So we named our chicken dish: “Dad’s South Georgia Fire Grilled Chicken - The Valdosta State University Blazers couldn’t make it any hotter if they tried!” Blazers. Fire Grilled. Hotter. You get it, right? I’m a clever Dumpling. And yes - I did once get thrown out of a University, but in my defense, I thought attending classes was a choice… nobody told me it was mandatory. Oops.

The last dish was the only one I actually got to eat, and the word that comes to mind is “meh”. Anyways, my grandma is an adorable, 4″9 feisty Italian dame and she always puts garlic in whatever she cooks. You want toast? Here’s come garlic spread. The card reads: “Grandma Wright’s International Garlic Mashed Potatoes - Grandma Wright makes lots of “hybrid” foods; they’re southern with an Italian twist - just like these mashed potatoes.”

I was nervous that nobody would “get it” and that this would be a colossal disaster, not to mention a huge waste of time. These 5 cards took me about an hour each to make because I am stupid and didn’t realize until after I screwed up a dozen cards that my printer has a slot for smaller paper.

All I did was go into Word, change my paper size to 5×7, make a text box and insert text. If I were a real Bee like Cupcake or Peng, I would have used Photoshop or Gocco, colored ink and would’ve made a cute design on the cards, not a text box. I rented the stands from a party supply store for $6/each and they were like 16 inches tall or something like that. Feel free to totally copy this idea and use it as your own. You’re welcome.

Do you have any plans to incorporate your family’s heritage/culture into your wedding details?