Weddingbee Blog

Not too long ago, Mr. Hot Dog bought me a sewing machine! I’ve never even TOUCHED one, but this wedding business is making me want to flex my DIY muscles. And a sewing machine is absolutely key to pulling off some great projects (IMO).

Projects like a ring bearer pillow! How darling are these? (All from Martha Stewart Weddings)

I’m loving the eyelets! They’re very country chic.

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The next stop on our honeymoon was to a place that we would never have considered if it wasn’t part of the cruise itinerary. We had never heard anything about Dubrovnik, Croatia until booking our trip, and after booking, we kept hearing how beautiful it was. “Beautiful” ended up being quite the understatement.

We arrived in Dubrovnik and added some sunrise pictures to our collection before setting off on our Croatian safari.

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I’m not totally sure what bridesmaid’s dresses I want, but we have a definite look we are going for: very nautical and Newport. Mr. Starfish is extremely laid back and was pretty excited at the idea of wearing a navy blazer and khakis over a tux. When we first started talking about weddings, he told me he wanted to get married on the beach in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. I wanted something a little more formal, so this seems like the perfect compromise. More casual for him, but formal enough for me. I think the look is more “us”.

Sources (Clockwise from top left): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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I love shoes. Maybe not as much as Kelly, but still… a lot. I love them so much that I’ve already started thinking about what type of shoes I want to wear on my wedding day. One thing I know for sure is that I want to have colored shoes!

Maybe my shoes can be my “something blue”…

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A while back, Mr. Sew realized he didn’t fit into any suits at the store. Sadly, we have yet to resume the search, due to his bruised ego and our mutual discomfort around pushy sales people. It’s led the family to jokingly say, “Why don’t you just make his suit, then?”

Hmm. Why don’t we? I think I can handle at least part of it,. So like the talented Miss Poodle, we set out to make a vest.

I picked out Vogue Pattern 8048, and we decided option C would be the best.

I found some awesome tropical plant overlay fabric for the outside, and Mr. Sew chose some crepe-backed satin for the inside lining.
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So although I didn’t have any luck at the Running of the Brides, I persisted. A bride’s got to have something to wear, after all. Going into wedding dress shopping, I knew I’d have issues with my body. Think Olive Oyl, but without the height. So while everyone thinks I should be happy to be thin, I’m most obsessed with my height. It’s my “thing”. So, I wanted to look tall.

Mr. Hot Wings swears he doesn’t read this… but seriously, if you’re checking in, this post is not for you darling man. Go Away!
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Our newest bee couldn’t have a more fitting moniker: her fiance is a vegetable farmer! Please join me in welcoming Miss Veggie to the hive!

Miss Veggie, Raglan, New Zealand/Scranton, PA
Age & Occupation: 27, Director of Small Non-Profit
Fiance’s Age & Occupation: 42, PhD Student & Farmer
Engagement Date: June 13, 2009
Wedding Date: August 2010
Venue: Indian Head Camp, Honesdale Pennsylvania
About Me: I am a tree-huggin’ farmer turned enthusiastic wedding-planner. I live in a house truck and wear flip-flops more often than shoes. In my old life I was a high school Spanish teacher in love with a crazy guy who lived off-the grid on a farm in New Hampshire. But, we decided to mix things up a bit, quit our jobs and move to New Zealand. My southern hemisphere lifestyle involves growing veggies, teaching, running our small non-profit, and surfing. I love laughing, singing, playing, and the inspirational Mr. Veggie (of course!). For our wedding, I am committed to throwing a killer party that celebrates our values without breaking the bank. Look forward to an eco-thrifty summer-campy weekend-long extravaganza.

Bali, I’m very excited about you. And my swimsuit. But not about your hangers-on.

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Ew. I am like a magnet for mosquito bites. I will get bitten to death while Mr. Pug, in the same environment, will be bite free. Jerk. Just kidding. But really, I hate mosquitoes.

There are theories as to why this happens, including something about people like me emitting chemical compounds like uric acid/urea (great, I am *peeing* out of my pores), but no one knows for sure.

Unfortunately, Bali is full of these little f&*kers.
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By no means am I particularly traditional. When Mr. Lace and I asked our Moms about any traditions they wanted us to have at the wedding, they didn’t have anything they needed or wanted to do. We asked to make sure. Tea ceremony? No. Change into a different dress? No. Chinese banquet? No. We thought we’d covered all our bases. We even mentioned to them we were thinking of having our bridesmaids wear black dresses and use black tablecloths at the reception. Nothing was said.

There was a bit of grumbling when we passed out our invitations in their black envelopes. You see, in Chinese culture, black and white mean death. So, when you get married you want to pick a prosperous, lucky color… like red. While red is a lovely color, it’s SO not us. However, within our parents generation, only a couple of people said something about it to my mom, but dismissed it saying that we are really Americanized so it’s not a huge deal.

However, little did I know that I’d get backlash from my Grandparents on Poppa Lace’s side, who I hardly see and am not very close too! They were so upset at the black invitation that they didn’t even open it initially. When they finally did, they called Momma Lace to complain about what kind of daughter they’d raised. My Mom tried to defend me, but my Grandparents were NOT having it. I think, at the end of that conversation, they were okay, but still asking, “Why in the WORLD would you pick BLACK of all colors?”

So, when Momma Lace relayed this conversation to me, I experienced a rush of emotions.
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Tradition has it that the father of the bride walks the lovely bride down the aisle, “giving her away” to the groom, like so:

My dad and sis at her wedding in 2005

For the Hammy wedding, I thought it would be meaningful to have both my mom and dad walk me down the aisle, since both of them had played integral parts in my upbringing. However, big sis then told me that my dad was really looking forward to walking me down the aisle solo.
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After our formals FULL of smiles, I changed into my awesome platform flip flops (heh, I haven’t worn platforms since high school) and we were asked to get ready to dance.

I will openly admit that Mr. Ballet Flat and I have never (if memory serves me right) danced together. We were thinking about classes, but that was too much pressure. I thought in my head about 2002 senior prom, when I kinda just swayed around in a circle with one of my good friends. With 150 of our family and friends watching, my mentality went from OMG!, to whatever… let’s just dance prom style!

**cue Aerosmith’s “Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing”** (My favorite song from my favorite movie… so unoriginal, I know.)

It started out innocently, with a lot of thoughts like, ‘OMG we’re married, people are gonna get crazy drunk here because it’s NOLA, I can’t wait to be at Disney World tomorrow…’ Oh yeah, my thoughts were pretty random.

Then, oops! I stepped all over Mr. Ballet Flat. He was miraculously OK and all I was doing was laughing. Maybe I was a little nervous… OK, must.concentrate.now.
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With the wedding right around the corner and only a limited number of posts left in me until I’m an old married blogger, this one is going to have to do double duty! So now that I have pictures, I can finally show you what happens when Spaniels get showered!

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Ahem. Since BM-Y was organizing my bachelorette party with some of my bridesmaids, Spaniel FMIL offered to host a bridal shower for me last month to help keep the bridesmaids’ burden light. She threw an awesome party!
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As we’re nearing our one-year engage-aversary, it’s fun to look back at my own planning evolution. When we started planning this shindig, I had no effin’ clue about well, anything. I remember browsing through The Knot feeling totally lost and wondering how on earth I was ever going to be able to come to a decision about anything, especially vendors.

I think I’ve learned a lot over the past year and I’d like to offer up my best piece of advice for those bride-to-bes who are just starting out on their fun-filled (and I use that term very, very loosely) planning adventure: Trust your gut.

Trust your yourself to make the right decisions and don’t decide anything based on other people’s opinions unless you agree with them. Only you know what works for you and your fiance.

It’s hard to figure out who the right vendors are for you. It’s easy to constantly worry over every little decision. Will this photographer capture the essence of our wedding better than this one? Will this caterer come through with food that people will actually want to eat? Will these pomanders make my butt look big?
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I am not going to lie, for this particular project I haven’t being as involved as I would like to be. Do you know why?

Because Mr. Poodle, my FIL and lots of their friends like big machines way more than I do! And that doesn’t mean I don’t like them! But most of the time we are at Mr. Poodle’s grandparents’ ranch, I have a box of wedding crafts so the girls can help me with them, while the boys play out in the field!

I think I should start this post with the very first decision we had to make about our chapel, which was finding the perfect spot for the altar and choosing the direction of the aisle.
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Today I Googled “fabric flowers” just for fun and found this little gem:

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It’s called a “Kanzashi”. It is a Japanese hair ornament that dates back over 200 years! And, it is GAAAHHWWWWgeous!

Since I’m feeling uber-crafty tonight, I found this tutorial and decided to give it a go! So here are my pics that I took. I tried to snap a shot of each step, but forgive me if it’s unclear…
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