Weddingbee Blog

For my bachelorette party, I thought we were having a cozy, stay-at-home slumber party. I was excited but also felt a little guilty that my girls wouldn’t have the typical bachelorette’s night out with me. You see, I’m more High School Musical than Gossip Girl, so anything having to do with drinking and scandalousness was out. But my girls, being the creative geniuses they are, planned the perfect surprise for me!

The day started at my BFF’s house. Ever the thoughtful hostess, she decorated her place in pink and white:

I asked nicely, but my bridesmaids refused to tell me what we were doing that night!
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Now that we’ve got a lot of the “big” planning stuff out of the way, I feel like I can get started on some of the fun, semi-ridiculous little details that no one really thinks about before wedding planning but suddenly become objects of mild-to-moderate obsession once the process gets underway. Lately, for me, this has been the stationery. I know that it’s really not such a big deal—people are going to come whether I invite them with a letterpressed, pocketfold suite or something I slap together in Notepad and jazz up with a few choice elements from the Wingdings font, am I right? But come on. Invitations can be sooooo delightful!

Here are some pretty, pretty STDs/invites that have sparked my fancy lately!

From Printable Press:

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Throughout the planning process most brides are not only a bride, they are many things; a mother, a fiance, a daughter, a housekeeper, a friend, a meal maker, a peace keeper, an employee, a student (you get the point), all of which have very important responsibilities. There is a delicate balance between wedding planning being a part of your life and it consuming your life. Oh! How I envy those brides who are just simply a bride. But, alas, I must get over it, because girl… I got a heck of a lot goin’ on, which is one reason Mr. Dolphin and I have chosen to have such a long engagement (2 ¼ years! Can you believe it? More on that later… I promise!).

I started remembering that I am more than a bride when one of my Graduate School projects was recently featured on UF’s School of Architecture Website. I remembered… hey, I’m an architecture student too!

Miss Dolphin’s Grad 1 Project

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Back when I was still trying to be a good little budget bride, I came up with these lovely mini-favors (favoritas?) that I felt fit the theme of our wedding without breaking the bank. Remember my lavender bunches? Here’s a pic to jog your memory:

Rustic, sweet, cheap. I think the total cost of the project was less than $75 and I was able to make 185 little bunches, tagged and tied with raffia. I still totally heart them and I think they will look lovely tucked into napkins at each place setting.

But (you all totally know where this is going…) a few choice comments about the necessity of a grander favor as well as my blowing the budget with reckless abandon led me to the conclusion that something edible must also be included as part of the favor-set.

So I put my thinking cap on and very quickly, an idea came to me.

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Planning a nautical inspired wedding in New England is pretty easy. The best piece of advice I have for nautical brides is to check out local photographers’ blogs. I follow a lot of photographers, but when it’s time to find nautical inspiration, you can’t beat the photos on RI photographer blogs. It isn’t called the Ocean State for nothing.

Over the past year and a half, I’ve been tabbing some of my favorite starfish-themed weddings. Snap! Photography has had some of my favorites. I’m in love with the wedding below. We aren’t having kids at the wedding other than my niece/Goddaughter who is the flower girl, who I’ve nicknamed Little Starfish. Little Starfish will almost be two by the time the wedding rolls around and I want to get her some fun nautical toys to thank her for being our flower girl. I was in love with these cute starfish-themed pails on the Snap! blog.

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Well, early on Mrs. Penguin mentioned a “pink broom” wedding! I call my wedding that because I love pink and we’re going to “jump the broom”, as they say. So, I figured I should focus on it a little.

Jumping the broom is an optional tradition for African-American weddings. Its origins are a bit uncertain, but its significance is clear.

After the minister has pronounced us man and wife, we kiss, and we turn back to the congregation, we’ll jump the broom just before we walk back down the aisle. I think it will just be a joyous moment and a great signifier that we are married. Here’s an example that shows exactly that; they jump the broom at about 1:30. This is a very cute couple!

But this post is more about the broom itself. Although it only appears in the ceremony for an instant, it’s symbolic for me and I imagine it will have a prominent place at the front of our wedding album.

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It’s hard to believe that it took this long for this little lobstah to be snatched up as a bee! Please join me in welcoming this New York Lobster to the hive!

Miss Lobster, Brooklyn
Age & Occupation: 29, Finance Girl
Fiance’s Age & Occupation: 33, Finance Boy
Engagement Date: July 25, 2009
Wedding Date: August 2010
Venue: Stage 6 Steiner Studios
About Me: I’m a New York-born, Virginia-bred girl who’s found her way back to the big city. Mr. Lobster and I met in grad school and have been together ever since. I’m clueless about DIY but am an avid online shopper and love all things polka dots, stripes, and ruffles! When I’m not making wedding lists, you can find me looking for snacks, watching Gilmore Girls, or hanging out with Mr. Lobster and our new puppy Buddy! We are planning a fancy-pantsy Brooklyn wedding for a hot New York summer night which is sure to be a misadventure in the making.

I now present you with…

You see, right now I should be finishing invites, but frankly, I don’t want to right now. In light of yesterday’s post, I’m going to do the complete opposite. Well, not complete, as none of this is coming via wedding blogs, but complete opposite in the fact that the duds I’m about to post are fairly out-of-reach and bananas. (Ugh, especially that striped Chanel number. Uh, yes please.) Yes, love me and hate me, but you have been warned. For the most part, these beautiful dresses are not in fact bridal, but would make some lovely jumping-out-of-the-box dresses.
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Sister Guinea Pig is an awesome musician, and I’m pretty excited to have her take part in the ceremony not just as my maid-of-honor, but also by singing a song! Not only does she blow me out of the water with her piano-playing skills (we both took lessons for years and years as kids, however by the time she was in 7th grade she could practically sight-read the pieces I was practicing!), but since she headed off to music college a few years ago, she has also picked up guitar, double bass, harmonica, ukulele, and I’m sure several other instruments I’m forgetting.

So now you understand my excitement when Sister GP agreed to sing a piece for our ceremony - and not just that, but she’s going to accompany herself on the ukulele! Amazing.

Now it has come down to what song she’s going to sing. Sister GP sent us a list of great song options - she really favored an Elvis tune (such as Can’t Help Falling In Love With You, or Love Me Tender), but it turns out Mr. Guinea Pig is not an Elvis fan! We quickly came to the conclusion that we should do a Beatles song, because the Beatles hold a lot of meaning for Mr. GP and me Sister GP scoured the Beatles’ millions of songs for any that would be good wedding-y and on the ukulele, then sent me a list of options aptly titled Beatlemania.
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We knew we were getting into sticky territory with an online-based registry, but we figured there was still something for everyone. You could pay with cash or check, after all, something people of all ages and comfort levels with the internet know how to do. However, I guess you do still have to open the website somehow, and then understand what’s on there and how it works.

Though we originally thumbed our noses at using PayPal as an option on our registry, it’s really not that bad.

Explanation: PayPal is a way to make payments to people using the internet. The user experience is very similar to that of any other monetary transaction you make online. This is how it works.
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Why the bleep isn’t my dress here yet? As previously mentioned, the lovely Adriana sent it out ages ago. And according to the USPS package tracker (which I may have checked, oh I don’t know, about 1,000 times this week) here is the status:

There are a few weird things about this:
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Wedding tradition is that the bride wear “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a sixpence in her shoe.” I’m not one to mess with tradition, so I’ve started thinking about my “somethings”. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

Something Old: handmade Belgian lace veil circa 1920s

Not this very one, but looks a lot like it (source)

My “something old” has a very special story behind it. It was given to my grandmother for me to wear at my wedding. I remember hearing about this veil when I was a little girl, and I am so ecstatic that my mama found it last time she was in Romania. Here is the story behind the veil, courtesy of Mama Jelly:
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Yesterday afternoon in the rain, we buried my good friend’s mom.

Because death doesn’t wait for weddings.

Then last night I received a voicemail from another friend, my best friend since kindergarten, and I just knew. I could hear it in her voice. She simply said, “Call me. I just wanted to let you know what’s going on.” I already knew it was her mom, the woman who I’ve considered my second mom for 27 years. So I put on my big girl pants, and I called her.

Because sickness doesn’t wait for weddings.

As she spoke, everything over the last few days just hit me like a ton of bricks. And I had a little tear-filled meltdown. But it’s such a roller coaster because at the same time, I have this happy little voice whispering in my ear, “14 days till the wedding, it’s so close!” This time in 2 weeks, I’ll be counting the hours instead of the days.
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While shopping for chapel length veils to go with my beautiful garden romance dress, I came across two (at Solutions Bridal… man I need to get out more!) and absolutely loved them both. What I didn’t love about them? The PRICE! Paying for a veil that is almost as much as my dress is certainly not in this budget bride’s vocabulary. Regardless, here they are:

Sooo romantic and beautiful… but at a hefty price tag, they’re totally something I cannot afford! It was either the veil or finish grad school… and I choose grad school.
Lori London Lace Veil, $630

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Hive, its time to get a little… sexy…

I’ve noticed that it is rather commonplace for a bride to add a special portrait session in with their wedding photography. Enter… the boudoir session. Brides don some sexy outfits, have photographs taken, and present them to their groom as a wedding gift. Very cute (or should I say… scandalous…)!

I’ve been thinking about this myself, and if I would want to do something like this for Mr. Buttons. One day while browsing through my Google Reader, I came across a boudoir session. I shifted my laptop over to Mr. Buttons and asked him what he thought. He furrowed his brow a bit and then asked me, “what would I do with them???”

Fair enough, I guess. He does have a good point; it isn’t like he would be taking around the photos and showing them off to his friends (I hope…). But nevertheless, I still like the idea. However, since Mr. Buttons didn’t exactly sound all that thrilled about the traditional boudoir photos (I know… what is wrong with him???), I wanted to ponder an alternative that would perhaps give the same effect.

And then… as I was shopping for some new swimwear for the summer season, I had an epiphany.
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