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Weddingbee Blog
Spring is in full bloom, and summer approaches quickly from behind. What does this mean? Well it means us summer brides and grooms are getting married soon! But it also means we’ll be needing more of this:
Ug, from Nickelodeon’s Salute Your Shorts
Sunscreen. Sure, to protect my skin, I am supposed to wear it anytime I’m outdoors - but on a (hopefully) bright day, in a reflective white dress, closer to the equator than usual - I say sun-guard is required rather than recommended.
The only problem? I hate sunscreen. The smell, the oil, the chalky color. You know what I’m talking about, childhood tormentors:
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Our beloved rings are here. Mr. Lace and I wanted relatively simple rings and began ring shopping pretty early on. After looking at designs (and prices), we were having a hard time finding a ring that Mr. Lace liked. He has a cousin overseas who makes jewelry and we asked for some advice about rings and what the actual cost of the rings should be if we had them made at a jeweler. Well, after shooting a few emails and photos back and forth, he told us the cost to make these rings should be a lot less than what jewelers and retail shops were asking. The difference was about $500, and that’s a lot of moolah when you’re knee-deep in wedding planning. $500 bucks is a candy buffet or half of a photobooth rental or really fabulous shoes. 
Luckily, Mr. Lace’s cousin offered to make them for us and ship them over to the States. We sent the money right away. We waited and waited and waited. The rings were finished within a month. His cousin sent us photos of the finished rings. This was four months ago. He didn’t have time to send them because he was flying in and out of the country for jewelry shows. But, finally, one day, we got an email with a tracking number. They were on their way. I wasn’t sure how long it’d take rings to ship from Asia. A few weeks maybe?
I sat and waited and waited and waited.
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I have lots of strong feelings about weddings. I don’t believe they should result in debt. I do believe they should be a celebration of your personalities, and sing with details that say something about your love. And generally, I don’t believe there are rights or wrongs in weddings, because really… who are we to judge what’s right for you, or the next couple?
But today, a really bad-ass post by my friend Emily at Eco-Chic Weddings (Good with Style) reminded me that one of my strongest feelings about weddings is something I’ve not posted much about… yet. I kept telling myself I’d do it when I hit the ceremony part of our recaps, but who am I kidding, yo? You and I both know those recaps are taking their sweet-ass time and I am bored of waiting. (Sorry about that, they will come. Sometime.) So, in the spirit of continuing where Emily left off…
Holy crap, we’re getting married!
I’m back with pictures of the drink bar Papa Paisley and I constructed.
We based it on this lovely wine barrel design:
I thought I’d try to add some driftwood and a shelf to the drink bar, like in this photo:
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Featured on Weddingbee
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
“Make an elegant invitation statement without the fuss. Stylish invitation sets with matching envelopes, reception and response cards included.”
We’re having a decidedly United States kinda wedding with few shouts to my or his heritage, short of our multiculti family members neatly arranged in a room together. That in itself should be an experience, I’m sure. We didn’t have a particular reason for going this route, it was just a matter of taste and preference, as with everything else. But on that note…
May Bride S is Chinese. May Groom M is Indian. They are not having an Indian wedding, nor are they having a Chinese wedding. But they’ve apparently been asked at least a couple times if they’re having an Indian wedding.
My first reaction is to be half-serious bitter over the fact that being Indian is cool now. I wished that half of my heritage would disappear during awkward growing-up phases. I was finally cool with being Indian after the adolescent self-consciousness came and went. But after Slumdog Millionaire and Aishwarya Rai hit mainstream popularity, a lot of other people got cool with it, too. As a friend pointed out, Irish immigrants were barely one rung up from slaves long ago; now, everyone and their mom is proud to be “Irish” on St. Patrick’s Day and the accent makes people go wild. So, perhaps it’s just a matter of cultural evolution.
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Mr. Pencils and I are ultra lucky to have wonderful grandmothers in our lives. They’re amazing role models and have both been so fantastic during the wedding planning.
Mr. Pencils’ grandmother outdid herself a few weekends ago. She added three amazing things to our wedding day that I can’t wait to share with you all.
A long, long time ago (like, two months after we got engaged), Mr. Pencils and I mentioned that we needed a wedding cake server and knife. A few months after that, my mother offered us her and my father’s and then, just a few weeks ago, Mr. P’s grandmother (Gaga!) presented us with these beauties:
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
Congratulations to our winners:
~~~
The lovely ladies at The Wedding Salon are hosting the bridal event of the season on Monday, April 12, 2010 and they’d love for you to come! Join wedding celebs Sylvia Weinstock and David Tutera and check out the hottest trends in wedding decor, gowns, invitations, cakes, honeymoons, and more! The Wedding Salon is offering a FREE pair of tickets to 10 lucky Weddingbee readers (tickets retail for $50 each)!
To purchase tickets to The Wedding Salon, click here.
You have until Wednesday, April 7th at midnight PST to enter by simply commenting below. Or, increase your chances of winning by retweeting this contest and entering again in the comments letting us know you’ve retweeted! You must be able to be in NYC on the evening of Monday, April 12 to enter. We’ll choose 10 winners at random. Good luck!
I’m currently a full-time grad student, but in the three years before this, I was a seventh grade English teacher. I don’t know if you remember this from your own time as a seventh grader, but twelve-to-thirteen-year-olds are truly ridiculous creatures. Among the many (many, many) funny stories I have from those three years, one of my favorites involves the time all the girls in my third period decided to give each other, and me, nicknames. My new alias was Rainbow, based on the wide variety of brightly-colored shirts I wore to school; my wardrobe was, according to the girls’ helpful analysis, especially heavy on red, pink, purple, and blue.
Point being? I really like bright colors, and when it came time to think about ideas for the wedding, my brain went straight towards vibrant shades. I checked with my groom, and to my non-surprise, this was a wedding issue where he had virtually no opinion. His only requests? “No pink and no pastels.” No problem!
Now, a confession:
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I suppose this post is particularly relevant due to recent news. Remember my post about my awful experience trying to book a civil ceremony updo? Well, after writing that post, I took out my anger in a very long and detailed Yelp review. Within 48 hours, I received a message on Yelp from the owner of the salon. She was very apologetic and said she felt horrible about the whole thing. She said she had already made changes to the salon’s bridal policies and that she wanted to offer me a free service to entice me to come back. After all, I’ve been going to the salon for 3 years now and my usual hairstylist had nothing to do with the updo fiasco. So I accepted her apology, posted an updated review, and messaged her back. In my message, I admitted to her that after the “incident”, I was so put off by the whole thing that I stopped looking for a hair salon to do my updo. I was just going to blow out my hair and let it be that. I told her that if my free service could be my civil ceremony updo, I’d be very grateful, but I said that if they couldn’t do that then I’d just get my hair cut with my regular stylist. She messaged me back and said she’d not only give me the free haircut, but the free updo for my civil ceremony as well! Shortly after, a stylist called me to book my updo appointment. There is justice in this world!
My favorite website on the planet (other than Weddingbee, of course).
I very much believe that, when you can, you should buy handmade. Not only are you getting an item which is (at times) completely custom but, you are also supporting an artist (and their art) and usually getting a better deal over factory-made items (which is always a plus!).
There are so many talented artists and designers over on Etsy. When looking through the wedding category, I am stunned by the amount of talent and beautiful items that are being sold. Any idea you have ever had for your wedding, chances are there is someone who can make it for you on Etsy. Just about anything in a seller’s shop can be altered to fit your wedding. Mr. Dolphin and I had some pretty awesome custom Gator cake toppers made through Etsy. My bridal consultant Kari had her Groom’s cake toppers custom made through Etsy, too. So, without further ado, here is a small taste of items available on Etsy to outfit your Groom on your wedding day:
MichelleVerbeeck His/Hers Hitched Cuff $14; ErinBorges “In Case You Get Cold Feet” Socks $30; Cuftlynx Custom Cuff Links $60; MeandMatilda Black Damask Tie $19.99; JMGJewelDesign Flower Fascinator and Boutonniere $45; Somethingbluedesigns I ♥ My Wife Shirt $14.95; InitialImpressions Personalized Grosgrain Ribbon Tag Set (for Dress and Tie) $13; MeandMatilda Modern Ring Bearer and Tie Set $38.99
This past weekend, I stuffed myself with way too much cheese, cupcakes, French macarons and short ribs. Before you think, ‘Why that’s just another Hamster weekend,’ (uh, I wish!) I must attribute all this gluttonous goodness to my awesome bridal shower! (I feel okay bragging about it since I didn’t plan it.) 
My shower was hosted at Bar Artisanal, which is known for French brasserie fare, cheese, wine, cheese, and a knowledgeable fromagier. Oh, and cheese. As you can guess, Bar Artisanal, along with its sister restaurant Artisanal are among my favorite places to eat in the city. And the food at my shower didn’t disappoint - I’ll let you see for yourself:
From top to bottom, that’s:
Blood Orange with Fennel, Arugula and Olives; Organic beet Mache with Gribiche Dressing
Short Ribs with Parmesan Polenta and Glazed Vegetables; Eggs Benedict Artisanal
Cheese Course of Chabichou du Poitou, Primma Donna and Epoisse; Panna Cotta
My bridesmaids really went out of their way with details, details details! I’m a sucker for details, so I appreciated each and every one.
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Like most people, I don’t like talking about finances, but I promised myself I’d spend as much energy preparing for the wedding as I would preparing for the marriage… so I try to confront these potentially uncomfortable issues when I get a chance.
The New York Times published a few good articles on couples’ finances a while back.
The articles, by Ron Lieber, are very helpful, if brief, and are in two parts. The first one, “Four Talks About Money to Have Before Marriage”, outlines the ways in which marital finances are impacted by our upbringing, our expectations, our attitudes toward money, and other habits.
When it comes to this, I know I’m definitely not perfect when it comes to finances.
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Mary Paige and Nick steal a sweet kiss at the water’s edge during their engagement shoot.
Keep on loading your inspirational wedding pics to the gallery to see them featured here on the blog! Remember, your images must be under 1MB in size, or they won’t load.
Mr. Starfish hasn’t had many requests for the wedding other than not wanting to wear a tux. He also really wanted a cake topper featuring real people. So, I have been searching for the perfect “people topper” for over a year. At the beginning of last year, I was reading a bridal magazine and I saw a Lladro topper. I had never heard of Lladro until I met Mr. Starfish. FMIL Starfish has been collecting Lladro since she bought her first piece on her honeymoon with FFIL Starfish in St. Maarten, just over thirty years ago. When I saw the Lladro topper, I thought it was perfect. It is beautiful and it would be kind of sentimental.
Then I looked it up online… I didn’t realize how expensive Lladro is! There are two I found on the site that are absolutely beautiful, but I couldn’t bring myself to spend that kind of money.
Lladro’s Together Forever and The Happiest Day:
Three days before the wedding I realized I still did not have a perfume to wear on our wedding day. I think it was one of those items on my checklist that I kept putting off because I thought it wouldn’t take long (yeah, right). So, three days before the wedding, I trekked over to my nearest Ulta in hopes of finding the perfect scent. Something that would knock Mr. Beagle’s socks off, in a good way.
I usually wear this perfume (which is unfortunately no longer in production) on a daily basis:
I was looking for something similar (light, airy), but different (memorable). Also, the packaging had to be cute just in case there were any pictures taken of the perfume bottle (um, yes, I hate to admit this was my thought process in the days before the wedding).
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