Mrs. Argyle, St. LouisAge and Occupation: 24, Project CoordinatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, PilotEngagement Date: February 15, 2009Wedding Date: September 2010Venue: Jewel Box in Forest Park and Windows on WashingtonAbout Me: I'm a true Midwestern girl (born and raised), lover of red wine, reality TV and the entire J.Crew catalog. I love to dance regardless of who is watching, and enjoy a good laugh with my girls. I have a soft spot in my heart for planet Earth, my two dogs and my fiance. Fall is my favorite season (which is why we are marrying in September), but I love a warm summer day and the Colorado mountains in the winter. We are planning a modern soiree downtown, with lots of bold colors, and fun, eco-friendly elements.
Back in March I decided to have my hair and make-up trial. I knew I had a summer full of friends’ weddings and traveling and gearing up for our own wedding that trying to squeeze something in with my hair stylist/makeup artist would be pretty close to impossible.
Argyle Mom and Argyle Bridesmaid KD tagged along with me so I had extra input, and someone to man a camera. I came along with two photos. One of something messy, a la Kristin Bell (see: first photo from this post). And, the other courtesy of Weddingbee reader, FutureMrsBaird.
So, we tried the side bun first. And, because I wasn’t 100% on what I was going to wear in my hair, we substituted with a random hair flower I had.
Mrs. Knitting, TorontoAge and Occupation: 24, Student Recruitment Assistant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Neuroscience PhD CandidateEngagement Date: October 2009Wedding Date: December 2010Venue: University of Toronto Faculty Club
About Me: I'm a pearl wearing, etiquette book reading Toronto girl who loves cooking and baking, museums, charm bracelets, and collecting books on Jackie Kennedy (a lot). I've been known to spend Sunday mornings at the antique market, Wednesday evenings at sister sushi dinners, and any bit of spare time reading. After six and a half years of many late night walks, watching DVDs together in bed, travelling to places like New York, and Tobermory, doing Sudokus together on the couch, lots of Indian food, the occasional yoga class, moving in together and so much more, Mr. Knitting and I are planning a cozy Christmasy (it's a word!), vintage wedding in Toronto complete with many DIY projects (eek!) and lots of help from our amazing group of family and friends.
I went to two wedding shows and I’d have to say that overall, I’m not a fan. The first one I went to with two of my bridesmaids was completely awful. It was big and crowded, pretty much nothing was to my taste, and the vendors were all pretty pushy and annoying. For example, one of the vendors from a big suit company was shocked that we didn’t have at least 4 groomsmen who required tuxes and kept insisting that we needed to dress our fathers in matching tuxes.
The second show I went to with Mr. Knitting was much much better. It was organized by The Wedding Co., one of my favourite Toronto based wedding resources. This show was lovely and elegant with lots of amazing vendors. Mmm… there was so much amazing food to sample. This one was a lot more fun than the first one, but it still wasn’t the most helpful for my planning process because all these amazing vendors were way out of my price range.
For example, here’s the gorgeous letterpress invitation by Sweet Peony Press that I spent a lot of time mooning over:
Mrs. Hamster, New York CityAge and Occupation: 28, Finance GalFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Finance GuyEngagement Date: March 9, 2009Wedding Date: May 2010Venue: The Pierre HotelAbout Me: I'm an original Jersey girl living it up in the big NYC! I love baking for others, hosting brunches, and exploring NYC with my mans. Besides Mr. Hamster (of course), I'm attracted to shiny things, bold colors, snacks, matching and coordination, pork and duck fats, miniature versions of things, corny jokes and puns. We are planning a swanky Spring wedding in the heart of NYC, followed by a second reception in Singapore. From one city that never sleeps to another - I can't imagine a more exciting ride!
Hello, hive! I’m back with another installment of the Hamster recaps. The good news - I’m getting our pro pics this week! The bad news - you won’t see as many handy dandy photos such as these:
Yes, I’m taking a picture of the bathroom in our hotel room. I mean, come on - there was a TV there! That’s pretty nifty.
Aaaanyway, when we last left off, we had poured tea as well as rehearsed. That left only one thing to do - Read more…
Mrs. Socks, Southern NJ/Philadelphia, PAAge and Occupation: 23, Web Developer/Marketing SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Systems EngineerEngagement Date: September 7, 2009
Wedding Date: October 2010Venue: Ladder 15 RestaurantAbout Me: I am originally from the Midwest, but I love being an East Coast transplant! Mr. Socks and I are foodies and winos to the core---give us a hunk of cheese, some charcuterie and a glass of wine and we could die happy. We have two mischievous Wire Fox Terriers with completely opposite personalities but with a shared love of uprooting anything in our garden. Our backyard garden includes everything from tomatoes and peppers to a fig tree, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries! I love cooking, indie music, and spending time in our wedding city of choice---Philly!
Mrs. Pudding, Greater Toronto Area/VermontAge and Occupation: 26, High School TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Computer EngineerEngagement Date: August 2008Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Catholic Ceremony, Cultural Hall ReceptionAbout Me: Quite literally a citizen of the world, I was born in Poland, grew up in Canada, and now live in the beautiful state of Vermont. I love reading historical biographies, multi-tasking, teasing my hair, and, despite my height, wearing high heeled shoes. I am the ultimate klutz with an uncanny ability to put on a graceful front. Mr. Pudding and I have been dating for over six years, and are very excited to finally merge our (very large) families. We are planning a traditional Polish-Catholic wedding that is anything but predictable.
Feast your eyes on the 6 sheet cakes that Mama Pudding and I brought home from our wedding baker yesterday. If you think that 6 sheet cakes, on top of the wedding cake and groom’s cake that FMIL Pudding is baking, is overkill, than you will be shocked to hear that these 6 will join another 10 that Mama P has in her freezer. Read more…
Ms Seahorse, BostonAge and Occupation: 25, Veterinary Jane-of-all-tradesFiancee's Age and Occupation: 36, former non-profit fundraiser in search of something betterEngagement Date: October 17, 2009Wedding Date: September 2010Venue: Fort Pond LodgeAbout Me: By day I'm a cat-wrangler, vet tech assistant, pet-sitter, receptionist, and pre-vet student, but the rest of the time, I'm a former-roller-derby girl turned dedicated-wedding planner. I love reading, writing, bicycles, animals, roller skating, and antique-y things of all sorts. I'm a vegetarian who likes spicy foods, while Fiancee Seahorse is a meat eater who does not like spices. We live outside Boston with our menagerie: a fifty pound dog, a one-eyed, seventeen-toed, toothless cat, and a perfectly put together cat who has a penchant for pooping near rather than in her litter box. In addition to planning our small lake-side wedding, we enjoy running around with the puppy, playing board games (Scrabble, anyone?), having little adventures, talking about how we should really clean the house more, and maintaining our little garden of vegetables and wedding flowers.
Alright, hive, I have alluded to this little story before, but only now have I the energy to sit down and actually write it. This long-time-coming tale is one of almost-engagement, non-engagement, and pre-engagement. This is an anecdote of detail and “what is an engagement, really?”
And onto it:
Fancee totally did not want to marry me.
Okay, I’m way exaggerating. I think she made it quite clear that a part of her did want to marry me. But another, larger part of her was clinging desperately to her single-dom, her independence, and the sense of self that she had spent several years fostering. I think that sometimes a relationship can threaten a sense of self – if it’s a good relationship, you can get past that and hopefully both people help foster each others’ sense of self, but in a less-than-awesome relationship, you can really lose yourself. Which, on a side note, is something I am very familiar with.
I think it was about five weeks into our relationship that I started thinking about marriage. Read more…
Mrs. Pencils, Washington DC/Frederick, MDAge and Occupation: 24, Program Director, Education Non ProfitFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Administrative Assistant, Ocean Conservation Non ProfitEngagement Date: July 26, 2008Wedding Date: May 2010Venue: Morningside InnAbout Me: I'm a nerdy Northwestern girl who always knew she was meant to live in the East, harboring a deep love of ice cream, underwear, Diet Coke with a splash of Coca-Cola, pashminas, scrapbooking, stationery, wall calendars and books written for preteens. I think every day should include good thin crust pizza, chocolate, an obscure historical monument, lots of laughter, a dash of wedding planning and, of course, amazing Mr. Pencils! I'm loving the adventure of planning a Maryland wedding and Rocky Mountain reception, and most of all, I just love love!
During dinner, Mr. Pencils and I ate as quickly as possible (but we DID eat—our coordinator Heather had saved us some food from the cocktail hour and I DEVOURED the dumplings and mini quiches AND she brought us something from all of the buffet stations too—SO much food!) and then we got up to greet as many guests as we could.
This is the part of the night where I began to feel rushed and feel the missing twenty minutes from the ceremony going long. We didn’t get to speak with any of our family (luckily, we had at the rehearsal dinner) or to three tables that held the majority of our friends not in the bridal party. I felt incredible remorse about this and dwelled on it the entire morning after our wedding, until Mr. P told me that our family and friends love us and understand—and he was right. Though I wish I could have had more time with everyone, it’s a fast five hours from ceremony to reception to end.
A walk in the garden. Even the flowers accommodated MyPurpleWedding’s color scheme.
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.
Mrs. Cola, Mountain View, CAAge and Occupation: 27, Product Communications and PromotionsFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Managing Partner and Senior DesignerEngagement Date: March 5, 2009Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: The Mountain Terrace, Woodside, CAAbout Me: I’m a Washington State native, enjoying life in Silicon Valley California with my fiancé, our three kitties and one leopard gecko. I like reading wedding blogs, Photoshopping wedding design mock ups, making lists, and planning, planning, planning! I’m a bit of an anomaly, on one side I’m a very girlie girl, I collect shoes, I lay out my outfits 4-6 weeks in advance, and I’d never leave the house without my hair curled and makeup on. But on the other side, I’m a total tomboy, I love to go camping and hiking, play drinking games (hey, I’m Irish!) and most of my closest friends are guys. My fiancé and I are planning a DIY-focused wedding with a balance between easygoing (what he wants) and chic and stylish (what I want), and are tying it all together with elements in lavender, sage, butter cream and chocolate.
In my last post I showed you what we gifted the ladies, now it’s time to see what our groomsmen got!
Mr. Cola did all the picking of these gifts himself, and decided to do two gifts for each of his groomsmen, but all the same gifts (two gifts, on top of the suits, shirts and ties we got them).
For their first gift, he got them all fancy lighters with their initials engraved on them in Old English Script (yes, they all happen to be smokers).
For the second part of their gift, he went to a magical store called Beverages and More (or just BevMo, for those in the know). Read more…
Mrs. Pin Cushion, Oakland, CAAge and Occupation: 25, Nurse Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, PhD StudentEngagement Date: November 23, 2008Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Radonich Ranch, Los GatosAbout Me: I'm the 3 Cs: crafty, creative and quirky (oh, that's not a C? Close enough!). I'm also a recycling fanatic, fluent in bad accents and I have the loudest laughter this side of the Mississippi. I have not just one sweet tooth, but a whole mouth full of sweet teeth. I cry at 97.4% of all movies I see, but my fiance's always there to hand me a tissue. My geek-chic fiance and I are planning a wedding full of color, cookies and handmade goodness and I can't wait to spill the beans on all of our crazy ideas!
The Pin Cushions are big fans of cookies. As in, our KitchenAid mixer gets used once a week to make a batch. As in, our Save the Dates talked about cookies. As in, people who know how many cookies we eat ask how we don’t look like whales. As in, I regularly ask myself how we don’t look like whales. We’re taking this love affair to our wedding in the form of a cookie table (not a table made out of cookies [thought that would be AWESOME]).
I stumbled on this photo and think it’s pretty sweet.
Mrs. Earrings, Fresno, CA/ Nelson, New ZealandAge and Occupation: 20, Student, Wannabe Writer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 19, Photography StudentEngagement Date: February 14, 2010Wedding Date: January 2011Venue: Gardens of the WorldAbout Me: I'm a girl from down under who grew up in Indonesia and I'm marrying a California boy. I'm addicted to all things sweet, have never met a chocolate silk pie than can get the better of me, and have dreams of one day being a fulltime novelist. I go weak in the knees for lace, tea cups, and a beautifully crafted sentence. When I get excited about something (whether it is historical linguistics or the Beatles) I tend to go overboard in research, and planning this wedding is no different. Mr. Earrings is my high school sweetheart, my best friend, and somehow we combine all our quirks into one big happy mess.
Continuing in our quest to find the perfect cupcake recipe(s) to bake for our wedding (and fill our bellies in the process), we tried another recipe from the amazing Ming over the weekend (no this is not a sponsored post yada-yada… she just lists all those yummy cupcake recipes so conveniently! I promise I have other recipes).
So we tried the Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache and Cream Filling. We were good this time and actually bothered to make the chocolate ganache (albeit in the microwave instead of the stove like the recipe said but MMM it totally worked). But we didn’t do the cream filling. I don’t like fillings corrupting my cupcakes, unless they include more and more chocolate or something like jam. Cream doesn’t fulfill those criteria.
And we had experiment success! Pretend for a second that you’re wine-tasting, except your actually cupcake-tasting (just go along with my silly brain please): We would describe these cupcakes as having “a light and delicate chocolate favor, perfect for that afternoon indulgence, with a crisp outer and just the right sponginess in the middle.” Oh yeah, I could become a professional at this.
This recipe could definitely be a contender in the great Cupcake Competition for Eternal Weddinghood.
Mrs. Cheeseburger is selling a Jane Woolrich English Corset. The lace-up corset with sweetheart neckline fits waists from 33″-37″. She’s accepting offers.
Have a wedding item for sale? Post it with pictures in the Weddingbee classifieds and you might see it featured on the blog!
Mrs. Pashmina, NYC/Catalina Island, CAAge and Occupation: 28, Arts EducationFiance's Age and Occupation: 34, IT AdministratorEngagement Date: April 26th, 2009Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Catalina Country Club, Catalina Island, CaliforniaAbout Me: I'm a laid-back Cali girl who moved to NYC for school, and ended up staying for love. My fiance is a quick-witted Jersey boy, a self-proclaimed Foodie and the funniest man I've ever met. Together we love exploring the city streets embarking on our next misadventure---and yes, this often involves eating off food carts and trying "the next big thing". I'm the girl in the sundress, snapping photos and collecting trinkets of memorabilia along the way. As a girly girl at heart, I am excited about our romantic natural island wedding incorporating our American & Filipino traditions.
We finally decided on our color theme and palette. It has been rather difficult. One drawback of loving lots of styles, and especially mix-’n'-matching styles, is that it can lead you down a path of indecision and infinite possibilities.
So I finally put my foot down and said enough is enough. It is not the last party that I am going to plan! It is does not mean that I favor one color combination above all other glorious color combinations! No! It is just choosing one option among many, many beautiful options. This is how I ultimately made the decision…
I made a file on my computer with my favorite pictures that captured a color theme-vibe-style I liked. I asked my fiance which one he liked best. And this is what he chose:
Mrs. Starfish, Boston/NewportAge and Occupation: 25, Operations AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, SalesEngagement Date: October 8, 2008Wedding Date: October 2010Venue: The Atlantic Beach ClubAbout Me: I'm a perfectionist who is a planner at heart. I don't do well with surprises. I love planning, crafting, Newport RI, family and friends, and most importantly, Mr. Starfish---all of which will be big components in our October wedding in our favorite little city by the sea.
With the wedding approaching, I’m realizing how much needs to get done in a short period of time. So to get motivated, I’ve purchased quite a few new craft supplies in the past couple of weeks. My favorites?
I first saw this “THANKS” punch on one of my favorite personal wedding planning blogs, Honey My Heart, via Ellen Hutson.
I love the way she used the punch to embellish the envelope liners. I want to do something similar for our shower thank yous, but not sure if I’ll have enough time to write them all out and design the cards.
Mrs. Cardigan, AustinAge and Occupation: 21, Student/Soon-to-be Special Education TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 20, Student/Soon-to-be Accounting Systems AnalystEngagement Date: August 16, 2009Wedding Date: January 2011Venue: Vintage VillasAbout Me: I'm a native Austinite who was raised as a die-hard Aggie. Luckily, I'm a pretty persuasive girl because I managed to convince my high school boyfriend (now fiance!), Mr. Cardigan, to ditch his hardcore Longhorn ways and join me up at A&M, where we currently reside with our adorable dogs, Cullen & Ranger. We're currently planning a bright, cheery wedding with a ridiculous amount of DIY projects that I can't wait to tackle! I love crafting in any form, reading, and margaritas (I think I love them the most!). Organization is what keeps me sane and I love helping others, which is probably why I ended up as an education major. It gets a little chaotic sometimes when you're planning a wedding among all of the papers, projects, finals, and certification exams, but we're having the time of our lives and we can't wait to get started on our journey as husband and wife - and we're so excited to share our wedding with the hive!
So, last time we talked, I had failed majorly at creating a flower for a Kusudama Ball. But, I am a very, very stubborn person and I was determined to make it work!
So, off to Michaels I went in search of a paper cutter. I found this guy for only about $7.00! I was sold. I grabbed it and headed home to try it out. I (very quickly and easily) cut out some 3X3 squares of paper and began folding. I only had regular tape and boring old white computer paper, so it was kind of difficult to make it work, but I ended up with this:
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
