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.
As I pretty much always having wedding stuff floating in the back of my mind, I’m almost always keeping an eye out for items for the wedding. While I haven’t actually gone Veil Shopping (that’s right—capital letters), there are a few places I drop by every so often to see if they have anything suitable.
I love this place. The owner (Joy) is a former costume designer and she sells and rents evening wear as well as custom designs wedding dresses. I didn’t actually learn about her until after I found my dress, otherwise I definitely would have been interested in working with her. She also does custom designed veils, so if I don’t end up finding what I want anywhere else, this is where I’ll be looking.
Mrs. Lamb, NorfolkAge and Occupation: 25, Homeland Security ConsultantFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Graduate StudentEngagement Date: January 2009Wedding Date: January 2010Venue: Trinity Presbyterian Church/Harrison Opera HouseAbout Me: I’m a Homeland Security Consultant with a tendency towards pulling office pranks, taking lunch breaks, and drinking Wawa shakes. I’m also an English major with a serious obsession with alliteration and rhymes. While I’m not keeping America safe, I’m training for half marathons and the Escape from Alcatraz swim. Or moving for the third time this year. Or baking. Or wedding crafting. Or crying about wedding planning. All the while, I’m getting myself into Lucille Ball-esque scrapes and making Jim Carey-esque faces. Our big fat Czech/Baptist/Jewish/Italian wedding is a combination of vintage eclectic, DIY, and little spoonful of sugar from our Event Coordinator. It’s going to be a Norfolk flavored wedding with the verve of an only-daughter-blow-out bash!
After our engagement and a few frightening experiences in planning the wedding that left me in tears, I began to cling to the idea that our wedding needed a philosophy. From the pages of 2000 Dollar Wedding and A Practical Wedding, I borrowed aspects with which I identified and built my own philosophy. I would love to say that we had an amazingly transcendent family sit down where every one understood the importance of having a wedding philosophy and participated in building one. However, I was the lone crusader on the warpath of defining it. Others thought it was overkill, granola, heady, unnecessary, etc. From the perspective of being on the other side, having a wedding philosophy, even just one that I adhered to, was pivotal to keeping me sane and freeing me to truly enjoy our wedding.
When I got down/upset, it seemed like everything was out of budget, or every craft was failing, I thought of the most important thing about our wedding: It was the beginning of our marriage. In the grand scheme of starting a marriage, finding the perfect wrapping paper to line envelopes could be put into its proper category of “not that important, after all”. Stemming from this main philosophy, I focused on a few sub-principles that I thought would enhance the intimacy, ease the coordination, or decrease costs. For fun, I labeled these principles with a catch all phrase: High on Style, Low on Budget - Just how Mother Likes it. In the following paragraphs, I highlight a few of the principles and the application to our wedding planning.
Ms. Potato Chips, Boston/Narragansett RIAge and Occupation: 29, PhD StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Personal Trainer/Business Owner/Physical Therapy AssistantEngagement Date: January 1, 2009Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: The Narragansett TowersAbout Me: A semi-professional bookworm, if I could be a literary character I’d be a cross between Jo March and Jane Eyre, only better accessorized and much lazier. My hobbies include sleeping in, seasonal brews, running, Trader Joe’s, and watching Unwrapped and Good Eats with Mr. Potato Chips. I harbor an irrational fear of tulle, crafts, things that are fussy, and overuse of the phrase "Your Special Day". After a year or seven together, down the aisle we go, slouching toward adulthood and planning a Rhodie party with equal parts whimsy, cheer, and pizza.
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.
Now, I haven’t even told you about my first dress (THE dress) yet but right now my mind is on that other dress. You know, the one some brides have for the reception and/or going away. It usually seems to be characterised by being cute, short, flirty and oh-so-perfect for dancing.
Anyway. I won’t be having one of those dresses (*sigh*) for two reasons:
I spent half an arm and a leg on the actual wedding dress and dang it if I don’t force as many hours out of it as I possibly can.
I’m a student. Student = poor and starving. OK not so starving. But poor.
But I’m allowed to hypothesize what the second dress would like it if I happened to get one, right? Indulge me anyway. ‘Cause I’m digging these beauties:
This one is sweet and simple without being TOO simple, if you know what I mean:
Miss Swiss to Bee and her long-distance fiance discovered that an engagement pic outtake was their favorite shot of the day.
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. Scissors, LaGrange, GAAge and Occupation: 25, Photography & Graphic DesignFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Engineering Grad StudentEngagement Date: January 1, 2009Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: Ceremony - First United Methodist Church; Reception - My parents' house!About Me: I’m a six-foot-three bride with a fifty-foot personality! I love great art, fabulous design, intense color, tons of music, indie photography, watching movies on repeat, and being really awesome. This super-tall, Southern, loud, quirky, neurotic artist is marrying a German, quiet, silly, super-amazing roboticist in an eclectic, funky, fun, snazzy, technicolored June wedding. Anything is game for this shindig, for it is all about us! We’re bringing giant paper cranes, six-foot-tall portraits, fortune cookies, a photo booth, a club-circuit DJ, handcuffs, and possibly a kidnapping to this small Southern town. Watch out, y’all, and try to keep up!
Yep. One week left until the wedding. You know what that means? I am flipping the heck out. I’m a “OMG don’t mess with me or I’ll cry” stressed-out ball of mess. But that comes and goes in waves, because there’s also the “OMG WE ARE GETTING MARRIED” breaking through. I have an incredible amount of things to do, but whatever happens happens. I’m working noon to night on wedding projects, and having a strange amount of fun doing that. Hey, what can I say, I’m an art kid, love deadlines, but also love working myself to the bone and UP TO THE LAST SECOND.
How do I do it? With a little help from Freddie, of course. Read more…
Mrs. Taco, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 29, writer/editorFiance's Age and Occupation: 37, editorEngagement Date: May 13, 2009Wedding Date: August 2010Venue: The Green Room at the War Memorial Veterans BuildingAbout Me: I like laughing and talking with good friends over good food and good drink, be it wine, cocktail, or brew. I write and edit things for fun and profit, but I rarely "write" these days without a keyboard and high-speed internets. Favorites include Mr. Taco, my Boston terrier, San Francisco, getting out of town, and the Roaring ’20s. I was kind-of planning a wedding since roughly 2006, when I discovered "Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?" on the WE channel. I ran and didn't look back with a theme I called "urban vintage," and it culminated in the most magical day a taco could ask for.
I’ve been thinking a lot about Mrs. Penguin’s recent post on life lessons reinforced at an early age: never depend on your partner to live. Always be able to pay your own way. There are exceptions, sure, including school for one, or layoffs for another.
But the post got me thinking about partnership and independence. Namely, that being married or being parents are easy scapegoats on which we blame our own shortcomings or bad decisions. I’ve done it plenty of times. You have too, I’m sure. But I’m really trying not to, because I’ve seen it go mega-wrong in some cases, in marriages ranging from zero years old to 30 years old.
For example:
“He made me be a stay-at-home mom, now I don’t have any skills to re-enter the workforce.” Read more…
Mrs. Parfait, ChicagoAge and Occupation: 26, TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Senior Online ConsultantEngagement Date: February 14, 2009Wedding Date: April 2010Venue: Signature EventsAbout Me: I have a soft spot for all things sweet and romantic. Desserts, love songs, sappy movies? Yes, yes, and ohh yes. My fiance and I enjoy singing to our dogs, creating crazy ice cream sundaes, and generally being lovey dovey cuddle bunnies. We also do socially acceptable things like dancing, throwing Frisbees, playing high stakes board games, and taking unreasonably fun road-trips. We're planning a Korean/Serbian wedding with plenty of playful, personal touches!
When we left off, Mr. Parfait and I had just arrived in Maui and driven the long and winding Road to Hana. We spent the rest of the week falling in love with Maui. The mountains, beaches, and skies were breathtaking, and we kept stopping to take photos like these:
Mrs. Seashell, Chicago, IL / Providence, RIAge and Occupation: 28, Marriage and Family TherapistFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Electrical EngineerEngagement Date: September 3, 2009Wedding Date: September 2010Venue: The Glen Manor HouseAbout Me: Fonts and fashion, stationery and Sundays, photography and french toast... the beauty is in the details for this fun-loving Chicagoan who loves to plan plan plan! The soon-to-be hubs plays "Mr. Fix-It" in our new condo while I swoon over beautiful, personalized stationery and choose shades of aubergine for my bridesmaids' dresses... and thus begins my new fairy tale! Skirting to the East Coast for our September nuptials where my home state of Rhode Island awaits with fall foliage, I'm just a few dress fittings and bachelorette party away from saying "I Do" to a very happy ending!
At the moment I’m still in Providence. I’m here with Mr. Seashell, my future in-laws, parents and sister. And I’m still soaking in what an absolutely fantastic weekend we’ve had. It has been so full of love and joy and celebration, I just couldn’t feel luckier. If our wedding feels anything like this weekend, it will be simply perfect.
Living in Chicago, it seemed silly to attempt a surprise bridal shower. To get me here, I have to travel, and I’d be generally suspicious of no talk of a bridal shower or of random boxes arriving at our condo. Ultimately, the long distance factor gets in the way of surprises.
However, even though I knew I was flying home for a bridal shower this weekend, there were plenty of surprises in store. Read more…
Mrs. Sewing, San Mateo, CA/Honolulu, HIAge and Occupation: 24, Electrical EngineerFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Electrical EngineerEngagement Date: June 27, 2009Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Anela Garden Chapel & Japanese Cultural Center, HonoluluAbout Me: I'm an easily entertained, compulsive idea-scheming machine who loves good art, good food, and a good engineering challenge. I'm planning a half-destination wedding on the beautiful island of Oahu - imagine a plethora of movies, art and games; savory Hawaiian food; blended Chinese and Japanese cultural details; lush, fragrant tropical flowers and all the air conditioning a NorCal native could want! And once I marry the love of my life, we'll come back to the 'mainland' to party it up all over again in my hometown of Salinas, the salad-bowl capital of the world!
Planning a destination wedding? Well, there’s one thing they always tell you - be prepared for many “declines”. Obviously, it’s not easy for people to just jump on a plane and romp on some island for a week.
I guess it’s good advice, since our wedding is no exception to the general rule. Here are the numbers:
Egads! Only 40% of our loved ones are actually coming!
At first, I was irrationally upset. Every “no” RSVP depressed me, and it got to the point where Mr. Sew would have to open the envelopes - I couldn’t stand to see the bad news. Some of the declines, in conjunction with the “why are you having your wedding there” statements, felt like personal “I don’t care about you” messages. And it hurt. Read more…
Mrs. Oyster, DallasAge and Occupation: 30, Music TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 46, Art TeacherEngagement Date: January 9, 2009Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: The Tower ClubAbout Me: I'm a Texa-Californian with a penchant for sparkly things and a tendency to think a lot. I've been known to sing random songs or dance when there is no music on. My fiance and I love world culture, we love to travel, and we have an incredibly eclectic taste in music. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to celebrate our marriage with our family & closest friends. We're planning an “urban black-tie” wedding and hope to incorporate our personalities and some of our own interests. We look forward to a life of love, laughter, good music, beautiful art, and to creating our home together with our four (!) cats.
When we first began planning this wedding, we had a very different vision. Here’s the first inspiration board I created, nearly a year ago.
Bouquet from Michael Norwood Photography, garden wedding by Stacy Reeves, dress by Lazaro (3701), earrings by Tejani. Chocolate favor from oncewed.com, invites & iced tea from theknot.com.
We wanted an indoor/outdoor wedding, maybe in a beautiful garden or in a rented bed and breakfast. We thought it would be great to have our families stay all together for a day or two before the wedding; we could go swimming, play with the kids, and then have our wedding. Something family-oriented, elegant, and “summery”.
You may have noticed that our wedding is in July… JULY. In Texas. Read more…
Mrs. Jellyfish, Pleasanton, CAAge and Occupation: 27, Law StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Air Force PilotEngagement Date: February 21, 2009Wedding Date: September 2010Venue: Casa Real at Ruby Hill WineryAbout Me: In a nutshell, I’m the most optimistic worrywart you’ll ever meet. My family emigrated from Romania to San Jose, CA when I was 8, and I've been a Nor Cal girl ever since! My fiancé is also a Bay Area native, so it’s funny that we met at UCLA, as college freshmen living on the same floor (go Bruins!). Between his career as an Air Force pilot and my path to becoming a lawyer, our relationship has been anything but typical. We currently live together in Berkeley with our puppy Stinson. In addition to spending time with the loves of my life, I enjoy crafting, attempting complicated recipes, environmental law and non-law school reading (Us Weekly, anyone?). Follow along as I plan an elegant 200-person winery wedding, graduate law school, take the Bar exam, get married and get used to the always unpredictable but never boring life of a military spouse!
A little while back, I had hit a lull in the planning process when Bridesmaid E surprised me with this hilarious book: Porn for the Bride. It currently graces our coffee table, inspiring perturbed glances (mainly from my dad) and uncontrolled giggles (from my girlfriends). The book is part of a series of “Porn for Women” books, created by The Cambridge Women’s Pornography Cooperative. According to Amazon.com, “The Cambridge Women’s Pornography Cooperative is a secret society of women working to redefine the way we look at pornography. They understand that sometimes a clean kitchen is hotter than a guy in a muscle shirt.”
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!
Ahem, hi! Sorry, I get a little zealous sometimes.
Let’s try that again.
Howdy, hive! I’m Miss Cardigan, and if you can’t tell, I’m just a little bit excited to “bee” here! (I know, I know. I just couldn’t resist!) I’ve been reading the ’bee (and actively participating!) for close to a year now and I’ve been dreaming of being a bee ever since I got engaged. I’m so incredibly honored to be here, and I am thrilled I get to share my wedding with such an awesome community!
When I got the email from Pengy saying that I had been accepted, I didn’t even know what to do with myself. I only got far enough in the email to see “think you’d be a great addition to the Weddingbee team” and then I started jumping up and down and immediately called Mr. Cardigan and started screaming some nonsense at him about bees and cardigans. When he finally deciphered what I was saying, he first told me that he was excited for me, and then let me know that “Mr. Cardigan” is not a very manly name. I think he was hoping for “Mr. Tool Belt” or something. After I told him (and everyone else I could think of) I went back to work babysitting (I’m a part time nanny this summer). I did my best to focus, but I couldn’t stop myself from doing some random victory dances every few minutes. I’m pretty sure the kids thought I had lost my mind.
I went through the rest of my day in a cloud of excitement and couldn’t get my mind off my new status as a bee. I was so excited, in fact, that on the way home from work I wasn’t paying attention to how fast I was driving and I got a speeding ticket. Awesome. Read more…
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.
And guess what else? Everything everyone said about weddings was true. It WASN’T the details that made the day (although everything looked amazing, thanks to my mom, family, wedding party and amazing DOC, Sara Gorski. Seriously, if you haven’t budgeted for a DOC, go do it right now!).
We had the U-Haul truck with all the decor stuck in traffic from a wreck, we were running late from our first look, and I was mobbed by about 4 people to quickly clean my dirty dress minutes before the ceremony. But none of that mattered at all.
What did matter was the overwhelming love and support from every single one of our guests. There wasn’t anyone who wasn’t grinning from ear to ear all night, and Mr. Cola and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. Love, happiness and joy from family and friends—that is what made our day perfect, and I wouldn’t change a thing! It was seriously the most loved I’ve ever felt, and it was wonderful.
My fingers are getting tired of typing this on my phone, but I didn’t want to head off on our honeymoon without a quick touch base about our wedding. Read more…
ClassifiedsFeature Launched: April 30, 2008About: A roundup of the best Weddingbee Classified listings.
Hi hive! Thank you for your continued suggestions for Weddingbee Spring Cleaning categories. To find out more about Spring Cleaning, click here!
Today’s featured item of the day is table overlays!
Sellers: if you have candy buffet items for sale, please post your item to the Weddingbee Classifieds by adding your item, and then return to this post and add the link to the item you’re selling in the comments, along with a quick description. Also pay attention to the comments in this ad to see if any buyers are searching for the item you’re selling by subscribing to the comments.
Buyers: if you’re looking for table overlays for sale, you can do a couple things:
Identify yourself in the comments as LOOKING FOR (type of item you’re looking for, and quantity).
Subscribe to this thread, so you’re informed of table overlays that are being listed for sale in the Weddingbee Classifieds. ***
Sarahopal is selling 25 pink and silver overlays. They are made of baby pink cotton fabric overlaid with a white organza with a silver glitter swirl. She’s asking $20 each for the 60″ x 60″ overlays. Read more…