Weddingbee Blog

I’m kind of a standard late-20-something, in some respects. Career is intact and rewarding, jogging is finally enjoyable, and fast food outside of road trips has lost its appeal. I also transitioned from college benders on Thursday through Saturday to the more spread-out drink or two a day. On the positive end, I just full-on love socializing over drinks, be it wine, beer, or cocktail. It’s always a bonus when they go perfectly with what I’m eating or doing, or who I’m with.

Now, on to the negatives.

I’m almost certain I, on average, drink more than I did in college. It’s consumed more responsibly than it was 8 years ago, but it all adds up when I really think about it. A good mimosa deal at brunch will win my heart, as will a glass of wine with Tuesday-night dinner or a Manhattan at the bar. Just seeing this pink fella makes me want this on my wall and a drink in my hand:

Source: guy-sports.com

This packs on empty calories and drains a wallet faster than it takes to hail the bartender.
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The Wedding Salon is back in Miami on June 14th at The Gansevoort South! Join leading industry experts including Ana Paz, Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings & Saks Fifth Avenue, Bal Harbour as they treat brides to complimentary mini-makeovers and beauty consultations. The Wedding Salon has graciously offered free tickets to this event to Weddingbee readers!

To score your free tickets, head to The Wedding Salon and enter code WBM6C at checkout.

Less than a week before the wedding, our parents had yet to meet! This, I think, is among the strangest things about adulthood - the stark realization that your parents have yet to even meet those who will become deeply entwined with your future. Your fiancé’s parents - they will be your parents. And your parents, the people who have guided you, molded you, counseled you, bathed you - they will be his. For me, this truly solidifies the notion that you and your fiancé are really, and finally, becoming a family.

So naturally, I was a little anxious about the first meeting. I mean, our parents made us, and we like each other - so they must like each other, right? (Sorry, Juliet.) Even though Mr. Bear Cub and I are astronomers, we’re lucky not to be so star-crossed.

Amidst the mayhem of preparations, my parents (Momma Bear & Papa Bear) and siblings (Sis Bear Cub & Bro Bear Cub) flew into Portland from Oklahoma Monday afternoon. Mr. Bear Cub’s mom and two sisters also flew in from Wyoming that day. And then Mr. BC’s step-grandma (his step-mom’s mom, and also our officiant) trained in.

We decided that a good common ground would be dinner at a restaurant - this was such a good idea. We made reservations at a nice sushi place in the Pearl District (agadashi tofu OMNOM), and everyone trickled in around the same time.

And you know what?
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We are having quite a few Out of Town guests, and there are a few things that we wanted to make sure to do to make their weekend more comfortable. In addition to reserving blocks at New York City hotels with better rates, we will be putting together Out of Town bags (OOT bags from here on - I always look at that acronym and think “oo-OOTOOT”) that will be waiting for them in their rooms. I have been brainstorming a list of things to put in the bags, however, I knew what I wanted the bags themselves to be.

It was important to both Mr. Hermit Crab and myself that these bags be environmentally friendly, and we decided early on to do canvas bags. I have a favorite image from our wedding that I wanted to put on the bags. Just in case we had several left over, I ordered the bags in three different colors: red, blue and black. I picked up the bags the other day and I can’t wait to share them with you. (All pictures are personal photos)

Fingers itching to jump in and see them!
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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 birdcages!

Sellers: if you have a birdcage 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 birdcages 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 new birdcages that are being listed for sale in the Weddingbee Classifieds. ***

Here are some items currently for sale (see all decor items for sale here):

CyOsiris is selling two white birdcages. She’s asking $20 for the pair.
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Would you have went with another venue had the owner NOT dealt with gay couples before? This is something I’ve been thinking about lately b/c there seems to be a real emphasis around the blogosphere on vetted gay-friendly vendors and yet a part of me thinks that maybe some really awesome allies just haven’t had the chance (pleasure) of working with a gay couple yet. So everyone’s gotta start somewhere, ya know? Would love to hear your thoughts!

This is a really interesting question! Thanks, Miss Stripes, for bringing it up.

First, it’s really, really important to us that the people we work with are comfortable working with us - us as a lesbian couple, us as a crunchy couple, us as a couple on a relatively small budget. Us as a couple of women who don’t always agree with each other and often want something in a very. specific. way. if you know what I mean. Again, top priority = comfort.

So, not having worked with gay or lesbian couples before is so not a deal breaker.
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So I think I kept you guys waiting long enough. Are you ready to see some of our engagement photos?

I was super-excited to finally meet our photographer in person. She spent an entire afternoon hanging out with us and schlepping around my apartment complex for good photo spots. We were a little camera-shy at first, but she did a great job of helping us feel comfortable. Not only is she talented, but she is also the sweetest and most professional individual I have had the pleasure of working with. We had a lot of laughs and Mr. S and I are extremely pleased with how our engagement pictures turned out.

The first place we hit up was a small park a few blocks away from my apartment.

We found the perfect spot to spread a blanket out on and just enjoyed each other’s company.
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Why is there a part 3, you ask? Didn’t part 2 end with a ring on my finger and happiness (and relief) all around?? Sometimes, life throws a few curve balls…

THE BAD PART:

Mr. Thimble likes to tell people how nice I am, but I think he really means naive. Sure, I mean no harm, but I am an irresponsible, messy, been-told-my-whole-life-to-get-organized person. Family and friends, are you ready to scream, “I told you so!!”??? Well, here’s your chance, I’m coming clean:

I lost it.

The ring.

But wait. Didn’t you mention that the diamond was your grandmom’s?

Yes.

God, yes.
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That was my first thought this morning.

I know I haven’t been around a lot lately, and that’s because the entire month of May was a whirlwind of pre-wedding events and getting stuff done. That left little time for blogging and commenting and things of that nature. But as of today, I can finally say: I’m getting married this month! THIS MONTH!

You see, when you’ve been engaged just shy of two years, there becomes a dividing line in your brain. There’s Before (Insert Wedding Month Here) and there’s After (Insert Wedding Month Here). So, for me it was “Before June 2010″ and “After June 2010″. I spent so much time thinking that our wedding was so far away, that when people told me “It’ll be here before you know it!” I just smiled and thought “yeah, right… we still have tons of time!” Plans for the second half of 2010 were put on hiatus — we had a wedding to focus on! How could we possibly think of what was after June 2010? So when you finally enter your wedding month… well, it’s kind of like a smack upside the head. A loving smack, but a smack nonetheless. It’s official: the “before” portion of the program is quickly coming to a close.

You quickly realize that in mere weeks… days, even! you will be a married woman.
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After we got ready, we headed to the front of the resort for the first look. Mr. P was waiting there with his brother and the photographers. My BMs and I stumbled out of Abby’s car (which we had to drive the short distance up the hill because there was no way we could walk with all our dresses, flowers, and gear)!

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Congratulations to our winners, CupcakeCaliBride, Mrs.KK, OctPumpkin, AquaBride1010, and Ms Mini!

And if you didn’t win the contest, there’s some good news!  Petal Happy is offering a 10% discount to everyone who entered the Petal Happy giveaway but didn’t win. You can enter BEEBRIDE in the special instructions field upon checkout to take advantage of the discount! This offer expires June 7at 11:59PM.

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The wonderful folks over at Petal Happy have a huge giveaway for Weddingbee today! Petal Happy creates beautiful aisle runners and gazebo carpets made completely out of high-quality faux rose petals. It’s a creative and pretty solution to a multitude of problems—from the high cost of fresh petals, to the staining petals leave on your dress, to the amount of time petaled aisle take to clean up! Petal Happy’s aisle runners travel in one piece and are easily reused for future events! And today they’re giving away $200 gift certificates to 5 lucky Weddingbee readers to be used on any custom made Petal Happy aisle runner or carpet.

Check out Petal Happy on Facebook and Twitter to find out more and to see the latest pre-petaled aisle runners in action!

Okay, so now that Open House is over and I at least opened up report cards and started inputting SOMETHING, the craziness at work is winding down and I can now catch you up on wedding planning.

But first… my bridal shower. Waaaaay back when, my MOH asked me to create a guest list and nail down some possible dates and that was pretty much the last I heard about my shower. May 22 rolled around and I knew to be at BM V’s house by 11 AM. I arrived and to my delight, I found myself in a DIY shower! How stinkin’ rad is that?!

So, first, and most importantly, we ate. I’m not entirely sure who made what, but we had Hawaiian food - Korean style ribs, cabbage salad, spam musubi, bacon fried rice and somen salad. I had to refrain from getting seconds (and thirds and fourths…).

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Okay, so I have to be honest with you all. I was astounded by the response I got to my post debating whether or not to wear flip-flops with my wedding dress. As I said then, I am most definitely not a shoe girl—I just really don’t care very much about what’s on my feet—so I was really surprised by how many people weighed in, both pro- and anti-flip-flop!

I think, overall, the prevailing sentiment I got from the comments was, ‘it’s your day! Do what you like!‘ which was nice to hear. However, the passion with which some commenters argued against the flip-flops really got me thinking. On top of that, MOH/Sister Lauren and Mom Octopus both seemed really lukewarm about the flip-flop idea. As in, when I broached the topic to them, they both literally said, “meeehhhhhhh……” So, I decided. Those adorable J. Crew flip-flops? OUT.

(Source)

That meant I had to find a new pair. I started Internet window shoe-shopping in earnest, and here’s what I was looking for:
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Remember how I’m in love with I Like You? Remember how I wanted to have part of it read at our wedding ceremony? Well, das not gonna happen.

Yesterday, we planned out our ceremony with our minister, and we just couldn’t find a spot for it. Even after shortening, it still never found a good place as not to break up the flow of the whole ceremony. So, like the take-action bride that I now have [sort of?] become, I Like You has landed on the cutting room floor. Never fear, we still have two other lovely readings, one of which was non-negotiable in our original plan, and another that we chose from the Bible. We are getting married in a church, after all.

Our first reading, to be read by our minister, is Song of Solomon 8:6-7. Mr. Scissors and I had several SoS and Ecclesiastes readings picked out, but this was the one we agreed to be the best and most appropriate for us.
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I know what you’re thinking… we’re getting married in July, and we’re only now proposing to our flower girl?

Well, here’s the thing: We have been hesitant about selecting our flower girl because… well… we have never met her! You see, Mr. Pudding has a very, very large, very, very close knit family. FMIL Pudding had ten siblings, and even though they are scattered across the entire country, they are very much connected. Our little (adorable) flower girl is one of Mr. P’s youngest cousins, and she lives on the other side of the USA. Even though we have never met her, we have heard countless stories, have seen hundreds of pictures, and are very fond of her.

We hesitated a little bit with our decision not because we were unsure if we wanted her to be a part of our wedding, but because we didn’t know if she would want to be. I mean, walking down the aisle can be traumatic for a little girl, and this nervousness can only be heightened by the idea of walking towards people you do not know. After having an extensive chat with her mother though, we decided that Little D could handle the pressure. With permission granted, Mr. P and I went off to The Christmas Tree Shops to put together a little Flower Girl proposal kit.

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