Mrs. Sand Dollar, HoustonAge and Occupation: 24, Graphic DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Electrical TechnicianEngagement Date: January 8, 2010Wedding Date: September 2010Venue: MacLean ParkAbout Me: I'm a domestic diva down to the core. I heart cooking, sewing, baking, decorating and making sure we have a hand-crafted home. The best part about the wedding is I get to incorporate it all! I make sure I put my art degree to good use by screen printing, craft knife cutting, and a whole lotta graphic design. We're having a big-time party on a small-time budget, and I promise to show you a boot-scootin', barbecue-eatin', finger-lickin' good time! Mr. Sand Dollar and I spend most of our time on DIY projects or traipsing around the outdoors with our two pooches Rory and Juno. I'm looking forward to sharing our journey with all of you!
Check out those beauties! Didn’t they turn out fabulous? I love the backer paper, it’s a deep red Strathmore drawing paper with such a great texture. I think the best part was that they were all lovingly crafted by hand. Though they have imperfections, it’s hardly noticeable (in my recent friend poll, at least!) It was worth all the hand screening, X-Acto cutting, and machine sewing. I love the zigzag stich, here, take a look! Read more…
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!
Last time we talked, I shared a little bit about the various categories of cake toppers and my feelings on each of them. I think it’s safe to ruin the suspense and say that I didn’t choose the traditional, the “anti-wedding”, or the completely inappropriate categories. I’m still having nightmares about that last one!
Annnyways, for me, it was really hard to decide between two categories. Which ones, you ask? The animal cake toppers, and the wooden people cake toppers. They were my two favorites because they’re both SO freaking adorable. I was having a really hard time deciding which one I liked better, so I decided to ask Mr. Cardigan. I mean, he is the groom, after all. He should have some sort of say in this stuff, right?
So, I showed him a bunch of different cake toppers, and he completely shocked me with his very opinionated ideas on cake toppers! He fell in love with one of the ones that I showed him and he immediately told me that it was exactly what he wanted. Want to see the one he fell in love with?
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!
In the spirit of a yichud, Lamma-ramma-ding-dong and I treasured our first few minutes as a married couple in the stairwell leading up to the balcony as we waited for our guests to line the church steps with birdseed in hand.
“I feel like I’m watching a movie. It’s an out of body experience,” I told him.
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!
I know, I know…Christmas isn’t for another oh, 178 days (not that I’m counting or anything), but I wanted to talk a little about Christmas ornaments. I’ve always loved the idea of an “Our First Christmas Together”-type ornament to commemorate the year that our marriage began. I actually wanted to buy such an ornament for one of my bridesmaids and her new hubby this past holiday season, and I searched at all my favorite retailers (Target, Macy’s, Cost Plus, Nordstrom) with no success. I was actually surprised at how hard these are to find!
Of course, these things are much easier to find on the Interwebs. Here are a couple ornaments I found with a quick Google search:
Mrs. Veggie, Raglan, New Zealand/Scranton, PAAge and Occupation: 27, Director of Small Non-ProfitFiance's Age and Occupation: 42, PhD Student & FarmerEngagement Date: June 13, 2009Wedding Date: August 2010Venue: Indian Head Camp, Honesdale Pennsylvania
About Me: I am a tree-huggin' farmer turned enthusiastic wedding-planner. I live in a house truck and wear flip-flops more often than shoes. In my old life I was a high school Spanish teacher in love with a crazy guy who lived off-the grid on a farm in New Hampshire. But, we decided to mix things up a bit, quit our jobs and move to New Zealand. My southern hemisphere lifestyle involves growing veggies, teaching, running our small non-profit, and surfing. I love laughing, singing, playing, and the inspirational Mr. Veggie (of course!). For our wedding, I am committed to throwing a killer party that celebrates our values without breaking the bank. Look forward to an eco-thrifty summer-campy weekend-long extravaganza.
When I first wrote about our decision to do e-vites and then posted the final product many of you asked what we would do for relatives that didn’t have email. It’s not super glamorous, but I thought I’d take a minute to show you the seven snail mail invitations that went out.
Yep, that’s right. Seven. Out of 200 invited guests. Read more…
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.
Since the girls are almost all decided upon, it is now time for me to work on what the guys will be wearing. My groom doesn’t like to shop. Not in the slightest. I have asked him what he wants to wear, he says whatever I want him to. This is good and bad. As if I don’t have enough to pick out, I will now dress my groom.
These are the guidelines from Mr. P: Nothing that he will sweat easily in, something comfortable, blue is his favorite color, and he doesn’t like ties.
My requirements: It has to match my girls! All the dresses are either ruffly, have flowers, and are a shade near pink. They’re more bohemian than dressy.
personal photo
This is what I am trying reaching for with the groom’s attire: Read more…
Mrs. Frog, Phoenix, AZ/Chelan, WA
Age and Occupation: 29, Public Relations
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Online SalesEngagement Date: February 8, 2009Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Amy's ManorAbout Me: I'm an opinionated Midwestern girl now living in the Valley of the Sun marrying a laid back Northwestern guy. I'm equal parts sass, silly and sweet. I'm fiercely loyal with a strong devotion to my family and friends. I have a not-so-secret obsession with apple juice, a new obsession with DIY projects and I love a really good cheese plate...with lots of wine. After 7 blissful years of dating, I'm having the time of my life planning the destination wedding of my dreams to my Mr. Frog-turned-Prince Charming.
I’ve already talked about my bling… now it’s time for Frogger to have his moment. This past weekend, we went to our jeweler (our locally-owned shop that we absolutely love - for those in Phoenix, go see Marc at Burland Jewelry Center) and looked through wedding bands for the boy.
I knew we would have a challenge on our hands when we began driving over. Our conversation:
Me: Soooo, are you excited?
Him: Yeah… but I don’t really know what I’m going to like.
Me: I know but I think you’ll feel differently when you get there and can try some on.
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!
Mr. Sew and I had no plans of any pre-wedding parties. No engagement parties, showers or bachelor festivities - since we already felt bad enough asking people to fly to Hawaii.
So we were a bit surprised to see an evite to a co-ed wedding shower. I guess we’d be doing some of this after all!
However, when we looked at the invitation, we noticed it was sent to our entire church. The entire church that we hadn’t invited to the wedding.
“WHATAREYOUDOINGNONONONONONOPLEASENO!” Said a very guilty Sewing to her Bible study leader/party organizer. Read more…
Mrs. Buttons, Clearwater, FLAge and Occupation: 24, "Working on it"Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Financial ServicesEngagement Date: June 13, 2009Wedding Date: May 2010Venue: Carlouel Yacht ClubAbout Me: I'm a self proclaimed perfectionist and a professional nomad (seriously, I've lived in TX, WI, MI, FL, NC, and now VA!). I love wine, cooking, curling up with a good book (nerd alert!), spoiling the furbaby, and of course, the wonderful Mr. Buttons! We are planning a lighthearted and whimsical wedding (with a good deal of DIY projects) in Clearwater, Florida, but from a distance of 800 miles away! We are looking forward to sharing our day with our family and friends, and most importantly, starting our lives together as husband and wife!
Since the Button bridesmaids are all from out of town, we realized that the easiest plan for bachelorette festivities would be to hold the events a few days before the wedding. That way, each maid only had to purchase one plane ticket (what can I say… I like to save money when possible)!
The girls all arrived on Wednesday; MOH E’s flight was in the morning; we grabbed lunch, and then spent the afternoon packing things up for the beach house. After picking up BM K and A later that evening, we stopped by the Cheesecake Factory to share some appetizers, drinks, and (duh) cheesecake while we waited for BM L to arrive. Side note: their new Stephanie’s Ultimate Red Velvet Cheesecake is seriously TO DIE FOR. 2 layers of red velvet cake, 2 layers of classic cheesecake, cream cheese frosting, and white chocolate shavings. Just… look… at… it:
Mrs. Thimble, NYC/PhiladelphiaAge and Occupation: 26, Actress & Costume Designer (+ day job)Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Lawyer & Techie WizEngagement Date: August 22, 2008Wedding Date: October 2010Venue: The Pearl S. Buck HouseAbout Me: I’m an easily inspired over-thinker delighted with the process of designing, building, directing and {dare I say} co-starring in the early-autumn affair I’ve been dreaming up. I’m a sucker for trendied-up comfort foods and old family anecdotes; I have an affinity for adjectives, alliteration, eyelet and earl grey; and I live for quality time with family and friends. I never guessed I’d marry my “high school sweetheart", but when it turned out to be my funny, techie, loyal Mr. Thimble I was committed for life. We’re both mid-career transition and ready to move back to small-townish TBD, PA in a pre-wedding flurry of all-good life changes.
We just received some drafts for our custom invitations in my inbox from Janie of We Heart Paper, and I nearly fell out of my chair with excitement and shock. I sent her all of my inspiration pieces from the web, like this one, this set, a mish mash of lovely fonts, a fun save the date, and one more; and as you can see I’m head over heels for this fun use of fonts and typesetting trend. Janie told me I should reel her in if she’s gone overboard, but the more intense the design gets, the more in love I fall.
Please help me choose! I present our top 3 choices from simplest to boldest:
Liz, aka Miss OldTownVA, and her husband Patrick had a fun and funky wedding in the charming town of… you guessed it, Old Town Alexandria. From the DIY flowers to their pub reception, Liz and Patrick stayed true to their fun and lighthearted roots and threw a colorful bash their friends and family would always remember.
Bride’s Name: Liz
Groom’s Name: Patrick
Venue(s): Courtyard of the Historic Old Town Alexandria Courthouse/Murphy’s Grand Irish Pub
Wedding Date: May 2, 2010.
Bridal Gown Designer: David’s Bridal
Florist: Juliet’s Flowers for the bridal bouquet, and then I made the centerpieces and reception décor myself.
Congratulations to our winners, littlemissmoo, HumarockBride, and Serya!
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We’ve got a great giveaway today for all of our eco-conscious brides! Ecosystem planners and journals are 100% made in the USA and from 100% post-consumer waste paper. Not only are they earth-friendly, but you can even track the life cycle of their ecosystems online where you can see where the ingredients came from and where their notebook was made! They make great gifts for your bridesmaids or for yourself to keep track of all your wedding details and notes. Today Ecosystem is giving away bundles of their notebooks to 3 lucky Weddingbee readers! Each prize consists of 2 large, 2 medium and 2 small notebooks and are worth $87.70 per prize package.
You can purchase your own Ecosystem planners and journals online here, and visit Ecosystem Life on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.
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.
Okay, guys – there is a topic that I have been avoiding in all this wedding talk: parents in the wedding.
We are sort of a fragmented family, and we have not always been this way. Fancee’s and my families are fragmented in different ways, too, and that makes it hard to always understand where the other person is coming from. I have two parents who have recently separated, and are undergoing the painful process of examining their marriage through a new lens, and figuring out how to handle their relationship. Of course, this also affects our (my siblings’ and my) relationships with them, and our relationships with our significant others. I’ve talked about this a little before, so I won’t go into it too much here.
Fancee has one parent. She has her mother, and her only other family is her grandfather.
Fancee’s Family: Mom, Grandpa, Fancee
She does not know her biological father, and she does not have a relationship with her mother’s husband. Read more…
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!
I love cake toppers. I don’t know why, but I just think they’re awesome. I got pretty obsessed with them early on in the planning process, because it’s something that I can buy early! And it can just sit there until it’s time to use it. I love planning ahead.
So, I began the cake topper search pretty early, and I learned very quickly that all cake toppers tend to fall in one of 7 categories. So, I figured step one would be to pick a category, then I could go from there.
What are these categories you ask? Well, let me tell you about them:
Mrs. Sand Dollar, HoustonAge and Occupation: 24, Graphic DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Electrical TechnicianEngagement Date: January 8, 2010Wedding Date: September 2010Venue: MacLean ParkAbout Me: I'm a domestic diva down to the core. I heart cooking, sewing, baking, decorating and making sure we have a hand-crafted home. The best part about the wedding is I get to incorporate it all! I make sure I put my art degree to good use by screen printing, craft knife cutting, and a whole lotta graphic design. We're having a big-time party on a small-time budget, and I promise to show you a boot-scootin', barbecue-eatin', finger-lickin' good time! Mr. Sand Dollar and I spend most of our time on DIY projects or traipsing around the outdoors with our two pooches Rory and Juno. I'm looking forward to sharing our journey with all of you!
Love. Who knew you could fall in love with painted feathers and plastic wire? I totally did! As soon as I saw this picture I knew that for our wedding, flowers flew out the window. Not only do I get the chance to make this gorgeous little piece of handheld art, it’s really going to last forever! Well, a forever as long as two dogs and future mini-people with jam hands running around can be. I fear the jam hands.
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
