Mrs. Moonbeam, Los Angeles/San AntonioAge and Occupation: 26, Intern ArchitectFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Studio Analyst, aspiring ScreenwriterEngagement Date: May 20, 2009Wedding Date: November 2009Venue: Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church (LaCoste, TX) and Mary Gray Events Center (Castroville, TX)About Me: I was born and raised in Texas, but after college I moved to Seattle for a couple of years and loved it. Then I followed my beau out here to LA and we're getting settled in. I've been making things since I can remember. I was raised by crafters. I love to sew, draw, paint, build, cook, bake (anything with a tangible end result is fair game). In that same spirit, I've been hosting since I was old enough to cook and set a fancy table. I kind of take after my grandmother, who believes that your morning OJ always tastes better out of the good crystal.
Last Sunday was the anniversary of our legalceremony (we went to a lovely brunch in the morning, fit in a run and saw a play in the evening) and a handy reminder that my recaps are getting stale fast. I’m going to start these things in earnest, real soon, cross my heart.
But first, I thought I’d share our belated honeymoon-type travels. For about 2 weeks (06/28-07/10) we roamed around Europe (London, Paris and the French countryside) visiting friends, making new friends and going to another set of friends’ wedding (in a chateau!). We totally didn’t mind mini-mooning back in November for our big wedding because we knew this trip was on our horizon. And we loved spending our ’honeymoon’ with friends—since our friends are so far flung it was great to see people we haven’t seen in a while.
Part one has us visiting my old friend (and bridesmaid) from architecture school who’s making her life out in London. Our trip also coincided with another architecture school friend’s stop over on her way back from South African World Cup madness, so we had a smallish reunion, British style. Read more…
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.
Remember back when I was just introducing myself to the hive when I was all about positive life changes and a big move ahead which eventually led to ’fessing-up that I was stressed? Just look to your right in my bio on the sidebar if you need a mini refresher.
Well, that’s not happening. We’re staying put! It’s a long story, but basically, we are unbelievably lucky and blessed that things worked out. Given the current state of the job market, our hasty choice to pick up and move—especially right before the wedding—could have gone downhill easily. We love the lives we have built here in New York for ourselves. We have incredible, supportive friends to whom we owe a ton for all their emotional support over the last three months. So, we’re sticking around in NYC, in our apartment in Queens, at our same jobs, after all that.
Mrs. Glasses, Tokyo/Los Angeles, CAAge and Occupation: 24, English teacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, English teacherEngagement Date: September 2008Wedding Date: October 2010 Venue: Parents' backyardAbout Me: I’m an expat living in Tokyo. I’ve been in Japan for almost three years now, where I met my fantastic English fiance. It’s time to leave Japan, so we are planning a fun, intimate, backyard ceremony back home in the suburbs of L.A. in October. Our wedding will be a mix of my love for food, beer, my Japanese culture, and Mr. G’s Englishness. We are on a tiny budget and DIYing almost everything!
There are so many creative people out there who have helped me along the way in my planning, and I’m sure yours, too! I started to think, what could I give back to the wedding community that has given me so much? I’m a crafty person when I’ve got the right inspiration, but I’m not much of an artist myself. And I like to look at hair and makeup tutorials, but I’m no expert. Can’t do anything tricky on the computer, can’t bake, can’t sew, can’t give out tips on exercising ’cause I can’t lose weight(!).
So what can I do? I can drink, yo.
Now I don’t mean to sound like an alcoholic, but I do know my way around a bar. Been drinking for a while with no end in sight. I drink it all, but when it comes down to it, I’ve got specifics in mind for a wedding.
I’ve created a cocktail list that I think is classic. This would be perfect for a budget—it reuses the same mixers and types of alcohol so you don’t have to run out and buy a million bottles if you are providing your own bar. Smart thinking, eh?
Ahhh, the Bellini. Classic in celebrations for it’s use of champagne. Prosecco to be exact. But that’s tricky and expensive to get, so throw some champagne or sparkling white wine in with some peaches and have yourself a good time!
Peeled white peach, or any peach on hand, pureed or blended, or use peach schnapps
4-6 ounces of Prosecco, sparkling white wine, or champagne
Pour peach puree or peach schnapps in a glass. Add sparkling alcohol and stir gently. Garnish with a peach slice.
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.
The weekend before our wedding is when the madness started.
A bunch of it is a blur to me, partly because of the fact that I was only able to get 3 or 4 hours of sleep each night the weeks leading up to our wedding, but also partly because I felt like we were moving a thousand miles a minute. The Cola house was a flurry of activity, and we spent a good two full days doing nothing but cleaning our home.
I’m not even kidding, it was that bad. Paper scraps, ribbon pieces, cat fur—our house was a tornado of wedding crafting supplies and trash, and it was a huge amount of work to get it cleaned. But as stressful as it was, it had to be done, because some of our wedding party was coming to town Tuesday night and staying with us for a couple nights.
(Side note: if you can avoid it, I would recommend against having people stay at your house right before your wedding. Read more…
Mrs. Ribbons, Washington D.C./Bloomington, INAge and Occupation: 23, Research Associate for an international development firmFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Proposal Coordinator for contractor
Engagement Date: May 2, 2008Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: Indiana Memorial UnionAbout Me: I'm an Indiana transplant living in DC with my fiance and our pretty kitty. I enjoy the color pink, I'm obsessed with the Dior New Look and tulle, and I heart my level 80 paladin. I'm a sucker for bad TV, literary theory, and cakes of all persuasion. I also happen to be marrying the cutest closet nerd around! It's all about Bloomington for us because it's where we met -- on the college paper. If there's a theme for our small summertime wedding, it's Dior meets Dorothy Draper on a lark in Bloomington; think poofy, plus graphic prints, bold colors, and a whole lot of prettiness.
A week before we left for the wedding, I finished the seating guide. I wanted to incorporate the fabric flowers I made—that had been languishing—and more stripeyness. I found this inspiration from Emersonmade and got to work:
I bought striped fabric and a bulletin board from IKEA. Then I simply stapled the fabric to the board in mock upholstery fashion. 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!
Let me tell you all about it. You see, I’m moving. And about two weeks ago, being the good, diligent planner that I am, I decided to set up mail forwarding. I had it set to start on the day we move in, and I figured we were all good to go.
This was right around the time that Mrs. Cola was mailing her beautiful headband to me. In this general time, I also ordered my veil. Then, suddenly, I began to notice that while Mr. Cardigan was receiving a normal amount of mail, I was not.
In fact, I wasn’t getting any mail at all. Normally, that’s not that unusual, but since we’re, you know, planning a wedding, I’m getting a lot of mail. A week went by and I still didn’t have the headband, or my veil. Then two weeks. I was getting antsy, so I checked the tracking information on my veil—and it said it had been delivered. Only, I most definitely did not have it. So I called the post office. Guess what? Turns out my postman had decided to start forwarding our mail TWO WEEKS before I asked him to. So my mail was going to the new duplex instead of to my current apartment. He left a message on my phone and let me know that he was so sorry, and that he’d get my mail back to me ASAP. Read more…
Mrs. Husky, DenverAge and Occupation: 26, Systems AdministratorFiance's Age and Occupation: 32, Mechanical Engineer, recently laid offEngagement Date: August 14, 2009Wedding Date: October 2010Venue: Rancho San CarlosAbout Me: I am planning a quirky-crafty wedding with my recently out-of-work fiancé for a (fingers crossed!) warm October afternoon. We are two self-professed nerds with an affinity for all things outdoors---be it rain, snow or shine. Recently relocated from the drizzly Northwest, we're enjoying the many sun-soaked days in the mile high city. Our day will be filled with both of our large families and friends, a self-served Cajun feast, and a Zydeco-style jazz band rocking beneath the beams of a historic red barn.
As you may know, our wedding will be self-catered. We’re anticipating about 125 guests, and this means a great many mouths to feed. How can we possibly expect to pull this off? Planning. Lots of planning. Maybe even over-planning.
Mrs. Guinea Pig, Baltimore, MD Age and Occupation: 26, PhD student Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Operations Director at a non-profit Engagement Date: December 25, 2008 Wedding Date: May 2010Venue: The Chesapeake Bay Beach Club About Me: I'm a tomboy science nerd whose girly side has made a startling appearance thanks to wedding planning! I love to bake, knit and sew but I also ride a motorcycle (that Mr. Guinea Pig wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole). We live with our three crazy cats and love to read, travel, watch movies, and do home improvement projects together! My parents/family are Canadian but I'm definitely American, although I've lived in 5 different countries, 6 different states, and speak Russian fluently. Mr. GP and I met online (did I mention I'm a scientist?) and had a whirlwind romance - now we can't wait to get married & celebrate with all our friends and family in a blue and yellow waterfront affair!
It’s official, Guinea Pig recaps are here! And to start things off, I thought a sneak peek of the day might be in order.
You know how wedding photographers and websites like Once Wed, or Southern Weddings, etc. do posts with a handful of photos that give you a general feel for the day? I figured—what better way to kick off the Guinea Pig recaps than to do a quick photo tour of our wedding! I’ll admit, it was really hard to choose so few photos. I feel like there are so many more awesome photos to share (which, yay! I get to!), but I tried very hard to pick photos for this that would set the stage and give you a good idea of what’s in store for my recaps( as opposed to just 100 photos of Mr. GP and me - although I will admit quite a few of the two of us snuck in there!).
So without further ado, our wedding: wedding-blogland-style. Read more…
Ms. Stripes, Los AngelesAge and Occupation: 29, Costume Designer/StylistFiancee's Age and Occupation: 29, ChefEngagement Date: June 23, 2009Wedding Date: September 2010Venue: Heritage Square MuseumAbout Me: I’m a type A creative with a messy streak, a loud mouth, and an uncanny knack for combining clashing patterns. I can usually be found with my nose in a book, my feet (or at least my toes) on the ground, my head in the clouds, and my arm around the prettiest girl you ever saw- aka
Fiancee Stripes. Together we’re planning a FUN vintage/modern French carnival wedding extravaganza and rockin’ dance party on a dime. (Say that three times fast!) Good coffee, long lists, Uniball pens, and my iPhone keep me sane, and making art, making trouble, and making out keep me happy! I love urban adventures, bike rides that end with afternoon drinks, breakfast for dinner, beautiful light, photography, travel, my furry family, and of course, my beautiful fiancee! I’m super excited to be here and can’t wait to share all our adventures as we craft a joyful, budget-friendly, design-savvy and all-around AWESOME wedding!
Now I’m not gonna lie and claim complete originality on this one—a quick Google search will turn up all sorts of similar DIY cupcake stands, varying only by theme and degree of difficulty.
I will say that this DIY is extremely easy, crazy cheap, super fast, and made from items you may actually have lying around the house. So that’s what I’ve got goin’ on.
Mrs. Octopus, Boston, MA/Pittsburgh, PAAge and Occupation: 25, Grad StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Graphics Operator for TV NewsEngagement Date: May 6th, 2009Wedding Date: September 2010Venue: Heinz Chapel Ceremony, Museum Reception
About Me: When my best friend dragged me to a toga party in our freshmen year of college, I was not expecting to meet my future husband; but seven years later, here we are. I'm a crazy-organized planner at heart, and I am a great lover of random trivia, books, chocolate, blogs, new and exciting adventures, mockumentary-style television, and anything heavily flavored with bright orange fake cheese powder. We're planning a festive and fun mini-destination wedding in the place where we met: fabulous Pittsburgh, PA! I can't wait to marry the man I love!
Hello, Boston hive members! I am bringing glorious news to you today!
Have you always wished that you could join Healthworks, the super-ritzy and gorgeous women’s-only gym that has five locations here, but you couldn’t, because membership is mind-bogglingly expensive? WELL, GUESS WHAT! Today is your lucky day! I got tipped off by a friend that there’s a group discount coupon available today on BuyWithMe (kinda like Groupon or LivingSocial, that kind of thing) in which you can purchase 29 visits to Healthworks for $29. That’s a dollar a visit!
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.
So, our invitations weren’t done nearly as early as I originally planned. I originally wanted to do the invites myself, but due to time constraints, I didn’t think it was possible. So, a few months ago I had started looking into pricing to have the invites done by either an online company or a graphic designer. I kind of hit sticker shock with all the companies I looked at online and my first choice graphic designer couldn’t do it due to her own busy schedule, so I put it off for a while.
At the three month mark, I realized I still had no clue what we were doing for invitations. Most wedding checklists recommend ordering these 4-6 months before the wedding. After searching for simple, nautical inspired invites and having no luck finding exactly what I envisioned, I decided to just suck it up and do them myself. I originally didn’t think I’d have time to do it between other wedding planning and being a new homeowner, but we’ve been pretty good at scheduling other things for the wedding, and we’ve been taking our home plans very slow. I knew if I did the invites myself they wouldn’t be elaborate, but at least they’d resemble my vision. Read more…
Mrs. Locket, Ithaca, NYAge and Occupation: 25, Research TechnicianFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, former Banker hoping to become an Officer of the LawEngagement Date: June 15, 2009Wedding Date: September 2010Venue: Heron Hill WineryAbout Me: I am a little bit of everything all rolled into one: A girly gal with rough edges---I love to get dolled up just as much as I enjoy throwing on some sneaks to toss a ball with Mr. Locket. My love for crafting and creating is quite apparent and I've been referred to as a Wonder Woman/Martha Stewart/Stepford Wife hybrid (yup, I'll take that as a compliment). I adore sewing, photography, sculpture, good eats (mmm tapas), baking, snugging and oh, pretty much everything in between (there's not much I dislike). I am super excited to be planning our vineyard wedding and couldn't be happier to be marrying Mr. Locket. We are a quirky, fun-loving couple residing in our college town with our two pups Maple and Molly. We love to go on hikes, visit our local dog park and to bask in the beauty of many of the local falls and gorges. We are an indecisive pair, but together we somehow manage to make up our minds (it's the easy stuff that's tricky).
During the first couple of weeks in June I had been diligently occasionally working on my vintage fabric flower bridal bouquet, and after a few extra days of hard work, I finally had something that was semi-worthy of a walk down the aisle.
Bold colors and centerpieces are featured in kyody’s wedding!
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. 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!
Well, I wanted to get wrist corsages for the moms, but then I thought… what about Grandmas? And what about FSIL Socks? Suddenly, going from 2 wrist corsages at $54 each to 6 wrist corsages at $54 each was out of budget. So who did I turn to?
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.
Things to talk about, for your previewing pleasure and my own accountability:
Favors! Delicious, yummy, aromatic (in a good way), growing favors. Can you guess what they are by that description? Probably not. Though I may have already told you. Is it wrong to give it away via the blog? Are these things supposed to be surprises? Since when do I do “supposed” to? These are all interesting things to ponder.
Invitations. Dude, the amount of work that goes into one piece of paper (oh, wait, wedding invitations are actually like 20 pieces of paper) is ridiculous. That said, I am in love with our invitations. Also in love with the fact that regular stamps will work for them, so there is no need for fancy stamps for us! Also I am very pleased that friendly helpful people work at the post office and are happy to talk to me about 1. my blog, 2. my wedding, 3. cute places in our town, and 4. cats and dogs. What more could you want in a post office (hi Tess!).
Um, I guess that’s it. But we’re doing stuff, like, all the time. Read more…
(source)
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
- although I will admit quite a few of the two of us snuck in there!).
