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My father passed away when I was six, and from that moment on, Mama Hippo raised me and Sister Hippo solo, which is pretty amazing ’cause we turned out pretty darn good! Without a father in my life, there is the issue of who should walk me down the aisle.
As a thirtysomething bride, I could definitely walk myself down the aisle and be OK with it. I mean, do I really need someone to “give me away” at this point, particularly since I’ve been out of the house and paying my own bills for over a decade? I’m definitely not super traditional, but I can imagine myself being a little sad waiting to walk down the aisle all by myself after my bridesmaids have processed. While I’m sure my grandfather or one of my uncles would be more than happy to do the honor of walking me down the aisle, I feel like my mom has earned it (I was kinda bratty!), and it would mean so much more to me to have her be my escort since she truly did raise me. So it is decided.
My issue is…how do we walk? Mama Hippo and I tried out a couple of different ways, but nothing really felt right. I think at this point it’s going to be more important how it looks than how it feels ’cause either way feels a little awkward. So what do you think? Hand in hand with fingers intertwined like this?
Mr. Brooch’s proposal was something straight out of a storybook…
(Please pardon the length of this post; I just didn’t want to leave out any of the juicy details!)
He took me out of state to pop the big question but not to just any state. He took me to a place where my father and my grandmother grew up. A place I hold dear to my heart…Tennessee. I visited a lot when I was young to see family and (more often) to go to University of Tennessee football games.
Mr. Brooch, on the other hand, went to Tennessee for a different reason. His family has been attending the International Storytelling Festival in historic Jonesborough every year since 1991. As a part of their family tradition, they stayed in the Hawley Bed & Breakfast, which just so happens to be Tennessee’s oldest building in Tennessee’s oldest town.
When it came time to plan Mr. Starfish’s bachelor party, he wanted it to be a fun weekend with the guys. He doesn’t get a lot of time off from work, so when it came time to plan a bachelor party, he asked his Best Man, BIL Starfish, to turn their annual Saco trip into his bachelor party.
So, what is the annual Saco Trip? Well, a while back, Brother Starfish and his friends planned a weekend trip on the Saco River in New Hampshire. They went canoeing and camping and did outdoorsy things. Every year they repeat the trip—with just guys only. When Sister Starfish started dating BIL Starfish, he was included in the trip, so Mr. Starfish started going as well. It’s become an annual weekend for the guys, and Mr. Starfish didn’t want to miss it, so he combined his bachelor party with the annual Saco Trip.
Here are a few images from the weekend:
BIL Starfish is quite the planner. Every year they have some odd boat that someone goes on, and this year he got Mr. Starfish a giant rubber ducky.
Read more…
Gaprincess_22 and her husband show off their matching red shoes and socks.
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If your photo is featured as the Gallery of the Day, you’re eligible for a special Weddingbee badge for your blog or website! Check out instructions on how to grab the badge here!
Featured on Weddingbee
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
“Make an elegant invitation statement without the fuss. Stylish invitation sets with matching envelopes, reception and response cards included.”
Remember me? The girl who wasn’t sure about having a wedding registry? Color me converted! I am obsessed with this collection from Vera Wang and thought I’d share its simple elegance with you. I added the available items to our Amazon registry, but so many of the pieces are unavailable there. It looks like those gift cards will come in handy!
It all started with this kissing bell.
I was thinking of doing bells as favors, but the price per bell was too steep for 100+ guests. I did find $1-2 bells, but after seeing this one I was design-spoiled and have since move on to other favor ideas.
Traditionally, the bride’s father walks the bride down the aisle and gives her away to the groom. I’ve always known this tradition wasn’t for me. Not the whole tradition, anyway.
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
So I’ve been reading a couple blogs and wedding sites during the planning process and have learned so many different things that we’re going to try and incorporate into our wedding. I read about embossing a couple of times on the ‘bee and thought it wouldn’t be that hard to do myself.
Our wedding invites have a mini (and I do mean mini, compared to other invites that I have seen online) flourish, which I was just going to print out along with the rest of the wording. After reading about embossing and Etsy, I thought “why not add a little flair to that flourish?” So I put out an order for a custom-made stamp based on the flourish we were using on the invite. I received four bids and took one of the middle prices after reading the seller’s positive reviews.
After a couple e-mails back and forth on the actual font name of the flourish, my Etsy seller created a stamp and sent it in the mail. I made the order on a Saturday night and received the stamp in the mail a few days later. I was so excited I even called myself a craft nerd on Facebook. I could finally use the embossing powder, stamp ink, and embossing heat tool that I purchased a few weeks ago (all with coupons, of course!). I practiced on some paper and then moved to printouts of our invites. Not all of them turned out perfect, but I have already decided that if they aren’t perfect on the invites, we’re still sending them out because 1) I highly doubt any of our guest will notice since they don’t know what it’s supposed to look like anyway and 2) I think it adds even more character to the invites! Below are the items that I used during the practice run and picture steps of the process:
I am DIYing my hair and makeup for our big day. I know a lot can go wrong, but my girlfriends are going to help me.
(source)
It’s the D’orsay first anniversary, as far as anniversaries go, the 1st is a great one to celebrate. But the whole paper thing? Well, it had me pondering for a bit. I know I don’t have to follow traditions, but I like having a theme, as it narrows the field for decision making.
First up? A calendar modified from YHL’s template (thanks to Mrs. Bunny for modifying it for me)! Sadly, it was a struggle to come up with 12 quotes that would fit/look nice/have meaning. At first I had 12 quotes all from Superbad (long story) but figured while funny, it wouldn’t be a very romantic gift. I sourced from our favorite movies, past emails and ceremony music for the final quotes.
(YHL version)
I want to preface this post by saying I am certainly no photographer. In fact, photography is the only class I ever dropped in college. Hey, don’t blame me, blame the procrastination, and the eight outfits that needed to be finished before the fashion show. I’ve got an amazing point and shoot (as a gift for being MOH for my Sissy-in-Law), but that’s about all the tricks I’ve got up my photography sleeve.
So a few weeks ago, I stopped by my parent’s house for a little visit. My mother lurves her some jewelry, and she was fresh from a visit to her favorite jewelry store in Boston. For as long as I can remember, my mother has worn my Grandma Rosie’s engagement ring and wedding band on a necklace. The rings are so fragile that I pulled the ring in half when I was a little girl. After that little oopsie, my mom had the rings soldered together. My Aunt Millie passed away a few years ago, and my mother inherited her wedding band. (I have a post planned to explain in depth how much this really means to me. So please, bear with.) At her recent jewelry-store visit, she had all three rings soldered together. I realize that it may not look aesthetically pleasing to the rest of you, but trust me: it’s always the heart that counts. So I present to you what my mom affectionately refers to as “the girls.”
Once Mr. French Fries and I got to the altar on our wedding day, we were faced with two kneelers. Remember when I told you about our rehearsal and I said that we would be standing for the entire ceremony? Well, I was a little bit wrong. OK—a lot wrong. Yup…we weren’t just going to be standing for our entire ceremony…we were going to be kneeling, too! Oh, and just FYI…kneeling in a heavy gown and a hoop skirt should be an Olympic event.
Hello again…
Still very excited to be here! Weeeeeee!
I thought we’d start off by talking about how Mr. Brooch and I met and um, yes, me confessing that he’s my best friend’s brother! It’s kind of a funny story how it all happened because if it wasn’t for his sister (or for my brother), we wouldn’t have met!
Mr. Brooch’s sister and I were really good friends in college. My sophomore year, my roommate (now my MOH) and I took a trip Panama City Beach, Florida, and one of our other college buddies brought his sis (now my FSIL). Immediately, the three of us clicked, and when we got back to school, we hung out all the time and became the very best of friends!
This was before Mr. Brooch was in the picture.
Are you following?
This is us (FSIL on the left, MOH in the middle, and me) when we first met:
We’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading real Weddingbee brides’ experiences with their vendors via the Weddingbee Vendors section! A while back, we launched Featured Reviews from the Hive, a new feature that allows you to share your favorite vendors right here on the front page! We’ve loved all of the great vendor reviews coming at us, so today we’re launching a weekly giveaway from Zazzle for those of you who create and submit vendor reviews to be featured right here on the blog.
Currently, we’re regularly featuring your favorite vendor reviews that you write and submit to us. Every Friday we’ll randomly select a featured reviewer that week to win a custom Avery binder on Zazzle.com!
After the wedding there may be a lot of little odds and ends that you’d like to retain as keepsakes (Wedding dress receipts? Bridesmaid dress color swatches? Sweet RSVP response cards?), and these binders make the perfect place to store it all. Keep the memories alive with a custom Avery binder on Zazzle.com, the world’s leading platform for quality custom products.
If you’re a recent bride and you’d like to participate for a chance to win every week, simply review your favorite vendors on Weddingbee and follow the easy instructions to submit your review here. We look forward to seeing your wedding pictures featured on the blog! 
Between portrait locations, we drove around in the most amazing vintage trolley. It was perfect for our enormous bridal party—everyone had room to sit, and it had high enough ceilings that even the guys could stand up if they wanted! We had a cooler packed with drinks, a bunch of chips and pretzels, and a CD of fun tunes—what more could you ask for?!
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