Mrs. Barrettes, Tumon, Guam/Napa, CAAge and Occupation: 29, DancerFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Licensed Building ContractorEngagement Date: November 16, 2008Wedding Date: October 2010Venue: V. Sattui WineryAbout Me: I'm an East Coast girl, living on a tiny little island in the Pacific, twirling, leaping, and shimmy-ing my way through life, and now, wedding planning! I'm equal parts nerdy and cool... okay, mostly nerdy. I love satin bows, red lipstick, black & white graphic anything, the shine of sequins and the sound of a champagne "pop". My favorite books are The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James, and Tender is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I can also conjure a pretty good Patronus Charm. I started my appreciation for good red wine while traveling on the high seas, and it's only fitting that my passion for wine drinking led me to my Napa-bred honey. We bonded over bottles of Cabernet on my oceanfront porch and haven't looked back since. We're sealing the deal at a winery in the Napa Valley on a 'perfect ten' of a day!
Hey, PA bees! Come join me and Mrs. Sushi in the “Sweetest Place on Earth”! We will be at Houlihan’s in downtown Hershey this Wednesday, Sept. 15th at 7:30PM.
If you’d like to join us, please let us know here in the comments, or in a PM.
We’re looking forward to meeting our Central PA bees! It’s gonna be sah-weet!
Ms. Sloth, PhiladelphiaAge and Occupation: 35, Account Manager and Fashion BloggerFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Design AdminEngagement Date: December 25, 2009Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Bartram's GardenAbout Me: I'm an internet junkie and music snob with a good eye for a bargain. I couldn't live without thrift store shopping, cheeseburgers, sushi, Coke Zero, websites devoted to silly photos of baby animals, Photoshop, and Mr. Sloth. Speaking of which, he and I are a pair of goofball homebody nerds who love our beagle (the most ridiculously adorable dog EVER) to an embarrassing degree. We're planning a low-key and intimate yet festive and quirky outdoor wedding with DIY details and deeply personal touches, and it's all taking place in the city where we fell in love and call home: Philadelphia.
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!
And flags! Lots and lots of cute mini flags for your guests to wave at you as you walk down the aisle.
We’re not allowed to have things thrown (petals, paper hearts, poms) at our venue, and bubbles make me paranoid about my contacts and stains on our dresses…
So fantastic flags are the obvious solution. And I’ve got a hundred yards of muslin lying around the house, so you better believe that most of our cheap free, easy and last minute projects will take full advantage.
This project was more involved than I would have liked (you could start out with pre-made flags a la smartie pants Potato Chips) but like I said—the muslin is free, and (sadly) so is my labor. Luckily I had a little help from Bridesmaid J & the bun to whip these together. And even though it was a bit more time consuming than I would have liked, it was super-crazy-easy.
And the results are super fun (in my ever humble opinion)!
Mrs. Frozen Yogurt, DallasAge and Occupation: 28, Special Projects CoordinatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Equity TraderEngagement Date: March 19, 2009Wedding Date: April 2010Venue: Marie Gabrielle, DallasAbout Me: I was born and raised in Texas, and have lived in several of the cities across the state, but I currently reside in Austin. I went to college in Boston and have a special place in my heart for the Northeast. I love reading, shopping, wine, reuniting with college friends that are scattered across the country, reality TV, trying out new recipes, and attempting all the DIY projects that come along with wedding planning. I'm a "bleeding heart, save the world type" and thankfully my job allows me to work on legislation and policy to help out those in need. I met Mr. Frozen Yogurt in a bar, though he doesn't even drink! And now we are planning a modern yet vintage wedding in Dallas while dealing with the trials and tribulations of first time homeownership.
We were all made up and ready to get dressed. The bridesmaids and flower girls all had to get ready at my sister’s house before we left for the venue. Marie Gabrielle (our venue) is gorgeous, but it didn’t have a spot for the bride and the bridesmaids to just hang out and get dressed other than the bathroom. I stayed in my pre-wedding outfit until we got to the venue, and just slipped on my dress once we got there, but everyone else got ready beforehand.
The flower girls put on their skirts, tops and bloomers:
Mrs. Meerkat, Kalamazoo, MI/Riviera MayaAge and Occupation: 30, Application EngineerFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, IT ConsultantEngagement Date: July 26, 2008Wedding Date: December 2010Venue: Al Cielo / La LagunaAbout Me: I’m a tech-savvy tomboy with an affinity for hot tea and good sushi. Us Meerkats are just a couple fun lovin’ geeks from Michigan. We love anything having to do with movies, books, video games or technology and we hold a special place in our hearts for our two very spoiled shih-tzus, Wicket and Bravo. We also LOVE to travel. We love it so much it only took us 12 hours after we got engaged to decide to have a destination wedding. We are working our little Meerkat tails off planning a rustic-chic, travel themed destination wedding in the Riviera Maya with a semi-formal, vintage-turned-modern, outdoor at home reception back here in Michigan.
After we picked the Riviera Maya for our wedding it was time to pick a theme. From the start of planning we knew we wanted a cohesive look. At first we thought about using just a bold monochromatic color palette, but something was missing; it just didn’t reflect our fun, whimsical personalities. So, we began doing research on themes.
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.
One of the other (unsurprising) ways we’ll be personalizing our ceremony is by choosing readings that really suit us. I love the idea of readings, but it was really hard to find ones we both liked because we’re not gushingly romantic people and we’re not religious, so that took out a pretty big number of possibilities. I also wanted to find something relatively unique, which I think we all know is pretty tricky in the world of weddings today! Here’s what we came up with.
With the help of Indiebride and in particular this amazing thread I found this excerpt from Miss Manners Guide to the Turn of the Millennium by Judith Martin.
Mrs. Barrettes, Tumon, Guam/Napa, CAAge and Occupation: 29, DancerFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Licensed Building ContractorEngagement Date: November 16, 2008Wedding Date: October 2010Venue: V. Sattui WineryAbout Me: I'm an East Coast girl, living on a tiny little island in the Pacific, twirling, leaping, and shimmy-ing my way through life, and now, wedding planning! I'm equal parts nerdy and cool... okay, mostly nerdy. I love satin bows, red lipstick, black & white graphic anything, the shine of sequins and the sound of a champagne "pop". My favorite books are The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James, and Tender is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I can also conjure a pretty good Patronus Charm. I started my appreciation for good red wine while traveling on the high seas, and it's only fitting that my passion for wine drinking led me to my Napa-bred honey. We bonded over bottles of Cabernet on my oceanfront porch and haven't looked back since. We're sealing the deal at a winery in the Napa Valley on a 'perfect ten' of a day!
Feeling stressed? Grab your honey and head to the nearest amusement park! It’s definitely a good way to scream at the top of your lungs without turning any heads!
We are less than one month out and seriously, I’m not stressing. Is it normal to feel so *meh* about everything?
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!
My super sweet besties are throwing us a Jack and Jill party when we get back to L.A. Unfortunately, we don’t know if any of Mr. G’s male friends from England will be able to make it to the wedding and they probably wouldn’t be in town when it all goes down anyway. But we are using this time for my besties and their boyfriends to get to know Mr. G for our Jack and Jill.
The location of the party is top secret. All I’ve been told is to clear two days for it. What could we POSSIBLY be doing? L.A. is a prime jumping off point for tons of stuff.
Mrs. Lemonade, Austin/San AntonioAge and Occupation: 28, BureaucratFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Music ManagementEngagement Date: December 21, 2007Wedding Date: April, 2009Blogging Since: August 22, 2008Venue: Country Club ceremony, ballroom receptionAbout Me: I’m a total wonkette who is lucky enough to be surrounded by her favorite things on a daily basis – awesome music, the great State of Texas and of course, Mr. Lemonade! I find any excuse I can to craft something and am completely infatuated with the 1950’s, all things Kennedy, and my furbaby Vida.
Aside from choosing each other (duh), the best decision we made was hiring a live band to play our reception. Read more…
Mrs. Lioness, AtlantaAge and Occupation: 25, Physical TherapistFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, AttorneyEngagement Date: August 29, 2009Wedding Date: April 2011Venue: Anthony’s Fine DiningAbout Me: I’m a Southern girl with New England roots. I say "wicked" and "y’all" in the same sentence and I like to drink sweet tea with my lobster. Mr. Lion and I are both former Floridians now living in Atlanta, which fortunately is still SEC country...Go Gators! We both love baseball, coffee, traveling, cooking, and playing Words with Friends with each other on our iPhones all day long. I’m very passionate about the things and the people I love, and I tend to plan things with all of my heart...our wedding, of course, is no different! Oh, and also Mr. Lion is a first generation American of Cuban descent. I may look more like Lucy than Ricky, but I’m doing my best to incorporate some Latin elements into our vintage-garden-Southern wedding!
As you might recall, I had quite the ambitious idea for our Save the Dates. The most intimidating factor to me was the actual print-at-home process. Fortunately, I had lots of practice with that. The other barrier that stood in my way was finding a company who could print on balloons…affordably. After lots of Googling (and emailing to make sure that some companies were still in business…some weren’t), I discovered Extra Twist Custom Balloon Printing. They were an absolute joy to work with, mostly because of their excellent communication. I emailed the printer our desired balloon text as a jpeg, and we went back and forth about font choices and so on. She was very careful to ensure that I created a design that would produce a high-quality print. I really appreciated that. After about three weeks, a box of deflated, printed balloons showed up on our doorstep. Sister Lioness was in town visiting, so I recruited her for help and we got to work.
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!
A few months ago, I told y’all that I was going to let my bridesmaids choose their own dresses. It is really important to me that they love their dresses and that they are 100% happy with them (since they’re, you know, PAYING for them!) so I wanted them to have full control over what they wear. I told them I’d like it to be yellow, and beyond that I didn’t care.
Y’all, my girls did good. They’ve both officially ordered their dresses, and I am so in love with them. I find it pretty amusing, however, that neither of them talked to one another about what they were choosing, and their dresses ended up being kind of similar!
The one on the left is from David’s Bridal and it’s the one BM Audrey will be wearing. She actually ordered an adorable gray flower pin from Mrs. Star’s Etsy shop, and she plans to pin it to the band on the waist. The one on the right is Sister Cardy’s dress. It’s from Dessy and I’m totally head over heels in love with it.
At first, I was kind of worried about the dresses being such different shades of yellow.
Ms. Sloth, PhiladelphiaAge and Occupation: 35, Account Manager and Fashion BloggerFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Design AdminEngagement Date: December 25, 2009Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Bartram's GardenAbout Me: I'm an internet junkie and music snob with a good eye for a bargain. I couldn't live without thrift store shopping, cheeseburgers, sushi, Coke Zero, websites devoted to silly photos of baby animals, Photoshop, and Mr. Sloth. Speaking of which, he and I are a pair of goofball homebody nerds who love our beagle (the most ridiculously adorable dog EVER) to an embarrassing degree. We're planning a low-key and intimate yet festive and quirky outdoor wedding with DIY details and deeply personal touches, and it's all taking place in the city where we fell in love and call home: Philadelphia.
Okay, so my obsession isn’t as extensive or as expensive as hers. But handbags are the one fashion-related item I’ll spend real dough on. I buy my clothes at stores like H&M, Forever 21 and Target, but I have no problem spending some serious cash on a high-quality leather bag, and I have quite a few. I don’t care too much about brands or labels, just the style and quality.
Anyway, it’s funny that with my handbag obsession, I haven’t even considered my wedding handbag until now.
The thing is, do brides even carry handbags? Will I need one? I kind of imagine that I’ll have a big tote of stuff hidden under something, and it’ll contain…I don’t know, my cell phone and a lip gloss, maybe?
But since I’m all about bags, I’ll probably want a cute little bridal clutch that I can carry again. Here are some of the ones that I’m digging, although I doubt I’ll spend more then $50 on mine. 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.
Tomorrow, it is time to kick this wedding month into high gear. Tomorrow, it’s all really real.Tomorrow, is my bridal shower.
Holy crap.
I remember when I was a little girl attending my cousins’ showers and imagining my own someday. SOMEday. Not tomorrow. My how quickly twenty years fly by…
My mother must feel the same way, because a few weeks ago, I received this invitation in the mail:
Mrs. Elephant, Dallas, TXAge and Occupation: 27, Financial Operations AnalystFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, IT Student/Store ManagerEngagement Date: March 29, 2009Wedding Date: April 2011Venue: The Tribute Golf ClubAbout Me: I'm a Philly native creating roots deep in the heart of Texas. I might be a little obsessed capturing those Kodak moments of anything and everything (mainly on vacations). I've become more of a gamer thanks to Mr. Elephant, who I met online and can't wait to spend the rest of my life with. We are planning a wedding based on our favorite colors, blue and green, with a travel theme for 150 of our closest friends and family. Hopefully our long (2-year) engagement won't kill me!
Yep, it’s dress shopping time again! This time Mama Elephant and I headed out to Bridal Couture of Addison. Their website mentioned it had a large selection of plus-sized dresses. After signing in for my appointment I was very disappointed to see that their “large selection” was really only one rack. I guess in comparison to the size of the whole store, it could be seen as a large selection to some.
We pulled a handful of dresses and went back to try them on. This store didn’t carry my top pick (nor could they order it), so the majority of the dresses that I tried on were Casablanca and Maggie Sottero.
First up was the Maggie Sottero Laila - This satin beauty is from the Spring 2010 collection and my thoughts were that it was nice, but a little heavy. I wasn’t crazy about the beading around the butt, but was told that they can remove that.
Mrs. Brooch, Arlington, VAAge and Occupation: 25, Writer/EditorFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Front Desk ManagerEngagement Date: October 3, 2009Wedding Date: April 2011Venue: Oxon Hill ManorAbout Me: I’m an indecisive girlie-girl with a motor mouth, can-do attitude, and knack for making others laugh. I dream of becoming a best selling novelist like Elizabeth Gilbert or Julie Powell (a girl can dream, right?), and love long road trips, a beautiful countryside, music, blogs, books, and all things vintage/thrift/antique/or homemade. I’m a Virgo, i.e. overly sensitive, emotional, and critical, and there’s no such thing as short and sweet in my world. I want to say and do it all. Mr. Brooch grounds me. I point where to go and he figures out the way. He’s a pragmatic fancy-pants who enjoys video games and movies. We both adore our mutt, Rocky, and spending time with our amazingly supportive family and friends. We’re planning a garden wedding with a formal reception with lots of whimsy and unique, Southern-inspired details.
I told you Mama Brooch and Mr. B visited our venue not long after we picked it, but I couldn’t be there because I had to work. Well, I finally had my chance to check it out and ironically, it was exactly one year and one day before our wedding! It was my first time being there since we had found it more than 6 months prior, and can I say it was sooooo much better than I imagined it? Yay!
It’s really hard to describe the feeling I had pulling up. I was really, really anxious all morning to get there and when we finally did, I just felt overwhelmingly proud and like I wanted to show off all the little details of it all! My two best friends (my FSIL and MOH) went with me. They were so sweet to take off work and show such enthusiasm about seeing it! We went out the night prior (it was a girls’ night out and one of my other bridesmaids was there), they slept over, and the next morning we headed to over into Oxon Hill. Just like I was, they were pretty impressed pulling up. I’ll never forget my FSIL saying, “Oh wow!” I can hear her saying it now!
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
