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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.
The time is quickly approaching for us to send out our save the dates and start developing our invitations. We don’t even know where to begin when it comes to our invitations, but we do know that we want to make them—yes, make them ourselves.
Below are handmade invitations created by Mrs. Duckling and Mrs. Gloss. They did a darn good job, if you ask me, and I want ours to be just as comprehensive. To accomplish this, we’re going to follow the very helpful twelve-step guide to creating your own invitations, by Mrs. Cupcake—another bee with a lot of ideas and ambition!
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!
Who would’ve thought one little card could cause so much frustration? Especially one as cute as this!
They seem so simple. Check one box, write down a number, and pop it in your mailbox. Well, there’s less than 3 weeks to go, and we received less than half of our RSVPs back. LESS THAN HALF! 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!
The title of this blog post is brought to you by one of our favorite married couples: Ryan (who is one of Mr. Lion’s groomsmen) and Emily (who is one of my best friends from grad school). We were at Disney World (as most of my great stories begin) on EPCOT’s Mission Space. For those of you who have never been on Mission Space, there actually is a mission. You have to push a button. The problem? The ride simulates space and all of its super fun gravitational effects. So when you try to push the button, it’s nearly impossible to lift your arm because it feels like it weighs three tons. Each passenger gets a different role and Emily was assigned “Commander.” When it was her turn to push the button, Ryan kept screaming “PUSH THE BUTTON, COMMANDER!” but it was too hard for her to lift her arm! He truly believed that if she failed to complete her part of the mission, they would be doomed. Of course, it’s a ride and that’s not the case. She finally made it and accomplished the mission, but not without giving us an amazing Ryan story.
But I digress.
This post is about our first engagement gift that we received. Sister Lioness, who is my maid of honor, is an incredibly generous, thoughtful, and creative human being. She wanted to do something special not just for me, but for the entire bridal party. She loved the idea of custom tees for bachelorette parties and pre-wedding pampering, but she wanted something that we could use over and over again, something that would be versatile enough to be used for a variety of occasions.
Mrs. Earrings, Fresno, CA/ Nelson, New ZealandAge and Occupation: 20, Student, Wannabe Writer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 19, Photography StudentEngagement Date: February 14, 2010Wedding Date: January 2011Venue: Gardens of the WorldAbout Me: I'm a girl from down under who grew up in Indonesia and I'm marrying a California boy. I'm addicted to all things sweet, have never met a chocolate silk pie than can get the better of me, and have dreams of one day being a fulltime novelist. I go weak in the knees for lace, tea cups, and a beautifully crafted sentence. When I get excited about something (whether it is historical linguistics or the Beatles) I tend to go overboard in research, and planning this wedding is no different. Mr. Earrings is my high school sweetheart, my best friend, and somehow we combine all our quirks into one big happy mess.
I know, I know. I have been AWOL for a whole week now. But I have a good excuse, I promise. For the past week I have been on a North Island road trip with my family. On it we managed to squeeze in some fun wedding-related things that I can’t wait to tell you all about including my hair and makeup trial, an ear piercing, and more.
But before I delve into all that (and to buy me time while I hunt down my camera card reader) I want to talk about two pieces of advice I was given on this trip.
The first came from a woman who is a bit like my Mum’s surrogate mother. She and her husband looked out for Mum when she was 19 and naive in the big city (Wellington, that is). We visited them on our way through Wellington and this lovely lady told me: “Your parents’ wedding was the most beautiful wedding I have ever been too, and that was because of the people. The people make the wedding, not decorations or having everything perfect.” My parents’ wedding was far from lavish. Read more…
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.
I’m not usually the type to squeal, but when I got my acceptance email from Mrs. Penguin, my voice went up about three octaves as I turned to my beloved and said “ohmigodimgonnabeabee!” Up until that moment, I’d been veging on the couch in my jammy jams, but after I got the news, I had a few minutes of spazzy bouncing off the walls. I came across the ’bee several months ago and am beyond stoked to be a part of such a supportive, helpful and fun resource for brides-to-be.
A little bit about me: I was born and grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs and moved to the city in my early 20s. I spend my days as an account manager at a digital agency and my nights running a fashion website which I hope to turn into a full-time job someday. I’m an internet addict and music snob who can’t pass a dog on the street without fawning all over it. If I could, I’d put everything I write into bulleted lists. Read more…
Mrs. Zebra, Providence, RIAge and Occupation: 24 Marketing/Costume DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 26 Management/Firefighter Engagement Date: December 12, 2008Wedding Date: March 2011Venue: The Providence BiltmoreAbout Me: I'm a small town New England girl with an affinity for procrastination, crossing the proverbial line, and putting her foot in her mouth. I'm a lover of history, all seasons, sewing and Incubus. I design costumes on the side for my old high school's theatre department, which is where I met my sexy man. Our motto for our Big Fat Lebanese/Portuguese/Irish near-300 person wedding is "the more the merrier"! We are marrying in a Catholic ceremony and are hammering out the details of our Victorian-inspired reception.
It sounds like the title of a psychiatrist’s new book, doesn’t it?
I don’t often become offended by people’s curiosity-driven questions. I pride myself on being an understanding person and on always being able to place myself in others’ shoes. Like many, I find “random chat” conversations to be extremely awkward and I myself have been known to shove my foot into my mouth, down my throat, and out the ass. In fact, if a close friend or family member asks an odd question, I am almost always happy to answer, as I feel they are taking a genuine interest in my life. Weird. However, when it comes to strangers or mere acquaintances, I am less forgiving about off-the-wall questions. So without further ado, codependence and the offensive things people say…
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!
Okay hive, I’m about to be a total tease. Please forgive me, but I’m just so freaking excited that I can’t hold off on sharing.
After the fantastic job Steve Howe (of She-N-He) did on our Save the Dates, I just knew I had to have him do our invitations as well. I had originally had grand plans of doing them myself, but why in the world would I do that with someone as awesome as Steve around? So, I shot him an email and asked if he’d be willing to work with us again, and thank God he said yes because I am SO EXCITED about what he came up with!
I’m not ready to share them completely—we don’t have a complete suite design yet, just the invitation itself. And I would ideally like to send them out before I reveal them in full. So that means it’ll be a while before you get to see the whole thing. But you guys are so amazing and I think you deserve at least a sneak peek. Plus, I just can’t help myself and I want to show them off to EVERYONE!
Whew. Got a little excited there. Are you ready for me to shut up and show you a sneak peek? Okay, here: Read more…
ClassifiedsFeature Launched: April 30, 2008About: A roundup of the best Weddingbee Classified listings.
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.
…was picking our photographer. My BIL Josh happens to be a fantastic photographer, so about 10 hours after informing our parents we were engaged, we asked Josh to be our photographer. Lucky for us, he agreed!
We really are lucky to have him as a photographer because budget is definitely an issue for us and there’s no way we could have paid full price for someone of his quality. Now I know some people get worried about the idea of family members as vendors (famdors?), but Josh has been very upfront with us about what he can and can’t do and what we can expect from him.
One of these things is the fact that he’s not a really experienced wedding photographer. Read more…
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!
With an outdoor ceremony, it would be pretty pointless to try and do a unity candle, so we decided to go with the norm and do a sand ceremony. I picked out three vases during a sale at Michaels for our sand ceremony. I also picked up some crystals that were on sale to decorate the vases for a little personal touch.
I’m not the craftiest person, so I had no clue what the difference was between “hotfix” and “flat back” crystals. I later found out on the Knot’s DIY board that the hotfix will create a type of adhesive when heated. I attempted to heat them using the embossing gun, but I heated my fingers/tweezers more than the back of the crystal. It did heat up enough to stick, but it didn’t look like it would stay. Maybe it would have set after cooling and stuck? Well, I figured that super glue would do the trick, so I got to work super gluing tiny crystals in the shape of our initials onto the vases.
I made it through the “L” (the first letter of my first name) with blue crystals and almost all the way through the “C” (the first letter of Mr. E’s first name) before realizing that I would run out of green crystals. I was one (ONE) little crystal short!
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!
Our RSVP deadline has come and gone, and miraculously, we have barely any responses left floating around out there! (Ahem, Mr. Octo’s friend Michael.) I always think it’s interesting to see how the RSVPs break down for other peoples’ weddings, especially destination (or, as we like to call ours, mini-destination) weddings. Here are the stats:
We invited 205 people, a number which includes Mr. Octo and myself.
Of that 205, only 16 are local to the Pittsburgh area.
14 of the 205 are kids under the age of eighteen.
We invited all guests’ significant others, regardless of how long they had been together, and regardless of their engagement/living together status.
We did not offer plus-ones to single guests, largely because we were looking at a packed guest list already, and because every single person we invited knew a good handful of the other guests.
135 of the invitees are my family or family friends, and 78 of them are attending. 42 of the invitees are Mr. Octo’s family, family friends, or friends of his that I don’t know, and 30 of them are attending. 26 of the invitees are people we consider “our” shared friends, and 19 of them are attending.
The grand total: including ourselves, we will have 129 people at the wedding (14 kids, 115 adults), for an overall “Yes” rate of 63%.
We’re actually very pleasantly surprised by how things shook out. Read more…
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.
We decided we’re going to incorporate our engagement pictures into our save the dates. We’re really happy with the amazing artwork that our photographer did, and since we already paid for them, we think it’s a good idea to utilize them.
Mama Brooch had an excellent idea to use more than one of our photos for the save the dates because we have a lot. (We actually have more than 700 pictures, but that’s a different post for a different day!!!) She suggested we send the pictures we feel are appropriate for each recipient instead of sending everyone the same thing. This way we’re making the most of our awesome variety.
Last night we sorted the pictures and picked the ones we’d like to send to my family, his family, and our friends. I was so thrilled that we were finally starting this project that I began playing around on the computer with the photos. You can see below my start to our save the dates, which I don’t think is too bad for a first-time-DIY bride like myself, eh? There’s a lot still left to do with these, but at least we’ve got the ball rolling! Hooray!
Mrs. Hot Wings, Chicago/San DiegoAge and Occupation: 28, ProfessorFiance's Age and Occupation: 32, InstructorEngagement Date: December 20, 2008Wedding Date: August 2010Venue: Ocean View Villas/Jasmine Seafood RestaurantAbout Me: I am a psychology grad student living in Chicago and planning my wedding to a fellow psych grad student. I am a Sunny So-Cal bred gal who trudged across the country to follow her love of psychology and ended up finding a partner in the process. I am overly passionate about anything I involve myself with. I am an activist, a foodie, a reality TV watching junkie, an over-analyzer, a photography obsesser, and am utterly cheesy to the core. This is a story of what happens when a boy and a girl meet, fall in love over academic dorkiness, and a shared love for life. We (mostly I) are planning our semi-destination wedding in my hometown of San Diego. We are excited to bring our families and friends together from across our lifespans to celebrate our future in a grand 400+ person culturally blended affair!
The Hot Wings are caffeine addicts. We are a reflection of those around us, right? So if we were going to ask our guests to stay at condo-like villas for our wedding with no coffeehouse in sight, we’d have better provided the means to stay caffeinated.
We purchased a large 2 lb bag of coffee from Costco. You can buy the beans and ground it yourself before you leave the store. It’s fantastic!
Miss Handbag, Smyrna, DE/JamaicaAge and Occupation: 25, AdministrationFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, SalesEngagement Date: Christmas Night 2008Wedding Date: March 2011Venue: Rosehall Resort, Montego Bay, JamaicaAbout Me: I am a Type A, emotional Italian fireball, who on a weekly basis must be brought back to reality by my level headed, calm, cool and collected fiance. We are planning an intimate, all white with hints of black, vintage inspired wedding on the old sugar aqueducts of Jamaica, with 30 of our closest friends and family flying in to witness the occasion. We are not traditional by any means and will be doing things very differently. :)
Ci vediamo più tardi, or “see ya later,” in Italian. Why am I saying that, you ask?
::::hangs head in shame:::: We are canceling Jamaica.
Please don’t be upset, because this isn’t goodbye, just see ya in a few months. I’ll start from the beginning…
When we first were engaged, the whole family thought it would be fun to have a family vacation to Jamaica. It just so happened that we got engaged around the same time this was being discussed. Everyone bugged us to get married in Jamaica so we could have our family vacation at the same time. SCORE! Everyone was in and excited. That was almost 2 years ago. I have been gung ho about it ever since. I liked the idea of something unique and fun for everyone. Yes, I had a hard time not being able to control things or have the ability to pay attention to details, and our vendors were very limited, but the family was so excited.
Fast forward to this past summer, when reality started to set in. Not for us, but for our guests. Read more…
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
