Weddingbee Blog

Remember when I told you that the invites were all printed and ready to be given to Sara for the emboss-fest?

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When it came to planning for our actual ceremony, there were three main things to consider: the vows, the readings, and the music.  I’ll be talking about the music later, so let’s discuss the vows and readings today, shall we?

The vows were the easiest part to nail down. We will not be writing our own vows, but instead using the traditional vows that have been used for many, many years before us. Both Mr. E and I are extremely lucky to have parents who have been married for over 30 years, and we wanted to use the same vows that they used on their wedding days and still ring true years later.

With the vows taken care of, we moved on to the readings. Although Mr. E is more spiritual than into organized religion, we decided to have one reading from the Bible and one from another source. I have always loved hearing 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 at weddings, so that will be our scripture reading.

The other reading took a little more research. Enter Google. I Googled “popular wedding readings” and read…and read…and read some more, until I found a couple that could be contenders. Some of my favorites included an excerpt from Nicholas Sparks’s book The Notebook as well as the poem “True Love” by an unknown author.

But nothing touched me like “The Art of a Good Marriage” by Wilfred Arlan Peterson.
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The music for the ceremony and for cocktails and dinner will be fairly easy peasy. But what I’m really nervous about is the party music.

You see, there will be no “Chicken Dance” or “Electric Slide” at our wedding. There will be no Lady Gaga or Justin Timberlake at our wedding. Most of the dance-y music that Mr. S and I like is obscure enough that our families and some of our friends would have no idea what it is. And people don’t dance to what they don’t know.

So our dance music has to be familiar and festive without being cheesy, and it has to be true to us. We both love Motown and like ’80s music and ’70s funk, so I think that the party music will be a little something like this:

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I Find Wedding Inspiration Everywhere

You know how when you’re engaged and you see something in the store or online that totally encompasses everything you want your wedding to be? Your dress to be? Your flowers to look like? Favors? Cake? Your inner bride starts doing backflips, and you think, “Eureka! This is it!”

Yeah, that happens to me almost every day. I can literally be walking through the grocery store and think, “Oooh! Cherries! Those would be awesome favors!” Or walking through the flea market, see handkerchiefs and think, “Should I buy these? Oh my gosh! We could use those!”

I’ve Always Got Our Wedding On The Brain

I wish I had the kind of money to buy everything I see that I love and think we could use for our wedding, but I just don’t have that kind of dough. So what do I do? I take a picture.

I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t take pictures with my phone!

Take this cute dress, for instance. I saw it at Forever 21 while I was shopping for an outfit for myself this weekend. I thought “This would be such a cute bridesmaid dress!” Then, of course, I realize that my girls might not agree. I realize I’m at Forever 21, the dress is pretty short, and the sizes run really small. I still wanted a picture, though.

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Those five words are my worst enemy. To say we’re cutting it close would be an understatement. I’m actually writing this post on my phone en route to our rehearsal…our rehearsal that was set to start at 4:15. Our ETA? Exactly one hour later (eeeeek!!).

Ah well, I’ll just roll with the punches. So what if my very irresponsible brothers get there before me? This wedding is happening and it’s happening soon. Here I am, a year older, and getting married the day after my 26th birthday! It’s so hard to believe that our day is finally here. Months ago(heck, even weeks ago) Mr. L kept telling me that we had plenty of time and that, “yes, that project can wait until tomorrow.”

Well, we may have thought we had many more tomorrows because this week was chaotic to the max. Our apartment has been swallowed whole by anything and everything wedding and literally looks like a bomb went off.

I have the great pictures to prove it too, and promise that post-wedding I will have many last minute projects to share with you all.

Until then, I’m here writing my last post to you as a Miss! Wish me luck!!

kaymaroo baked cupcakes into 4oz mason jars as her wedding favors.

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I’ve been with Mr. Octo for eight years. Most of the time, it doesn’t feel like that long, or like that big of a deal. Our day-to-day life together is pretty uneventful: a cup of coffee, a load of laundry, bills paid, maybe a movie, maybe a long walk.

I feel like the preparations for our wedding have given us the opportunity to transcend that. I have been reflecting on, and really feeling, the weight of our past and our future and our family and our friends in a way that I usually do not. I had my iPod on shuffle a few days ago, and a song came on that I hadn’t heard or thought about in years. It was a song that was very meaningful to me when I studied abroad in college because it reminded me so much of him. I would lay in bed at night, in the dark, and listen to the song, and try to cry quietly enough not to wake up my roommate because I missed him so much. Normally I think about my student loans, whether or not Daffodil needs more food, what Mr. Octo might like for dinner, if I’ve exercised enough times that week. When I heard that song, I paused and was stricken: I have loved this man very, very, very much, for a very, very, very long time.

I am just overwhelmed by the feeling of the history we have together, and the history with our own families and our own friends, who are now all here together. We are building a family.
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After I had a chance to calm down and dry my eyes, it was time for us to take portraits with our families in our hotel’s lobby. And by “our families” I mean my immediate family and Mr. FF’s brother, since his family still hadn’t materialized at our agreed upon location for family pictures. So, we got started and ended up taking pictures with Mr. FF’s family after our reception had started.

I know that people find family pictures boring, so I’ll try to keep these to a minimum.

Me with my parents:

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Hive, I haven’t been completely honest with you.  Well, I haven’t lied.  I just haven’t told the whole truth. I told you how Mr. Lion and I met through mutual friends. That’s the short version of the story. Truthfully, we met at a mutual friend’s birthday party…when we were partnered up during a beer-pong tournament. Mr. Lion and I were beer-pong partners, and lots of drinking led to lots of flirting. I left the party that night with a smile on my face because I had met a cute guy who kept telling me I was cute (clearly, we were so deep back then). I received a sober phone call from him the next day, and we stayed friends for years. We would occasionally look back on the flirting that took place that night and wonder if something more would develop.

Obviously, something more did develop, and beer pong became something surprisingly very near and dear to our hearts. When our grad school friends told us they wanted to throw us an early shower before moving away after graduation, we suggested a “stock the bar” shower with a beer-pong tournament. They were all about it. Best of all, they included a few fun details just for us…

…like the greatest cake topper in the world…

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Seriously. Where have the last 19 months gone? It crept up on me faster than I could have imagined.

I have enjoyed every second of our long engagement: the highs, the lows, the ability for both Mr. A and me to truly enjoy each other during this time. No rush. No stress (well, maybe a tad, but really, very little).

And, I’ll be honest. It still hasn’t hit me. Maybe it’s because these 19 months have felt like eternity (until the last few). Maybe it’s because I can’t believe I’m actually marrying my best friend today. But, I do know that I’m excited. I’m excited to see Mr. A for the first time in my dress. I’m excited to step onto the campus in which we first met. I’m excited to walk down the aisle, pass by our friends and family, and meet the Mr. at the end. I’m excited to see all of our planning pay off, and see it all come together. And, most of all, I’m pretty excited to spend the day as a new wife. A wife to the sweetest guy I know.

To the hive: Thanks for following along. Thanks for your love and comments and feedback. Thanks for being the wonderful group of women (and men) that you are! I cannot wait to share all of the details from our day!
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I’ve been feeling very insecure about things lately.

As soon as I hear about another wedding, venue, or DIY project, I start to feel unprepared for our big day. I start to question whether Oxon Hill is really a nice venue and whether I’ve chosen the right DIY projects to tackle…

I know, I know. What’s my problem? This is our day to create any kind of party we want, anywhere we want (considering our budget, of course), so why should it matter what others think and what others do? Well, it just does. You don’t want to do a crap job. I just get cold feet about the decisions we’ve made, and it sucks. I honestly wish I wasn’t like that, but I feel like I can’t help myself. I wish I felt more assured in our decisions. I can’t stand being such a fickle bride.
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1. High on LOVE by Mrs. Stripes
2. A Daddy’s Girl Without a Dad by Miss Meerkat
3. The Brooches Debate: Chiavari vs. Banquet Chairs by Miss Brooch
4. Bridesmaids in Ivory? by Miss Sloth
5. She Bangs! She Bangs! by Miss Sloth
6. I’m Not Superstitious by Miss Sloth, Liquor? I Barely Know Her! by Miss Sloth, Figuring Out the First Look by Miss Hippo
7. I’m Not Obsessed with Shoes… by Miss Socks
8. A Little Shoe Redo by Miss Plaid
9. Tear-Jerker Shower Gift by Miss Barrettes
10. The Budget by Miss Sloth

Well hive, it’s about that time. All the projects are finished, last minute supplies are being bought, and we’re ready to start setting everything up to set the scene for the biggest party this little town has seen in a good long while. I have no idea whether the weather will cooperate, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed.

I’ve had so much fun sharing all my crafting obsessions, quirky plans, and DIY masterpieces with you all. You’ve been so much help, and given so much support, that I can’t help but think you’ll be a part of this day too. As I prepare to sweat my tush off in the humidity (hey, it’s a great way to get rid of pre-wedding bloat!), I want to say thanks. Thanks for everything! I can’t wait to get this show on the road, smell the barbecue in the air, and prepare to marry the best hick-town redneck this side of the Mississippi.
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Now that our Save the Dates are finally out, I’ve been thinking about the actual ceremony. I’ve been to a ton of weddings and because of that, I have even more of a desire to make ours unique. If this had only been the second or third (or even eighth) wedding I’ve been to, I might not realize how similar they can be. But it’s not. So I know. With the exception of a color scheme and some decorations, weddings can often feel very cookie-cutter. Sure, the feelings you have about the people getting married are different, but the overall structure is pretty much the same. Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for tradition. If you are having a super traditional wedding and that fits who you are, that’s completely, 100% awesome. But King Hippo and I aren’t ultra traditional people, so I’m trying to think of small ways to infuse some non-traditional accents into our wedding so that our guests walk away actually remembering their time with us. A wedding “experience” is kind of what I’m going for here.

I’ve read about a Ring Warming Ceremony, and I’m thinking this just might be the element I’m looking for to not only make the ceremony unique, but to incorporate our guests into the day.

Source

I found this description of a Ring Warming Ceremony on The Offbeat Bride:
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*personal photo of grandpa with cousins*

I wanted to write this post weeks ago, but I haven’t had the guts to confront my own feelings on the matter. I think it’s time, so please bear with me.

Two weeks ago, I lost my grandfather. My only living grandpa, and the only grandparent I have ever known. He would have turned 100 years old at the end of this year. For over a year, my family has known that grandpa could leave us any day. My parents struggled with whether to go back to Vietnam to see him while he was alive or to wait until after the wedding, hoping that he would have made it past the wedding. My aunt had a difficult time deciding if she would come to the wedding because of grandpa’s status.
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