Mrs. Jaguar, SydneyAge and Occupation: 27, Primary School TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, IT ConsultantEngagement Date: August 8, 2009Wedding Date: June 2011Venue: Curzon HallAbout Me: I'm an Australian girl who is a self-proclaimed nerd, loves all things stationery and would be lost without books, music and the internet. Mr. Jaguar and I have been together for the past eight years and he finally popped the question last August. Hurrah! We currently live in Sydney, Australia with our adorable cat who thinks he's a person. We're a couple who likes to multi-task: we've been planning a wedding abroad, a permanent move from London to Sydney, and preparing to build our own home all at the same time. Travelling makes me giddy...as does Mr. Jaguar, of course!
How do you feel about DIY floral centrepieces? I would love to take a shot at doing them for our tables, partially because I’ll be able to look at them and get a rush thinking that I created them—and partially because I’m expecting them to be a lot cheaper to create than going down the florist route. (Although I need to do some more research into wholesale flowers back home in Sydney before I declare that to be true.)
Part of me thinks I’m being overly ambitious to want to give this a go—it’s a lot of work to do before the big day, and I’m certainly no floral designer, that’s for sure. But I came across this inspiration online and really think it looks do-able, especially if you visually substitute the colours in this picture for flowers that fit my own preference of whites and greens.
I think I’ll be giving it a go in the next few months. It can’t hurt to try, right?
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.
Immediately after our ceremony, Mr. Cola and I met our wedding party in front of the redwood trees, to take some formal portraits, while our parents tried to gather family for family pictures. I know formals are pretty boring if you don’t know the people, so I’ll try to keep this short! But I do have a purpose in showing you these, in regards to some missing photo advice at the bottom of this post.
Our wedding party formals were pretty standard. We did ones of us with everyone, us with just the groomsmen, and us with just the bridesmaids.
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.
When I began to think about our invites I had no firm ideas about what I wanted, but I did know that I wanted them to be in keeping with our cozy, vintage Christmas theme. One of my earliest ideas was to stock up on Christmas cards on sale after Christmas 2009 and send each guest a handwritten and personalized Christmas card inviting them to our wedding. This didn’t seem like the most practical approach, but it was very intimate, personal, and Christmasy.
Then, on one of my routine visits to the St. Lawrence Market Antique Market I came across these:
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!
Our rehearsal dinner had details that rivaled our wedding reception! It could have easily been our wedding reception had we wanted a backyard style Mexican cookout wedding. In fact, I highly recommend these vendors for such an event if you’re interested in having an affair like this. It was laid back and a total blast!
Mrs. Penguin, Northern CaliforniaAge and Occupation: 27, Weddingbee Editor in ChiefFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Doctor of Physical TherapyEngagement Date: January 29, 2007Wedding Date: June 7, 2008Blogging Since: September 14, 2007Venue: Winery in the Gold CountryAbout Me: I love the Spice Girls, dogs with underbites, bean burritos, making messes, high fives, avoiding showers, crossword puzzles, blogs, weddings, and blogs about weddings!
Here are some of our favorite invitations currently in the shop! Remember, virtually all of the sets are customizable with a rainbow of colors and options.
To take advantage of free shipping on all orders over $150 this week, enter the promo code WBC02 at checkout. This promotion ends on Saturday, October 16. Happy shopping!
Mrs. Giraffe, ChicagoAge and Occupation: 23, Graphic DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Music Student TeacherEngagement Date: October 23, 2008Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Trinity Lutheran Church & Idlewild Country ClubAbout Me: Coming from the suburbs of the Windy City, you'll often find me with my foot in my mouth while laughing for no reason or telling bad knock knock jokes. I've been crafty for as long as I can remember, and will DIY something twice over before I have someone do it for me. I'm a semi-awkward, typeface obsessed, design junkie and have been know to break out my dance moves for no reason as well as try my best to be ridiculous at all times. My love of pop culture, wordplay, and graph paper almost rivals my love of Mr. Giraffe (who is just the bee's knees). After a 2.5 year engagement, we're planning a modern-in-disguise traditional wedding, and cannot wait!
OK, so, confession time. I am absolutely obsessed with submerged flowers. I love them. There are literally not enough words to describe how much I love them. As a person who already loves florals, the submerged flowers just take it up a notch. Something about them just makes my eyes go wide and my heart swell. Just love love love love love!!!
I was reading up on them, and I’ve heard that they’re not as expensive as normal floral arrangements. This makes sense: there’s less flowers, so you’re paying less. And, as a plus, they don’t look cheap at all. In fact, I think the best part about these flowers is that they look expensive.
To get you drooling and wiggling your toes in anticipation of future submerged flowers, check out this photo from Actress Salma Hayek and billionaire François-Henri Pinault’s vow renewal in Venice.
Mrs. Jellyfish, Pleasanton, CAAge and Occupation: 27, Law StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Air Force PilotEngagement Date: February 21, 2009Wedding Date: September 2010Venue: Casa Real at Ruby Hill WineryAbout Me: In a nutshell, I’m the most optimistic worrywart you’ll ever meet. My family emigrated from Romania to San Jose, CA when I was 8, and I've been a Nor Cal girl ever since! My fiancé is also a Bay Area native, so it’s funny that we met at UCLA, as college freshmen living on the same floor (go Bruins!). Between his career as an Air Force pilot and my path to becoming a lawyer, our relationship has been anything but typical. We currently live together in Berkeley with our puppy Stinson. In addition to spending time with the loves of my life, I enjoy crafting, attempting complicated recipes, environmental law and non-law school reading (Us Weekly, anyone?). Follow along as I plan an elegant 200-person winery wedding, graduate law school, take the Bar exam, get married and get used to the always unpredictable but never boring life of a military spouse!
I so badly wanted to post about the bridesmaids’ gifts before the wedding, but when one bridesmaid told me she wouldn’t be able to resist peeking, I knew I had to wait. Finding the perfect gift for eight bridesmaids was tough. I could have tried to get them all something unique and different, but that was just too hard to do with eight different girls. Then one day while shopping at the Gilroy Outlets, I saw the cutest little Coach wristlets on major sale and snatched up eight of them. Over time, I added more and more to the gift until I had something that kind of resembled a “nights out/nights in” theme. I was going to label the gifts to reflect the theme, but I ran out of time in the days before the wedding and decided not to label them. Had I made the theme more apparent, it would have been:
PART 1: “For exciting nights out on the town”
Each girl got a champagne-colored Coach wristlet – a lot of the girls used it to hold their essentials during the reception.
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!
If you remember in my last post, even Mr. Guinea Pig’s grandfather was dancing from his chair! And as the evening got later, the dance floor stayed packed. Having said hello to everyone at this point, Mr. Guinea Pig and I had also jumped onto the dance floor, only stopping so I could throw some flowers.
I would just like to point out the look of determination on my face right before I threw the bouquet. I have no idea why I thought I needed to focus so hard, ha! (Click photos to see them bigger)
Join us for a Post a Thon tonight on the boards from 4PM to 10PM PST! Post a Thons are a great opportunity for the entire hive to gather on the boards for chat, advice, and discussion. It’s an especially great time to get lots of feedback on your current projects and ideas!
Please join us tonight for another great Post a Thon. We look forward to seeing you on the boards!
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 far from a graphic designer, but I do dabble a bit in Photoshop and I enjoy it. I think that I might know enough to design things like table numbers and menus myself.
So I’m going to give some of our paper goods a shot. But while I am somewhat adept at layouts, I can’t illustrate worth a damn. So how can I ensure that our escort cards, table numbers, etc. are as quirky as the rest of our wedding?
And then I came across what is now my new favorite website, Vintage Printable. This site offers vintage images that are public domain (!) and free (!!), which means that anyone can use them for whatever they like! They all have that vintage, old-timey charm that I’ve just been loving lately.
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.
My grandmother is in the process of moving out of a house she’s been living in for more than 15 years; a house that has been in our family for more than 30. There’s been a lot of work involved and the place we all dreaded going through was the basement.
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.
A week before our wedding, my sister asked us which part we were most looking forward to, “besides getting married.”
“Um, the ceremony, I think,” I answered. Because that’s what I was looking forward to the most. I was excited about getting all trembly and teary and emotional. I was excited to finally read my vows and to finally hear Fancee’s vows. I was excited for all that mushy stuff.
My sister rolled her eyes. “That’s what I meant. What else?”
And, you know? Besides that, I couldn’t think of a specific other thing that I was excited about. I was looking forward to that part and to seeing everyone and to eating the delicious food we’d picked out (I gave up being a vegetarian for the day because that bacon was just SO. GOOD.) and dancing to the music by the awesome band we’d found and to being surrounded by so much love…
Surrounded by love: best friend from college appears two nights before the wedding to make our programs! one-eyed jake assists by putting himself where the hands are.
And so it was sort of surprising to look back on the day, three weeks later (happy three week-iversary to us!) and be able to pinpoint the exact favorite part of the day, and have it be none of those things. And at the same time have it be all of those things. Read more…
Ms. Cheetah, Los Angeles/Palm Springs
Age and Occupation: 31, Artist, EducatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 32, TV FinanceEngagement Date: April 2010Wedding Date: March 2011Venue: The ViceroyAbout Me: I’m a silly, sassy lady with a compulsion to create. I love to sing and dance, despite the fact that I lack any talent doing either. I somehow manage to be messy and organized at the same time. I like to spend my days road tripping, watching '80s movies, reading true crime books, buying things on sale, sending postcards, playing board games, dining at food trucks, snuggling, and drinking ginger ale. I have a weak spot for all things sweet, especially Mr. Cheetah! I’m a Chicago girl and he’s a Nor Cal boy but we love living in the City of Angels. After 10 years as a couple we are planning a fun-filled semi-destination wedding in Palm Springs. Hope you enjoy the ride!
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!
Embossing has been covered all over the ’bee. Anyof theseladiescan show you how. I’ve read all of the embossing tutorials, so when I saw all the tools at Michaels I decided to go for it.
Your tools: embossing heat thing, ink, embossing powder, stamps.
I had the idea to emboss name cards that would go around mason jars. These will double as place cards and message cards for our tanabata wishing tree. Since I only had to do 35 of them, I figured I could buy individual letters to form names.
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
Your tools: embossing heat thing, ink, embossing powder, stamps.
