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!
Mr. Jaguar and I started seeing each other in September 2002. If you do the math, we’ll be well into our ninth (!) year of dating when we’re married next June.
What better way to celebrate those nine years than a gigantic cake monstrosity complete with a sword for cake cutting!?
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 really want our wedding to be a unique and fun experience for our guests, and some of the age-old traditions—like the garter and bouquet tosses—don’t really excite Mr. B and me. We want to do something a little different during our reception, such as Mrs. Hot Wings’s “Deal or No Deal” game.
We are still very much in the discussion stage of this and haven’t ruled out (or made any final decisions) on our ideas, but we have tossed around quite a few ideas, which I would love to run past you gals for your opinions!
The Anniversary Dance:
First, I have to admit, this idea wasn’t mine. I heard about it from my genius co-bride (my coworker who’s also engaged). We have very different styles, but every now and then one of us comes up with an idea the other has got to snag. (Confession: She does most of the brainstorming, and I do most of the snagging!)
The anniversary dance is when all the married couples join the new bride and groom in a dance, and the emcee eliminates couples based on the length of time they’ve been married. Eventually, the couple married the longest is left dancing alongside the new couple, and the reward (besides our total admiration) is the bride’s bouquet! You can read more about this idea here at the Knot.
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!
… Just kidding! No heartbreaks. Everything went swimmingly at the airport, and Mr. G is enjoying being in America with his shiny new visa stamp. We’ve been running around trying to get everything set up for him and re-established for me, but we’ve definitely got wedding stuff running too.
We arrived at LAX around noon so we had a half a day ahead of us even though we were exhausted. To keep from falling asleep we headed to one of the most wondrous places in the world, Target.
Mrs. Socks, Southern NJ/Philadelphia, PAAge and Occupation: 23, Web Developer/Marketing SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Systems EngineerEngagement Date: September 7, 2009
Wedding Date: October 2010Venue: Ladder 15 RestaurantAbout Me: I am originally from the Midwest, but I love being an East Coast transplant! Mr. Socks and I are foodies and winos to the core---give us a hunk of cheese, some charcuterie and a glass of wine and we could die happy. We have two mischievous Wire Fox Terriers with completely opposite personalities but with a shared love of uprooting anything in our garden. Our backyard garden includes everything from tomatoes and peppers to a fig tree, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries! I love cooking, indie music, and spending time in our wedding city of choice---Philly!
Okay. So. Mr. Socks and I have to rent 8 tables for our wedding venue since the restaurant’s in-house tables are high, bar-style tables (well, it is a bar, after all) which wouldn’t do so well for ladies in nice dresses. Originally, I pictured all rectangular tables and then we’d use the four booths that are downstairs as well. Each rectangular table would seat 8 guests.
And then…we ended up with four tables which only had 6 guests each when I made up the seating chart. Hmm.
So we decided to just do a mish-mash of tables in order to seat everyone with people that they knew!
Yep. We’re doing tables of four, tables of six, and tables of 8. Small, medium and large, if you will!
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.
Our wedding date is finally on the 10-day forecast—not that I’m keeping tabs, or anything…
Umm, BTDubs, where did September go??!??!
Anyway, today weather.com is calling for a 30% chance of showers on our wedding day. This outlook may change several times over the next week, but New York was just hit with a “monsoon” last night that had made its way up the coast from Maryland. Said monsoon has inspired me to pull the trigger on a plan cooking in my brain for the last 2 years and take some precautions to ensure we can still enjoy the gorgeous grounds at the Pearl S. Buck Estate:
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, so this is random and kind of pointless, but I’m in love. My friend Layla recently posted about this awesome website that takes the most frequently used words on your blog or website and turns them into a little collage.
Naturally, I was intrigued and decided to try it out with my blog. What I got is pretty effing awesome. I feel like it takes all of the “buzzwords” about our wedding and puts them into this cute little visual.
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.
Hive, I need your help. A while back I told you how I was trying to figure out floral alternatives for pretty much everything. That’s right: there will basically be no flowers at our wedding. You guys gave me some pretty great ideas, but I was still having trouble with what to do with the groomsmen. One day while browsing the St. Lawrence Antique Market I came across Christmas pins for $2 each and snatched a few up. However, I can’t decide if I like them or not.
Mrs. Turtle, Central CaliforniaAge and Occupation: 21, Art Student/TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, English StudentEngagement Date: August 16, 2008Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Mr. Turtle's Grandparents' backyard, Arroyo Grande, CAAbout Me: I am a California girl who loves the beach and the mountains, but is quite satisfied living right in the middle where I can enjoy the best of both worlds. I am happiest when traveling to faraway places, wandering through museums, watching old movies, or baking up a storm. Mr. Turtle and I are high school sweethearts and fellow book nerds who both drive Mini Coopers and are most likely to be found browsing in antique stores. We're having so much fun planning our European garden wedding with a vintage twist and can't wait to share more of life's adventures together!
Before I get to the reception, I want to share with you the two things (besides food) that our guests were looooving during our cocktail hour. And the first one up is…candy!
Maybe you remember the post I wrote about our DIY candy table waaaay back in pre-wedding life. In it, I shared a lot of the details that were taking shape in this little project that my mom and I decided to take on together. We bought the clear jars at Target and Marshall’s, and added some milk glass and antique silver containers to incorporate the table into the vintage theme of the rest of our wedding.
Mrs. French Bulldog, Orange CountyAge and Occupation: 28, Administrative Assistant & Interior Design StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Purchasing AnalystEngagement Date: November 8, 2008Wedding Date: August 2009Venue: Bernardo WineryAbout Me: I've lived in Atlanta, Dallas and Laguna Niguel; although I've lived in Orange County, CA most my life, I'm a Southerner at heart. I work full time for a Commercial General Contractor (aka my father) and I go to school for Interior Design at night. I love modern design, music, wine, crafting, DMailing, my family, my Westies, and of course, Mr Frenchie! Mr Frenchie and I met 3 years ago on Match.com and have been best friends ever since. I love his "old soul" and how he laughs with his whole body, among many other things. We are planning our summer wedding at the winery near his hometown, just 45 minutes south of Orange County.
I’ve tallied up the RSVPs so far on the LA Boards here. Please make sure I didn’t miss you! Also, if you were a maybe, please clarify on the board thread if you are coming or not. I’m looking forward to see you all tomorrow night.
We’re meeting at one of my favorite restaurants from my college days in LA and the home of the BEST garlic bread knots EVER!
Note: There are there are two C&O’s on Washington about 1 mile apart. We are meeting at the Bar & Grill because it’s larger and easier to find parking. Read more…
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.
My mother told me that one of the items that made her feel the most “bridal” on her wedding day was a pair of white stockings with a delicate pattern up the back seam. This got me thinking about maybe wearing stockings myself under my wedding dress.
Lately stockings (and tights!) seem to be back “in”…especially in this cold weather NZ has been experiencing. And I’m not talking about nude pantyhose here *shudder*…I’m talking about lovely lacey numbers, colourful patterns, and so on. Some people love ’em, some people can’t stand the thought of ’em. As for myself, I’m gradually discovering that I love them. And I think that the right pair of stockings can add an extra jolt of special to a wedding day outfit.
Not convinced? Let’s have a look at some bridal stocking/tights inspiration.
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.
With our epic fail into the wedding cake world, we started to look around at ideas for more traditional cakes. We found out pretty quickly that we both loved little fondant flowers on cakes.
Mrs. Pashmina, NYC/Catalina Island, CAAge and Occupation: 28, Arts EducationFiance's Age and Occupation: 34, IT AdministratorEngagement Date: April 26th, 2009Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Catalina Country Club, Catalina Island, CaliforniaAbout Me: I'm a laid-back Cali girl who moved to NYC for school, and ended up staying for love. My fiance is a quick-witted Jersey boy, a self-proclaimed Foodie and the funniest man I've ever met. Together we love exploring the city streets embarking on our next misadventure---and yes, this often involves eating off food carts and trying "the next big thing". I'm the girl in the sundress, snapping photos and collecting trinkets of memorabilia along the way. As a girly girl at heart, I am excited about our romantic natural island wedding incorporating our American & Filipino traditions.
There were few really great experiences after the Jenny Yoo appointment, one was mainly at Adrienne’s in the Lower East Side, where I went with a big group of my single friends. But all the dresses were double, even triple my budget. There were no contenders. ThenI went to The Bridal Garden, a used wedding dress store that gives the proceeds to education, with one of my lovely co-workers who was also looking for gowns. But I just couldn’t rationalize spending over $1200 for a used gown. It had great fabric and was by La Esposa but for that price (my max budget) I wanted something new!
So, let’s fast forward a few appointments! I just can’t wait any longer to tell you about the dress I finally purchased and the one I ultimately wore…! Read more…
Mrs. Moonbeam, Los Angeles/San AntonioAge and Occupation: 26, Intern ArchitectFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Studio Analyst, aspiring ScreenwriterEngagement Date: May 20, 2009Wedding Date: November 2009Venue: Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church (LaCoste, TX) and Mary Gray Events Center (Castroville, TX)About Me: I was born and raised in Texas, but after college I moved to Seattle for a couple of years and loved it. Then I followed my beau out here to LA and we're getting settled in. I've been making things since I can remember. I was raised by crafters. I love to sew, draw, paint, build, cook, bake (anything with a tangible end result is fair game). In that same spirit, I've been hosting since I was old enough to cook and set a fancy table. I kind of take after my grandmother, who believes that your morning OJ always tastes better out of the good crystal.
When I left off, we’d just made it up to the altar. Our priest then welcomed everybody and proceeded to pay our flower girls and ring bearer for doing such a wonderful job.
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.
If any of you are on the fence as to whether or not to hire a videographer, I feel you.I always thought this was just another waste of money forced upon us by the wedding industry.I shall now regail you with the reason I am now loud and proud PRO-videographer.
I’m a dork. 
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
