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!
I woke up Friday morning feeling giddy and full of anticipation. I wish there were more synonyms for “surreal,” so I wouldn’t have to keep saying it over and over, but that’s how it felt. Mr. Octo and I were engaged for sixteen months, and for a long, long time, it felt like I was just planning into the void, “playing wedding,” thinking about something that would never actually happen. But it was Friday. We were ACTUALLY rehearsing that night, and having an ACTUAL rehearsal dinner, in preparation for our ACTUAL wedding. Surreal.
After having breakfast with my parents and strategizing our agenda for the day, Mr. Octo and I headed off together to pick up the cake for the rehearsal dinner. Did I say the cake? I meant THE CAKE. We opted to serve an extremely well-known Pittsburgh dessert: a sheet-sized burnt almond torte from Prantl’s. (This means nothing to anyone but Pittsburgh gals, I’m sure, but everyone who knows the majesty of that cake is drooling. I guarantee it.)
Mrs. Hippo, New York City/Dallas, TXAge and Occupation: 34, Event Planner for a Non-Profit Fiance's Age and Occupation: 35, Finance ITEngagement Date: August 8, 2009Wedding Date: March 2011Venue: Samuel Lynne Galleries and Marc EventsAbout Me: I’m a thirty-something bride living in New York City and planning a modern-ish wedding in Dallas, Texas. I love trashy reality television (Jersey Shore, anyone?), online shopping, Sunday brunch, Central Park, and random celebrity spottings on the streets of Manhattan. While I love NYC, I miss good Tex-Mex, my college friends, central A/C, and being in close proximity to a Target. I’m thrilled to finally be planning an event that’s not work-related and to be marrying my best friend in what I hope will be a unique and personal ceremony followed by a reception with plenty of good food, good drinks, and dancing (regardless if it’s good or not).
I just finished up a DIY project, and I can’t wait to share. Just as a refresher, I bought a custom cake topper on Etsy using our wedding logo, and my plan was to bedazzle the crap out of it. Which I did. And it’s pretty freakin’ awesome…in my opinion. Wanna see?
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!
10 points to whoever knows where that title came from! Hehehe.
Anyway, I have some super more interesting posts coming up in the future—I promise—but I just had to share this first. I can’t remember how I stumbled on it (even though it was just a few days ago, haha) but I think it was a link from a link from another link.
We’ve all see the ceremony programs/fans, and know that they’re super cute and adorable. How cute? Well let me show you!
Mrs. Sewing, San Mateo, CA/Honolulu, HIAge and Occupation: 24, Electrical EngineerFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Electrical EngineerEngagement Date: June 27, 2009Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Anela Garden Chapel & Japanese Cultural Center, HonoluluAbout Me: I'm an easily entertained, compulsive idea-scheming machine who loves good art, good food, and a good engineering challenge. I'm planning a half-destination wedding on the beautiful island of Oahu - imagine a plethora of movies, art and games; savory Hawaiian food; blended Chinese and Japanese cultural details; lush, fragrant tropical flowers and all the air conditioning a NorCal native could want! And once I marry the love of my life, we'll come back to the 'mainland' to party it up all over again in my hometown of Salinas, the salad-bowl capital of the world!
Though at first I had planned on us writing our own personal vows, Mr. Sew really felt it would be better to stay traditional vows—and sometimes straight and to-the-point can be a good thing. Read more…
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
Y’all, sometimes I think I’m beating my head against the wall—or some other idiom for trying to do the impossible—with all this personalized DIY on a budget stuff.
As I may have mentioned, I aspire to having the kind of wedding that gets featured on one the fantastic wedding blogs I frequent (some of my favorites are Style Me Pretty, OnceWed, Green Wedding Shoes, 100 Layer Cake and Ruffled). I think these weddings fall into two categories: a) the couple (or the couple’s parents) spent a ton of money getting a professional to create a beautiful event, or b) the bride did it herself. Since I am not loaded, I’ll need to fall into category b.
But ya know what? I’m starting to think it’s not possible to create an intimate, personal, beautiful event with all these crazy DIY details while holding down a full-time job unless the event is small. I mean, really, who has time to make 250 of anything, let alone French macaroons or triple-layer silk-screened menus?!
There are so many things I’d love to include in our wedding. For example, how amazing is mismatched vintage china?
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.
Since I am incredibly indecisive, I had a really hard time deciding what kind of headpiece I’d wear. I know that I’m not interested in wearing a traditional veil, but other than that, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted.
Enter Etsy. I’ve said it before: I’m an addict. The only problem with Etsy is that you can’t try anything on before you buy. And so I had to make a few purchases before getting it right.
The first was this beautiful feather fascinator from seller fatalefemme:
Quirky. Stunning. Chic. Unfortunately, it just didn’t look right on my head. Maybe if I had a short, chic hairdo like the model, I could’ve rocked it, but for now, it was back to the drawing board.
Mrs. Poodle, Santiago, Chile/San Bernardino, CAAge and Occupation: 27, Industrial & Web DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Firefighter & Mountain PatrolEngagement Date: February 25, 2009Wedding Date: January 2010Venue: Mr. P's Grandparents’ RanchAbout Me: I’m a Chilean girl who's crazy about nature and swimming. I enjoy carving, drawing, reading and sewing; I drool over computers, fabric, pretty paper, purple and patterns. To me, chocolate should be one of the seven wonders, right next to lemon pie. I never thought an exchange work experience program was going to change my life forever, but while working in California, I met Mr. Poodle, and ever since my days are better and brighter. We are two goofy souls that, after finding each other, couldn’t help but want to be together forever. It has being a long and sometimes hard road, since we have to deal with such a long distance between us, but we are now facing the last stage of our Fiancé Visa, and soon we will be together. You know the best part? We will be married! So I’ll be blogging from Chile until just a few months before our “green and purple” wedding.
One of the very first things I read about on Weddingbee was first looks, and I was sold right away!
We both wanted to have a fist look, mostly because we wanted to use our photographer’s time in the best possible way, and having most of our bride and groom pictures before the ceremony would give us time for all the other pictures we wanted after the ceremony. Looking back, I think it was one of the best decisions we had made. We had tons of fun, and we got to enjoy each other in such an intimate way. And at the ceremony, we were both so much more relaxed.
Even though we discussed it with Adi, our photographer, we didn’t really know what we wanted or where we wanted it to happen, so we pretty much left everything up to the photogs. Read more…
BeehiveFeature Launched: Aug 31, 2006About: A forum for readers to post questions and get feedback from the hive, aka the weddingbee community.
On the hunt for the perfect favor? Check out some of our favorite unique picks, and impress your guests by sending them home with a memorable memento from your wedding!
These birdcage place card holders double as favors and can be reused to house tealights in your guests’ homes.
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!
I love it when weddings inspire people to get involved! It’s such an awesome feeling to know that people are thinking about your day even before it actually happens.
Let’s talk about Papa Jaguar for a minute. He’s awesome {of course!} but hasn’t really been all that interested in the wedding planning so far. That’s to be expected though; he’s more of a Mustang man by nature, and Momma Jaguar has been more than happy to hit the ground running with the more ‘girly’ parts of the wedding!
Suffice it to say, I was more than a little surprised to receive an email from him today. Not surprised to get the email, but surprised that it’s subject title was: “Your Perfect Wedding Dress”—particularly since he is currently away for work at the moment, traipsing about in Cambodia. What on earth was he sending me? I opened up the email, which read “What do you think of these?” I’ll admit: I was intrigued. I clicked on the attachments and found these pictures he’d snapped for me:
Mrs. Taco, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 29, writer/editorFiance's Age and Occupation: 37, editorEngagement Date: May 13, 2009Wedding Date: August 2010Venue: The Green Room at the War Memorial Veterans BuildingAbout Me: I like laughing and talking with good friends over good food and good drink, be it wine, cocktail, or brew. I write and edit things for fun and profit, but I rarely "write" these days without a keyboard and high-speed internets. Favorites include Mr. Taco, my Boston terrier, San Francisco, getting out of town, and the Roaring ’20s. I was kind-of planning a wedding since roughly 2006, when I discovered "Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?" on the WE channel. I ran and didn't look back with a theme I called "urban vintage," and it culminated in the most magical day a taco could ask for.
Note: The adorable Mrs. Octo pointed out how funny it was that I went with straightforward “Wedding Recaps” as the header for my recaps. I was never good at writing headlines; straight-up terrible. But I gave it some thought and determined that Taco Supreme was a lot better than “Wedding Recaps.” Thanks, Octo
Now, back to recapping the Tacos’ supreme event.
A few weeks prior to go-time, I started to freak about tripping in the aisle. Had I tested the shoes well enough? What if my dad rolls over my train? How slippery *is* that floor, now? How many layers of dress are there? A 2010 bride buddy and her husband gave the best advice: kick out. Kick the dress layers away from you as you walk, and it’s way harder to trip over everything. I was glad to have the advice, but I was also skeptical about my ability to follow it. For better or worse, I did glance downward a lot to make sure there weren’t any rolling-over incidents or errant banana peels on my journey down. More on that later.
While I concerned myself with this and other worst-case-scenarios, the room was set up and ready to go. Some guests arrived and hung out on the balcony, while others milled about in ceremony space. I got a quick peek through an open door of the room, and I was blown away; I couldn’t wait to see everything up close. In fact, during the ceremony, I distinctly remember darting looks over to the arrangement behind and over from my groom. (I promise I was paying attention, also.)
Mrs. Mouse, AustinAge and Occupation: 25, Weddingbee Editor/AttorneyFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Civil EngineerEngagement Date: December 19, 2007Wedding Date: September 2009Venue: Barr MansionAbout Me: I just graduated from law school and will be taking the bar, getting married, going on a honeymoon with my guy, and then trying to figure out what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. I was born and raised in a small East Texas town, but I'm no country girl! I'm obsessed with British accents, fantasy (including Harry Potter, of course), and classic rock. My fiance and I consider ourselves both music and beer snobs--but every once in awhile we love to hear a crappy band and drink a cheap brew or two. We're planning an eco-friendly, casual, English garden affair for the end of summer, and we can't wait for it to get here!
Hi there, hive! Today we’re kicking off a new series on the ‘bee where bloggers will share a little about what they were like in high school. We’ll all get to know a little more about the bloggers—what they looked like, how cool (or stupid) their hair was, their views on love and relationships, and how high school shaped them as human beings. (Oh yeah—and there will be pictures. Loads of embarrassing ones!) I’m gonna break the ice with the first “Then & Now” post…
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In high school, I struggled a lot to figure out who I was. (Who didn’t?) I went through several phases, beginning with my grungy/skater/poseur phase during my freshman year, where I never combed my long, ratty hair and wore baggy sweaters, baggy jeans, and sparkly maroon Airwalks. Sadly, no evidence exists of this phase, at least none that I can find. During this phase, I was also in a “band,” the members of which were chosen based not on talent, but on our collective love for Hanson. Yup.
At the end of this phase, I cut my hair off, inspired by Natalie Imbruglia’s chic short ‘do. Even though looking back I am mortified at how it looked, at the time it actually made a boy who I liked notice me and ask me out, so I guess it wasn’t all bad. Well, you can judge for yourselves:
Mrs. Prairie Dog, Cincinnati
Age and Occupation: 24, Program CoordinatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, PhD/Biomedical EngineerEngagement Date: December 18, 2009Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Glendale LyceumAbout Me: I'm a pilgrim soul of a girl with a house full of books and a coffee addiction that could slay Juan Valdez. My life is a whirl of grammar correction, good music, glue-gunning, and two pets named Hazel and Winston Churchill. I'm marrying my high school boyfriend in a formal-ish spring affair, roughly themed: "Elizabeth Bennet crashes a party co-hosted by Jay Gatsby and Cath Kidston, and loves it."
Before I got serious about purchasing a dress, I figured I should try on a few things to get a frame of reference. I tried to be excited, but I was mostly nervous. I know that my taste in clothes is a little unusual, and I worried that there wouldn’t be options for me. Three of my best girlfriends arrived in town, bubbling with excitement and encouragement.
We set off for a bridal store in Cincinnati. When I told the saleslady at the first store that I was not looking for a strapless dress, this is what I got: “Hmm, well…that’s mostly what we have here…” I should have probably politely excused myself and gone to another shop.
I was uncomfortable with the saleslady to begin with. She was pushy—clearly going after the sale and not listening to me. I’m a modest girl, and she made me feel embarrassed. There was a scene involving an open dressing room and my cup size that I’m not even going to go into. Read more…
ContestsFeature Launched: Oct 5, 2006About: Weddingbee contests and giveaways.
Congratulations to our winners: Helstrong, Hammertime, violet_grewe, Leprechaun, and Whimsical.Sprite!
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Winter blues got you down? How about focusing on planning your honeymoon to somewhere sunny and tropical? This month, you could win a copy of Fodor’s 535 Best Beaches. They’re giving away five copies.
If you’re considering a tropical vacation, check out Fodor’s useful Beach Vacation Guide here. To enter this contest, just leave a comment below! This contest ends Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 11:59 PM PST. Good luck!
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.
Because the women in my life were such strong role models, I hated seeing them victimized by fashion and their weight. For that reason, I designed my senior thesis project around clothes designed for them. Blah blah blah—my family members modeled for me, and my mother was no exception. She wore a formal gown I had designed for my end piece and wanted to wear it as her mother of the bride gown. (Say hi to my Mom, hive—she finally learned how to use the computer in order to keep up with the blog!) After the show, I stuffed everything in a garment bag not to be opened until last September to start fittings. Unfortunately, I must have been in a bit of a time crunch when finishing the gown (it was actually the second I had made as the first one came out so bad it had to be thrown away) because I forgot some pretty important things in it like oh I don’t know…the lining! I had topstitched the entire garment to finish it. Oh, it was terrible. Mom was slightly sad but I was pretty pumped (one less thing!). In the end, we went to see the dress whisperer over at Julie’s Bridal.
I apologize I did not write down the style numbers, but if you are interested, PM me and I will find out from Julie.
Please please please tell me that your moms still refer to themselves as seasons when describing what looks best on them. Mom’s a “fall” and this bubblegum pink didn’t do her any justice. I watched the Colors by Season video in college…hi-larious. I’m a “spring.”
Mrs. Waffle, AustinAge and Occupation: 31, Costumer/ArtistFiance's Age and Occupation: 33, AnimatorEngagement Date: July 27, 2010Wedding Date: June 2011Venue: Hummingbird HouseAbout Me: My life is pretty much spent in a sea of fabric, paint, sequins and drama. When I’m not working, I play on a trivia team, take Broadway dance classes, read, buy shoes, and occasionally geek out on video games. I am an American girl who loves all things British and Mr. Waffle is a Brit who loves all things American...I guess it was meant to be!
I wailed to the mister, who was in the kitchen, “Oooooh! Come look! They are sooooo cuuuuute!!!”
“What? Huh? What are you on about, you crazy lady?”
“The new Weddingbee icons! It’s brunch! BRUNCH! I looooove brunch!” (Can you tell I have a slight tendency towards the dramatic?) I gave him an “it’s your turn to say something” look and he returned with a raised eyebrow.
I asked him which one was his favorite, hoping he would choose the one I was favoring, and he said, “Waffles. I quite like the Waffle. It’s very nice looking.”
“Me too,” I dreamily cooed as I stared at the Waffle with its dainty strawberries.
