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.
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!
It’s a bit laughable to consider anything about our civil ceremony “formal” since it was such a laid back event, but I have no other words for the photos that are taken directly after the ceremony!
So here are pictures of us with my family and our friends (my in-laws are omitted for my own sanity):
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!
It’s finally time to go through the actual ceremony portion of the Tea Ceremony. As you read this post, remember that the tea ceremony is not a religious ceremony; it is a cultural ceremony. The rituals are meant to bring good luck and to unite the families.
First, the family candles needed to be lit. Papa Hot Wings invited Papa-in-Law to light the dragon candle to represent the groom’s family. Papa Hot Wings lit the bride’s phoenix candle. Read more…
Ms. Stripes, Los AngelesAge and Occupation: 29, Costume Designer/StylistFiancee's Age and Occupation: 29, ChefEngagement Date: June 23, 2009Wedding Date: September 2010Venue: Heritage Square MuseumAbout Me: I’m a type A creative with a messy streak, a loud mouth, and an uncanny knack for combining clashing patterns. I can usually be found with my nose in a book, my feet (or at least my toes) on the ground, my head in the clouds, and my arm around the prettiest girl you ever saw- aka
Fiancee Stripes. Together we’re planning a FUN vintage/modern French carnival wedding extravaganza and rockin’ dance party on a dime. (Say that three times fast!) Good coffee, long lists, Uniball pens, and my iPhone keep me sane, and making art, making trouble, and making out keep me happy! I love urban adventures, bike rides that end with afternoon drinks, breakfast for dinner, beautiful light, photography, travel, my furry family, and of course, my beautiful fiancee! I’m super excited to be here and can’t wait to share all our adventures as we craft a joyful, budget-friendly, design-savvy and all-around AWESOME wedding!
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!
My criteria for finding our reception venue were fairly simple. (Or at least, they were simple to me.) The venue needed to be:
Affordable. We’re on a budget here, people!
Small and intimate. No grand echoing ball-rooms for us. We wanted something fairly low-key so that we would have to be restricted on numbers for our wedding.
Pretty on the outside. This is where I get a little bit vain: I wanted a venue that would look beautiful in our wedding album for years to come.
Pretty on the inside. I didn’t want to spend too much extra money decorating the room, so I wanted it looking gorgeous without any additions of my own.
Flexible on inclusions. The last thing I wanted to do was to get tied down on what was included & what wasn’t—I wanted everything laid out in front of me, and preferably with a little bit of choice here and there.
HELPFUL. I needed to know that the venue we chose would be positive to deal with, especially since I wasn’t going to be local to sort out any issues or to help answer my random questions as I thought of them from a thousand miles away.
Without going into too much detail, here are just a handful of the many venues I visited with Momma Jaguar and my awesome MOH while I was home in Sydney.
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).
Whew! I’ve finally caught y’all up on all the things we got accomplished during our wedding planning trip to Dallas. Seriously…we got a ton done in the course of five days. Let’s review, shall we?
Now, I know that there are tons of bees planning their weddings across much longer distances than we are (I don’t know how you do it, Meerkat!), but I’ve had a couple of LDBs (Long Distance Brides…or Long Distance Bees!) reach out to me with concerns about getting everything they needed to get done in just a couple of trips to their wedding cities, so I thought I’d share some tips that helped make our planning trip super successful, pretty fun, and not stressful at all. Here goes: 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!
Tomorrow is the Cheetah engagement photo session and I’m currently completely raiding my wardrobe, trying to figure out what to wear.In fact, our bedroom looks like it’s been hit with a clothing tidal wave.This is what our bed currently looks like:
Personal photo of my comfy bed
We’ll be changing into 2 outfits—I have a new dress and I’ll likely pair these shoes with something more casual—I’m just not sure what yet (hence the apparel tsunami).At least I know our clothes won’t be wrinkled, because yesterday I used a 20% off Bed, Bath & Beyond coupon to pick up one of these bad boys: Read more…
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.
After dinner, mingling, and other wedding-reception-type-things, it was time for cake.
When we started planning our wedding I saw a picture of a cake buffet and fell in love. I wanted a cake buffet. I loved the look and also liked that it meant that we could have several cake flavors. 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!
You may recall that we sent out a few wedding invitations a little early. We sent one to the President, one to the Pope, one to Disneyland, and one to Disney World (addresses available here). We received a very prompt response from Cinderella and Prince Charming at Disney World, but we were still waiting on the other three. Well, Hive, I have good news and bad news.
The good news: We got a response from Disneyland!
The bad news: They got my name wrong!
Our invitations (to be revealed at a later date) list our full names: Julia Elizabeth Lioness and David Alexander Lion. I was very excited to receive a package in the mail from Disneyland, but I became a little concerned when I noticed that it was addressed to “Elizabeth Lioness and David Lion.” Maybe that’s just the address label. Maybe the actual response inside will be addressed correctly, right? Wrong. I opened the envelope to find a black and white photograph of Mickey and Minnie with “Elizabeth and David” written in Sharpie.
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.
As “wedding season” starts to slow down in the Northern Hemisphere, it is only just beginning for those of us in the South. Which means, of course, multiple weddings to attend and find cards and gifts for. It is the cards that have got me all inspired this year. I have a weakness for beautifully crafted stationery of any sort, and if it wasn’t for the bazillion projects I’m doing already for our own wedding, I would jump at the chance to create something fun and unique. Alas, I’m too lazy to do that, so my current go-to place for good wedding cards for guests to give is, of course, Etsy.
From funny, to sweet, to formal, or personalised—they’re all there on Etsy. Here are some of my favourites:
This one is perfect for a funky bride & groom. Love the cut-out style!
Mrs. Labrador Retriever, Athens/SavannahAge and Occupation: 24, Student/Sports ReporterFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Physical Therapy Assistant Student/Future Dr. of PT
Engagement Date: December 31, 2008Wedding Date: November 2009Venue: Whitfield Square/Savannah StationAbout Me: I'm working on my second degree from UGA (Go Dawgs!). I'm a self-proclaimed attention-w****. If it involves a camera, I'm in front of it! You'll never meet a girlier tomboy than me. I can go toe to toe with any guy on the subject of college football, and lift more than any girl in my gym, all without chipping a nail. I hope to someday be the only person you want delivering your sports news. My FI and I are the loving parents of three Labrador Retrievers (one of each color) and are planning a "Southern Romantic Charm" wedding in the beautiful, historic city of Savannah. I'm not extreme in anything except moderation... and wedding planning.
Right after we danced with our moms, it was time for some special toasts from our two closest friends.
I just broke out these flutes in anticipation of our first anniversary!
My best friend of over a decade and MOH Amanda went first. One year later, I admittedly can’t remember her exact speech, but I do remember feeling all warm and fuzzy while listening to it. Thankfully, we had a videographer. We’ll be receiving our full wedding video soon so I’ll be able to relive those moments that photos alone simply can’t capture. 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!
I don’t know about you, but I would like to test out that theory that more money results in more problems. Scratch that—just give me the money and skip the problems.
I love numbers! Math was my favorite class in school and lead to my finance degree. No matter what my living situation was out of college (with a roommate or on my own) I was always the one to do the bills. When Mr. E moved in he was more than happy to allow me to continue to deal with all of that.
In the beginning Mr. E had an account with another bank, and did not have any checks so he would always take out money for his half of the bills and I would deposit it into mine. This routine got pretty old pretty fast, with the all the trips to the bank, so I suggested that he get an account at my bank so we could transfer money online. Well as luck would have it, my bank purchased his, so new bank account it was! At this point we had the big talk on how we wanted to set up our finances.
I don’t know why, but I wasn’t ready to have everything together. 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.
So, here’s the thing about me: I’m kind of no fun.
I used to be. Ten years ago, I was the kind of girl who could go out dancing all night, who could keep up with the guys doing tequila shots, who was always up for a ragin’ party any day of the week. Now? I basically refuse to leave the house on weeknights. On weekends, I’m usually asleep on the couch by 11:30 while Mr. S watches DVDs. I can drink two beers, not even get drunk, and be hungover the next morning. I’m 35, y’all. I’m getting old.
What does this have to do with weddings, you ask? Nothing, really. But it has to do with the bachelorette party.
Under no circumstances do I want my bachelorette party to look like this:
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