Mrs. Husky, DenverAge and Occupation: 26, Systems AdministratorFiance's Age and Occupation: 32, Mechanical Engineer, recently laid offEngagement Date: August 14, 2009Wedding Date: October 2010Venue: Rancho San CarlosAbout Me: I am planning a quirky-crafty wedding with my recently out-of-work fiancé for a (fingers crossed!) warm October afternoon. We are two self-professed nerds with an affinity for all things outdoors---be it rain, snow or shine. Recently relocated from the drizzly Northwest, we're enjoying the many sun-soaked days in the mile high city. Our day will be filled with both of our large families and friends, a self-served Cajun feast, and a Zydeco-style jazz band rocking beneath the beams of a historic red barn.
As I attempted to show in my ceremony layout diagram, the tree was the starting point, so our aisle walk went from behind the tree, around the platform, and then to the top of the aisle. The walk down the aisle itself was quite short, but getting there took a bit longer. I made my way around the platform, and continued my walk down the aisle: 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.
The good news: After two solid months of hardcore Weight Watchers, I am down almost 20 pounds! I still don’t see a difference when I look in the mirror, but I’m able to fit into some clothes that I’d outgrown this past year, and other people are beginning to notice. It’s nice to see that my hard work is paying off!
Mrs. Dolphin, Gainesville, FLAge and Occupation: 24, Graduate Architecture StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Interactive Interface DeveloperEngagement Date: February 14, 2008Wedding Date: May 2010Venue: Plantation Bay Country ClubAbout Me: I’m currently a Graduate Student at the University of Florida studying Architecture. I enjoy playing Scrabble with my Fiance, rooting for the Florida Gators, making any drink that involves a blender, cleaning (yes... I’m crazy), design... GOOD design that is, the new Pepsi with natural sugar, taking pictures, discovering new places in the U.S., and obsessing over doing (and designing) everything myself for our upcoming wedding!
This Christmas will be very special for us this year because it will be our first Christmas as a married couple. Hooray! With that in mind, this past weekend we unpacked our holiday decor, turned up the Christmas tunes, put on our Santa hats, and got our camera set up for our annual Christmas tree video. Annual is a relatively new revelation. We had so much fun making the video last year, we thought we’d try our hand at it again with a few changes. But, enough of my yappin’, why don’t you see for yourself?
The video was shot with Mr. Dolphin’s Nikon D60 with a fish eye lens he received for Christmas last year from my parents. My favorite part is the ending…I love it. It makes me smile, smile, smile. Read more…
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.
Check out that brooch! Isn’t she pretty? I love love love this cake. It’s gorgeous and it’s what I want ours to look like. Exactly. Well, except the flowers on top. I don’t think we need them.
If we can’t have that cake, I’ll settle for one like any of these: Read more…
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!
Grabbing my bouquet, which was handily tied up with our charm ribbons by DOC Maria, I took to the dance floor as Shakira’s “She Wolf” started piping through the speakers.
It was bouquet pull time.
I was a little worried that people wouldn’t understand my nontraditional concept, but our emcee gave very clear directions of, “Grab a ribbon and when I count to three, pull it! The ribbon attached to the bouquet wins!” Read more…
ClassifiedsFeature Launched: April 30, 2008About: A roundup of the best Weddingbee Classified listings.
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).
Mama Hippo recently dug out some old pictures for my “Then and Now” post, and in addition to the embarrassingly awkward high school pictures, she sent along some pictures of me and Sister Hippo as kids. It made me realize that I haven’t told you all about Sister Hippo, aka MOH Hippo. How cute is she?!???
Just in case it’s not clear, Sister Hippo is the one looking completely adorable in that photo; I’m the one that looks like a frightened mole. Read more…
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!
You guys know I’vetalkedalotaboutSTDs and you know that this was a decision that was crazy hard for me to make. Luckily, even though I changed my mind a million times, I made sure to save everything to share my crazy process with you all! So be on the look out for the Giraffe STD saga!
Where we left off, I had designed this STD because I didn’t think we’d be able to have photo STDs which I had previously fell in love with. Well, our amazing photogs came through and delivered our wonderful e pics.
Receiving our e photos was a wonderful surprise and I love them, but it threw me for a loop! We had finally decided on a design and then all of the sudden we HAD to go back and use one of our photos to make in to a STD magnet. Yup, that magnet idea just stuck with me and I couldn’t let it go!
Okay, we spent a very long time working on a magnet idea. 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!
Warning: Prepare yourself for possible music overload!
Once the ceremony music was nailed down, we moved onto the reception music. We’ll be kicking it off with the bridal party dancing in to Brother E’s favorite song, It Takes Two by Rob Base. (It’s even his ringtone on my iPhone when he calls!)
Mr. E and I will relive our first concert with an entrance to a little Fall Out Boy. It’s not your normal entrance song, but it means something to us and we can’t wait to rock out a little.
Mrs. Lovebird, New York/CancunAge and Occupation: 25, AttorneyFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Medical StudentEngagement Date: September 22, 2006Wedding Date: July, 2008Venue: Dreams Cancun Resort & SpaAbout Me: Born and raised New Yorker planning a destination wedding in Cancun, Mexico. Got proposed to in Cancun, so it’s only fitting we are going back to get married. I love trivia, board games, bargain shopping, asian dramas and eating yummy food!
I only have a limited amount of pictures from high school, as the majority of them are buried somewhere in my parents’ house, so I will have to make due with the few I had on hand. I’ve mentioned countless times in the past that Mr. Lovebird and I attended the same high school and that all of our groomsmen were our high school classmates. We were all part of the class often referred to as “Stuy2K.”
Here I am with GM Oliver at our prom, and no, he was not my date.
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.
As you might recall, I have an amazing boss, JB. However, what she did for Mr. K and me last week goes way beyond amazing. Very sadly JB’s father passed away last week and she decided that despite her exhaustion and grief she would still throw the cocktail party she had been planning in our honour the very next day. To say that I was touched is a huge understatement.
The party was really wonderful. JB hosted it in her gorgeous home that is decorated to perfection and full of art. I may or may not be very jealous of her home. She made it even more party ready by filling the ceiling with white and silver balloons and having lots of candlelight (which I heart big time).
Here’s a look at the setting (keeping in mind these guest photos don’t do it justice):
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!
You’re probably wondering what I’m going on about, since I’ve been posting every couple of days since my introduction back at the end of September. Well you see, I’ve actually been away from my computer for the past two months. Wait, what? Eh? Let me try to explain myself.
My little blogging blurb mentions that I’ve been living in the UK but am getting married in Sydney, hence the semi-destination planning that’s been happening for the last eighteen months. I hinted in my early days about gathering inspiration from Europe, and then followed up with a post about the pre-wedding-moon that Mr. Jaguar and I had planned on our way home back to Australia. What I didn’t mention at the time, was that all of those travels were happening then and there, as we spoke. I’ve been away travelling since October.
Yep, I’d just received my acceptance letter about blogging for the ‘Bee, and I was due to head off the following week—what’s a girl to do? Well, this girl blogged. And blogged. And blogged.
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!
I wasn’t sure whether or not I wanted to jump on the bandwagon with this bee series. I live in Atlanta and I’ve spent a lot of time in Boston, but I wouldn’t really consider either my hometown. I grew up in South Florida, but I wouldn’t know what to write about because I haven’t lived there in years! So, I decided to focus on a place where I’ve spent a lot of time in my life: Walt Disney World. Here’s the catch: we’re not gonna set foot inside the parks!
Obviously, I love the parks. But one of the great things about Disney is that the magic doesn’t end at Space Mountain and ice cream bars. Resort-hopping is one of my favorite things to do at Disney because it allows you to be immersed in the magic without having to deal with the crowds. Best of all, the resorts are all about the details falling into place under a broader theme…sound familiar? Let’s start with my personal favorite, shall we? Read more…
BeehiveFeature Launched: Aug 31, 2006About: A forum for readers to post questions and get feedback from the hive, aka the weddingbee community.
All place card holders are 10% off in the Weddingbee Favors Shop right now! Score the perfect complementary place cards for your wedding theme and colors and save for 3 days only! Check out a few of our faves:
Mrs. Jam, ChicagoAge and Occupation: 25, Writer/Associate Wedding CoordinatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Structural EngineerEngagement Date: December 23, 2009Wedding Date: June 2011Venue: Hunter’s Ridge, Princeton, ILAbout Me: I’m a penny-pinching cat lady getting ready to marry the frugal dog lover of my dreams. Our ideal Saturday morning includes rummaging around people’s junk at garage and estate sales followed by an afternoon date to our favorite café, where we only eat sandwiches that include the word “salad.” We actually love it so much, it’s sort of our unofficial wedding theme: Look at our delicious finds, eat homemade ham salad, and celebrate our love…barndance style. When we’re not obsessing over our love-fest shindig, we’re planning themed parties for our best friends and jamming to '90s music.
So begins the cold, snowy, icy, expensive Venue Hunt of 2010. I’m sure by now you know we are living in Chicago, but we drove all over God’s green Earth (or so it seemed) to find a decent venue for a small-ish (we were hoping), laid-back wedding. No ordinary banquet hall would do, and we have that strict $10k budget nipping at our heels.
And what were we even looking for in our wedding-day locale? Paying homage to our roots in rural Illinois, we ached for nothing but a country wedding ceremony outside with a rowdy reception inside an old red barn. Renovated, of course. We didn’t want our guests to freeze to death after the sun goes down or, God forbid, step in a cow pie.
And so began my first torrid venue love affair with a big red barn, hours away from my hometown.
Let’s start with my personal favorite, shall we?
