Weddingbee Blog

Alright, I have a not-so-secret-secret. I haven’t changed much in the last decade or so. 

See what I mean?

Maybe I was a little less jaded-by-the-world, a little more emotionally distraught (hormones!), and a lot more egotistical (valedictorian is a title much too easy to get in high school, especially since college is waiting on the other side to slap you right upside your puffed-up head). But essentially, I’m the same type of person I was back then.

In fact, the Sewing in high school looked a little like this:

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As we approach the 100-day mark, we need to start hammering out some of the details—like the ceremony. You know, just the little thing that actually makes us married. Thankfully, we figured out who would be performing the ceremony at the beginning of our planning.

Who else thinks of this guy when you hear the phrase “wedding officiant”?

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My favorite post thus far is one about working on our relationship. Mr. Hot Wings and I really work hard at our relationship. We define our relationship by the choice we have made to be together and we choose to work on making it work. The sessions that I discussed in this post have helped to define us as a couple and gave us a lot of material for our wedding ceremony. So, while the wedding planning process is mostly to plan an event, we sometimes forget that relationships don’t stop needing to be cared for. Relationships are delicate and need to be nurtured. Partners need to be heard and feel needed. Work as it may be, it honestly is very rewarding, too! So I want to re-share this post in honor of the continued work that engaged couples must commit to on top of the wedding planning itself.

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* Learning to be a team for Halloween 2007 *

OK that picture is just silly. We Hot Wings dressed as Ninjas to fight GM Wingman B dressed as a pirate. It’s the best I could come with for this post.

Anyways, I’ve mentioned how much Mr. Hot Wings and I believe in working on our relationship. We actually began officially “working” on it years ago. After being together for almost 2 years, we hit our first big rough patch in our relationship. We considered going to couple’s counseling then decided against it because some of our problems at the time had to do with our inter-cultural and inter-racial relationship.
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I think I read every single Bee’s Life post before I applied to write for Weddingbee. I’m so excited to write my own! Here goes:

How did I find Weddingbee?

Shortly after getting engaged, a recently married co-worker suggesting I check out Weddingbee. She said of all the wedding websites, Weddingbee was her favorite as it followed real brides on real budgets. I had never heard of the website, but checked it out and was immediately hooked. I browsed the boards a bit, but mostly followed along as the bee bloggers chronicled their wedding planning. I was definitely more of the lurker, reading along regularly but rarely commenting.

My Application Story
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This is my favorite post because it sums up the happiest day of my life so perfectly. Every time I watch it I feel like I am in the Cayman Islands again, saying “I do” to Mr. Kitten. I treasure this little three minute video!

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I’m so excited to share the Kitten Wedding Movie Trailer with y’all!

So, without further ado…

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Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Jaguars are planning a traditional wedding—I’ve put it out there enough for the entire universe to know that by now, right? That being said, one of the best things about having the Internet (and the hive!) at your disposal is being able to incorporate more modern aspects of wedding planning into your day, no matter what its theme. Modern, snazzy things make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Unfortunately for us, they just don’t seem to be fitting in well with our wedding. I’m finding myself coming up against quite a few roadblocks when discussing planning with some of the key members of our family—particularly my future in-laws. Here are a few options that have been shot down in flames so far:

Save The Dates - What’s the point? Mr. Jaguar’s parents thought I was hilarious for mentioning these and actually laughed at a sample magnet I had made up and stuck proudly on our refrigerator door in our apartment. They’ve indicated that they have already told most family members on their side to keep the date free, so why bother sending cards?

Videographer - Apparently this is something that is a big etiquette no-no for the Jaguar-In-Laws. Their reasoning was that they’ve seen them used in other cousins’ weddings where they bothered the older guests, got in the way, and made people uncomfortable. This is the first I’ve head of this happening—but they’re really adamant that people will be less than impressed to have a professional filming the wedding for us.
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OctPumpkin is selling eight Fenton hobnail milk glass planters. They’re asking $10 each.

Have a wedding item for sale? Post it with pictures in the Weddingbee Classifieds, and you might see it featured on the blog!

Other great items for sale:
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In my excited quest to dig up pictures and objects for our memory jars and guestbook project, I failed to keep one thing in mind. Cleaning up afterwards. The pictures can go back into the photo albums. No problem. Where was I going to put all these memory objects, though?

I don’t have our jars yet and probably won’t have them for a few months. Uh oh.

*cue bride downward spiral*
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It’s a nice feeling knowing that our guys will be wearing more than just ties!

Mr. E rounded up Brother E and me this past Saturday and headed over to Men’s Warehouse to pick out tuxes for the wedding. Since his groomsmen are scattered across Texas and Louisiana, Mr. E decided to go the easiest route for everyone. Our trip to Men’s Warehouse was quick and painless (guys have it so easy!), and we were lucky enough to get Mr. E, my brother, and my dad (who met us at the store) measured and in the system. Three down and four guys to go!

Mr. E selected the black Kenneth Cole tux with two buttons, white shirts, and various vest patterns. We held up the ties to get a visual. Mr. E will rock the white vest with his blue and green striped tie.

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So much hard work and planning went into our wedding day, but at the end of the day, after the personalized cocktail napkins and cake flags were all but forgotten, the most important thing to us was that our guests had FUN. Seeing everyone having a fabulous time on the dance floor was the most amazing feeling on top of the just-married-high that was running through our veins. I had so much fun putting this recap post together, and I still smile and giggle every time I read it. It was hard to narrow down the photos because our photographers captured so many amazing dancing moments, and we’re so lucky to be able to treasure those moments forever.

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All photos below by The Wiebners. We purchased a disc of all unedited images from our wedding day, so some post-processing has been done by me for the purpose of sharing the photos with you. Click on any photo to enlarge.

I know you readers often hear apologies from us bees for falling off of the face of the Weddingbee earth for a period of time… I never thought it would take me over 3 months to get back on the recap bandwagon, but now I totally understand how it happens!
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Oh? What’s that? You thought my last recap about our Sunday-after luncheon was my last post? No way! I’ve still got a couple more things to share before I say goodbye, and I wouldn’t leave you all without a proper farewell post!

I wanted to share with you our “behind the scenes” wedding video. One of my good friends, who couldn’t make it to our wedding, put this together for us and gave it to me last week as a surprise. He does video editing as a hobby, and he took bits and pieces of video that several of our guests filmed and created a mash-up video.

I’m calling this a behind-the-scenes video because it’s definitely not a wedding video. All of the (bumpy and grainy) filming was done by amateurs on low-quality cameras, and because my friend who edited it only had a small selection of video to work with, there’s no real timeline flow. And our guests, not being pros, filmed things more like flies on a wall, so the footage my friend had to work with was really random.
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I really like to personalize stuff for around my house, but uh…I have a really short attention span. I get in a craft mood, and I have to strike while the glue gun is hot. Or the mood will pass, and the project will wind up in the crate of abandonment, along with the other dregs of failed crafts. Also, I get frustrated if it’s too hard, so the project has to be easy enough to complete while watching TV.

Therefore, all of my projects are one night stands. I gather supplies, I craft like a madwoman, and I’m done by the stroke of midnight. Project, done. I accomplish this by taking all sorts of shortcuts. Does this yield shoddier projects? Why yes it does. But nobody is grading me…and for wedding stuff, they’ll need to last for less than one day.

The main shortcut is to use instant adhesives. Glue gun. Glue stick. Tape. Oh, and also: staple gun.

So, the first project. Easy-as-pie banners that look something like this:

I’m definitely making bunting banners for our wedding. They’re awesome for candy buffets, head tables, bridal showers, you name it.
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Tucked away in the dressing room, Kimono Dresser H, a troupe of Polynesian dancers, and I began the changing process. Yes, I was really worried about the dancers’ next-door party at first, but either we were louder or the soundproofing was good because I couldn’t even tell they were there.

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It’s hard to say which post is my “favorite” of all of my time blogging for the hive, so I chose the one that made me feel the most loved and supported by all of the women who followed along on my journey. After my bridal portraits, I had a bit of a freak out because of my weight, ill-fitting dress and hair/makeup combo. Looking back, I was definitely being a bridezilla, as none of it was that bad. The weight I was wasn’t bad, the dress was re-altered, and the hair/makeup was changed for the big day.

I was hesitant to even write the post because I thought that everyone would just think I was whiny, pain in the ass (and I’m sure many did), but it really helped me to not be my own worst critic by hearing all of the encouraging and supportive comments, which is why I wanted to be a part of Weddingbee all along—for the camaraderie among all of us, as we plan one of the most important events of our lives.

And, today, looking back, I really see how ridiculous I was. After two years of marriage, and a lot of “love” weight, Mr. H and I both see our wedding pics and think, “man, we were so much skinnier!”

Especially these days, as we prepare (and eat) for our new little project, Baby H.

{Baby H, due 12/31/10 - Photography by our faves, Perez Photography}

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Yesterday I received my bridal portraits from the photographer. He did an incredible job with the photos and I couldn’t ask for a better photographer. His subject, however, I was completely upset with. That subject = me.

Last minute I decided to wear my hair down, a good decision, but I wore it curly, which is completely unnatural for me. My makeup, which I told the artist to make smoky eyes, began to smear a bit with the heat and it was just way too much. Basically, I think I wanted to be a little more glamorous then I really needed to be.

The dress, which I have been fighting with for a while, just didn’t photograph on me like I would have liked and my qualms about it in general are now more prevalent then ever.
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On the same day that we got our engagement photos back from our photographer, I got an email from Groupon for a $10 photo book from Shutterfly. It seemed like kismet to me. Up until then, I had no idea what to do for a wedding guestbook, but the idea fell in my lap, so I went for it.

Our $10 guest book arrived today, and it’s rad!

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