Mrs. Cardigan, Austin
Age and Occupation: 21, Student/Soon-to-be Special Education Teacher
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 20, Student/Soon-to-be Accounting Systems Analyst
Engagement Date: August 16, 2009
Wedding Date: January 2011
Venue: Vintage Villas
About 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!
Y’all, I have a life stalker.
We’ve never met, but she’s been following me around for as long as I can remember. I’ve mentioned before that I have an unusual last name…well this girl lives in Austin and just so happens to have the same name as I do. First and last.
She first started stalking me when I was about 14 years old. She must be at least somewhat older than me, because she had bad credit back then, and I was constantly getting calls from credit card collectors looking for payments. My parents frequently had to field these calls and let them know that, no, I was not the person they were looking for and that I was only 14 and had never had a credit card before.
Now, that was annoying and it lasted a few years, but it wasn’t a huge deal. A few calls here and there, whatever. I had all but forgotten about her until Mr. Cardigan and I got engaged.
Guess what?
Read more…
Ms. Cheetah, Los Angeles/Palm Springs
Age and Occupation: 31, Artist, Educator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 32, TV Finance
Engagement Date: April 2010
Wedding Date: March 2011
Venue: The Viceroy
About 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!
My go-to holiday gift for newlyweds that celebrate Christmas is a personalized ornament for their tree:
source
Engraved frames complete with a wedding photo are always a favorite:
Read more…
Beehive
Feature Launched: Aug 31, 2006
About: A forum for readers to post questions and get feedback from the hive, aka the weddingbee community.
December 27th, 2010 @ 11:33 am by Beehive
We’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading real Weddingbee brides’ experiences with their vendors via the Weddingbee Vendors section! A while back, we launched Featured Reviews from the Hive, a new feature that allows you to share your favorite vendors right here on the front page! We’ve loved all of the great vendor reviews coming at us.
Currently, we’re regularly featuring your favorite vendor reviews that you write and submit to us. Every Friday we’ll randomly select a featured reviewer that week to win a prize from our Weddingbee Favors Shop!
This week’s prize makes a great gift for your bridesmaids (or splurge for yourself!): the “Little Black Purse” Patent-Leather Five-Piece Manicure Set.
If you’re a recent bride and you’d like to participate for a chance to win every week, simply review your favorite vendors on Weddingbee and follow the easy instructions to submit your review here. We look forward to seeing your wedding pictures featured on the blog! 
Mrs. Cinnamon Bun, Calgary, Alberta
Age and Occupation: 26, Stage Manager
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Theatre Technician
Engagement Date: June 22, 2010
Wedding Date: June 2011
Venue: Calgary Opera Centre
About Me: I'm a life-long crafter and bookworm living in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. Some of my loves include Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes, knitting, opera, musicals, Etsy, baking, and of course, Mr. Cinnamon Buns. We're keeping our wedding close to home---the venue isn't very far from our house, and we live within walking distance of 6 bridal salons. I'm using the wedding as an excuse to try out every craft project I possibly can, with the endless help and support of my fiance.
How cute would these rings be for when we take photos with the bridal party?
Read more…
Featured on Weddingbee
“Make an elegant invitation statement without the fuss. Stylish invitation sets with matching envelopes, reception and response cards included.”
Featured Product: Laura Ashley Delicate Damask Invitation
Mrs. Jam, Chicago
Age and Occupation: 25, Writer/Associate Wedding Coordinator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Structural Engineer
Engagement Date: December 23, 2009
Wedding Date: June 2011
Venue: Hunter’s Ridge, Princeton, IL
About 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.
December 27th, 2010 @ 10:42 am by Mrs. Jam
OK, not really. Obviously if someone tried to force me into a bedazzled and crinolined long-sleeved monstrosity, I would at least mutter some form of protest. But don’t you just love how sometimes your friends and family know you better than you know yourself?
Let me take you back to an e-mail I received a few months ago from my great friend, college roommate, bridesmaids-in-each-other’s-weddings, Trixi:
Seriously so cute…and so cheap. I’m not even a fan of David’s [Bridal] but I saw this and thought…you.
And below her message was a link to this dress (which I can post because Mr. Jam has seen the photo and loves):
Read more…
Mrs. Waffle, Austin
Age and Occupation: 31, Costumer/Artist
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Animator
Engagement Date: July 27, 2010
Wedding Date: June 2011
Venue: Hummingbird House
About 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!
Yet another wedding-decor collection by yours truly…
So far, I have collections of fabric, mementos, jars, and vases. There’s one more to add to the list. Bells.
Please excuse my messy desk.
Read more…
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
Mrs. Ostrich, San Francisco/Hawaii
Age and Occupation: 30, Fashion Buyer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 38, Copywriter
Engagement Date: October 4, 2009
Wedding Date: April 2011
Venue: Sweet ceremony by the sea and sunset celebration on the North Shore of Hawaii
About Me: Born in the city of angels and residing in the city by the bay, I’m a fearless fashion buyer by day, a passionate blog author by night and a dreamy bride-to-be in between. I thank my lucky stars to live in such a stunning city that gives me gifts like organic honey lavender ice cream, movie nights in the park, tucked away beaches, legendary record stores, '80s dance parties, awesome sports teams, stellar flea markets, and vintage bookshops. Oh, and I love to dance! We always find every excuse to escape to the beach, and decided a little seaside wedding in Hawaii is our idea of bliss. Full of our favorite people, music, food and sparkly lights, this is one sunset celebration we will always remember.
“Every once in awhile, a girl has to indulge herself.” - Carrie Bradshaw
{source}
One of the perks of being a bride is that you make up the rules to your wedding. Who said Emily Post has to run the show?
For the Ostrich wedding, we went wild making up our “new rules.” {Cue Bill Maher!} One of the first?
I get to have a 2nd dress.
Read more…
Mrs. Prairie Dog, Cincinnati
Age and Occupation: 24, Program Coordinator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, PhD/Biomedical Engineer
Engagement Date: December 18, 2009
Wedding Date: May 2011
Venue: Glendale Lyceum
About 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."
In my occasional board lurking, I’ve noticed some discussion of how soon is too soon to get engaged. Personally, I don’t see relationships as measured by units of time so much as the types of experiences you go through together. There is one thing that I think gets glossed over in the discussion of relationship quality, and this is it: you can hide your crazy for a really, really long time in a relationship.
I mean…that is a lot of what happens in dating at first, at least for me. I tried to reign in my idiosyncrasies in an attempt seem normal for as long as possible. Back then, Mr. PD never saw me in a cranky mood or in anything but a cute and date-appropriate outfit. It’s not that I wasn’t being myself; I was just getting to know him. Soon enough, I got a terrible cold, and he was introduced to my “big whiny baby” approach to health care. After that, my quirks trickled out steadily, and now all of my weirdness has unfurled in full glory.
He did the same thing. And although he is freakishly sweet and thoughtful, Mr. PD was a brand new person to me the first time we were stuck in traffic when he was really hungry.YIKES.
So, here are the top 10 crappy experiences—in no particular order of crapitude—that I think change and mature a relationship. Or, at the very least, bring out true colors.
Read more…
Mrs. Glasses, Tokyo/Los Angeles, CA
Age and Occupation: 24, English teacher
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, English teacher
Engagement Date: September 2008
Wedding Date: October 2010
Venue: Parents' backyard
About 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!
We got off to a rocky start with our ceremony; lots of things were going wrong, including missing guests, yours truly almost face planting down the aisle, and Poppa G’s crazy antics. BIL, our officiant, started our ceremony with an introduction and a brief reading, then introduced each reader. Neither of us is deeply religious but we wanted to give a nod to our upbringings and backgrounds; we had Bible readings, Buddhist readings, a Shinto ceremony, and atheist selections.
BFF Trojan, our videographer, took time away from the camera to read 1 Corinthians 13:4.
BFF Cano read the ever popular “Union” by Robert Fulghum.
BFF Becky and Erika compiled Buddhist thoughts on love and marriage.
Read more…
Mrs. Tartlet, Rochester, MI
Age and Occupation: Age & Occupation: 27, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Medical Student
Engagement Date: May 2, 2009
Wedding Date: May 2011
Venue: The Royal Park Hotel
About Me: I'm an exuberant gal from the Midwest with a penchant for Neuroscience and anything sparkly. I'm not afraid to poke fun at myself, and I'm a believer that given the right pair of shoes, a girl can conquer the world. While an interest in the sciences threw Mr. Tartlet and me together (again, and again, until it finally stuck), we share a love for many things---food, video games, car dancing, food, bad puns, travel, did I mention food?---that ultimately led us to where we are now, less than five months from becoming Mr. and Mrs. We're planning a laid-back, romantic, garden-inspired affair with organic and quirky touches that reflect our love for the unexpected!
“Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon.”
- Winnie the Pooh
(source)
Read more…
Mrs. Pancakes, New York/Costa Rica
Age and Occupation: 26, Law School Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Latin American Policy Analyst
Engagement Date: March 12, 2010
Wedding Date: May 2011
Venue: Casa Punto de Vista
About Me: I’m a perfectionist with a big heart. I love a good laugh and firmly believe no one has ever regretted being prepared! My motto is “go big or go home.” I am incapable of doing anything in moderation, especially when it comes to shopping, TV, food and travel, and some would say wedding planning! The other half of this nearlywed team is a laid-back, adventure-loving, accident prone, sweetie from LA. He makes me laugh, is always down for an impromptu dance party, and totally indulges most of my hare-brained schemes. Now, in my final year of law school, we’ll be spending the spring abroad in Amsterdam and planning a DIY, whimsical, detail-filled destination wedding in Costa Rica!
I am so torn about bridesmaids’ dresses. I am having a fairly large bridal party because no one told me about the 50:1 (guests: bridesmaid) rule. Under this rule, I should only have one, possibly two bridesmaids. I have SIX! That being said, I have no idea how to dress them for the big day. I kind of miss the days of mandatory matching bridesmaids’ dresses! There are SOOO many options.
1. The traditional matching dresses (I LOVE THESE!)
{source}
Read more…
Mrs. Giraffe, Chicago
Age and Occupation: 23, Graphic Designer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Music Student Teacher
Engagement Date: October 23, 2008
Wedding Date: May 2011
Venue: Trinity Lutheran Church & Idlewild Country Club
About 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!
I know I owe you guys photos of our finished STDs (which I can’t wait to share), but you’ll have to hold off a little bit longer…until I can find my missing camera cord. 
I got an email yesterday from David’s announcing that they had new styles available. I personally had a fantastic David’s experience, but from what I gather it really depends on what store you go to. Either way, I plan on talking about it a lot more after the holidays, so let’s wait until then .
For now, I’d love to share some of these dresses with you guys! I was pleasantly surprised when looking over the 2011 line. There are some very fashion forward dresses and a few that I like quite a bit (but not too much—not more than my dress, of course). If you guys are in the midst of dress shopping (good luck!) and haven’t given up yet (just kidding), you might want to look over a few of these lovelies!
All photos are screen shots from the David’s Bridal website.
Here are my favorites. The entire line can be seen here.
Read more…
Mrs. French Toast, Pleasanton, CA
Age and Occupation: 29, Marketing & PR
Fiance's Age and Occupation: IT geek by day, self-proclaimed handyman by night
Engagement Date: October 2009
Wedding Date: March 2011
Venue: Palm Event Center
About Me: I’m a city girl at heart who moved to the suburbs a year ago. Now I’m adjusting to life with a front lawn, nosy neighbors, cooking attempts, and making sure the garbage pail is pulled out on time every week! When I’m not traveling, Mr. FT and I enjoy marathon sessions of Law & Order: SVU, snowboarding, photography, spoiling our 3-year old yorkie-poodle Mokka and disagreeing over what music to listen to in the car. We’re planning a small winery wedding while incorporating some cultural elements into the day as a nod to our Chinese backgrounds.
I’ll be the first to admit that when I first saw a friend wear Toms on a trip to Bangkok, I thought to myself, “That has got to be the ugliest shoe I’ve ever seen.” Then she explained to me the One-for-One mission, where for every pair of Toms purchased, another pair is donated to a child in need. Apparently those were also the most comfortable pair of shoes she’s ever owned and perfect for traveling because they’re lightweight and thin.
source
Read more…
Weddingbee Gallery
Feature Launched: April 10, 2009
About: A collection of inspirational wedding pictures from readers and bees.
shesaidalbino and her boyfriend kiss moments before he proposed to her!
Keep on loading your inspirational wedding pics to the Weddingbee Gallery to see them featured here on the blog! Remember, your images must be under 1MB in size, or they won’t load.
If your photo is featured as the Gallery of the Day, you’re eligible for a special Weddingbee badge for your blog or website! Check out instructions on how to grab the badge here!
Beehive
Feature Launched: Aug 31, 2006
About: A forum for readers to post questions and get feedback from the hive, aka the weddingbee community.
December 25th, 2010 @ 1:00 pm by Beehive
We’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading real Weddingbee brides’ experiences with their vendors via the Weddingbee Vendors section! A while back, we launched Featured Reviews from the Hive, a new feature that allows you to share your favorite vendors right here on the front page! We’ve loved all of the great vendor reviews coming at us.
Currently, we’re regularly featuring your favorite vendor reviews that you write and submit to us. Every weekend we’ll randomly select a featured reviewer that week to win a prize from our Weddingbee Favors Shop!
This week’s winner of the Monogram Purse Valet is eupenmalmody for her wedding coordinator, Proud To Plan!
Stay tuned on Monday for next week’s prize announcement!
If you’re a recent bride and you’d like to participate for a chance to win every week, simply review your favorite vendors on Weddingbee and follow the easy instructions to submit your review here. We look forward to seeing your wedding pictures featured on the blog!
