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.
Mr. S and I never intended on giving favors to our guests.
First of all, I find that most people never even take the favors. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen favors left behind on the table after the guests leave a wedding. Secondly, with all of the time, energy and money we’re spending on other wedding-related tasks, we just didn’t have it in us to take on another project. We figured that we’d just make a donation in lieu of favors and that was that.
Well, we still plan on making a donation, but guess what? We’ve changed our minds (surprise, surprise) and will be giving out favors, too!
But here’s the thing: they’re super cheap, and super easy. Cheap as in a mere fifty cents per favor. And easy as in all we need to do once we get them is put them on a table.
Mrs. Eggs Benedict, SeattleAge and Occupation: 29, AttorneyFiance's Age and Occupation: 35, AttorneyEngagement Date: December 5, 2009Wedding Date: February 2011Venue: IslandWoodAbout Me: I'm a Northwest girl who spends my time goofing around with Mr. Eggs Benedict and our dog, hiking, traveling, drinking wine and planning a wedding that will showcase the best of what the Pacific Northwest has to offer. I also love photography, beating Mr. Eggs Bene at Mario Kart, and watching the most ridiculous natural disaster flicks you can think of (seriously, how can you deny the awesomeness that is The Core or 2012?? That's right, you can't). We are planning our weekend wedding adventure at an environmental educational center, and I can't wait for the fun to begin!
It’s no secret that Mr. EB and I like wine. What you might not know is that our love of wine (and going to visit wineries and wine-tasting and really all things wine) comes from my dad. He’s the one that introduced me to wine and taught me to appreciate and savor a glass of wine. He also taught me how a glass can (and does) affect the taste and smell of wine. (Seriously, if you ever want to be sold on why you should buy certain types of glassware, my dad has the glass tasting presentation down pat.) When Mr. EB and I met, he joined in on the wine fun, and now he knows more about the varieties that we drink than I do.
Mrs. Hermit Crab, New York, NYAge and Occupation: 24, Youth Director soon to be Grad StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Medical Student - soon to be Surgery ResidentEngagement Date: October 11, 2008Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: New York Botanical GardenAbout Me: I love all things food, books, our furbaby, Rashi, and adventures with my amazing fiance (oh, and saving the world!). This summer I will not only be a bride, but a bridesmaid, officiant, and attendee as well---it's all about weddings in my life right now, full of so many exciting moments and projects. We're planning a fab New York City wedding weekend full of family, love and lots of color!
I woke up bright and early on Sunday morning—5AM, to be exact! My alarm was set for 5:30 AM so I used that time to relax a little. After a quick shower, our hairdresser and makeup artist arrived to beautify my mom and me! We did not have professional photographers on hand at this point, so my wonderful friends took a few pictures (after they ran out at 6 AM to get bagels and Starbucks—yes, they literally are the best ever).
First, I had my hair set in rollers while I had my makeup done.
Mrs. Lox, BaltimoreAge and Occupation: 33, Government WorkerFiance's Age and Occupation: 35. IT ConsultantEngagement Date: May 8, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Vandiver InnAbout Me: I’m an East Coast gal born and bred and a suburban brat turned city rat for the last year. Now Mr. Lox and I enjoy walking all kinds of places, having the coolest things around in our backyard, and especially our garage parking. I love gadgets, toys, Ben & Jerry’s Chubby Hubby ice cream, monkeys, and our insane cats. I’m a blonde by birth and a redhead by choice. I’m that girl in the cubicle farm with all the cool toys and the file cabinet covered in magnetic poetry. I still use smiley faces in my emails, whether people like it or not. This is not the first rodeo for Mr. Lox nor me. And together, we are planning an intimate afternoon wedding on a budget we can afford by ourselves.
Mrs. Cardigan, AustinAge and Occupation: 21, Student/Soon-to-be Special Education TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 20, Student/Soon-to-be Accounting Systems AnalystEngagement Date: August 16, 2009Wedding Date: January 2011Venue: Vintage VillasAbout 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!
I’ve missed you so much! Mr. Cardy and I rolled in from our honeymoon at about 10:00 on Sunday night and I was already DYING to write this post, but I had to force myself to wait until I had at least some sort of photo evidence that the day happened.
I mean, I couldn’t come back here and tell you guys I was married but not share any photos at all, right?! I don’t have pro photos yet, but we got our photo booth pictures back, so I at least have something to share!
The wedding was beautiful, and even better that I had envisioned it. The honeymoon was absolutely fabulous, and the best surprise I’ve ever received.
There is so much to share, from the crazy week before the wedding all the way through the wonderful honeymoon, but for now I’ll just leave you with a quick teaser and a promise to be back soon.
Mrs. Penguin, Northern CaliforniaAge and Occupation: 27, Weddingbee Editor in ChiefFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Doctor of Physical TherapyEngagement Date: January 29, 2007Wedding Date: June 7, 2008Blogging Since: September 14, 2007Venue: Winery in the Gold CountryAbout Me: I love the Spice Girls, dogs with underbites, bean burritos, making messes, high fives, avoiding showers, crossword puzzles, blogs, weddings, and blogs about weddings!
In case you glaze over it, let me remind you that Miss Biscuit’s cat’s name is Tobias N. Fünkat. I hope all you nevernude fans out there caught that. Please join me this Friday in welcoming Miss Biscuit to the hive!
Miss Biscuit, Morgantown, WV
Age & Occupation: 24, Dental Student Fiance’s Age & Occupation: 26, Chemist at a pharmaceutical company Engagement Date: April 2010 Wedding Date: July 2011 Venue: Catholic Church, Lakeview Golf Resort and Spa About Me: I’m an engineer who decided to trek back to my hometown three years ago to become skilled in the arts of drilling and filling. I’m engaged to a pretty awesome guy who tests your assorted benzodiazepines by day and home brews by night. Together we have two fur children, Tsali and Tobias N. Fünkat. I’m a lazy perfectionist and eternal sorority girl who enjoys running, crafting, string cheese, good beer, and bad reality TV. We are planning a Big Fat Italian/Sicilian/Polish wedding filled with DIY details and are expecting 300 +/- 50 guests. Our whimsical summer affair is themed “Alice attends the Mad Hatter Vintage Garden Tea Party in a Ballroom. She Thinks That The Venue is Odd for a Vintage Garden Party, but is Tripping on LSD, so She Doesn’t Really Care.” Yes, I am the Dickens of themes.
Ms Seahorse, BostonAge and Occupation: 25, Veterinary Jane-of-all-tradesFiancee's Age and Occupation: 36, former non-profit fundraiser in search of something betterEngagement Date: October 17, 2009Wedding Date: September 2010Venue: Fort Pond LodgeAbout Me: By day I'm a cat-wrangler, vet tech assistant, pet-sitter, receptionist, and pre-vet student, but the rest of the time, I'm a former-roller-derby girl turned dedicated-wedding planner. I love reading, writing, bicycles, animals, roller skating, and antique-y things of all sorts. I'm a vegetarian who likes spicy foods, while Fiancee Seahorse is a meat eater who does not like spices. We live outside Boston with our menagerie: a fifty pound dog, a one-eyed, seventeen-toed, toothless cat, and a perfectly put together cat who has a penchant for pooping near rather than in her litter box. In addition to planning our small lake-side wedding, we enjoy running around with the puppy, playing board games (Scrabble, anyone?), having little adventures, talking about how we should really clean the house more, and maintaining our little garden of vegetables and wedding flowers.
Okay, I know we’re all about the weddings, but (as I’ve mentioned once or twice), a whole lot of Wedding Stuff is also Marriage Stuff, so I’d like to take this little bit of the internet to say: my wife is kind of amazing. I have been dealing with some pretty major anxiety for the last couple of weeks and she has been a rock star. She checks in with me, she lets me whine or cry, she makes sure I’m taking the right amount of meds, she reminds me to check in with my doctor. Ladylove, you are wonderful.
So while we’re talking about the other member of my fantastic marriage, why not show you some more pretty pictures? After we danced our way back up the aisle, we took off together! I had heard of couples taking some time between the ceremony and reception to have some quiet time together, to giggle and be excited and take in the enormity of it all, and somewhere along the line we decided that the ideal place to do this was in a boat.
Don’t worry! We do know enough about boats to realize that we won’t go far without paddles or while facing the same direction… Read more…
Mrs. Moonbeam, Los Angeles/San AntonioAge and Occupation: 26, Intern ArchitectFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Studio Analyst, aspiring ScreenwriterEngagement Date: May 20, 2009Wedding Date: November 2009Venue: Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church (LaCoste, TX) and Mary Gray Events Center (Castroville, TX)About Me: I was born and raised in Texas, but after college I moved to Seattle for a couple of years and loved it. Then I followed my beau out here to LA and we're getting settled in. I've been making things since I can remember. I was raised by crafters. I love to sew, draw, paint, build, cook, bake (anything with a tangible end result is fair game). In that same spirit, I've been hosting since I was old enough to cook and set a fancy table. I kind of take after my grandmother, who believes that your morning OJ always tastes better out of the good crystal.
So, we all know how I felt about our wedding photography, and I’m not going to rehash all of that, but I did still have to make our parents photo books for Christmas (I used MyPublisher and the parents loved them), which meant I had to get some pictures done right. I found Peter Steinhoff on a photography forum and contacted him to see if he could work some magic. He did what he could to reduce some of the noise, remove the red lines and worked on correcting the color.
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!
Ever since I read Brooch’s post about potential honeymoon attire, I’ve been totally distracted. Seriously, I don’t know why it hadn’t occurred to me before, but after reading that she was looking for a new bathing suit (and more), I had a crazy moment of “I NEED a new one, too!” Since then, I’ve put all this wedding planning out of my mind to focus on the big h-moon coming up (Darn you, B, for distracting me!).
I totally need to clue you in on our honeymoon, but since I haven’t written that post yet, I’ll just let you know we will be spending a week on a beach.
Anyway, I had no idea where to look for a suit at this time of the year. It’s only, you know, a cool 20 degrees in Chi-Town today. I knew I’d have to shop online, because nowhere in the area is carrying swimwear right now. I went to the boards for help, got got some great suggestions, but ended up going to Kohl’s.com. I didn’t want to spend a whole lot of money, seeing as I’m saving my cash from some—ahem—different pieces of honeymoon attire.
I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Kohl’s, but it’s kind of like a JC Penney. Read more…
Mrs. Bacon, ChicagoAge and Occupation: 26, Digital Advertising ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, IT Client ServicesEngagement Date: June 17, 2010Wedding Date: September 2011Venue: Ravenswood Billboard FactoryAbout Me: I'm a Midwestern girl that can't seem to commit to staying in one place for too long and is constantly daydreaming about my next adventure. I am an aspiring foodie with a weak spot for the unusual and I love semi-reality food television. My other loves easily include laughing as a form of exercise, a book that I can't put down, summer baseball games, espresso with whipped cream, couch potato days and nights with the ridiculous Mr. Bacon, and our two kitties, Lincoln and Sawyer. We're planning a faux-destination wedding for 150 of our closest friends and family in the city we've both adopted as home that has a modern, yet whimsical twist and as many personal touches as we can manage.
Our fabulous photographer, Jordan from JordanQuinn Photography, has sent us all the engagement pictures and I’m totally obsessed! Here are some of the faves from our giggle fest/make out session/photo shoot in Lincoln Park.
I love that this one looks like she caught us in a secret garden.
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!
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 feels weird to have a post exclusively dedicated to photos of me, but there are quite a few portraits of me, so I suppose they have to be documented (insert exasperated fake sigh here).
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.
You possibly read our drama with borderless printing, part 1…how it was supposed to happen, how it almost didn’t happen, how people in various printer departments told us it couldn’t happen, and then how we spent hours of our lives making it happen.
But wait, what’s that off in the distance sitting in front of a bird picture and a stack of plates I’ve been meaning to make into this for my dining room wall for the last 6 months?
Could it be…a BORDERLESS save the date?
Why, yes! It is! If you ask me how it worked, I really don’t know. But angels sang, and it was beautiful and borderless. Read more…
Miss Oatmeal, Fresno, CAAge and Occupation: 25, Medical Device Sales RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Police Officer/Captain in the US ArmyEngagement Date: February 16, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Private Residence, FresnoAbout Me: I am a toast-loving, list-making, occasionally crazy California girl getting dangerously close to marrying her crime-fighting, patient, man's man fiancé. I’ve never left our hometown of Clovis, CA, I love Anthropologie so much it almost hurts, appreciate promptness, love that our 4lb. Chihuahua, Murphy, smells like Fritos, am irritated by windshield wipers that move too fast for the amount of rain, love me some cold weather, have an unhealthy obsession with boots, and wholeheartedly think that my family is everything. Mr. Oatmeal is, oddly enough, my brother's best friend. He's also the best thing that's ever happened to me, and together we are planning a vintage chic, backyard, spring wedding with a few nontraditional touches while trying to keep up with our crazy lives.
Um, why are cake stands so utterly expensive? Every single one I like just happens to be ridiculously priced. I understand why, of course. They’re beautiful, will turn into family heirlooms, and are just plain fun to have around the house. But when you’re talking dessert bars, well, that requires many cake stands. Multiple. More than two. Like ten.
Mrs. Pancakes, New York/Costa RicaAge and Occupation: 26, Law School StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Latin American Policy AnalystEngagement Date: March 12, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Casa Punto de VistaAbout 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!
For centuries, almonds were commonly distributed to wedding guests as a symbol of well wishes. In the thirteenth century, almonds coated with sugar, known as confetti, were introduced. Confetti soon transformed to sugared almonds, which later evolved into a wedding favor for modern-day weddings. Traditionally, five Jordan almonds are presented in a confection box or wrapped in elegant fabric to represent fertility, longevity, wealth, health, and happiness. Thus, the bitterness of the almond and the sweetness of the coated candy have for centuries exemplified marriage’s bittersweetness.
Please join me this Friday in welcoming Miss Biscuit to the hive!
