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.
One of the most important things to us in this planning process is making memories that we can relive for a lifetime. Because of that we chose a great photographer (more on that another day), and we’re looking forward to all of the awesome photo spots that our venue now holds. We want to be able to look at these pictures with our children someday and have them see how magical it was for us.
One of the things we thought we didn’t need was video proof of the day. I mean, who ever watches those things, right? They get tossed in a cabinet somewhere and forgotten. Right. That’s what we said.
But then I perused a ton of wedding boards where people say it was the best decision they made to hire a videographer. And those who didn’t say it’s their biggest regret. And it’s not just one person; it’s TONS of people. So I started to waiver. Read more…
Mrs. Trail Mix, New YorkAge and Occupation: 26, PE TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, MBA StudentEngagement Date: March 2009Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: Tannery Pond at the Darrow SchoolAbout Me: I'm a country girl who somehow found herself living in the Big Apple and loving every minute of it. I'm planning a rustic, country-chic wedding in my hometown in upstate New York and it's going to be a Party with a capital P. White wine, flea markets and running keep me happy and my friends, family and fiance are my world. I'm a little bit crafty, a little bit crazy but mostly just crazy in love.
Once our guests had noshed and drank, chatted, and took shelter from the rain, we gave the go-ahead to our DOC to start the party!
We opted not to introduce our bridal party but our (hands-down-best-wedding-decision-ever) band introduced us to much cheering and clapping, as evidenced by our insanely happy and mildly embarrassed faces.
Mrs. Prairie Dog, Cincinnati
Age and Occupation: 24, Program CoordinatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, PhD/Biomedical EngineerEngagement Date: December 18, 2009Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Glendale LyceumAbout 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."
I’ve never seen myself as being the “bridal shower” type. I get flustered by attention, and I hate feeling like people are going out of their way or inconveniencing themselves for me. I actually really enjoyed hosting a bridal shower for my BFF, but I didn’t think I’d enjoy attending as the bride-to-be.
Wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong.
I spent Thanksgiving in Philadelphia with my extended family. On Black Friday, I ventured to King of Prussia with my mom, cousin, and grandmother in the hopes of finding a dress for my grandmother. We returned around 4, and when I walked into the house, my face looked like this:
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!
Get excited—it’s time for a local bee meet up!! On Friday, January 28 we’re heading out to Gloria’s in Addison at 7 PM for yummy food, tasty drinks and great conversation.
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!
Was anyone else unpleasantly surprised to find out how much bridal stores will try to charge you for accessories like shoes and veils? I knew they would be marked up, but I didn’t realise quite how much, and how extensively. When I bought my dress in Canada they offered to sell me the veil I tried on along with it, but I was already wayyyy over budget thanks to the lace bolero I’d splurged on too. I figured that was something I could easily pick up after doing some shopping back in Sydney, and that it might actually work out cheaper to wait and see what the price range was like.
Ha! HA. HAHAHAHAHA.
Yep, bridal store to bridal store in whatever country you’re visiting, veils are expensive.
Mrs. Starfish, Boston/NewportAge and Occupation: 25, Operations AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, SalesEngagement Date: October 8, 2008Wedding Date: October 2010Venue: The Atlantic Beach ClubAbout Me: I'm a perfectionist who is a planner at heart. I don't do well with surprises. I love planning, crafting, Newport RI, family and friends, and most importantly, Mr. Starfish---all of which will be big components in our October wedding in our favorite little city by the sea.
These ladies all made me feel so special from the moment we got engaged all the way up to the wedding. Between these girls I was thrown a fabulous engagement party, twobeautifulshowers and a fun filled bacheloretteweekend. I really wanted to splurge and do something special for them, too.
Mrs. Waffle, AustinAge and Occupation: 31, Costumer/ArtistFiance's Age and Occupation: 33, AnimatorEngagement Date: July 27, 2010Wedding Date: June 2011Venue: Hummingbird HouseAbout 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!
OK, I know that sounds absolutely nuts, but if you were in my Broadway Fit or Broadway Performance Workshop classes it would make complete sense. One of my instructors uses theses words with certain movement combinations. You can find him and his partner, two Broadway vets, teaching class where I work every day of the week and their classes are immensely popular. I know this sounds backwards, but I’m fighting daily stress and wedding stress by signing up to be in one of their performance workshop shows in May.
Mrs. Jellyfish, Pleasanton, CAAge and Occupation: 27, Law StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Air Force PilotEngagement Date: February 21, 2009Wedding Date: September 2010Venue: Casa Real at Ruby Hill WineryAbout Me: In a nutshell, I’m the most optimistic worrywart you’ll ever meet. My family emigrated from Romania to San Jose, CA when I was 8, and I've been a Nor Cal girl ever since! My fiancé is also a Bay Area native, so it’s funny that we met at UCLA, as college freshmen living on the same floor (go Bruins!). Between his career as an Air Force pilot and my path to becoming a lawyer, our relationship has been anything but typical. We currently live together in Berkeley with our puppy Stinson. In addition to spending time with the loves of my life, I enjoy crafting, attempting complicated recipes, environmental law and non-law school reading (Us Weekly, anyone?). Follow along as I plan an elegant 200-person winery wedding, graduate law school, take the Bar exam, get married and get used to the always unpredictable but never boring life of a military spouse!
You’ve seen our getting ready photos, our first look, and our bridal party portraits. But before I get to the ceremony, I wanted to set the scene for you, to show you what our guests saw upon arriving at our winery wedding. After all, I didn’t spend 19 months slaving away over details for nothing!
Our wedding was held at Casa Real at Ruby Hill Winery, a Mediterranean-style villa set next to a winery in Livermore, CA.
Upon arriving, guests entered through the rustic wooden doors… Read more…
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.
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.
When planning a wedding on a budget, there are certain things that are just not a possibility. Like videography, for us, is just not in the cards. It’s actually taken me awhile to let go of that because I see something like this, cry at how beautiful it is, cry because I can’t have it, and then just go on being pretty upset about the whole thing. Then I realize that we’re going to have incredible photographs that will be with us forever, and I am able to let go a little bit. Nonetheless, I’m still a bit saddened by the thought.
But that is actually not what this post was supposed to be about. I started off with the topic of budget constraints, and I’ll try to stay off videos for a while. We will be having a considerable amount of out-of-town guests celebrating with us on our big day. The thought of our guests arriving at their hotel and being welcomed with a sweet little bag full of goodies just makes me smile.
Mrs. Barrettes, Tumon, Guam/Napa, CAAge and Occupation: 29, DancerFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Licensed Building ContractorEngagement Date: November 16, 2008Wedding Date: October 2010Venue: V. Sattui WineryAbout Me: I'm an East Coast girl, living on a tiny little island in the Pacific, twirling, leaping, and shimmy-ing my way through life, and now, wedding planning! I'm equal parts nerdy and cool... okay, mostly nerdy. I love satin bows, red lipstick, black & white graphic anything, the shine of sequins and the sound of a champagne "pop". My favorite books are The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James, and Tender is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I can also conjure a pretty good Patronus Charm. I started my appreciation for good red wine while traveling on the high seas, and it's only fitting that my passion for wine drinking led me to my Napa-bred honey. We bonded over bottles of Cabernet on my oceanfront porch and haven't looked back since. We're sealing the deal at a winery in the Napa Valley on a 'perfect ten' of a day!
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.
I am just too excited right now! Remember when I talked about our super awesome cake topper? Well today I got a message from the Etsy seller making ours. She included pictures so I can approve the final product before she sends it to me. This thing is absolutely too cute for words! I am bouncing!
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.
Thank goodness for friends, right? The closer we get to the wedding, the more I thank my lucky stars for great friends. There’s no way I could do all of this wedding stuff without them—especially this project. I couldn’t do it without the help of Mrs. Pretzel (hey, lady!) and her Silhouette cutting machine. Check out these butterfly escort cards she made:
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!
My grandma keeps a wall of wedding photos from all the weddings of her eight children in her den. When visiting my grandma, I always stop and take a minute to check out all the pictures. With weddings from the late ’70s through the late ’90s, the photos are not only wonderful family mementos, but also an amusing walk through time—and fashion (can you say lavender cummerbund?).
I love checking out all the bridal attire of my aunts! They all made beautiful brides.
My parents are at the very top on the right.
When her grandkids started tying the knot a few years ago, my grandma began displaying photos from their weddings on the adjoining wall. Read more…
These ladies all made me feel so special from the moment we got engaged all the way up to the wedding. Between these girls I was thrown a fabulous 
