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!
I’m all about making it easy—so what are the guys going to wear? No idea. That’s Mr. Eggs Bene’s decision. I mean, I get to choose what the girls are going to wear; why shouldn’t Mr. Eggs make the decision for the boys?
Of course, I do have some ideas…mainly that I really love the look of gray suits, and just as I love the look of bridesmaids with different dresses, I’m really liking the idea of the guys each wearing whatever gray suit they might have already (or feel like purchasing). Mr. Eggs wants to get a new suit, so at some point we’ll go shopping for that. It’s helpful that Mr. Eggs Bene has stated pretty clearly that he has no interest in a tux. Which is excellent because I don’t really think that “tux” goes with “wedding in the woods in the middle of February.”
I’m not sure exactly what he wants, but here are some looks that I love.
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!
Mr. Cheetah has 6 groomsmen and we want their suiting to be similar to Mr. Cheetah’s look. So we are searching for slim fitting black two-button suits. The problem is we are looking reasonable priced (under $200) suits in a large range of sizes, and it’s no easy task. 6’ 5″ Baby Bro Cheetah needs an extra long suit…and those babies ain’t easy to find.
While at home for the holidays my brothers and I decided to start The Great Cheetah Guys Suit Hunt. Read more…
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!
After getting a nice moment alone during our first look, we rallied the troops for some bridal party portraits. Literally.
As you may recall, I really wanted a saber arch for our wedding, but we were worried that we wouldn’t be able to have one due to the fact that servicemembers are overseas so much. Luckily, several of Mr. Jelly’s Air Force buddies, as well as his Marine brother, came out from all across the country for our wedding and made it happen. Love these guys!
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 feel I may have not told you some vital information about me, so I’m going to share now. While I have calmed down significantly in recent years, I am a planner at heart. I mean type-A, control-freak kind of planner. And if you know anything about control freaks, you know it’s not exactly something that you outgrow. So I still label myself as a full-on control freak who has somewhat mellowed (a bit) so she can function out here in the real unpredictable world. But my type-A self would like you to know that the world is not so very unpredictable because I do, in fact, have it under control.
Right. I’m sure you’re wondering where this is going. I swear I have a point. I have actually assembled a centerpiece mockup. It lived on my dining-room table for a few days the other week. I even whipped it out to show the venue coordinator when we were talking about area setup and everything. (Don’t look at me like that. I *told* you I’m type A, dammit.) But I am getting ahead of myself. Because before I can show you a centerpiece mockup, we have a few DIY projects to discuss.
When I first started considering DIY elements for our wedding, I had an idea. It’s not something I’ve seen done before, but I thought it might be cool. I didn’t tell many people because I’m a DIY virgin, and I also thought it wouldn’t work out in my fumble fingers. But I forged ahead and made one of these things, and Mr. E and I kind of like them. So it is that I present to you my very first DIY adventure. Of my own invention!
It started with some ribbon, a four-inch styrofoam ball, a bunch of little flowers made from card stock with my daisy punch, and a glue gun. (You should be scared. I didn’t own a glue gun until the day before I attempted this.)
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!
My fabulous MOH bought me the Offbeat Bride book, which I read feverishly on the train every morning. I really loved the book, even if it didn’t really apply to me. For instance, there is a chapter titled “Vanity, Fashion & Other Things We Shouldn’t Care About.” Anyone who knows me (or has seen my credit-card statement) knows that this chapter almost certainly doesn’t apply to me. Her chapter on wedding dresses titled “Clothes for Her: On Poufy Dresses and Barefootedness” ends with a story about a bride who got “white blindness” pretty quickly and eventually gave up “in disgust, convinced that every single dress looked exactly the same: hideous!”
(!!!!!!!!)
Now, I recognize that everyone is entitled to their opinion (even if it is wrong…hehehe, j/k), but this made my stomach turn. I L.O.V.E. WEDDING DRESSES! I had the hardest time finding a dress because I LOVED trying them on so much.
The first time I went to look at dresses I went with my MOH and learned three things: (1) I love looking at myself in wedding dresses, (2) I could try on wedding dresses forever, and (3) Did I mention that I look A-MAZING in wedding dresses? (This is actually not a sign of my vanity…I swear. I’ve just always been a fan of playing dress-up).
Five bridal salons and 30-some dresses later, these were my top two contenders:
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.
Vendor reviews ahead. Hopefully this is helpful for folks looking for a caterer in the Washington, DC, and surrounding areas. Here’s our experience:
Long awaited were the days when we’d be narrowing down the search for our caterer, going to private tastings, and determining our menu. We knew early on this was going to be our toughest decision after choosing where to get married, especially since we have to bring in an outside caterer to our venue. Nevertheless, we felt up to the challenge! I mean, who doesn’t love free food?
Let me start by saying we had no idea which catering company to choose or where to even begin our search. We gathered information from anyone and everywhere. We looked to the blogs to keep us abreast of open houses, tastings and events, and also made sure we compared places we read about in local directories like the Knot.
Mrs. Cinnamon Bun, Calgary, AlbertaAge and Occupation: 26, Stage ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Theatre TechnicianEngagement Date: June 22, 2010Wedding Date: June 2011Venue: Calgary Opera CentreAbout 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.
Back when I was little, probably about eight years old or so, my parents took me to the card store to buy a birthday card for my granny in England. We picked one out, I scribbled in it, and we sent it off. After Granny’s birthday, she sent us a photo of her TV set. The TV set wasn’t the point of the photo; the two birthday cards on top were. There was mine, beside a photo of me, and there was my cousin’s, beside a photo of him. The thing was? We sent her the same card! He lives in England, me in Canada, and somehow we managed to send the exact same card to our granny.
I thought about that moment when engagement cards started arriving at our house because we received two of the same card. One from relatives on my side from England and one from relatives on his side in Ireland. It made me smile.
Then, Cinnamon Buns and I went to visit my parents for the Christmas holidays, and Mum gave me a card that had been sent to their house, but it was addressed to Cinnamon Buns and me. I opened it up and burst out laughing. This is what I did with it as soon as we got back to our house:
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!
As we were busy getting ready, Luke was busy snapping some details. I love these shots and I look forward to hanging them in my “dressing room” in our home someday. My Badgley Mischka Randall pumps need a pretty frame that will do them justice!
Mrs. Pretzel, SeattleAge and Occupation: 32 Learning, Training, and Development SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 28 Manufacturing EngineerEngagement Date: September 2, 2009Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Catholic Church & The Engine Room at Georgetown StudiosAbout Me: I’m just a thirty-something girl who never dreamed of weddings, poofy dresses, or ritzy receptions. I am a rabid knitter, except recently, wedding projects have replaced my yarn and needles. I’ve been fiercely independent since the age of 2 and 30 years later I think my family and friends had given up on me settling down and getting married.
Ironically, I had to go all the way to Seattle to find a boy from Purdue. We fell in love over Seattle Beers and cooking together. I love NASCAR, he loves Legos. I can talk like a Muppet and he can fit a whole McDonald’s cheeseburger in his mouth. We are a two reception couple, currently planning a brewery inspired bash.
There is something about the cold and rainy Seattle winters that makes brides want to gather. Join the Seattle hive for a Weddingbee meet up tonight at Cantinetta.
Milanobride and her husband share a kiss as newlyweds.
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.
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!
I knew this was going to be one of the more difficult tasks of the wedding process from the very beginning.
I love Waffle to tears, but most (not all, thankfully) of his wardrobe is stuck in the late ’80s / early ’90s. Proof exists that some of it actually is from the ’90s because in the great guestbook photo search I found pictures of him in stuff he still wears to this very day. His fashion idol is Michael J. Fox from the ’80s, and not in an ironic, hipster sort of way.
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!
After trying on the amazing mermaid-shaped dress, there was one other dress that the consultant had pulled. Or maybe my friend grabbed it. I don’t remember. What I do remember is that it was strapless, and I was pretty sure I didn’t want a strapless dress. But, given how well the mermaid dress had gone over, I had to try it.
And when I walked out, I looked at myself in the mirror and was amazed at how much I liked it. And unlike the mermaid dress, I felt like me in this dress. This dress that was chiffon and strapless and so unlike what I thought I would end up in. This dress was 3517 from the Justin Alexander Sincerity line. I loved the way the ruching pulled in my waist. I loved the ivory color that would go beautifully with my mom’s veil. I loved the way it moved when I walked. But, it was still a strapless gown. And I wasn’t convinced.
Mrs. Tartlet, Rochester, MIAge and Occupation: Age & Occupation: 27, Post-Doctoral Research FellowFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Medical StudentEngagement Date: May 2, 2009Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: The Royal Park HotelAbout 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!
In my previous post, we got acquainted with three lovely dresses. BM Tanya recommended from experience that I try on at least one dress that was totally different from what I thought I wanted. I’ve learned over the years to heed her advice, and as such pulled Sabine from ML’s Fall 2010 collection off the rack:
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.
“Hmmm… do you guys think my silver watch clashes with these golden yellow ruffles? 
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
