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!
I’m just going to give them to our DOC and let him figure out where to place them for the wedding. All I have to do is figure out how to decorate them. I think they’d look great with twine or yarn wrapped all around them, but I may just go down easy street and paint them a solid color.
Here are some letters at work at weddings: Read more…
Mrs. Ostrich, San Francisco/HawaiiAge and Occupation: 30, Fashion Buyer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 38, CopywriterEngagement Date: October 4, 2009Wedding Date: April 2011Venue: Sweet ceremony by the sea and sunset celebration on the North Shore of HawaiiAbout 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.
Today, bees, we’re talking money, budgets…and how the Ostriches are saving and spending ours.
Alright, let’s break it down.
Mr. Ostrich and I are paying for our wedding, 100%. This has always been the plan, as asking our parents to fork out that much cash was something we didn’t have the heart to ask them to do. Money and stress and family, in my past experiences, can lead to mad drama—and we’re a drama-free kind of couple, ya know?
Mrs. Pain au Chocolat, Wilmington, DEAge and Occupation: 29, RealtorFiance's Age and Occupation: 34, RealtorEngagement Date: November 21, 2009Wedding Date: June 2011Venue: Greenville Country ClubAbout Me: An ENFJ with an artistic streak who loves backgammon, sailing, graphic design, and sleeping in. Travel (near or far), good wine, and tasty food makes my heart sing. I'm a compulsive list-maker who lives to plan and organize. Mr. P and I have lived together for 4 years, all the while renovating our city townhome bit by bit. We're planning a whimsical, Anthropologie-inspired garden wedding in June 2011.
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.
You may have noticed that I have been a bit absent over the last few weeks. Well, there is a reason for it. I felt that I should offer up an explanation to you, dear readers, who have begun to invest time and interest in the Oatmeal wedding journey.
I lost my job three weeks ago. Was it due to an unfortunate lay off, like many, many others out there? No. Sadly, it was within my control. I was simply let go for my sales performance. I worked in the medical device industry, a field so cutthroat at times, so rewarding at others, and simply stated: difficult. My sales numbers over the last 6 months were lacking, I was not having success in the call points I was being forced into, and well, this is what happened. You see, I have never actually failed at anything major in my life. I’ve always been a success-driven person, type A as all hell, a go-getter, a winner. And here I am, in the middle of my engagement, three months before our wedding, supposedly one of the happier times in one’s life, and I failed at my career. If, for nothing else, this is incredibly humbling.
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!
As you may or may not know, I won an amazing birdcage veil from One Little Dove a few months ago. It’s a lovely little veil, but I haven’t quite decided how I want to wear it. There are two issues:
1. Should I add a fascinator of some sort (feathers, flowers, a feather flower, crystals, etc.)? (I will deal with that in a separate post.)
2. Should I wear my hair up or hair down?
A few months ago Miss Sloth posted this first-look picture…
Mrs. Lobster, BrooklynAge and Occupation: 29, Finance GirlFiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Finance BoyEngagement Date: July 25, 2009Wedding Date: August 2010Venue: Stage 6 Steiner StudiosAbout Me: I'm a New York-born, Virginia-bred girl who's found her way back to the big city. Mr. Lobster and I met in grad school and have been together ever since. I'm clueless about DIY but am an avid online shopper and love all things polka dots, stripes, and ruffles! When I'm not making wedding lists, you can find me looking for snacks, watching Gilmore Girls, or hanging out with Mr. Lobster and our new puppy Buddy! We are planning a fancy-pantsy Brooklyn wedding for a hot New York summer night which is sure to be a misadventure in the making.
Now that we finished all the “formal” events, it’s time to par-TAY!
The Ernest Mills Band from Hank Lane Music was our band and we got tremendously good feedback on them. Their energy really got the crowd all riled up and the party started!
One minor thing to consider during your wedding planning: if your guest list leans more toward the non-dancing type, consider asking your venue for a smaller dance floor so it will feel more intimate and less intimidating to the guests who do join you. Our dance floor was sized appropriately for our guest list but we had a decent mix of an older non-dancing crowd so sometimes it felt a little lonely dancing out there, just me and the band. Haha. OK. Back to the photos.
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.
So here’s the thing. Not so very long ago, I was super excited at the prospect of helping someone start a business as well as getting a less expensive service on my wedding day. And the truth is, I’d kind of decided to go for it before I hit publish on that post. So I did (go for it, that is).
And I’m not saying that it necessarily was a bad idea. It just turns out that this particular vendor and I didn’t work out. And so I’d like to point out something important to all of you.
Please please please (I cannot possibly say please enough here) do not hire a vendor without a contract. Lucky for me, I learned my lesson a long time ago. (Remember my venue? Right.) But this girl was just starting her business and didn’t understand yet the importance a contract truly has. And that’s fine. But I’m still not hiring a vendor without a contract. Period. Read more…
ClassifiedsFeature Launched: April 30, 2008About: A roundup of the best Weddingbee Classified listings.
Mrs. Meerkat, Kalamazoo, MI/Riviera MayaAge and Occupation: 30, Application EngineerFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, IT ConsultantEngagement Date: July 26, 2008Wedding Date: December 2010Venue: Al Cielo / La LagunaAbout Me: I’m a tech-savvy tomboy with an affinity for hot tea and good sushi. Us Meerkats are just a couple fun lovin’ geeks from Michigan. We love anything having to do with movies, books, video games or technology and we hold a special place in our hearts for our two very spoiled shih-tzus, Wicket and Bravo. We also LOVE to travel. We love it so much it only took us 12 hours after we got engaged to decide to have a destination wedding. We are working our little Meerkat tails off planning a rustic-chic, travel themed destination wedding in the Riviera Maya with a semi-formal, vintage-turned-modern, outdoor at home reception back here in Michigan.
I know what you’re thinking: is Meerkat ever going to write her recaps?! I promise they are coming soon. I have seen the proofs and now we are just waiting for the disc of images.
While I am waiting for the disc, I thought I might preface our recaps with some of the things that went well at our wedding. I spent a lot of time questioning everything from having a small wedding to hiring a DJ. So I am going to share some of the things that I debated ,but would definitely do again. I hope that they help anyone else debating these same things.
#1: Destination Wedding In Mexico
This is the number one thing I would do again. It was paradise. Really, it was. It was like stepping right into the middle of a tropical paradise.
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.
Not long after we found Kyndal and had invitation proofs in hand, we started exploring different ways to print them. I checked with Paper Source, but their prices were too high. We tried printing a few from home, but the quality wasn’t good, and then our planner suggested talking with a local letterpress team, Letterpress Light.
I really liked the idea of supporting a local business that was somewhat new. At this point, Mr. B and I were pretty desperate, too. We had to make a decision about our invitations soon and we both wanted to hire someone to do it all: the printing, and even addressing the envelopes for us.
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.
I’d ordered a dress from The Limited that looked horrendously awful, and back it went.
And I’d ordered a dress from J. Crew that looked surprisingly great (and which received overwhelmingly rave reviews from the hive), which is presently in my closet.
And I’d placed an order for a BHLDN dress that looked exactly like an over-budget Melissa Sweet I’d been coveting for months.
Now for the next installment of the story, called “Sloth Causes a Scene at her Job.”
My mother came to have lunch with me at my office yesterday. While we were eating, one of my co-workers came to me to tell me that a box from BHLDN had arrived! When we got back to my desk, everyone was dying to see my dress, and since my mother was there, I figured we’d have some girl time while I tried it on.
My coworkers were as excited as I was, and one of them documented the experience.
First, I opened the box as Mom looked on. Read more…
Mrs. Zebra, Providence, RIAge and Occupation: 24 Marketing/Costume DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 26 Management/Firefighter Engagement Date: December 12, 2008Wedding Date: March 2011Venue: The Providence BiltmoreAbout Me: I'm a small town New England girl with an affinity for procrastination, crossing the proverbial line, and putting her foot in her mouth. I'm a lover of history, all seasons, sewing and Incubus. I design costumes on the side for my old high school's theatre department, which is where I met my sexy man. Our motto for our Big Fat Lebanese/Portuguese/Irish near-300 person wedding is "the more the merrier"! We are marrying in a Catholic ceremony and are hammering out the details of our Victorian-inspired reception.
See that pattern there? I purchased it when I was 16. You see, part of the reason I love Zeb so much is that he helped me through one of the most difficult times of my life. Now I’m not going to go into detail about it but needless to say, right around this time 9 years ago I was in a very, very bad place. Zeb and I weren’t together but the beginning heart strings started a’tuggin.
Before I had Zeb’s support in life, I would find peace by getting lost in the back of Jo-Ann Fabrics. I found myself enveloped in fabric, hidden from the world, searching through a sea of tissue paper soon-to-be clothing. Before I knew it, my troubles had melted away and I could face the world again. It was there that I found my flower girl’s dress. It was a pattern so beautiful, so timeless, that I knew that nearly a decade later I would still want it.
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."
Right. So there will be no bouquet or garter tossing at the PDog wedding, unless it’s an impromptu, mob-of-guests-demand-it, go-with-the-flow, wedding-juju kind of thing. If guests are dying to see this tradition occur, I’m not opposed to it. But I’m definitely not planning on it.
At the risk of being flayed, I’m going to be really honest about why the bouquet toss was lose-lose/awkward for me when I was very-committed but not-yet-engaged. By no means am I trying to talk any of you out of the tosses; they’re festive and traditional and the right choice for some people. But not for us, as follows:
If I did get into the game enthusiastically and really make a play for the bouquet…
Spring is right around the corner (although with rain and flood advisories today in Northern California, it certainly doesn’t feel like it) and springtime is the perfect time for bridal showers! All of our stationery in the Weddingbee Invitations Shop can be customized with bridal shower wording, so check out our favorites for spring showers!
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.
So, we’re post-pie-cutting, post-first dance, and onto the real dancing.
I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that we got married early in the morning; by the time it was dancing time, it was probably noon, maybe 1PM. It was early afternoon. This is no pop-song rocking out dancing. No, folks, this is crunchy granola type Contradancing.
