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.
With the rehearsal behind us we were ready for food, friends, and family. As soon as I stepped on the sand at Golden Gardens park I felt all the stress from earlier in the day melt away. Can you blame me? It was beautiful!
*All photos by Jason Tang, friend and rocktographer, unless otherwise noted.
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Mrs. Crepe, Queens, NY/Nashville, TNAge and Occupation: 28, Jewelry DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Animation DirectorEngagement Date: September 28, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: A church in downtown NashvilleAbout Me: I'm a native New Yorker who has always been a DIY kind of girl and loves tackling creative projects while getting the most out of a dollar. I'm marrying my college sweetheart and we love frequenting antique stores, exploring together, and playing with kittens. We're planning a fun, "us" wedding in his hometown---with as many handmade touches as we can pack into a day!
I know I’ve already talked a bit about our flower inspiration, but there’s one very special flower that I haven’t mentioned yet.
It was around one Valentine’s Day that Mr. Crepe bought me flowers for the first time. He and his roommate had gone to the local florist and shopped for flowers together. (How cute is that??) They picked out some very beautiful pink and yellow gerbera daisies.
Mr. C in the back, with his bud, 2001. This is by far my favorite photo of them together.
Mrs. Cotton Candy, Riverside, CAAge and Occupation: 29, Field CoordinatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 34, Process ServerEngagement Date: July 5, 2007Wedding Date: June 2011Venue: Riverside Art MuseumAbout Me: I’m a girl in love with her best friend planning a small mid-century modern inspired wedding that’s been a long time coming. I love all things design, sewing, flea markets, and a good book. I’ve been known to swoon over a well-designed chair and often find myself craving a new addition to my chair collection regardless of the lack square footage in our home. I’m Mexican American girl who hates all things spicy but loves her rowdy Mexican family and her Latin roots. My wedding muses may not be your typical wedding superstars, but with a lot of DIY, a dash of offbeat style, and lots of love and laughs, Mr. Cotton and I plan to create a day that is unmistakably us.
The first vendor we booked when we began planning our wedding was our florist. This isn’t because I’m a flower-obsessed bride or because we hired a super sought-after florist (even though she is super talented and should be!). No, the reason why Mr. Cotton Candy and I hired our florist so early is because she happens to be one of our closest friends. My good friend S has spent the last five years working as a florist at her mother’s flower shop in downtown Riverside. S and her mother are some of the most creative and gifted women I have ever met; the art that they can create with flowers is amazing.
Since I trust S and her mom I haven’t spent much time looking for floral inspiration, so far all this is all I have for centerpiece inspiration.
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.
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.
We’re about to pass the 40-day mark and I have this nagging feeling I can’t seem to shake. I feel like I haven’t done enough! I feel like I should be covering candle holders with lace or making more pennant banners. I feel like I should doing something.
This feeling sucks because I know the clock is ticking and while part of me wants to do a bunch more stuff, the other part of me is pretty worn out. It’s not that I’ve been DIY-ing day and night, but the projects I have done have been pretty time consuming (and sometimes very frustrating). There’s a lot that I wanted to do in the beginning, and haven’t done. But that’s OK, right?
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 still need to add a lot of text and the photos need a bit of work but it’s now a whole lot better than the kludge-fest of an initial draft I made last week.
It was really everyone’s suggestions, along with a couple emails back and forth with our resident graphic designer, Miss Giraffe, that helped to get us to this final design. Giraffe gets total credit for the entire design on the first and last pages because I couldn’t have come up with that awesomeness on my own.
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!
Happy Friday Hive! We’re celebrating the impending weekend by introducing our newest bee: Miss Magic! Join me in welcoming her to the hive!
Miss Magic, Chapel Hill, NC Age & Occupation: 30, Licensed Clinical Social Worker Fiance’s Age & Occupation: 30, Researcher Engagement Date: December 1, 2009 Wedding Date: October 2011 Venue: Barn at Valhalla About Me: I’m a tall drink of water (5’10”!) and a Southern bride with an enormous appetite for Mexican food, good deals, anything French, and all things wedding! By day I am lucky enough to work with individuals with autism and their families. By night, I’m even luckier to be able to spend time hanging out with awesome friends, crafting, shopping, thinking about exercising, and kicking it with Mr. Magic and our two cats. I tend to have sudden, intense cravings that will not be denied (seafood enchiladas! new jeans!) and I’m prone to being a disorganized mess of anxiety and stress. After waiting (and waiting!) to get engaged, I am finally planning the colorful, fun, fabulously awesome Fall wedding of our dreams. In an effort to share the fun and craziness that is wedding planning, I’m gonna blog about it for y’all—the good, the bad, and the pretty!
Mrs. Mary Jane, Grand Forks, NDAge and Occupation: 26, Instructional DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Lead ProgrammerEngagement Date: February 28, 2009Wedding Date: September 2009Venue: City HallAbout Me: I'm a career woman on the surface and a homemaker at heart. I love fast cars and high heels, and my favorite food is cake. Mr. Mary Jane and I are both full-time employees and students, and we just bought our first house. We love to curl up on the couch with buttery popcorn, Sour Patch Kids, and the latest Netflix arrival -- whenever we can get a break from everyday life.
Recently, I spent several minutes convincing my husband to spend a large chunk of money on a component for a home theater system. Me, the girl who is generally content with the single, garbly built in speaker on her cell phone. Why would I want Mr. Mary Jane to waste his money on something so unnecessary? (Completely unnecessary because um, we already own a decent component; this was simply an upgrade.)
Let’s explore this topic.
I don’t know about you, but I spend money on myself on a regular basis (and I don’t even consider myself to be a shopper). But I buy handbags (even though I have perfectly good ones in my closet at home). I buy shoes. I buy makeup and hair products. I get my hair cut at a nice salon. I get it colored. I get manicures once in a while. Unless you are truly strapped for money (and even if you are), you probably spend money on yourself in at least some of these same ways. And you probably do this while also contributing to any savings or debt reduction plans you may have decided to follow. Do you ask your significant other before you buy that cute Kate Spade bag from TJ Maxx? (I mean, you can’t not buy it at 40% off, right?!) Does your fiance have any idea how much your latest cut and highlights cost? (We can try to convince ourselves this is a necessary, but we know it isn’t.)
To give this funny little money post some background: I frequently see posts on the boards (and on some of the blogs I follow) about women’s money frustrations with their significant others. The situation is usually something like this: Read more…
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!
We tried really hard to be conscious about our community and environment with this wedding. No, I wouldn’t call our wedding a “green wedding,” as we had a lot of out of town guests fly in for the weekend, my dress was new (though I did purchase a sample instead of ordering a new one), and we purchased plenty of new candles and votive holders. But we did hold our wedding at an environmental center (and supported their mission of environmental education), the food that we served was sourced from local markets as much as possible, we rented live trees to use as our ceremony decor, and even the few flowers that we had were from Washington state tulip farmers.
But there is one area of waste that I didn’t even think about being an issue until it took over our living room: packaging from gifts that have been shipped to us.
Pardon Cody’s glowing eyes in the background—I tried to fix them and they ended up even scarier looking!
Seriously, the amount of boxes, paper, bubble wrap and packing peanuts that have ended up in our living room is mind boggling. Read more…
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!
I live with the Giraffe parents, and we get a local newspaper a few days a week, and the Chicago Trib on Sunday mornings. Shortly before the holidays, we received our paper and rubber-banded to the outside of it was a half sheet of orange construction paper. Read more…
ClassifiedsFeature Launched: April 30, 2008About: A roundup of the best Weddingbee Classified listings.
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: It’s not long before you get to see me in my full bridal get-up, so just wait a wee bit longer. Thanks! 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.
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.
When we left off I mentioned that running late after our less than stellar mani-pedi had me a wee bit stressed. That might have been a bit of an understatement. We were really pressed for time. Before I could get to the Church to rehearse I had to change and grab my overnight and honeymoon luggage. I was also on the phone with Mr P trying to figure out where he was. He had a couple of last minute projects for the rehearsal dinner to finish up. Finally we both got to the church—about 15 minutes late.
Hive, the one area that we didn’t think we had to put much thought into was the rehearsal itself. Read more…
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
