Mrs. Sparkler, ChicagoAge and Occupation: 27, Communications AficionadoFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, PublisherEngagement Date: July 21, 2010Wedding Date: September 2011Venue: Chicago Illuminating CompanyAbout Me: I’m a Southern lady living in the big city of Chicago. Well, lady may be a stretch, but I’m working hard to keep some Virginia charm in our sleek, urban, wedding-palooza! I’m addicted to marathons, not-so-famous bands, Chicago restaurants, and Mark Twain. I cry during SPCA commercials, and I think LOST was the best show to ever hit television. Mr. S and I met at a classy college mixer and, 7 years later, he’s still by my side. He’s the only child, laid back, free spirit... I’m the oldest of five kids, type-A, organizer. It doesn’t work on paper, but we’ve never paid attention to that stuff anyway. Somehow it works. And like they say, sometimes when you know…you just know.
Back in September, I attended my first big bridal expo (or show, or salon, or whatever). My friend and I scored free tickets through Weddingbee (sweet!), and I was pretty excited. But oh, you guys, I was such a naïve little bride. I imagined we would show up, be treated like royalty, find the best vendors in the city, and get so many free gifts that they would have to carry the boxes to our car for us.
Well…no. No, that’s not really what happened (and yes, I can hear you all laughing at me). Here’s the breakdown of what actually occurred:
Arrive at sign-in. Wait patiently to be upgraded to VIP status. (I’m getting married, helloooo!)
Be denied VIP status. Get normal bracelet and go upstairs in search of free food and drink.
Quickly discover there isn’t much food left. Eat champagne instead.
Push through loud and overcrowded display rooms, looking for unique and interesting vendors.
Realize that it is so crowded you will not get to talk to anyone. Discover a bar in the corner serving very pretty blue beverages.
Drink many free blue beverages.
Inquire about rumored bridal gift bag.
Find out gift bags are for VIPs only.
Head downstairs and fill out comment card. Be very…ahem…honest about your experience.
Mrs. Hyena, College Station, TXAge and Occupation: 23, Marketing SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Aerospace Engineering Grad StudentEngagement Date: January 8, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Downtown 202About Me: I'm a Texas girl who met my future hubby in high school, then headed up to Oklahoma for a college education (BOOMER SOONER!) before moving back to the Lone Star State to be with him. I love reading and recycling, Photoshop and reality TV, making lame jokes and then laughing at them, quoting movies, and Mr. Hyena most of all. I'm perpetually early and I like to get things accomplished. When my cat meows at me, I meow back. We're planning a laid-back, unintentionally DIY wedding with a cocktail-party vibe, and can't wait to celebrate our nuptials with our nearest and dearest!
This is the story of how I met Mr. Hyena, way back when we were young’ns.
Mr. H and I went to the same school since fifth grade, and never knew each other. In high school, most of my friends were in the marching band, so I spent a lot of time hanging out in the band hall in the mornings before class started, because that’s where they all hung out. Mr. H was a percussionist. We had a lot of mutual friends.
We had several classes together senior year of high school, and we started talking more often. I thought he was cute, but we only really hung out at school. But Homecoming was coming! And neither of us had dates! One of my best friends told him that he should ask me to go with him as a friend, so one day as we walked down to the lunch line, he did.
Aww, look how cute he is. He was the Drum Captain! (October 2004)
After that night, for the rest of senior year we stayed up until 1 or 2 in the morning instant messaging/flirting with each other every night. Read more…
Miss Carousel, Dusseldorf, Germany/Garda, ItalyAge and Occupation: 29, International Product ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Front End DeveloperEngagement Date: May 29, 2010Wedding Date: September 2011Venue: I’m an American-Italian girl living in Germany with my Belgian fiancé, planning a wedding in Italy. I can’t wait to show our guests the wonderful Lake Garda, Verona, and want our wedding to be a fun filled, charming, day in the life of “La dolce vita.” Mr. C and I love spending time together, and have added wedding related activities to our cooking nights, dance lessons, and road trips. We love sampling restaurants, could listen to Sinatra all day, and are just a tad geeky and into technology. As we want all of our passions to be part of our marriage, what better way to start than by incorporating them in our wedding day?
As I’m completely internet dependent, I first turned to the web for help when I got engaged, and a whole new world opened for me. The ideas and the inspiration available to brides nowadays are endless there is one more beautiful than the other. I started saving anything that grabbed my attention. When I ended up spending hours per day checking out wedding inspiration and saving thousands of photos / bookmarks, I realised I had to snap out of it and give some structure to my ideas.
Even though in Italy it is not common to have a theme, I was drawn to the concept and I thought it would be a big help for me in narrowing down ideas and finally start making some wedding décor decisions. It was also a way to add an American touch to the wedding.
PRO NR. 1: Setting a theme can help narrow down ideas and provide cohesion Read more…
ContestsFeature Launched: Oct 5, 2006About: Weddingbee contests and giveaways.
First 7 winners: We sent over details to claim your prizes either via Weddingbee private message or email (if you’re an unregistered commenter) to the email addresses you have associated with your account at Weddingbee. We still have 8 more pairs of tickets left to give away, so keep entering if you’d like to go!
~~~
Grazia over at the Wedding Salon just sent us 15 free tickets to the Wedding Salon in Los Angeles! Join industry leaders and fellow brides on Monday March 21, 2011 for great wedding advice, tips, and giveaways galore!
The first 15 people to comment on this post will score free tickets*, and then we’ll close comments.
If you weren’t able to take advantage of the free tickets, you’ll still be able to grab tickets at a huge discount via Weddingbee! Just enter code BEEP at checkout to take advantage of the discount!
*Please make sure you’ll be able to be in Los Angeles on Monday, March 21 before entering.
mrs.marin and her new husband cut into their huge cake
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. Biscuit, Morgantown, WVAge and Occupation: 24, Dental StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Chemist at a pharmaceutical companyEngagement Date: April 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: Catholic Church, Lakeview Golf Resort and SpaAbout 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.
The DIY fails just keep on coming. This one was particularly hilarious, so I felt I needed to share it with the hive.
Remember how I wanted to make pretty tissue paper pom napkin rings? Well, my myriad of bulk paper came in finally and I decided to give it a whirl. I followed Martha’s instructions, but uh…something happened.
I looked at Mr. Biscuit and desperately said, “We can’t use these, can we?” Hoping he’d validate my project saying it wasn’t too bad.
He didn’t.
It looked pretty abysmal, and not even Mr. Biscuit (aka someone who cares 0 about our decor) could let those paper things sit at our tables.
I wasn’t going to give up, though. Too many brides have made those poms for them to be a DIY nightmare. Then I realized what was going on. I folded the paper the wrong way. Yup, I have a degree in engineering and I can’t read directions. I’m awesome. Read more…
Mrs. Magic, Chapel Hill, NCAge and Occupation: 30, Licensed Clinical Social WorkerFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, ResearcherEngagement Date: December 1, 2009Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: Barn at ValhallaAbout 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!
Ummmmm, I’m not sure what to do about this whole registry thing. You see, I am 30 and Mr. Magic is, too. We aren’t really old as the title of this post suggests…I mean, he’s in the living room killing zombies as I type, and I get carded all the time (I mean, not all the time, just on the really rare occasions when I drink). How old can we be?!?
But…we are 30. We have lived in sin for some time now. And, I like to decorate and eat. If one combined all these facts and lifestyle choices, one (OK, I) would wind up with this:
Approximately four sets of dishes. One Mr. M bought without consulting me (WTF—I know, right?).They are fine but kind of dark and manly. One is from my college years. One is my grandmother’s set of dishes. Oh, and at FMIL’s house there is a full set of china waiting for us that is Mr. M’s aunt’s china.
Novelty dishes. You know, like dishes with shoes on them, or dishes from the $1 bin at Target that have metropolitan cities on them (Paris! New York!).
LOST drinking glasses. I got these as a birthday present one year. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love me some LOST…but I don’t really want to set our Thanksgiving Day table with pint glasses depicting the different hatches from the LOST island.
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.
So last week, I wrote about not knowing whether I should attempt some wedding knitting. I felt like it would be a shame not to knit anything for the wedding, as it is my favourite hobby, but didn’t want to stress myself out. Well, everyone wrote back with such wonderful compliments, and messages of support, so I dove in!
Monday I wandered over to a yarn store not 4 blocks from here, hoping to find some perfect teal yarn. I wasn’t too hopeful—it’s always hard going shopping for something so specific. Well, I walked in and found this:
Mrs. Earrings, Fresno, CA/ Nelson, New ZealandAge and Occupation: 20, Student, Wannabe Writer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 19, Photography StudentEngagement Date: February 14, 2010Wedding Date: January 2011Venue: Gardens of the WorldAbout Me: I'm a girl from down under who grew up in Indonesia and I'm marrying a California boy. I'm addicted to all things sweet, have never met a chocolate silk pie than can get the better of me, and have dreams of one day being a fulltime novelist. I go weak in the knees for lace, tea cups, and a beautifully crafted sentence. When I get excited about something (whether it is historical linguistics or the Beatles) I tend to go overboard in research, and planning this wedding is no different. Mr. Earrings is my high school sweetheart, my best friend, and somehow we combine all our quirks into one big happy mess.
On January 8, 2011, I woke up at 7AM to see the sun streaming in through my window. It felt like any other day. Except it wasn’t. And I felt like any other girl. Except there was a giant white dress hanging by my bed, and I wasn’t just a girl—I was a bride, and it was finally my wedding day.
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!
This past weekend, Mr. Jaguar and I finally booked some pre-wedding couples’ counselling. It’s something we’ve never done as a pair before and though I’m still not entirely sure what’s going to happen during the sessions, I’m very open to it.
Too often we fall into the same sorts of routines, especially since we’re both working full-time. We wake up, get ready for work, don’t see each other again until early evening, have dinner together (almost always!) and then veg out in each others’ company until bedtime, when we start the cycle again. Weekends are lovely, but most of the time we’re busy catching up on the exhausting week to really appreciate them. You see, while we spend a lot of time together, we’re quite the home-bodies for the most part: saving for a wedding and for a home will do that to you! With the exception of our meal tasting night out last week, we can’t even remember the last time we had an actual “date.” It’ll be nice to have an entire weekend dedicated to actual “couple” time, with no computers, no wedding or home planning, and no distractions.
Yes, we’ve opted to go for a full weekend of counselling. Read more…
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.
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!
This will be a very short post. I just wanted to follow-up on my invitation post from yesterday!
Yesterday, I posted my invitation suite but as many of my fellow bees pointed out, I didn’t post a picture of the invitations themselves. oops! I apologize for the repeat post but here is the whole suite, inside and out!
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!
Hey hive, I could really use some help with the jewelry for my rehearsal dress! I picked up a blue strapless dress (I’ll be wearing the same dress in purple for BM Philly’s wedding in August!) and now need to figure out how to accessorize it.
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.
Neither Mr. S nor I are big dancers (I might get out on the floor if I’ve had enough drinks, but in seven years, I’ve never seen my beloved fiancé dance). And neither Mr. S nor I are fans of most current dance music.
But our guests like to dance, and we want them to have fun, but we don’t want to have to listen to music that we dislike at our own wedding!
So after many, many hours, we came up with a general playlist for the party. We’ll give the list to our DJ with instructions that he can deviate from the list as long as he doesn’t go too far off, and that he has to honor our Do Not Play list.
When I posted my tips for an iPod reception, I mentioned that it’s a good idea to organize songs into sets based on genre. 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.
A hundred THANK YOUS for all of your votes on yesterday’s bridal bling post. The Westerly earrings look like the clear winner….but the bracelet choice is still a tie! I’m gonna have to mull that one over a little more, but I’ll be sure to keep you posted on my final choice!
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
