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.
You know what? I’m ready to admit it. I have been beaten by socks. That’s right. Socks. When last we spoke, Mr. Lox and I were irrationally battling over this. And now, now…I surrender. Do you hear me SOCKS**??? I surrender!
Let’s revisit our little sock tantrum here. First, I bought the lady socks…
source
Objects on your monitor may not be the color they actually appear. Read more…
Mrs. Hermit Crab, New York, NYAge and Occupation: 24, Youth Director soon to be Grad StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Medical Student - soon to be Surgery ResidentEngagement Date: October 11, 2008Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: New York Botanical GardenAbout Me: I love all things food, books, our furbaby, Rashi, and adventures with my amazing fiance (oh, and saving the world!). This summer I will not only be a bride, but a bridesmaid, officiant, and attendee as well---it's all about weddings in my life right now, full of so many exciting moments and projects. We're planning a fab New York City wedding weekend full of family, love and lots of color!
Just like Mrs. Octopus, above everything else (you know, aside from actually getting married), we wanted to throw the most-fun-ever-talked-about-for-years-most-banging-bash any of our guests had ever attended. I can’t possibly capture the energy in still-motion photographs, but I sure did try. Every guest was on their feet for at least a few songs, and months later, people are still telling us how much fun they had (and would we please throw an anniversary party?)! And Mr. HC and I had the most fun of our entire lives!
Time to get real for a minute: I debated whether or not to go into detail about the things that happened at our wedding that were not so magical. In an effort to keep it real with you guys, there were several incidents that were upsetting. First, the timeline got a little wonky in the morning, and I wound up being late to the tisch. Second, we had a family member toast made that was the opposite of what a toast should be—it was actually offensive and upsetting. So upsetting that I decided to omit the toasts altogether from my recaps and just show you the fun stuff. It took me several months to get to where I am now, which is not quite so upset, but still working on getting over it. Third, there were a couple of seriously minor things that were not exactly right and I decided to ignore those completely and have even mostly forgotten what they were!
I’ve decided to share this with you now because despite everything, and believe me, these were big everythings, the wedding was hands down, no question, the best day of my entire life so far. Read more…
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.
Mr. Meerkat and Best Man Meerkat have been friends for the better part of the last decade. And for the last four years he had been one of our closest friends. I think a lot of this big, burly guy, so when he went MIA, we panicked a bit. 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!
I was recently out of town…on vacation…with Mini Magic…to Paris, France. Since I am a carnival bee, I thought I’d share some French carnival pics! Taking Mini Magic to Paris was amazing! It was her first time on a plane. She puked in the aisle on the flight over, and we got upgraded to first class! It was awesome. Maybe you could try that on the flight to your honeymoon destination…
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!
Hi Hive! I’m taking a brief intermission from recap-land to show you my new hair. Five months post-wedding and one week to my 30th birthday, I decided to go big. The shortest I’ve ever worn my hair is in a chin-length bob, and I really wanted to buzz it short, but I have big ears and know I would have regretted that as soon as I did it. (Oh, the foresight that comes with being 30!)
I love it the most when I take the time to flat-iron it, but it’s pretty fun to play with, and fresh out of bed in the morning I have a bit of Charlie Sheen going on. Winning! 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?
In my real life, I am a product manager. This job fits me very well because I get to lead and coordinate projects, thus making the most of my natural predisposition toward planning, analysing, and organizing. In return, this job has helped me transform these traits into skills.
Since I’ve started planning my wedding, I’ve had enough time to regret that I didn’t choose to become a graphic designer, or stylist, or florist, or any other artsy professional whose skills would have really come in handy in the past few months…Still, some of my job tools can be useful for the organization and planning part.
In my experience, projects can easily become unmanageable: they tend to change and evolve in a way that the final result might be far from the desired result.
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!
After months and months of looking at wedding invitations, I finally decided to create my own design. I really wanted something unique, personalized, and whimsical. Basically it needed to be something that I felt would reflect the feel of our wedding. I kept telling Laura (my bridesmaid and personal wedding designer) that I wish I could just handwrite an invitation to each of our guests. Finally, we decided that I would handwrite the invitation and then send it out to a press and have it letterpressed! Genius, I know! The design part didn’t take that long. Laura used her fancy-pants design program to figure out the lines and spacing. Then I traced the invite and gave it my own personal touch so it would look like my handwriting.
irapo shows off her stunning dress on her wedding day
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. 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.
I love paper. Love it. After Sparks popped the question, one of the first things I got excited about was designing my own paper products for the wedding. I had secretly been thinking about it for a pretty long time, and I had already collected some inspiration pics. (Don’t freak out Sparks—you know I’m not crazy.) So when the time came to start thinking about our save the dates, I was prepared. I had a slew of ideas swimming around in my head and a lot of them looked like this:
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.
In the beginning of wedding planning, videography was not in the forefront of my mind. I thought it was silly to spend money on a grainy, shaky home video that Uncle Bob could have taken for free.
But everything changed one day once I saw Mr. Biscuit’s cousin’s wedding video. I am not an emotional person, but this video brought me to tears. Seriously, I was sitting at my computer blubbering like an idiot.
How could a simple video cause such passionate pathos? Here, just check it out yourself: 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.
I knew from about day one of our engagement that I would get a nontraditional wedding band. I wanted something bold and colorful that could be worn without my engagement ring. Something kind of like this:
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.
In preparation for our phone meeting with the officiant this Thursday, Mr. P and I are gathering ideas for our ceremony. We approach tasks very differently. Whereas I like to start with the maximum number of possibilities and narrow down from there (lest I miss something awesome), he begins with a much narrower focus and expands outward as necessary…
This explains why I currently have seven tabs of ceremony inspiration blog posts open in my Safari browser, a wedding workbook (from just-marrieds K&M), and a desktop folder simply titled “ceremony.” I’m fully capable of driving myself nuts.
Here’s summary of things we’d like to incorporate into our ceremony:
1. Write our own vows.
After reading about Mrs. Seahorse’s vow-writing stress, I knew this seemingly innocuous task would need to be done far in advance and given its own month.
2. Keep it (relatively) short.
It won’t be Vegas-fast or Catholic-church-long. Neither of us is game for an hour of standing (fainting?) in the June heat. The ceremony ought to be long enough for it to feel serious and official, but there’s no need to drag it out unnecessarily. Twenty minutes feels right. Read more…
WatercoolerFeature Launched: July 1, 2007About: The most discussed posts of the week.
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.
Catch up on the entire After “I Do” series here! And if you have a burning question you’d like to see discussed, submit it here!
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How do you show your spouse that you appreciate them? What does he/she do for you?
Dude, he married me. He should be grateful.
Kidding. We’ll almost always pick up something sweet for each other if either of us goes to a bakery or something, since we both have mad sweet tooths. But this question made me realize that we should do a better job of appreciating each other, and go above and beyond our normal division of responsibilities. For example, I cook. And while that’s a big thing that he should be ever stinking grateful for, I could do a little something special once in a while to brighten his day. Read more…
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
Dude, he married me. He should be grateful.
