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!
Many of you have come to know and love Laylabelle, one of our great hive members. Many of you noticed she’s been a little absent from the boards…one month after her 30th birthday, Layla was diagnosed with early stage cervical cancer (1A Adenocarcinoma). We’d all love it if you gave this blog a visit to say hello and find out a little more about what she’s going through and send her some hive love.
We’re all thinking of you here at Weddingbee, Layla!!!
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!
If you are currently planning or have ever planned a wedding, you are well aware of how much money a wedding can cost. It’s really quite ridiculous, and sometimes it feels so unnecessary and super selfish. I am currently working on an LLM (Masters of Law) in international criminal law at the University of Amsterdam, so I spend my days reading about the most horrendous crimes on earth (i.e., mass rape, genocide, torture, etc.). After hours of that, I feel so silly spending hours looking at wedding porn! I totally need the escape but end up feeling crazy-guilty.
The more I thought about it the more I realized there has to be some way to have my wedding and eat it too…so to speak. I know that a lot of people donate money on behalf of their guests in lieu of favors, which I think is great! On the other hand, why take the money from your guests when you can take it from corporations? Here are some of the great organizations I found that totally make that possible:
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!
Yes, I said “drankin’.” It was an, um, Southern England party.
I thought I’d let you in on some of the thinkin’ behind throwing a British shower. You know, in case you have a Britophile freak for a friend and need to throw a shower in this style. In this case, the theme was chosen because the bride, Pumpkin, loves England! The idea for a British tea was passed around, but that was a bit too stuffy for our group of gals, so we stuck with the British theme but made it more fun.
The food and drinks were a bit of a challenge because, as you may have heard, British food is not all that delish. (Sorry, British bees…maybe we just aren’t cultured enough to appreciate it!) Plus, BM Pumpkin is a vegetarian, so having “bangers and mash” was out.
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!
“Food is our common ground, a universal experience.”
- James Beard
This week we attended a menu tasting at our venue, The Royal Park Hotel, to suss out what we’ll serve at our reception. It also turned out to be an opportunity to get to know the venue coordinator better and clue her into our tastes and overall style. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that we had the entire Conservatory to ourselves for the private tasting, which was great for marking out the space and brainstorming a preliminary room layout!
The tummies in attendance: BM Laura, BM Tanya, Mr. Tartlet, and Miss Tartlet. This was taken prior to the fabulous suggestions from the Hive on how to counteract our glow!
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.
A couple of weeks ago the mister and I decided to go to Santa Barbara for the weekend to see one of our favorite bands and to get away from all things wedding.
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.
Since I want to tell you all about the wedding the way it happened, I guess I should tell you about the days beforehand. We arrived almost an entire week before the wedding so we had some time to just have fun. Most days this is how you would find Mr. Meerkat and me: Read more…
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.
Remember how I said we couldn’t make fruit preserves for our mason jars anymore? Then I started chasing bees? Well, I smartened up and went with something easy peasy for our favors: jelly beans!
It wasn’t an easy decision, though. I fought going the easy route at first and when I realized honey was too expensive. Then I started exploring lots of other ideas. I found these awesome heart-shaped whoopie pies on Etsy and got really addicted to the idea of having labels that said “Whoopie, we’re married,” like Mrs. Ribbons and Mrs. Hamster!
However, when I added up the cost of ordering the number of pies we’d need, I realized it was going to be way too expensive! 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!
When I first thought about using our unconventional RSVP cards, I was a little bit nervous to see how people would respond to them. Would people understand my quirky sense of humor? Would they realize that I was trying to set the tone for the wedding as lighthearted and fun? Or would they just think I was crazy?
Luckily, everyone loved them! And we ended up getting some pretty great responses back. Several people said I should make a graph out of all of the responses, but I thought it would be more fun to show you a few of my favorites.
Like this one, which cracked me up as soon as I pulled it out of the envelope:
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!
Our friends, the Pigeons, are getting married in April and recently moved to a new place. As I was helping Miss Pigeon unload the back of her car into her new digs, we came across and old, electronic typewriter. She explained that Mr. Pigeon had bought it for her and had it completely refurbished. I think she may have noticed that I was drooling and itching to take a look at it because she piped up with, “Do you want it?”
Eek!
“Um, yeah…um…are you sure? It’s so cool. Don’t you want it?”
“We don’t have enough room in our new place,” she replied.
Eek!
So, Pigeon and I loaded the new old typewriter in to the back of my car, much to the chagrin of Mr Waffle who complained that I needn’t be bringing any more junk into the house. Read more…
Weddingbee GalleryFeature Launched: April 10, 2009About: A collection of inspirational wedding pictures from readers and bees.
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. Dolphin, Gainesville, FLAge and Occupation: 24, Graduate Architecture StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Interactive Interface DeveloperEngagement Date: February 14, 2008Wedding Date: May 2010Venue: Plantation Bay Country ClubAbout Me: I’m currently a Graduate Student at the University of Florida studying Architecture. I enjoy playing Scrabble with my Fiance, rooting for the Florida Gators, making any drink that involves a blender, cleaning (yes... I’m crazy), design... GOOD design that is, the new Pepsi with natural sugar, taking pictures, discovering new places in the U.S., and obsessing over doing (and designing) everything myself for our upcoming wedding!
What’s next on this fast-moving (okay… more of a slow-paced) recap bandwagon? Speeches!
I’ll admit that when other bloggers are recapping their weddings and they get to the speeches part, I skip over it. Eek! I can’t believe I typed that out. So embarrassing. But, I’m all about truth, so I’ve gotta tell it like it is. Read more…
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!
Last weekend, Mr. Jaguar and I headed out to our wedding reception venue for an evening of food and merriment. The venue we’ve booked has multiple function rooms in it, so we weren’t in the particular room that we’ll be having our reception in, but it was still decorated beautifully. We arrived to champagne, a candy buffet and a string quartet.
All photos in this post were taken by me. You’ll have to forgive me on the slightly fuzzy and badly lit images, but they were taken with my trusty old iPhone in a candlelit room!
Mrs. Buttons, Clearwater, FLAge and Occupation: 24, "Working on it"Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Financial ServicesEngagement Date: June 13, 2009Wedding Date: May 2010Venue: Carlouel Yacht ClubAbout Me: I'm a self proclaimed perfectionist and a professional nomad (seriously, I've lived in TX, WI, MI, FL, NC, and now VA!). I love wine, cooking, curling up with a good book (nerd alert!), spoiling the furbaby, and of course, the wonderful Mr. Buttons! We are planning a lighthearted and whimsical wedding (with a good deal of DIY projects) in Clearwater, Florida, but from a distance of 800 miles away! We are looking forward to sharing our day with our family and friends, and most importantly, starting our lives together as husband and wife!
Hive, I wanted to take a short break from my recaps for a moment, because I am so excited to share this project with you! If you’re anything like me, a go-to gift for a party, birthday, or other celebration, is typically a bottle of wine. And hey—I like receiving bottles of wine myself…just in case you were wondering…
Anyway, I was getting bored with the typical wine bag as a wrapper. Yawn. I scoured the Internet for some inspiration, and (surprise) Martha gave me some good ideas to get me started. I added my own twist, and I am SO happy with how it turned out!
Materials needed:
Bottle of wine/champagne
Dish towel
Straight pins
Twine
Wax paper
The instructions are pretty simple. First, lay the bottle lengthwise on the dish towel, leaving about 2 inches of slack at the bottom.
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.
Here are some of the great organizations I found that totally make that possible:
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
