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.
Shopping for a wedding dress when you’re a big girl sucks. Most dress boutiques carry few to no dresses in extended sizes, and the dresses they do carry seem to be copies of the same strapless, modified A-line dresses with ruching and, if they’re fancy, a sprinkle of beading. No offense to the brides with ruched, strapless, modified A-line dresses. There’s a reason why these dresses are so popular—they fit and flatter everyone. But this is not my idea of a dream gown.
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.
“Dancing with the feet is one thing, but dancing with the heart is another.”
Hi.
My Name is Miss Ostrich.
And I. LOVE. TO. DANCE.
I’ve been bogeyingsince the tender age of two,when my mom enrolled me in my very first ballet, tap and jazz classes. Then, in high school and college, I shook my thang as the captain of my hip hop dance teams. And now, many moons later, I take hip hop dance classes once or twice a week and participate in a dance showcase in the spring.
The Running Man. Cabbage Patch. Superman. Dougie. Pirouette. Jeté. Step-Ball-Change. Cha-Cha.Waltz. These are just some of the moves I tend to bust out on the dance floor. Where you at, Honey Daniels???
And as if that wasn’t enough…my step dad was a Latin ballroom dancing champion in the Philippines and was my mom’s dance instructor—that’s how they fell in love.
So my mad love to bust-a-move and dance heritage begs the question: what are we gonna do for our first dance?
Well, let’s take a stroll down the wedding dance hall of fame for a little inspiration, shall we? These are a few of the most awesome wedding dance routines I’ve ever seen! Read more…
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.
OK hive, I have a confession to make. Remember when I told you all about my lofty goal to sew all the napkins and escort flowers for the wedding? I left out an integral piece of information. I don’t know how to sew. I didn’t think it would be a big deal. Hey, I taught myself how to knit. I’m in a profession where I’m supposed to be good with my hands. Sewing would be a piece of cake, right?
Eh, not so much.
It started out innocently enough. I began to sew an escort flower by hand, as per the tutorial. I finished with something that didn’t look too bad. Then I looked at the clock. Just putting a simple running stitch in one flower took 45 minutes, and I still had to sew the pin and button in the middle. Sewing fail.
No problem, though. I figured I’d try to up my ego and sew a few napkins. I wasn’t quite sure how to do this, but my grandmother had a sewing machine sitting in my room at her house that I could experiment with. The next time I went over there, I attempted to give it a go. How hard could it be? I mean, the instructions to thread the machine were located on it. However, I underestimated my ability to read Ikea-esque instructions on a faded sticker. Sewing machine: 1 Miss Biscuit: 0.
Mrs. Hippo, New York City/Dallas, TXAge and Occupation: 34, Event Planner for a Non-Profit Fiance's Age and Occupation: 35, Finance ITEngagement Date: August 8, 2009Wedding Date: March 2011Venue: Samuel Lynne Galleries and Marc EventsAbout Me: I’m a thirty-something bride living in New York City and planning a modern-ish wedding in Dallas, Texas. I love trashy reality television (Jersey Shore, anyone?), online shopping, Sunday brunch, Central Park, and random celebrity spottings on the streets of Manhattan. While I love NYC, I miss good Tex-Mex, my college friends, central A/C, and being in close proximity to a Target. I’m thrilled to finally be planning an event that’s not work-related and to be marrying my best friend in what I hope will be a unique and personal ceremony followed by a reception with plenty of good food, good drinks, and dancing (regardless if it’s good or not).
Finding the perfect gifts for my bridal party has been a bit of a challenge. I just don’t think it’s possible to find any gift that will show these women just how amazingly awesome they are. Impossible, actually. But…I found the bridesmaids something that I just know they will love. I am so excited (and actually a little jealous that I didn’t get one for myself)!
Before we get into details, let me remind you a little bit about the bridal party. On my side is MOH/Sister Hippo plus three bridesmaids. Then, I have another five ladies that make up the house party. While I’ll be posting about gifts for the entire group in another post, I have one extra special gift for the four ladies that will be standing up with me during the ceremony.
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.
I got my pro pics back a couple of weeks ago! Now that I have mulled over them for a bit, I’m ready to start my recaps. So stay tuned—I’ll be starting them this coming Monday!
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!
Here we are, continuing with the reject pile! To briefly recap, these are the ideas that didn’t end up making it into our wedding. This last one is a biggie and deserves its own post.
#6 Videography
My favorite part of modern weddings is videography. It was #2 on the list of must haves next to completely, utterly, kick butt photography. I thought that our biggest hurdle was budget, so I scoured the Weddingbee Vendor Reviews to find local companies (to save on traveling/lodging fees) that also did great work.
But Mr. Crepe was a film major and just didn’t feel that we should pay someone $Xk amount to cut together a film he felt that he could do himself. I wasn’t thrilled with this choice at first—I trust his editing skills completely but I’m worried that it would be too big of a project for him to finish within a reasonable amount of time. Why not outsource this to someone who did this for a living? I had found one company whose work I loved and they were located in Nashville, so that was perfect: Read more…
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 promise I will explain that title. Really, there is a point to it. I swear.)
When I last left you, I was feeling pretty anxious about finding a place for our ceremony and reception. My anxiety only increased as we went from appointment to appointment, touring each prospective venue. Nothing seemed to fit quite right. Prairie Productions and Ravenswood Event Center ended up being too small, Architectural Artifacts had no AC (risky for an early September wedding), and River East Art Center was waaay expensive. It eventually came down to Gallery 1028 and Chicago Illuminating Company (CIC).
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?
Hello everyone! Greetings from Germany! I am so happy and still a bit amazed to be here.
The other night Mr. Carousel and I were just getting ready to go to bed when, by habit, I checked my mail for the last time of the day. Well, what do you know—there was an email from a Weddingbee email address! A million thoughts went through my mind, so I just opened it and had to read it at least three times before realizing it was an acceptance letter!!
I sort of gasped, and then started giggling and hugging my FI: it had been a LONG time since I’d been that giddy! It took me about another 20 minutes to actually read through the whole email and respond to Mrs. Penguin that I would be happy and honoured to be Miss Carousel.
Why Miss Carousel? Lots of reasons, but mainly because: 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.
GTL… Gym, Tan, Laundry. I can’t help it, I’m trying to look fresh to death on the big day!
I’m going to skip over the whole tan situation because I’ve mentioned several times before that I’m Irish but what I haven’t mentioned is that I have a very strong history of skin cancers in my family. So… we’re just going to move on ahead and never mention this again. I figure all the good I’ve been doing at the G will off-set the bad I’m doing at the T. Denial is indeed a river in Egypt. 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!
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. 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 know you have been waiting for this. I’ve waited awhile to share this story with you, friends, because it’s so freaking cute it might just make you gag. Grab a trash can, just in case, and here goes.
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. 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!
One of my favorite wedding projects also turned out to be one of the most time consuming tasks that I took on for the wedding. The Facebook. As I mentioned earlier, it’s not like Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook (though that did come in handy to find many of our guests’ photos for our wedding version). No, it’s like those college facebooks that we got our freshman year that had all of the first year class’ names and pictures and you used it to try to predict what your roommate would be like, who your friends might be and what guys you wanted to meet (what, I was the only one who did that?).
As much as a pain in the a** that this project was, I’m SO happy that I stuck with it and finished it. Everyone loved it and so many people said it was one of their favorite additions to our wedding. Read more…
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
