Mrs. Hot Wings, Chicago/San DiegoAge and Occupation: 28, ProfessorFiance's Age and Occupation: 32, InstructorEngagement Date: December 20, 2008Wedding Date: August 2010Venue: Ocean View Villas/Jasmine Seafood RestaurantAbout Me: I am a psychology grad student living in Chicago and planning my wedding to a fellow psych grad student. I am a Sunny So-Cal bred gal who trudged across the country to follow her love of psychology and ended up finding a partner in the process. I am overly passionate about anything I involve myself with. I am an activist, a foodie, a reality TV watching junkie, an over-analyzer, a photography obsesser, and am utterly cheesy to the core. This is a story of what happens when a boy and a girl meet, fall in love over academic dorkiness, and a shared love for life. We (mostly I) are planning our semi-destination wedding in my hometown of San Diego. We are excited to bring our families and friends together from across our lifespans to celebrate our future in a grand 400+ person culturally blended affair!
We took couples’ formals twice, once right after our first look and then again between the speeches and the cocktail hour. Read more…
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!
That is the question I wanted to ask after our tasting at the Tribute. Our bridal buffet packages comes with several options, which Mama & Daddy Elephant, Mr. E, and I were eager to test out.
Warning - The following post may make you hungry.
Smiling with some full stomachs
First up was the salad. We thought this was a done deal from the get go because Mr. E really only likes Caesar salad, and we thought that would be a universal safe bet.
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.
Whenever someone asks how Sparks and I met, I usually laugh and ask if they want the long version or the very short version. The short version goes something like this:
“We met at school.”
(Like I said, it’s a very short version)
Now, the long version is what gets me laughing. Not that it’s particularly funny, but I just never expected this:
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!
After my weepy dance with my dad, the Mother/Son dance rocked the room into a dance party! They never told me what they were planning so I was just as surprised as everyone else. Their dance started off with a few bars of Celine Dion, but then they whipped out sunglasses and grooved it out as the DJ flipped on “Cooler Than Me” by Mike Posner.
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!
In an effort to actually be able to afford to feed the guests at our wedding, I decided to look at some less expensive dresses. I did what any frugal North Carolina bride would do, and I headed to the Burlington Bridal Mart.
Mrs. Lioness, AtlantaAge and Occupation: 25, Physical TherapistFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, AttorneyEngagement Date: August 29, 2009Wedding Date: April 2011Venue: Anthony’s Fine DiningAbout Me: I’m a Southern girl with New England roots. I say "wicked" and "y’all" in the same sentence and I like to drink sweet tea with my lobster. Mr. Lion and I are both former Floridians now living in Atlanta, which fortunately is still SEC country...Go Gators! We both love baseball, coffee, traveling, cooking, and playing Words with Friends with each other on our iPhones all day long. I’m very passionate about the things and the people I love, and I tend to plan things with all of my heart...our wedding, of course, is no different! Oh, and also Mr. Lion is a first generation American of Cuban descent. I may look more like Lucy than Ricky, but I’m doing my best to incorporate some Latin elements into our vintage-garden-Southern wedding!
I recently sat down to make our table numbers. And I’m using the term “numbers” loosely. You see, our tables aren’t really numbered at all! We picked out one picture for each table. Some were representative of some of our favorite things. Some were representative of some of our favorite inside jokes. Then, we came up with silly names to correspond with each photo, most of which involved using the word “table” as some kind of pun. Best of all, I found these ornament-shaped cards at Paper Source!
But Miss Lioness! What in the world would you need ornament-shaped cards for? Your wedding isn’t anywhere near Christmas! Well, turn it upside down… Read more…
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!
I was incredibly excited to see how the tasting stations for our reception turned out. Mommy Buttons and I had spent a lot of time coming up with the menu! One of my favorite things about working with Carlouel was the fact that they were incredibly open to any and all suggestions I had. I mean, come on: when my mom and I mentioned how it would be so pretty if the fireplaces had mantles, they went ahead and constructed some for us! And when it came to the menu, the sky was the limit! We worked to create five different tasting stations for our guests to enjoy.
Each of our guests had a lovely salad in front of them to enjoy as they waited for their table to be released to the stations. It was a spring mix salad with Craisins, walnuts, gorgonzola, and my mom’s recipe for honey lime vinaigrette (yep—Carlouel was willing to make any recipe—even our own!). BM L managed to snap a picture of it:
For the tasting stations, we wanted an eclectic mix of food. Although I don’t have a photo of every station’s offerings, I was so happy with how they all turned out, and I think that there was a combination of food that would please any guest’s palate!
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. Lemon, Los Angeles/MontereyAge and Occupation in 2006: 26, Graduate Student (Public Policy)Fiance's Age and Occupation in 2006: 29, Environmental ConsultantEngagement Date: April 7, 2006Wedding Date: July 7, 2007Venue: Rosary Chapel & Monterey Marriott, Monterey, CAAbout Me: My FI and I met online, but we like to tell people that we met at a "cookie shop" which is the technical location of our first encounter. He proposed exactly 1 year, 1 month and 6 days after our first date (it's the only part of his proposal speech that I remember), and we're planning long-distance from Los Angeles for a July wedding in my hometown of Monterey, CA. I have a passion for all things "cool, cute and quirky" and I enjoy video games, reading blogs (WeddingBee, trashy celeb, consumer & political) and crafting in my spare time, if I have any!
The fury and fun around photo booths really took off around the time of our wedding in the summer of 2007. We had quite a few friends rent traditional photo booths or had their photographers creating their own version at their receptions for all of their guests. Ever since, I’ve been fascinated with the idea of simply creating one for use in our own home whenever we wanted. And with the first birthday of our daughter approaching, I finalized everything I needed for the task!
Yep, that’s right, I DIYed my own photo booth! Trust me, it’s really quite simple, and if you’re a super geek you might just have all of the parts lying around your house ready to go! And even if you don’t have spare parts, you can “borrow” your own components to use for your special day!
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!
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. 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.
To date, my most exciting project-turned-giant-pain-in-the-butt has definitely been the wedding website. You see, in undergrad, my focus within my major was Systems and Control Engineering, so I did my fair share of programming and it was something I really missed. So, clearly, I would want to code my own website from scratch. Right? Right.
However, life got in the way as it usually does. Between studying for my first set of boards last summer and attempting to juggle patients, classes, and my requisite hour of lazy time per day it became glaringly apparent that I could not spend 100 man hours making the Zeus of wedding websites.
My wedding website dreams were subsequently dashed. Read more…
BeehiveFeature Launched: Aug 31, 2006About: A forum for readers to post questions and get feedback from the hive, aka the weddingbee community.
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 divide up household chores? Did it change, once you were married? Do you divide your chores along gender lines/traditional stereotypes? If so, was it intentional?
Mr. Powder Puff and I sort of naturally fell into the typical gender roles as far as chores go. I cook and clean, he takes out the trash and changes the oil in my car. Of course, we’re flexible. If I’m feeling tired or sick, Mr. Powder Puff will cook for me, or I’ll take out the trash if he isn’t up to it. But generally, we stick with our roles, and are extremely happy to do so! We actually had to discuss, as part of our premarital counseling, who would do what in the relationship. This was so valuable! It allowed us to set our expectations for not only each other, but also for ourselves. I highly recommend discussing these things with your partner, even if you’re not taking part in formal premarital classes. That way everything is out in the open, and no one is left feeling any resentment or disappointment if their expectations aren’t met. 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.
I was only able to tune into the Oscars for a moment or two before running out the door to deal with a little situation with the flower girl dresses. However, I had enough time to catch a peek at Kelly Osbourne’s fabulous makeup. Oh Em Gee. She looked stunning. I thought I had my hair and makeup all nailed down months ago. Now, with a little less than a week before my hair trial, my steel reserve has begun to wither. Ahhhhh such is life.
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.
I know one of the things the hive is interested in is how we keep ourselves organized throughout the planning process. So today as I sat down to destroy my dining room knock out a DIY project (more on that another day), I figured I would take some pictures of our storage space before I messed it up started.
First of all, you should know that Miss Cotton Candy totally put me to shame with her super organized self in a tiny space. Truth is, my apartment is roughly twice the size of hers. And while our closets are full, she is probably going to throw a shoe at my head when she reads this. But darn it, we didn’t have crafting space built into our lives when I suddenly decided I loved paper and wanted to DIY a bunch of wedding things!
So what’s a girl to do? Well, we bought this lovely dining room table and chairs shortly after we moved in, and settled into a routine of eating dinner together, at the table, with the TV off. I loved that ritual. Sadly, the table has now become wedding craft and scrapbooking central. And we eat all of our meals on the couch.
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
Mr. Powder Puff and I sort of naturally fell into the typical gender roles as far as chores go. I cook and clean, he takes out the trash and changes the oil in my car. Of course, we’re flexible. If I’m feeling tired or sick, Mr. Powder Puff will cook for me, or I’ll take out the trash if he isn’t up to it. But generally, we stick with our roles, and are extremely happy to do so! We actually had to discuss, as part of our premarital counseling, who would do what in the relationship. This was so valuable! It allowed us to set our expectations for not only each other, but also for ourselves. I highly recommend discussing these things with your partner, even if you’re not taking part in formal premarital classes. That way everything is out in the open, and no one is left feeling any resentment or disappointment if their expectations aren’t met.
