Miss Snapdragon, Chicago/DallasAge and Occupation: 32,Associate ProducerFiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Lighting DesignerBlogging Since: November 14, 2008Engagement Date: January 1, 2011Wedding Date: March 2012Venue: Marie GabrielleAbout Me: Voracious reader of short stories, Russian literature, National Geographic and Cosmo. I'm a GENIUS at spicing up Weight Watchers recipes and a pathological cheater at board games. I run a slow marathon, but my feet are learning to move faster. Mornings aren't my thing, but I can night owl with the best of them. Don't tempt me with your Cherry Cokes---I'm trying to quit. Tomorrow. Or never.
The angry days. Anyone who’s ever been in a romantic relationship of over a year knows what I mean—the days when you and your partner kind of want to send each other on a special vacation. By themselves:
Fighting used to feel like a bad sign to me. Like an omen that my relationship was doomed. Bossyboots and I rarely fight, but it does happen (because we’re normal!).
Last year, I read the novel Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen. There were about 8,000 things in that book that were amazing, but one scene really hit home to me. 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!
This is pretty much how the entire DIY Tissue Paper Pomander Making Festival went—one ball joke after another. But in the end, BM Pumpkin and I ended up with this!
Miss Magic’s Note: These were for BM Pumpkin’s wedding, which was in September 2010, where I was MOH!
If that doesn’t look like one big ball of flowers, then I don’t know what does!
BM Pumpkin on left, Miss Magic on right, big ball of flowers in the middle—the ball was only half finished, which is why it looks kinda lopsided.
Ms. Stripes, Los AngelesAge and Occupation: 29, Costume Designer/StylistFiancee's Age and Occupation: 29, ChefEngagement Date: June 23, 2009Wedding Date: September 2010Venue: Heritage Square MuseumAbout Me: I’m a type A creative with a messy streak, a loud mouth, and an uncanny knack for combining clashing patterns. I can usually be found with my nose in a book, my feet (or at least my toes) on the ground, my head in the clouds, and my arm around the prettiest girl you ever saw- aka
Fiancee Stripes. Together we’re planning a FUN vintage/modern French carnival wedding extravaganza and rockin’ dance party on a dime. (Say that three times fast!) Good coffee, long lists, Uniball pens, and my iPhone keep me sane, and making art, making trouble, and making out keep me happy! I love urban adventures, bike rides that end with afternoon drinks, breakfast for dinner, beautiful light, photography, travel, my furry family, and of course, my beautiful fiancee! I’m super excited to be here and can’t wait to share all our adventures as we craft a joyful, budget-friendly, design-savvy and all-around AWESOME wedding!
All right lovelies, thank you for your patience. It’s officially official pro-pics recap time!
Our wedding day dawned grey and misty (not to worry, it turned blue and beautiful) and we lay in bed for a few minutes marveling over the fact that this day was finally here. Then we got up, threw on our grubs and headed to get coffee. I will admit that for the first time ever I ordered that giant size Starbucks (Venti?!) because I just really needed it, ya know? I think I ate oatmeal too. Maybe. Then because our rentals hadn’t arrived on Friday, we headed over to our venue to meet rock star bridesmaids Lil’ Stripe and Nami, and check that everything was right with our wedding world. It was. The rentals had arrived and the girls had totally taken charge of hanging lights and cranes in the trees. *Huge sigh of relief.*
Confident that it all was going to work out beautifully, we headed back to our house to commence getting ready:
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. 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!
Our venue, a home built in 1797, is understandably particular about send-offs at their weddings. Fireworks are prohibited because they’re a historic site, so we agreed not to use sparklers. We’re not allowed to use anything that would involve a lot of clean up, like confetti. After ruling out some of these other send-off options, we began to consider what would work. We needed something bright, colorful, and obviously whimsical. Something like…
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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.
What was the one thing I wanted to do before leaving the Priscilla of Boston store? I bet you can guess on the first try. Try on my lovely gown again! The sample has seen some wear since the last time I visited, but the gown still delights me (even after the Vera beauties).
I brought accessories (and my camera) to see what would work with the gown. In tow were my Seychelles wedding shoes, several pairs of earrings, and a bracelet. First up were my favorite earrings and bracelet:
My clear crystal earrings & the pink J. Crew version
Mrs. Socks, Southern NJ/Philadelphia, PAAge and Occupation: 23, Web Developer/Marketing SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Systems EngineerEngagement Date: September 7, 2009
Wedding Date: October 2010Venue: Ladder 15 RestaurantAbout Me: I am originally from the Midwest, but I love being an East Coast transplant! Mr. Socks and I are foodies and winos to the core---give us a hunk of cheese, some charcuterie and a glass of wine and we could die happy. We have two mischievous Wire Fox Terriers with completely opposite personalities but with a shared love of uprooting anything in our garden. Our backyard garden includes everything from tomatoes and peppers to a fig tree, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries! I love cooking, indie music, and spending time in our wedding city of choice---Philly!
Immediately after our ceremony, we took the trip up two flights of stairs at Ladder 15 where servers swooped down with tasty tidbits! Unfortunately, one thing I never asked my photographer for were pictures of the food and wine, so I don’t have any!! I’m bummed about it because one of the most important parts of our wedding was to find kick ass food and drinks and I don’t have photographic evidence of it. So if it’s something you want, be sure you ask!
Mr. Socks and I used the cocktail hour as our opportunity to make the rounds to all of our guests instead of dinner. This allowed us to get the formalities out of the way early in the evening so we could have had the rest of the evening to have fun. I definitely recommend this if you attend your cocktail hour. No, I didn’t get hardly a bite of the food at cocktail hour, but I DID get to munch on everything at dinner!
I love the photos from our cocktail hour showing everyone having fun together!
Winter, spring, summer, fall… gift your guests by season with great favors from the Weddingbee Favors Shop! This week all favors are 10% off—our biggest discount to date! Check out our favorite seasonal favors and pop in and see what we’ve got in stock for your wedding date!
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’m pretty sure those were the words that fell out of my mouth when I realized I had just been accepted as the newest bee! I wanted to run straight out the door and tell everyone, but it was only about 2PM here. So I was forced to sit at my desk, smiling like a fool for the rest of the day. I’m pretty sure my coworkers thought I had either peed my pants or lost my mind. But who cares! I’m a bee!!!
I was REALLY eager to get started, so as soon as Sparks (that’s Mr. S ) walked through the door that night, I started flailing my arms around and yelling, “I need you to take my picture!!!” Being too afraid to say no, Sparks whipped out his camera:
Yes, I went out and found a box of sparklers, in Chicago, in February. It just felt more official. So (officially), hello, hive! I am crazy happy to be here! Read more…
Mrs. Jam, ChicagoAge and Occupation: 25, Writer/Associate Wedding CoordinatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Structural EngineerEngagement Date: December 23, 2009Wedding Date: June 2011Venue: Hunter’s Ridge, Princeton, ILAbout Me: I’m a penny-pinching cat lady getting ready to marry the frugal dog lover of my dreams. Our ideal Saturday morning includes rummaging around people’s junk at garage and estate sales followed by an afternoon date to our favorite café, where we only eat sandwiches that include the word “salad.” We actually love it so much, it’s sort of our unofficial wedding theme: Look at our delicious finds, eat homemade ham salad, and celebrate our love…barndance style. When we’re not obsessing over our love-fest shindig, we’re planning themed parties for our best friends and jamming to '90s music.
I love a picture of a sky-high heel as much as the next bride-to-be, but I’ve always known one thing about my potential wedding shoe decision: It would never, ever be a heel. EVER.
Now, back in the day (otherwise known as up until three years ago), I lived in heels. I even had an e-mail address that included the word “Heels.” I once spent a long weekend sightseeing in Washington D.C., and I walked every single day into the wee hours of the morning with nary a flat shoe in sight and I liked it.
And suddenly, after years of wearing heels to classes and parties and dates and study sessions alike, I met my match: GLADIATOR SANDALS.
Just like that, my life was forever changed. Gladiator sandals are absolute perfection and total comfort with anything you could possibly wear, and I wear them with EVERYTHING. Why not wear them with a wedding dress, too?
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.
In honor of this weekend’s Oscar extravaganza, I met up with friendor and makeup artist extraordinaire, Tina, for the long awaited makeup trial…and red carpet swooning.
My dream makeup look, striking the perfect balance of drama (the eyes) and natural beauty. And that light coral lip is sooooo pretty. I shared what specifically I loved about this look to Tina and also told her what I wanted to avoid (not heavy, no super dark eyes) so she knew my boundaries. The more specific you can be with your makeup artist about what look you want (natural or glam, colors, areas to highlight—photos are SO helpful!) and don’t want, the better chance you have of getting the look you’ve been dreaming of.
Mr. O also chimed in about his thoughts on makeup: Read more…
Mrs. Seashell, Chicago, IL / Providence, RIAge and Occupation: 28, Marriage and Family TherapistFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Electrical EngineerEngagement Date: September 3, 2009Wedding Date: September 2010Venue: The Glen Manor HouseAbout Me: Fonts and fashion, stationery and Sundays, photography and french toast... the beauty is in the details for this fun-loving Chicagoan who loves to plan plan plan! The soon-to-be hubs plays "Mr. Fix-It" in our new condo while I swoon over beautiful, personalized stationery and choose shades of aubergine for my bridesmaids' dresses... and thus begins my new fairy tale! Skirting to the East Coast for our September nuptials where my home state of Rhode Island awaits with fall foliage, I'm just a few dress fittings and bachelorette party away from saying "I Do" to a very happy ending!
While we were busy rehearsing, Mr. Seashell and I organized a “Welcome Party” for our out of town guests to attend. Since they were arriving at different times throughout the weekend, we planned an event for later in the evening on Friday. We offered dessert, drinks and coffee in the penthouse of the hotel with the intent of letting our guests grab dinner as they pleased, but also with enough time to see everyone after we were done rehearsing.
It worked out perfectly—we were able to have the smaller, more intimate rehearsal we desired and also the warm, large, invite-everyone party as part of the evening, too.
Speaking of those arriving guests, when they were greeted at the hotel they found…
Congratulations to the winner of Weddingbee’s Tejani contest: doriable!
And good news to all that entered this contest but didn’t win: Tejani is offering 10% off of any purchase to all contest entrants! Simply head to their website, shop for your favorite pieces of jewelry, and enter code WB2011 at check out to take advantage of the discount! The code expires on March 31, 2011, so check it out soon! Happy shopping
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From classic to modern, couture to vintage, Tejani Jewelry carries unique jewelry designed especially for brides. Their ENTIRE line of jewelry is available in four finishes, making every piece they make customizable to your bridal style.
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.
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
) walked through the door that night, I started flailing my arms around and yelling, “I need you to take my picture!!!” Being too afraid to say no, Sparks whipped out his camera: 
