Weddingbee Blog

Two years ago today, I joined the hive. My schtick? I was a blogger from the middle of nowhere, planning a very intimate wedding for under $1000. (Here’s what was actually spent, by the way.)

I showed you our proposal and my ring and later, his ring too.

You read about my woes as I struggled to find the perfect courthouse.

I invited you along for the ride as my mom-in-law planned a picnic reception and I painstakingly designed the invitations.

You helped me find my $200 wedding dress. You convinced me to pony up the cash for a real photographer, even though I was originally very against it.

I acquired some skills too: I followed in the footsteps of other Bees, learning to wrap a bouquet. I also made a sash! (Maybe that isn’t something to brag about, but hey, I’m not exactly crafty!)

Eventually, the wedding day came.

[Credit: Shawna Noel Photography]

[Credit: Shawna Noel Photography]

And the wedding day passed.

And this 09/09/09 bride popped back into the hive as a new Mrs., bringing offerings in the form of 9 (of course!) recaps. (And that was a coincidence. For real.)

1. I tied up some last minute loose ends.
2. We fetched our cake at law-breaking speed and I spent hours creating my bouquet.
3. I got ready quickly (after spending all morning on the bouquet).
4. At the courthouse, Mr. MJ gave me a surprise.
5. We posed for some pix.
6. We had a 5 minute (or less!) ceremony.
7. Moooooar pictures.
8. We had dinner and finally, cake.
9. Picnic! (Pork! Beer! More Cake!)

After my recaps, I diddled around the hive for a while and said goodbye.

SIKE!

Of course I couldn’t say goodbye, because we hadn’t yet had our honeymoon. We had always planned to wait until summer 2010 to honeymoon, but were going to plan it way in advance. Instead, we waited on the planning because of uncertain financial times.

By February, we Mary Janes had figured a few things out and I was back as a honeymoon planner. We picked a place, and I fell pretty quiet again for a while, until eventually I resurfaced sunburned and ready to recap our 10-day trip to the Secrets Wild Orchid Resort in Jamaica.

(I shared our trip and experiences, the food, and a comprehensive review of the resort.)

And then I just kind of…hung around. Loitering, twiddling my thumbs, and randomly posting this or that. My excuse for this awkward ’Am I an active Bee blogger? Am I an old married bee?’ phase was the wedding album. I wanted to share the wedding album before I bid you all adieu. A few weeks ago, I did just that.

So hive, it’s been real. I know a lot of you weren’t around when I started blogging for the site 2 years ago. For those of you who were: thank you for your support. I was pretty sure that when you found out that my guest list was less than 20, or that my hair was short, or that I wasn’t getting married at a church, or—heck—that I wasn’t from Chicago or NYC or Orange County, you would all just vote or something and kick me out of here. Instead, I have a lasting relationship with many of you.

And I’ve met so many new friends. Whole new waves of brides show up as time goes on, and I’m touched when I receive a comment—even on an old, old post—telling me I’ve helped, inspired or otherwise contributed to someone’s special day. While I don’t comment on blogs or boards as much as I used to, I still read often and I still care. You’ll surely still see me write something from time to time, as this site is very much a part of me. But it might be a while before I pop in again.

Even though I don’t often blog about wedding stuff anymore, I do still blog, almost daily! You can follow my ’adventures’ in home improvement, cooking, dissertating, photography, and general…um…wifery (yep, I made that word up.) at my personal blog: www.nodakademic.com.

Bye bye, y’all. See you at my blog, if you decide to follow!