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.
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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Decision making and compromise: from minor things like how to resolve food habit differences, to big things like buying a car/home together, how does it work in your household?
I bulldoze the crap outta him. Just kidding. I tend to be the one who over researches and analyzes decisions, while his attitude is more “Okay, sounds good.” When he does express an opinion, I take it more seriously because I know he usually goes along with whatever I’ve decided. Read more…
Ms. Gazelle, Calgary/VancouverAge and Occupation: 32, EngineerFiance's Age and Occupation: 32, Technology AnalystEngagement Date: September 3, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: Brock House Restaurant, VancouverAbout Me: I am a marathon runner, cyclist, Ironman triathlete and beautiful shoe fiend who also loves kicking back and watching Glee. I grew up a bit of a nomad as I traveled around the world with my family, living everywhere from Australia to England to South America and Indonesia. I finally settled in Calgary a few years ago and met Mr. Gazelle who loves me even though we cheer for different hockey teams. We are planning a bit of a destination wedding in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia and we can’t wait to share the day with our close family and friends.
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!
Giddyup, hive! Join me in welcoming our newest carnival generation bee, Miss Pony!
Miss Pony, Bloomington, IL Age & Occupation: 25, Attorney Fiance’s Age & Occupation: 34, Attorney Engagement Date: March 22, 2010 Wedding Date: September 2011 Venue: Mackinaw Valley Vineyard; Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts About Me: I found my Southern counterpart in law school and since he popped the question last March, we have been busy graduating, job searching, bar taking, and wedding planning. My loves include must see TV, magnets, quotes, anything green, my car, fun socks, the Cubs, and my Mr. Together we love wine, playing outside, and exploring the world together. Stay tuned to see our Midwest wedding full of Southern charm, vintage flair, lots of DIY details, and a whole lot o’ wine.
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!
Chugga chugga! I haven’t fallen off the recap train just yet…
Following a rough week last week, I thought it only appropriate to pick up our recaps with a post dedicated to the lovely ladies who surrounded us (with LOVE) on our wedding day. They’re rock stars.
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.
I always assumed I would design and assemble our wedding invites. Why wouldn’t I? I designed our oh-so-pretty save the dates so I should’ve been able to tackle the invites—no problem. Except for the fact that we were about a month and a half behind schedule in sending them out because it took me so long to finish the design—and let’s not forget the many many hours spent in front of my computer; time that could have been better spent on other projects that are now behind schedule. So, I’ve compromised and have handed over the design of our invitation suite along with all of our paper products to the professionals, and Hive, I couldn’t be happier!
For the past couple of months I’ve been working with our coordinator Amanda and design associate Kristen, and the whole processes has been a breeze. We started off by emailing her a hodge podge of inspiration pictures along with some pics of our STD, font choice and signature pattern.
First up were these fabulous invites by Pinkpolka Wedding Design. I love the bold pattern and simple layout.
Mrs. Seal, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 25, Personal AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Sales and Support SpecialistEngagement Date: December 12, 2009Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Sts Peter and Paul Church/The Bently ReserveAbout Me: I am a goofy, wannabe crafty, well-intentioned Renaissance Woman (OK, perhaps "aimless wanderer" is a more aptly suited term for me, but hopefully you get the point)—basically I dabble in just about everything and pride myself in such. Without warning, I occasionally breakout into soulful improvised songs and interpretive dances and there's just no stopping me! As so many others before me, planning our wedding has unearthed a deep, intense passion for all things bridal and I secretly fear the day it will come to an end. Mr. Seal and I are quite the pair and life with him by my side is extremely rewarding—I am so thankful to have found him. Together we are planning a black-tie San Francisco affair for 250—light on the stuffiness and with lots of extra Seal-y flair.
Now that the envelopes were beautifully addressed (thanks to that wonderful surprise by my calligrapher), my next task was to stamp! I had previously purchased a return-address rubber stamp through a wonderful Etsy seller (studioGdesigns) for use on the back of the STD envelopes.
I know that stamping the back of 150 envelopes doesn’t exactly qualify as DIY, but we’ve established that I’m a crafting wannabe, so I photographed my endeavor anyhow:
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.
So here is a piece of advice from me to you. If you’re working with a vendor who comes with the package at your wedding venue… a cake vendor even… and said cake vendor offers you a trial of your cake. Take. It. Trust me, you can thank me for it later. Obviously, this is going to be a story about why I will never be sad that I did exactly that.
Yesterday we went on a wedding bonanza to get several things done at once. The first of which was a visit to the bakery to see the trial top tier of our cake. (Which I had wisely ordered the week before. Go me!) When we pulled up to the bakery, I pulled the cake inspiration picture out of my handy wedding folder so Mr. Lox and I could examine it and be ready to properly assess if the trial tier was correct. Just as a refresher, here is the cake-spiration we gave to the bakery.
So pretty. On the phone last week, I told her I wanted it to look like this but with pink in place of the green. And, per my instructions, this is what they had for me today…
Mrs. Pashmina, NYC/Catalina Island, CAAge and Occupation: 28, Arts EducationFiance's Age and Occupation: 34, IT AdministratorEngagement Date: April 26th, 2009Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Catalina Country Club, Catalina Island, CaliforniaAbout Me: I'm a laid-back Cali girl who moved to NYC for school, and ended up staying for love. My fiance is a quick-witted Jersey boy, a self-proclaimed Foodie and the funniest man I've ever met. Together we love exploring the city streets embarking on our next misadventure---and yes, this often involves eating off food carts and trying "the next big thing". I'm the girl in the sundress, snapping photos and collecting trinkets of memorabilia along the way. As a girly girl at heart, I am excited about our romantic natural island wedding incorporating our American & Filipino traditions.
Finding the perfect groomsmen’s outfit was harder than finding bridesmaids’ dresses! Much harder. After visiting Men’s Wearhouse and trying on suits, we realized we didn’t want a tuxedo. It was going to be too stiff, too heavy, and too much for a casual, outdoor wedding. The problem with this was finding a suit that would work.
Rental stores are so good because they have different styles in stock, and purchasing is less time sensitive––the three month turnover in mall stores becomes even more of a rush when trying for a hard-to-find size––and really, it requires minimal effort from the dudes. There is a clerk that knows what they need once they drop the wedding party’s name, so they aren’t left to hunt for the right things all by themselves. Typically getting the guys to the rental store and on time is something that us brides go crazy trying to coordinate, and rightfully so!!
Our pick for the groomsmen
We tried to find a seersucker suit or a more casual tan suit at a rental store to no avail. Read more…
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.
We had a great Calgary meet-up on Monday night! I was so excited to meet up with the ladies to talk weddings and wedding blogs non-stop. It’s that thing where you are so into wedding blogs, but none of the people in real life who ask about your wedding also read wedding blogs, so a photobooth is the most revolutionary thing ever, you know? It was so much fun to hear the details of everyone’s plans/weddings. It was also a great help to have 6 wedding-obsessed ladies all together—we helped each other out with questions! I think one person might have even found their officiant through the group!
I’m the next of the group to be getting married, which was a little scary! The wedding is coming up so quickly…
Here are the lovely ladies who came out that night:
cabana_girl, shoemaven0917, Miss Cinnamon Bun, Miss Gazelle, Ryansgirl, Sunshine23
Photo taken by our waitress with sunshine23′s camera.
Here’s to a great meet-up and hopefully we can do it again sometime!
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.
When Sparks and I first started planning our wedding, cake was one of the things I didn’t care about at all. I’m serious. Did. Not. Care. I figured we would get a nice looking little cake to cut, and serve sheet cake to the rest of our guests. I didn’t see the point in spending a ton of money on something I could whip up in my kitchen at home (you know, because I could totally make a wedding cake for 250 people in my tiny kitchen).
I still don’t care too much about the cake, but I have been feeling a bit more inspired. Mostly, I’ve become enamored with cakes that are… weird. Weird shapes, weird flavors, really anything out of the ordinary seems to catch my eye. While I reasoned early on that a weird flavor would probably not please the crowds (What’s that? You DON’T LIKE my cotton candy, pineapple flavored cake with lavender infused frosting???), I think that a unique shape or design might satisfy my desire for some weirdness/uniqueness.
Mrs. Starfish, Boston/NewportAge and Occupation: 25, Operations AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, SalesEngagement Date: October 8, 2008Wedding Date: October 2010Venue: The Atlantic Beach ClubAbout Me: I'm a perfectionist who is a planner at heart. I don't do well with surprises. I love planning, crafting, Newport RI, family and friends, and most importantly, Mr. Starfish---all of which will be big components in our October wedding in our favorite little city by the sea.
So you saw Mr. Starfish and I in all of our glory taking photos on campus, but you may have been wondering what the Starfish Wedding Party was up to at this time… complete shenanigans. While we were shooting classic wedding photos and basking in newlywed bliss, our friends were coming up with all sorts of poses and hamming it up for the camera. Midway through our own photo session we looked over to see this:
Mrs. Hyena, College Station, TXAge and Occupation: 23, Marketing SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Aerospace Engineering Grad StudentEngagement Date: January 8, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Downtown 202About Me: I'm a Texas girl who met my future hubby in high school, then headed up to Oklahoma for a college education (BOOMER SOONER!) before moving back to the Lone Star State to be with him. I love reading and recycling, Photoshop and reality TV, making lame jokes and then laughing at them, quoting movies, and Mr. Hyena most of all. I'm perpetually early and I like to get things accomplished. When my cat meows at me, I meow back. We're planning a laid-back, unintentionally DIY wedding with a cocktail-party vibe, and can't wait to celebrate our nuptials with our nearest and dearest!
I’ve mentioned before that I’m designing our invitation suite. And, y’all, it’s finished and it’s legendary. I love them. I can’t wait to get the prints so I can show them off! In the meantime, I’ve decided to show you some of the invitation ideas that inspired me. We pulled bits and pieces from some of these to create our suite and added in our own elements as well.
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!
When we first started wedding planning, we set up a budget according to our priorities. The first priority, of course, was food. We set aside a little for flowers, a little for music, and a little for more food, err, cake. After my cousin’s wedding, I fell in love with her videographer’s highlights reel and decided to add another priority: documentation. Fortunately, our good friend is a very talented photographer, so we were able to use our “friend discount” to hire him at an affordable rate. Then, we shifted some things around in our lower priorities to make room for videography.
Our videographers, Three Ring Media, became some of our favorite vendors instantly. They not only saw my vision for a vintage and whimsical wedding, they took it to the next level, adding their own touches of creativity. We had a ball when we filmed our pre-wedding interviews with them, and we were eager to work with them on the big day.
Mrs. Snow Cone, Pittsburgh/Johnstown, PAAge and Occupation: 23, Public Health Graduate StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, EngineerEngagement Date: April 9, 2010Wedding Date: August 2011Venue: OMOS Church ceremony/Sunnehanna Country Club receptionAbout Me: I’m one of the lucky ones---I met my future husband at the ripe old age of 13, started dating him as a mature woman of 15, and have been enjoying the ride ever since. Here we are, 8 years later, living in Pittsburgh, planning a "homestination" wedding in the place our school romance began---Johnstown, PA. I thrive on talking a mile a minute, eating my weight in chocolate, and internet shopping. I love a lengthy to-do list almost as much as I love a healthy amount of chaos in my life. Mr. Snow Cone and I watch countless episodes of Friends and The West Wing on repeat, root for rival college sports teams, and make each other laugh each and every day. We’re putting together a small-town wedding with a big personality and a classically modern (or modernly classic?) look for 250 of our closest family and friends. It’s been 8+ years in the making, and sometimes I still can’t believe I’m finally getting to marry my high school sweetheart!
I bulldoze the crap outta him. Just kidding. I tend to be the one who over researches and analyzes decisions, while his attitude is more “Okay, sounds good.” When he does express an opinion, I take it more seriously because I know he usually goes along with whatever I’ve decided.
