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.
You guys, the glow from my Chicago-white skin could literally blind you. So, I’m going to refrain from posting any pictures. Seriously, the cruel winter has taken my normal, beige, glowy-ness, to a level of transparency that I didn’t even know was possible. If I don’t get some color soon, you will be able to see right through me.
“What did you have for breakfast, Sparkler? Oh wait, looks like Eggos and… what is that? Thin Mints?”
Anyway, this conundrum got me thinking, how am I going to pull off the sun-kissed look on the day our wedding? 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.
*WARNING* This post contains pictures of me in wedding dresses…if you don’t want to see any pictures of me in a wedding dress then look no further! Yes, Mr. Gazelle, that means you. Thanks, honey!
When we last left off on dress talk, I mentioned that I wasn’t sure if I fit into the typical bridal style like most of the dresses I had seen on Say Yes to the Dress. And then I saw this picture from Justin Alexander:
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.
Hive, I have a confession to make. I’m an addicted who’s hopelessly hooked on chairs. It’s a horrible addiction that eats up precious square footage and on a monthly basis, costs me money in the form of storage fees. Currently our tiny little home is filled with over 12 chairs, with three alone taking up space in our bedroom. But oh, how I love all my chairs, regardless of the space they eat up. I was looking for a way to incorporate this love of mine into our wedding day when I stumbled upon this picture-
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!
As a little Tar Heel girl, born and bred*, I have grown up hearing legends and tales that occurred (or still occur!) in my awesome state. For instance, the Maco Light story. Once upon a time near Wilmington, North Carolina, at Maco Station, there was a flagman named Joe (or Charlie, maybe), and the train car he was on got disconnected from the train somehow. As ghost stories seem to always go, his luck got even worse and, to add insult to injury, another train sped up fast behind him. Joe (or Charlie) tried to wave his lantern frantically to avoid collision, but the train hit him anyway and he was decapitated. Surprisingly enough, his head was never found. Now he haunts the tracks as only a head with a swinging lantern. It’s true (maybe). Even President Grover Cleveland saw the light (allegedly). You can read all about it here.
Mrs. Bacon, ChicagoAge and Occupation: 26, Digital Advertising ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, IT Client ServicesEngagement Date: June 17, 2010Wedding Date: September 2011Venue: Ravenswood Billboard FactoryAbout Me: I'm a Midwestern girl that can't seem to commit to staying in one place for too long and is constantly daydreaming about my next adventure. I am an aspiring foodie with a weak spot for the unusual and I love semi-reality food television. My other loves easily include laughing as a form of exercise, a book that I can't put down, summer baseball games, espresso with whipped cream, couch potato days and nights with the ridiculous Mr. Bacon, and our two kitties, Lincoln and Sawyer. We're planning a faux-destination wedding for 150 of our closest friends and family in the city we've both adopted as home that has a modern, yet whimsical twist and as many personal touches as we can manage.
Thank you to one of my BMs for that fabulous title. It was her Facebook status a couple months ago and I just loved it!
Have you ever heard a song and thought about having it be a part of your wedding day, even though it’s totally ridiculous? At brunch last weekend, the performer played an acoustic version of Justin Beiber’s Baby and I suddenly thought it would be so fabulous for the wedding party to walk down the aisle to it. I mean, c’mon, nothing makes people smile and all lovey dovey like the teen sensation. Then I actually listened to the lyrics and realized that while the song has made me smile since it was on Glee, it’s actually about his heart being broken. Probably not a good fit, huh? Oh, but how awesome would it have been??
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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Have you or your spouse dealt with a significant loss, be it friend, family member, job, or any loss that has significantly impacted your lives? How did you handle the situation as a couple? If your SO was the one that experienced the loss, what did you do to help ease the loss? If you experienced the loss, what did your spouse do?
Unfortunately, I am better able to answer this question now than I ever have been. In September, I lost one of my older brothers unexpectedly. It was a shock to my family, and the most difficult experience of my life. I can honestly say that I don’t know how I would have gotten through this time without Mr. HC by my side. He took off two weeks from work and stayed by me every moment, from flying to halfway across the country for the funeral, to spending the next week at my dad’s apartment running the show for the memorial and shiva here at home. Many people say that he was just doing what he was supposed to, but he did so much more. He gave me space to mourn, and made me feel like everything I was going through was okay, and encouraged me to explore how I was feeling. He would leave parties with me if I was overwhelmed to be out, or just got lost in sadness and couldn’t shake it, and he would squeeze my hand back to let me know he was there. Although we have been partners for many years, he truly showed to me that he could and would be there with me, by my side, for whatever I could need. He was a comfort to my whole family, picking up where no one could find the energy, even picking my little sister up from school or from play dates, and taking her and her friends to the park for a moment’s quiet. Still now, we are learning what our “new normal” is, and he is there to hold my hand when I have a moment, or to answer my call if I need to talk. He has been an incredible example of support, love, and stability through all of this, and we are learning how to move forward together. Read more…
Mrs. Candy Apple, Princeton Junction, NJ/ Seattle, WAAge and Occupation: 26, Project EditorFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, AttorneyEngagement Date: May 9, 2010Wedding Date: August 2011Venue: St. Joseph's Parish, Seattle Tennis ClubAbout Me: I am a Pacific Northwesterner, born and bred. I have lived in many cities---Santa Clara, Durham (England); Florence; Boston; Princeton Junction---but my heart will always be nestled up near the Cascades and Olympics, which is why we are holding our wedding there. I am a bookworm and a History nerd: I love that my life consists of books, books, and more books, since I work in Publishing! Recently, all waking time not consumed by work and my daily commute has been overtaken by wedding planning. Well, that, and watching Premier-League soccer. There is nothing I love more than a good Tana French mystery, traveling to new places, Anthropologie shopping sprees, Iittala dishware, Kate Spade shoes, impeccable typefaces (think: Archer), and a nice English ale (hellooo, Old Speckled Hen!). Oh, and did I mention my obsession with wedding blogs? Yeah, there’s that too. Join Mr. Candy Apple and me as we prep for our wedding, and, more importantly, our marriage!
I already posted about the location that wasn’t (sigh). Today, I want to talk about the venue and style that wasn’t (weren’t)! I realize these posts may sound a bit Negative Nancy, but bear with me; we’re narrowing things down and will eventually get to “what was”! Well, is. You get the idea.
Once we agreed to have the wedding in Seattle (as opposed to Santa Clara, our college, or San Diego, his home city), I decided to channel my inner Pacific Northwest vibe and develop a very specific vision for the wedding.
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.
If you wrecked your diet after the last cake posts, I’m sorry. Perhaps you should look away…because more cake is on the way! (The answer to the above question is a resounding yes, BTW.)
You’ve seen this bag before, so you know what’s coming!
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?
All my life I’ve heard the expression: “Better safe than sorry”—and I am a firm believer in it. I think preventing something negative is much better than having to deal with it. But when it came time to choose a ceremony location, I did not really follow that maxim.
After deciding that we would not go for a religious ceremony (we’re not churchgoing people or strong believers, so it felt hypocritical), we checked out civil-wedding options on Lake Garda.
Our favourite options were:
The outdoor terrace on the castle in the town of Malcesine
The lemon grove in the castle in the town of Torri del Benaco (closed on the sides but open above)
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.
When we first met our officiant, she really put us at ease and we felt we had connected with her. That’s why we hired her. Well, that and the fact that she came up with some great ceremony ideas that we had never heard of before. One of them was our stone ceremony, which we promptly fell in love with. But that wasn’t her only idea of the day.
One of the things she asked us was if we wanted to incorporate my engagement ring into our ceremony. Now at the time I had never heard of that being done. For what it’s worth, I also hadn’t gotten fully consumed by wedding blog land yet either, so there you have it. But it was new to me so that was pretty cool!
So what does that mean? I’m so glad you asked. It means that I will go down the aisle with zero rings on my finger. Right hand, left hand…no rings. You get it. After we do the exchange of the wedding bands, our officiant will say something like this: Read more…
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!
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Mr. Crepe got me an arrangement from Saipua that was so unique and I never forgot it. It was the inspiration for our centerpieces—mixed textures, with a romantic and freshly picked look.
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 showed you what I would do if I somehow manage to go another few months without taking scissors to my own hair. But one of the things I continuously stumble upon is that your wedding is a reflection of yourself, and therefore you should look and feel like yourself during it. I like this sentiment a lot, but I wasn’t convinced I wanted to be a short(er)-hair bride. So I went searching for inspiration. (Now, I apologize that most of these don’t actually count as SHORT short hair, but these are about the length that I typically like to keep my hair at.)
Shorter hair is still capable of some types of updos:
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.
Confession: Mr. Gazelle and I started scoping out wedding venues before we got engaged. We knew we wanted a summer wedding and that we didn’t want to be engaged for too long. We had to decide on what was important to us for our wedding:
A small, intimate venue that would fit close family and friends—about 60 people
One place where we could have both the ceremony and the reception
A beautiful view
Amazing food
We never talked about getting married in our home city of Calgary, as we both preferred the idea of a destination wedding. Since most of our family would have to travel for the wedding regardless of where it was held, this made sense to us. We decided to search around Vancouver—a beautiful city with amazing views of the water and the mountains. It also happens to be the city where I went to university and a place that we both love to visit together.
One place that kept coming up as a great venue for weddings was the Brock House Restaurant. The Brock House is a beautiful heritage house built in 1912. It is located between Jericho Beach and the Vancouver Yacht Club, right on the water.
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. 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!
It was time to officially get the show on the road! Guests began arriving at Manning Chapel on what turned out to be an amazingly gorgeous day. A perfect day to get married, if I do say so myself.
As guests entered the chapel they were greeted Mr. Seashell’s goddaughter who handed out our handmade programs. Read more…
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
Unfortunately, I am better able to answer this question now than I ever have been. In September, I lost one of my older brothers unexpectedly. It was a shock to my family, and the most difficult experience of my life. I can honestly say that I don’t know how I would have gotten through this time without Mr. HC by my side. He took off two weeks from work and stayed by me every moment, from flying to halfway across the country for the funeral, to spending the next week at my dad’s apartment running the show for the memorial and shiva here at home. Many people say that he was just doing what he was supposed to, but he did so much more. He gave me space to mourn, and made me feel like everything I was going through was okay, and encouraged me to explore how I was feeling. He would leave parties with me if I was overwhelmed to be out, or just got lost in sadness and couldn’t shake it, and he would squeeze my hand back to let me know he was there. Although we have been partners for many years, he truly showed to me that he could and would be there with me, by my side, for whatever I could need. He was a comfort to my whole family, picking up where no one could find the energy, even picking my little sister up from school or from play dates, and taking her and her friends to the park for a moment’s quiet. Still now, we are learning what our “new normal” is, and he is there to hold my hand when I have a moment, or to answer my call if I need to talk. He has been an incredible example of support, love, and stability through all of this, and we are learning how to move forward together.
