Weddingbee Blog

This is going to be one of those posts without pictures so if you want to skip over it, that’s cool with me. I totally understand because your appetites are still strong for fresh wedding inspiration and there is so much to soak in and not much time. I’m turning over a new leaf, though. The days of new project ideas and planning are behind me. I’ll admit, I’m sad to see them go, but I’m also happy to embrace our wedding, and take a break from the millions online.

We’re 10 days out and the adrenaline, nervousness, excitement, and joy are all beginning to rise to the top of this cup called “wedding!” I feel as though I could cry tears of joy at any minute because it’s finally upon us. The wait is finally over! After 18 long months thinking about this day, it’s suddenly right around the corner and well, I’m a bit shy to it. I’m pretty comfortable here behind the computer, looking at weddings, but now… it’s my turn. Getting my toes wet, the water feels cold. I’m not sure I want to jump in (and let go of everything: the to-do lists, ideas, worries), but I know if I do, I will warm up fast and it will feel so good.
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Over the Christmas holidays, my little sis came up to stay with me and the mister. I bought her lots of presents and fed her food and stuff, and in return she went and tried on approximately one million bridesmaids’ dresses. OK, in actuality it was, like, twenty-five.

To try on these dresses, we went to discount bridal heaven, also known as Bridal Mart (and formerly known as the Bridal Barn…awesome, no?).

Image via Bridal Mart

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“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.“

-Robert Brault

It was the first week of May 2010—one full year before Mr. Tartlet and I would take our vows. Around this time I had hit the wedding planning doldrums. Our engagement photos had been taken. Our venue was decided. Florist, videographer, baker—all booked, booked, and booked. I had lapsed on reading wedding blogs, and found myself getting irrationally irritated when someone would inquire as to how wedding planning was going (because it wasn’t). I was stuck in another dreaded “waiting” phase. At any rate, the day started out just like any other: I hit the snooze on my alarm a couple times. I walked the 10 minutes to work. I grabbed a very large coffee from the Java City in the lobby and proceeded to take the elevator up five floors to the lab. Little did I know that it was no ordinary day, because BM Tanya had brought in a beautifully wrapped box and this delightfully cute card:

Thrilled, I carefully unwrapped the box to reveal these beauties:

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If I had to guess, I would say there are roughly 438 decisions that go into planning a wedding. There are the big decisions—picking the date, the wedding colors, the attendants, the vendors—and smaller decisions—white napkins? or ivory? Now that I’m on the other side, I thought I’d share the best wedding decisions we made along the way. Granted, I didn’t know at the time that we were making them that these were the best decisions, but looking back at how our wedding unfolded, I think these 10 decisions had the most positive impact. I realize I can be a bit wordy, so let’s break it into two parts, shall we?

1. Day-of coordinator: Without a doubt, this was hands down the best wedding decision we made. If you aren’t sure you need one, you do. And the fact that you don’t know that you need one probably means you need one even more! I plan events for a living—events that are far larger, more expensive, and much more complex than our wedding—but the last thing I wanted to do on my wedding day was to be in charge. While I put together all the details for the wedding, the DOC ran the show from the wedding rehearsal to the end of the reception. It seemed like every time we turned around, he was checking in to make sure we had what we needed (food, drinks, you name it) or was giving us an update on things we needed to know—”Two more songs and then it’s the last dance!” It was also a huge relief to give our DOC’s cell phone number to all our vendors the week before the wedding and tell them to give him (not me) a call if they needed anything the day of. Our DOC fielded the questions, and only relayed to me the things he couldn’t answer (like when he called to ask me a couple of days before the wedding what drinks King Hippo and I wanted to have waiting for us when we arrived at the reception… sweet!). While having a professional DOC might be helpful, I definitely don’t think it’s absolutely crucial. Our DOC was the cousin of one of my best friends, and I knew that he had played the role of DOC at a couple of other weddings for friends and family. He used to work as an event planner for a non-profit organization in Dallas, so I knew that he could “speak the language” to vendors. I also knew he had a mean creative streak and wasn’t afraid to make decisions. And since he isn’t a full-time wedding coordinator and was able to give me a friends and family discount, it made having a DOC within reach. If you know someone who fits the bill, hit them up. But, I would say it should definitely be someone who you wouldn’t normally invite to the wedding. If your DOC is good, he or she will be working their ass off and not enjoying the party or visiting with family or friends, so I would caution against having it be someone you would otherwise invite to the festivities.

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Alternative title: “We Had Our Cake And Ate It Too.”

After our first cake tasting with Suzanne, Mr. Candy Apple and I were already feeling slightly full. But we had several hours to kill before our next tasting (I like to budget extra time for things such as traffic and alien abductions and such) so, of course, we decided to grab lunch. Who wouldn’t want to eat more after eating large hunks of cake?! We ducked into a teensy restaurant in Ballard and, as I was slightly nauseated at that point, I suggested that we split something. Mr. Candy Apple’s choice? Buffalo chicken sandwich. Yeah, not my idea of a light meal.

I had about two bites and was done. I basically sat there like a blob, with a stomachache, on a sugar high. Do we have to eat more cake? I asked. I never thought that day would come—the day that I couldn’t eat more cake. What is wrong with me?! Maybe it was because I have been trying to cut out sugar recently? Dang you caveman diet, and dang you anti-sugar fiance! You have ruined sweets for me.

But onward we pressed. Someone has to do it, right?

We somehow rolled made our way to Trophy Cupcakes, an adorable place in Wallingford Center that I have been going to since it opened. (I used to get my hair cut at The Edge right next door.)

So we got there, and the lovely wedding coordinator sat us down in the cute Trophy booths in the middle of the center across from the cupcake stand. If you’ve never been there, people just meander by your table. Children, specifically, meander by your table. The coordinator then proceeded to bring out 12 cupcakes. Yes, 12. It was obscene. And amazing.

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