Mrs. Pony, Bloomington, IL
Age and Occupation: 25, Attorney
Fiance's Age and 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.
Everything seems themed these days: American Idol, Glee, Antiques Roadshow (I might have a TV problem), hilarious family portraits, etc.
Weddings are not immune to this phenomenon. In fact, they might be the cause, but everything is wedding-centric to me, so my judgment may be a little off.
I love themes and I especially love themed weddings, but I hate feeling pressured into finding a theme for our wedding. In the world of weddings, there are two major culprits in perpetuating the idea that your wedding must have a theme to be worthy of a blog feature or TV episode:
Wedding blogs, particularly inspiration shoots, and David Tutera.
Image credit: WE TV via Facebook
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DIY
Feature Launched: October 8, 2008
About: The best DIY projects from Bees and brides around the web.
May 27th, 2011 @ 2:56 pm by DIY
Check out these great projects hive members have uploaded to Weddingbee’s DIY section! Click on the title of each project for tutorials.
If your project is featured in DIY Friday, you’re eligible for a special Weddingbee badge for your blog or website! See instructions on how to grab the badge here!
Pinwheel Escort Cards by SqueakySquirrel
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Mrs. Prairie Dog, Cincinnati
Age and Occupation: 24, Program Coordinator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, PhD/Biomedical Engineer
Engagement Date: December 18, 2009
Wedding Date: May 2011
Venue: Glendale Lyceum
About Me: I'm a pilgrim soul of a girl with a house full of books and a coffee addiction that could slay Juan Valdez. My life is a whirl of grammar correction, good music, glue-gunning, and two pets named Hazel and Winston Churchill. I'm marrying my high school boyfriend in a formal-ish spring affair, roughly themed: "Elizabeth Bennet crashes a party co-hosted by Jay Gatsby and Cath Kidston, and loves it."
It’s the night before, and it’s not about venues. It’s not about decor. Not about attire or flowers—no. It’s not about those things anymore. It’s about our love, my love. And, of that, I am sure.
I guess I channeled my pre-wedding anxiousness into a little poem. Because now, the event that will unfold tomorrow is a marriage, and the celebration of it. I guess that means it’s about us.
But from my perspective, it’s about him.
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Mrs. Cotton Candy, Riverside, CA
Age and Occupation: 29, Field Coordinator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 34, Process Server
Engagement Date: July 5, 2007
Wedding Date: June 2011
Venue: Riverside Art Museum
About 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.
A couple of weeks ago Mr CC and I had a chance to meet up with our oh-so-fabulous photographer for our e-pics! For those of you doing the math: yes, we waited until less than 2 months before our wedding to take our engagement pictures, and yes, I’m pretty sure our photographer thought it was odd that nearly one year after we signed our contract we had yet to contact her about our session. We had waited so long that she had to reach out to us to schedule it.
What can I say? Procrastination is the name of the game in the Cotton Candy house. The wait was sooo worth it because our photographer brought it hardcore—when I got the proofs in my inbox at work I almost started crying.
On the day of our e-shoot I was so nervous that our pics wouldn’t fit the vision in my head and that we would end up looking like two puff balls of chub in really nice clothes (kinda like my icon, but less pink and with cute shoes). Let’s face it: the Cotton Candies are not your svelte supermodel types, but I should have known better than to stress. One of the main reasons we chose to go with our Photog Heidi Ryder was because of her amazing ability to make anyone look gorgeous. Her blog and website are full of images of couples (and families!) of all different races, ages and sizes, and everyone looks picture perfect, so I should have known that we would be no different.
Enough with my rambling…on with the good stuff! Our shoot started off at a newsstand by our favorite restaurant in Hollywood called The Daily Planet.
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Featured Product: Laura Ashley Delicate Damask Invitation
Mrs. Funnel Cake, Zürich, Switzerland/Columbus, Ohio
Age and Occupation: 24, Visual Communication Designer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Application Engineer
Engagement Date: May 30, 2010
Wedding Date: October 2011
Venue: Catholic church followed by a botanical conservatory
About Me: I'm an American designer who moved to Switzerland for love after a fairytale beginning at the top of the Eiffel Tower. I love travel, photography, museums, learning German so I can speak with my mother-in-law, cooking (eating), cuddling, and I'm not afraid to try something new even if it terrifies me. My Swiss/Brazilian man and I are both down to earth people planning a traditional Catholic wedding in my hometown with some quirky cultural exceptions to reflect our different backgrounds. We look forward to celebrating with friends and family from all over the world in a classic, sophisticated fusion of heritage and love.
Ever since we’ve decided to go the mismatched, non-bridal-boutique bridesmaids’ dress route, I’ve been thinking more and more about “tying” the looks together with a coloured sash.
Photo by Hilton Pittman Photography via Elizabeth Anne Designs / Dresses by J.Crew
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Mrs. Bunting, Grand Rapids, MI
Age and Occupation: 24, freelance illustrator & print production
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, graduate of history
Engagement Date: December 3, 2009
Wedding Date: June 2011
Venue: Spring Grove Park & St. George Banquet Center
About Me: I am a freelance illustrator and designer with a love of nature and a taste for adventure. Textures and color fuel my world, along with apple cider and noodles. I'll try anything once, especially if it involves heights or food. I've hiked the Grand Canyon, gone sky diving, cuddled a baby wolf, and now my latest venture consists of designing and planning a large wedding involving color, DIY details, love, and marrying my best friend.
I’ve wanted to incorporate chalkboards for a while, and had settled on using one for our seating chart. However, my handwriting is not the best, and I couldn’t get the image of a smudged seating chart out of my head. Seriously, how do these people transport their chalkboards without smearing them? Oh, right, you can use a spray fixative (found at art/craft supply stores) to add a protective coating. Well, I still didn’t want to write out 150-plus names, even if I could condense the couples into one line. So I thought to myself, why not print something to create a faux chalkboard? I work at a printing company, after all, so it’s perfect.
Image via I Doux / Photo by Shaun Yasaki
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Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
Ms. Sloth, Philadelphia
Age and Occupation: 35, Account Manager and Fashion Blogger
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Design Admin
Engagement Date: December 25, 2009
Wedding Date: May 2011
Venue: Bartram's Garden
About 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.
You know what one of the best things about the wedding being over and done with is? Besides the fact that I am married to my beloved, of course?
It’s that I no longer have to be super-concerned with every. single. aspect. of my appearance. Because I’ve never felt so vain as I did for the six weeks or so before the wedding:
- Exactly a month before the wedding, I was in New Orleans with some friends. It was sunny and very warm, but I walked around with a cardigan and light scarf so that I wouldn’t get tan lines on my shoulders or chest.
- Usually, when I get a blemish, my impulse is to pop that sucker (I know, I know). But I didn’t want scars, so instead of popping, I treated even the tiniest pre-wedding bump with expensive creams and serums.
- When the woman who threads my eyebrows caused a tiny red bump under my brow two days before the wedding, I panicked that it would be visible in all of the photos (it wasn’t).
- I tried to time my last hair trim so that it would be just a bit grown out by the wedding, but not yet ratty. Unfortunately, my bangs were way too long the day of (until Mr. S’ sister-in-law trimmed them for me that morning).
- I got my mani/pedi first thing in the morning the day before the wedding and was paranoid all day and night that I’d chip a nail.
Vanity Smurf image via ComicVine
I am not usually this person (or this Smurf).
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Mrs. Macarons, Tampa
Age and Occupation: 26, Graphic Designer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 34, Renaissance Man
Engagement Date: September 12, 2009
Wedding Date: September 2011
Venue: Lange Farm
About Me: I'm creative at heart and a graphic designer with an unhealthy obsession with type. I love roller coasters, spicy foods, and a good glass of Crianza. We’re planning a soft and lovely vintage-meets-modern wedding in a state that’s known for its beaches, glitz and glam. I have a ton of DIY projects and lots of little details I’m dying to share and can't wait to celebrate with our closest friends and family.
Hi, hive! It’s Miss Macarons reporting for duty. I literally can’t tell you how thrilled I am to become a bee! I’ve only retyped this introduction several times because my hands won’t stop shaking. I’ve been a follower of Weddingbee since 2009 and always wanted to apply. I’m a bit of a perfectionist and a procrastinator, but when I finally get an idea/goal in my head, nothing can stop me from trying to reach it. Patience is a virtue I sometimes don’t have, and it was certainly lacking these last few weeks. You can only imagine my excitement and his relief when I told Mr. Macarons about my acceptance.
So who are the Macarons?
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Mrs. Pain au Chocolat, Wilmington, DE
Age and Occupation: 29, Realtor
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 34, Realtor
Engagement Date: November 21, 2009
Wedding Date: June 2011
Venue: Greenville Country Club
About 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.
Hive, I need your help! With a week to go before the wedding, I haven’t picked a father-daughter dance song. Well… that’s not entirely true. The two songs I picked were shot down by Daddy PaC. And we haven’t come up with anything suitable since then.
Some helpful background information:
I’m so proud of my dad.
- Daddy PaC is a musician. He taught himself to play guitar in high school, rocked in a band before I was born and continues to play music in a band and at church. He really has an ear for music! The man owns enough guitars to fill my old bedroom—just ask Mom!
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Mrs. High Wire, Dallas
Age and Occupation: 23, Legal Assistant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Director of Communications
Engagement Date: October 9, 2010
Wedding Date: September 2011
Venue: Clark Gardens
About Me: My loves include yoga, anything spicy, our eccentric cat, our rambunctious dog, and Mr. High Wire, of course! Like the steadiness act of the tightrope walker, this gal is busy balancing life while planning a wedding to the man of her dreams. We’re hosting a laid-back, vintage-inspired, bird themed wedding with heavy doses of love, good eats (did someone say tacos and margaritas?), and endless Texas charm. Mr. High Wire and I are so happy to have you along for the walk across the tight rope.
I figured I would change my mind about a variety of wedding details as planning moved along.
Some criteria for changing plans that I try to refer to before doing anything:
- The price stays the same or drops.
- The change is easily completed by a simple phone call or email.
- The change doesn’t induce any unnecessary stress.
Our venue provides tables, linens, and chairs as part of our contract. The price includes any combination of those things for our guests. So, making any changes won’t affect the price.
The rentals don’t need to be finalized until about 30 days prior to the wedding date, so at this point changing the seating will be a simple update to a form I haven’t even submitted yet. Easy peasy!
The reception tables, I assumed, would always look a little something like this:
Image via The Knot / Photograph by Arrowood Photography
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Weddingbee Gallery
Feature Launched: April 10, 2009
About: A collection of inspirational wedding pictures from readers and bees.
franks.katie and her husband pause at the altar on the beach on their wedding day
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.
If your photo is featured as the Gallery of the Day, you’re eligible for a special Weddingbee badge for your blog or website! Check out instructions on how to grab the badge here!
Mrs. Pony, Bloomington, IL
Age and Occupation: 25, Attorney
Fiance's Age and 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.
Harry Potter and I are basically the same person. We are both awesome, we both have annoying relatives, we both love Ron Weasley, we both do magical things (ish), and we both have lightening-bolt-shaped scars on our foreheads given to us from our arch nemeses.
Harry Potter image credit: Warner Bros. via Facebook
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Mrs. Jam, Chicago
Age and Occupation: 25, Writer/Associate Wedding Coordinator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Structural Engineer
Engagement Date: December 23, 2009
Wedding Date: June 2011
Venue: Hunter’s Ridge, Princeton, IL
About 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 am a writer. Mr. Jam is not. So when it came down to creating our ceremony, I lovingly forced the idea of writing our own vows because words are my bread and butter. Plus, I sincerely miss our long-distance IM sessions where we would do the whole, “OMG, I love you!” and “OMG, love you more!” thing for hours and hours until we virtually self-combusted. And let’s get real: Who doesn’t want to get goose bumps listening to two people spilling their guts using words they actually wrote?
Jacqueline+Brandon Wedding Trailer from NoBox Films & NoBox Productions on Vimeo.
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The vows in my friend Jacki’s recent wedding video = part of the reason Mr. Jam finally agreed to write ours. WE JUST LOVE THEM.
But remember, Mr. Jam’s bread and butter is numbers, not words (unless they’re technical, though he was quite the essay-writer in college) so he suggested we write them together. I likened this to going Christmas shopping for each other together, meaning we’ll get exactly what we want but without the delicious surprise of, “OMG, darlin’, you know me SO WELL!”
So I created an easy-to-follow vow format, enabling our vows to be written in secret but still feel cohesive like they were written together:
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Mrs. Pretzel, Seattle
Age and Occupation: 32 Learning, Training, and Development Specialist
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28 Manufacturing Engineer
Engagement Date: September 2, 2009
Wedding Date: July 2010
Venue: Catholic Church & The Engine Room at Georgetown Studios
About Me: I’m just a thirty-something girl who never dreamed of weddings, poofy dresses, or ritzy receptions. I am a rabid knitter, except recently, wedding projects have replaced my yarn and needles. I’ve been fiercely independent since the age of 2 and 30 years later I think my family and friends had given up on me settling down and getting married.
Ironically, I had to go all the way to Seattle to find a boy from Purdue. We fell in love over Seattle Beers and cooking together. I love NASCAR, he loves Legos. I can talk like a Muppet and he can fit a whole McDonald’s cheeseburger in his mouth. We are a two reception couple, currently planning a brewery inspired bash.
After formal photos with our family and wedding party we piled into the party bus again and made our way to Georgetown. We pulled up to our venue and our family and wedding party joined the cocktail hour already in progress while Mr P and I took a stroll through the neighborhood.
*All images by Amore Studios
Part of the original Rainier Brewery reflected in a storefront window
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Mrs. Snow Cone, Pittsburgh/Johnstown, PA
Age and Occupation: 23, Public Health Graduate Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 23, Engineer
Engagement Date: April 9, 2010
Wedding Date: August 2011
Venue: OMOS Church ceremony/Sunnehanna Country Club reception
About 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!
For whatever reason, shortly after getting engaged, Mr. Snow Cone and I sat down to dinner one night and hashed out where we wanted to hold our rehearsal dinner. We knew with our relatively large bridal party (14 attendants), our relatively large immediate families (a combined total of 12), and whatever ceremony participants needed to be included, our dinner guest list would probably add up pretty quickly. Johnstown doesn’t offer a plethora of restaurants that have spaces large enough to hold our group. Aside from the space restrictions, neither of us was smitten with the idea of having all of us squeezed into a room, plopped down around tables, trying to tiptoe around the restaurant staff to socialize with everyone else at the dinner.
We wanted something that was more relaxed, with all of our loved ones able to cross paths casually, chit-chatting with familiar faces and being introduced to new ones while genuinely enjoying themselves. Thankfully, we knew just the place:
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All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
