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Mrs. Ladyfingers, Saint Petersburg, FLAge and Occupation: 30, Marketing ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Sports WriterEngagement Date: December 24, 2010Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Palma Sola Botanical ParkAbout Me: I hail from Oklahoma, he was born and raised in Long Island. Fate brought us together, and now we live in a cute little rental house with our nutty dog, and our aloof cat. We both love to read, watch movies, explore our town, and laugh like hyenas. When I’m not obsessively wedding crafting, I enjoy stalking style and decorating blogs, making collages and painting, napping, thrifting, rearranging our bookshelves, and being a total weirdo with my friends. Hi!
Mr. Ladyfingers and I first met five years ago, at a friend’s birthday party. I worked at a local paper for about a year back in ’04–’05, and he came aboard about three months after I left. We had the same friends, so it was only natural we’d meet eventually. Here’s what he remembers about the encounter:
I laughed at his jokes, which caught his attention.
Miss Marmalade, Norwalk, CT/Raleigh, NCAge and Occupation: 27, Administrative AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Army OfficerEngagement Date: December 31, 2009Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: Old Cadet Chapel/Highlands Country ClubAbout Me: I'm a Tri-State area "lady," through and through. A big chunk of my life has been split between NYC and Connecticut, and I'm finally heading down south to live with Mr. Marmalade. Our long distance relationship has been one adventure after the next, we've spent time in Texas, Louisiana, Florida,and Georgia, thanks to his military career. Next to Mr. Marmalade, my loves include live music, useless trivia, shoes, design, and my crazy half-tiger kitty, Oliver. I have a passion for food and wine, and I've been known to travel long distances to get my hands on the best meals. I come from a tight-knit big fat Greek Ecuadorian family---we're loud, we talk with our hands, and we spend hours talking loudly with our hands over large meals. I'm going to miss them so much as I pack up and begin my life, far away from home. But with Mr. Marmalade by my side, I'm ready to take on whatever may come. Next up: our wedding!
I was headed to meet a potential florist the other night with my mom, and I remembered to bring along some examples of what I like. When I was sitting there looking through them all, I realized that I really love lavender.
When I first started thinking of what I wanted our wedding to look like, I pictured a ton of it! But then I changed my mind because I’d seen a so much lavender around the wedding blogosphere that I worried I wasn’t being “different enough.” But, I like lavender. I always have. And when I learned that lavender is a symbol of devotion, joy, and luck, I was sold!
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
The wedding’s getting close, guys, and I’m starting to lose it. Prepare yourself for an overflow of randomness in this post.
Back in my early ‘Bee days (eight months ago! OMG!), I wrote a post about my unwillingness to keep things simple. I said, “This is my wedding. If I’m going to go overboard, isn’t this the perfect opportunity?”
I kept up this mindset for a long, long time, but as the wedding creeps closer (10 days! OMG!), I find myself desperately trying to simplify, simplify, simplify. Instead of tissue paper flower escort cards, I’m making single layer tented cards. Instead of making bird-on-a-wineglass place cards, I’m forgoing place cards entirely. Instead of hand-stamping and matting all our thank you cards, I created a design that matched our invitations and had them printed out. It all makes me sad, especially the bird place cards, but there’s nothing to be done. I just ran out of time. And I don’t want to kill myself over something that, in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t really matter. Sigh.
There have been many casualties in my mission to annihilate unnecessary details. Sadly, one of them just might be my beautiful, sparkly, wonderful J. Crew bracelet.
Mrs. Eggs Benedict, SeattleAge and Occupation: 29, AttorneyFiance's Age and Occupation: 35, AttorneyEngagement Date: December 5, 2009Wedding Date: February 2011Venue: IslandWoodAbout Me: I'm a Northwest girl who spends my time goofing around with Mr. Eggs Benedict and our dog, hiking, traveling, drinking wine and planning a wedding that will showcase the best of what the Pacific Northwest has to offer. I also love photography, beating Mr. Eggs Bene at Mario Kart, and watching the most ridiculous natural disaster flicks you can think of (seriously, how can you deny the awesomeness that is The Core or 2012?? That's right, you can't). We are planning our weekend wedding adventure at an environmental educational center, and I can't wait for the fun to begin!
Finally it was the morning of our wedding! The day dawned bright and clear—amazingly beautiful weather for a Northwest wedding in February.
Since we had a welcome dinner the night before and no real time to rehearse, we planned our rehearsal for Saturday morning, after which my girls and I would start getting ready. Clearly that meant that Mr. EB and I would be seeing each other in the morning before the wedding. Luckily neither of us had been set on not seeing each other until I came down the aisle. But we also decided to stay together the night before the wedding—which honestly, was more my choice than Mr. EB’s. Read more…
Miss Sweet Cream, PhiladelphiaAge and Occupation: 26, Public Relations Account ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Outside SalesEngagement Date: July 4, 2010Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church / Rosebank WineryAbout Me: Born in the ‘burbs of Philly, it took some time living in the Big Apple to realize that I’m a girl who likes her roots. That’s why the mister and I bought a 1950s house on a charming street not too far from our childhood stompin’ grounds. This could also be the reason why our hometown is the scene where we are planning our super sweet, totally charming, BBQ-for-supper wedding that I never knew I always wanted. I DIE over DIY projects and live for vintage, heartfelt inspiration. I obsess over all things mid-century (from forks to furniture). Love is… cartoons and flea markets, and I am known to whip up a mean banana cream pie. I met the Mr. in grade school and after that boy took me for a spin on the handle bars of his BMX, I knew that things would never be the same again. Besides lovin’ my Mr., I also love to plan, sew and create, and that’s just what I’m doing as I navigate through the details, creating a laid-back day that oozes charm; one that will go down in (at least our) history as the Best. Day. Of all time.
After we got engaged, but before we starting talking about registering, we just knew there was one place that we couldn’t wait to tackle head on with a scanning gun: Lowe’s.
Being a bad modern couple who bought their house prior to tying the knot, we frequent home-improvement stores on the weekends and get lost in them—and lost from each other—as we gaze at paint, tools, planters, electrical boxes, sheet rock, and gardening supplies.
We were giddy with the excitement of unwrapping things that we desperately need as we hammer, revamp, and refinish our way through our adorable 1950s dream house.
Well…as many of you bees know, Lowe’s and Home Depot both discontinued their registries to the disappointment and outrage of brides- and grooms-to-be across the country. Trust me. Just Google “Lowe’s” and “registry.”
After digging and digging, I wound up finding this:
Mrs. Funnel Cake, Zürich, Switzerland/Columbus, OhioAge and Occupation: 24, Visual Communication DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Application EngineerEngagement Date: May 30, 2010Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: Catholic church followed by a botanical conservatoryAbout 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.
Since we are residing in Switzerland, we will definitely be relying on Mama Funnel Cake to organise most of our wedding in the US. With this large task, it’s perfectly understandable that she would want as much time to plan as possible. Nevertheless, when she started emailing a list of possible wedding dates the same day we told her about the engagement we were a bit overwhelmed.
As we began to banter about which dates would work for a wedding, I explained to Mama Funnel Cake how we were currently more focussed on preparing the documents for the legal union. I also explained that while we had to do the legal portion first, we wanted to use this period before the Catholic wedding as an engagement period and at the time it wasn’t something we wanted to explicitly publicise to our family. At some point she would need to explain this to our priest who might wonder about how to coordinate the legal portion of the event. Read more…
Wedding BiosFeature Launched: September 12, 2008About: Wedding bios of real brides.
Mrs. Cardigan, AustinAge and Occupation: 21, Student/Soon-to-be Special Education TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 20, Student/Soon-to-be Accounting Systems AnalystEngagement Date: August 16, 2009Wedding Date: January 2011Venue: Vintage VillasAbout Me: I'm a native Austinite who was raised as a die-hard Aggie. Luckily, I'm a pretty persuasive girl because I managed to convince my high school boyfriend (now fiance!), Mr. Cardigan, to ditch his hardcore Longhorn ways and join me up at A&M, where we currently reside with our adorable dogs, Cullen & Ranger. We're currently planning a bright, cheery wedding with a ridiculous amount of DIY projects that I can't wait to tackle! I love crafting in any form, reading, and margaritas (I think I love them the most!). Organization is what keeps me sane and I love helping others, which is probably why I ended up as an education major. It gets a little chaotic sometimes when you're planning a wedding among all of the papers, projects, finals, and certification exams, but we're having the time of our lives and we can't wait to get started on our journey as husband and wife - and we're so excited to share our wedding with the hive!
I’ve been staring at my computer screen for longer than I’d like to admit, trying to figure out how to say goodbye.
Hive, in the year that I’ve been blogging here, you have been the most incredible support system I could ever have asked for. You were there when I was stressing about choosing an officiant, you cheered along with me when I was insanely excited about our invitations, and you kindly let me vent when my guests wouldn’t send back their RSVPs.
I’ve received countless comments, PMs, and tweets from y’all and I genuinely feel like I can call each of you a friend. Your kind words have cheered me up on bad days, and your excitement over things that I know no one else would ever care about helped me stay positive when wedding planning got stressful. I’m so grateful for the time I’ve spent here, and I absolutely adore you guys.
It’s going to sound cheesy for me to say this, but blogging for Weddingbee has been life-changing for me.
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!
That’s right. Are you ready for a post with tons of pictures? Yes? Good, because I am slightly obsessed with my wedding band, and I want to share that obsession with as many people as possible. I’m sorry, but it’s a fact. And a problem.
Way back in the day when Mr. CA and I visited Seattle for our engagement session and epic planning weekend, we had about 10 spare minutes of free time, so we ducked into the Tiffany’s in U. Village to check out some rings, and to try to get an initial idea of what we wanted for our wedding bands. Going into the store, all I knew was that I wanted something super thin. I’m not a big fan of chunky rings; they make my fingers look even fatter than they are. I also knew that I wanted either platinum, or white gold (to match my e-ring), and I was pretty sure I wanted this ring specifically:
Mrs. Lemonade, Austin/San AntonioAge and Occupation: 28, BureaucratFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Music ManagementEngagement Date: December 21, 2007Wedding Date: April, 2009Blogging Since: August 22, 2008Venue: Country Club ceremony, ballroom receptionAbout Me: I’m a total wonkette who is lucky enough to be surrounded by her favorite things on a daily basis – awesome music, the great State of Texas and of course, Mr. Lemonade! I find any excuse I can to craft something and am completely infatuated with the 1950’s, all things Kennedy, and my furbaby Vida.
After the bouquet toss we kept the tradition train rolling and geared up for the dreaded garter toss. I say dreaded as during the planning this was one of those rituals that I really could have done without. I mean, how bizarre is it to have your new husband all up in your business in front of your grandparents?! Not exactly demure. That said, Mr. L is all about rites of passage such as this and since I put the big ’ol kibosh on the money dance, I figured I’d let him have this one :).
I honestly have no idea what song played while we went about our garter retrieving and throwing business. I doubt anyone else who was present does either…
Mrs. Waffle, AustinAge and Occupation: 31, Costumer/ArtistFiance's Age and Occupation: 33, AnimatorEngagement Date: July 27, 2010Wedding Date: June 2011Venue: Hummingbird HouseAbout Me: My life is pretty much spent in a sea of fabric, paint, sequins and drama. When I’m not working, I play on a trivia team, take Broadway dance classes, read, buy shoes, and occasionally geek out on video games. I am an American girl who loves all things British and Mr. Waffle is a Brit who loves all things American...I guess it was meant to be!
Mrs. Cannon, Toledo, OHAge and Occupation: 27, Financial AnalystFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, AssemblerEngagement Date: February 28, 2011Wedding Date: September 2011Venue: Epworth UMC & Ward PavilionAbout Me: I'm the curious combination of being a go-with-the-flow, laid back, obsessive planner. I try desperately to stay as busy as possible at all times (and am succeeding big time right now!) My biggest loves in life are Law & Order: SVU, Community (the show, not the concept, although I like that, too), ice cream, white cheddar popcorn, beer, hiking, knitting, decorating, writing, being outside, spending time with friends and family and musical theater. Mr. Cannon is pretty sweet, too. We've had a lot of fun traveling and having adventures all over the country, but have finally moved back near our hometown to settle down. We're planning a low-key, colorful, fun wedding and an awesome-to-the-max reception.
The last of my wedding party have no guilt associated with them.
Of my remaining bridesmaids, I met Bridesmaid N (AKA Rifle) the most recently. We were roommates for two years when I was in college. (We met sophomore year.)
Mrs. Pretzel, SeattleAge and Occupation: 32 Learning, Training, and Development SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 28 Manufacturing EngineerEngagement Date: September 2, 2009Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Catholic Church & The Engine Room at Georgetown StudiosAbout 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.
We wanted a band… a band who would rock and keep the party going, not necessarily a “wedding band.” I lamented about it in this post. I wanted to rock out but was conflicted with my desire for some old school hip hop. Is there a band out there that is both rock and old school hip hop? Probably not, so we focused on a band who would rock.
*All photos from Amore Studios unless otherwise noted.
I think we were successful! We stayed clear of “wedding bands” and started searching Gig Masters. Read more…
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!
After giving the postal system over a week to do its thang, I think I’m officially in the clear to reveal our invitation suite to the blog community. I (personally) think the photos speak for themselves, so without further ado, here is our invitation suite from the Kissin’ Krafts shop on Etsy!
Here’s what guests saw on the front of their envelopes:
Taken with flash to show off the metallic quality of the envelopes
