Mrs. Elephant, Dallas, TXAge and Occupation: 27, Financial Operations AnalystFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, IT Student/Store ManagerEngagement Date: March 29, 2009Wedding Date: April 2011Venue: The Tribute Golf ClubAbout Me: I'm a Philly native creating roots deep in the heart of Texas. I might be a little obsessed capturing those Kodak moments of anything and everything (mainly on vacations). I've become more of a gamer thanks to Mr. Elephant, who I met online and can't wait to spend the rest of my life with. We are planning a wedding based on our favorite colors, blue and green, with a travel theme for 150 of our closest friends and family. Hopefully our long (2-year) engagement won't kill me!
Mr. E’s mom offered his grandmother’s handkerchief as a gift for the wedding. Mr. E took it one step further and asked MIL Elephant to embroider it with our wedding logo and saying “Dry your tears and always smile. With love from Chris.” This sentiment from Mr. E started a rush of emotion. Lucky for me I had something to dry those tears. Read more…
Mrs. French Toast, Pleasanton, CAAge and Occupation: 29, Marketing & PRFiance's Age and Occupation: IT geek by day, self-proclaimed handyman by nightEngagement Date: October 2009Wedding Date: March 2011Venue: Palm Event CenterAbout Me: I’m a city girl at heart who moved to the suburbs a year ago. Now I’m adjusting to life with a front lawn, nosy neighbors, cooking attempts, and making sure the garbage pail is pulled out on time every week! When I’m not traveling, Mr. FT and I enjoy marathon sessions of Law & Order: SVU, snowboarding, photography, spoiling our 3-year old yorkie-poodle Mokka and disagreeing over what music to listen to in the car. We’re planning a small winery wedding while incorporating some cultural elements into the day as a nod to our Chinese backgrounds.
Mrs. French Toast reporting for duty while waiting for pro pics! Hope everyone has been well!
On Sunday, the French Toasts attended our very first wedding as a married couple. I was very excited to get all dolled up again and attend the wedding as a guest.
Justin wanted to come, but we were limited to two seats
It felt wonderful to be on the other side and witness the marriage as someone who recently tied the knot, because I’d get warm fuzzies when thinking about my own special day. During moments of the ceremony, Mr. French Toast would squeeze my hand as if to say, “That was us 3 months ago.”
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!
We’re back from our honeymoon! So of course, I have to tell you all about it. Imma break this down into two parts so I don’t crash your computer or phone with picture overload.
On the first day of our honeymoon we grabbed our bags, flew to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and checked into our hotel, which was right on Fort Lauderdale Beach.
First things first, we had to stand in the ocean! We took a long walk along the beach, barefoot in the sand. Can I just say how peaceful and relaxing this was? I think barefoot beach walks should be mandatory on like, a semi-daily basis. I need to figure out how to make this happen. Read more…
Mrs. High Wire, DallasAge and Occupation: 23, Legal AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Director of CommunicationsEngagement Date: October 9, 2010Wedding Date: September 2011Venue: Clark GardensAbout 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.
My FBIL (and Mr. High Wire’s best man!) and his girlfriend came to visit in celebration of FBIL’s 21st birthday. I assumed the boys would want to engage in some boy-like activities (AKA video games), so I picked up some wedding-related crafty things for us girls to do while that was going on.
We spent the day at a golf tournament in Ft. Worth and took a little refuge under a tent during a little rainstorm.
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. 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!
I really love throwing parties and hosting cookouts. I’m kinda the go-to girl for organizing events amongst our group of friends, and that’s totally fine with me because I really enjoy it! I love deciding on what food and drinks to have, making the place look nice and festive, and getting a bunch of people together for a good time. But…I also really enjoy it when someone else plans a party for me and all I have to do is show up! Especially when it turns out to be an awesome bridal shower full of family and friends, games, yummy food, and good times.
The hostesses with the mostest-es (eh?) were my step mom and two aunts, hereafter referred to as The 3 Peas.
My future MIL was gracious enough to lend us her home as the party location too!
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.
Our song is the slamming screen door, sneakin’ out late, tapping on your window…When we’re on the phone and you talk real slow ’cause it’s late and your mama don’t know. Oh wait. That isn’t OUR song! That’s T. Swift’s song with one of her many beaus.
As for our song, that is TBD.
There’s a funny thing about first songs. I don’t know if it’s just couples nowadays who put so much darn thought into it. Maybe its just us detailed bees?
I remember Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Julia Stiles listening to records and putting so much thought into what “their” song was in the horrible movie—even though I loved it—Down to You. And they were only dating for a few months.
Mrs. Poodle, Santiago, Chile/San Bernardino, CAAge and Occupation: 27, Industrial & Web DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Firefighter & Mountain PatrolEngagement Date: February 25, 2009Wedding Date: January 2010Venue: Mr. P's Grandparents’ RanchAbout Me: I’m a Chilean girl who's crazy about nature and swimming. I enjoy carving, drawing, reading and sewing; I drool over computers, fabric, pretty paper, purple and patterns. To me, chocolate should be one of the seven wonders, right next to lemon pie. I never thought an exchange work experience program was going to change my life forever, but while working in California, I met Mr. Poodle, and ever since my days are better and brighter. We are two goofy souls that, after finding each other, couldn’t help but want to be together forever. It has being a long and sometimes hard road, since we have to deal with such a long distance between us, but we are now facing the last stage of our Fiancé Visa, and soon we will be together. You know the best part? We will be married! So I’ll be blogging from Chile until just a few months before our “green and purple” wedding.
At the end of my last post, our Officiant and dear friend Paul welcomed our friends and family to our wedding ceremony. After that, he proceeded like this:
“I remember several years ago, my wife Candace befriending Joy, a young Chilean lady, who quickly became a friend of our entire family. Shortly thereafter, we met Ken and eventually Candace would tease Joy about marriage. She would say “NO, NO, no (with an accent)!” … WELL, HERE WE ARE!”
“… And what an awesome time this is. These are the types of moments that make life beautiful. We thank God for times like this, for the opportunity to celebrate this day and make memories.
Mrs. Macarons, TampaAge and Occupation: 26, Graphic DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 34, Renaissance ManEngagement Date: September 12, 2009Wedding Date: September 2011Venue: Lange FarmAbout 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.
A few weeks passed before I started talking to Mr. Macarons online again. I didn’t offer up any explanation for my odd behavior, and he didn’t seem to want an answer. It was as if things never changed, but they had. I liked Macs A LOT. I needed to let my guard down and put myself out there. He needed to see the smart and funny girl that I am, not the awkward, standoffish person I was on my walk to class. Then maybe, just maybe, he might start to like me, too. It was just a matter of finding the right opportunity, the one I had hoped for all along.
I couldn’t just ask Macs out; it’d be weird. If I were him, I’d be suspicious of going out with the girl that wanted no part of me a month before. I kept a lookout for any posts by him in the “entertainment” section of the message boards. Maybe if he was going to a show or looking to play pool I could tag along? Nothing, no opportunities whatsoever, until I saw a post about Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Macs was going to see it on Friday and wanted to know if anyone else planned on watching it. I waited a bit before responding; it was only Tuesday and I didn’t want to seem desperate. On Thursday morning I replied and said I’d go see it with him if he wanted company. I gave him an out and didn’t think I’d hear back. Friday afternoon he wrote me back. “Sure, I’ll pick you up at 9:30. What’s your address?” I literally froze.
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.
I know there are a lot of posts here on post-wedding budget breakdowns, but I haven’t seen too many on how to make your budget in the first place. I’m hardly an expert and I’m not going to tell you how to make your budget, but I will tell you how I came up with ours.
Budgeting for the wedding was obviously going to fall in my lap, as I budget our income on a regular basis. Mr. Cannon pretty much leaves all our financial planning up to me since I enjoy it and am pretty good at it. One of my undergrad majors was finance, and I’m currently working on my master’s in accounting. (Have I mentioned yet that I’m wedding planning, blogging about wedding planning, working full time, and working part time on my master’s while chasing a toddler? I like to keep busy!)
Anyway, your budget will be mostly dependent on where you are and what you want. We live in a pretty cheap part of the country to have a wedding. Of course, how cheap really depends on what we want out of the wedding. We want it to be fairly small and casual, which goes a long way in saving money. There are two major considerations when planning your budget—how much you have available to spend and how much it’s going to cost.
When determining how much you want to spend, you need to consider who will be contributing to your wedding and whether you want to use only available cash or get into loans or credit-card debt for the wedding. I won’t give any lectures on how you shouldn’t go into debt for your wedding, because everyone has heard it before. If you’re going to do it, you will. That’s your business. We are using straight cash. No additional debt for us. We both felt that our parents would contribute to the wedding but didn’t feel comfortable initiating that conversation, so I budgeted as if we were paying for the whole thing. We will just consider any money from our parents as a sort of bonus that will save us money. We are not increasing our budget with any parental contributions. They will just leave us with more money in our pockets. Read more…
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!
So how do you tell a vendor that you’ve decided to go with someone else? The obvious answer is to be honest and polite. But like it or not, honesty isn’t always polite. Especially when you’re on the receiving end. I am just starting to reach out to vendors, and I will have to approach this carefully time and time again, won’t I?
Mrs. Cloud, RichmondAge and Occupation: 25, Sales RepFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Customer Service Manager/DJEngagement Date: February 14, 2008Wedding Date: November 2009Venue: Cathedral of the Sacred Heart & The Jefferson HotelAbout Me: Mr. Cloud and I are Yankees planning a Southern wedding to show our families from Boston and New York our fabulous city. We are complete opposites, resulting in a wedding to include bridesmaids in pearls and groomsmen in Adidas shell toes. I’m a sorority girl at heart with strong addictions to my blackberry, cherry Chapstick, Coach purses, the Boston Red Sox and our fur baby, Bella. I can’t wait to the throw the party of our lives and of course, marry my best friend!
(Yes, I love Gaga and yes I have been slacking on my recaps, *hangs head in shame*. Is anyone still interested? I hope so! If you would like to catch up on my previous recaps please do so here!)
Mr. Cloud had one request for our wedding that never, ever changed. He wanted one bad ass party. Our family and friends know how to have a good time, so I was pretty sure his request would be granted even if we had the wedding in a cardboard box, but let me tell you, our pals did not disappoint.
We danced like it was a regular Friday night at the club and we weren’t in formal attire. I was so glad I had the foresight to get myself a pair of flats for dancing shoes. Especially when it came time for the Soul Train line. Apparently we take Soul Train lines very seriously around here. Read more…
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.
As news of the engagement hit at work, people exclaimed, “Congratulations! Where’s the ring??” And truth be told, it was a bit awkward, bees.
My colleagues would look at my left ring finger and I would uncomfortably point them to my middle finger on my right hand and explain how the silver band was my temporary ring and we were starting to shop for “the real engagement ring.” Read more…
Mrs. High Wire, DallasAge and Occupation: 23, Legal AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Director of CommunicationsEngagement Date: October 9, 2010Wedding Date: September 2011Venue: Clark GardensAbout 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.
One weeknight evening my lovely MOH and I did a little shopping for her maid-of-honor dress. She was looking for something holly green, knee length, and anything un-shiny as per my requests, but could choose any dress of her liking under those parameters.
Reggie, our sales associate for the evening, kept us busy with dresses to try on all evening.
Imma break this down into two parts so I don’t crash your computer or phone with picture overload.
