Mrs. Earrings, Fresno, CA/ Nelson, New ZealandAge and Occupation: 20, Student, Wannabe Writer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 19, Photography StudentEngagement Date: February 14, 2010Wedding Date: January 2011Venue: Gardens of the WorldAbout Me: I'm a girl from down under who grew up in Indonesia and I'm marrying a California boy. I'm addicted to all things sweet, have never met a chocolate silk pie than can get the better of me, and have dreams of one day being a fulltime novelist. I go weak in the knees for lace, tea cups, and a beautifully crafted sentence. When I get excited about something (whether it is historical linguistics or the Beatles) I tend to go overboard in research, and planning this wedding is no different. Mr. Earrings is my high school sweetheart, my best friend, and somehow we combine all our quirks into one big happy mess.
As the end of our wedding day approached, Mr E and I snuck away for a few minutes to take advantage of the summer evening light for a few more photos. And I’m so glad we did, because even though we were worn out after a long day (and my jaw was so sore from smiling!), these moments were priceless, and they resulted in what I think are my very favourite photos of us from the day. Read more…
Mrs. Seal, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 25, Personal AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Sales and Support SpecialistEngagement Date: December 12, 2009Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Sts Peter and Paul Church/The Bently ReserveAbout Me: I am a goofy, wannabe crafty, well-intentioned Renaissance Woman (OK, perhaps "aimless wanderer" is a more aptly suited term for me, but hopefully you get the point)—basically I dabble in just about everything and pride myself in such. Without warning, I occasionally breakout into soulful improvised songs and interpretive dances and there's just no stopping me! As so many others before me, planning our wedding has unearthed a deep, intense passion for all things bridal and I secretly fear the day it will come to an end. Mr. Seal and I are quite the pair and life with him by my side is extremely rewarding—I am so thankful to have found him. Together we are planning a black-tie San Francisco affair for 250—light on the stuffiness and with lots of extra Seal-y flair.
Schuhe. Zapatos. Scarpe. Chaussures. обувь. Kutsu. Or you may know them as…
Call me a bad bride but no matter how I say it, I just can’t reallyget into shoe shopping for the wedding. I find this to be particularly peculiar because I really do love shoes. Back before we got engaged I’d spend a hefty chunk of each paycheck on funky flats or sessy stilettos—so WHAT GIVES?!
I look at sites like Zappos and Endless and, while both are excellent sources (with awesome return policies), I find myself completely…uninspired. I mindlessly click through the pairs of shoes in hopes that something will jump out and say “BUY ME! BUY ME! YOUR FEET NEED ME!” But nothing happens. Nothing. No desire to keep looking. No excitement. Just the occasional, “Oh, those aren’t terrible.”
Here’s what I do know and perhaps this is contributing to my apathy.
Mrs. Biscuit, Morgantown, WVAge and Occupation: 24, Dental StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Chemist at a pharmaceutical companyEngagement Date: April 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: Catholic Church, Lakeview Golf Resort and SpaAbout Me: I'm an engineer who decided to trek back to my hometown three years ago to become skilled in the arts of drilling and filling. I'm engaged to a pretty awesome guy who tests your assorted benzodiazepines by day and home brews by night. Together we have two fur children, Tsali and Tobias N. Fünkat. I'm a lazy perfectionist and eternal sorority girl who enjoys running, crafting, string cheese, good beer, and bad reality TV. We are planning a Big Fat Italian/Sicilian/Polish wedding filled with DIY details and are expecting 300 +/- 50 guests. Our whimsical summer affair is themed "Alice attends the Mad Hatter Vintage Garden Tea Party in a Ballroom. She Thinks That The Venue is Odd for a Vintage Garden Party, but is Tripping on LSD, so She Doesn't Really Care." Yes, I am the Dickens of themes.
Over the course of wedding planning, I have found that I become completely scatterbrained during the more high stress times. Well, more scatterbrained than usual. I call this phenomenon “Bride Brain.”
Bride Brain likes to manifest at inopportune times. Like in the Cleveland airport. Last weekend, Mr. Biscuit and I were on the way to Menomonie, WI (say that three times fast!) for a wedding. In order to get to Menomonie, we needed to fly into Minneapolis via Cleveland and we had only a 40 minute layover to get dinner, a beer, and reading material for the flight. Yes, all of these things were necessary.
Mr. B and I branched out at the Hudson News. He bought a cycling magazine and a music magazine. I bought Self and Cosmo. I chose to read the Self on the plane first, but got through it pretty quickly. So, I decided I’d move on to the Cosmo, even though I wanted to save it for the ride home. Well, I looked at the cover and what did I see? Read more…
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.
This is the story of our engagement and the trip that went with it. Given time and travel constraints, we thought of it as a pre honeymoon (the honeymoon we can’t take right after the wedding). I began thinking of it as a before-honeymoon, or bunnymoon—a term that makes Mr. Macarons cringe a little. I like it. Mr. Mac will live.
Mr. Mac’s job requires him to travel a lot. We’ve been lucky in the past, but in ‘09 he was needed outside the country for an extended period of time (we’re talking a year and then some), and I wasn’t able to go. We were handed a huge bucket of lemons, lemons that we decided to turn into lemonade that we’d drink in the cafés of Europe. While he could have spent a ridiculous amount of time and money traveling back home, a vacation sounded slightly better.
There were several places both of us wanted to go in that short amount of time. It didn’t help that they happened to be in opposite directions. Mr. Mac is German and it had been years since he had visited his early childhood home. I wanted to see where he grew up after all the stories about running through the Odenwald with his grandfather and what real Knodel tastes like. We both wanted to visit Normandy and pay our respects to those who served in WWII (my grandfather being one of them), and despite all the mister’s travels, he had never been to Paris. I really wanted to revisit as an adult and finally climb to the very top of the Eiffel Tower, as it was closed for renovations when I was there before.
So with that in mind, we decided to spend the first part of our trip driving and end with a relaxing week-long stay in Paris. Six months later it was finally time to go! Check-in and security were a breeze; the tough part was the flight. You see, I’m one of those people who can never manage to fall asleep for extended periods on a plane. Psychologically it probably doesn’t help that I ALWAYS end up across from that passenger. You know who I’m talking about—the one in a cherub-like state well before takeoff with a row to themselves, complete with a stockpile of airline pillows and blankets.
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!
My girls are incredibly special to me, and after all they had done for me leading up to the wedding, including an amazing book shower and a great bachelorette weekend away, I knew I wanted to give them something really special at the bridesmaid luncheon. But I also wanted their presents to be meaningful to them and to our friendship. So I decided the best way for me to do that was to make part of their present.
I made my girls make up bags (full disclosure - they were supposed to be clutches but I didn’t make them sturdy enough so I called them makeup bags). 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.
Poring over wedding-inspiration blogs was a hobby of mine long before I got engaged. OK, don’t get creeped out! I just really liked looking at the pretty pictures, I swear. I’ll prove it to you because when the time came that we were actually engaged, I had NO idea where to start, and I had nothing picked out.
Now that we’re on the way to getting this here shindig planned out, I thought I’d back up a bit and give you a few gentle suggestions (that will make your life a lot easier) on where you should start when it comes time to really plan out the details of your actual, specific wedding.
There’s three big main to-dos when starting to plan.
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.
Upon hearing the news that I had completed my wedding ensemble (unless I do find a nice bolero/jacket) with the purchase of my red shoes, Mr. Funnel Cake admitted that he needs to start thinking about his own duds for the wedding. He hasn’t acquired anything yet! Obviously someone is not as excited as I was about picking out his wedding outfit.
Over the weekend, we visited his parents for his mother’s birthday, and Brother Funnel Cake quizzed us on his responsibilities for the wedding. (Cute!) Everyone was talking about what Mr. Funnel Cake and Brother Funnel Cake should wear, when the idea came up about Mr. FC wearing his military uniform.
Circa 2008: FC actually claims this is one of the ooonly photos he likes of himself.
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.
One of the biggest projects from our handmade wedding was our chapel. Mr. Poodle’s dad took over the project as soon as I mentioned how cool it could be. I showed him all of the inspiration pictures I gathered and he went beyond what I could have ever dreamed. Here you can see a few shots before our ceremony. I do have to say it looked so much better with people in it.
Mr. Poodle’s dad used some old windows and another member of the family gave us their old siding (with perfect timing to our wedding, they remodeled their house!).
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!
Ladies, I would like to take this moment to let you know how important and liberating it feels to get all of your wedding projects and to-dos done early. If I didn’t have the amazing Magical Alie kicking my booty and giving me a deadline, I can safely say that my usual procrastinating self would be knee deep in hot glue, paint, spreadsheets and tears.
Instead, I am sipping a glass of wine and enjoying some final moments of peace before the whirlwind of guests blow in from the four corners of the earth. Our house is clean and no trace of wedding exists…just me and the mister. With wedding projects out of the way we are able to enjoy our last few days STRESS FREE (except for the forecast of scattered thunderstorms).
Mrs. Bunting, Grand Rapids, MIAge and Occupation: 24, freelance illustrator & print productionFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, graduate of historyEngagement Date: December 3, 2009Wedding Date: June 2011Venue: Spring Grove Park & St. George Banquet CenterAbout 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’m a sucker for pretty installation art pieces, and what better place for such a compositional experience than the very space where you say your wedding vows? This is the space that everyone’s undivided attention will turn to during the ceremony, and I love it when a couple takes it to the next level. I understand how some brides may not want to detract from themselves as they recite their vows, but as long as there aren’t spinning rockets and flashing lights attached to the altar, then the space can be used to enhance the experience by framing the couple. And hey, if you’re a nervous bride and you want to be out of the spotlight so you can fumble through your vows (oh, how I hope this won’t be me), then maybe the spinning rockets aren’t a bad idea…
Simply put, creative and colorful ceremony spaces rock my world.
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!
Since we rocked an iTunes playlist for our music instead of a DJ, I wanted to share with y’all the complete music sets for our wedding. At the end of the series, I’ll let you know what worked, what didn’t, and if we would have done anything different in retrospect. I’ll also talk about logistics and the details of our self-emceeing!
But to get there, we have to start at the beginning. The ceremony music.
Pre-ceremony music: We started this playlist about 30 minutes before the ceremony began, so our guests would have music to listen to as they waited. Remember, all the ceremony music needed to be “fitting of a Christian worship ceremony.”
Mrs. Oyster, DallasAge and Occupation: 30, Music TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 46, Art TeacherEngagement Date: January 9, 2009Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: The Tower ClubAbout Me: I'm a Texa-Californian with a penchant for sparkly things and a tendency to think a lot. I've been known to sing random songs or dance when there is no music on. My fiance and I love world culture, we love to travel, and we have an incredibly eclectic taste in music. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to celebrate our marriage with our family & closest friends. We're planning an “urban black-tie” wedding and hope to incorporate our personalities and some of our own interests. We look forward to a life of love, laughter, good music, beautiful art, and to creating our home together with our four (!) cats.
I may or may not have jumped for joy upon receiving our digital files, because it means one thing: I can finally begin recaps!
Before I begin to re-experience of the wedding on your behalf, let me show you just a few of the wonderful works of art given to us by our photographers:
Mrs. Cinnamon Bun, Calgary, AlbertaAge and Occupation: 26, Stage ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Theatre TechnicianEngagement Date: June 22, 2010Wedding Date: June 2011Venue: Calgary Opera CentreAbout Me: I'm a life-long crafter and bookworm living in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. Some of my loves include Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes, knitting, opera, musicals, Etsy, baking, and of course, Mr. Cinnamon Buns. We're keeping our wedding close to home---the venue isn't very far from our house, and we live within walking distance of 6 bridal salons. I'm using the wedding as an excuse to try out every craft project I possibly can, with the endless help and support of my fiance.
I talked earlier about wanting to have a more informal gathering the day after the wedding for relatives that have traveled a long way. We decided on the menu by thinking about ease of prep, and shortcuts we could take. I started thinking about having everyone over, and knowing that I’d want the house to be clean… and realising that I probably wouldn’t want to be scrubbing the toilets and vacuuming in the week leading up to the wedding. The same day I had this thought, the daily Groupon for Calgary was for a maid service. Fate! Read more…
Weddingbee GalleryFeature Launched: April 10, 2009About: A collection of inspirational wedding pictures from readers and bees.
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. Jaguar, SydneyAge and Occupation: 27, Primary School TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, IT ConsultantEngagement Date: August 8, 2009Wedding Date: June 2011Venue: Curzon HallAbout Me: I'm an Australian girl who is a self-proclaimed nerd, loves all things stationery and would be lost without books, music and the internet. Mr. Jaguar and I have been together for the past eight years and he finally popped the question last August. Hurrah! We currently live in Sydney, Australia with our adorable cat who thinks he's a person. We're a couple who likes to multi-task: we've been planning a wedding abroad, a permanent move from London to Sydney, and preparing to build our own home all at the same time. Travelling makes me giddy...as does Mr. Jaguar, of course!
These past few days have been some of the most stressful ones I’ve experienced in this whole wedding-planning stint. I’ve asked the experts (namely my blissfully wedded bee friends) and they tell me that it’s normal to have the cray-cray hit the fan during the home stretch.
It all started with silly little bouts of irritation. The fact that every time I opened up my wedding to-do list, it automatically opened with a version of ‘Word’ that I don’t own, have never owned, and can’t install—so a two second click turns into a minute of frantic cursing, shutting down and reloading. Sounds trivial, I know, but imagine that happening about a thousand times in a row and…well…you get my drift. The fact that after days of organising tables and who was sitting where at the reception, my in-laws decided to change everything around on me. The fact that all my millions of spreadsheets needed to be re-jigged to match the changes, and that I’m inevitably going to forget something, or heaven forbid, someone.
I’m slowly learning to let go of the obsessive compulsive need to have everything fully planned out and organised, but still…for a planner like me, change is hard.
