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After I found time to travel to Bern and endure the tyranny of the US Embassy to prove I was unmarried, my birth certificate finally came in the post and we were promptly on our way to the registrar to fill out our marriage application.
(Drawing by toothpaste for dinner)
Mr. Funnel Cake and I sat nervously in the registry office, holding sweaty hands as the clerk helped us fill out our application. There are many “marriages of convenience” in Switzerland with the sole purpose of supplying a residence or work permit, so immigration is always on the lookout for suspicious “couples” that are really strangers marrying for money or permits. We were so nervous that they would think we weren’t really in love reject our application. It was terrifying!
I scoured the internet looking for inspiration for the most-important-thing-I-will-ever-wear (AKA: The Wedding Dress), ordered it, and crossed it off the list. (OK. Maybe it wasn’t that simple. But it is crossed off!)
But what about the Mister?!
Let me start off by saying that Mr. Sweet Cream isn’t the type of guy who needs help in the dressing-himself department. He is not a guy who will show up all wrinkly in ripped clothing to a family party, and he actually does get excited when we have a little cash to treat ourselves to some new duds.
So I was super excited that he was on the same page as me when it came down to wearing gray on our wedding day. (Mr. Sweet Cream can be very decisive about his wardrobe choices, so I surely thought that he would insist on an all black look for whatever reason.) Specifically, Mr. Sweets wants to wear “charcoal gray.” (I told you he’s decisive!)
He also liked the idea of forgoing the tux and having a very cool suit instead. I mean, do BBQ and fancy tuxedos go together? Well, I guess they can if we wanted them to. It’s our day, right?
But Mr. Sweets likes the suit idea (phew!)…so here are some of the ones that he’s been digging:
Lauren by Ralph Lauren Black & White Portly Suit / Image via Men’s Warehouse
rkbecker is selling a cathedral-length silk tulle veil. She’s asking $300.
Have a wedding item for sale? Post it with pictures in the Weddingbee Classifieds, and you might see it featured on the blog!
Other great items for sale:
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Our $10,000 budget was a huge consideration when wedding planning, especially as our guest list ballooned from an anticipated 150 people to more than 220 invited guests (in the end, about 170 attended). To be honest, our strict budget was in the driver’s seat for every single wedding-related decision; it was more tiring than you can even imagine.
Of course there were things we wished we could have spent more money on, but we’re pretty happy with our spending decisions overall. The best compliment we received (other than the raging drunks coming up to us that night telling us it was the best wedding in history) was hearing that people thought our rumored “budget” was $20,000 or more. High five to the Jams!
So, as promised, here’s our (almost) $10K budget breakdown:
Rental Fees:
Total $605
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Featured on Weddingbee
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
“Make an elegant invitation statement without the fuss. Stylish invitation sets with matching envelopes, reception and response cards included.”
Creating a registry is something you should probably plan. Mr. Cannon and I did not. Bombshell was putting together shower plans and commanded us to register so she could tell people where we were registered, and so we went. We had no idea what we were going to register for. We don’t really need anything, but there are definitely things we want. Off we went, with vague ideas of wanting.
This is probably going to sound weird, but registering was kind of romantic for me. Not the actual registering part (that was kind of boring), but we had a babysitter for Cherry Bomb, so it was just Mr. Cannon and me walking around together. Almost every time we get a babysitter, there is a reason for it, and we attend to that reason and that’s it. But while we were registering, we didn’t have anything else to worry about except each other and our scanner guns. So it felt like a nice little date. We just wandered around holding hands and were able to give our full undivided attention to each other, which is a pretty rare treat. Yeah, it’s lame, but I really enjoyed it.
Romance, Aisle 10
In the initial days—OK, hours…fine, minutes—after getting engaged, I did a lot of freaking out. As in, financial freaking out. This was mostly a result of my trying to decide everything within a week with no information whatsoever. I judged the price of things by the first few places we stumbled upon, and had a meltdown thinking there was no way we could save a reasonable amount of money in the time between our engagement and our wedding.
Soon, though things began to look up. We knocked some things off the list right away—limo, f’rinstance—and relegated other items, like bridal-party gifts and pre-wedding beauty treatments, to our own personal budgets. We have some very connected friends with very talented buddies, and managed to book our photographer and DJ based on personal references. We found our hitherto uncovered venue from a bridesmaid, and our sweet graphic-artist friend designed and printed our invitations as a wedding gift to us.
Plus, I planned to DIY a lot. But I love crafts. And I love buying craft supplies. So it was a win-win-win: I get to shop, I get to make pretty things, and guests get to ooh and ahh.
I was particularly adamant about the floral aspect.
Image via Real Simple / Photo by Debra McClinton
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
I waste a disgusting amount of time online. Reading celebrity gossip, stalking wedding blogs, blogging myself, and so on. It’s rare for me to be in a room by myself and not have my eyes glued to the glow emitted from my beloved Dell. Anyhow, I’ve recently discovered a fun new way to pass the time when putzing around online.
Step 1: Type the designer and style number or name of your wedding gown into Google.
Step 2: Go to the top left portion of the screen and click on the link that says “more.”
Step 3: Scroll down to “Blogs.”
By following those three very easy steps, you can probably find a number of blogs that have featured your wedding dress! It’s a fun little activity because if you wade past the pre-owned dress sales, you can usually find some photography blogs that feature other brides in your gown. A good number of photographers include a list of the couple’s wedding vendors at the bottom of the photography entry, which makes it quite easy to find blog entries that feature your dress! I like this approach better than just doing an image search, since most of those results are photos of models directly from the designer’s site, which is a little boring.
While part of me is possessive of my gown and doesn’t enjoy the thought of others donning it on their wedding days, a bigger part of me is more obsessed with the idea of seeing the gown in the context of others’ weddings. You get an awesome opportunity to see how others accessorized—what earrings they picked, what type of veil they selected. You also can get a glimpse into how the dress meshed into the overall context of the rest of the event. Personally, staring at these other weddings gets me so excited to have my dress fitted to my body to look perfect for our wedding. It definitely spikes the anticipation and excitement!
If there’s one thing that’s utterly out of every bride-to-be’s control, it’s Mother Nature. That meant as soon as “Fri May 6″ made it onto the 10 day extended forecast display, I was habitually staring at my computer screen, trying to unleash my dormant Jedi powers to will those numbers up. It had not only been a rather squishy spring in Michigan—it had been downright cold. Tiny, lime green buds were warily emerging from winter-beaten branches while underneath people still hunkered down in their heavy coats. The temperatures were yo-yo’ing anywhere from a pleasant 72 down to a brisk 50, with an occasional frost advisory thrown in for good measure. In retrospect, perhaps I should have placed an order for my light saber, because this is what greeted us on Thursday as we caravanned to the Royal Park Hotel:
Teeeshirtttt timeeeee… so kidding. Our newest bee is getting married on the…you guessed it…Jersey Shore! Join me in welcoming Miss Cucumber Sandwich to the hive!
Miss Cucumber Sandwich, Washington, DC/Cape May, NJ
Age & Occupation: 28, School Counselor
Fiance’s Age & Occupation: 40, Collegiate Athletics
Engagement Date: March 27, 2010
Wedding Date: October 2011
Venue: Congress Hall Hotel
About Me: I am a school counselor who spends my day wrangling children and my nights attempting to be creative with wedding projects. My enthusiasm for each of these activities far surpasses my skill. Thank goodness Mr. Cucumber Sandwich is there to pick up the pieces and be the voice of reason about my DIY tries. I have an obsession with terrible romantic comedies (‘From Justin to Kelly’ anyone?, anyone?!?), competitive Scrabble play, and hot dogs. I could eat astronaut ice cream for every meal and can’t seem to resist buying more shoes. Our wedding is going to be a true hodge podge of semi-destination, tradition, Yuengling, New England charm, with just a dash of ‘Jersey Shore’ thrown in. It has been six years in the making and I can’t wait to marry my best friend.
(If you’re in the DC area and you haven’t been to the bakery that this post is named after, go immediately! I recommend Niel’s Hat Trick, but you really can’t go wrong. My mouth is watering just thinking about it… YUM!)
Back in April when I mentioned that we were going to have to find a new bakery since my baker friend had a bun in the oven? No? Well, now you know. I immediately went about emailing a bunch of bakeries in the area to get a feel for pricing, flavors and if they even had the availability to take on another wedding for early September. After some shocking prices, sadness that my favorite bakery no longer does wedding cakes and a surprising number of bakeries just never getting back to me, we set up tastings with three: Amy Beck Cake Designs, Luscious Layers Bakery and one other that I’m not naming because it wasn’t awesome, let’s just call it #3.
In true Miss Bacon fashion, the appointments are all within a week of each other so that we can make easy comparisons without too many notes. The first tasting was at Amy Beck and it was ahhhhhhhhmazing. She didn’t ask us what flavors we liked or what we wanted to try, so when we got there, we were greeted by a table filled with all the favors of cake and frosting that she offered. Talk about a great first impression!
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As y’all know I got bit by the DIY wedding bug big time. I want to share some of my finished projects and details that I wrote about during the planning process. I hope this inspires y’all to try some DIY too because I had a blast with each of these projects!
When I think of my bridesmaids, the theme song to The Golden Girls pops into my head. So here goes…
Clip via YouTube
I teased you with engagement sessions in meaningful, special places, like cooking classes, fishing holes, and garden plots. And I mentioned that I almost threw our big idea into the can after seeing the super, super amazing camping shots.
You’re probably thinking: OK, Sweet Cream! What’s this big idea anyway??
Well, hive…I might have mentioned the Sweet Creams’ history that started in grade school, so we decided to take it back there…yes, way back there.
Ever since the beginning of time (OK. Maybe I am exaggerating just a little. It was 1956 to be exact.), our little Catholic parish has held the biggest fair in town. People would get super excited to go ride the rides, eat cotton candy until they were ready to be sick, and hang out with their pals. During the summers of the late 1990s, Mr. Sweets and I were no exception to this rule. We just loved our town’s fair.
Image via Picable / Photographer: Lindsay Dean
Starbright333 sported a polished ponytail on her wedding day
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Hive,
It’s that time! Finally, after over a year of planning, 10 years of dating, and 100 of yarn poms later, we are finally ready to walk down that aisle and make it official! The last couple of days have been a whirlwind of activity and unexpected roadblocks, and I’ll admit that some tears have been shed (at Bank of America, no less) but I’m ready to finally get this show in the road.
Words cannot express my gratitude to you all and this wonderful community. I’m honored and humbled to call myself a member of such a supportive and creative group of women, and our wedding would not be the same without all of your wonderful comments and support.
To the man I love, because I know you read this blog, I big puffy pom pom heart love you. You’re the one person in this world who gets me and all my little quirks. When I said, “let’s make a 3-foot wreath entirely of pom poms,” you didn’t ask me if I was crazy. Instead you said, “OK,” and asked how you could help. It’s that undying support that has made this whole wedding process easy. Thank you for being my best friend and for a shoulder to cry on, and for always supporting me, regardless of how crazy my ideas are. After 10 years, I cannot wait to finally walk down the aisle and officially get to my husband. I love you, Misters.
Image by Heidi Ryder
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