Mrs. Cucumber Sandwich, Washington, DC/Cape May, NJAge and Occupation: 28, School CounselorFiance's Age and Occupation: 40, Collegiate AthleticsEngagement Date: March 27, 2010Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: Congress Hall HotelAbout 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.
Mr. Cucumber Sammie and I set off on our ring-palooza (which makes it sound way funner than it actually was). First up: Mervis Diamond Importers. Mervis has about three stores in the DMV (District, Maryland, and Virginia) area, making them a small family-run chain. Anyone from the area can probably recite their radio commercials because they are on…All. The. Time!
Anywhoodle, about a month ago Mervis was running a “ring” event where they promised a plethora of wedding-band designers, discounts, cake, and vodka. (I still can’t figure out why the vodka, but I am not one to argue.) Cake!?! Off we went. The event was the very first time Mr. Cucumber Sammie and I tried on rings, and we were positively giddy. There were tons of people there, so we got brought up to Zeb Mervis’s office for our consultation! Now I know what being in the inner sanctum of a celebrity feels like.
Mrs. Pony, Bloomington, ILAge and Occupation: 25, AttorneyFiance's Age and Occupation: 34, AttorneyEngagement Date: March 22, 2010Wedding Date: September 2011Venue: Mackinaw Valley Vineyard; Bloomington Center for the Performing ArtsAbout 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.
This weekend while Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows makes history, the Ponies will be witnessing some very special history as two of our dearest (and one of my oldest) friends get married.
The happy, soon-to-be-wed couple!
Bridesmaid What’s Her Face and Mr. What’s His Face’s (hereinafter the Faces) wedding will be the second and last wedding Mr. Pony and I will attend as an engaged couple. I have the honor of standing up with Her Face as she marries a wonderful man, which means I will be in the thick of wedding craziness all weekend while also getting to see a wedding from behind the scenes. 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. 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.
Mrs. Tartlet, Rochester, MIAge and Occupation: Age & Occupation: 27, Post-Doctoral Research FellowFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Medical StudentEngagement Date: May 2, 2009Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: The Royal Park HotelAbout Me: I'm an exuberant gal from the Midwest with a penchant for Neuroscience and anything sparkly. I'm not afraid to poke fun at myself, and I'm a believer that given the right pair of shoes, a girl can conquer the world. While an interest in the sciences threw Mr. Tartlet and me together (again, and again, until it finally stuck), we share a love for many things---food, video games, car dancing, food, bad puns, travel, did I mention food?---that ultimately led us to where we are now, less than five months from becoming Mr. and Mrs. We're planning a laid-back, romantic, garden-inspired affair with organic and quirky touches that reflect our love for the unexpected!
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!
At some point during my blog-surfing, I was introduced to the idea of a photo-sharing card to ask your guests to post their photos online at one central website so anyone and everyone can take a peek. I immediately bookmarked the idea, thinking it was an ingenious way to get our grubby little newlywed paws on our guests’ photos to hold us over until the professional pictures become available and to give us an additional photographic perspective on the day’s events.
I tasked BM K with the duty of finding a site that would work for us. I wanted a place that would allow easy uploads without downloading or installing any software, tons of storage space, and the ability to upload/print full-resolution photos. In no time, she delivered her official recommendation: Shutterfly. I took her at her word and decided Shutterfly would be the site for us.
After our positive experiences with VistaPrint with our save the dates, I decided that we’d disseminate our photo-sharing site information on a business card from VP. Read more…
Mrs. Parasol, San Ramon, CaliforniaAge and Occupation: 25, Non-profit writer, editor, and bloggerFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Law school studentEngagement Date: December 19th, 2010Wedding Date: September 2011Venue: Bent Creek Winery (Livermore, California); Reception: Family Residence (San Ramon, California) About Me: I am a California girl at heart. I love the outdoors, sunny days at the beach, and hiking in the woods and mountains. I also love good books and am fresh from completing my Master's degree in English and Comparative Literature in New York City. Living in NYC was an amazing experience, and while I'm glad to be back on the West Coast, I'm also thankful that my two years back East gave me an opportunity to explore new places, make new friends, and indulge my passion for Broadway shows. Oh, and I received a pretty awesome proposal from Mr. Parasol in Central Park. Above all else, Mr. Parasol is my biggest cheerleader and my best friend. But even though I'm thrilled to be marrying him, I wasn't always totally on board with this whole wedding thing and at first, I wanted to run off and elope. I've finally been convinced to throw the wedding I never thought I wanted, and so now I'm busy planning an intimate September wedding filled with DIY details. Along the way, I'm slowly learning to appreciate, perhaps even love the wedding planning process.
Hey, hive! I’m Miss Parasol, and I am beyond ecstatic to be introducing myself to you today! I’ve imagined writing this post so many times before, but even now I still can’t believe that I’m actually here. I’m a beeeee!
I received the news from Pengy at the end of a jam-packed wedding day. Mr. Parasol and I got some pretty awesome wedding gifts in the mail, as well as the paper and envelopes for our wedding invitations. We also bought the last few remaining items for his wedding-day suit—a sharp white dress shirt and a fantastic tie—and then I had my first dress fitting! It was quite the day, and by the end of it I was feeling pretty accomplished wedding-wise, but also a little exhausted. I came back home, slipped out of my Spanx and into some comfy pants, and decided to relax and check my email. I noticed one particular email from an unfamiliar address, and even though I should have been suspicious because I was expecting a response about my Weddingbee application, it didn’t even cross my mind that this could be THE email. I started slowly skimming the email, but I don’t think I even made it past the first sentence before I snapped out of my stupor. The next moment, I jumped up from my bed and ran downstairs to find Mr. Parasol, all the while screaming, “I’m a bee! I’m a bee!”
Do you think I’m excited? Yeah, I’m pretty darn excited.
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!
I once had high hopes for our ability to produce a relatively low-budget wedding. While $10K is by no means a shoestring affair, it matched what we could put aside and was realistic given the things we wanted to do and how much they cost.
Oh, how naïve and foolish I was to believe I could stick to a budget for something like this. I have a hard enough time not reallocating car-repair money to clothing funds in my own personal monthly budget. It’s no different when it comes to the never-ending multitude of STUFF I’ve ended up putting on my “to buy” list.
Miss Magic had an oh-so-apropos blog post on the topic of justifying random wedding purchases that I immediately identified with. I, like so many others, have been quite guilty of nickel and diming our own expenses. While I don’t subject our joint budget to my daily craft whims, I do keep track of all wedding-related purchases in my Mint.com personal account so that I can look back at the end and get a truly horrifying snapshot of my actual expenditures on pens, paper, wooden numbers, picture frames, antique bottles, fabric, three types of glue…goodness, it never ends.
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 was pretty anxious for Machine Gun to send me the new and improved wedding files. When I emailed her back to detail what I wanted, I requested something clean, modern and text focused, preferably with a white background and using our rainbow palette (which is bright pink, bright orange, dandelion yellow, Kelly green, turquoise, royal purple). She sent me exactly what I was looking for, and after a few minor adjustments, I had my invitation suite!
Mrs. Cucumber Sandwich, Washington, DC/Cape May, NJAge and Occupation: 28, School CounselorFiance's Age and Occupation: 40, Collegiate AthleticsEngagement Date: March 27, 2010Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: Congress Hall HotelAbout 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.
Mr. Cucumber Sammie and I started the search for our wedding bands a long time ago. We could have been our normal selves and put this off for another couple of months, but there were some jewelry “events” we wanted to attend. You know, the “events” where they lure you in with 20% off and cake! We are suckers for cake and discounts. Wedding bands were something we didn’t budget a whole lot for, so we wanted to take advantage of all the opportunities to save.
There were quite a few events coming up that we wanted to attend, but first to the research mobile to see if we were really getting a good deal! I knew exactly what kind of ring I wanted, so my search should be easy.
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!
Mrs. Bacon, ChicagoAge and Occupation: 26, Digital Advertising ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, IT Client ServicesEngagement Date: June 17, 2010Wedding Date: September 2011Venue: Ravenswood Billboard FactoryAbout Me: I'm a Midwestern girl that can't seem to commit to staying in one place for too long and is constantly daydreaming about my next adventure. I am an aspiring foodie with a weak spot for the unusual and I love semi-reality food television. My other loves easily include laughing as a form of exercise, a book that I can't put down, summer baseball games, espresso with whipped cream, couch potato days and nights with the ridiculous Mr. Bacon, and our two kitties, Lincoln and Sawyer. We're planning a faux-destination wedding for 150 of our closest friends and family in the city we've both adopted as home that has a modern, yet whimsical twist and as many personal touches as we can manage.
I talk a big talk, but I know what you’re thinking: Show Me the Money!
So, without further ado, the Bacon invitations!
We picked the typewriter font to match the detail in our return address stamps. Let’s hope the Mouses RSVP! We also decided to get red envelopes to coordinate with our wedding colors rather than just using the plain white ones that came along, not to mention the positive memories I have of getting red envelopes as a child during Chinese New Year, Birthdays and Christmas! Read more…
Miss Doily, Cedar Rapids, IowaAge and Occupation: 25, Autism Paraeducator/ StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Freelance Writer/ PublisherEngagement Date: August 27th, 2010Wedding Date: March 2012Venue: Father’s Vineyard Church/ A Touch of Class Banquet CenterAbout Me: I’m an Iowan girl with a deep love of Harry Potter, classic movies, cardigans, and Post-Its. My type-A Virgo tendencies often cause me to drive my laid-back college sweetheart fiance batty with lists and PowerPoint presentations. I love to be crafty and do things myself, which explains why my two crazy kittens often will prance around the house covered in glitter and ribbons. When I am not bogged down with work, school, or wedding planning, I like to travel to visit my expansive family and have wild adventures with my best friends. After a rollercoaster ride of a love story, I’m ready to take that final plunge, marry the love of my life, and become a Mrs.!
I know I introduced them before, but I wanted to give you a more formal introduction. Meet my fur daughters, Smudge and Kelly. Smudge is the poofy black and white one. She was named because of the random black spots on her white patches. She is a diva. She likes people, she like to investigate the goings on of the house, and she has an attitude problem.
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!
