Mrs. Plaid, AustinAge and Occupation: 26, Pastry ChefFiance's Age and Occupation: 34, Cabinetry CarpenterEngagement Date: August 8, 2009Wedding Date: October 2010Venue: Kindred Oaks, GeorgetownAbout Me: I am a Jersey girl born and raised but have since migrated to Texas and embraced its twang and Tex-Mex. I could probably eat chips and queso every day but instead I eat popcorn. I use the word “awesome” way too much but I just can’t seem to stop myself. I am addicted to all things DIY and am planning what I call a Texas-Chic wedding. I love snuggling with my two adorable dogs and of course, my adorable fiance. I can’t wait 'til I can call him my husband some day! October 2010, here we come!
I think I’ve put this off long enough, but today’s the day I wave goodbye to the Hive. Not for forever, but for now. My wedding’s over and I finally finished my recaps. It only took me a little over 7 months. And now we’ve got another life event to look forward to: the arrival of our son sometime this month!
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.
It’s my bridal shower invitation! The High Wires have kept it pretty old school in the invitation department with fill-in-the-blank invites for both our engagement party and now for the Dallas area bridal shower (I have another one scheduled in August in Mr. High Wire’s hometown). I love this invitation! It feels so special that my mom sat down and filled out each of these with her own beautiful handwriting. Read more…
DIYFeature Launched: October 8, 2008About: The best DIY projects from Bees and brides around the web.
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.
You’ve all heard about the importance of achieving a proper work-life balance in life, right? Where people strive to prioritize career ambitions on one hand and family, health, and other of life’s little pleasures on the other.
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. Hippo, New York City/Dallas, TXAge and Occupation: 34, Event Planner for a Non-Profit Fiance's Age and Occupation: 35, Finance ITEngagement Date: August 8, 2009Wedding Date: March 2011Venue: Samuel Lynne Galleries and Marc EventsAbout Me: I’m a thirty-something bride living in New York City and planning a modern-ish wedding in Dallas, Texas. I love trashy reality television (Jersey Shore, anyone?), online shopping, Sunday brunch, Central Park, and random celebrity spottings on the streets of Manhattan. While I love NYC, I miss good Tex-Mex, my college friends, central A/C, and being in close proximity to a Target. I’m thrilled to finally be planning an event that’s not work-related and to be marrying my best friend in what I hope will be a unique and personal ceremony followed by a reception with plenty of good food, good drinks, and dancing (regardless if it’s good or not).
After all the pre-wedding photos were taken, the guys headed straight to the art gallery to wait for the ceremony to begin while the ladies made a quick stop at the reception venue with our photographers. I added this into the itinerary ’cause I wanted (and wanted our photographers) to get a sneak peek at the reception venue before the actual reception. Our guests would be enjoying cocktails at the venue while we were taking our post-wedding photos, so I knew if we didn’t see the space before, in all its untouched glory, by the time we arrived it would be filled with guests. I wanted photos of both the space itself and the space with the energy of our guests and the only way to get both was to make a quick drive by. Plus, since the art gallery isn’t a typical wedding spot, they didn’t have a real “bridal room.” The ladies were going to be holed up in an office/storage space (glamorous, I know) until the ceremony started, so I figured the less time we had to wait there, the better.
We hopped on our shuttle bus from the hotel and made our way to the reception space. Now, I knew I had amazing vendors, several were even friendors, but I was absolutely floored when I walked in. It was even more amazing than I could have possibly imagined.
Ms. Ferris Wheel, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 29, PsychologistFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, PsychologistEngagement Date: May 23 and 28, 2010 (one for each of us!)Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Parc55 Hotel (city lights ceremony, ballroom reception)About Me: Born in the Southeast, educated in the Northeast, and over-educated on the West Coast, I finally earned my city-girl credentials and have put down roots in gorgeous San Francisco. I’m a raging perfectionist with a lightning quick wit and a terrible sense of both time and direction. Our wedding task list is endlessly growing because of my predilection to think that DIY projects I can make = DIY projects I should make (so not true!). I always go to bed wishing there were more hours in the day to enjoy all the things I adore, whether that be hobbies, friends, my career, our two dogs, or Mr. Ferris Wheel. Ours is a story of a non-traditional couple living an oddly traditional life planning a not-so-traditional wedding in this city we adore. Together we are bustin’ out all of our best skills (and some of our worst ones) to plan a laid-back-chic DIY-craftastic love-alicious affair!
Way back in the day when I first saw a blog post about cocktail napkins personalized with fun facts, I immediately shared the idea with Mr. FW and we both thought it was genius! I mean, who wouldn’t love to go to a wedding and learn a little bit about the couple every time they grab a drink?
{and it looks SO much better when I don’t have to remove our names. *sigh*}
Before I get to the tutorial, a few caveats. 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.!
Mr. D and I do not have a very big budget. We are paying for the wedding ourselves, which has meant that we have had to be very creative with our choices. Much like the ceremony site, we were having problems finding a venue budget that fit our personalities and our budget. It was obvious something was going to have to give. We simply could not afford to pay $1,000–$2,000 for the rental price, plus another $3,000 for food and another $1,200 for drinks. Plus the odds and ends of decor and linens. I understand the reception is typically about half of your budget, but this would push us close to 75% of the budget, and we still had a lot of other things to pay for that were equally important, like my dress and the photographer. And for those of you not familiar with Iowa, an outdoor wedding and reception is not something you gamble with in March. It can be sunny, raining, or snowing, or possibly all three. So what were we to do? We started looking long and hard.
We were hoping for something like this place:
I loved the wooden floors and the windows, but the price was just too high for our budget, so we had to pass. / Image via The Avacentre
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’ve been looking at invitations since before we were engaged. We talked about everything from art nouveau inspired, filigreed, lush invites with swirls and romantic curls that we would draw ourselves to clean, streamlined, uber modern invites with pops of color that were designed by a stranger on Etsy. As the face of our wedding changed and the details were finalized, so did our vision of the invitations. We nailed down that we didn’t want anything formal or traditional or stodgy, instead we wanted something fun and unusual and different, but not casual or kitschy, but still epic. Excuse me, Miss Bacon, that’s a tall order for some paper goods—you really want your invitations to be epic? OK, epic isn’t the right word, how about substantial and suitably wedding, but ultimately, so totally “us”? Shockingly, we found the perfect invites!
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.
Note: No, this is not a recap yet, so sorry to disappoint! I’ve got a couple of last-minute posts I ran out of time for in the days leading up to the wedding, but patience is a virtue. Or so I’m told.
When Mr. Bunting got his passport, a few readers noticed something suspiciously shiny and silver in the photograph of Mr. Bunting. First, I commend those of you who noticed! You are all like wedding piranhas, sniffing out all the little wedding-related details. If Waldo wore a veil, you would find him without fail every time.
personal photo
While it so clearly resembles a wedding band, I assure you that I did not cave and let Mr. Bunting wear his wedding ring before we were officially wed.
So this is the story about a friendly jaunt that I took to the next level. Read more…
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!
When we first met with our photographer Lynn back in 2009, we already knew that we were going to do a first look. We were really excited to see each other before the ceremony, and hopefully calm any nerves. Mr. E had his back to me as I walked towards him from the building.
Lynn had us stand back to back. By now (in my recaps), you’ve seen me cry at the rehearsal, the dinner and while getting ready so it should be no surprise that without actually seeing Mr. E’s face, I was already having a hard time keeping the tears at bay. Read more…
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!
Our invites are all done and designed, thanks to our good friend Designer Mama—yayyy!—and scheduled to be addressed next month. We’ll be sending out the first wave in late August to out-of-towners since we didn’t do save the dates. It’s a fairly simple suite, with just an invite and an RSVP postcard, since we didn’t want a ton of paper in there. But still, I was a little challenged on how to communicate directions, accommodations, and other information to help our guests navigate our wedding weekend. Since DM was so generous in helping us, I didn’t want to burden her with millions of tasks, so I started thinking of ways I could gather the pieces while including everything the recipients would need.
I decided I would print a simple tag displaying our wedding website and the password and username, indicating that they should go there to find out where to stay, what to do, how to get there, etc. Whether this would be a small label or a card in and of itself was up for debate, but it certainly didn’t need to be designed like the invitation—it should just match closely in font and color, so simple enough.
Some inspiration I gathered from around the ‘net used a variety of methods for corralling all the pieces together:
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.
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.
The guest list is becoming one of the most dreaded things about wedding planning for us. Our venue has a minimum guest count for our wedding day (125 people). But 125 people is also our maximum because that is all we can afford. A minimum and a maximum of the same number…is it possible?!?
And now we’ve got another life event to look forward to: the arrival of our son sometime this month!
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
