Mrs. Pony, Bloomington, IL
Age and Occupation: 25, Attorney
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 34, Attorney
Engagement Date: March 22, 2010
Wedding Date: September 2011
Venue: Mackinaw Valley Vineyard; Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts
About 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 last weekend I had my hair and makeup trial, and even though I spent some time researching what I wanted, I was very nervous that my picks wouldn’t translate well with my hair and my coloring.
I stupidly didn’t get a before picture (you’re welcome), so you’ll just have to use your imaginations. I will say I looked like a hot mess (literally) because Papa Pony and I decided to go to garage sales in the several hours leading up to my late morning appointment. And the steam bath that was the heat wave last week was in full force, so yeah, I was looking good.
Despite putting my best face forward (ha), my makeup artist and hair stylist were able to come up with the following based on my inspiration pictures.
First up, the makeup (sorry for the crappy pictures, finding good lighting was hard and it was hot):
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Mrs. Parasol, San Ramon, California
Age and Occupation: 25, Non-profit writer, editor, and blogger
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Law school student
Engagement Date: December 19th, 2010
Wedding Date: September 2011
Venue: 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.
When it comes to veils, brides have a seemingly endless supply of options. Choosing an appropriate veil can be almost as stressful as choosing a dress, and I am no exception. Although I had a clear vision of what I thought I wanted prior to even getting engaged (and prior to even choosing my wedding dress), once I started looking at all the different options out there, I found myself doubting my original choice and considering a variety of alternatives.
Here are just a few examples of all the different types of veils available to brides:
Elbow-length veil / Image via David’s Bridal
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Weddingbee Gallery
Feature Launched: April 10, 2009
About: A collection of inspirational wedding pictures from readers and bees.
Stephanie Weston and her husband enjoyed a quiet moment before their reception
If your photo is featured as the Gallery of the Day, you’re eligible for a special Weddingbee badge for your blog or website! Check out instructions on how to grab the badge here!
Mrs. Cucumber Sandwich, Washington, DC/Cape May, NJ
Age and Occupation: 28, School Counselor
Fiance's Age and 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.
I am avoiding doing the hard work of the ceremony such as, ummm, writing it. Instead I have completely skipped over the necessary elements and moved straight into the fun stuff: The ceremony accessories!
We decided to include some cultural traditions in our ceremony to represent our heritage. First up, Mr. Cucumber Sammie. Mr. CS is African American, so of course our immediate thought was “jumping the broom.”
Impressive vertical leap / Image via Crave Online / Photo from Drew B Photography
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Mrs. Funnel Cake, Zürich, Switzerland/Columbus, Ohio
Age and Occupation: 24, Visual Communication Designer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Application Engineer
Engagement Date: May 30, 2010
Wedding Date: October 2011
Venue: Catholic church followed by a botanical conservatory
About 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.
After lunch with our parents, we got to what was probably my favourite part of the whole day. Legally marrying Mr. FC was fun and all, but I was about to try on my wedding dress!
When Sabelle arrived in Columbus, Ohio from Naples, Florida, Mama Funnel Cake confirmed that she was indeed “shortened” from the inside, and Mama FC had carefully removed the stitching to return the dress to its original length. Still… I was nervous that she might not fit my 5’9″ frame.
Crumpled up in a surprisingly small duffle bag, my dress travelled 4342miles (6988km) as my father’s carry-on to reach me. I had purchased a 4-ring hoop skirt from eBay for $30 that Mama FC brought with her on the plane as well.
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Miss Doily, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Age and Occupation: 25, Autism Paraeducator/ Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Freelance Writer/ Publisher
Engagement Date: August 27th, 2010
Wedding Date: March 2012
Venue: Father’s Vineyard Church/ A Touch of Class Banquet Center
About 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.!
Remember how I said I was looking into Etsy stores for my cute kitty cake toppers here? Well, I had a slight change of heart. You see, I was at Michaels helping my boss pick out new framing for a painting to go up in her home (She says that I’m not just any nanny, I’m Mary Poppins, Betty Crocker, and Martha Stewart combined), when I got bored and wandered away. I found myself in the clay aisle. And low and behold, polymer clay was 50% off.
I wrestled with myself in the aisle for several long minutes. I’m sure I looked like a crazed bride, muttering to herself, holding up clays, pondering if they were the right shade or not. Finally, I figured that if I totally botched making my cake topper myself, I would only be out 8 bucks. If I succeed, I will be saving like 80 bucks. So I decided to put my clay skills to the test. I bought about six little packets of clay in varying colors:
Each of them, other than the copper color, ended up being 64 cents. The copper color was on sale for $1.39. As soon as I got home from Michaels I went straight to my room and holed up in there, determined to conquer this DIY.
I turned on a little Florence + the Machine and got to work.
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Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
Mrs. Macarons, Tampa
Age and Occupation: 26, Graphic Designer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 34, Renaissance Man
Engagement Date: September 12, 2009
Wedding Date: September 2011
Venue: Lange Farm
About 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.
If you recall my inspiration board, I really liked the idea of animal illustrations instead of traditional table numbers. I envisioned cute pencil and watercolors of different rabbits sort of like this:
Image via FreeSpiritArt / “Cottontail Bunny” by Glen Loates
However I couldn’t find enough given the number of tables we’d need. It’s been years since I’ve painted anything, but I busted out some watercolors and gave it a go. My results were, um…less than stellar. It wasn’t quite this bad, but you get the idea:
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Mrs. Cinnamon Bun, Calgary, Alberta
Age and Occupation: 26, Stage Manager
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Theatre Technician
Engagement Date: June 22, 2010
Wedding Date: June 2011
Venue: Calgary Opera Centre
About 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.
… did you really think we’d have a photo booth without making mustaches on sticks?
This was a super-quick project in June. I’m going to direct you to Tiffany Kelley Photography, where she has done a tutorial, and the most important part, a template.
I downloaded the template, resized it to the size I wanted, and printed it out. Then I cut out the paper mustaches. Then I held them against some stiffened craft felt I had and cut them out. I didn’t bother tracing them, I just held a paper mustache tight against the felt with my left hand while my right hand wielded the scissors.
Soon, I had 6 felt moustaches:
(I made one enormous, for extra comic value.)
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Mrs. Teacup, Santa Cruz
Age and Occupation: 34, Pharmaceutical Sales
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 41, Ditto! (For a different company)
Engagement Date: October 1, 2010
Wedding Date: October 2011
Venue: ceremony in our family's Catholic church in Watsonville; reception at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
About Me: I’m learning to embrace my true spirit as GIRLY GIRL after previous careers in the Navy and consulting for the government. My favorite hobby is SLEEP, with dancing HULA a close second. An INTROVERT in extrovert clothing, I’m questing to UNDO 34 years of TYPE A conditioning. Constantly processing the details of our upcoming nuptials, peek into this late blooming bride & groom's roller coaster ride to the altar. Giant Dipper required, sold separately.
If you type “marriage proposal” into a Google search, you’ll get back more that 5.5 million hits. And if you are a girl that really wants to get hitched, waiting tests even the strongest willpower.
I am embarrassed to admit it, but I was that girl. Starting to feel more than a little impatient, did I just need to go ahead with it myself already?!
Image via bisprad.blogspot.com / The Proposal movie poster
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Mrs. Eggs Benedict, Seattle
Age and Occupation: 29, Attorney
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 35, Attorney
Engagement Date: December 5, 2009
Wedding Date: February 2011
Venue: IslandWood
About 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!
All along, I knew I wanted us to do a first look. Mr. EB took a little bit of convincing, and I think if it had been totally up to him, he probably would have preferred us wait to see each other until I walked down the aisle. But I really wanted the time with him alone, before we were around anyone else. I wanted to look him in the eyes, to hug him and kiss him, to celebrate the step that we were about to take and have it be a private moment for just the two of us (and our photographers too, but Kat and Justin felt like old friends by that point, so it didn’t seem weird that they were there). Luckily, after I explained my feelings about this to Mr. EB, he was more than happy to go along!
Since we ended up having such beautiful weather, Kat suggested that we do our first look at the suspension bridge.
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Mrs. Honey, Durango, CO
Age and Occupation: 28, Financial Assistant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Lab Tech/Phlebotomist
Engagement Date: August 1, 2010
Wedding Date: January 2012
Venue: Vallecito Lake
About Me: I am a Colorado girl through and through, marrying an adrenaline-fueled Alabama boy. We love the outdoors just about as much as we love spoiling our dog and three cats. On any given weekend you can find us being adventurous, doing anything from rafting to snowboarding, and everything in between. We live in an outdoor mecca and truly believe in "Work Hard, Play Harder." I'm an optimist to the core, a crafter wannabe, a Southern food cook-in-training and a big time believer in girls nights. We met, fell in love and got engaged in eight short months and are now knee-deep in planning what we hope to be a super-fun, very us wedding celebration. Join us as we plan a rustic meets whimsical, Colorado winter wedding with loads of personal touches and good food!
I dropped the clue of how many bridesmaids I will be having in my last post, but in case you missed it, I have eight. Eight lovely ladies standing up with me on our wedding day—that’s a lot of girls to worry about dressing. Don’t fret. I will introduce the Honey ’maids soon. Today I’m talking about the search for what to have the girls wear. My bridesmaids’-dress search was, um, not.fun. So rather than bore you with my freak-outs, meltdowns, and indecision-making, I have created a step-by-step guide on how I came to the conclusion of what my girls will wear.
Step One. Image search the crap out of bridesmaids’ dresses:
Image via Love and Lavendar / Image credits, top row: Lulu’s; Anthropologie; Victoria’s Secret / Image credits, middle row: J.Crew; ModCloth; Ann Taylor Loft / Image credits, bottom row: Nordstrom; Urban Outfitters; Macy’s
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Mrs. Ladyfingers, Saint Petersburg, FL
Age and Occupation: 30, Marketing Manager
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Sports Writer
Engagement Date: December 24, 2010
Wedding Date: November 2011
Venue: Palma Sola Botanical Park
About 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!
So, I’m terrified I’ll be a bad wife.
I’m not normally in the habit of writing “I’m so worried” posts, though I have done a few, notably about my edginess in months past and my concerns that our family members won’t “get” our wedding. By and large, though, I’d rather write fun stuff that offers some experience or inspiration for fellow brides. But I also always appreciate a good emotional post that I can relate to, so here’s hoping others have felt this way as well.
I haven’t exactly had a lot of experience in healthy relationships. I’d say there was exactly one of those in the 12 years I’ve been dating (I don’t count high school nonsense as dating years for myself personally) and, even then, I was a completely selfish and sick person for the whole two-and-a-half years we were together. I was raised with great role models—my parents were together for over 30 years before my mom died in 2006—but I couldn’t seem to find the magic formula for myself.
My time with Mr. Ladyfingers has been a streak-breaker in a lot of different ways. For one, I wasn’t planning our wedding and our kids’ names before the first date, as was typically my pattern. In fact, I hesitated to like him too much in those first few months just because I’d made so many bad decisions in the past. I guess I was sick of falling too fast for the wrong guy—but I also think my emotional shift was what made us work the way we did, when we did.
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Mrs. Parasol, San Ramon, California
Age and Occupation: 25, Non-profit writer, editor, and blogger
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Law school student
Engagement Date: December 19th, 2010
Wedding Date: September 2011
Venue: 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.
Hive, today is a very exciting day for me. After collecting a lot of ideas over the past several weeks, I finally attempted my first wedding DIY project, and I am thrilled to share it with you. I make no promises about how good this particular project turned out, or whether or not this tutorial will actually be useful. But I will say that I had a ton of fun doing this, and I am looking forward to many more DIY wedding projects in the near future.
If the title didn’t give it away, today I’ll be showing you how to make your very own clothesline guestbook. Get excited!
Image via Chicago Now
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Ms. Sloth, Philadelphia
Age and Occupation: 35, Account Manager and Fashion Blogger
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Design Admin
Engagement Date: December 25, 2009
Wedding Date: May 2011
Venue: Bartram's Garden
About Me: I'm an internet junkie and music snob with a good eye for a bargain. I couldn't live without thrift store shopping, cheeseburgers, sushi, Coke Zero, websites devoted to silly photos of baby animals, Photoshop, and Mr. Sloth. Speaking of which, he and I are a pair of goofball homebody nerds who love our beagle (the most ridiculously adorable dog EVER) to an embarrassing degree. We're planning a low-key and intimate yet festive and quirky outdoor wedding with DIY details and deeply personal touches, and it's all taking place in the city where we fell in love and call home: Philadelphia.
All of our portraits were (finally) done, and our guests had arrived and were waiting in the barn.
It was time.
Mr. S’s brother poured everyone in the wedding party a shot of tequila.
(photo by my sister’s fiance)
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Mrs. Cucumber Sandwich, Washington, DC/Cape May, NJ
Age and Occupation: 28, School Counselor
Fiance's Age and 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.
Me giving advice on being organized is like Kim Kardashian telling you she prefers small engagement rings. But somehow I am going to forge ahead like I am sure Kim is doing with her 20-carat sparkler.
There are a couple of tricks I use to stay organized for the wedding. (Now if only I could carry these over to my daily life.) The first and most popular is the wedding binder.
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