Mrs. Teaspoon, Sydney, AustraliaAge and Occupation: 27, Medical ScientistFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, BankerEngagement Date: June 4, 2010Wedding Date: September 2011Venue: St Aloysius' College, Milson's PointAbout Me: I am a mad scientist who enjoys swimming at the beach in summer and skiing powder in winter. Our favourite times together are spent with the sand between our toes, cooking up a storm, re-watching and re-reading every Harry Potter ever made, and spending time with our dear friends and family! We have travelled the world together in our 6 years of dating, from Paris, to Thailand, to Las Vegas, and we are tackling the many challenges of planning our special day the best way we know how---together!
We had a meeting with our wedding coordinator at our venue a few weeks ago and amongst other things, we discussed how our tables would look! While I was there and the dining room was empty before dinner started, I snapped a quick picture to show you what the tables will look like at night!
Personal Photo
So, to show her the sort of thing we would like in the middle of the tables, I grabbed a few pictures from the Internet as inspiration. I talked to Mr Teaspoon about it, and he thinks that all the pictures look the same… Boys. 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.
Most couples these days actually see their venue prior to the wedding. But Mr. Parasol and I are not like most couples. Nope. We decided to wait until about a month before our wedding, after the contract had already been signed and the deposit already paid, before we went to see our venue.
It’s not that we didn’t want to see our venue or that we were lazy. You see, way back in late March/early April when we decided to get married this fall and needed to book a venue, Mr. Parasol and I were still living in New York. And because we were both working and going to graduate school, we couldn’t make a trip to California to scope out potential venues. So the task fell to my parents.
The whole choosing-a-venue-without-actually-seeing-it thing was pretty complicated, but I’ll skip all the boring details. Suffice it to say that Mr. Parasol finally found a place, Mama Parasol checked it out, and thankfully, it met with everyone’s expectations. Read more…
Weddingbee GalleryFeature Launched: April 10, 2009About: A collection of inspirational wedding pictures from readers and bees.
hapa kepani and all her bridesmaids carried brooch bouquets
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.
Miss Kettle, Chicago, ILAge and Occupation: 26, Non-Profit Donor Resource CoordinatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Musician & TeacherEngagement Date: May 29, 2011Wedding Date: February 2012Venue: Patrick C. Haley Mansion, Joliet, ILAbout Me: I'm a city girl who loves a good escape, so I'm planning a Chicago wedding outside of the city. I've been described as a quirky yet down-to-earth drama queen who loves fiercely. I used to be a scientist, but now I'm learning to navigate the world of non-profit organizations. I love cooking, blogging, shopping, and music, and movies (Hans Zimmer is my favorite movie composer). Mr. Kettle and I had a short courtship and now we have a happy home with our cat-who-thinks-she's-people, Belle. We spend our days and nights with good food, live music, video games, family, and friends. Our wedding has become this wonderful excuse to bring together hundreds of people we can't bear to be without.
I’ve been very worried about how RSVPs will go for all our wedding events because of two people: my mother and my fiance. Momma Kettle and Mr. Kettle are both…RSVP-delinquents. Seriously, hive, they never never RSVP. I just knew this would cause a catastrophe for our wedding-related events because that’s how karma works.
Many a bride have had to track down my momma to ask about attendance at a wedding for my mother only to respond, “I’m not sure yet. I’ll let you know next week.” And to my knowledge, Mr Kettle has never RSVPed to a wedding he wasn’t a musician at.
In dramatic fashion, I’ve been drawing the back of my hand to my forehead and sighing worriedly that no one will RSVP to our events. Don’t worry, I knew they’d come, I just figured we’d never be able to get an accurate head count ahead of time.
Our e-party invites had gone out and on them people were asked to either call/text my mother with their RSVP or go to our wedding website and do it.
There have been all types of responses. A couple called/texted my mom and a couple went to our website. But oh, there were others.
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!
My hair grows at a pace that makes a snail race look like the Indy 500. I’ve always kind of hovered between chin-length and shoulder-length, which made growing my hair out for the wedding to be quite the undertaking. But, by George, I was going to have as much hair to work with as humanly possible. I didn’t want my hairstyle selection to be limited by my insufficient length, so the entirety of our engagement was devoted to growing my tresses out. The finished product?
The Snow Cones, two days before our wedding!
Photo courtesy of BM E
This was easily the longest my hair has ever been. My plan was always to donate it to a wig organization, since I knew that long hair wasn’t really my standard. A few months back, I started to measure how much hair would survive the donation and realized that it was going to be short. So, I decided that I’d have to tough out the long hair for a few more months post-wedding in order to be left with a manageable length after lopping most of it off.
Mrs. Sunhat, Dyer, IN Age and Occupation: 32, Tax AccountantFiance's Age and Occupation: 35, Landscape ForemanEngagement Date: September 25, 2010Wedding Date: December 2011Venues: St. Andrew the Apostle, Fiesta PalaceAbout Me: I'm a Midwest girl who grew up in the country and now works in the big city! I love cooking, entertaining, reading (addicted to my Kindle) and going to the movies. I don't miss an episode of Hoarders and I start cleaning every time I watch! My profession doesn't call for much creativity so wedding planning has been a great outlet. Mr. Sunhat and I met online three years ago, cheer for rival MLB teams and share a home with our dog, Wrigley. We are planning a traditional, Polish, Catholic wedding with lots of DIY elements and some fun surprises. I'm so excited to be married on New Year's Eve and we can't wait to ring in the new year as husband and wife!
I love flowers—I really do. I enjoy seeing all of the bright blooms as the weather warms up and a surprise bouquet from Mr. Ballcap is always welcomed and appreciated.
What I don’t love about flowers, specifically wedding flowers, is the COST. I’m trying to cut costs in our budget where ever I can. It’s become a bit of a game for me, actually. I have a pretty solid budget set up for our wedding, but if I can get the final tally to be under the estimate, I will jump for joy! To me, flowers seemed like a really good area to save money on.
We have already decided on a design for the boutonnières that requires no flowers (based upon my NYE inspiration post!) so we are already saving there. My mom and I also have an idea for no-flower bouquets for my girls. Once this DIY project gets under way, I’ll be sure to share.
So what about me? I originally envisioned carrying a large all white / ivory bouquet somewhat resembling a big snow ball. That vision was soon trumped when I ran across the likes of these:
Miss Ticket, Riverside, CAAge and Occupation: 25, Executive AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, HVAC TechnicianEngagement Date: November 14, 2010Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: Crestmore ManorAbout Me: I'm a lifelong So Cal gal, a chocoholic, a closet gamer, and a television enthusiast (love me some Vampire Diaries!) who adores playing in the kitchen and lives in flip flops. Mr. Ticket and I are best known for singing and dancing in the car, our World of Warcraft addiction, adoring food, crane game playing, and our general homebody ways. Oh, and GO STEELERS!
Mr. Ticket has been pretty kicked back about wedding decision making. He wanted input with food, drinks, music, etc. but as far as decorating goes, he has pretty much given me the green light to go nuts. That being said, I’ve been trying to not go NUTS and rein myself in a bit. I went into the linens appointment with WC planning on getting simple linens (you may recall, I previously mentioned our caterer offered linens, but unfortunately he didn’t offer the colors we were looking for at the time). We were looking for black tablecloths and chair covers, and pink napkins. I figured I had a solid realistic head on my shoulders walking into this meeting. I met WC at her house to go over our linen options. I was greeted with this…
Those are not black! Those are GORGEOUS and not black at all. Oh WC… she knows me so well. She KNEW when I saw these I would cave…darn her! Suddenly, black tablecloths magically turned into… Read more…
Mrs. Honey, Durango, COAge and Occupation: 28, Financial AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Lab Tech/PhlebotomistEngagement Date: August 1, 2010Wedding Date: January 2012Venue: Vallecito LakeAbout 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 told you all about how Mr. Honey proposed to me and how he put the beautiful sparkly on my left hand finger. I still catch myself staring at it and admiring the reflection from the multitude of diamonds while cruising in my car, it’s distracting at times.
Mrs. Penguin, Northern CaliforniaAge and Occupation: 27, Weddingbee Editor in ChiefFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Doctor of Physical TherapyEngagement Date: January 29, 2007Wedding Date: June 7, 2008Blogging Since: September 14, 2007Venue: Winery in the Gold CountryAbout Me: I love the Spice Girls, dogs with underbites, bean burritos, making messes, high fives, avoiding showers, crossword puzzles, blogs, weddings, and blogs about weddings!
Our newest bee is jetting off to Mexico for her destination wedding! Say hello to Miss Petit Four!
Miss Petit Four, San Antonio, TX/Isla Mujeres, MX
Age & Occupation: 25, Technology teacher Fiance’s Age & Occupation: 30, Math Teacher and Football coach Engagement Date: Feb 13, 2010 Wedding Date: March 2012 Venue: Zama Beach Club, Isla Mujeres, Mexico About Me: I am a polka-dot obsessed, destination wedding diva living and loving in the great state of Texas. I am an island girl at heart and I visit the beach as often as I can. I am a wannabe DIY goddess, but that doesn’t mean I won’t give it my best shot. I love pearl earrings, the color pink, and ruffles are a part of my everyday wardrobe. My wonderful fiance and I are planning a destination wedding with our closest family and friends and we’re leaving a trail of glitter in our path!
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.!
So Mr. D and I recently finished our FOCUS test, and are awaiting our minister to tell us when our premarital counseling sessions begin. With that in the background, we decided that we should probably try to start and piece together what we want our ceremony to look like.
One of the first things we felt that we should decide upon was whether or not we wanted to write our own vows or not.
I was all for it. Mr. D on the other hand—not so much. Read more…
Mrs. Brooch, Arlington, VAAge and Occupation: 25, Writer/EditorFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Front Desk ManagerEngagement Date: October 3, 2009Wedding Date: April 2011Venue: Oxon Hill ManorAbout Me: I’m an indecisive girlie-girl with a motor mouth, can-do attitude, and knack for making others laugh. I dream of becoming a best selling novelist like Elizabeth Gilbert or Julie Powell (a girl can dream, right?), and love long road trips, a beautiful countryside, music, blogs, books, and all things vintage/thrift/antique/or homemade. I’m a Virgo, i.e. overly sensitive, emotional, and critical, and there’s no such thing as short and sweet in my world. I want to say and do it all. Mr. Brooch grounds me. I point where to go and he figures out the way. He’s a pragmatic fancy-pants who enjoys video games and movies. We both adore our mutt, Rocky, and spending time with our amazingly supportive family and friends. We’re planning a garden wedding with a formal reception with lots of whimsy and unique, Southern-inspired details.
I vividly remember walking up to our venue. We were late and my heart and feet were moving quickly. I planned to run in, and straight upstairs to the bridal suite, but there was a surprise waiting behind those big Victorian-style doors.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” I screamed! Literally, I screamed! Mr. Brooch says he heard me from all the way out in the garden; he says that is when he knew that I must have seen the surprise chiavari chairs.
Still quickly walking through the Manor, I searched for Pavaune, our planner, and when my eyes met up with hers, I yelled, “What are those doing here?” She grinned.
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.
I love the heels I bought for our wedding, but I am under no illusion that I will be able to wear those suckers all night. I plan to dance, dance, dance at our reception and in order to do so, I will need to have something comfortable to slip into. I assumed that I would steal a pair early from our flip flop basket for my personal use and be done with it:
Our flip flop basket! (that I haven’t talked about before, so here are some more pictures)
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!
In the midst of making our engagement photo aisle endcaps for the ceremony, I found myself spitting out a bit of a euphemism.
“The great thing about our venue being outside is that we really don’t need any flowers in the ceremony!”
And in my head, I translated it as,
“Thank God there’s some shrubbery where we’re getting married, because if we had to try to find a way to pay for ceremony floral decorations too, I might just throw in the towel.”
And it got me thinking. Much like there’s a secret code-speak in the real estate world (cozy = shoebox, quaint = walls are falling down), there seems to be a bit of a cipher going on in the wedding planning world, as well. And I’m not the only one who’s caught myself saying what I don’t mean—vendors do it, too.
So to help you newly blushing brides to be navigate the murky waters of wedding planning doublespeak, I present to you, the Wedding-to-Real-World Translation Guide.
Mrs. Hot Wings, Chicago/San DiegoAge and Occupation: 28, ProfessorFiance's Age and Occupation: 32, InstructorEngagement Date: December 20, 2008Wedding Date: August 2010Venue: Ocean View Villas/Jasmine Seafood RestaurantAbout Me: I am a psychology grad student living in Chicago and planning my wedding to a fellow psych grad student. I am a Sunny So-Cal bred gal who trudged across the country to follow her love of psychology and ended up finding a partner in the process. I am overly passionate about anything I involve myself with. I am an activist, a foodie, a reality TV watching junkie, an over-analyzer, a photography obsesser, and am utterly cheesy to the core. This is a story of what happens when a boy and a girl meet, fall in love over academic dorkiness, and a shared love for life. We (mostly I) are planning our semi-destination wedding in my hometown of San Diego. We are excited to bring our families and friends together from across our lifespans to celebrate our future in a grand 400+ person culturally blended affair!
What type of entertainment did we provide at our reception? Remember how Brother Hot Wings insisted on doing Deal or No Deal and I was all kinds of skeptical?
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
