Weddingbee Blog

Back in July, Mr. Ballcap and I made a trip to Costco to start stocking up on things for our annual 4th of July party. This was our second Independence Day in our home and because we have a pool, it only makes sense for us to open our home to our friends and family to have a kick-ass good time.

Now as a couple, we aren’t the overly lovey-dovey types who display grandiose gestures of romanticism. The occasional bunch of flowers or a card are sweet touches, but to me it is more of the little, unexpected, unplanned moments that really knock my socks off.

While strolling down the refrigerated aisles at Costco looking for hot dogs, he started talking about a recent conversation with his dad. They were discussing the wedding and our relationship overall and he told his dad “She’s my best friend. She’s my best bud.”

Now I know a lot of people say that their significant other is their BFF, but honestly, I’ve never really thought too much about it.
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I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but we’ve done (and continue to do) a lot of DIY for our wedding. Even with the multitude of projects we’ve undertaken, I will be the first to admit that DIY doesn’t always mean cheaper or better. (Goodness knows it never means easier or faster, but I suppose that’s the natural and expected consequence of ’doing it yourself.’) Yet I do think in the long run there’s some kind of even trade-off that happens—either you are able to save a little money on a project because you’ve invested your own time and energy, or you end up spending the same (or more) money as you would’ve to buy something in a store but you feel like the end result is more personalized and perfect.

Well folks, today I feel like I completed the holy grail of DIY projects. Something that saved me money, gave me exactly what I was looking for, and was unbelievably fast and easy to boot. I can’t wait to share it with the hive because I just know there are a handful of you out there who will want to attempt this project for yourself.

Okay, before I tell you what I’m talking about…

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It’s on! I’m always excited when the worlds of women, weddings, fashion, and tech collide, so I was thrilled to hear of the newest wedding fashion website, Dress Rush, that brings designer wedding goods to brides at up to 90% off retail. The concept is similar to your favorite flash-sale sites like Gilt and Rue La La, but tailored specifically to brides.

Membership is complimentary but currently by invite only, and Weddingbee has an exclusive invite code for the first 100 readers to access the site*! Right now they’re featuring jewelry from one of my favorite bridal jewelers, but you’ll have to sign up to see who it is! You should expect to see all things bridal pop up on the site, at deep discounts—from shoes, to bridesmaids’ dresses, to wedding gowns.

Click here to gain access to Dress Rush via Weddingbee’s code*, and happy shopping!

*Neither Weddingbee nor I personally benefit from you signing up with this code, but if you sign friends up and they make purchase, you will receive a $10 credit at Dress Rush.

Well, hive, this is it: my final wedding day recap. But you’re not getting rid of me quite yet! Mr. S and I leave on our belated honeymoon next week, so I’ll be back soon to recap that. And then you’re rid of me.

Our venue, Bartram’s Garden, was so beautiful, and our photographers did such a good job of capturing it that I wanted to show off their photos. So here they are!

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We last left off with my dramatic post about ear piercings. So, let’s continue on with that in mind.

Determined to get freshly punched holes in my ears before I came to my senses and changed my mind, I forged on to the mall.  As I walked down the sidewalk looking in the store windows, I saw Claire’s in the distance. I knew they did piercings, yet as I walked closer, visions of teenage shop workers danced in my head. There is no way I was letting a 16 year old get anywhere near my ears with a piercing gun!

I wanted the new holes punched over the light, leftover indentations of the old holes, and it would’ve been great if there were an adult nearby to do that. As I approached Claire’s, I saw their piercing station was conveniently set up right outside their door practically calling my name. So, I walked up and started looking at the earrings they had to offer. I nonchalantly glanced over at the cash register to see a guy about my age behind the counter with earrings of his own, and I found a bit more comfort in my decision to come.
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Recently, I went to get a makeup trial done. On the advice of my hairstylist, I went to see her cousin who works at ULTA but also has done bridal makeup for years. I talked to her cousin on the phone and she was super polite and upbeat, so I had a good vibe.

I made an appointment for a trial during an event they were having. That seemed like the easy, affordable way to go, but wasn’t the best idea in the end. Each makeup artists was only allotted 30 minutes per customer, so it felt kinda rushed. Plus, we weren’t really supposed to be talking about bridal makeup…it was a covert operation. So I couldn’t really go into too much about what I wanted, which is really something like this:

Carrie Underwood / Image via Zimbio

When all was said and done, I liked the foundation fine, and the blush was OK, and the lips were good…but the eyes were bad. My immediate thought was, “I look like a zombie.”

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In my last post, I left off with ominous words. Yes, we left David’s Bridal and headed to Eva’s Bridal. This wasn’t the Eva’s Bridal in Tinley Park where I bought my dress. This was the Eva’s Bridal in Orland Park. They had dresses and were up the street, so we figured we’d check them out so the day wouldn’t be a total waste.

After the magic with the first dresses, I didn’t think we’d find it again. But I went through the same routine nonetheless:

1. Have the girls pick out dresses they all seriously like.
2. Veto the ones I hate on sight.
3. Have them try on the dresses they picked.
4. Have other girls try on dresses as I decide they work on each successive girl.

We changed it up this time and made step #3 “make sure the dress is available in our color choice.” We looked at all the purples and ultimately chose that same blue-ish purple color we now know is called Regency.

I didn’t have high hopes that we’d find yet another dress that looked amazing on every girl. They’re just too different. They have seriously different body types. Kind of like this:
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I know budgeting can be a touchy subject, but I always found posts crunching the numbers to be useful. It can be difficult to figure out what percentage of your budget should be put toward each thing, and to that, I say choose your priorities. Then, put the major money toward those priorities. Nothing wrong with pretty things, but if you’ve never cared about flowers before, chances are you’re not going to feel good dropping eleventy hundred dollars on them now.

We were very thankful that the bulk of our wedding costs were covered by our parents. There were a few expenses here and there that we ate, but our families were very generous and for that we are extremely grateful.

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Macs and I are a bit of control freaks. We limit what you can and can’t find out about us on the internet. Our Facebook accounts are on lock down, we don’t “check in” and you won’t find us on foursquare. That might make us seem behind the times, but if we wanted to share every aspect of our wedding day as it was happening we would stream it online.

I know we’re not alone in this though process as several bees have expressed similar concerns. It’s not that I don’t want our guests to snap away, I’d just like to try and mitigate the amount of exposure. How do I expect to achieve this? With the increasingly popular photo cards.

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As we mulled over our venues options, I seriously began second guessing the idea of an evening wedding. It smelled like pure disaster to me.

How could this beautiful, innocent idea be so evil?

(Image via Laura G Blogs)

Well… many people, family included, often forget that Zürich is six hours ahead of Columbus. When we arrive in Columbus a couple days before the wedding, our bodies will definitely still be operating on Zürich time. If we got married at 5PM, it would feel like 11 PM for us. I’m not sure we’d be alert enough to handle a knife for cake cutting at 9 PM if it really felt like 3AM, and dancing at 11PM would be downright painful if our bodies told us it was 5AM. Starting to get my drift?
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After the ceremony we greeted all the people who came to share in our special day

took photos as a newly married couple
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I have my hair and make-up trial coming up this weekend and I am excited/nervous, or nercited! I am super excited to start having my bridal look come together but I booked Creations by Mia without a trial first. Hence my being nervous. One thing I am sure will help with my nerves is to have a clear picture of what I am looking for in my hairstyle.

I knew I want to wear my hair up since our wedding is going to be by the ocean and there is ’shore’ (hahah) to be a breeze. I don’t like hair blowing all over my face, so up it is! I am looking for something in the low chignon category.

{Photo from Brides.ca/Hair by Beauty A Go-Go}

This is almost exactly what I am looking for. Clean, neat but still has a little drama to it. I call it “ballerina at play.”
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One thing I really wanted to do for the wedding was go shopping with my mom and FMIL for their outfits. I had no ulterior motives in going with them and didn’t really care what they picked, but I always enjoy a group shopping trip. We scheduled this excursion for the Monday after the shower. My aunt, who had been unable to attend the shower, was in town and wanted to meet up, so Mr. Cannon, Cherry Bomb, Mom, FMIL, my aunt and I went to Red Robin for dinner. After eating, Mr. Cannon headed home to get some sleep, and the rest of us hit the mall.

This shopping experience wasn’t quite what I was expecting, mostly because we had Cherry Bomb with us. I spent most of the time chasing her around while everyone else browsed and tried things on. We went to several stores but finally found a few contenders at Dilliard’s. My mom tried on her first dress and she really loved it, as did I. It was very flattering and she seemed really happy in it. The second dress she tried on was boxy and not that impressive. The third dress must have been really horrible because she refused to show it to me.

As my mom tried on dresses, this was happening:
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Ladylongtime shows off the gorgeous back of her wedding dress

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!

Oh Tyra—thank you for teaching us all how to Smize!

Video via YouTube.com

When we finally took our engagement pictures in late May, I was all ready to get my Smize on!

I booked an appointment to get my hair and makeup done. This gave me a good opportunity to test out a wedding day makeup look. I’m lucky enough that my hair stylist (and now makeup stylist!) is Mr. Ballcap’s cousin. I typically go to her home for my beautification days but visited her at the salon this time instead.

I was enjoying my time in the chair when my phone rang and it was our awesome photographer Stephen Martin. He asked about the weather and I told him the storms were supposed to hold off until the evening and that I was getting my hair done and was excited for the shoot. He had concerns about the wind, but that we’d go ahead and move forward. This made me a little nervous and I wondered if we should just push it to another day, but he assured me it would be great.
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