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!
While we were dancing the night away, our rings wandered off with Vivie for a little fun of their own. They found their way to our personalized cake topper.
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 always forget how much I love my dress when I’m away from it for too long. BM Spotlight has been storing it at her house (and promises me she’s only worn it twice… I think she’s joking). Then, I put it on, and fall in love all over again. I’ll be hanging out with two of my soul mates at the wedding, hive: Mr. LF, and this dress.
Ms. Sloth, PhiladelphiaAge and Occupation: 35, Account Manager and Fashion BloggerFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Design AdminEngagement Date: December 25, 2009Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Bartram's GardenAbout 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.
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!
So, we have had a bit of drama finding my Mama Teaspoon a dress. She started the search about a week after I had bought my dress, as apparently my dress really sets the mood of the whole occassion in conjunction with the venue and the church! That really makes sense to me, actually, as originally I was thinking of an apple green for the bridesmaids’ dresses; however, after I chose my dress I knew that navy was a much more suitable colour. So, what did Mum go with? Also navy…strike one.
With the first “bridezilla” comment floating around, I was keen to help Mum to find a suitable dress. However, off she went shopping on her own again. I received a few picture text messages of black or grandma dresses, or my personal favourite—”too Julia Gillard” (for those outside Australia, infohere):
Mrs. Pain au Chocolat, Wilmington, DEAge and Occupation: 29, RealtorFiance's Age and Occupation: 34, RealtorEngagement Date: November 21, 2009Wedding Date: June 2011Venue: Greenville Country ClubAbout Me: An ENFJ with an artistic streak who loves backgammon, sailing, graphic design, and sleeping in. Travel (near or far), good wine, and tasty food makes my heart sing. I'm a compulsive list-maker who lives to plan and organize. Mr. P and I have lived together for 4 years, all the while renovating our city townhome bit by bit. We're planning a whimsical, Anthropologie-inspired garden wedding in June 2011.
Midway through our B.V.I. honeymoon, we still hadn’t made it to one of the top attractions on Virgin Gorda - The Baths. So we hired a taxi and bumped our way along the island’s main road to the edge of the national park where a trail strewn with giant boulders hinted at what was to come.
With a little effort, we reached our reward! Read more…
Mrs. Magic, Chapel Hill, NCAge and Occupation: 30, Licensed Clinical Social WorkerFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, ResearcherEngagement Date: December 1, 2009Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: Barn at ValhallaAbout Me: I’m a tall drink of water (5’10”!) and a Southern bride with an enormous appetite for Mexican food, good deals, anything French, and all things wedding! By day I am lucky enough to work with individuals with autism and their families. By night, I’m even luckier to be able to spend time hanging out with awesome friends, crafting, shopping, thinking about exercising, and kicking it with Mr. Magic and our two cats. I tend to have sudden, intense cravings that will not be denied (seafood enchiladas! new jeans!) and I’m prone to being a disorganized mess of anxiety and stress. After waiting (and waiting!) to get engaged, I am finally planning the colorful, fun, fabulously awesome Fall wedding of our dreams. In an effort to share the fun and craziness that is wedding planning, I’m gonna blog about it for y’all---the good, the bad, and the pretty!
I don’t remember. I’m telling you, my memory is total crap. I know I found it after I was already engaged. I’m not sure how I didn’t find it sooner because I sure as heck was Googling wedding related things for years before that.
I think what had happened was, I was searching for something wedding related online, and the majority of searches came up with Weddingbee results, because let’s face it, us bees are some creative and awesome brides. At first I was like, “What the heck is a Miss Cheeseburger?” In fact, I think I decided this site was for wackos (sorry!) and vowed to stay away. But Google kept punting me back here and I was quickly hooked.
I loved both the blogs and the boards and read and posted a lot on both. And I knew right away I wanted to be a bee, so freaking bad….
My Application Story
What’s a Blog?
Once I realized that people actually blogged about their weddings, and then figured out what a blog was (I’m technologically impaired), I got myself one faster than you can say “Accio Blog.” I had always enjoyed writing fictional stories as well as personal pieces, and had started writing before about my life in general, but it always petered out because I didn’t have a focus.
This wedding blog served a couple of purposes for me. One, it gave me an outlet for talking about my wedding plans, fears, and freak outs without subjecting actual living humans to listen to me. Did you know that not everyone likes to listen to me talk about wedding stuff? I know…crazy, but true. So this was good for me, and for them. Read more…
Mrs. Lox, BaltimoreAge and Occupation: 33, Government WorkerFiance's Age and Occupation: 35. IT ConsultantEngagement Date: May 8, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Vandiver InnAbout Me: I’m an East Coast gal born and bred and a suburban brat turned city rat for the last year. Now Mr. Lox and I enjoy walking all kinds of places, having the coolest things around in our backyard, and especially our garage parking. I love gadgets, toys, Ben & Jerry’s Chubby Hubby ice cream, monkeys, and our insane cats. I’m a blonde by birth and a redhead by choice. I’m that girl in the cubicle farm with all the cool toys and the file cabinet covered in magnetic poetry. I still use smiley faces in my emails, whether people like it or not. This is not the first rodeo for Mr. Lox nor me. And together, we are planning an intimate afternoon wedding on a budget we can afford by ourselves.
With Mr. Lox all dressed up and ready to go, it was finally time. Time to put on the most expensive garment I’ve ever owned, that is! With my mother out of the room, all that was left were my four dearest friends, the event coordinator from our venue, two photographers, and a videographer. I mean, you know, almost no one!
But seriously, all of the sudden the entire deal felt very real.
It’s kind of a weird feeling having about five pairs of hands making sure you look just right. But still exciting! Read more…
Miss Snapdragon, Chicago/DallasAge and Occupation: 32,Associate ProducerFiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Lighting DesignerBlogging Since: November 14, 2008Engagement Date: January 1, 2011Wedding Date: March 2012Venue: Marie GabrielleAbout Me: Voracious reader of short stories, Russian literature, National Geographic and Cosmo. I'm a GENIUS at spicing up Weight Watchers recipes and a pathological cheater at board games. I run a slow marathon, but my feet are learning to move faster. Mornings aren't my thing, but I can night owl with the best of them. Don't tempt me with your Cherry Cokes---I'm trying to quit. Tomorrow. Or never.
The Snapdragon wedding planning journey has been rather hilarious. We have been flying by the seat of our pants, taking quite a few gambles, and hoping for the best. I call it “The Tides of Adventure” - it makes life more exciting.
Seeing as Bossyboots and I have engagement photos this weekend, I decided I should probably go shopping. Here in Chicago, you aren’t allowed to walk around nekkid. Nearly nekkid—yes. Totally nekkid—no. Too bad.
We’re taking shots around downtown Chicago, and we’re so excited! I really wanted to wear a flouncy skirt and crazy pumps, so…. that’s what I’m doing. Funny how that happens! I already own unwalkably sky-high platform pumps, so I just needed the rest of the ensemble—yes, I realize that’s mostly everything. Pumps and an engagement ring, that’s what I had to work with here.
I turned to a girl’s best flouncy friend: Anthropologie! And wouldn’t you know it, they had exactly what I wanted: the Noon and Night dress. What should have been a ten-hour strenuous shopping day lasted 60 minutes. Done and done. BAM.
Mrs. Cinnamon Bun, Calgary, AlbertaAge and Occupation: 26, Stage ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Theatre TechnicianEngagement Date: June 22, 2010Wedding Date: June 2011Venue: Calgary Opera CentreAbout 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.
We picked out our biggest wedding present in the week after our wedding day, and it arrived about a month after that. What was it, you ask? Well this was our living room before (clutter and all) :
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!
Having a large wedding often means that you won’t get a chance to lay eyes on each of your guests. We had two mechanisms to make sure we saw and said “thank you” to each and every person. We had the receiving line / photo booth at the entry and we did table visits. I first talked about table visits as a custom in Vietnamese wedding receptions way back when. We had 28 tables. If you estimate about two minutes per table, you’re getting pretty close to an hour of your reception. I can’t recall the exact amount of time it took to visit each table, but it was under one hour. Our table visit entourage included us, both sets of parents, one cousin to help with collecting gifts, a photographer, and a videographer.
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.
Anyone want to say this post title three times fast? It’s hard. Hehe, I crack me up.
OK, hive. It was quite the journey to our current color palette, but I’m very happy with how it turned out. I’ve alluded to our colors here and there and mentioned some changes we went through. Ultimately, I’m very happy with how it turned out.
When Mr. Kettle first proposed, I was thinking blue. Like a nice, happy royal blue.
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.
Hive, I have a bridal confession to make….my lovely bridesmaids did a huge chunk of the heavy lifting on my invites. Phew, I feel shame and relief saying it out loud. The CukeSammie BMs were in town for my bachelorette party (coming soon!) and I most certainly put them to work to get these puppies out. I am so thankful to my very cooperative BMs for all their help but part of me feels a little upset that I didn’t do it all myself.
I think sometimes I struggle with delegation not because I am a perfectionist but because I want to be able to say, “why yes, I assembled each one of those invites by hand.” Now don’t get me wrong I was not sitting around eating bonbons yelling at them to work faster but I still feel like I should have done more myself. I think sometimes as brides we put so much pressure on ourselves to do everything and to make sure we touch each detail that we lose perspective (for me, at least). My invites would never have gotten in the mail on time without their help. But that didn’t stop me from glancing over while I was typing the labels to feel a little bit sad that I didn’t personally glue in each of those envelope liners. I have no real solution for this problem I have but I wanted to let anyone else who feels like they have to do it all to be a ’good bride’ that you are not alone in feeling this way. Read more…
Mrs. Prairie Dog, Cincinnati
Age and Occupation: 24, Program CoordinatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, PhD/Biomedical EngineerEngagement Date: December 18, 2009Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Glendale LyceumAbout Me: I'm a pilgrim soul of a girl with a house full of books and a coffee addiction that could slay Juan Valdez. My life is a whirl of grammar correction, good music, glue-gunning, and two pets named Hazel and Winston Churchill. I'm marrying my high school boyfriend in a formal-ish spring affair, roughly themed: "Elizabeth Bennet crashes a party co-hosted by Jay Gatsby and Cath Kidston, and loves it."
Step 1: Make friends with crazy people and convince them to be in your wedding party.
Step 2: Book a stretch Lincoln Navigator for the ride to the ceremony and then to the reception. Read more…
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!
So I don’t know about all of you, but I love kids. They are fun, they’re carefree, and they know how to have a good time, particularly the kids in my family. (I might be a little biased, but they really are awesome.) And thus I knew I wanted to do something special for the kids attending our wedding. After much online searching, I found the cutest idea: kids’ buckets! What could be more awesome than a bucket filled with goodies with your name on it when you walk up to the place-card table with your parents?! Surprise—you are an honored guest and you won’t have to be bored watching grownups talk, drink, and dance for the next five hours. You get to color, play cards, wear jewelry, or play with cars, because really weddings are all about fun—and I mean fun for all ages and not just the adults. So throughout several shopping trips to Michaels and with help from fabulous Mama Ticket, we have officially accumulated enough to fill the buckets.
Girls’ buckets come with two themes: Disney princesses and Disney fairies.
Boys’ buckets also come with two themes: Disney’s Toy Story and Disney’s Cars.
Notice a theme here? Yes, I am a big fan of Disney. (Mr. Ticket humors me on this note as he was NOT raised in a Disney family.) I was raised on Disney. I love just about all things Disney. I also know that the kids in my family are big Disney fans as well, and while I could have gotten adorable orange/pink things to match our wedding decor, I ultimately decided it would be way cooler for the kids if I got them stuff they would recognize. So with that in mind, I started out with basic orange and pink buckets (hey, I had to include our colors somehow, haha) and filled them full of goodies.
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
