Miss Sweet Cream, PhiladelphiaAge and Occupation: 26, Public Relations Account ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Outside SalesEngagement Date: July 4, 2010Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church / Rosebank WineryAbout Me: Born in the ‘burbs of Philly, it took some time living in the Big Apple to realize that I’m a girl who likes her roots. That’s why the mister and I bought a 1950s house on a charming street not too far from our childhood stompin’ grounds. This could also be the reason why our hometown is the scene where we are planning our super sweet, totally charming, BBQ-for-supper wedding that I never knew I always wanted. I DIE over DIY projects and live for vintage, heartfelt inspiration. I obsess over all things mid-century (from forks to furniture). Love is… cartoons and flea markets, and I am known to whip up a mean banana cream pie. I met the Mr. in grade school and after that boy took me for a spin on the handle bars of his BMX, I knew that things would never be the same again. Besides lovin’ my Mr., I also love to plan, sew and create, and that’s just what I’m doing as I navigate through the details, creating a laid-back day that oozes charm; one that will go down in (at least our) history as the Best. Day. Of all time.
While life was still in Part Uno, Cousin Sweets decided that she’d love to be in charge of the margaritas. This lady is someone who loves food, cooking, experimenting, planning just as much as I do, so she took her task pretty seriously researching some yummy tequila-laced infusions. And then I think I broke her little heart when I told her that I thought that we were going to try out Rosmaryn.
She loved the idea of it all. After all, she’s 50% Polish too and thought that everything from the traditions to the potato vodka would be a hit.
But as I told her that I wasn’t sure if people would get lost along the way and that I wasn’t sure of the neighborhood or where people would park, she told me the nicest thing. Cuz Sweets said that she would be honored if I let her cater our rehearsal dinner. She said of course, not to feel any pressure, but to just play with the idea in my head. Read more…
Mrs. Tartlet, Rochester, MIAge and Occupation: Age & Occupation: 27, Post-Doctoral Research FellowFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Medical StudentEngagement Date: May 2, 2009Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: The Royal Park HotelAbout Me: I'm an exuberant gal from the Midwest with a penchant for Neuroscience and anything sparkly. I'm not afraid to poke fun at myself, and I'm a believer that given the right pair of shoes, a girl can conquer the world. While an interest in the sciences threw Mr. Tartlet and me together (again, and again, until it finally stuck), we share a love for many things---food, video games, car dancing, food, bad puns, travel, did I mention food?---that ultimately led us to where we are now, less than five months from becoming Mr. and Mrs. We're planning a laid-back, romantic, garden-inspired affair with organic and quirky touches that reflect our love for the unexpected!
After all had been sufficiently wined and dined, the dance floor was opened on a sentimental note with the father-daughters dance. The plural isn’t a typo: my sister didn’t have a traditional wedding reception, and as such never had the opportunity to dance with our dad. She had voiced this as a deep regret, so this tradition had a special purpose in my heart from the very beginning. If memory serves me right, after screaming into the phone to her that I was engaged, my next shriek as a soon-to-be-married woman was to declare that she was getting her father-daughter dance. My dad chose this song of his own accord, and I’m still brought to tears whenever I hear the hauntingly beautiful lyrics.
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!
It was a beautiful sunny day down here in Sydney, Australia when I woke up early to head to our pre-wedding sessions with my personal trainer. The mister had already headed off to golf very early. (I’m pretty sure it was still dark when I mumbled, “Drive safe, play well, I love you!”) I rolled over when my alarm went off and followed my usual morning routine of downloading my emails, checking Twitter and Facebook, and then seeing how cold it was outside. (Wow, Gen Y much?) Needless to say, I didn’t get past the email point. I couldnt believe it—I had an email from Pengy! AND it had an attachment! AND it said “Happy Friday” in the subject line!!! (It was already Saturday here—hello from the future!) I sat bolt upright in bed and could barely read through the email!
Holy bee poop, Batman—I am going to be a bee!!!!
Just quietly, I fear that I am still asleep, because I can’t really be writing my introductory post to the hive! This is so cool!!
I then proceeded to jump around the house!! As every sane 27-year-old woman does when she finds out that she is going to be blogging for such an amazing website!! My mum was coming over to work out with me, so she came to the door and I almost bounced out!! It was a time like this that I really wished my internet friendship with Mrs. Jaguar was real, because Mr. Teaspoon was at golf (no phones on the course) and no one would “get” my excitement!!!
So, I sufficiently convinced Mum and my trainer that I was still a ball of energy even after our workout, and so we took a great photo after our workout session. Yes, we do our workouts overlooking Sydney Harbour!
Personal photo - Please excuse the pants that appear as though the crotch is at my knees. I assure you that is not the case!
Mrs. Crepe, Queens, NY/Nashville, TNAge and Occupation: 28, Jewelry DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Animation DirectorEngagement Date: September 28, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: A church in downtown NashvilleAbout Me: I'm a native New Yorker who has always been a DIY kind of girl and loves tackling creative projects while getting the most out of a dollar. I'm marrying my college sweetheart and we love frequenting antique stores, exploring together, and playing with kittens. We're planning a fun, "us" wedding in his hometown---with as many handmade touches as we can pack into a day!
You don’t really realize how much a part of your life Weddingbee becomes until you throw around terms like “post wedding chop” and realize that people don’t know what you’re talking about.
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 am struggling over here in wedding planning/deciding land…you’d think I would be struggling with something significant like money or the guest list or what food to serve but, no, I’m struggling with what pretty, detailed thing I want to decorate with. That’s right—I can’t decide what I want to hang in our reception space. If you recall, our venue is very blank, so hanging something pretty is a must.
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.
Today I’m mixing things up a bit around here, hive. Instead of writing about my latest DIY project or wedding crisis, I’ve invited a very special guest blogger to write today’s post. And who is this guest blogger? Mr. Parasol! You’ve heard so much about Mr. Parasol on here from me that I figure it is time to let him speak for himself. Plus, I appreciate having a day off from blogging. It can be hard work!
Be sure to leave him lots of love! I know you will.
*****
Hi hive!
Mr. Parasol here! I’m really excited (and kind of nervous!) to be writing to all of you today, and I want to share a little about my own experience and perspective on planning a wedding with Miss Parasol (who I’m sure you agree is pretty awesome!).
Most of us guys have no idea how many intricate details go into a wedding, at least not until we start planning one. If you’ve read our proposal story, then you can probably tell that I am the type of guy who likes to have a plan. I guess you could say I have a mind for logistics.
Mrs. Biscuit, Morgantown, WVAge and Occupation: 24, Dental StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Chemist at a pharmaceutical companyEngagement Date: April 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: Catholic Church, Lakeview Golf Resort and SpaAbout Me: I'm an engineer who decided to trek back to my hometown three years ago to become skilled in the arts of drilling and filling. I'm engaged to a pretty awesome guy who tests your assorted benzodiazepines by day and home brews by night. Together we have two fur children, Tsali and Tobias N. Fünkat. I'm a lazy perfectionist and eternal sorority girl who enjoys running, crafting, string cheese, good beer, and bad reality TV. We are planning a Big Fat Italian/Sicilian/Polish wedding filled with DIY details and are expecting 300 +/- 50 guests. Our whimsical summer affair is themed "Alice attends the Mad Hatter Vintage Garden Tea Party in a Ballroom. She Thinks That The Venue is Odd for a Vintage Garden Party, but is Tripping on LSD, so She Doesn't Really Care." Yes, I am the Dickens of themes.
I’m getting married. It seems crazy to write, but it’s finally here. Everyone keeps asking me if I’m nervous, but that’s the farthest feeling from my mind. I am ecstatic to start my new journey with Mr. Biscuit, and have no reservations. Something funny happened to me in the past few days: I stopped caring that everything would look perfect and realized that all that matters is that we’ll be married today. That’s it. I never thought I’d start letting go and get to this point, but here I am.
Hive, I want to thank you for listening to me. From problems with a no liquor wedding to finding a new florist 6 weeks out, you have truly been there through all the wedding planning ups and downs. I will be thinking of all of you as I go down the aisle, because without you, planning would not have been as fun or rewarding.
And, I’ll leave you with this picture that I drew for my blog when I became a bee. Read more…
Mrs. Teacup, Santa CruzAge and Occupation: 34, Pharmaceutical SalesFiance's Age and Occupation: 41, Ditto! (For a different company)Engagement Date: October 1, 2010Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: ceremony in our family's Catholic church in Watsonville; reception at the Santa Cruz Beach BoardwalkAbout 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.
Hello, dear hive! I hope your weekend was full of fun and happiness. Mine certainly was, although it didn’t start out that way…
Remember how last week I was all insightful and inspired? Well, it only took a mysteriously missing bridesmaids’ dress to derail the zen-like approach to wedding planning in one quick instant. My FB status update says it all.
Hive hostess Bakerella has shared with us pictures from the latest bee meet up!
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We had a Toronto Bee meet up on Wednesday and I thought I’d pass along a couple photos! Who’s who, left to right:
Back row: Ivanna, Yes, Bakerella (ugh not my most flattering picture!!!), pancakeg, Couawilou, WorldFairy
Front row: Mrs Martian, lola2011, PurpleUnicorn, Tranquility
We met up at Southern Accent in Mirvish Village (downtown Toronto) where we had an awesome dinner and three of us had psychic readings. 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.
Since the Snapdragon bridal party needs to get themselves something to wear to the wedding, Bossyboots and I have been working hard on an overall feel/colors for the big day. Really, our venue has done most of the work for us already. Since it’s a garden hidden in the middle of a major city, we’ve decided to take that romantic, secretive look, and run with it:
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.
If you are not getting married to me in October, please follow me after the jump. Read more…
Mrs. Cannon, Toledo, OHAge and Occupation: 27, Financial AnalystFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, AssemblerEngagement Date: February 28, 2011Wedding Date: September 2011Venue: Epworth UMC & Ward PavilionAbout Me: I'm the curious combination of being a go-with-the-flow, laid back, obsessive planner. I try desperately to stay as busy as possible at all times (and am succeeding big time right now!) My biggest loves in life are Law & Order: SVU, Community (the show, not the concept, although I like that, too), ice cream, white cheddar popcorn, beer, hiking, knitting, decorating, writing, being outside, spending time with friends and family and musical theater. Mr. Cannon is pretty sweet, too. We've had a lot of fun traveling and having adventures all over the country, but have finally moved back near our hometown to settle down. We're planning a low-key, colorful, fun wedding and an awesome-to-the-max reception.
Hey, guys, did you miss me last week? I am ashamed to say that I didn’t blog at all last week, but there was the perfect storm of work, school, and wedding tasks that all needed to be done at once. I had very little free time, and I chose to spend that time with my kid instead of the internet. Sorry! But I do have some exciting (kinda) new things to share.
The wedding task that was pressing this past week was getting the invitations out. I’ll show you the final invite in all its pocketfolded ribboned glory later this week, but today I thought I’d share my address label how-to.
Originally, I wanted to just print the addresses directly on the envelope, but Mr. Cannon told me that our printer would not print on the size of envelopes we have. Boo! Read more…
Mrs. Zebra, Providence, RIAge and Occupation: 24 Marketing/Costume DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 26 Management/Firefighter Engagement Date: December 12, 2008Wedding Date: March 2011Venue: The Providence BiltmoreAbout Me: I'm a small town New England girl with an affinity for procrastination, crossing the proverbial line, and putting her foot in her mouth. I'm a lover of history, all seasons, sewing and Incubus. I design costumes on the side for my old high school's theatre department, which is where I met my sexy man. Our motto for our Big Fat Lebanese/Portuguese/Irish near-300 person wedding is "the more the merrier"! We are marrying in a Catholic ceremony and are hammering out the details of our Victorian-inspired reception.
I know, I know. Who wants to look at pictures of strangers? Well, I never know where you fine bees will find inspiration. Also, I think Zeb is one fine mother trucker. He totally deserves this post! (Right TheFutureMcBride? )
Boys have it so stinking easy on the wedding day. They roll out of bed after the girls have been up for four hours, shower, dab a little cologne, stick themselves into tuxedos (which of course they haven’t unzipped from the bag since they received it) and ponder how to properly fasten a boutonniere. Actually, our boys had to get up pretty early in the morning because they all went for hot shaves at a local barber shop. Still, they’ve got it easy!
While Sara Zarrella was busy snapping away at my parents’ house, our second shooter Lauren raced three miles down the road to Zeb’s parents’ house to capture the boys. Zeb took the morning to contemplate his momentous luck in landing himself such a wonderful bride. You can totally see how serious he is about getting married in the following pictures.
Mrs. Macarons, TampaAge and Occupation: 26, Graphic DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 34, Renaissance ManEngagement Date: September 12, 2009Wedding Date: September 2011Venue: Lange FarmAbout 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.
When it came to choosing gifts for the ladies I had practicality in mind. I wanted to get them something I knew they would love and use well beyond the wedding. Read more…
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!
Happy Monday, hive! Our newest bee joins us from Down Under—say hello to Miss Teaspoon!
Miss Teaspoon, Sydney, Australia
Age & Occupation: 27, Medical Scientist Fiance’s Age & Occupation: 30, Banker Engagement Date: June 4, 2010 Wedding Date: September 2011 Venue: St Aloysius’s College, Milson’s Point About 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!
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
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