Mrs. Waffle, AustinAge and Occupation: 31, Costumer/ArtistFiance's Age and Occupation: 33, AnimatorEngagement Date: July 27, 2010Wedding Date: June 2011Venue: Hummingbird HouseAbout Me: My life is pretty much spent in a sea of fabric, paint, sequins and drama. When I’m not working, I play on a trivia team, take Broadway dance classes, read, buy shoes, and occasionally geek out on video games. I am an American girl who loves all things British and Mr. Waffle is a Brit who loves all things American...I guess it was meant to be!
That was the thought that went through my head when we arrived at Hummingbird House after brunch.
The venue had chilled champagne and a goody basket waiting for us. We unloaded our bags and Melanie arranged her tools. Read more…
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.
But I didn’t share the deets with you! Shame on me for teasing you and then falling off the planet. Although it is by no means an excuse, my day job has got me bouncing around the country non-stop—on top of a wedding that is almost here!!
So let me get back to business, bees!
Just for a refresher of the invites were my (yes my) labor of love…
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.
Marriage is about supporting each other when times are tough and taking time to celebrate the little things, no matter how trivial they may seem. You’re someone’s partner in life; it means you strap on a life vest before rafting and they take a deep breath before getting in line for roller coasters. You do things outside your comfort zone because you want to take part in what brings them joy.
This is it. Today is the day I become a Mrs.
Pretty soon I’ll get to step into my beautiful dress and make my way over to the farm. There will be plenty of cake and lots of dancing but all of that stuff pales in comparison to the true purpose of today. I’m marrying my best friend and the one I love with ever fiber of my being. Today, the adventure continues. Read more…
WatercoolerFeature Launched: July 1, 2007About: The most discussed posts of the week.
Mrs. Funnel Cake, Zürich, Switzerland/Columbus, OhioAge and Occupation: 24, Visual Communication DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Application EngineerEngagement Date: May 30, 2010Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: Catholic church followed by a botanical conservatoryAbout 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.
I’ve been having a hard time contacting hair and makeup vendors in Columbus. Basically… I email them and they ignore me. It’s been rather fruitless. Luckily my mother remembered that a friend of brother Funnel Cake that is a hair stylist, so I asked her if she would do my hair for the big day and that’s set. But makeup… makeup, makeup makeup… what shall I do for that?
Having recently started working in the beauty industry where appearance is key, I decided to use this as an excuse to order my very first haul from Sephora. (Which meant shipping to my mother’s house in Ohio, since they don’t ship to Switzerland and then having her repack and send to me.) I went a little crazy and bought myself a ton of brushes, which I’ve never owned before, and all the necessary tools for Mrs. Rainbow’s Ace Your Facetutorials. After reading and re-reading Mrs. Rainbow’s guides, I went off practising and here are the results! (You can tell I ignored Mrs. Rainbow’s brow tutorial for now…)
Mrs. Skunk, AtlantaAge and Occupation: 23, Post baccalaureate studentFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Mechanical DesignerEngagement Date: February 13, 2011Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Neverland Farms About Me: I’m a Georgia peach born and raised in the dirty dirty. I love reading, baking lots of sweets and forcing them on my friends, and most of all, rock climbing. I am in the process of applying to graduate school in physical therapy and I work at farmers’ markets around town selling bread for a local bakery. The mister and I met while rock climbing just over two years ago and have been inseparable ever since. Our climbing friends mean the world to us and have played an integral role in our relationship. We’re planning a barnyard shindig filled with good food, good friends, and lots of love.
Anyone else remember this song? I’ve been obsessed with D4L for forever. It could be their ties to Atlanta. Or it could be memories of blasting them on my boom box in my car while driving waaaay too fast. (Yes, I had a battery-powered boom box in my car…my CD player got jacked and my hourly weekend job didn’t exactly afford a quick replacement.)
Side story aside, I’m tatted up. Very slightly, but I’m obsessed with my bits of ink. The first one I got was when I was 18. I was with a friend while he was getting his tattoo; my mom called to check in on me, and I told her what I was doing. She asked incredulously why I wasn’t getting a tattoo as well. With that bit of affirmation, I signed the paperwork and was quickly in the chair getting my very first tattoo. I had known for a while I wanted a non-explicit symbol of the trinity because, while I am open to all faiths and don’t define my own beliefs, my personal foundation is in the Christian faith. I know it’s super trendy and there are tons of folks around with something similar, but I really love this baby.
Personal Photo / Ignore the scratches between the back two stars…a roller coaster had just tried to eat my foot.
Miss Porcupine, NYC/Lancaster, PAAge and Occupation: 26, Sales Coordinator/PublishingFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Assistant Manager/SalesEngagement Date: August 8, 2010Wedding Date: March 2012Venue: Riverdale ManorAbout Me: I'm a born and bred New Yorker with a love/hate relationship for the city I have always called home. Although I may seem quiet from afar, I have a loud personality once you get to know me. I am a book nerd at heart, but love a night out in the city with good friends. I have a serious addiction to all things cheese, chocolate, cardigans, Mexican food, and reality TV. The future hubs and I met in college, settled in New York, and decided to go with a rustic/peacock infused wedding in Lancaster, PA, right near his hometown. Come the big day, we will be together 5 years, and we're looking forward to making it official!
I learned something exciting and new when planning my wedding. It’s a secret MATHZ equation that apparently is a well hidden secret in the wedding industry. It goes something like this: flour + eggs (sugar / milk) = GOLD! Wedding cakes are REDIC expensive, kids!
Miss Warbler, Long Beach/MalibuAge and Occupation: 24, Quality Assurance EditorFiance's Age and Occupation: 32, Handheld AdministratorEngagement Date: December 7, 2010Wedding Date: April 2012Venue: Calamigos Ranch MalibuAbout Me: I’m a Korean BBQ loving, cheesecake enthusiast bride living in the LBC! By day I write and edit for an online search engine marketing company. By night I am a volunteer food taster of all that is delicious. I am fortunate to be marrying an amazing man who loves me and my quirky ways. I love food, books, indie music, and Harry Potter. We are planning a small, intimate wedding up in the Malibu Hills with our closest family and friends. With the help of my wonderful fiance, our loved ones, and red velvet cheesecake, our wedding will be glorious!
Hello, blogging buddies! It occurred to me after my stamp-snafu post that it might not be abundantly clear to everyone what hand cancelling is. So, here’s a quick snippet on hand cancelling.
Mrs. High Wire, DallasAge and Occupation: 23, Legal AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Director of CommunicationsEngagement Date: October 9, 2010Wedding Date: September 2011Venue: Clark GardensAbout Me: My loves include yoga, anything spicy, our eccentric cat, our rambunctious dog, and Mr. High Wire, of course! Like the steadiness act of the tightrope walker, this gal is busy balancing life while planning a wedding to the man of her dreams. We’re hosting a laid-back, vintage-inspired, bird themed wedding with heavy doses of love, good eats (did someone say tacos and margaritas?), and endless Texas charm. Mr. High Wire and I are so happy to have you along for the walk across the tight rope.
Okay, admission time: I used to be kind of a music snob…but that has changed significantly over time. Growing up I was really into just about every type of rock music and had a deep love for the Beatles (shout out to Mrs. Dumpling!). I still like that kind of music, but another genre has stolen my heart.
Country music was treated like the plague when I was in high school and I only brushed into pop music when I had a dance number to perform on my high school’s drill team. Country music was something I was pretty much never exposed to (yeah, even though I grew up in Texas) beside a random Wade Hayes cassette tape playing at my aunt’s house.
Once I wound up with Mr. High Wire, he introduced me to the real, soulful, country music and I fell head over heels for it all. The lyrics are timeless and relatable, the guitar playing is hypnotic, and the deep voices of guys like George Straight melt my heart.
It is a tough burden to carry, because there’s probably no way I could ever convince you it was worth listening to if you are in the “country music is evil” camp. 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.
Well, hive, this is it. Today’s the day. The day I become Mrs. Parasol.
Personal Photo
It’s been nine months since Mr. Parasol got down on one knee and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him, six months since I bought a dress and we set a date, three and a half months since we started seriously wedding planning, and two months since I joined the hive.
This day has been almost four years in the making, and I am ready.
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!
On Saturday, September 10th, Mr. Ball Cap and I attended our Special PreCana marriage preparation class. The Archdiocese of Chicago requires a marriage preparation course in order to receive the sacrament of Matrimony. We were able to choose from two courses: PreCana or Special PreCana.
PreCana is designed for engaged couples in their twenties with no special concerns. They are designed to cover topics that will help you in your married life.
Special PreCana is recommended for couples if one or both are at least 30 years of age or older; or for those who were previously married, or for couples who are living together, or are civilly married for less than six months. This class utilizes the dynamics of regular PreCana, but more emphasis is placed on the areas of married life to which the more experienced couple can relate.
Through short talks, sharing of the facilitator’s own experiences, group exercises and personal reflection, engaged couples are guided through topics useful for a successful future marriage. Some of the topics presented are: the changing nature of marriage, personal growth, and couple adjustment, mutual decision-making, the elements of effective communication, conflict management, intimacy and sexual expression, financial planning, sacramentality, goal setting, the extended family, where to find help and counseling for marriage, and interfaith marriage.
Because Mr. BC and I are both in our 30s and we are living together, we chose to attend the Special PreCana class. 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!
OK, I complained just a teeny tiny bit a few weeks ago about invitations. You may have thought, from reading that post, that I designed the invitations myself. Or, you know, had to cut them out. Glue pieces together. Used a Gocco and sewed them with delicate gold thread and what not.
Nope. I just had to stack, tie, stuff, and stick. And it ’bout nearly killed me, and sure as heck disrupted my exercise plan for good, it seems.
At the beginning, it was fun. These are the pics from when I was so excited to get started! Woo hoo! Invitations!!! It’s all really happening!!!
I thought it would be a good idea to make an assembly line to assemble these little guys, and to sit on the floor. Because I forgot that I am 31 years old, not 23. Read more…
Mrs. Seal, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 25, Personal AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Sales and Support SpecialistEngagement Date: December 12, 2009Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Sts Peter and Paul Church/The Bently ReserveAbout Me: I am a goofy, wannabe crafty, well-intentioned Renaissance Woman (OK, perhaps "aimless wanderer" is a more aptly suited term for me, but hopefully you get the point)—basically I dabble in just about everything and pride myself in such. Without warning, I occasionally breakout into soulful improvised songs and interpretive dances and there's just no stopping me! As so many others before me, planning our wedding has unearthed a deep, intense passion for all things bridal and I secretly fear the day it will come to an end. Mr. Seal and I are quite the pair and life with him by my side is extremely rewarding—I am so thankful to have found him. Together we are planning a black-tie San Francisco affair for 250—light on the stuffiness and with lots of extra Seal-y flair.
So remember how we have a ginormous wedding party, right? To refresh your memory, we’ve got: 10 bridesmaids, 10 groomsmen, 2 ushers, 2 flower girls and a ring bearer. Phew! Anyhoo, when it came time to deciding whether we’d setup a head table for the entire wedding party or a cozy sweetheart table for just the Sealman and I, the size of our wedding party definitely factored into that decision.
After meeting with our catering coordinator and going over the dimensions of our reception space, we were presented with a few options.
Though I liked the idea of being surrounded by my wedding party, I didn’t like the thought of splitting up couples. As it’s physically impossible to fit a table long enough to include everyone and their date, quite a few of our party members would be separated from their significant other.
2. A long, double-sided head table (would enable us to keep couples together).
Miss Porcupine, NYC/Lancaster, PAAge and Occupation: 26, Sales Coordinator/PublishingFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Assistant Manager/SalesEngagement Date: August 8, 2010Wedding Date: March 2012Venue: Riverdale ManorAbout Me: I'm a born and bred New Yorker with a love/hate relationship for the city I have always called home. Although I may seem quiet from afar, I have a loud personality once you get to know me. I am a book nerd at heart, but love a night out in the city with good friends. I have a serious addiction to all things cheese, chocolate, cardigans, Mexican food, and reality TV. The future hubs and I met in college, settled in New York, and decided to go with a rustic/peacock infused wedding in Lancaster, PA, right near his hometown. Come the big day, we will be together 5 years, and we're looking forward to making it official!
*SPOILER ALERT* You’ll never see this one coming, but we did get engaged! Mr. Porcupine proposed a few weeks into the jittery madness that overtook our home. That’s a short, presh story for another day.
Personal Photo / My side job in life is making horrible, unflattering facial expressions.
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
