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Weddingbee Blog
As you know, Mr. Aardvark and I have put our long-distance days behind us. However, this week I have been out of town for work. And when I say out of town, I mean on the edge of civilization. We are staying at this beautiful place in the woods of the U.P. (Upper Peninsula, for those of you not from the Midwest or Michigan). We are getting some bike riding in and lots of important meetings. The bum thing is, there is NO phone service and the internet speed is glacial at best.
This is the first time since Mr. Aardvark moved here and we ended our 14-month LDR that I have been on a trip without him. It’s not that being apart for a week is bad, it’s the not being able to call or text or IM that stinks. We have had a few very slow email conversations, but that’s about it.
This has made me realize a couple of things. One, I am FULLY addicted to surfing the internet and checking my phone, and two, there is something really comforting about having an understanding partner. To the last note, I really struggled this week with the lack of voice time with Mr. Aardvark, but instead of adding fuel to the I-miss-you-so-much-I-wish-I-could-talk-to-you fire, he sends cheerful updates about how he and Kitty are getting along, encourages me to enjoy the nice weather and beautiful mountain-bike trails, and reminds me that a week is much shorter than 14 months. Yet another reason I am mad about that man.
If there is one piece of advice I can give on registries, it would be: do NOT register anywhere until the last possible moment. A month before your bridal shower invites go out will do just fine. If you’re having an engagement party I would recommend making a “mini-registry” for it. Then go back and do a full-out wedding registry later.
Seriously, I am not being a crazy rebellious bride. I speak from annoying experience. In the past five months more items have gone discontinued off our registries then I think we even registered for.
Mr. Porcupine and I decided to register at Crate and Barrel and Bed, Bath, & Beyond. Then, after subtle pressure from friends and family, we decided to register at Macy’s too, since some people live, die, and swear by Macy’s (and their wondrous sales). I don’t blame anyone—Macy’s has kick-ass sales.
Mistake #1: Having more than two registries.
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Funny story. Once upon a time, we found out our venue could hold a maximum of 170 people. In our naivety, Mr. Funnel Cake and I decided to tell each parent they could invite 50 guests while we would both invite 30 friends. 50 + 50 + 30 + 30 = 160, allowing room for the priest, photographer(s) and of course ourselves. Aren’t we great at math?
(Source)
Mr. Funnel Cake told his mother she could only invite 50 40 guests and she was immediately very upset that she couldn’t invite the entire world to the wedding. I told Mama Funnel Cake we were asking the parents to invite 50 people each and she replied “That’s nice. I’m inviting more than that.”
Huh?
Hive, I want to apologize for being an absentee blogger. Things have not been hunky dory in the land of Doily. However, things are getting better and I plan on making my blogging return with a vengeance. I promise lots of projects, inspiration posts, and some pretty funny/crazy stories. Right now, though, I have something that I want to share with you. I want you all to meet my brother:
Image via Brother Doily
There is something really special about my brother.
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Featured on Weddingbee
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
“Make an elegant invitation statement without the fuss. Stylish invitation sets with matching envelopes, reception and response cards included.”
Bringing back our last adorable icon left in the dog generation of bees! Meet Miss Dalmatian!
Miss Dalmatian, Nashville, TN
Age & Occupation: 23, Pediatric Nurse
Fiance’s Age & Occupation: 23, Computer Engineer and Entrepreneur
Engagement Date: April 13, 2011
Wedding Date: May 2012
Venue: Historic Cedarwood
About Me: I am a Northern girl from Chicago who is planning a wedding filled with Southern charm in Nashville, Tennessee. I love dogs, the White Sox, Full House reruns, and anything with ruffles on it. Mr. Dalmatian is my computer-genius problem-solving fiance who is constantly teaching me new things and making me a better person. We live with our adopted pup Echo, who is very excited that his parents are getting married!
Look what we did yesterday:
What’s that, you ask? Why those are our save the dates! After weeks of assembling, printing envelopes, stuffing, stamping, checking names, and rechecking names, we finally were finished. We decided to celebrate with some of my new favorite wine from Amador County. Yes it comes in a jug. Yes that makes it taste better. Don’t ask me how, it just does.
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
Bride Brain [’ˈbrīd’-’ˈbrān’]:
A less invasive, but more expensive version of a frontal lobotomy. Experienced by most brides, as they enter a catatonic state which renders them incapable of sustaining any thought or conversation that does not involve cake, caterers, flowers, wedding dress designers, Chinese wedding dress knock-off designers, updos, hair pieces, color schemes, wedding themes, and personalized M&M’s.
Bride Brain symptoms include, but are not limited to, driving erratically because they can’t stop staring at their shiny diamond ring; being amused by the resentment of all their single girlfriends, rewinding songs several hundred times while imagining themselves walking down the aisle, and starvation induced bitchiness which is generally followed by late night binging at a Dairy Queen. (Note that this can only occur outside of the bride’s native geographic area, where they can’t possibly run into anyone they know.)
Symptoms are ordinarily well controlled with valium, alcohol and endless hours of watching youtube “first dance” videos.
Yesterday, it was like a flip had been switched. I suddenly moved from a state of relative yet appropriate obsession of all wedding-related details, to an insatiable desire to answer ALL QUESTIONS IMMEDIATELY.
Everyone has really been pushing for engagement pictures. We just didn’t see the point. We hadn’t lined up our wedding photographer, it would be another thing to plan and another thing to pay for, and it seemed so secondary compared to future wedding pictures.
Still, they magically happened. The other weekend Mr. Raccoon was in town and we had my dad snap a few pictures of us. Here are some sneak peeks!
I mentioned previously my love of the glamelia bouquet. I did a bit more research and realized that these are indeed starting to make a small comeback thanks to Katherine Heigl using one as her bouquet when she got married a few years ago.
A bit blurry, but you get the idea. / Image via Kuga Designs
Etre is selling several teacup and saucer sets. She’s asking $5 per set.
Have a wedding item for sale? Post it with pictures in the Weddingbee Classifieds, and you might see it featured on the blog!
Other great items for sale:
This project was lots of fun and very simple to execute. I had been looking at doilies on Etsy to order as a base for our centerpieces when I came across this:
Image via therufflyowl on Etsy
This seemed like such a cute, simple idea. It would look nice on a gift table, or cake table, or candy buffet, or anywhere, really! I was convinced I could make one for less than the $18 they were asking for this.
Having decided to get married on a Friday at the top of the city, and being two people who are completely mesmerized by the city lights, Mr. FW and I didn’t even have to talk with one another about what time of day to have our ceremony. We knew it would be an evening ceremony, after work and after sunset. We were even more sure about this when we visited our site last November to take some pictures of the space after dark. On that night, it was jet black outside—a completely cloudless and fogless evening, and there was the most incredible full moon visible through the windows of our ceremony space. I’m sorry to say that I don’t have photographic documentation of that, so you’ll just have to believe me that it was gorgeous.
In order to be absolutely certain about the lighting conditions on our wedding day, I consulted http://www.timeanddate.com/ to get the lowdown on sundown for November 11, 2011 in San Francisco.
screenshot taken from here
At this point you may be thinking what I was thinking: “What’s the difference between astronomical, nautical, and civil twilight, what do they have to do with sunset, and how do they impact my wedding?” Well folks, I’m here to answer that question for you in as brief and painless a way as possible. And I promise that, if you’re having an evening wedding or an early morning, you do care about this information..
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It’s near ’bout that time! Just thirty-one days. I could jump up and down!
In less that a week, Mr. Skunk will officially be home from Madison. I feel like we’ve hit the calm before the storm. Almost everything is done. We just need to get organized.
Oh, and get our marriage license.
Oh, and figure out what Mr. Skunk is wearing.
Oh, and figure out our first dance song.
Like I said, calm before the storm.
I can’t wait to marry Mr. Skunk but I’m just as excited to experience these next few weeks.
Anyone else at the one month mark? What’re you up to with wedding plans?
So, this part of the day was the one I was most depressed about a few days following the wedding. The evening before we left for our Hawaiian honeymoon I recall being a ball of tears on our kitchen floor.
Due to the rain delay, we lost cocktail hour. It had gone from a full hour to 20 minutes. It was supposed to be the time where we rushed through family photos, took fun bridal party photos and then bride and groom portraits. All we had time for were stuffy, formal family photos and scarfing down some passed appetizers. We were unable to sneak away for photos of just the two of us on our day. There simply was no time. Our venue and Nadine graciously offered to reschedule a day for us to do bride and groom photos, but I knew in my heart it would not be the same. A special magic hung in the air that day and was clinging to us in a way that would fade in the days to come.
Luckily, when we received our wedding photos, we saw some brilliant shots that were taken in the lost cocktail hour which have since lifted my spirits. Do I still mourn the pictures that could have been? In all honesty, yes. However, I am joyous in what we do have.
Here’s our collection of formals and candids from that small window of time. Enjoy.
Formal Photos by Perrie Belle:
Step-FIL Waffle with me enjoying a watermelon gazpacho shooter
I thought I might not fall into the wedding funk that so many bees before me have fallen into. I thought that because I tend to look for the silver lining, I had a fighting chance. Well, like so many wiser bees have said before me, life doesn’t stop happening because you’re planning a wedding.
My great-aunt is in the hospital. My family refuses to acknowledge that I actually need to sleep when I get off work! And I have all these decisions to make that I can’t seem to make. Since burying my head in the sand isn’t a real option, I had to come up with something else.
Two things make me feel good. 1) Coming up with a plan. 2) Shopping.
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| List all written. I was feeling pleased with how short it looked. Sorta. |
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