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Hive, I’d like to introduce you to someone very special today: my Grandma P!
Photo via Grandma P
Isn’t she the epitome of grace and loveliness? Grandma P is amazing. She’s tough as nails (in the best possible sense), has a great sense of humor, and has been a constant source of strength, inspiration, and encouragement for me. She’s been there for every major event in my life and has cheered me on at every single one of them. She makes me feel like I can accomplish anything.
And on top of everything else, Grandma P is responsible for giving me the best wedding gift ever.
Time to exchange rings!
photo by Nadine Studio
Our ring ceremony was cobbled together from a few different sources. Captain Toes started with these words…
Images of A Christmas Story still come up when I hear “snow suit.” At least Barney Stinson makes it sound a little cooler. Let’s talk about what the guys of the Honey wedding will be wearing for our winter wedding.
When the topic of what the guys would wear came up a few months back, I was pleasantly surprised by how much Mr. Honey cared about this. Not that he shouldn’t care; I just didn’t think he would be as opinionated as he is. I knew tuxedos were out, and even the full suit was seeming too structured and complicated for our wedding. I also didn’t want the guys to be perfectly matched since my ladies are all picking their own navy dresses. I was envisioning coordinated in a mismatched kind of way:
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| Image via Bridal Banter/Photo by James Christianson |
After a few of my suggestions got tossed out the window (letting the guys pick their own pants and shirt, for example) I have pretty much left this in Mr. Honey’s court. One Two things I’m requesting are that there is a mismatched element to their attire and that Mr. Honey stands out as the groom in some way.
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Hey there, hive! It’s Miss Raccoon! I still can’t bee-lieve it! I promise it’s just as exciting as all the wonderful bees have said!
Mr. Raccoon and I have a little over three months until our wedding, and I am thrilled to share it all with you! We are planning a central Indiana winter wedding with an interfaith Catholic service at the church Mr. Raccoon grew up in. Following that, there will be the big three—dinner, drinks, and dancing—at a winery in town.
The Raccoons
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.”
Alternate title: “A Promise Made”
or
“Yes, I Will Be Talking About Boobs, but Only as Far as They Pertain to Bridesmaids’ Dresses” (See why I didn’t go with that title?)
A long time ago, back before engagement, before pre-gagement, heck, even before I met Mr. Aardvark, I made a promise to Bridesmaid Red. You see, Red has been in more weddings than anyone I know, a few of which were during our stint as roommates.
As such, she had been subjected to all manner of strapless dress/bra combinations that ranged from “just plain ugly” to physically painful. As her roommate I heard and saw the anguish these contraptions put her through. I promised her then and there that if I ever got married she would be able to wear the most comfortable bra she owned, and the dress would hold itself up no matter how much she danced. (Let’s face it, there will be a lot of dancing.)
Image via Burda Style
Our engagement story doesn’t involve flash mobs, rose petals or candlelit dinners. But according to Mr. Warbs, it almost did. Sort of. During the weeks leading up to the proposal Mr. Warbs started dropping not-so-sly hints. Whenever he has a surprise for me, he’ll ask a “discreet” question. When my iPod broke, Mr. Warbs called me to ask which model it was because he wanted to buy one for his dad. His dad who can barely use a cell phone, let alone a mp3 player. Riiight. So even though the actual proposal was a surprise, I saw it coming from a mile away.
The week of the proposal, Mr. Warbs suggested that we go to a Christmas boat light show in Naples the following Sunday. Lights, music and a spectacular show on the water? Sounded like the perfect scene for a proposal to me. That and the fact that he kept asking questions like “How would you want me to propose?” was a dead giveaway.
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
linziemorgan is selling two flower-girl dresses from David’s Bridal. She’s asking $100 for both, sizes 3 and 5.
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:
Let me set something straight. I am not a DIY’er. I really am quite terrible at these types of things. Granted, I love arts and crafts, but I came to terms a long time ago with the fact that I am just not very good at them. Countless lanyard, cross-stitch, ceramic, crochet, and art projects I have tried to complete throughout the past 24 years of my life have just never quite come to successful fruition. Like the ceramic “bowl” I made my dad in fourth grade to keep his change in. It’s not great—in fact, it looks downright awful. He still uses it, though, and proudly displays it on his dresser.
I have done this to myself countless times over the years. I invest money and massive amounts of time into a project, and about halfway through I realize it is not working out. I continue on, though, to finish and, when I am done and look down at what I have created, I am usually disappointed because it more than likely has not turned out the way I had hoped.
With that said, if I successfully do complete a project then you can bet a kindergartner would also be able to do so. Probably even better. So today I bring to you a DIY that was easy, affordable, and fun. I’m serious, guys, it actually turned out well.
I am keeping the decorations for the ceremony clean and simple. There is so much natural beauty at Monte Verde that I want to enhance it, not cover it up. There are two huge trees perfectly positioned on either side of the aisle. I thought it would look beautiful to hang each of our initials on each tree. A moss-covered letter would stand out but still blend with the look of the ceremony.
Six to five months before our engagement, Mr. Ball Cap and I decided we should probably visit a jewelry store to educate ourselves about engagement rings and the styles we liked. We knew our first stop had to be Albert’s Diamond Jewelers.
Albert’s has been in business serving Northwest Indiana for over 100 years. Also, their local commercials crack us up! As soon as you walk in the door, they make you feel right at home and you aren’t pressured or hounded to buy. Our consultant, Emery, was awesome. I gave him an idea of what I liked and didn’t like in rings and he was great at steering us towards different styles based on our reactions to what he showed us.
My only firm criteria was that I wanted silver vs. gold and I disliked heart-shaped diamonds. I tended to favor a little more vintage look and didn’t want a super thin band. I got to try on a lot of different styles and I was surprised at how opinionated Mr. BC was about things!
After we left, we both felt there was no need to visit anywhere else. I told Mr. Ball Cap he was on his own from here on out and I wanted the final choice to be all his.
Ladies, he couldn’t have done a better job!
Awhile back, one of my favorite wedding inspiration sites, Sparkle & Hay, posted a picture of this gorgeous, beautiful, big-bloom bouquet that is my current must-have of the moment.
I die every time I look at this!
Image via Sparkle & Hay / Original source: Snippet & Ink / Photo by Flutterglass
Hey, everybody! I guess I have to admit that we’re back now that I’ve eaten all the fudge I bought on our honeymoon and I’ve been back to school and work for a few days.
It was really, really great. I had so much fun and am completely blown away by how incredibly awesome our friends and family are. Seriously, they made “our day” a larger and more inclusive “our” and I can’t get over how absolutely amazing it was to be surrounded by so many people we love so much.
I won’t say it was perfect or the best day ever. I didn’t want perfection, and I think the best days usually come out of nowhere and surprise me. But it was a really great day that I’ll never forget and can’t stop smiling about. Remember how I couldn’t sleep the night before because I was so anxious? I couldn’t sleep the night of it because I was so excited! I had so much fun and am so glad that it was a success.
It’s official:
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After taking in the moment and enjoying our first look, my husband-to-be took my hand and led me to a beautiful, secluded area to share our love letters that we had written to each other.
Watch your step…
We’re kicking off this hump day with our newest bandit-like woodland creature bee! Say hello to Miss Raccoon!
Miss Raccoon, Indianapolis
Age & Occupation: 22, Student
Fiance’s Age & Occupation: 24, Graduate Student
Engagement Date: Christmas 2010
Wedding Date: January 2012
Venue: Catholic Church, Chateau Thomas Winery
About Me: I’m a wholesome Midwestern girl, TV series junkie, professional shower singer, and Anglophile. I love my fiance, crock pot cooking, my cat Heepo, going for the gusto, and all things wedding. Mr. Raccoon is pretty sweet, too! He’s a mad scientist that loves to travel. We met my first night on campus and have been inseparable since.
Hive, let’s get real for a minute. I have been reading wedding blogs long enough to know I am not the only person who had a pre-gagement. You know, it’s that time between when you’ve talked about marriage, decided this person is the one with whom you will spend the rest of you your life, and the actual, official engagement. Despite what movies and TV and romance novels would have us believe, the percentage of people who are blown-out-of-their-chair shocked by a proposal is pretty small. Enter pre-gagement.
For us, it was made even harder by the LDR. As I wrote about earlier, Mr. Aardvark and I lived seven-plus hours apart for over a year. That whole time we were very seriously pre-gaged. We never ring shopped, but we talked about rings. We never made wedding plans, but we talked about “when we’re married.”
Once he moved here, every day I was convinced that was the day he would propose, and we would start planning our wedding. Ladies (or gentlemen, but I assume it’s mostly ladies reading a wedding blog), this is no way to live. It made me irritable. It made Mr. A feel bad. It made me insecure. It made Mr. A frustrated. Clearly, impatient tendencies had taken all the fun out of our pre-gagement.
After a month or two I let it go (kinda) and told myself it would happen when it happened. Then it did happen! And it was more wonderful than I could have imagined. Looking back now, I have some guilt about how demanding I had been. I have never been a very patient person, and waiting for something I knew was going to happen sometime just amplified my inpatient personality. I think our long pre-gagement is one of the main reason our engagement will be relatively short, less than a year. Yay for less waiting!
(…a photography snob!)
Hive, I haven’t really talked to you about photography yet. Which is weird, because it’s our number one priority on the wedding list. Sooo important, that about a year ago I began intensively searching for THE photographer to document our day. (And quickly found out that searching for a photographer from across the ocean is hard.)
(Source)
Although I grew up in Columbus, when it came to searching for sensational, jaw-drop-inducing photographers, I was clueless where to begin. Money wasn’t even the issue. Within reason, we were willing to pay for top quality, but it was difficult finding Columbus photographers that I truly loved. I’m just so damn picky! And when I did find someone I wanted to connect with, I had the predicament of being six time zones ahead in Switzerland. (Skype and I became good friends.)
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