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Hello to all of you beautiful bees! I’m thrilled to be writing this post. My name is Miss Mink and I’m so excited to have you along for my wedding-planning adventure.
Photo by Miss Mink
I live in Charlottesville, a fabulous college town in Virgina. A native of New Jersey who went to school in Providence and Boston, I’ve moved around a bit, but always lived in the Northeast prior to the move here. While I’ll always be a Jersey girl and I’ll always love my Red Sox and Patriots, I have found my home in Virginia. I work in academia and could be considered an early adopter of social media, so I’m very comfortable with joining this fabulous group of bloggers.
Since I finally (finally) decided on a Save the Date and had them printed, I’ve still wanted to spruce them up somehow. Add some pizzazz. Some sparkle. Some…magnetism, perhaps.
I considered envelope liners, but I think I’d rather save that extra touch for the invites if I so choose. Then I considered putting the card onto a backing of some sort to give it a border, but Foxy quickly called me nuts and asked if I could “fathom the amount of hours that would be spent on a silly Save the Date” if I did that.
Psh. Men. Of course I knew. At least 1. (Or 20, with my {lack of} cutting skills.)
Then I thought about the practicality and likely display of our little cards. In a perfect world, guests would jump for joy upon receiving these little pieces of card stock and frame them and love them and never throw them away. In reality, it’ll probably end up in a pile of mail somewhere. I think a nice compromise would be to display it on the fridge, dontcha think??
But then I fretted that people may not have magnets! Or think to put it on the fridge! (I’m sure they do and they would, but just go with it.)
My solution?
Read more…
I’ve already touched on our ceremony spot and how it was the easiest decision that I’ve made to date, but since Mr. Hawk and I had a little extra time to spend in Wren Chapel due to my bridal scatterbrain (oops!), I figured I’d share a little more information about the place that will forever stay near and dear to my heart.
The Chapel of Sir Christopher Wren is housed in the Sir Christopher Wren Building, often shortened to just “Wren” by students and faculty alike. Wren is located on the historic or “old campus” and serves as the gateway from Colonial Williamsburg into the university. I won’t bore y’all with too much history, but Wren is the oldest college building in the United States and was constructed between 1695 and 1699. (If history is your thang, you can read more here!)
Being as old as it is, Wren Chapel has somehow developed its own energy. Just walking through the door, I am immediately surrounded by an indescribable buzzing and hum of electricity. I swear I get goosebumps every time! It still kind of takes my breath away.
We didn’t want a traditional guest book. If we wanted a list of everyone’s names and numbers, I’d compile it all myself. Oh wait, I did. It’s called our guest list.
That being said, we did want some sort of memento for ourselves that would be a record of the guests who were there. Something other than our RSVP list, that is. There are some great ideas out there.
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| Image via Give a Caricature / Having a caricature picture for them to sign would be great if we had any history with caricatures. |
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.”
As I was packing my bag in anticipation of our trip to see our friends get married, I started thinking about the interesting phenomenon of brides at other people’s weddings. Now, I don’t mean the time when my best friend K., who lives in NYC, saw nine different bridal parties in one corner of Central Park on a holiday weekend. And I don’t mean the situation that occurred in the chick flick Bride Wars, where one of the characters crashes her frenemy’s wedding and tackles her in the middle of the aisle.
Image via Amazon / Screenshot from Bride Wars
When we left off, Mr. Lox and I had just been presented for the first time in public, and I was making a crazy face because something awesome was about to happen and most people had no idea. The most planned moment in our wedding, even. And one of my very favorite things about our day. So here’s where it starts.
Just after the officiant presented us for the first time in public, something happened that met people didn’t even notice. A single note rang out softly from somewhere in the crowd. Like a pitch pipe, if you will.
Meanwhile, everyone else was waiting for the recessional music to start, including Mr. Lox. I was trying to act cool. Then a bunch of people stood up. Some folks took that as a cue to stand for our trip out of the ceremony space. Some people were confused. The guests who stood up with this bunch quickly sat down… when the bunch started to sing.
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
We’re kicking off this short week with our newest addition to the hive! Say hello to Miss Mink!
Miss Mink, Charlottesville, Virginia
Age & Occupation: 34, College Administrator
Fiance’s Age & Occupation: 40, Craft Beer Consultant
Engagement Date: November 26, 2010
Wedding Date: June 2012
Venue: Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards
About Me: I left a pre-war brownstone in Boston six years ago to live in a funky, Southern city where Thomas Jefferson, Dave Matthews, and urban chicken keepers enjoy equal social standing. I still love my Patriots and Red Sox, but have fallen in love with Virginia. I work in education and specialize in integrating technology into my work to improve the student experience. I’m a diehard blogger, animal lover, jamband follower, and DIYer. I paint to relax and have transferred by energy from home projects to wedding projects in recent months. When Mr. Mink and I started talking about marriage, we knew our wedding would be outdoors, that my golden retriever would be part of the day, and that the music would be fantastic. We’ve taken a few risks during our planning process and we’ve been enjoying the process immensely!
Ah, the ol’ “how we met” story. I get asked this story a lot, along with the proposal story. Frankly, I’m sick of telling both of them. Every time I tell either of the epic sagas, my narration gets shorter and shorter. I kid you not, my answer to “How did he propose?!” has now become “He took me to watch the sunrise by the lake and then asked me to marry him.” The poor guy planned an elaborate proposal complete with soundtrack and mini muffins, and I reduce the event to a single sentence?? How rude!
Image via imeasy2love.blogspot.com
Now if someone asks how he proposed I can just say “Clearly you don’t read my posts on Weddingbee—check it out.” So now I’m writing a “how we met” post so I can nip that question in the bud as well. Because I would so much rather communicate through blogging than have actual human interaction, apparently. So here goes.
The first time I laid eyes on Mr. Unicycle was June 23, 2006. It’s strange that I remember the date, but it’s because it was the date of my university’s pre-orientation, and also because our wedding is on June 23, 2012. I love it.
I know I have talked about family before. (Hey, there is a lot to talk about.) However, this weekend we were in Michigan getting stuff done for the wedding with my parental squad, plus the in laws-to-be. And let me tell, you we got a ton of stuff done! (More on that to come!)
This story is about realizing that our upcoming marriage has grown/created a real family. We are having my 10 year old brother as a groomsman. When we were trying to decide everyone’s role, Mr. Aardvark suggested my little bro as a GM (which I thought was super sweet of him). We did not have to think too hard before deciding that this was a great idea. As Mr. Aardvark said, “Well, he is a kid now…but in ten or twenty years he will not be a kid and he will still be part of our family and I think it’s important for him to be part of our important day.” What a great point!
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The chuppah:
Image via Sukkah Soul
For those of you not up on the Jew lingo, a chuppah is a wedding canopy, under which a couple marries. It is there to symbolize the home a couple will build together as newlyweds, and moreover it is gorgeous! Good symbolism and prettiness? I can definitely get behind this tradition! When I first started thinking about a chuppah for our wedding, I fell in love with something like this:
Not quite as hysterical as How I Met Your Mother, but close. Promise.
First, how I met Mr. Foxy’s sister, aka my future foxy sister-in-law (FfSIL).
Foxy and I had been doing our LDR thing for about a month, and it was my turn to visit him for a day or two. The relationship was still fairly new and we only saw each other every other weekend-ish; naturally, we were…how shall I say this…”very passionate” when we saw each other. You know, lots of kisses. And stuff.
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btaurus29 and her new husband share a sweet kiss
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I know this is silly, but I think it’s human nature (or maybe its just me and I’m rationalizing!). I have found myself comparing my wedding to a wedding of a friend who is getting married around the same time Mr. Hawk and I are. Trust me, it’s not a competitive streak of who is outdoing who, I feel, but rather a feeling that I am so behind on planning!
This couple, who are very close friends of Mr. Hawk’s, became engaged a few months after us; however, they decided to have a shorter engagement and get married a couple weeks before we will be married. I’ll admit that I was a bit surprised, but it didn’t bother me because I knew it was what would work best for them. (And they did it taking our wedding into consideration, which they definitely didn’t have to do!) What has begun to send me panicking is hearing the progress they’ve made.
Image Via Wallpaperez, From 20th Century Fox’s Bride Wars
When it comes to wedding favors, Mr. Warbs and I come from different camps. I think that it’s nice to give our guests something to remember our wedding by. He thinks that favors are unnecessary because nobody ever keeps those things and we can put the money towards something else. I do agree that most favors are disposable and probably do get thrown out. I’ve only been to a few weddings and I definitely didn’t keep the favors. Hell, I don’t even remember what the favors were. Mints? Candy? Beats me.
So, if we’re going to give our favors, we want them to be something that our guests can keep for a long time. And since we’re having a loose bookish theme, it would be great if the favors could have a literary theme. I thought bookmarks would be cool. Cheap, compact and they’re even in our wedding colors. Win!
“Turning Leaves” bookmark favors from Weddingbee Favors
In a previous post, I talked about my efforts to become a healthy, happy, and confident bride (and person) before I walk down the aisle in January. Now I want to talk more specifically about what had helped me lose those 90 pounds and what has been working again this time around. There’s nothing particularly special or unique about me physiologically; if I can do this, so can anyone. So can you.
As everyone knows, there are two major components to weight loss: diet and exercise. You’ve probably heard the saying that weight loss is 90% diet and 10% exercise, right? Well, for me, starting a consistent exercise routine was absolutely, without a doubt, the most important part. Like many women, I am a stress-eater. I tend to eat when I am worried, when I am anxious, when I am nervous. I quickly discovered, though, that a good workout does an even better job of taking away my stress. I could work through my frustrations at my job over a spin class, not with a dozen chocolate chip cookies. I could clear my mind after a disagreement with a friend by running it out on the treadmill, not by smothering it with mac and cheese. With each substitution, I felt better—and grew lighter.
Going to the gym also made me feel like a badass in a Nike ad. That’s right: I just did push-ups! And some free weights! Now I am going to do a couple of miles on the treadmill—faster than I did last week! Faster than you! Regardless of how fast I was actually running or how much weight I was actually lifting or how many push-ups I was actually doing, I felt powerful and strong. The last thing that I wanted to do was feel weighed down by greasy or calorically dense food.
My favorite Nike ad and source of fitness inspiration / Image via Nike Blog
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