Miss Unicycle, Chicago, ILAge and Occupation: 23, Editor for a Web Publishing CompanyFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, MD/PhD StudentEngagement Date: March 26, 2011Wedding Date: June 2012Venue: Bridges of Poplar CreekAbout Me: I’m a writer by trade who likes analyzing pop culture, making fun of celebrities, and laughing until I cry. I’m the queen of half-assed crafts, and there’s nothing I won’t try to DIY. You can usually find me reading blogs on my laptop in front of a good Lifetime movie, wine in hand. I’m planning a polka-dotted summertime wedding to my physics geek college sweetheart, and when I’m not making stupid puns I’m freaking out about my wedding timeline.
One Weddingbee post I keep returning to is Mrs. Cheeseburger’s post on unnecessary wedding details, specifically because of her custom cocktail napkins. I think personalized napkins are cool to begin with, but using your favorite love quotes instead of just your names? Amazing idea! As a former English major and literature-inclined bookworm before that, I had occasionally come across sweet quotes throughout high school and college that I thought would be perfect for inclusion in a wedding somehow. Of course, when it came time to think of quotes for my wedding, I couldn’t remember what most of them were. But I’m getting ahead of myself. The real problem was that Mr. Unicycle and I are cheapskates (well, I’m a cheapskate. He’s frugal.), and personalized napkins are not cheap.
First I checked prices at The Knot Wedding Shop and saw that they were having a sale on cocktail napkins that came with free personalization. I got super excited and laid the smack down on Mr. Unicycle to come up with some lovey dovey quotes before the sale ended. 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 Friday hive! We can hardly believe there are nine days until Christmas!!! We’re kicking today off with the introduction of our newest bee! Give a warm welcome to Miss Opossum, coming to us from sunny Florida!
Miss Opossum, Tallahassee
Age & Occupation: 23, Aspiring Interior Architect Fiance’s Age & Occupation: 23, Soon to be Firefighter Engagement Date: October 30, 2011 Wedding Date: April 2012 Venue: The Retreat at Bradley’s Pond About Me: I am a recent design graduate and aspiring interior architect that is a compulsive list maker, a Christmas light fanatic, and an avid nap-taker. This freckle-faced Southern girl loves being on the back of a horse, hanging out at the gym, and watching SVU with her rugby-playing fiance. It is a dream come true to finally be planning a wedding (in five months) to my high school sweetheart (of seven years). While preparing to tie the knot we’re also balancing Fire College, grad school applications, jobs, and precious time with our supportive family and friends. We’re moving fast…but are excited about enjoying every moment of this time in our lives!
Weddingbee GalleryFeature Launched: April 10, 2009About: A collection of inspirational wedding pictures from readers and bees.
FutureMrsBonack and her fiance met on this lake, and bought their first home on this lake…so it was natural that they took their engagement pictures on that very lake!
Keep on loading your inspirational wedding pics to the Weddingbee Gallery to see them featured here on the blog! Remember, your images must be under 1MB in size, or they won’t load.
AnonymousFeature Launched: September 23, 2011About: Bees explore issues related to wedding planning that they do not want to have tied to their real names/monikers.
This is a post I’ve wanted to write for a while…what happens when you regret your choice of maid of honor? I’m not sure I have an answer for you, but this is my story.
Long before the Mister and I got engaged I always knew whom I would ask to be my maid of honor. She was someone I had known for several years and was married to a person who was very important in my life. I had stood up for her when she got married, so she being my maid of honor seemed like a natural choice. She was one of the first folks that we announced our engagement to. As soon as I told her we were engaged I asked if she would be my maid of honor. She didn’t hesitate to answer yes.
Soon after, a few red flags were raised. Read more…
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!
We headed over to the other side of the beautiful harbourside suburb of Lavender Bay in Sydney to take the last of our photos before we headed to our reception location. I am so glad we did, as these photos are beautiful and definitely some of our favourites! By this point, we were getting much more used to the photographers snapping 2000 pictures of us and were just enjoying our blissful wedding day. Before we got to the Jetty, we stopped in the middle of the park and played with the light. Well, truth be told, our photographer told us to stop, so we did…and we kissed and hugged a lot.
Miss Turkey, PhiladelphiaAge and Occupation: 29, Brand ManagementFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, ConsultantEngagement Date: February 2011Wedding Date: May 2012Venue: The Rittenhouse HotelAbout Me: I'm a marketer who loves a good glass of wine, anything pumpkin-flavored, every crime drama on TV and, of course, Mr. Turkey. It's funny to say out loud, but we're former coworkers turned betrothed---now planning a wedding in the city of Brotherly Love. For three years, we've been eating our way through Philadelphia, playing tourist at home, and cheering for every sports team in the 215. Although we've hit some unplanned snags along the way, we're determined to have a rocking party this spring with our loud, fun families and friends.
To say I was excited about our NYC shopping trip for dresses (of the wedding and bridesmaid variety) would be an understatement. The purpose of the day was to choose the bridesmaids’ dresses and narrow down my choices for a wedding dress.
Success would be walking away with a wedding-dress choice (that could be purchased closer to home) and ordering the bridesmaids’ dresses.
We started on super-early trains—converging upon NYC from Albany, Baltimore, Boston, DC, and Philadelphia. Our first stop was Kleinfeld for wedding dresses!
Me and Mom outside the store
Why am I sharing this photo when the post is about bridesmaids’ dresses?
Well, I ended up (despite insisting I wanted to buy a dress in Philly) saying YES to a dress at Kleinfeld. I will not be sharing my dress until after the wedding, so you’ll have to wait until May.
Mrs. Perfume, DCAge and Occupation: 36, Consultant (and Part-Time Professor)Fiance's Age and Occupation: 41, ConsultantEngagement Date: May 13, 2008Wedding Date: May, 2009Venue: The Homestead, Hot Springs, VirginiaAbout Me: I'd like to think that I'm a modern day Little Edie Beale. Only not as..."talented". More realistically, I'm a foodie who can't bake; a dancer and dilettente; an art collector with a penchant for the whimsical and subversive. I live in the city and adore the country, but not much in between. I like smart design, great craftmanship and good value. Most of all, I love the new vintage aesthetic: classic, sweet, delicate, bespoke. If I had to do it all over again, I'd go for a culinary arts degree rather than a PhD; but wouldn't trade Mr. P for the world.
Mrs. Rainbow nominated Mrs. Perfume’s post on how to make macarons! It gave her the confidence to make them herself! Mmm…
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I finished the last batch of the macaron favors right before I left to go for our emergency dance lesson on Saturday.
Yes, that’s right. I’m making macarons for our wedding favors!!! Why would a girl who is notorious for not baking decide to bake one of the most difficult pastries in the world for her favors?
Because I love them and I’m obsessed with Laduree. By now everyone knows I love macarons. And no self-identified foodie could get away with NOT making her own something for her wedding, right? Right… if she’s crazy. And so it goes…
I attempted the ridiculous and actually succeeded after several tries. Read more…
Miss Mole, Los Angeles/Las VegasAge and Occupation: 29, Test Prep InstructorFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, User Experience ArchitectEngagement Date: April 2011Wedding Date: January 2012Venue: Wynn Las Vegas/Bouchon BistroAbout Me: I’m a Wisconsinite-turned-Angeleno who is planning a destination wedding in Las Vegas. I am passionate about education: I spent 23 (!) consecutive years in school, and now I work to help other people get into graduate programs. I love running on the treadmill, buying bath products from Lush, learning new moves in step aerobics, and exploring my neighborhood on foot. I am sometimes snobby about food, but I am rarely snobby about books. I read everything from Geoffrey Chaucer to Iris Murdoch to Chuck Klosterman to Candace Bushnell. My fiance and I are getting married on our third anniversary!
One of my favorite things about Los Angeles is the radio station KROQ. I love this station for two reasons: first, it broadcasts Loveline. I used to listen to this program every single night in college. Second, like me, KROQ seems to be musically stuck in the 90s. On my drive home the other day, I heard a collection of Stone Temple Pilots, REM, Harvey Danger (?!), Offspring, and Smashing Pumpkins songs.*** I was pretty pumped.
I am only a tiny bit embarrassed to admit that the evolution of my music tastes stalled somewhere between my junior and senior year of high school. What this means for our wedding, though, is that I am relying heavily on Mr. Mole to create our ceremony and reception playlists. He is much more musical, both in terms of his ear for good songs and his ability to play instruments and sing.
Since our ceremony is going to be relatively short, we were only faced with the task of picking a song for our processional and our recessional. The “our” in front of “processional” is purposeful: Mr. Mole is also going to be processing down the aisle with his mother! It only seemed fair that he also have a grand entrance. Read more…
Mrs. Taco, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 29, writer/editorFiance's Age and Occupation: 37, editorEngagement Date: May 13, 2009Wedding Date: August 2010Venue: The Green Room at the War Memorial Veterans BuildingAbout Me: I like laughing and talking with good friends over good food and good drink, be it wine, cocktail, or brew. I write and edit things for fun and profit, but I rarely "write" these days without a keyboard and high-speed internets. Favorites include Mr. Taco, my Boston terrier, San Francisco, getting out of town, and the Roaring ’20s. I was kind-of planning a wedding since roughly 2006, when I discovered "Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?" on the WE channel. I ran and didn't look back with a theme I called "urban vintage," and it culminated in the most magical day a taco could ask for.
I got married in August 2010 in San Francisco. In the time since “I Do,” I turned 30, grew my website (thanks, wacky SF public-transit), and celebrated a year of wedded bliss by overspending in Napa Valley. Sixteen months later, my dirty wedding dress is still hanging on a door in our apartment.
After not looking at our wedding photos for a bit, I couldn’t wait to see what the randomizer came up with.
Yeah, I dunno about this one. Excited face, for me, translates to either “mouth open” or “scrunchy face.” I do love bubbly, toasting, and that fella right there, so there is that.
Miss Eagle, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Age and Occupation: 22, Medical Sciences Graduate Student / Science Instructor Fiancee's Age and Occupation: 23, NurseEngagement Date: April 2011Wedding Date: August 2012Venue: Historic Lougheed HouseAbout Me: I'm a science-geek graduate student who is studying craniofacial malformations and evolutionary developmental biology. I have a passion for DIY crafts, amazing red wine, and all-things-wedding. Together with my wonderful fiancée, we are planning a formal black tie wedding filled with DIY projects and vintage decor. When I'm not reading about science-y things or wedding blogs, I enjoy teaching science-y things to kids and trying to be Martha Stewart incarnate.
I told you all that we absolutely fell in love with the online photos of The Lougheed House. It is a downtown venue that is exactly what we were looking for: downtown but secluded, vintage, intimate, and drop.dead.gorgeous.
We arranged to go and see the historic house with the venue’s event coordinator, Cathy Olson. However, it took us over three weeks from when we first contacted her to actually get an appointment time! This place is that popular and that busy. We crossed our fingers that we’d even be able to get something in summer 2012, because on the phone she had said it was already starting to book up fast.
When we finally got the grand tour, our jaws dropped. Literally. I think we were both speechless. See for yourself!
Mrs. Lioness, AtlantaAge and Occupation: 25, Physical TherapistFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, AttorneyEngagement Date: August 29, 2009Wedding Date: April 2011Venue: Anthony’s Fine DiningAbout Me: I’m a Southern girl with New England roots. I say "wicked" and "y’all" in the same sentence and I like to drink sweet tea with my lobster. Mr. Lion and I are both former Floridians now living in Atlanta, which fortunately is still SEC country...Go Gators! We both love baseball, coffee, traveling, cooking, and playing Words with Friends with each other on our iPhones all day long. I’m very passionate about the things and the people I love, and I tend to plan things with all of my heart...our wedding, of course, is no different! Oh, and also Mr. Lion is a first generation American of Cuban descent. I may look more like Lucy than Ricky, but I’m doing my best to incorporate some Latin elements into our vintage-garden-Southern wedding!
At this point in the day, I was very proud of myself for making it so long without crying. The day was over, and I had made it through dry-eyed. That is, until my bridesmaids said goodbye to me.
Only one of my bridesmaids lived in Atlanta at the time, and wedding planning was such a wonderful excuse to talk to them all the time and see them as often as possible. At this moment, it hit me that it was all really over. I lost it, and burst into tears. Read more…
ClassifiedsFeature Launched: April 30, 2008About: A roundup of the best Weddingbee Classified listings.
Miss Mink, Charlottesville, VirginiaAge and Occupation: 34, College AdministratorFiance's Age and Occupation: 40, Craft Beer ConsultantEngagement Date: November 26, 2010Wedding Date: June 2012Venue: Pippin Hill Farm & VineyardsAbout 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!
Early on in our planning process, I told myself that some of the little details about our wedding would only be noticed by me and a handful of others. I was convinced that most people just see “wedding” at a wedding and don’t really notice the details. I was okay with that. It also gave me freedom to ignore a few things that I could see myself making really complicated. Mr. Mink actually changed my mind about one of those things a few weeks ago.
Last month, we went to the wedding of a colleague at a local vineyard. It was a beautiful day. It was my first time attending a wedding since starting to plan my own, which is an interesting experience. On our way home that night, Mr. Mink commented on the napkins. He thought it was nice that the bride brought in napkins in one of the wedding colors. We had been planning on using the very nice, standard linens at our venue, but Mr. Mink suggested we look into getting napkins in one of our colors. That seemed simple enough.
This is where things get kind of interesting. Read more…
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.
The dress was on and it was time to go meet Mr. HW for our first look of the day! We found a really interesting little pathway around the side of the house and decided to meet there. I came down the steps from the east wing of the house.
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!
I’m a winter bride, and yes, we chose to have a winter wedding on purpose! People still seem to be so puzzled that we would want to get married during the time of year where, in the Midwest, it can plummet to unbelievably cold temperatures, and Mother Nature can drop 5 feet of snow on your butt overnight.
While we don’t wish to contend with this on the wedding day,
