Miss Cauldron, New York City/AustinAge and Occupation: 33, Human ResourcesFiance's Age and Occupation: 33, TechnologyEngagement Date: October 8, 2011Wedding Date: September 2012Venue: Pecan Grove at the Salt LickAbout Me: I grew up in the Lone Star State, but moved to NYC after college to get a taste of the Big Apple, and never left. I love baking, yoga, Mr. C, and sunshine (not necessarily in that order)! Mr. C and I met on Match.com back in 2007, and our second date was at a Texas barbecue restaurant in Manhattan. It’s only fitting that after almost five years together, we are getting married at an iconic Texas barbecue joint. (Shiner Bock and brisket, anyone?) I’m proud of the life we have built together around our love for each other, Mr. C’s crazy dog Bosley, and fun sailing adventures on our boat, and I’m looking forward to celebrating our marriage at one seriously awesome party in September.
Mrs. 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!
The day before our wedding was absolutely gorgeous. After manicures and pedicures with my bridesmaids in the morning, I went to Pippin Hill that afternoon for a walk-through with the venue staff. At this point, all of the different weather sources agreed that the remnants of Tropical Storm Beryl would arrive in the morning. I don’t know if they were trying to make me feel better, but the staff kept telling me that it wasn’t going to rain. The rain plan was discussed for a few minutes. The brevity of the rain-plan conversation made me nervous. They told me the call to put the rain plan into action would be made at 2:30 PM on the wedding day.
The walk-through did the exact opposite of what it was supposed to do. I felt like I was the only one being a realist. When every forecast says there’s a 100% chance of rain, you prepare for rain. I wanted to put the rain plan in action right then and there.
Photo by Dr. S
When people started arriving for the rehearsal, I gave my camera to Mr. Mink and told him that he was in charge. Documenting every step of the planning process was wearing on me and I wanted to enjoy having our friends and family around us. I’m thankful that Dr. S, one of my bridesmaids, also took some pictures.
Mrs. Gloves, Columbus, OhioAge and Occupation: 25, Executive AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, FirefighterEngagement Date: December 29, 2011Wedding Date: January 2013Venue: Cathedral ceremony, reception in a converted hardware warehouseAbout Me: I’m a blond-haired, blue-eyed Midwestern girl, who had grand plans of an international career, before the economy came crashing down right as I graduated college. I love travel, exploring other cultures, cooking for friends and family, and relaxing in a pedicure chair. My fiancé is the perfect, level-headed and logical counterpart for my impulsive tendencies, and the nicest person I’ve ever met. Lately, we like to spend our time renovating our new home, planning our wedding, and fitting in date night with friends. We are so looking forward to a wedding weekend jam-packed with all of our favorite people, plenty of food, and flowing champagne!
Happy Halloween, hive! Today officially marks McGlovin’s and my fourth anniversary of being inseparable. And, come to think of it, our seventh anniversary of meeting!
Original Facebook caption: Nina and me and…her two friends, one of whom is named McGlovin, I think.
As I’m sure I’ve explained briefly before, McGlovin and I were introduced to one another by a mutual friend on Halloween of our freshman year in college—I was getting ready in her dorm, and he was was hanging around with some friends. Most of that night is a blur (I don’t want to talk about it, but it was probably the second time in my life that I ingested alcohol), but legend has it that McGlovin and his friend tried to encourage my friend Nina and me to return to our dorm earlier than we were prepared to and we were very indignant (and also perhaps slurring to the point of being incomprehensible…oops!).We clearly did not make great impressions on one another that time!
Mrs. Potion, Herndon, VAAge and Occupation: 23, ITFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, SalesEngagement Date: November 26, 2011Wedding Date: November 2012Venue: St. John’s Catholic Church / SpringHouse, Alexander City, ALAbout Me: We are two complete and total geeks that met at engineering camp, of all places, and after several years of being in love long-distance, we’re finally at the beginning of a lifetime together. We’re working with a modest budget to plan a long-distance wedding full of handmade details, Harry Potter references, and, most importantly, lots of love. I could spend an entire afternoon watching Food Network while shopping for shoes online, while he’d prefer to pwn some n00bs on Halo while blasting Deadmau5 on his stereo. I taught him how to swing dance and he taught me to appreciate Tolkien; he introduced me to LOST and I introduced him to the BBC’s Sherlock. I’m a Gryffindor, he’s a Ravenclaw, and we can spend hours discussing and debating the finer points of Rowling’s masterpiece. We’re so excited to be setting out on this adventure and I can’t wait to share all the details with you!
I made some more signs for the reception with stamped letters on vintage maps!
{personal photo}
I went ahead and decided to not paint the frames for these signs, a decision largely driven by the ever-ticking clock, but also influenced by your suggestions.
I found this two-sided frame at Goodwill that I plan to place at the bar; on one side it will say, “eat, drink, and be married!” and on the other will be a list of alcoholic beverages available to encourage dancing. Observe:
Miss Panda, Boston, MAAge and Occupation: 26, Graduate StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, Graduate StudentEngagement Date: June 27, 2011Wedding Date: June 2013About Me: I love window shopping, cute animals, crafting, baking, and most forms of procrastination. I tend to be overly meticulous with choices to a point of complete and total indecision. Mr. PBear and I met and live in the amazing city of Boston. We are big nerds who love trying new foods, playing video games, and cuddling with our adorable hamster. After 5 years together, we are planning an intimate, DIY-heavy, vintage garden themed, nonreligious wedding in the city where we fell in love.
But I thought something was missing. I wanted something that I could play around with, while being easy and cheap to make. Enter shoe clips. Whoever came up with this idea is a total genius. Now you can change up your shoes very easily.
Mrs. Wallaby, Houston
Age and Occupation: 24, Environmental EngineerEngagement Date: January 1, 2012Wedding Date: November 2012Venue: Oak Tree ManorAbout Me: I'm a free-spirited, adventurous girl who loves anything active, reading, traveling, cooking up new dishes for my fiancé, and working on my budding garden. My fiancé is an athletic, intellectual, animal-loving guy with an obsession with basketball and who treats me with the deepest compassion and respect. We are both engineers, and we met at our workplace. Together we complement one another and make a great team, and we are excitedly counting down the days until our outdoor wedding in Houston in November. We're planning a green wedding with lots of Persian cultural touches, and I can't wait to share all of the before-and-after details of our special day
Mr. Wallaby and I have HUGE sweet teeth. We exercise frequently, and we generally eat pretty healthy, so we try to use those reasons to justify our daily sugar intake, but seriously, we both love all things sweet. I often bake homemade treats (Mr. W’s faves are chocolate chip cookies and molten chocolate cake), but we also love to go out for ice cream, frozen yogurt, or just to get a chocolate bar at the grocery store.
Now that I’ve told you about our sugar consumption habits, you may find this surprising: Mr. W and I don’t care much for wedding cake. Don’t get me wrong—I will always take a few bites of cake at weddings we attend. I would never pass up that opportunity. But I’ve found most wedding cakes to be fairly bland. Cakes decorated with fondant are especially low on my list—I prefer the yummy flavor of buttercream frosting to the sleek look of a cake covered in fondant. But even buttercream cakes have not generally piqued my palate. Mr. W has told me he feels the same way. He can’t remember enjoying any of the slices of wedding cake that he’s tried at past weddings.
Fondant wedding cake: so beautiful…but not Mr. W’s and my favorite dessert / Cake by Wildflowers by Lori / Photo via Wildflowers By Lori
Mrs. Dragon, Sioux Lookout/Brockville, ONAge and Occupation: 24, JournalistFiance's Age and Occupation: 35, Graphic DesignerEngagement Date: August 22, 2011Wedding Date: September 2012Venue: Mother of the Bride’s ResidenceAbout Me: I moved to Northern Ontario for a job, expecting to be single for the year I'd be there. Within one month I was dating a co-worker, and now, more than two years later, we’re planning a wedding and I’m still a Northern girl. I’m a reporter and a photographer for a small-town newspaper, and I get to do all kinds of fun, exciting, and sometimes weird things at work. When I’m not getting the scoop, I’m cooking, adventuring, playing with our three black cats, or blogging.
So. Last we left off, Mr. Dragon was hightailing it away from the altar, right as I got to the part of the aisle from where I could finally see him. Some of you may have figured it out already, but:
When we rehearsed, we didn’t practice the seating of the mothers.
During the actual processional, my mom decided to help the little girls to a better starting point rather than send them out from the house and hope they wouldn’t get distracted.
The rest of us started from inside the house instead of from where we had practiced, so our cues were made up on the fly.
The result? Everyone was up at the front and I was on my way down the aisle—and our moms were standing at the edge of the crowd, because they hadn’t been escorted to their seats! We threw everyone off by sending Mom Dragon out with the flower girls, and it didn’t occur to any of the bridesmaids to break and let the mothers in (not that I blame them—I didn’t think of it either, obviously, because I was so surprised by Mr. Dragon’s sudden departure from the altar).
Mom Dragon and FMIL Dragon had decided they’d tuck in behind me, but Mr. Dragon was determined to get them seated, and properly, so he took his opportunity during the break between MOH Michelle and me.
Mrs. Lyre, PhiladelphiaAge and Occupation: 31, LibrarianFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Government EmployeeEngagement Date: November 11, 2011Wedding Date: January 2013Venue: Atrium at the Curtis CenterAbout Me: I’m a book loving, photography obsessed, artsy/crafty bride to be, who was dating all the wrong men, until I met the right one, and where one story ended - our new life together began. He’s a video game loving, quirky t-shirt wearing, movie quoting geek who stole my heart, and welcomed me into his. Together we are a happily co-habitating couple, who live in South Jersey, and are planning a wedding in Philadelphia in January 2013. We love to cook, share a bottle of wine, and watch way too much TV; we laugh all the time, don’t sleep nearly enough, and cannot wait to begin our lives as husband and wife!
Remember a long long time ago, when I told you how we would be booking our mini-moon (dubbed “Nectar Moon” by Mr. Ly) through Groupon or LivingSocial or some other flash sale travel site? Yeah…that didn’t happen.
As we got closer and closer to the 100-day mark, I got more and more nervous that we didn’t have a place set yet for our Nectar Moon. I looked through as many travel sites as I could think of from Cheap Caribbean to Groupon to JetSetter (through Gilt) and every other travel site out there. The prices for January, when they were even available, were WAY more than we were hoping to spend…or the resort had terrible ratings for the rooms and/or food and/or staff, or was somehow tied to a timeshare company (one of the one things we did NOT want for our short trip was to be hassled to sit through a sales pitch!). So, we were left with a few options—the first being to not go away. I definitely did not like this option, at all. The second option was to go somewhere close/driveable. And the third option was to up our budget and splurge on our Nectar Moon. We went for option three. When we originally budgeted for our four-day trip, we wanted to spend about $2,000 on everything including airfare, taxes, tips, and all food & drinks. This seemed doable, and truth be told, if we were less picky about the resorts we were willing to stay at, we could have most definitely done this. After my failed LivingSocial deal, I decided I would just hand over the responsibility to Mr. Ly and let him choose where we would go.
Mrs. Sword, ChicagoAge and Occupation: 28, Nanny/ActressFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Software EngineerEngagement Date: February 19, 2012Wedding Date: March 2013Venue: Embassy Suites Bloomington West in Bloomington, MNAbout Me: I am a true girly-girl originally from the great state of Minnesota and my fiancé hails from the beautiful country of Scotland. We met and fell in love in our favorite city, Chicago, and are having a blast blending our cultures for "A Highland Fairy Tale" wedding! We are truly a case of opposites attract in that he’s a world traveling introvert and I’m a social butterfly who is never too far from home. We both love hanging out with family and friends, fine dining, and laughing at ourselves. He drinks a lot of beer and I talk too much. We wouldn’t have it any other way!
The title of this blog post is an answer to a question. That question is, “WHY, Miss Sword, why have you watched (more than once) Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses?”
The answer is because I’m a nanny, that’s why. Littlest C LOVES this movie, and I have to admit it’s not that bad! Truthfully I enjoy kid movies. And while I’m not that into Barbie in general, if Barbie is going to pretend she is a princess and have 11 sisters, I’m GAME.
Mrs. Wizard, PittsburghAge and Occupation: 22, Front-end Web DeveloperFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, Software ProgrammerEngagement Date: June 8, 2011Wedding Date: June 2012Venue: Glades Pike Winery, Somerset, PAAbout Me: I’m a born-and-raised Pittsburgh girl marrying a born-and-raised Pittsburgh dude. I’m a stubborn Italian with a huge personality, and I love oldies music, baking, housewifery, and all things Harry Potter. He’s a quiet, level-headed guy who loves my cooking and laughs good-naturedly at my lack of verbal filter. He’s an intellectual who likes to learn, and can often be found going on "Wiki walks" and landing on the most hilariously weird articles imaginable. We truly are a case of "opposites attract," and we balance each other out perfectly. We keep each other sane and make each other laugh so hard we cry almost every day, and that’s all I could ever ask for. Together we’re planning a simple, elegant, summery June wedding, and we can’t wait to be Mr. and Mrs.!
So you readall aboutour ceremony, and you think that everything was hunky-dory and romantic and sappy and beautiful, right? Well, I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you about how it really was. Gotta keep it real, right?
After we signed the register, as Wizard Aunt was reading our marriage blessing, I noticed something wiggling near Mr. Wiz’s left ear. As I looked closer, I realized…oh my %#@$, he had a spider on his head. Literally a spider, crawling all over the side of his head and glasses. Don’t believe me? Look here (apologies in advance to Mr. Wiz for posting this extreme closeup of his face!):
The angle of that photo makes it look smaller than it was; it wasn’t huge by any means, but it definitely wasn’t insignificant either. In the minute or so that it took Wizard Aunt to read the closing blessing, it had dangled from his glasses, crawled all over the side of his head, and disappeared somewhere behind his ear.
So as Wizard Aunt was closing out our ceremony and pronouncing us husband and wife, I was a bit preoccupied. I showed you this picture in the last post:
Mrs. Otter, Indianapolis, INAge and Occupation: 22, Freelance Social Media ConsultantFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, CVS Shift SupervisorEngagement Date: November 11, 2011Wedding Date: April 2013Venue: Mustard Seed GardensAbout Me: I'm a born and raised Hoosier girl, but a diehard Michigan Wolverines fan. I have a tendency to take too many photos and spend full days having TV marathons. Mr. Otter and I met in high school, started dating a couple years later, and moved in after a month of being official. He is easygoing and makes plans on a whim, while I'm color coordinating my planner and organizing everything in sight. He hates glitter, but it's my favorite thing. I have tattoos and he still won't get one, despite my attempts to convince him. We're planning a small, rustic, and (hopefully!) peony-filled wedding to get our married life started. (And yes, there will be glitter involved!)
So now that I’m a wedding pro (I’m just kidding, I swear!) I wanted to share some of my wedding-planning advice thus far.
*But first, a disclaimer: This advice is based on my planning experience. Everybody does their planning their own way—some hire a coordinator, some are all DIY; it’s whatever works for you.*
Mrs. Toadstool, Obregon, MexicoAge and Occupation: 23, Research AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Sales ManagerEngagement Date: October 1, 2011Wedding Date: December 2012Venue: Hacienda los AgavesAbout Me: I’m a born and bred Mexican girl with a severe coffee addiction, an obsession for books and an aversion for exercise. I like to plan things, so this wedding’s my dream project---I just need to remind myself from time to time that I’m the bride and not just the planner. I recently realized brown’s my favorite color as I was trying to incorporate it in every aspect of our wedding and I'm dreaming of an autumn vibe since we don’t have that around here. I’m marrying my best friend and partner in crime on the day of our nine-year anniversary! He’s an awesome, smart, fun guy who is patient, and crazy enough to spend the rest of his life with me. We’re planning our not-so-dreamy dream wedding in December in a non-traditional way and making it our own.
After a lot of thinking about guestbooks, I realized I really want a tree, and not just any tree, but an autumn looking tree.
When I last talked about guestbooks, guest poster Ashley gave me this link for this free printable tree design (the same one Miss Panda will be using):
Mrs. Gray Wolf, Washington DCAge and Occupation: 26, Business Development ExecutiveFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Research ScientistEngagement Date: November 11, 2011Wedding Date: February 2013Venue: Whittemore HouseAbout Me: I'm an ultra-organized, pun-loving, list-making, cheese-enthusiast bride-to-be. Although my day job is in cubicle land, I'm happiest in the modern art wing of a museum, having recently earned my Masters in Museum Studies. Shortly after a chance meeting five years ago, I moved in with Wolfman and haven't looked back since. We love music, movies, TV, and all things pop culture; we have an unspoken competition to be the first to share the latest YouTube sensation or indie song. Together, we've filled quite a few pages in our passports, but also love quiet nights in with a Game of Thrones marathon and our French Bulldog, Tonks (Harry Potter, anyone?). I'm planning a small, cozy winter wedding---think mercury glass and candle light---in the heart of DC. Our venue is a historic home with a lot of political charm, but needs a bit of work to be wedding-ready.
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.
