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.
I originally wanted to do tables relating to our degrees, but I could never come up with enough unique ideas for our number of tables. I’m really just not creative enough for wordplay (as you could probably tell by my awful titles).
Thus, I decided to just use numbers instead. It’s traditional. People won’t get lost. We are really more numbers people anyway. And as a minor subtle nod to the nerdy, we are starting our table count at zero.
I really thought that we would just do picture frames like what a lot of people have done with their tables. However, I really wanted a numbering system that people could see from multiple sides of the table as well as from far away.
Miss Manatee, Fort Worth, TXAge and Occupation: 21, Nursing StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Civil EngineerEngagement Date: October 2011Wedding Date: June 2013Venue: The Sanford HouseAbout Me: We're just two nerdy, library-bound romantics that found each other. We're planning our fun, ombre themed nuptials in Arlington, Texas! We love boating, romantic comedies, occasional visits to the gun range, and our little kitty Cade! Two years after an extremely successful blind date, we can't wait to start our lives together!
I know everyone says this, but I can’t believe I’m writing this! I really, really can’t.
And I can prove why!
When I turned in my application about a month ago, I was usually talking Mr. Manatee’s ears off about one of two things: the wedding, and getting into nursing school. More specifically,
Becoming a bee
Getting into nursing school at our current university, not somewhere in a galaxy far far away (like East Texas)
Now I may have gotten a C in statistics, but when I saw on the website that only 5% of applicants got accepted as bees, I knew enough to know that 5% roughly translates to…
So earlier this month, when I got accepted to nursing school at my university, which is rumored to have a 10% acceptance rate, I calculated (and I had to Google the equation—doh!) that my chances of getting into nursing school AND getting a good email from Mrs. Pengy were…0.005%! Good Lord! Case closed. Or so I thought!
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
If all goes well, we will be as happy as the crowd below on our wedding day. A month ago, I hired a day-of coordinator to help make sure everything goes (somewhat) according to plan, or at least that everyone has a smile on their face.
Mrs. Bunting, Grand Rapids, MIAge and Occupation: 25, freelance illustratorFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, retail/graduateEngagement Date: December 3, 2009Wedding Date: June 2011Venue: Spring Grove Park & St. George Banquet CenterAbout Me: I am a freelance illustrator and designer with a love of nature and a taste for adventure. Textures and color fuel my world, along with apple cider and noodles. I'll try anything once, especially if it involves heights or food. I've hiked the Grand Canyon, gone sky diving, cuddled a baby wolf, and now my latest venture consists of designing and planning a large wedding involving color, DIY details, love, and marrying my best friend.
Before we could really get the dancing party started, we had a few more traditions to uphold. The bouquet toss, for one!
I had DIY’ed a little toss bouquet out of the silk flowers I had bought for centerpiece mock-ups using hot glue and spare ribbon the night before. Brides, do not let yourself handle hot glue guns the night before your wedding. It just won’t lead to good things. I, for instance, was reckless in my stressed state of mind and ended up burning the tip of my finger on scalding glue. The burn promptly blistered before my eyes and there was nothing anyone could do. Fortunately, the blister was well protected by my thick, shellacked nail, so it didn’t bother me throughout the wedding. But the experience made me even more eager to chuck that offending bouquet into a crowd of rabid women. That’ll teach it.
All right, all right, so silk flowers can’t be taught lessons and the crowd of women was far from being rabid, but the toss was still fun!
All single ladies, even the engaged, assembled behind me.
I was secretly aiming for the woman in green, as you may notice. I was privy to her boyfriend’s tentative plans and thought it’d be some good ol’ foreshadowing.
La Mariee Bridal is contributing to the Superstorm Sandy Relief Fund! They are putting together a relief drive to raise money for the victims of Superstorm Sandy. Part of each transaction made in or online through La Mariee Haute Couture Bridal will devote funds to the Superstorm Sandy Relief through ABC7 and American Red Cross. Click on their listing for more information.
Have a wedding item for sale? Post it with pictures in the Weddingbee Classifieds, and you might see it featured on the blog!
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!
Looking back, the morning of our wedding makes me laugh…even though I was in tears at times.
We woke up and did our usual morning things. I gave Junior Mink his breakfast and Mr. Mink took him outside while I made coffee. Mr. Mink decided to go out and get bagels to hold us over until we met up with our respective parts of the bridal party for food in the afternoon. (I had ordered food to be sent to the bridal loft, and the guys made plans to go to a pizza place near our venue for lunch.) I packed the last of our decorations and supplies and Mr. Mink loaded them into my car.
Photo by Mrs. Mink
It was overcast outside, but otherwise the weather was just fine. It wasn’t all that hot or humid out, either. The optimism of the venue staff started to have an effect on me. Maybe they were right and the weather that was headed our way wasn’t going to be as bad as the weather reports predicted.
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!
The bouquet and garter toss can cause quite a debate in the wedding-planning community. Should you do it or not? Is it outdated? Does it isolate and embarrass the single folk?
I can understand both sides of the argument, but the thing is, I really wanted to toss that thing! I’ve been on the receiving end more times than I can count, and I wasn’t about to pass up my one chance to be the girl who gets to chuck the bouquet. Not only that, Ball Cap definitely wanted to do the garter toss—he was all about it!
We thought long and hard about our song choices. Ball Cap wanted something he could really get down to. “Mannish Boy” by Muddy Waters couldn’t have been more perfect.
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!
I was wondering just how long it would take for someone to snap up the manatee icon in our latest endangered species generation! Alas, she is finally here! Say hello to our newest bee, Miss Manatee!
Miss Manatee, Fort Worth, Texas Age & Occupation: 21, Nursing Student Fiance’s Age & Occupation: 22, Civil Engineer Engagement Date: October 2011 Wedding Date: June 2013 Venue: The Sanford House About Me: We’re just two nerdy, library-bound romantics that found each other. We’re planning our fun, ombre themed nuptials in Arlington, Texas! We love boating, romantic comedies, occasional visits to the gun range and our little kitty Cade! Two years after an extremely successful blind date, we can’t wait to start our lives together!
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.
Hive, I’m asking forgiveness from you, because I don’t actually have a written copy of our ceremony, and I have a terrible memory. The wedding ceremony is supposed to be the most important part of a wedding—but ours is locked away in some part of my brain that I can’t seem to access anymore.
It was a beautiful, simple, lovely ceremony, I assure you. My nerves just happened to creep in and erase all of those beautiful, simple, lovely words after the fact. I’ll do my best to give you an idea of what happened, if you’ll stick with me.
We were very easy-going when it came to our ceremony. During one of our Wedding Wednesday meetings, Mr. Dragon and I came up with a really rough outline for what we wanted—not going so far as writing in the actual words, but making a numbered list of headings, which we then allowed FIL Dragon, our officiant, to fill in as he pleased (these are the bolded words below).
We only had a few stipulations: we wanted a short ceremony, I didn’t want to be “given away,” and we wanted to write our own vows. The rest was up to FIL Dragon, who ran the final draft by us right before our rehearsal.
Mrs. 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.
I interrupt these recaps to you bring you…our wedding video! Unfortunately/fortunately (depending on your browser speed and time commitment to this blog post) I don’t have a quick two minute video to offer you. Instead, I present to you a 41 minute Unicyclestravaganza. To make it easier for you to participate in this one-of-a-kind viewing experience, here are some tips:
The password is unicycle
You may need to let it buffer for a bit, turn off HD (click on the little “HD” to turn it off), or watch it on a better computer (you know I’m worth it!).
I’ve included a play-by-play below so you know which parts to watch and which to skip, or so this post isn’t completely pointless to you if you can’t watch the video. I’m not going to go into great detail in this post, since that would spoil my future recaps, for which you’re currently all on the edges of your various seats.
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.
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
My mom felt really bad that we wouldn’t be able to hold a pie contest at the wedding. She, too, agreed that it would be fun to do something nontraditional for dessert, although she wanted to have a wedding cake regardless. So she came up with the brilliant idea of hiring an ice cream truck to deliver sweet treats to the reception right after the cake cutting. That’s right, y’all—we’re having an ice cream truck!
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.
PBear and I went to a wedding for a college friend of mine in August and had an absolutely great time. This is the first and probably only wedding we’re going to as an engaged couple, and it was nice to see how someone else’s decisions came together, especially when you have some idea of what you’d like and to see how that compares.
Mrs. Dalmatian, Nashville, TNAge and Occupation: 23, Pediatric NurseFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, Computer Engineer and Entrepreneur Engagement Date: April 13, 2011Wedding Date: May 2012Venue: Historic CedarwoodAbout 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!
After our primping was complete, it was time to head to the venue. We hopped into a cab and made the quick drive to Cedarwood. Can you tell that I was excited to arrive?
Every time I visited Cedarwood during our planning it had been incredibly fun and exciting to see the beautiful property, but to see the property with all of the details that we had selected and prepared, on our wedding day, was indescribably amazing. Hence my facial expression of pure glee.
As much as I would have loved to take time jumping up and down in excitement, we had to get down to business. We were armed with adorable matching embroidered bags that Mama Dalmatian gifted to me and my bridal party:
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!
Here is something I hear a lot of brides say: “I want my wedding to be timeless…” I get what they mean, really. But I don’t believe anything in a wedding is timeless, not in the way that brides want it to be. What I think most people really want is to look back on their wedding pictures and not think “what was I thinking?” I think weddings can be classically beautiful, but in 50 years, your wedding pictures will look 50 years old.
The only thing that is relatively timeless about weddings is the act of getting married. And even that has changed shape and style many times over in the recent past. We are people who grow and change with the times—it is only expected that our traditions and customs change with them (i.e. first looks, self uniting ceremonies, even interfaith weddings).
Here is a photo of my grandmother from her engagement photos back in 1944
Photo by Gimbels Department Store
Beautiful? Yes. Timeless? No.
Nature is timeless (mostly). I can take a picture of a mountain or a forest, and in 10, 20, 30 years even—save any natural disasters or people—the landscape will look relatively the same. People are not timeless, nor should we put the expectation on our wedding to be.
