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!
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!
Hello again, hive lovelies! My last post was at 18 days out, and here we are, just five days left! What’s been going on? Here are some things in the Gloves’ lives:
Mrs. Beanstalk, Boston/Delray BeachAge and Occupation: 27 Retail Manager & Freelance Graphic DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 30 & UI DeveloperEngagement Date: July 4, 2011Wedding Date: October 2012Venue: Sundy House in Delray Beach, FloridaAbout Me: I’m a Miami girl living up in New England. I went to art school. I’m addicted to coffee (especially of the Cuban variety). I’m engaged to the most amazing guy who always knows what to say or do to make me laugh! I love to bake cupcakes and cookies. I work in the fashion industry. I have a huge sweet tooth. Green is my favorite color (but pink is a close second). I am a huge music lover and usually have a different favorite song each week. Photography is one of my true passions. I love fairy tales and pumpkins. I like all things pretty and ruffly. I love to read (oh, and I love to write). My fiancé and I are planning an October destination wedding in Delray Beach, Florida that is going to be filled with tons of DIY details and, of course, pumpkins!
Friday marked two months that the Beanstalks have been married. Don’t worry, that’s not the reason behind this post. I’m writing to let you all know about something that arrived in the mail that day…
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.
Our priest started off our ceremony with an opening prayer and a speech about how our decision to get married was a “gutsy move,” a “huge act of faith,” and “a bad case of the warm fuzzies.” I can’t/don’t want to transcribe his whole speech, but he basically just said we wouldn’t be here without being taught by our friends and families how to love, and that we had no idea what was in store for us in the future (because we are young, naive, and stupid, basically—again, I’m paraphrasing). You can hear this poignant speech in our video if you so desire. We had Mr. Unicycle’s brother/best man do the first reading, then there was a responsorial psalm, and then my cousin did the second reading. Next was the gospel and homily. We don’t have a written copy of the ceremony, and out wedding video is edited so I can’t provide a word-for-word script, but that would be boring anyway. We didn’t get to choose most of what was said; we chose from a few options for readings, but that was it. Instead, enjoy the pics!
Mrs. Squirrel, Tampa, FLAge and Occupation: 25, Genetic CounselorFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Graphic Designer/ Engineering StudentEngagement Date: March 17, 2012Wedding Date: May 2013Venue: Davis Island Garden ClubAbout Me:
I am a DIY loving, science dork. I like to eat green peppers every day and I wish all clothes would be made with bows and lace. I moved to the South for grad school and stumbled across Mr. Squirrel, aka Southern Gent extraordinaire. We moved to Tampa, Florida and are starting a new life together. We are so excited to get married! Our ceremony will be in a Catholic church and the guests will then take a boat ride to the outdoor reception. We are channeling a Midsummer Night's Dream and plan to have lots of twinkling lights, moss, and whimsy in the air.
Sometimes math gives me a headache. OK, actually it always gives me a headache. I am amazed at where I am today considering how poorly I did in college calculus. (I’m not looking to give details, but just know there were no As, Bs, or Cs involved.)
I am definitely a big-picture person. I can see the big vision, but often get bored with all the details that help achieve it. As I discussed previously, I was getting pretty pumped to have a grand feasting table that would weave in and out of the trees at our reception site. After looking at a few rental companies, I realized serpentine tables were what I needed. Used properly, serpentine tables can look fantastic.
After feeling confident in my table decision, I started to panic about how the tables would be set up. I worried the layout wouldn’t work out, and I wanted to confirm the space would fit our guest count. So I waited until my mom was in town, gathered the rest of the troops (aka Christi, my coordinator, as well as the florist I am using, Arlene Floral Designs), and had everyone meet at the reception site. Arlene showed up with this bad boy:
junkpicker shares a photo of her two-tone pink bridal shoes.
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. 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.!
The end of our reception was kind of an emotional roller coaster, so buckle in, hive. A little while after our little Cee Lo induced dance-fest, I looked around the reception room and realized that it was really just immediate family left. Our photographers approached us and I knew what was coming: they were leaving too. It wasn’t even 9:00 PM yet—the sun was just setting!—and our reception was basically over.
So there I was, watching the sun set on my wedding day while parents, aunts and uncles, and, of all people, my groom, tore down the day that was 12 months in the making. The music was turned off. The tablecloths were rolled up off the tables. The candles were blown out. The icicle lights were unplugged and taken down. The cake was boxed up. All of the details I had planned to perfection were gone in an instant, and we were alone in an echo-y, generic banquet room. I sunk into a chair at a table with MOH Lefty and Wizard Aunt and she asked me, “Are you sad?”
I tried to shrug it off but I could feel the dam breaking. “Yeah…a little…” That was all it took to bring on the deluge. I collapsed into Lefty’s shoulder and sobbed. It sounds so shallow and superficial and priorities-in-the-wrong-place, but let’s be real: It’s a little bit upsetting for a bride to see her wedding day disassembled around her earlier than planned. Especially because at that moment I was feeling embarrassed, wondering what I did so wrong as a host that caused the mass exeunt practically the moment guests had finished their cupcakes.
Miss Mongoose, New Haven, CTAge and Occupation: 28, Digital AdvertisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Business DevelopmentEngagement Date: November 19th, 2011Wedding Date: May 2013Venue: Hotel Nelligan in Montreal, CAAbout Me:
I was born and raised in Queens, NY (though you would never know due to my lack of a "real" New York accent) but currently live in Connecticut with my fiance. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a crazy obsession for planning and organizing things, so it comes as no surprise that I'm currently obsessed with planning our wedding. I love dancing, music, traveling, reading fiction novels, cooking, the color blue, cupcakes, all things space science-related and TV shows created by Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams. My fiance and I have been together for seven years and are so excited to finally get married next year. We are planning a peacock-themed destination wedding in Montreal, one of our favorite cities in the world, with 100 or so of our closest family and friends. While we may look very different on the outside, we have eerily similar personalities (probably due to the fact that we share the exact same birthday) and share very similar passions. But above all else, we love each other and love to have FUN!!!
Today’s post is inspired by the fact that I had to bring my engagement ring to the jeweler for its first annual cleaning yesterday. I dropped it off at the jeweler who sold FH my ring (and who of course was trying to upsell me on the male and female wedding bands!—but apparently she gave FH a great deal on my ring so we’ll definitely consider her for the bands), which got me thinking about how I’ve been taking care of my ring, so just wanted to share that with you guys.
Mrs. Armadillo, Houston, TexasAge and Occupation: 23, Graduate StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Armed Security OfficerEngagement Date: September 28, 2011Wedding Date: March 2013Venue: First Presbyterian Church/Bay City Civic CenterAbout Me: I’m an oldies-loving, board game-playing, coffee addicted fine arts junkie from Southeast Texas in pursuit of her master’s degree in communication studies who met the goofy, strong, artistic, and unexpected love of her life in the beautiful piney woods of East Texas. Serendipity threw us together again and again (and again) on our college campus before we eventually stuck, but when we finally did submit to destiny, we hit the ground running and never looked back! We’re planning a religious, small town, budget-friendly, DIY-infused “winter becomes springtime” ceremony and reception to celebrate the beginning of our lives together with the people we love the most, and are pouring our hearts and souls into making sure our wedding represents us as a couple down to the nitty gritty details and balances tradition with the quirky individuality that is uniquely and unequivocally “us”!
Hello there, fellow illustrious members of the hive! Can you believe it’s almost 2013? I thought I needed to write at least one last post before the new year to wrap up a few things before we start the final stretch of wedding planning. I feel kind of bad about being sort of quiet around these parts lately, but if truth be told, not much wedding planning has been going on in the Armadillo household. What HAS been going on around here, though, is presents. ALL KINDS OF PRESENTS! Wanna know what I got for Christmas this year?
OMG!
Seriously, when I opened that Kitchenaid mixer Mr. A got me for Christmas this year, I was rendered completely speechless. Admittedly, it was the one item on our registries I reeeeeally wanted but figured no one would buy for us since it’s a tad bit on the pricey side…and Mr. A went off and bought it for me, himself! I guess he figured it’s the gift that keeps on giving, especially since I’ve already used it twice to bake some delicious goodies for him! I’ll admit I’ve been kind of obnoxious with it, but who wouldn’t want to use a sweet piece of culinary machinery like that any chance they’ve got? (“Scrambled eggs for breakfast, you say? Hold on–I have the appropriate machine for this now. I got this.”)
I also received a very important piece of Weddingbee paraphernalia in the mail the other day from Mrs. Potion:
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
…And so began Mr. W’s note that he sent up with Bridesmaid K, along with a pretty little teal box wrapped up in white ribbon. Swoon.
(I am absolutely mad for any movie starring Audrey Hepburn, but especially Breakfast at Tiffany’s…When Mr. W and I were in New York, right before he engaged me, we had breakfast at Tiffany’s. Well, I did, and Mr. W went along with it. What a man.)
Everyone made me read the note aloud, and soon we all let out the first round of tears of the day.
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!
Ohmygosh, I can’t believe it’s almost 2013! The year of our wedding! A big congrats to all of the bees who got married in the lovely year of 2012, but I’m pretty excited about the next set of unique weddings that are on the horizon (even though I used to wish I could have been married in an even year.) OH the battles you never pick and never mean to share on the internet!
Anyway, I can’t wait to get started sharing all of my updates with everyone, so to start things off here is a little DIY (destroy-it-yourself) done by yours truly! But first:
Most of the DIY’s for my wedding have been orchestrated and constructed by Sister/MOH Big Eyes. She is my personal wedding slave craft-er and she did an amazing job on everything. But these DND signs were my baby! :)
I’m not sure where I first saw the Do Not Disturb sign used in a wedding but I knew right away that it was something I was going to incorporate into my OOTG (out-of-town guest) bags. My search began online trying to find templates and ideas for wording where I was fortunate enough to stumble upon a forum where someone had commented about Vistaprint having a deal that included 50 free rack cards. So to pay it forward, make sure you go to Vistaprint to get your free rack cards too! (Hopefully the sale is still going on.)
For those who don’t know what a rack card is (I didn’t realize that’s what they were called), it’s a long skinny brochure cut of paper that is usually used for advertising, but they are also the PERFECT size for hanging signs off of doorknobs.
Luckily, I was able to design both the front and the back of the card and at first I was completely stumped at what to do. I thought of using another engagement photo but thought that too redundant. I thought of leaving the background blank while focusing on fancy/fairy tale type of font but thought that too boring. And then it hit me, the tartan! OF COURSE!
Mrs. Fox, Washington DC/Havre de Grace, MDAge and Occupation: 26, Massage TherapistFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Field Support EngineerEngagement Date: April 18, 2010Wedding Date: June 2012Venue: Vandiver InnAbout Me: I’m a dancer turned massage therapist who was born and raised in New York. Alas, true love has brought me “south” where I still maintain my penchants for pretty shoes, wine, crossword puzzles, cherry blossoms, and the Mets. I own more sunglasses than a normal person should and don’t eat red meat (though I make up for it by eating my weight in sushi). I tend to be a big planner who likes to get things started early, but generally end up being indecisive and procrastinating when it comes down to it. I have a (not so) secret crush on Chris Carrabba, but my loyalty and love ultimately goes to the future hubs, of course! Together, my Foxy man and I love to discuss (read: debate) politics and current events, have Mario Kart and Scrabble duels, and just laugh. A lot. We’re hoping and planning for a laid back, fun, summery, rustic vibe to our June wedding that will be genuinely “us” – that is, if we finally make some decisions. Huzzah!
Yes, the guestbook gets its own post. From start to end, this thing took a lot of time, a lot of love, and it absolutely had it’s fair share of frustrating moments. So I have to do it justice.
Plus, I’m kind of obsessed with the way it turned out!
If you recall from wayyy long ago, I started out with my bum traced drawing of the UP house, with the intention of having it eventually be turned into a fingerprint guestbook. It was fairly decent on it’s own, but not perfect by any means. As luck would have it, once I turned to the ’bee for advice, fabulous hive member Miss.E helped a sista out and was able to vectorize the image for me. And it was perfection.
