Weddingbee Blog

When Mr. B and I started talking more seriously about an engagement, we had a number of discussions on religion. He is Catholic, and a majority of his extended family is Catholic. I am Lutheran, and my family is either Catholic or Lutheran. Although the two religions are very similar, there are some key differences between them. I didn’t, and still don’t really care about the location of our ceremony, but I was more concerned with who conducted the ceremony. My family has been attending the same church for the last 20 years, in which the same pastor has presided. It was/is important to me that we were both comfortable with the person performing the ceremony. For me, that meant someone we were very familiar with and knew well. Thus, an obvious choice was my pastor. However, it was/is important for Mr. B to have a Catholic ceremony. We discussed many different alternatives that would appease the both of us. For a while, I considered having an outdoor ceremony outside of either church. Of course, I quickly changed my mind when I remembered how unpredictable the weather in Texas is, and how expensive it would be to have a Plan B in case of rain, cold weather, or sweltering heat.

I think the most beneficial result of our discussions was that each of us was able to understand the other’s views of their own religion. We both respect that we were raised with different religious backgrounds, but we are more open to explore each other’s religions now that we have a better understanding of its importance.
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The criteria for our wedding colors were that they were to be 1) earth tones, and 2) fall-ish. Now I know most people think reds and oranges, but I interpreted that to mean cool colors in the dark spectrum:

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And I now present the colour palette: (Yes, that’s colour not color)

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As I started formulating a vision for our wedding, I’ll admit that one of the first things I started thinking about was decor for our reception venue. I wanted something that was:

1. Unique
2. Could be used again if possible
3. I could put together myself
4. Within our budget.

And so, I began my search for the perfect centerpieces. I knew that creating 20+ table centerpieces was not something I would be able to accomplish in the last week or two before our wedding. The solution? Non-floral centerpieces (at least not fresh floral centerpieces). And actually, I really wanted to avoid incorporating any fresh flowers in the entire wedding. Gasp! No fresh flowers? Yes, you heard me. I wasn’t against potted plants or flowers, I just thought (and still think) it’s such a waste to purchase fresh flowers that will just die in a few days. For a while, I was obsessed with the likes of succulents.

Here is a variety of succulents clustered together to make eye-candy. I love the color combination that the result produces.

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… finally! I am almost finished addressing these suckers and they will be in the mail this week! I bought the envelopes online. I had originally ordered a pretty cheap box of 100 ivory envelopes for about $15 (I can’t remember the source at the moment), but when they came in, they were thinner than I wanted them to be. So I ordered more, from PaperSource. In this case, price = quality. I think I paid $4.50/10 envelopes (I ordered about $25 worth). In the end, I wasn’t able to send every save the date in a PaperSource envelope, but now I know where to order my envelopes for next time.

Here are the PaperSource envelopes, neatly packaged:

I had thought about just printing addresses on the envelopes (easy right?), but then I saw how nice calligraphy (more like writing with a calligraphy pen) looks. So, I decided that maybe I could address them myself using a calligraphy pen. I narrowed it down to three different types:
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I didn’t know what an STD was before I started planning a wedding. In fact, Mr. B received a minor scare when I saved a file called “STD #1″ on his computer (oops, maybe I should have called it something else). In the beginning, I wasn’t going to make STDs. I thought they were a waste of time and money, but the more I perused the web, the more I began to see the necessity for them. It makes sense to notify your family and friends of such an important event. With all the time and effort that is put towards such an event, I wanted to make sure our family and friends would not miss out. I decided to create them myself, so I went to this crafting mecca and searched for my supplies.

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Mr. Beagle and I had picked out and bought *the* ring together about 3 months prior to our formal engagement, so I knew the proposal was coming, I just didn’t know when. I knew he wouldn’t propose on our anniversary, because we don’t have one. I thought (*hoped) he might propose on an upcoming trip to the beach we were taking to celebrate a family member’s graduation. However, my parents were in the process of moving back to Austin and would not be home until after our return. Mr. Beagle, being the gentleman that he is, really wanted to speak with them in person before the proposal to satisfy tradition. So I waited. And I waited. And I waited. My birthday was approaching, and I kind of put the proposal out of mind because I knew he wouldn’t do it then. When we talked about the proposal shortly after we bought the ring, I casually mentioned I didn’t want a proposal on my birthday—I told him I wanted our engagement to be on a day that was uniquely special to both of us, and not one that already had a special meaning to one of us. So naturally, that sneaky Mr. Beagle planned to do it the day before my birthday, to throw me off guard. Which he did.

On the day of the engagement, we started our morning with breakfast at the local cafe we love. While we sat enjoying our coffee, Mr. Beagle mentioned that it would be nice to visit a nearby winery later that afternoon. I said that might be nice, but honestly, I was really not that interested in going.
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Hello everyone! It’s Miss Beagle here, stepping up to the plate. (Oh my, I can’t believe I’m actually here!) Let me start by saying that I am so exited to have this wonderful opportunity to blog for Weddingbee! I hope that I will be able to provide you with as much inspiration as I have found over the last several months from obsessively stalking this website.

Now, getting down to business, let me tell you a little about myself and Mr. Beagle. We had been dating for almost 5 years when we got engaged last summer. We are both natives to Texas, and have called Austin our home for all of our lives… what can I say, we love it here! We share a love for coffee, NPR, good food, live music, and family. We are in the midst of planning a fall wedding (in Austin, of course!) for our 200+ guests on a budget, infused with details and lots of DIY.

The Beagles, circa Engagement Day ’08

So I guess your next question for me is why did I choose the beagle?
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