Weddingbee Blog

A little while ago Emily at oncewed posted the cutest crowd-entertainer for a wedding: a huge love-themed word search!

The lovely bride and groom, as seen by Carl Zoch

This seems like such a wonderful way to include your guests in some ice-breaker activities. It reminded me of a scene from Dan in Real Life where the family is gathered together at their summer home. The new girlfriend (or fiancée? ) is getting to know the family throughout the week, and lucky her - they love family activities!

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Part 2

In May, we flew to Thailand! This was a long trip, and you know what I learned? American Airlines SUCKS. We flew american to Tokyo, and then JAL to Bangkok. I guess the airlines in Japan are subsidized by the government or something, because we got unlimited access to any movie or new TV show (hello HOUSE marathon!!), they wake you up to give you sushi, and you can sprawl across five seats! It’s glorious.

Since this is really more like a honeymoon, I’ll give you guys the deets more like that. Everyone should have a honeymoon before they get married anyways, right?

In Bangkok we stayed at a place called Phranakorn Nornlen. This couldn’t have been any better of a refuge in crazy Bangkok! The beds are stiff, but ALL the beds in Asian hotels are stiff (compared to my pillow-top, at least!). The mood of the place is tranquil, relaxed, and refreshing, and every morning they serve you a freshly made vegan breakfast. Man, I wish I had my picture of the food! It was SO delish!

source: Phranakorn Nornlen

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There’s something about weddings that’s seriously screwed up. So many expectations, it’s impossible to tackle the rationality! Take, for example, guest lists. Obviously, unless you’re in the top 0.1% of the US pay bracket, you’re going to need to trim the fat somewhere. And what the heck is up with people you hardly know - but are related to via some 3rd cousin half removed - feeling entitled to an invite? And then getting pissy when they don’t? It’s as if weddings are a blank check for people to drink the crazy juice.

source

Don’t get me wrong, I love my family. And I love my friends. I’m deeply saddened I don’t get the opportunity to see them more often. That said, I want for our wedding to be personal. You know what I mean? I.e., we know the people we see there, we can actually hang out with them, and it doesn’t turn into a “fawn over Mr. & Miss Bear Cub”-fest. Thanks, but I’d rather not have 200 eyes on me. I can hardly handle 30 when I teach!
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The few months before we were “officially” engaged were torture! At this time (late February, 2008), my mom and dad, and his mom, dad and step-mom were the only people we had told of our intentions to seal the deal. They were instructed to keep their lips sealed tight.

We saw one potentially MAJOR issue to the wedding – when?? Mr. Bear Cub accepted the position in Chile with a start date of Oct 1, 2008. I was in the application process for a job nearby in Chile, but I had no idea if they would select me (this was the first “career” job I’d ever applied for!). If I was going to move to Chile with Mr. Cubbie, what would my visa status be if I didn’t get the job? Would I be a tourist? … Really?? I’d have to leave the country every 3 months! The thought alone was a nightmare. What if one of us got injured while we were living abroad? The other wouldn’t have legal power of attorney over the injured loved one! (Remember those legal reasons for which people actually marry?) They wouldn’t be able to see them, decide medical/legal issues… and probably worse things I don’t even know about! It’s really only for this reason that we told our parents we were “engaged” before it was legit – for legal counseling! (I know! So romantic, huh? ) None of our parents are attorneys, but c’mon, parents are always the best place to start for life advice!

My parents told us about power of attorney and all that scary “what if” stuff. At this point, we toyed with the idea of being legally married before we left the country, and then getting “weddinged” the following year. We both would love for the wedding ceremony to contain the entire process in one fell romantic swoop, but for the time being we kept the courthouse wedding as an option if I were not offered the job in Chile.
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Yep, that’s right - we got engaged on what most people would consider an extravagant honeymoon in Thailand! Now before you think I’m made of money (which I’m not - remember I was in grad school!!), I have to tell you a little bit about a profession called: astronomy. No, not astroLOGY, ASTRONOMY. Don’t worry if you thought they were one in the same - about 75% of the random people I meet think they are! Alas, Miss Cleo, I am not (Duh! I’m Miss Bear Cub ).

The Milky Way Galaxy, our home!

Anyway, astronomy is a rather small professional community. Add to the fact that there are as many sub-fields in astronomy as there are stars in the sky (hah!), and you find that your “coworkers” live on the other side of the world. Mr. Cubbie and I met in grad school for astronomy, and each of our research fields are completely alien to the other (heehee ).
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I’ve been a little (very) hesitant to include actual red poppies in my bouquet, on the tables, etc. Why? Poppies are so fragile! I’ve been worrying they’ll fall apart. But just look at how adorable this french bride is with her red poppies!

C’est si français!!

It’s perfect French countryside! What a wonderful way to start your wedding day - picking wildflowers.

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You might say I had some pretty severe internal conflict when it came to defining our wedding “colors” or “palette”. I didn’t want anything too defined! You can’t hold me back from pairing green and red and purple! and brown! …. and cream! You could say I’d have benefited from some good idea refining.

Everyone and their momzilla needs to go here right now:

Hey! Not so bad, eh?

Maybe I’m not the most “with-it” fiancée when it comes to the wedding color palette (because the ring on the fingy must mean I have an honorary arts degree—what? You don’t?). Even if you’re much more color-confident than myself, I recommend a gander at this crazy Flickr widget thing!

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Three years ago, I flew back to California from Chile. This is actually the 2nd time I’ve lived in Chile! There’s an awesome 3-month summer science research program for undergraduates at the observatories in Chile, and I took advantage of this before I finished my bachelors.

When I came home, I didn’t yet know Mr. Bear Cub. In fact, I was living with my (now ex) boyfriend. We both knew it was going to end soon, though. A month after I was back in the states, he drove with me (and all my crap) to help me move in to my new life in New Mexico. This was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. I was with this guy for nearly 4 years of my life, and even though I had loved him, I knew we wouldn’t make it as a couple (friends, maybe, but we’ll see on that).

Anyway, in July of 2006 I uprooted myself and moved to New Mexico to start a new chapter in my life. I started grad school, I was single, and I was making friends on my terms.

While I was settling into my office one day, a little Bear Cub popped out of a box to greet me!

NMSU, July 2006

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Alright!! Colors! Inspiration! Glitter! Consumerism!

As much as I hate to admit it (what am I talking about? I love this sh¡t!), colors and inspiration can be a good thing! After leaving a friend’s wedding in early July, Mr. Cubbie & I started to talk a bit about what we wanted our wedding to look like and feel like. I like flowers as much as the next person, but I’ve never been so wild about any particular type. I mostly like them to just be there, and feel natural. What’s more natural than wildflowers?? So we birthed the idea of lavender and poppies to inspire the wedding ambiance! Who could say no to lavender? And c’mon - poppies? E.g., California poppies, golden poppies, red poppies, orange poppies… so pretty! So fragile! So inspirational! The only problem with this is that I don’t want everything to feel so (excuse the pun) pop-y. Colors that pop everywhere is just a bit overload. And not so natural, either (I think). So maybe the Muting of the Poppies will be necessary. I think it’ll be possible. Especially with lavender undertones. This getting a bit boring yet? Don’t fret, I’ve got wedding porn!

(All of the following pics come from snippetandink)

Here we have the lovely “wheat field inspiration board”. Look! Lavender! And it doesn’t look cheesy!!! We were thinking seriously about having the reception in a barn at a camping lodge, so this is right up our alley.
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Hi there!

I’m so excited to bee here with you! I’m Miss Bear Cub, but you can call me Miss Cubbie. I’m no good at introductions - I prefer to jump ahead to being friends!

I’ll give you a bit of background on me, though. I’m originally from a small town in Southern California, but I moved around a bit before I graduated high school in Dallas. I got my undergraduate degree in Astronomy and Physics from the University of Southern California (Fight On!), and I completed my masters degree in Astronomy at New Mexico State University in Southern NM.

While in grad school, I met my future husband - future Cubbie Hubbie! Mr. Bear Cub is originally from Portland, Oregon, but he went to high school in Belgium. We learned fast that we both love to travel, we love rain (really!), gardening, NPR, hiking and camping, and generally being as goofy and silly as can be!

Cannon Beach, OR Dec 2006

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