Weddingbee Blog

It’s dorky, and even a tad snobby. Since mister and I fancy ourselves foodies, when we’re dining out, we usually order two dishes we’d both like to try. Our meals arrive, and we taste our own first — but quickly load a fork with a bite for each other to sample. We often end up passing our bread plates back and forth, filling and refilling them — or we just swap entree dishes halfway through the meal. And if we’re really enjoying the cuisine, we’ll trade notes and attempt to guess any secret ingredients.

We never really even discussed the possibility of not having a sweetheart table. Mr. Bruschetta and I will attend most (hopefully all!) of our cocktail hour, and during this time, we’ll make the rounds and greet our guests — so we can spend our first married meal savoring each other’s company, and the delicious dishes!

(source)

Read more…

After we nixed the plan for plain cake with gourmet sauces — um, yeah, I’m going back to one of my posts from mid-May — I realized I was pretty jazzed about our new, traditional dessert. Why? Complimentary tastings!

One afternoon + two bakeries = a LOT of cake. (Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.) Mrs. Cupcake’s tasting had sounded delicious, so I made sure we stopped into Sweet Jazmines first. The second spot was yummy, but it focused on pound cake and fondant (rather than layer cake and buttercream) so in our opinions, it really didn’t compare.

We received a generous sample platter of just some of Sweet Jazmines flavors. (Thanks for taking — and labeling! — this picture, Mrs. Cupcake!)

(source)

Read more…

(source)

Yesterday, my coworkers “surprised” me with a wedding shower. My supervisor had asked me last week to block off Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. for a meeting, and was extremely evasive when I inquired about specifics. So I was already suspicious as he led me down the (uncharacteristically quiet) hall. When he started pushing open the conference room door, I heard giggles and shushing… and realized I was dreading this little party!

In the almost two years I’ve worked in this office, the unofficial party planning committee has pulled together nearly a dozen baby showers — but not a single wedding-related soiree, as I was the only engaged employee.
Read more…

- collective noun
a wedding processional/recessional comprised of many people — including a combination of bridal party and family members — with specific roles in the ceremony

Grabbing an aisle seat gives you the best view of the aisle fleet during the processional and recessional.

(You know I think turtles are the cutest –
but they’re really not as slow as everyone thinks!)

Yes, I have a tiny family. And yes, our wedding party is small-to-medium-ish. But our processional? That bad boy’s gonna be pretty big!
Read more…

Yup, turtles. Again. We love ’em — and I did warn you we’d be weaving them throughout our reception.

Several months ago, I spotted this blog post. As the photographer writes, the couple shared a kiss at the reception whenever guests rang a bell — but only if the ringer made a donation to a charity the couple had designated.

Daddy Bruschetta, who will welcome everyone and offer his own brief remarks once our guests are seated for dinner, has agreed to briefly explain the “rules” for our dinner game. We’ll encourage guests to clink their glasses to request we kiss. We won’t comply, though, unless the guest contributes funds to benefit the Wetlands Institute.

Here’s where I need your help and input! I’m still unsure whether we should set a price — $1 per kiss? $2 per kiss? — or leave it open to our guests. If we decide on an amount, will guests participate?
Read more…

Having accepted that we wouldn’t be able to make our edible favors, I started researching possible treats we could purchase.

Traditional chocolate turtles, or turtle-inspired fudge? Both sounded delicious, but would cost more than we were willing to spend. Immediately, I liked the idea of sweets from the shore, though, which would “fit” with our late summer wedding, as well as our charity donation to benefit the coastal-dwelling diamondback terrapins.

Next, I thought of caramel corn. Does a gourmet popcorn flavor exist that blends caramel with chocolate and pecans? Within a few short days, I was practically a gourmet popcorn pro, having Googled my way to a number of companies with favor-worthy products.

(source)

Read more…

My name is Miss Bruschetta, and I’m a two-dress bride. Why am I springing this on you at such a late date? Allow me to explain.

Our honeymoon will begin with a “Roman Holiday” of sorts — four days in Italy’s capital city. And when in Rome… well, you gotta see the Pope!

(source)

Mr. Bruschetta — also known as the Chief Honeymoon Planner — researched how we could secure tickets for an audience with the Pope.

Read more…

I’m so confused. Is it August or April? I mean, seriously — enough with the rain! It’s in the forecast every. single. day. And it’s so humid I’ve abandoned trying to do anything with my hair. Ponytails and sloppy buns are my new specialty.

Messy hair’s fine for the next couple of weeks. But if these showers linger long enough to “attend” our wedding, I want to ensure my ’do stays in place — and my dress looks as pristine as possible.

So I started searching for cute rainwear.

I *LOVED* these boots, but wasn’t as crazy about their price. After having issues finding them in my size, I started wondering what type of umbrella I would be able to find to complement them.

(source)

Read more…

My bachelorette party* is tonight!

We’re meeting up for drinks and dinner in Philly — and then a surprise that no one’s revealed yet. Yesterday, Sister Bruschetta (my MOH) surprised me with a few cute options to make my evening attire a bit more “bridal.” (She previously revealed that I’ll also be donning a veil and tiara.) The problem is… now I’m unsure which one to select!

(Please excuse my “concentrating on getting good pictures so I end up looking grumpy” face.)

Looser with fun frills?

Read more…

As soon as you walk into the F.U.E.L. House, you’re standing on our dance floor. It’s gorgeous, but it’s also very monochromatic. White marble floor. White walls. White ceiling. Perfect, really, for a bride who wants to blend in very easily with her surroundings.

(source)

We knew lighting would be essential, and discussed our options with the special events production company that’s affiliated with our DJ. It was nearly one year ago when the lighting pro agreed to meet us at our reception location, and together, we planned out the design.

Read more…

… or “Favor FAIL”

By now, it’s no secret to you all that I’ve got a penchant for puns. So I knew I’d want to accompany the note explaining our charity donation to the Wetlands Institute with an edible “turtle” treat combining chocolate, caramel and pecans.

(source)

I’d never tempered chocolate before, but after reading up on the process — which sounded simple enough — I attempted to melt some in a makeshift double boiler so I could create candies using a turtle mold I had ordered online. And… it really didn’t work well at all.
Read more…

I often get most of my best thinking done in the car. So, naturally, I was having a heated internal debate a couple weeks ago as I drove to Sister and BIL Bruschetta’s house. Was I really showing up early for their annual BBQ/pool party? My sister had asked me to arrive with the mister around 1:30, so I could help her cook and he could assist with setup. Or would I find the backyard teeming with family and friends, all there to celebrate our shower?

Nope, this couldn’t be our shower. That’s why I’d packed a bathing suit, towel and change of clothes. It was why Mr. Bruschetta — who’d have to leave their house early for work — was driving separately.

Then again, it was the most perfect Saturday for a Christmas in July celebration. (What a cute theme that would be!)

But no…it just couldn’t be! We’d had a leisurely morning, with a lengthy visit to the gym — which ended with Mr. Bruschetta’s offer to stretch my tight muscles (ouch!) for a quarter hour. He seemed not at all in a rush, and so nonchalant.

Well, except for that question he asked when I was getting changed right before we left. As I was selecting an outfit, Mr. Bruschetta uncharacteristically butted in: “You’re not getting dressed up, are you?” No, wasn’t planning on it. But what if I did want to wear a cute skirt?

My secret-detecting radar was picking up some signals, but overall, it seemed like an ordinary day. So I pulled into Sister and BIL Bruschetta’s driveway and headed toward the front door.
Read more…

Boy, was I naive. As a child, I’d fantasized about my dream wedding* — somehow also believing it would smoothly and immediately transition into the dream life, the stuff of movies and fairy tales.

And once you’ve got the perfect husband? Well, the perfect job and the perfect house — if not already checked off the “Perfect Life” to-do list — would surely fall easily into place!

Trust me, that won’t be the case. We’ll return, after the wedding and honeymoon, to our small-ish apartment, with ceilings that are prone to leaks when it rains too much and walls that have the uncanny ability to attract creepy-crawlies.
Read more…

Grandmom Bruschetta passed away late last week. She had bounced back from health issues for the past 15 years like a cat with 27 lives, but at 87 years, was unable to continue fighting any longer.

As a blissfully happy bride in 1943.

We received the phone call from Daddy Bruschetta letting us know his mother likely wouldn’t make it through the night while the mister was acting as the third wheel at a Bruschetta sister dinner. The world seemed to fall out from under us, and the hour or so we’d just spent eating too much guacamole and laughing away the wedding stress that’s been increasing as our date approaches felt like a faint memory.
Read more…

I won’t mince words: Our invitation design process was aggravating. For this reason, I won’t be sharing the name of the designer we worked with to create and print our letterpress suite. (Feel free, though, to PM me with specific questions; I do think it’s important not to sugarcoat the situation.)

Creating this design was stressful — it took close to 20 very different versions before ours resembled the ideas I had shared with the designer over eight weeks earlier, at the start of our collaboration. (For example, recommending consistency in the number of dots accenting the invitation and reception card and asking our designer to fix the kerning between Mr. Bruschetta’s first, middle and last names on the invitation.)

Once Etsy led me to our awesome calligrapher, and I fell for one of her styles, I knew I’d found the perfect element to weave throughout our wedding. We featured Fran’s gorgeous “Cocktail” lettering throughout our suite — she even dreamed up what I’ll call “Cocktail 2.0″, incorporating some extra swirls and twirls, so our names on the invitation would stand apart slightly from the rest of the script-y words and phrases.

Truly, Fran’s contributions are my absolute favorite part of our invitations. Her lettering practically pops off the page, and coordinates perfectly with the “Cocktail” addresses adorning the envelopes.
Read more…