Weddingbee

In a true procrastinating form, I have not yet buckled down to finish my recaps… but guess what? Our wedding movie trailer arrived in my inbox last week! And even better? We love it! It’s gotten me back into rosy wedding thinking, and might even motivate me to finally pick out our photos for our album (I know… I know…). Maybe the other married bees can relate to my utter lack of motivation to tie up all the remaining loose ends of the wedding. I loved planning our wedding. I loved our wedding day—it was perfect. I feel like I love it so much, I’d be quite happy to keep it tucked away in a little box cased in all its perfect glory. But I still have to pick out our photos, or start working on a honeymoon album, or gather all our wedding momentos and put them into show box or scrapbook. I will get there eventually.

But for now, I present to you our little wedding trailer. It’s about three minutes long and really captures the spirit of our day. We hired Ray Estrada of Timeless Treasure Films to shoot the wedding and tea ceremony and they were, in a word, fabulous. From the moment I emailed Ray, I knew we were working with a true pro. He answered all my questions without hesitation and almost immediately. And his packages are all quite reasonable for the caliber of work produced.

On our wedding day, Ray and his assistant showed up bright and early. They were completely unobtrusive. I did not even notice that they were there the entire time. They captured moments and shots that I don’t even remember happening!
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Image from here

As part of spring cleaning, and just a new found motivation to get in shape and be more active, I decided to get on the bandwagon and do the Blueprint Cleanse. To be honest, I’ve never been a fan of cleanses or fasts. I’ve witnessed a few of my friends on the Master Cleanse– the maple syrup concoction did not seem at all appetizing to me. But after some thorough research and reading the info-packed Blueprint Cleanse site, I decided to give it a shot. What sold me was that the program was not about fasting, but more about replacing solid food with fresh and unpasteurized juices to detox your system.

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I love hair accoutrements. Last week, I discovered Etsy seller Tree and Kimball via Oh Joy! and fell in love. The object of my affection arrived yesterday, and it is a beauty!

I thought I’d share my find with the hive for anyone obsessed with finding the perfect hair accessory for bridesmaids or for yourself. Lisa expertly layers vintage finds like lace, beads, and other fabric remnants to make most of her pieces. I tried on my headband last night and it is just too cute!

Here’s the one I purchased, Isolde.

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Sorry for the delay with Part Two of photos from our fabulous Valentines swap (and in case you missed Part One, it’s here). Without further ado…

AliCherri1’s fabulous and fun collage Valentines.

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Sorry for the delayed posting. I just wanted to make sure everyone received their Valentines before posting the photos. I am in awe of the talent and creativity of all the bees and readers. Wow! You are all crafting superstars. We had a total of about 50 swappers and hopefully everyone got theirs by now. If not, just write me at canary [at] weddingbee [dot] com and I will see what I can do. Otherwise, enjoy the beautiful Valentine creations (posted in no particular order) courtesy of the hive! Also, don’t forget to rate your fellow swappers on Swap-Bot.

Mrs. Candy Corn’s delightful hand-illustrated cards.

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For the right bride, this would be the most amazing bouquet!

Giant crepe paper rose
(approx. 18″x12″)

I admit it. I DVR Martha Stewart because I love watching her make things and grill her guests. Even though I subscribe to MS Living, I still like seeing the action live and she often provides better tips on television than what’s printed in the magazine. And I have to say that I feel like I’ve got more of an insider’s perspective after attending the show with a few bees in September.

Yesterday, while watching one the recent episodes, Martha invited one of her staffers, Morgan Levine, to show off her crepe flower making skills. I’ll be honest, I’ve seen crepe flowers before and have never been very impressed, but WOW these were amazing.
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I have seriously been thinking about how to reduce the clutter at home and was also inspired by Mrs. Bee’s post on Weddingbee Pro about organization. I have a confession to make: Although we moved over a year ago, Mr. Canary and I still have a room (meant to be our office) that is stacked to the brim with stuff that we keep shifting around the apartment because we, a) don’t know what to do with it, b) are too tired to deal with it, or c) started to work on, but never finished it. The room is at the point where we have to move about three boxes and then climb over a few other items in order to get something. There is no room to work. Ultimately, we deal with it by shutting the door and ignoring it until it starts to bother us again and we attempt to organize it some more, but we never manage to get the job done.

Despite having very specific interests, we accumulate A LOT in keeping up with our collections. My vices include: Etsy finds, paper/stationery, shoes (I own over 60 pairs!), and books. I realize a lot of this has to do with me and less so with Mr. Canary who only has a few dear possessions (CDs and books) and is very nice and never scolds me on my purchases. When I am overwhelmed and try to organize, I tend to see it as an opportunity to go nuts at the Container Store and purchase more junk to hide the stuff I should be getting rid of. It’s a vicious cycle!

And it’s not about being clean or messy. Mr. Canary and I are super clean. We even caved and hired a house cleaner who visits every two weeks, but that didn’t help the office situation much. The bottom line is that although we have a clean home, we just never make the time to really tackle the “stuff” we don’t need or want.
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Although I was born and raised in New York, it has taken me a while to venture out of Manhattan to explore new neighborhoods. It wasn’t until Mr. Canary and I moved to an up and coming neighborhood, did we start venturing into the outskirts of Queens and Brooklyn to check out new restaurants and shops.

With the economy the way it is, I’ve been trying my best to support local vendors, particularly artists and crafters. Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time in Williamsburg, Brooklyn where there are a plethora of great boutiques, not to mention fantastic music venues and restaurants.

A new shop that has become a big favorite (I’ve already been there twice this week!) that I’ve been telling all my friends about is Tria. I wish I had discovered this store when I was planning the wedding because I would have adorned my wonderful bridesmaids (and myself!) with the coolest jewelry and hats!

Tria is the brainchild of three collectors/artists/designers: Ryan Wilde, Valerie Bowers, and Georgia Varidakis. Like a superhero team, each brings her own talent. Ryan is the resident milliner. Her creations have graced the pages of bridal magazines and appeared in Patricia Field’s (SATC costumer) shop. Valerie is a vintage scout. She fills the store with the best finds from estate sales. When I’m in the store, I have to stay away from Valerie’s collection of vintage earrings. I’ve already gone home with several pairs, since they’re all just too irresistible! And last, but not least, Georgia is the jewelry designer. She is self-taught and makes the most delicate and charming necklaces and rings.

A perfect bridesmaid gift. I love these simple charm necklaces. They can be customized with initials, numbers, and stones.

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This is just a reminder for anyone who is interested:

Swap sign-ups close tomorrow on January 30. If you are still interested, please sign up following the directions here.

Also, many of you signed up for a Swap-Bot account and requested membership in the Weddingbee group, but did not sign up for the swap. Make sure you do! Otherwise, once the deadline passes we can not add or remove participants.

I’ve already started planning out my valentines and am looking forward to mailing them out!