Weddingbee

Mrs. Butterfly here.

Thank you everyone for participating in the Winter Wedding contest! All of the ideas were great! I love it when contests spark ideas that other brides can use. It’s really what Weddingbee is all about, right?

Anyway, I had to read over the entries over and over, but I have decided that my favorite idea was posted by HAC.

Congratulations on winning the faux fur capelet, and also on your upcoming wedding!

Mrs. Butterfly here.

I’m giving away some items from my wedding! I promise they are all in good condition and have only been used once!

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Thanks to everyone who entered the Share a Vendor/Website contest. The winner of the Oxo Salad Spinner is Jenn! Congrats! We’ll be shipping it out to you this week.

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Last night I had planned on turning this into a contest, but once I started pulling everything out, I didn’t know what to do. See I have 6 binders, organized according to category, filled with pages I’ve cut out from wedding magazines and placed in page protectors since high school. They have pages upon pages of inspiration on flowers, diy projects, cakes, favors, real weddings - a best of 100+ wedding magazines.

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Thanks to everyone who entered and voted on the Best Sandwich Recipe contest! Readers chose marclovesme’s scrumptious Brie Mustard Spinach with Apple Slices sandwich recipe as the winner. Congrats! We’ll be sending your Le Creuset Whistling Kettle out to you this week.

And now it’s time for yet another contest! Today’s prize is Oxo’s Salad Spinner - a super popular product that enables you to wash and dry your leafy greens. No more soggy salad ever again!

To enter this contest, share a link to a vendor you love or a website you’ve found particularly helpful during the wedding planning process. Maybe we can all discover a great new resource. You can enter as many times as you want until 12:00 pm tomorrow when we’ll randomly select a winner. Good luck!

Last Wednesday we posted a Quiet In the Hive contest because we thought weddingbee would be quiet post-wise and comment-wise over the Thanksgiving holiday. Well you guys left a whopping 659 comments between the time the post launched and 11:59 pm last night!

We’re pleased to announce that Christi is the winner of the beauty products and the subscription to Real Simple magazine. Congrats!

We also have an update on the Sandwich Recipe Contest. One of the finalists linked to the poll on her personal blog and had her subscribers vote on her entry. I thought that that didn’t give the other contestants a fair chance, so we’re going to redo the Sandwich Contest Poll. I apologize if I didn’t make it clear, but in the future please do not link to polls as it will be grounds for disqualification. After all we want everyone to have a fair chance to win.

So please readers vote one more time for your favorite sandwich (see full recipes here) to determine the winner of the Le Creuset Whistling Kettle.

Congrats to MsStarfish who won the favor kits and Clarissa who won the invitation kit from Gartner Studios! Hope you both enjoy them!

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We apologize for taking so long to post the finalists from the Sandwich Recipe Contest, but there were so many great entries it was hard to narrow them down! Mr. Bee actually went through every single entry and selected the 3 finalists. So without further ado, here they are:

1. marclovesme - Brie Mustard Spinach Sandwich with Apple Slices

-fluffy bread, such as brioche, challah or a croissant
-spread with grainy mustard
-layer of spinach
-slices of your favorite apple (I prefer the Gala or Red Delicious variety, FI prefers Granny Smith)
-slices of brie cheese

Make the sandwich open faced and put under the broiler for 2-3 minutes. When the brie is sufficiently melty, drizzle with honey and enjoy! Best. Sandwich. EVER.

2. Miss Raspberry - Fried Green Tomato Sandwich

-Two green tomatoes
-1/2 cup cornmeal
-1/2 cup flour
-2 eggs
-1/4 cup milk
-salt and pepper
-vegetable oil (for frying)
-4 slices of sourdough bread
-6 slices of bacon
-slices of fresh mozzerella
-baby arugula
-several tablespoons of basil lemon aioli (see recipe below)

Place the slices of bacon in a frying pan and cook until crispy. Remove and let cool on a paper towel. Reserve the bacon grease for frying the tomatoes. Slice the green tomatoes into slices about 1/2 inch thick. Set on another paper towel.

Beat the eggs, milk and salt and pepper together in a bowl large enough to dip the tomatoes in. Combine the cornmeal and flour. Heat the bacon grease and enough veggie oil to have about 1/2 inch of oil in the bottom of the pan over med heat until hot. Dip the slices one at a time in the egg/milk mixture and then in the cornmeal mixture. Then place in the oil. Cook until golden brown, then flip and repeat. Let drain on a paper towel.

Toast the bread and spread the inside of the slices with the aioli. Assemble the sandwich by placing one slice of fresh mozzarella on one slice of bread. Top with some arugula, 3 slices of bacon and a couple of fried tomatoes. Serve immediately. (I usually put a little container of extra aioli on the table too)

Basil Lemon Aioli

-1 cup mayonnaise
-‚½ cup packed fresh basil leaves
-1 tablespoon fresh lemon

Combine all ingredients in a food processor until the leaves have been well minced. Put in fridge for at least 30 minutes before using to allow all of the flavors to seep together.

3. CantoneseCooking - French Onion Roast Beef

The bread:
Split a hoagie roll in half, spread a bit of butter on it, and toast.

The meat:
I make my own roast beef

To assemble:
Pile thinly sliced roast beef onto the roll. Add sauteed onions. Top with a slice of swiss cheese and toast until melted. Serve with au jus and horseradish.

The au jus:
Sautee sliced onions in a little butter until translucent. Remove and use it to top the sandwich. Pour in beef stock into the pot/pan. Add some red wine and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

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Please vote for your favorite who will win a Le Creuset Whistling Kettle!

Congrats to KD, ms. mouse, and Miss Orange - you’re the winners of the Paperbride Tip Kits in the Tips for a Happy Relationship contest!

Also Nony Mouse - we don’t have your email address on file, and you were the winner of the Spoylt Radiance Garter, so please email us at bee@weddingbee.com so we can send you your prize!

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Our prizes today come from Gartner Studios which offers diy stationery printables and favor kits. Be sure to check out their Wedding Samples and Invite Ideas Gallery for lots of good ideas on how you can make your invitations unique with embellishments.

And without further ado, we’re giving away 50 Clear Box Favor Kits which includes acrylic boxes, preprinted “Thank You” tags and silver ribbons. Valued at $34.99…

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Thanks to everyone who entered the “Tell Us A Joke” Contest yesterday! Quite a few of the entries gave me a good chuckle so check them out for a Friday laugh! Congrats to Erika who won the favor samples with this joke:

Did you hear about the two antennas that got married?

The ceremony sucked but the ¢¢â€š¬…”reception¢¢â€š¬? was awesome!

Hardyharhar - so corny I love it. I had planned on selecting the 5th commenter because the 5th is Mr. Bee and my meetaversary/anniversary. Did I mention that I was corny?

Of course onward with our next contest! Today we’re giving away 3 PaperBride Tip Kits! These super awesome kits include 10 envelopes and a “cheat sheet” to help you figure out how much to tip each vendor.

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Congrats to Rock Bride who won the Romance garter and NonyMouse who won the Radiance garter in our Spoylt Garter contest!

And now onward to our next contest of the day… The prize today is a sampling of popular favors - 2 peas in a pod salt & pepper shaker, a heart bottle stopper, perfect pair salt & pepper shaker, and photo glass coasters.

To enter, tell us a funny wedding joke in the comments section! It doesn’t matter if it’s not an original joke - you can even google it. You have until 12:00pm tomorrow to enter. We won’t tell you how we’re going to pick the winner - just make us laugh!

You have until 11:59 pm tonight to enter for a chance to win a Romance Garter or a Radiance Garter from Spoylt!

To enter, comment on this post and tell us what song you plan on using during your garter toss! If you’re not doing a garter toss, tell us what you plan on wearing under your dress on your wedding day - whether it’s a garter, bustier, spanx, or a blue thong.

Check out previous entries here and here. Good luck!