Weddingbee Blog

My favorite part about Germanic languages is the ability to squish as many nouns as possible into one mega word. Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft translates to “Association for subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services”. Wut? My favorite was always “Geschirrspülmaschine,” meaning dishwasher. Isn’t it fun to say? My stepdad’s favorite joke to tell, (and he tells it often), is: How do you say ’bra’ in German? Itkeepsemfromfloppen. Get it?

Um, but I digress. The point of this post is to talk about something with which I’m sure most of you are familiar: Hair flowers. Or fascinators, as they are one-in-the-same. I think. According to Wikipedia, fascinators have only recently come back into style. Maybe Carrie Bradshaw had something to do with the come-back?

Anyway, I never thought I was going to embrace the wedding flower/fascinator trend. I don’t know if I thought it to be too “fashion forward”? (LOL?) Or if it had anything to do with the fact that I know my mom would laugh at it, but I just never felt that I’d want to wear one, especially on a day where all eyes will be on me. *gulp*

But, really, they’re EVERYWHERE.

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No, I don’t mean Mr. Dachshund. Though he certainly is the guy for me, I’m not talking about that “One”. This “One” is The One that I never thought I’d find! The One that took my breath away, that I had to have. This One is my dress.

While I personally wouldn’t mind Mr. D seeing the dress before the wedding, he’s pretty adamant about keeping it secret. So, if by chance you’re reading, don’t go any further!

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I knooow my next post was supposed to be the big dress reveal. But this is a matter of utmost importance!

Our groomsmen need to be informed about their shoe situation. This is a difficult task considering we haven’t yet made that decision!

And boy, is it a difficult decision to make. Waaay back in the beginning of our engagement, back when we chose our colors, I had mentioned that I’d like for our guys to wear red Converse with their suits.  Yesterday, we received an email from a concerned groomsman regarding their shoes and what they should purchase.

I told them I’d let them know by tomorrow. Before I do that, I’d like your input! I can’t decide between Vans or Converse. I’m a Vans girl myself, but Converse has so many more customization options!

The Facts: Our groomsmen will be wearing casual, grey suits. I’ve given them general color guidelines and have told them to purchase a suit that they’d be able to wear again. Our bridesmaids will be wearing a minty aqua colored dress with red flats. And well, you’ve all seen my shoes.

The Choices:
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Alternatively: The David’s Bridal Rejects

First of all, thank you all so, so much for your kind words in regards to my last post. I cried reading a few of the comments you left; hearing your stories touched my heart. It really makes it easier knowing that I’m not alone in my fears and insecurities. And y’all telling me that I’m beautiful? Shucks guys. We all are!

So like I said, a few weeks ago I finally got the courage to suck it up and go dress shopping. We figured David’s Bridal was as good a place as any to begin looking. I made an appointment and went online to search for dresses that I liked to use a starting point. I was pretty surprised with a few of their newer additions. Call me Debbie Downer, but I wasn’t really expecting to find anything I liked.

I printed out this collage to show my consultant. All photos taken from David’s Bridal website.

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I’ve struggled with my weight from a very young age. I was a size 13/14 by the time I was in eighth grade and I’ve fluctuated between an 18/20 since I graduated high school. My body image has been poor for as long as I can remember; it’s only been Mr. Dachshund’s love that has allowed me begin to view myself in a different light. When he tells me that I’m beautiful, I know in my heart that he is absolutely genuine and I feel beautiful. My self-image has improved exponentially in the time that Mr. Dachshund and I have been together.

It may have been more logical for this post to have gone up around the beginning of my blogging for Weddingbee because being plus-sized is something that so many brides relate to and identify with. I agree that I should have written this much sooner, but I was so nervous that my size would be the one thing that became my identity as a Weddingbee blogger. I’m not sure what exactly I wanted to build my blogging identity around, but I certainly didn’t want to become “The plus-sized bee” right out of the starting gate.

It’s come time for me to share my dress shopping experience, and I don’t think I can do that without this preface. As a plus-sized bride, every insecurity that I’ve ever had about my body has come flooding back in full force. I can’t remember the last decision I’ve made for this wedding where the thought of my weight wasn’t in the back of my mind.
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After my first attempt at Gocco printing our invitation sleeves went awry, I was determined to master the screen-burning/printing technique during my second attempt this weekend. I’m happy to report that round two was (mostly) a success!

I did have a few mishaps: Two of the bulbs I used while trying to burn our names onto the screen were duds, causing an uneven master; only one side of the image burned correctly, and because I wasn’t sure if you can expose an original multiple times, I decided to wait until this evening to try again with a fresh copy.

I was, however, able to create a crisp burn of our quote to print on the bottom of our sleeves. Remember last time a few letters didn’t turn out? Well, I followed the advice I received (Thanks guys, the Hive is great!) and mounted my original on cardstock and ironed it (to get rid of excess carbon?). It worked like a charm!

I really, really love the white Gocco ink on this paper. It makes me smile : ) Working with the white ink is a pain, though– it’s so freakin’ thick. I had to use a TON of it to get even prints.

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I asked for a Gocco for Christmas. I know that it may not have been the wisest choice considering Gocco supplies are becoming increasingly expensive and difficult to find, but it was just one of those have-to-have things. Searching for Goccoed invitations was, after all, how I found Weddingbee!

So, I ended up receiving a PG-10 Gocco for Christmas and I let it sit. It sat in its box for about two months, half because I hadn’t finalized an invitation design, and half because I was a little intimidated by the whole process. Sure, I’d watched enough videos online to know how the Gocco works, but I was pretty nervous I’d ruin my precious screens.

A few nights ago I decided I wanted to try it out. My invitation suite design is finished, and I knew I had to get on the ball making the invites because they have to go out soon! Eek! (And, they’re going to take forever.) The sleeve I designed and used the Cricut to cut had the simplest Gocco design, so I figured that’d be the best place to start.

Blank, assembled sleeve. Our invitations will be fabric-backed, and the fabric will show through the heart cutout.

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Okay, okay. So it’s been a week since I left you all wondering whether or not Mr. Doxie and I were able to book our perfect venue.

Well, I was on pins and needles waiting for the owner of Victorian Gardens of Two Sisters to return my call regarding available dates in May. Our venue search hadn’t exactly been smooth up to this point, so I readied myself for disappointment as I was waiting on her call. Would I be sad if she didn’t have a day for us? Of course. But I had to remind myself that it wouldn’t be the end of the world; sometimes I forget that I’ll always have options.

By the time the phone finally rang, I was positive she wouldn’t be able to help us. Murphy isn’t a very nice acquaintance to have, after all, and I’m a pessimist. I was completely taken aback by her response! Not only was there one Saturday available in May, but since it’s during a Canadian three-day weekend, it was our ideal date!

“HOLD IT FOR ME PLEASE!” I made an appointment to see it the next day.

As Daddy Doxie, Step Mom Doxie and I made the drive up to Kingsburg, I could feel the butterflies in my stomach. When we pulled in the driveway I could tell it was just as beautiful in person as it was in the photos; it was April and everything was in bloom. Flowers everywhere you looked! It was absolutely perfect. My family agreed and Daddy Doxie pulled out his checkbook and wrote a check for our deposit.

As she opened her date book to pencil us in, she frowned and looked at us nervously. Tragically, as fate would have it, she had made a terrible mistake…
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When I last left off, I had just experienced my first wedding let-down. The venue with which I fell in love, for which I was ready to hand over a check, was just stolen out from under my feet! I went home upset, cried a little, and wished that Mr. Doxie was there to comfort me (this was all before he moved to the States). I quickly decided that being sad wasn’t going to help me find another venue and I continued my search.

I quickly found a few contenders that were just as lovely, but they all had so many rules! No outside food or drink; reception must be finished by 10PM; no alcohol other than wine; no candles; etc. etc. I know that those rules are pretty standard, but jeez! It’s our wedding, and we wanted to have a little more control!

We did find one venue that looked great on paper, but when we got there it looked like a backyard. I’ve seen some pretty awesome backyard weddings, but if we’re going to pay a few thousand dollars for a venue I’d like a little more than a lawn and a patio covered with Astroturf.

A few weeks into our search, and still a little dejected, I received a phone call from my aunt who was directing me to the website of a venue located in an adjacent town.

Excited, my aunt asked what I thought.

“Hooold on, it’s still loading.” We live out in the country, you see. Our internet is sloow. “Ohh, this looks promising!”

I was surprised to find images of a gorgeous home:
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Omgomgomgomgomg.

O M G.

Mooonths ago I fell in love with the most AMAZING shoes ever. Like, there are a lot of shoes that I dig, but these took my breath away. I would have ordered them right away had it not been for the $165 price tag. ($190 after tax!). I haven’t had shoes that expensive since, well… ever. I went back and forth on the matter for a few days, and finally I decided to bite the bullet and buy them. They are for my wedding after all, right? So I logged into Anthropologie.com, clicked on “Shoes and Bags,” then “Heels,” and clicked through page 1 (Hrm, that’s funny, they were on the first page a few days ago), page 2 (uhhh), page 3…

My perfect shoes– the ONLY shoes I could ever imagine myself wearing on my wedding day—were sold out. Apparently I wasn’t the only one whose breath they stole. Needless to say I was more than a little upset. I called Anthro’s customer service line, and was informed that they were completely sold out. I got the manufacturer’s name; still no luck. Defeated, I gave up my search.

Then! Oh, oh, oh!
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Despite the fact that our venue was the first decision we made, and the first wedding check to be written, I’ve yet to blog about it! I could never decide just how to attack my venue search posts, because at the time I had decided that I had the absolute worst experience searching for a venue in all of wedding-planning history. It wasn’t a story I wanted to revisit. Now, I’ve realized that our venue search was actually fairly simple, with very few speed bumps. Because it was the basis for my first wedding related disappointment, and my first (and only, I hope) wedding planning tears, the whole ordeal left a bad taste in my mouth. But I’m over it, and I’m ready to share my experience with you!

I started planning our wedding with the assumption that I wouldn’t find anything I liked, venue-wise or other, in this Podunk-middle-of-nowhere-town. I had little hope before I even started to look, simply because I didn’t know what was available. So I turned to Google. “Tulare wedding venues”, I typed. Wouldn’t you know it, my only two business results were International Agri-Center and Tulare County Fairgrounds.

Blech and blech. Google, you didn’t help subside my doubts at all!

So, I endured a few weeks of my parents trying to convince me to go with the banquet hall at the Intl. Agri-Center, and I was almost fed up.
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A few weeks ago, Mr. Dachshund saw the movie Big Fish for the first time. It’s my favorite Tim Burton movie (though I suspect that might change in a few months), and I was surprised that he had never heard of it. Much to my disappointment, Mr. D didn’t show much interest in the film… though I wasn’t really surprised; our tastes in movies are vastly different.

There was, however, one scene in which Mr. Dachshund perked up, turned to me, and asked, “Will our wedding look like that?”

Can any of you who’ve seen the movie guess which scene I’m talking about?

The town of Spectre, where the grass is greener than any other, and is soft enough to tread upon without shoes. And, ohhhh… those lights!

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Hokay. So. When I last left you, Mr. Dachshund and I had already decided to go with a three-layer cake, and we had a super-awesome design drawn up by Liz at Creme de la Cake. As soon as we left the bakery, however, I started to have second thoughts. This had nothing to do with anything other than the fact that I second guess everything. I am guilty of doubting every decision I’ve made thus far concerning this wedding. With the exception of Mr. Dachshund; I know I’m doing the right thing there.

This is the design that Liz and I came up with during our consultation:

Liz did a fantastic job of pulling details from all of my inspiration cakes and putting them together to make one, cohesive cake design.

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… it’s so delicious and moist!*

Unfortunately for Chell, the cake was most certainly a lie. I’ll bet that if she had a big, delicious cake waiting for her at the end of her, um, adventures, her tumultuous journey may have been worth it. Especially if that cake was made by Liz at Creme de la Cake in Fresno!

Remember waaay back in October when I blogged about my cake inspiration? I was so excited to have found Creme de la Cake, which is truly a diamond in the rough in this area, but I had to wait for Mr. Doxie to get in the country before we had our consultation. Well, true to form, I put it off for three months. Not because I wasn’t looking forward to nomming on some delish cake, but because, well, I’m a procrastinator.

Last week I shot the owner, Liz, an email to make an appointment, and in her response she informed me that there was only room for one more cake on our wedding day! This is why it’s bad to procrastinate, kids. We just happened to get lucky; I would have been seriously bummed if she couldn’t make our cake.

Anyway, armed with a stack of inspiration photos, and one of my favorite Christmas gifts:

(Cutest cake stand evah from Crate and Barrel)

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The holiday season has officially begun, and I am so, so, so thankful to be spending it with Mr. Dachshund this year. It’s our first Christmas together, and I can’t wait to mesh both of our traditions and to begin making our own!

In the past month or so since the Christmas decorations have been out in stores, (does it seem like it goes up earlier every year!?) I’ve been searching for a “First Christmas Together” ornament to commemorate the end of our long-distance. There were a lot of wedding cake ornaments, and while Mr. D and I are technically married, none of those felt right.

Finally, during a random Etsy browsing session today, I found the perfect ornaments! And, they’re made by a seller who is not a stranger to Weddingland: Paloma’s Nest.

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