- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee Blog
Before I go into this post, I just want to say that the main focus about getting married should be the ceremony and the joining of two people who are in love and want to make a life long commitment.
That being said…
Next on your mind should be the PAR-TAY! As in, the reception! I know most of y’all’s idea of how to spend over $10K isn’t serving dinner to 200 guests, but this is a wedding, people! The land where your steak dinner with mashed potatoes cost you about $24 last night, but at your wedding, you’re prepared to pay upwards of $85 for that baby!
Vegas certainly has a lot to offer when it comes to reception venues. Steve Wynn could suggest about 10 of them, all while robbing your savings account of every last dime. When we started scouting out reception venues, we had a couple of requirements:
So with that in mind… I give you our reception venue!
Read more…
I can’t decide if this is tacky or fun. I’m a little bit of both, so maybe it’ll be OK. While most of you guys are out having your bacon wrapped filet mignon and Alaskan salmon for your main course, the Dumplings will be eating something a little more…. casual?
I grew up in Alabama, and up until about age 23, I only ate “Southern food.” The only Chinese food I had eaten was at the mall and cultural day at school consisted of Taco Bell and “heat ’n serve” meatballs. So not joking.
Since our rehearsal dinner will be at a Vietnamese restaurant (anyone else addicted to pho?), we thought it might be cool to honor my heritage at our reception. Who doesn’t like fried chicken and grits, right? We might even get our chef to use some old family recipes!
We haven’t decided on the menu items, but we’re definitely going to include the traditional Southern “staples.” Check out my inspiration photos!
Fried green tomatoes, ham and cranberry jelly:
Image from thatgirlsab on Flickr.
Well. This might not be an exciting post, but if you know anything about me, then you’ll know this craft project is above and beyond anything I’m actually capable of. I am the worst DIY crafter on the planet. I really keep waiting for Mrs. Bee to find out and revoke my Weddingbee status. But, so far, I’ve been sly and gotten past everyone! Ha! I’m more of a “buy things and pay too much and complain later about how I SO could have made it myself for $1″ kind of person, which would be taking the whole wishful thinking a little bit too far.
But, I must have bumped my head over the weekend, because I went to Michael’s and got crafting supplies. About 4.5 hours and $44 later, I ended up with this:
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month! You might be thinking, “What does that have to do with weddings?” Well, nothing and a lot at the same time. Does that even make sense?
My eyes were opened to breast cancer awareness when I was 14 and found a few lumps in my breasts. It was nothing, I had surgery, they were removed and I was fine. Same thing happened when I was 18. I started to wonder why this happened to me, and how it could have affected both me and my family if the lumps turned out to be cancerous. Luckily, I haven’t had to deal with that yet, but there are many brides out there who have.
Featured on Weddingbee
Unique Wedding Favors
“Add a memorable touch to your wedding with unique favors that match your theme.”
I’m a little bit *obsessed* with celebrity weddings. Namely, the gowns. I dunno, maybe its because they have unlimited budgets and access to people like Mindy Weiss for planners and John Galliano for gown designers, but I always find myself drawn to whatever gossip rag has one on their cover. I can’t help it.
By the way, my gossip addiction doesn’t stop with magazines, I also stalk gossip blogs. One of my favorites is I’m Not Obsessed. I went over there yesterday morning and saw that one of my favorite stars from back in the day, Beverly Mitchell, recently got married! (So that’s why Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel were seen “canoodling” in Rome!) I’m sure she’s in 7th Heaven now! Her dress is “Michaela” by Melissa Sweet. Doesn’t she look like she’s having the best time? Lucy Camden has arrived!
Photos by Bauer Griffin via I’m Not Obsessed.
Miss Dumpling spent Saturday doing lots and lots of errands. I’ve been procrastinating about doing wedding stuff because I have a fear of writing big checks. I’m sort of scared to see the money in our special bank account labeled “Wedding Fund” lose a digit. I’ve watched my fellow bees talk about paying the catering, photography, and venue deposits, and I guess I never really thought about how significant that was. Until yesterday, that is. Mr. Dumpling and I are now forced to eat ramen noodles for the next few years (carbs… yum!), because we finally took care of the catering for our wedding this weekend. One vendor down, about 27 more to go.
After that, he went about his business and I spent the rest of the afternoon working hard and doing fun wedding stuff.
First on the list: Get Carried away. What! It was research.
Image source.
I now hold the record for watching this movie more than anyone on the planet.
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
You don’t have to guess what I’m doing this morning… online shopping! Get 15% off any purchase of $125 or more with promo code FALLSALE. It ends October 1st, so you better shop quick!
If you’re looking for a pretty clutch to carry on your wedding day, look no further! Banana Republic is here to help! This pretty little thing is on sale for $54.99!
When I showed Mr. Dumpling the color palette I was thinking about, he said it looked like Neapolitan ice cream. Ha! We both like ice cream, so this was a good thing. This picture accurately shows the exact colors we are using. It’s making me hungry just looking at it!
Image source.
I was browsing through The Knot the other day, and I found more great inspiration from some very stylish brides. Check these out!
Read more…
Remember when I said that at first, I wanted all of my BMs to pick their own dresses? And then I decided I needed fancy-schmancy matching dresses? Well… now we are back to the mix and match bridal party. I know—Miss Dumpling is a total flip-flopper. Do you still like me? 
This part of wedding planning is not as fun as it sounds. Yes, sometimes it’s all lollipops and rainbows when you’re thinking about the attire, but not all the time. I was really concerned about my girls having to buy a dress that they otherwise wouldn’t wear. I wanted to find something that was flattering on everyone—which is pretty near impossible when everyone is a different shape, size and age. I was spending way too much free time (read: work time) looking at dresses online and complaining about not being able to find something. I was stressing out about the bridesmaids dresses and I decided that I should just make a decision.
But here’s the good part—I’ve finally made a decision!
Read more…
Two weeks ago, Mr. Dumpling and I were lucky enough to get a free engagement session by one of, if not THE, best photographers in town, BLR Life. I scored the free session after attending a bridal event benefiting FEAT, Families for Effective Autism Treatment of Southern Nevada. If you are in Las Vegas when they hold the event next year, you MUST go!
I have to admit, I was very nervous about taking engagement pictures. I’m not the type of person who likes to be all kissy-kissy in public and I had a feeling I’d have to do just that. Luckily, Mr. Dumpling was there to calm me down. He’s a pro at photo shoots, so he kept making fun of me so I’d laugh and give Adam, our photographer, something to work with.
When we got them back, we were AMAZED. They must have had access to Mariah’s retoucher, because while I’d love to tell you guys that I look like this everyday, it would just be a big honkin’ lie. My normal look usually involves gym clothes (that, funny enough, have never seen the insides of a gym before) a couple of pony-tail holders and socks. Mr. Dumpling, however, looks like this all the time.
Ok- I’ll be quiet now and give you the goods…..
In my last post, you found out that I had no idea what an STD was, and I had no idea why on earth we would need them for our wedding (it still sounds gross…and funny!). In her post yesterday, Miss Champagne mentioned that the Weddingbee boards really inspired her to think of the coolest thing about the Champ wedding. I love the s’mores idea, and we’re totally stealing it. I have to admit, I always stalk the boards here on Weddingbee looking for inspiration, because, well, you ladies are just so darn talented and creative!
Over the weekend, I was reading a post by Superstar that outlined some of the things she didn’t know until Weddingbee. I was so relieved to find out that I wasn’t the only one who had no idea what an OOT bag was, or what MOH and FMIL meant, or that you could totally use an iPod instead of a DJ at your reception.Here are some of the things that the readers had contributed: Read more…
Before Weddingbee, I had no idea what a save the date was. Does that make me a big dummy in the wedding world? Probably. But then I got schooled and quickly decided that we just could not get married without STD’s! (Overused joke… but still funny!) I started blog stalking to find something fun to send out for our save the dates, but nothing was jumping out at me.
Enter Mr. Dumpling. He’s known for being the more creative half of this couple, so I wasn’t surprised that his idea was totally legit! Mr. Dumpling is half Chinese, so he thought it might be a good idea to incorporate some of his heritage into our STD’s, since a lot of our reception will feature my Southern roots.
My best friend and Diva of Honor, R (an avid WB reader!), got married last weekend at a cute little cottage in Port Carling, Ontario. I found out that lots of Canadians have “cottages” on the lake and I was instantly jealous! This was a very intimate family and close friends ceremony on the lake, filled with lots of DIY goodness! She used mostly homegrown (literally!) and local resources and tried to stay as eco-friendly as possible.
The day started out in beautiful Bracebridge, where we chowed down on Tim Horton’s (my new favorite thing ever!).
AKA, The Bridal Party
Choosing our bridal party has been Mr. Dumpling’s favorite thing about our wedding so far. He got really excited when I said he could have as many groomsmen as he wanted, even if it meant our bridal party would be lopsided. Really - I have 5 bridesmaids and he is up to 10 groomsmen. Ah, oh well. He’s happy and he gets to have a big bachelor party.
As for me, there are just a few girls I want standing up with me on our big day. They are all so very different from each other, but I think that will just make for a more interesting day.
So far, you’ve met my gorgeous Canadian friend, R, whose wedding was this past weekend. I plan to do a post about her fabulous DIY skills, but until then, here’s a preview:
Photo by me.
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Mrs. Dumpling, Las Vegas Age and Occupation: 27, Finance Fiance's Age and Occupation: 34, Real Estate Engagement Date: March, 2008 Wedding Date: March, 2009 Blogging Since: August 26, 2008 Venue: Catholic church ceremony & golf course reception About Me: I grew up in the Deep South, and while most people say I have a thick southern accent, I tend to think it only comes out when I need to use it. Living in Las Vegas has definitely been an adventure and Mr. Dumpling and I are loving every minute of it! We are planning a traditional Catholic wedding ceremony and a reception with lots of DIY! We might even get Elvis to show up! I'm a HUGE Beatles fan, love The Office and can't wait to become a Mrs.!
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
