Weddingbee Blog

Mr. G and I have been through a lot in our relationship. At times, it has been like a roller coaster, fun but also scary and unpredictable. We have been “that couple” fighting outside a bar on Saturday night. We’ve been on the infamous “break” (not the holiday kind, think more Ross and Rachel). We have pushed each other to the brink of madness and back. I can’t say that I am proud of some of my past behaviors. But you live and you learn. Bad days pass and you try your best to make tomorrow a better one. Today, we take one day at a time always with an appreciation for where we have been and where we want to go from here.

After reading a post by Miss Sushi, I was inspired to write about “our song”. Actually, we are too indecisive to have just one song. We consider several songs to be ours. I want to somehow incorporate all of these songs into the wedding day. I’ve yet to figure out how that will all play out, but it’s on my ‘To Do’ list.
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Mysteriously my “must have” list is growing exponentially. Let me extrapolate. I “must have” this pretty jewelry. I “must have” that veil. I “must have” those makeup products. The deeper I immerse myself in the world of weddings, the more I am like a kid in a candy store wanting, needing, and dare I say, demanding…

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If you asked me several months ago about taking pictures for our wedding, I’d probably act shy and tell you that I’ve never been too comfortable in front of the camera. Why? Because it’s true! But don’t tell anyone, okay?

I’m sorry to report that I haven’t been able to necessarily shake my camera jitters, however, I have devised a plan to “fake it” for our wedding pictures. I, like many of you, have logged in countless hours of picture scrolling and blog stalking on various photographers’ websites. Not to mention I’ve drooled over the bees’ wedding pictures.

I want to emulate a group of inspirational shots I’ve fallen in love with from other weddings. So I’ve created a little list of proposed wedding day poses. Although I risk being pegged as an unoriginal over-planner, I know that I will probably be distracted on the big day and a little overwhelmed by having the camera in my face all day. It will help to have a list that I can refer to in order to ease anxiety and aid forgetfulness.

Here are some favorite poses I have chosen thus far. (Note: These pictures are from famous photographers whom I blog stalk and they don’t even know it! Don’t think I’m creepy… please.)
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We are having a fancy evening wedding. We decided early on that we would not require black tie attire because we felt it would be asking too much of our guests. We want everyone to be comfortable and tuxedos and ball gowns don’t always spell out comfort.

With that said, I still want to maintain the formal integrity of our venue (The Millennium Biltmore Hotel). I figure one way to do this is by dressing the bridesmaids in long (hopefully, somewhat comfortable) gowns. I have a certain vision for the dresses. I want them simple, elegant, and complementary to each of the dear ladies. They are all beautiful and I want a dress that accentuates that core beauty and does not overpower them.

Here are a couple of my picks:

Jasmine, B2, Style # B1039 : This one is fabulous in person and looks great on most bodies.

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For our Save the Dates we wanted something simple that utilized our engagement pictures (We didn’t take those suckers for nothin’!). We decided to go with the cute idea of holding up three signs with the words: “save”, “the”, and “date”. Our photographer, Toby, was a good sport during our engagement shoot and allowed us to take way too many ridiculous pictures holding those signs. The “holding signs” concept is somewhat overdone—however, I found an online program that would display it in an original way.

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For the longest time, I assumed that my wedding day hair would look something like this…

Traditional, simple, Audrey Hepburn. How can one go wrong? Yet, in recent weeks, I’m beginning to think I pigeonholed myself and forgot to do the proper research. I’ve started to consider other looks, specifically options that are more modern. I have even entertained the possibility of wearing my hair down (gasp!) But I’ll come back to that.

For now here’s what I don’t want…

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… and it worked! I read an interesting post on Weddingbee’s new sister site, WeddingbeePRO about how to take pictures of your wedding band and engagement ring. WeddingbeePRO is comprised of bloggers who are all wedding professionals within the industry. Their behind-the-scenes perspectives are proving to be super fun and helpful, too!

Check out Anne Ruthmann’s post on taking pictures of your ring. I had a few spare minutes to play around with my own ring. Here’s what happened when I used our Samsung point and shoot to snap a couple of pics.

This one was one of my favorites. Mostly because it wasn’t blurry!

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It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out the basics of Polyvore. (Really, it’s not that hard; perhaps I’ve just been out of school too long.) Just a few hours ago, I realized that “show image background” and “hide image background” are two concepts that make all the difference in the Polyvore world. Anyway, I hope the inspiration board I created decently portrays the style concepts behind our wedding.

I centered the board around a picture of our reception room at the Biltmore. In terms of style, I want to create an atmosphere filled with romance and vintage elegance. With some additional help from the images and boards of Snippet & Ink, this is what I came up with:

Biltmore Romance by carlysdreams
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When I ended my last engagement post, I was confused, a little disappointed, and the new owner of a fake diamond ring. I was beginning to feel pangs of “If it happens, it happens; if it doesn’t, this relationship is in big trouble”. But I tried to be a good sport and finish the weekend off on a high note.

We woke up Sunday morning (my actual birthday and Mr. G’s last day in town) and took a long walk. It was nice to just relax and enjoy each others’ company. Later that afternoon, Mr. G stated that he wanted to cook dinner for us, and he wanted it to be a surprise. So he commanded me to stay in my bedroom and work on my studies for a couple hours while he went to the store and prepped the food. I sat in my room for what felt like an eternity. I think I even dozed off for a while. Regardless, he emerged much later and requested that I dress in certain clothes for his special dinner: one of my favorite white tops and jeans. I was thrown by his request, but definitely adhered to his wishes. The man was cooking me a scrumptious birthday dinner, who was I to complain?
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One of the first vendors I pondered after becoming engaged was a florist. Immediately, my mind drifted off to the picture perfect flower shop I would always drive by on Olympic Boulevard. The shop had these amazing window displays that would make anyone’s heart melt - not just wedding-happy brides-to-be. I remember passing by in February and obsessing over the Valentine’s Day setup complete with huge hearts made wholly out of red roses; more red roses than I had ever seen in my life. I was sold. I had found my florist! So I Googled the shop name and tracked down their website. Upon first click, I felt my heart drop. My cute little flower shop was actually an exorbitantly overpriced celebrity haven specializing in “floral event productions”. I don’t think I could cover a flower bill from this shop with one year’s worth of pay.

I’m noticing that these are some of the pitfalls of living in West L.A. If you don’t know what you’re doing, Los Angeles (or any big city for that matter) can be like a cruel joke for budget brides. If I don’t do my research and I walk blindly into a wedding planning situation of any kind, it ends up in disaster because, like a magnet, I’m attracted to EVERYTHING EXPENSIVE!!

Here are a few pictures I found as “inspiration shots” for wedding flowers. Stay tuned while Mr. Glitter and I try and find low budget, high quality vendors throughout L.A.
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Before I delve into the tale of our engagement, let me preface this post by stating that for purposes of Mr. Glitter’s ego and manliness, I will refer to him from here on out as Mr. G. If his friends knew I was calling him “Mr. Glitter”, he would never live it down.

Okay, now on to the engagement story. I have decided to tell it in two parts. Here is part one. Back in May 2007 (yes, it’s been one long engagement), I was living in New York and finishing up graduate school. Mr. G was in L.A. slaving away at his accounting job. He had planned a weekend trip out to New York for a visit and to celebrate my birthday (which fell on a Sunday). I had spent the past few years complaining that we were never together on my birthday (because of our long distance arrangement) so I was super excited that he was flying in. Also, we had been talking about marriage for a long time, and we were at the point in our relationship where every single semi-major event, holiday, or birthday meant the possibility of getting engaged. Ladies, you know what I’m talking about.
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When we first got serious about the prospect of marriage, Mr. Glitter and I started doing what many couples in love do - browsing around jewelry stores looking at engagement rings. So we went to Rodeo Drive where the overpriced bling shops are housed. It’s fabulous. You don’t even have to drive anywhere - they’re all within blocks of each other! We both got some strange high off of it. It was like shopping for this ring was getting us one step closer to the nirvana of marriage. I tried on all kinds of rings. Big ones, little ones, flashy ones, simple ones. My heart was set on a simple classic solitaire. Something similar to the Tiffany Novo (pictured below).

(Image source)

At that point in the game, I could’ve told my future fiance that that was the ring I wanted. End of story. But no. I had to be difficult.
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We’ve been engaged for nearly 1.5 years! Stay tuned for a post on our engagement story in the future. A two-year engagement allows for a lot of laziness. Our time line is stretched double or maybe even triple the average engagement. Case in point: it took us a year to have our engagement pictures taken! But at the risk of sounding cliche, it was worth the wait.

We heart our wedding photographer, Toby Morris of Toby Morris Photography. He’s the best-kept secret of Los Angeles photography! He’d probably laugh if he heard me say that because he’s the most humble, down to earth guy. We loved that his personality was so laid back, go with the flow, and chill. Don’t get me wrong - it’s not like he’s going to fall asleep behind the camera. He’s serious about his craft. But he put us at ease and made us feel like we were lounging at home… not having professional pictures taken.

Here’s a selection from our May 2008 shoot at Rustic Canyon Park in the Santa Monica Canyon. (Some of these aren’t edited yet… yep, that’s my lazy bride-ness showing again…)

We’re usually being goofy like this.

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First off, let me say, I am so happy to be here! I’ve been a fan of Weddingbee for quite some time now, and couldn’t imagine a more awesome way to share tips and trade secrets than blogging on my favorite wedding website. I think I’m still in shock that I am actually here.

Why Glitter? Because glitter makes everything beautiful and sparkly! Upon hearing the news of my Bee character selection, my college-aged brother said, “Miss Glitter? That name sounds like you are a writer for Playboy Magazine.” His comment gives you a little insight into my upbringing. No, my mom wasn’t in Playboy, nothing like that, but I grew up in a household of mostly guys, which included two brothers and my dad. Now that my fiancé has joined the mix, my mom and I are completely outnumbered. So let’s just say I have a high tolerance for inappropriate comments, trash talk and general lewdness that many women should never have to witness. Strangely, I still enjoy being a girly girl, so perhaps I haven’t been damaged beyond repair by all the crazy men in my life. Moving on…

I was born and raised in the city of Angels.
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