Weddingbee Blog

Um, HI! I was a blogger here a long, LONG time ago. Well, it feels like that, anyway. I was thinking about things people may not know about me that are crazy and exciting, but I couldn’t really think of that ONE BIG THING so I decided to share a few smaller things.

• I don’t really like cheesecake, doughnuts or frosting. I know. I know. I can’t explain it. Actually, I can explain the doughnuts. I had a doughnut a few hours before I got really “sick” and the taste coming up really stuck with me. Sorry, TMI.

• One of my favorite snacks is feta with tortilla chips. I don’t know how I came up with that. Now Mr. Joey likes it, too.

• I was mock charged by an elephant. It’s a long story but I rounded a corner and there is was. It scared me, I scared it and it did the ears flapping/feet stomping thing they do before they charge. I turned around and took off and apparently it did the same. The owner of the property I was staying at saw the whole thing and thought it was the funniest thing ever. That will teach me to stay at a lodge on an elephant corridor.

I wonder which of these guys mocked charged me? Sorry, it’s not a particularly flattering picture.

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My favorite non-DIY/budget post wasn’t a very hugely popular post originally but it was definitely very sentimental and personal to me and to my family. My “something old” from our wedding were my Grandmother’s earrings and they are still my oldest and most treasured possession.

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OK, OK, I’m late. I promised to post about my next something way back in May but then never got around to it. I have no excuses. You’ve seen my something borrowed, so now, here’s my something old…

My something old is really old. It’s the oldest anything in my family and besides my engagement ring, the one thing I cherish the most (people not included).

The earrings belonged to my maternal grandma Isabel and before her, to her mother. Great Grandma Joey died when grandma Joey was about 8 years old. These earrings mean a lot because they belonged to Grandma Joey and we were really close when she was alive. I actually think that apart from when we or she was on vacation, I saw her at least once a week until she died when I was 12 years old.

So these earring are special to me not only because they are hers, but also because of the story behind them.

During WWII, my grandparents were still living in the Philippines. When the Japanese soldiers arrived in their area, the decision was made that my grandpa and his brother would leave and hide in the jungle until the soldiers left.
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…to get a wedding picture printed and hung. Seriously, we’ve been married 14 months and until last night did not have one single wedding picture up. We had things from the wedding displayed, but no pictures. I don’t know why that is. It’s not that we don’t like our wedding pictures, it’s more we feel funny having pictures up of ourselves. I don’t think I’m particularly photogenic and Mr. Joey claims to have a creepy smile. Actually, come to think of it, I think there may be like one or two pictures of us in the entire house.

After seeing Anne in Zambia, I decided it was high time that we got a wedding print of some kind put up. Anne had a photography exhibit in Seattle this last summer and one of her pictures had been printed on aluminum. Yes, like the stuff they use to make cans. I loved it instantly. The glossy finish, the colors popping off the metal, the no frame look. I asked her about the print and she said that Bay Photo, a company in California, did it and considering the process, it was a pretty good deal. I had carried over a few other metal prints to her in Zambia and when I saw the finish up close, I knew I wanted a wedding print done on metal.

Last week, I sat down (after many months) and looked at our wedding pictures again.
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Hi hive! I know I said was taking a break but then I realized yesterday was our 6 month anniversary and that I had something to share.

Yes, if you can believe it, Mr. Joey and I were married 6 months ago today. Some days I feel like we got married yesterday, and some days I feel like it’s been years since we walked down the aisle.

Now that I’ve had time to step back from the wedding and let the rest of my life (or rather, our house) take over, I can really appreciate the wedding.

Immediately after the wedding, all I could think about were all the things that went wrong and all the things I’d change (part 1, part 2, part 3). I regretted parts of it, wished I invested more, and asked for more help.

The funny thing is that I don’t feel that way about it now. I couldn’t remember most of what disappointed me about the wedding when I sat down to write this post. I actually had to read over my Heartbreaker post to revive my memory.
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Or married.

Well that’s it—the whole shebang. We planned, we wed, we partied and we survived. The whole thing was very surreal. Some days it was too real and other days I felt like I was living in a dream (and sometimes a nightmare).
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After we left Cairns, we headed south to Brisbane aboard the Sunlander Trans-Queensland train. We wanted to see more of the Australian landscape but knew we didn’t have time to do any driving ourselves so we boarded the train for a 24-hour trip.

Mr. Joey enjoying the first class cabin.

It seems like a long time to spend on a train, but the journey was actually really enjoyable. We packed provisions (lunch, some dinner and breakfast), a few good books and kicked our feet up.
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So after the after party, Mr. Joey and I enjoyed a lovely Sunday with our families, spent Monday packing and opening presents, and on Tuesday jumped on a plane to Australia.

I was a little worried Mr. Joey wouldn’t make it. My flights for works average about 22 hours one-way, so Australia wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. He thinks trips to see his parents in South Carolina are too long.

Thankfully he survived and even though he wasn’t the happiest camper, the flying was totally worth it.

I’m sorry that I don’t have too many pictures to share from our trip. They were lost when my computer died. I did manage to salvage some, though.

We started our trip in Sydney. We stayed at the beautiful Sofitel Hotel (thanks Priceline!) downtown, just minutes away from the Opera House and Harbour.

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After the wedding was over I thought, ‘Well, that’s that. No more wedding planning for me.’ My sister is already married and most of my friends are, too. I figured I’d be done with planning, but you know what? I’m not. Guess what? Remodeling/building a house is like wedding planning. Who knew?

Well, someone did. My coworker joked that remodeling his kitchen was like wedding planning all over again. I didn’t understand that then, but I do now. Here are some ways wedding planning is related to remodeling/building a house.

First off, there are SOOOO many decisions. What style of house or wedding are you going for? French Country? Modern? Art Deco? Ranch style? Then there is size. Will you have 100 guests at the reception or will you be building with the intentions of someday adding to your family? Let’s not even get started with color. I could talk for days about color. Color of the floors, walls, ceilings, tile, etc.

Second, there are just as many people involved in putting a wedding together as there are putting a house together. Bridal parties, photographers, plumber, architect. Here are a few things I figured out about the players:

1. DOC = main contractor
2. Michaels or Jo-Ann’s = Lowe’s or Home Depot
3. Bridezilla = Homeownerzilla
4. Weddingbee, Snippet and Ink, etc = Apartment Therapy, Coco + Kelly, etc

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Did I ever say that we LOVE Jay-Z? I secretly think Mr. Joey lived in Brooklyn near the Marcy St. subway station because he lived near there once. I have seen Jay-Z worked into his US History lesson plans, too. Hmm…

Anyway, like the song says, after the show it’s the after party, and an after party it was! It wasn’t crazy, but it was the perfect mix of friends and chillaxing we needed.

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There weren’t just a few kids at out wedding, there were A LOT of kids at our wedding. And with a lot of kids comes A LOT of really disgustingly cute kid pictures. There are so many pictures that the kids deserved their own post.

OK, get ready to want kids!

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Even though we didn’t have a full-on dance ‘til you drop reception, we did have dancing and we did have some dancing machines.

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I know that this is controversial, but we had a money dance. We were on the fence about it for a while but then everyone started asking us if we were going to do it. I don’t mean just my family where the money dance is tradition, I mean Mr. Joey’s family and our friends. When I realized that Mr. Joey’s family had done the money dance before, I was OK with us doing it because I knew we wouldn’t have to explain it to people.

I have to say, the money dance was actually one of the most fun things we did. I didn’t think Mr. Joey would enjoy it, but he did. And we were both surprised by the people who came forward to dance with us.

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I loved seeing the cast of Glee do Young MC’s Bust A Move.

Anyway, before I got distracted by Glee, I was talking about busting a move. With whom? Papa Joey.

Instead of doing the traditional slow dance with my Dad, we decided to do the twist and Mr. Joey and MIL Joey joined us.

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After we ate and mingled a little, it was time for the toasts. I have to say, the toasts were one of the highlights of the wedding day. I’ve been to weddings where there were 7-10 toasts that were really intimate/personal that I sometimes didn’t understand.

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