Weddingbee Blog

(Photo by lovely bridesmaid N… I’ll return to that little centerpiece in another post)

Before I share our wonderful portraits in all their vintage glory, I thought it best to start at the beginning…

On the morning of the wedding I was still making name cards. A lot had gone wrong during the days that lead up to the Saturday and so I was left with this last mammoth task on the morning of - even though I swore I wouldn’t let this happen (best laid plans, as they say). Anyways, by 9AM I had them done and we were off to the venue to place the paper goods and flowers on all the tables.
Read more…

We are still in the process of selecting photographs with our photographer, but I wanted to share a little something with you all… seeing the pictures really brings back so many details I thought I might have forgotten. I can’t wait to show them all to you soon!

And so after 3 very long posts, I’d like to share with you the Lightning Guide to Egypt!

Booking your trip:
I highly recommend booking a package tour when visiting a foreign country where English is not the first language. Your transfers from airport to hotel are taken care of and if you book any tours through them as well, you are less likely to be taken for a ride or charged more than normal. We booked through a local travel agent and were taken care of by Excel Tours in Egypt. Excel had very friendly, well spoken representatives who helped us immensely in retrieving our bags. They also took us outside of the tourist areas to purchase water and batteries (both of which are incredibly expensive in the hotels and nearby cafes).
Read more…

On our third day of our honeymoon adventure we left the busy city of Cairo for our flight to Aswan. We had purchased a small new bag for our new clothes (they barely filled the bag, of course) and took this with us to the airport. We phoned one last time to find out if our luggage had been found, but were given no answer other than the fact that another flight from Johannesburg had landed so it “might” be there.

Read more…

Picking up from part 1, the Lightnings ventured into a nearby mall to find things to wear before our half day pyramid tour the next day. I desperately needed a shawl and a long dress, as all I had with me was the black track suit I wore on the plane. We also needed to find some sun cream, as the sun beat down on us constantly while we walked the streets.

Read more…

So, I’m back and behind my beloved computer once more (OK, I lie. This is Mr Lightning’s laptop, as mine decided to crash most inconveniently while I was finishing up name cards, and hasn’t been resurrected yet).

We spent much of our first day back dealing with gift admin and lots of honeymoon washing, but we’re almost back on top of things and looking forward to using all our new goodies. Because our photographs will be delivered on Thursday (as well as those taken in the photobooth), I thought I’d start my recaps with the thing freshest in my mind: our honeymoon. As it was indeed quite an adventure and I have a lot of tips to share for anyone traveling there in the future, I’ll break the honeymoon up into parts.

The honeymoon was slightly neglected with the hoopla of the wedding preparations, and I found myself packing last minute on Sunday morning (the morning after the wedding). And before I knew it, we were reminiscing in the car with my new in laws and on our way to Cape Town International Airport.
Read more…

I cannot even begin to tell you all about the craziness of last weekend. My internet was cut off accidentally on Thursday, and by Friday I was running around like a madman. And before I knew it I was married and on my way to Egypt. It all happened so quickly… kind of, well, like lightning!

I have many stories to post and projects which I managed to complete right up until the morning of. I had grand plans to share it all right up until the big moment, but it seems no amount of organisation can
prepare you with the mammoth task of coordinating your own wedding, no matter the size.

It didn’t all run smoothly, but it was truly magical every step of the way (Okay, perhaps the third degree burn I sustained to my right ear during a curling tong incident wasn’t so magical. I chalk that up to the price of beauty).

I’m currently on my way down the Nile. So far, Egypt has been a truly wonderful adventure. We lost our luggage on the first day but finally got it in time for the cruise we are now on. The incident did put a damper on things, but we stuck through it and I don’t think I could have done it without Mr Lightning, who maintained that I still looked lovely even after wearing the same clothes for three days.

The newlywed glow still surrounds us and it doesn’t show signs of fading yet.
Read more…

Source

I’m interrupting my normal DIY broadcasting to bring you a deliciously wonderful read by UK author, Imogen Edward-Jones.

Wedding Babylon follows on from a series of really great books, many of which I have already read. I stumbled across this new edition a few days ago and have already made some headway through the chapters. In fact, I have been so engrossed in its pages that I’ve been slacking on the DIY front!

However, I have to say that with the wedding fast on my heels, I really needed to get myself out of the seriousness of it all.
Read more…

In one big effort, thanks to some help from a few faithful friends, we managed to finish our menu/programmes in 2 nights (it took 2 because we ran out of ink on the first night, which is pretty impressive on the whole, I think).

Read more…

So, following up on an idea I found many months ago, I finally got around to personalizing a special pair of wedding day socks for Mr Lighting. It is probably the easiest and sweetest gift you can give a groom - and perhaps each time he wears them he’ll remember that those were the socks he got married in!

To make this super easy project I bought some good quality socks with an argyle stitched pattern, used one sheet of think card, and a small length of ribbon.
Read more…

With fireworks out of the question, this little project will be a small way to recreate the pyrotechnic display I love so much.

I read about DIY sparkler packaging on a number of blogs and decided to combine a few ideas to make my very own version.

Here’s what I used:
Read more…

While I spent much of the last weekend recovering, I did manage to accomplish one wedding related task - my veil. Before setting out on making a veil as described in my last post on this topic, I decided to visit another vintage store I’d walked past after dinner one night downtown.

While a lot of the vintage stores in Cape Town are ravaged by fashion scouts for magazines, who take most of the good stuff for their shoots, this particular store was a well-stocked treasure trove. Not only did I find two beautiful vintage wedding dresses (which I swore I wouldn’t look at a second longer, for fear of considering trying them on), but I also found a variety of gloves, stoles, coats and VEILS!

Trying them on in the store, I suddenly felt that a vintage piece was exactly what I needed to complete my ensemble. I even found a gray/silver feather boa in the exact shade of my dress (but don’t worry, I left that behind).

In the end, I settled on buying one item only. And here she is… a vintage 1920s hat and silver veil.

Read more…

I’m sorry I’ve been absent this weekend. In my defense, I spent it recovering. I’ll let some pictures do the talking (and please don’t judge - I was outnumbered by 9 lovely bunnies)!

To explain… the tin above was filled with screws, the kind you get at hardware stores. Strung around my next was a sign boldly advertising “R10 a screw”…
Read more…

So, while plodding away at work, this special little something popped up in my inbox, sent to me by one of my maids of honour.
Read more…

Source

During my dress fitting a little while ago, I indulged Mama Lightning by trying on a traditional white veil. However, looking back on those pictures I can’t help but feel that I was overpowered by it. My dress is so unique that I sort of feel that a traditional white veil actually hides its silver beauty. And so, I have decided to either look for something else, or go sans veil.
Read more…