Weddingbee Blog

(Hey you. Yes, you! Before you read this, go here and read all about our ceremony music so you’re up to speed. Aight? Cool.)

It’s grand entrance time, yo! And we always knew we wanted Jump Around to play as our reception entrance music. I mean come on. It’s only one of the most legendary party beats ever. But, the Bungalow Club had accidentally miscommunicated the DJ set-up situation and so The Flashdance wasn’t able to play during cocktail hour or dinner as we planned. And you know what? It didn’t even matter one bit! The Bungalow Club put on a great, eclectic music mix, Michael got to relax and enjoy the dinner and toasts… and we brought the hype ourselves!

It is my pleasure to introduce, Mr. and Mrs. Meatball!
Read more…

The right music makes everything better, amIright? It stirs the senses, attaches itself to and evokes memories, provokes our emotions, and laces itself into the soundtracks of our lives in inextricable and powerful ways. Our taste in music says a lot about who we are, where we’ve been, and reveals layers of our personalities that aren’t always immediately discernible. Or at least, I think so. I’m that girl who can’t wait for the ceremony to start because I’m curious to hear what song the bride picked to enter with. I’m so fascinated by what music people select for different portions of their weddings, and even more so by the pressure to conform to the ‘wedxpectations’ (booyah, just made that up!) that so many couples experience (including us!).

Pachabel’s Canon in D. The Wedding March. At Last. I’ll Be. Ave Maria. Butterfly Kisses. Rainbow Connection. Unforgettable. (You get the point.) How many times have you heard these at weddings? How many cocktail hours and dinners filled with Sinatra and the rest of the Rat Pack, Michael Buble, and Earth, Wind and Fire have you attended?

Now, I’m not trying to beef on you if you have some attachment to one of these songs or artists… I’ve got nothin’ but love.
Read more…

I have lots of strong feelings about weddings. I don’t believe they should result in debt. I do believe they should be a celebration of your personalities, and sing with details that say something about your love. And generally, I don’t believe there are rights or wrongs in weddings, because really… who are we to judge what’s right for you, or the next couple?

But today, a really bad-ass post by my friend Emily at Eco-Chic Weddings (Good with Style) reminded me that one of my strongest feelings about weddings is something I’ve not posted much about… yet. I kept telling myself I’d do it when I hit the ceremony part of our recaps, but who am I kidding, yo? You and I both know those recaps are taking their sweet-ass time and I am bored of waiting. (Sorry about that, they will come. Sometime.) So, in the spirit of continuing where Emily left off…

Holy crap, we’re getting married!

Read more…

When we left off… I was just arriving at the ceremony site, along with the ladies of my bridal party. We took off our shoes before ascending the stairs, as was tradition at the Shumei Center, in whose Hollywood garden we had our ceremony.

I knew the time had come, and all I wanted was to peer out the upstairs window at the guests gathering, but I was quarantined upstairs so as to avoid being spotted by Mr. M. We hid out in a spare room, and waited, all abuzz with bridal delight.

Ta-Dizzle!

Read more…

It had been a year since I first tried on my dress, an ill-fitting runway sample that still made me feel like some bridal angel from heaven. I spent hours daydreaming about it over the year, sneaking peeks at the sample in Deborah’s studio during my work-trade hours, or using it as motivation to sweat my back fat off. Putting it on was the holy grail of my pre-ceremony prep, and I was dizzily giddy with glee when the time came to step into that swathe of frothy, creamy, lacy confection.

Even though Deborah (my fairy godmother/dress designer) was there to help me change, I didn’t want my mom or maid of honor to miss out on their part in the dressing honor. So I invited them up to get me started…

My mom and MOH as Cinderella’s little birdies

Read more…

I relished in every single minute of the “prettifying” part of my wedding day like it the sleepover party of my dreams. Surrounded by my favorite ladies (sisters Dawn and Kim, future sister-in-law Cathy, bestie Mapo and my mom), getting the royal treatment, feeling full of joy, relaxed and openhearted, my body buzzing with anticipation. It was a fairy tale transformation that made me feel like a bad-ass princess, ready to take on the day, find my prince charming and waltz our way into our happily-ever-after.

Cinderella smile

Read more…

{When we left off, Mr. M and I had parted ways after the rehearsal dinner, and he found himself startled by the timing of it all…}

The night before our wedding, I slept in bed with my momma, at the rental house that all eleven of my immediate family members had rented for the week. It was so cozy and stirringly appropriate to be transported via sense memory, back to childhood, surrounded by my family. Growing up, when my dad was out of town, I loved sleepovers in mom’s room - and here I was again. Right before I fell asleep, Mr. M texted me: The Wedding Countdown Clock my mom gave me at my shower was going off! I floated off to sleep amidst giggling, giddy with my mommy about what excitement the next day would bring.

I woke the next morning to breakfast in bed, courtesy of my (freaking awesome) sisters, and I felt magnificently rested and calm, even though there was much to do (and I am usually the opposite of a morning person). Dawn and Kim were so thoughtful about making sure I had a proper balanced meal (especially given my recent lack of appetite), and it definitely felt like royal bridal treatment. I didn’t manage to eat very much, but I nibbled casually in bed as I got down to business.
Read more…

I’m decidedly against breaking your budget on wedding cake. There are plenty of ways to save on cake and still have it look and taste great! From the sheet cake/dummy cake swap to finding a pastry student to help, or simply keeping the design simple - wedding cakes can easily be made budget-friendly. Or, maybe you’re like us, and aren’t so attached to the cake tradition and so opt for an alternative dessert.

Usually, I’m also against the notion of people DIYing their own wedding cake. Spells trouble, almost every time. Hey, guess what you don’t really need right around your wedding day? The stress of baking and icing your freaking wedding cake! Unless you’re one of those type A-ers that gets off on the thrill of that kind of thing… in which case, have at it.

Image by Lucida Photography

Then I saw this. And my universe expanded. It’s the perfect, affordable, DIY friendly alt-cake, people!

Read more…

After a very smooth and organized rehearsal (thanks to our killer DOC Sharlene Griffith), we had all worked up quite an appetite. So, we shuttled off to unwind and kick off the festivities!

Our rehearsal dinner was at one of our favorite local fiestarants (I just invented that rad new word, thankyouverymuch), Casita Del Campo. I’d show you just how charming it is, but I’m somehow lacking any detail shots from this evening. So, just use your imaginations and stick with me!

The room was bright and cozy, filled with long tables, and a ceiling adorned with adorable lights. Earlier in the day my mom and sister dropped off a dozen or so of the vases I co-oped with my Bride$hare buddy with some grocery store flowers that were placed around the tables. It was a lively, vibrant atmosphere - very fitting for our celebration!

Say hi to daddy! Don’t you love the pink walls?

Read more…

Heeello, happy.

We got our wedding highlight video from our friends at Digital Princess Productions… wanna see?

Read more…

OK, here goes. I’m officially kicking off my recaps! *Squee*

Whittling down the photos has been a horrifically daunting task. Partly because there are thousands of photos to sort through. Partly because I’m obsessed with every image and detail with the kind of hopelessly googly-eyed love that a mother has for her child. It’s freaking hard to choose between your children!

I figure I’ll do an overview post of each main stop along the way, and then follow up with the relevant detail posts, and move on to the next event, and so on. All aboard, the Magic Carpet ride is about to commence!

But wait! Proper theatre nerd that I am, we cannot begin “the show” without giving props to the rehearsal, right?

The day of the rehearsal was, like all other days leading up to the wedding, a hot hectic mess. After running errands in the morning, MaPo, sister Kim, and I went for mani/pedis before the rehearsal, and my mom and sister Dawn met up with us there. I chose a sheer, shimmery frost for my nails after leaving at home the color I had planned to wear (rosy future by OPI). I shook it off and refused to let the brief disappointment harsh my marital mellow.
Read more…

Mr. M and I share our lives with a third partner, from whom we’re trying to break free. Procrastination. It is one of our great faults as a couple. It makes us late to almost every date (a rude and embarrassing habit, I know), it tempts us to create distraction in our lives. Don’t get me wrong, we always get things done on time, but always under the gun. As much as we try to fight it and cure it, it will always be in our family nature. So, leave it to us to be engaged for twenty months, and still be woefully under-prepared come May.

Soooooo, the last two weeks preceding our wedding were especially high-octane, go go go, last minute errand mayhem, combined with a volatile cocktail of emotions, family, and anticipation. It was like life was in fast forward! Seemingly developed as an evolutionary adaptation to my procrastinatory leanings, I have a keen ability to become intensely focused on the goal in these types of situations (which was how I kept from melting down constantly). But there were some very unexpected side effects of all that pressure, so listen close, my bridal biddies!

1. Weight loss. No secret I was down to drop a few extra pounds before strutting it in such a skin-tastic dress, but after 30+ years of being an emotional eater, I was shocked to find myself not only without appetite, but without even noticing. Normally I’m fantasizing about my next meal as I eat my current, but food was the farthest thing from my mind that week, and the pictures are the proof in the pudding. I would just forget to eat for hours! Thankfully, the dress still fit; however, it did end up being 2 inches too long because of the weight loss! More on this later.

Point? Eat, my little chickens!
Read more…

… It was a cold and drizzly autumn day in Milwaukee, WI. I got all gussied up for a very special night, butterflies flipping around in my belly like so many Mexican jumping beans. I waited, anxious, excited and nervous; sitting, standing, fidgeting, checking and rechecking my hair and makeup. A knock at the door sent thrills through my body. It was the man who would become my future husband, come to pick me up for our very first official date.

From here…

He took me to a pottery painting shop, where we designed a sushi plate sporting cartoons of both of our faces, a heart, and a piece of avocado sushi. That plate now hangs on our wall. We initialed the back of it, and Mr. M suggested we draw a heart around our initials and add a plus sign between them. I melted. He took me for frozen custard, my favorite, a treat before a delicious and romantic Italian dinner together. Later, I gave him a fleece Spiderman blanket that I had bought to commemorate the occasion. It was a heavenly first date - the first of so many, that would lead us to an eventual (and long anticipated) walk down the aisle.
Read more…

I… wow…

Um, I don’t know what else to say, except…
Read more…

(Psst - if you’re new here, read part 1 and part 2 of the surname saga and then come on back for the conclusion!)

Thank you all so much for your support and amazing feedback about this situation. I’ve loved hearing your thoughts and speculations about our decision, and you’ve been wearing your patient pants, so now it’s time for the big reveal!

In the end, we decided compromise was the best solution. Mr. M still felt it was crucial to honor my name, despite us also honoring his parents’ wishes. He wanted to make a grand gesture to both show me that he was becoming as much a part of my family as I am of his, and to make better the disappointment we had been through before. I am so proud of him for standing up for what he believes in, as well as for doing right by his family (even if I still disagree with their opinion). He wins my heart over and over every day we’re together, delighting me with his thoughtful, loving nature and generous spirit.

So, today I write to you as:
Read more…