Weddingbee

Despite a closet full of clunky suitcases, frayed cosmetic cases and a wrinkled plastic bag I always seem to use as a “laundry” bag, I fantasize about being an ultra chic traveler.

If money were no object, here are a few things I would have stocked up on before our honeymoon: Read more…

I hope this doesn’t make you love me any less, but I must confess that I’ve never actually had a “skin regime.” I normally stick to the “gift bag skincare” plan. Simply, this basically means that I use different bottles and samples of moisturizer, soaps and the like from gift bags I collect from various events I go to (there’s always an event to got to here in New York). Once in a great while I’ll find I product I love and actually go out and buy some more of it, but more times than not, I’m pretty lame when it comes to skincare. Read more…

If you’re looking for some more scoop on my wedding planning mayhem, check out my recent podcast on The Wedding Podcast Network.

When talk began, for Mr. Beetle and I after we were engaged, over cakes, locations and the like, I wasn’t exactly sure how I felt about hiring a videographer. In truth, I had never actually seen a wedding video that I really liked. While I loved reliving the moments of freind’s wedding, I wasn’t a fan of cheesy fade-outs, fuzzy borders and the practice of passing the microphone around while one of your pals is trying to finish up their salads and not be blinded by the glaring light in their face. Though I wasn’t really sure why, I also never liked the “look” of video. So, while I certainly loved the idea of having a record of our day, I wasn’t sure how to justify spending thousands of bucks on something I felt so “eh” about.

Of course my need to obsessively research everything until my brain begins to hurt won over, and I set out to find a unique, out of the box videographer. That’s when I discovered Super 8.

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As I mentioned in my recent wedding recaps (part 1, part 2, part 3), one of my favorite things that we did on our big day was our Polaroid Guest Books.

We used two Adesso Albums and two Polaroid One600 Ultra Instant cameras. We also ordered two personalized gold nameplates which we stuck on the front of the albums (Adesso does this as well).

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I literally spent months agonizing over what to get my bridesmaids as gifts to thank them for taking part in my wedding. I was hell bent on coming up with an original idea, and spent hours online researching every possibility. I wanted to get everyone different gifts, but also wanted some continuity so that no one felt like they got a lame present.

Then I found Lulette.

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Confession: I’ve been home from my honeymoon for 4 months…and I’ve gained 20 pounds.

Yep, it’s true. Yep, I’m sure. And yep…it ain’t pretty.

I share this information with you now because, in truth, I want to scare you all a teeny bit. I want to get you thinking about a gameplan, preparing for the “ah, to hell with it” attitude that will crawl into your brain and plop down on a beanbag chair with a bag of Fritos and a diet coke, and to get you ready.

In truth, I’ve had major issues with my weight my whole life..so of course that didn’t help matters. But in my own non-scientific research, apparently that doesn’t make a lick of a difference. In a recent poll I took (and by “poll” I mean I called 5 friends last night who each were married in the last three years), 100% of my respondents admitted to gaining weight immediately following their weddings.

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One of the major highlights of our wedding was the food. Not that I had too much of it, but people were raving all night long about the utter delicious-ness of absolutely everything. We used a caterer from LA called Savore. They were unbelievable to work with, full of amazing ideas and, the food was really over the top spectacular.

In truth, I had never been to a wedding before where the food was really good, so this was a new experience for me. My one major regret/complaint is that no one made us a doggie bag. You really do get so caught up in the evening, talking to everyone, and not wanting to mess up your lipstick (ok, at least I did), and by the time you turn around it’s all over. We got back to our hotel well after midnight (which was after they had stopped serving room service), and we were so hungry we had to make a run to a vending machine.

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In the world of stationery, it seems to be all about personalization right now–calling cards, couple crests for invitations or even custom produced handmade paper. True, I’m a bit biased, but I think stationery is one of the best, universal gifts out there. I’m particularly enamored with a little company here in New York called City Writes.

Kari Jo Cates is the super creative lady behind the City Writes curtain, and, in my opinion, she takes “personalized” to a whole new level. City Writes offers hand calligraphed social stationery, announcements, luggage tags, invites and more. Since each card is done by hand, they are all a teeny, tiny bit different, and yet charmingly adorable and sweet. I think this makes a fantastic gift for your bridesmaids, your new mother-in-law or even as a special vendor thank you (if time allows, I also like to use these as a great hostess thank you gift). Best of all, you can order smaller quantities and the prices are very reasonable (8 cards for $18.50; 25 cards for $52). Kari Jo will also hand calligraph envelopes for your invites or placecards.

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After a pre-wedding photo session (yep, it was way too rushed and we did not have nearly enough time…I haven’t yet talked to any brides who were actually ready on time, so if you are out there, kudos to you…I couldn’t manage it), we went down to the Ladies Locker Room for the Ketubah signing.

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