Weddingbee

Cross another of the list! Yesssss! I’ve decided on, purchased and received the gifts we are giving to our shower hostesses. Well, at least for 2 of the 3 showers.

For the first shower, a couple’s shower thrown by my bridesmaids, I am getting them Crane’s Monogrammed Note Cards from WeddingThings.com. Can’t beat buy 2 get 1 free! They even come with envelopes lined with a gorgeous gold paper.

Our third shower is actually a couple’s cocktail party which will be held the Thursday before our Saturday wedding. Three of FMIL’s best friends will be hosting it. For them, I’ve decided to give them a tea gift set from Marie Belle. Appropriately, the flavors are Love’s Labour Lychee Tea and Autumn Tapestry Holiday Blend Rooibus Red Tea. Each gift set comes already boxed in Marie Belle’s signature blue box and tied with a chocolate brown logo cloth ribbon.

I ordered samples of freeze dried petals from Flyboy Naturals and Petal Garden to make sure we wanted to go this route instead of fresh petals for our petal-tossed-exit.

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I had one regret when I took my bridal portraits - I never saw myself. I know it sounds really crazy, but it’s true. At the Old Governor’s Mansion, I got ready in the dressing room and they had a full length mirror. But when the photographer got there it was a mad dash to get me into the dress. Once the dress was on and the veil was in place, I was out the door lightning fast. Yes, while placing the veil on I did look in the mirror to make sure it was on correctly, but I never noticed how I looked neck down. I can’t imagine why, but I just didn’t think about it.

Then when we got into the beautiful ballroom to take the pictures, again there was a large mirror, but with all the snapping going on and my entourage of a family looking on, I didn’t even glance at myself.

After pictures at the first place were finished, it was again a mad dash to get the dress off and hop into the car to head to the second destination, Oak Alley, which was an hour away. At Oak Alley I changed in a tiny bathroom and I was more worried about getting my dress dirty than how I looked in it and again I didn’t even notice what I looked like.

Once my day of bridal portraits was over, I was upset. How could I have not seen myself all put together? I had been so excited about my pics. I knew that day I would feel, finally, like a bride. All of my hard work and planning would finally be visible…and I missed it. Which of course led to stressing about the pictures the two weeks I had to wait for proofs. Did I look ok? How was my makeup? Was it too much? Was the veil right? On and on and on…

So a little advice from a bride that missed her first image, don’t miss yours.

They’re in, and I thought I’d share a few. Our photographer is Bray Danielle. Love her!

We went to two different locations to take them - the following were taken at the Old Governor’s Mansion in Baton Rouge. A personal assistant was available for the shoot and she was great! She’d put a white sheet down so my dress wouldn’t get dirty, I’d stand in the middle of it and then she’d hide the sheet. Ha - my whole day consisted of this, and smiling for 5 hours…

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Wow, who would have ever thought that this southern cajun girl would be a member of Weddingbee.com? Huge honor!

Guess I’ll start off by telling how Mr. Bird of Paradise and I met. It’s one of those corny, who-does-that-happen-to type stories.

We met at my friend’s, and his brother’s fall Louisiana wedding two years ago. Mr. Bird of Paradise was the best man and I was the Maid of Honor. The wedding couple, M & J, had been slyly trying to get us together, or as they put it, really thought we should meet. We formally first met the Thursday before their Saturday wedding, as the wedding party got acquainted at a local music festival. Oh, and I should mention that Mr. Bird of Paradise and I had on the same style and color shirt - button down and a deep cranberry color. Weird!

The next night was the rehearsal dinner where Mr. Bird of Paradise and I were set up to sit together. Following dinner, the wedding party all went out on the town. The next day was M & J’s beautiful wedding, followed by another night on the town. That night we really hit it off. We had breakfast after our night out and the two of us stayed up talking until 9 AM. With no sleep he left that day to drive back to Oklahoma.

After a few weeks, we began chatting fequently over the phone and eventully planned a New Years trip to Austin to meet up with the wedding couple, M & J. The day after Christmas, Mr. Bird of Paradise ended up driving down from Oklahoma and we drove over to Austin the following weekend. After our trip, Mr. Bird of Paradise never left Louisiana or my side. **cue sappy music**

Jerseybride2006 - Pink, white, and champagne wedding with entertainment galore.

IAM4UK - Royal blue and white themed Cincinatti celebration.

academybeldam - Fun Florida festivity with a vintage feel.