- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee Blog
So far, I’ve already blogged about our photobooth and our slideshow. Another special aspect of our wedding (and Mr. Hibiscus’ favorite) was our first dance.
Now, we worked really hard to come up with a routine after a couple of lessons from Arthur Murray. I think we did a good job considering we had no previous training. It wasn’t “Dancing with the stars” by any means, but we were very proud. We recommend taking dance lessons to help relax you for your first dance. Shockingly, my hubby wants to continue our lessons. He loved it and it was his favorite part of the wedding because he had put so much work into it.
Perhaps one of the most special parts of our wedding was our slideshow. I used ProShow Gold which I downloaded for $69.95. I figure, it’s cheaper than paying someone to do it and I can use it again for vacations, my nephew, anniversaries and other life events. It’s a great program and very easy to use. Everyone at the wedding raved about the slideshow. (Probably because almost everyone at the wedding was in it somewhere.) I’ve used several other programs for slideshows, as blogged about previously. This by far gave the best results. All my hard work really paid off. 
Click here for a short clip (well, 5 minutes) of our slideshow. In order to protect friends and family, I cut out the beginning with our baby pictures, the end with all the pictures of our friends and family and an audio thank you from us. The “story” might get a bit confusing since you don’t get the beggining or the end. The clip is just our “couple” pictures. The first part is our silly and fun pictures and the second is our romantic pictures. Enjoy!
I’ve gotten a million emails and phone calls from guests telling me their favorite ideas and details from our wedding. People keep commenting on how romantic, unique, fun and special everything was. I’m going to write about what stood out to my friends and family in a couple of different posts, and if you want to hear more about something specific I’ll review that as well. I’m going to be posting the special touches as they come to mind and in no particular order.
Our photobooth from Redcheese
I just got back from my honeymoon in Cancun. Yes, I’m one of those 7-7-7 weddings. Sorry for the delay!
Let me just say that it was the best day of my entire life. It was like a dream and I can’t believe I’m finally married to the love of my life! I will write detailed reviews on my vendors once I get the chance. For now here is some eye candy (a slideshow of our wedding pics) and a shout out to Weddingbee from our photographer Jessica Claire. Enjoy!
Featured on Weddingbee
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
“Make an elegant invitation statement without the fuss. Stylish invitation sets with matching envelopes, reception and response cards included.”
9 days left! Yikes! I went in for my final dress fitting last week. It felt so good to put my dress on, and I fell in love with it again after second-guessing my decision. I questioned my style of dress for my beach wedding but the only thing that matters now is I’m in love.
My dress is Maggie Sottero’s Madeleine in diamond white with a white sash. I got my alterations with Mahtab in Lake Forest, CA. She was very easy to work with and did a great job. I had it shortened and bustled (not shown) for a reasonable price.
I’ve been engaged since September 2004. All I kept hearing from everyone was, “You are so ahead of the game”, “You have so much time to plan”, and “Your wedding is so long from now.” Now, I’m in major panic mode with three weeks left. Since I’ve graduated, I have nothing to do all day except wedding stuff. For some reason far less is being accomplished. My to do list just keeps getting longer and longer, and every time I cross something off, three more things get added. Every time I ask someone to help out, they agree enthusiastically and then enlist my help to the point where I do 90% of it anyway. I asked my FMIL to do the rehearsal dinner invitations. She bought them, told me what colors to use to print them out and then passed out on the office couch. So, I ended up doing them. Read more…
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
My fiance’s parents live in Northern California. My parents live in Southern California. I’ve lived in So Cal my entire life and I love it; traffic, smog and all. I’m a beach baby and I actually do make my way to the beach every chance I get. The problem is real estate prices. My fiance doesn’t want to live inland (without the lake he has back home) and that leaves us with looking at very overpriced condos. (We actually have a condo inland at the moment, but it was a temporary thing while I went to grad school.) I don’t really want to live in a condo when we start having kids, so that leaves us with pretty much nothing…living on the streets with our cats.
Another problem is there’s a billion eye doctors in So Cal… not much room for me. Sigh. So, after years of convincing on his part, I finally agreed to leave my precious southern California for his hometown. After my graduation 2 weeks ago, we piled all our belongings in the U-HAUL and drove up the 5 freeway to my new home. It hasn’t really hit me yet. I still feel like I’m on vacation….that soon we’ll pack up our suitcases and take a Southwest flight back to our little condo.
This past weekend, we celebrated my friend’s Bachelorette party at Hidden Talents dance studio in Huntington Beach. We had a private pole dancing lesson and it was a blast! Most of the girls are relatively shy but at the end everyone was posing and spinning like there was no tomorrow. I’d definitely recommend it, not only for a bachelorette party but for just a fun night out with the girls. You can also take regular classes just to work out. Maybe have a few sips of wine beforehand if you’re the conservative type. We were told to wear tight fitting clothing and a buttondown shirt that could be removed. Here are some highlights:
….gets posted on Weddingbee!!! I just got back from my awesome bachelorette party in Vegas. I had such a great time with my girls. We stayed at the Monte Carlo for their cheap rates with an awesome pools (wave pool and river pool along with several others). The first night we partied at Tryst at the Wynn. I kept hearing how awesome it was and how hard it was to get in. I’ve had friends line up for hours and never budge in line. But we were let in immediately….probably due to our coordinating hot pink and black outfits. They really cater to the bachelorette parties and the sexy ladies.
I’ve gotten a couple of comments and emails regarding my DIY Powerpoint maps I made for my invitations. I will guide you step by step through the process so you can create your own.
Here is the fruit of my many hours of labor: My completed Pocketfold invites. Basically, I thought I couldn’t afford them. I had given up on the idea. Even if I got a basic Pocketfold with only one or two ink colors, I would be running at $6.00 an invite, minimum. Then, I found Cards and Pockets which helped make my invitation dream a reality. I didn’t get all my supplies from them, but they got the ball rolling and made me believe it was possible to have Pocketfold invites at a reasonable cost. Here, they are complete with rhinestones in my flower art.
The outside:
My Maid of Honor and my Mom just threw me the most radical 80’s bridal shower ever, complete with vintage record decor and 80’s music videos playing all day. We played the typical bridal shower games along with some 80’s name that tune and trivia. The joy of the day however was seeing Mr. Hibiscus’s Aunts and Mom all dressed up in true 1980’s outfits. They should have all gotten the best dressed award.
I think when you’re around a couple enough, you can just tell if there’s magic there. I know a lot of times you don’t know what goes on behind closed doors, but you can still get a sense. People may marry someone because they lust for them, some marry out of circumstance, some for convenience, others because they feel they have to and some people just plain settle. People even marry for their parents, or unfortunately some for economic reasons.
A lot of these things you can’t hide from other people… at least not for long. My friends have been to many weddings where everyone knew the couple would get divorced. So sad. What’s even sadder is those couples have gotten divorces. 
I’ve even had friends say their significant other or fiance wasn’t the love of their life. I have other married freinds who admit they settled. It seems only a handful of people marry the love of their lives. Maybe it’s asking too much. Maybe someone who is a good person with drive who cares for you deeply is enough.
I want to know how many percent of people do you think really truly marry the love of their lives? Perhaps a negative type question for Weddingbee, but I just want to get some opinions. Maybe it’s taboo to talk of divorce… but the rate is high and consider those couples that do manage to stay married but aren’t all happy.
Okay, now that I’ve got your attention…. I just got a couple of my engagement pictures back from the famous and absolutely fabulous Jessica Claire.
I already booked my extremely sweet and talented make-up artist LoAnn To of Let’s Get Beautified last year. I loved her so much I asked her if she could do my make-up for my engagement pictures (don’t worry I will post as soon as I have something to show you-super fun by the way!) and narrow down what I wanted for the wedding. I told her I wanted my eyes a little more dramatic than my first trial.
LoAnn is so easy to work with and fun to talk to, and her prices are very reasonable. I have to rave about her bionic super make-up that lasted through my engagement session of kissing a thousand times and getting drenched by a crazy huge wave. We were pretty much submerged in the ocean, freezing and shocked by the suddeness of it all and the first thing my fiance says is, “Your make-up still looks great!” haha I replied back, “Really?! No way!” I was expecting it to be gone or my mascara to be running down my face.
I get home and it’s over 7 hours since she did her magic and the make-up still looks awesome. If you’re in southern California and you don’t have your make-up artist booked, please give LoAnn a call. You will be amazed! Trials are only $25. I can’t wait for her to do my wedding make-up. Here is the proof of this magic I speak of.
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Mrs. Hibiscus, Orange County Age and Occupation in 06: 25, Eyebal Doc Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Commerical Underwriter Engagement Date: September 26, 2004 Wedding Date: July 7, 2007 Venue: Laguna Beach on the beach, reception on a yacht in Newport Beach About Me: I'm an eyeball doc. Normal is boring. I'm a hat person and a cat person. I'm in love (so very very in love). I'm a dreamer. I want to change the world. Superheroes are my friends. Kindness is contagious. Music is in my heart. Carpe diem.
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | 30 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
