Weddingbee Blog

I know Mrs. Bee posted about a couple of places earlier this week, but I had to include my two cents as my mom, sister and I were in the city on Tuesday in search of the perfect trim for a wedding I am working on. We had a fabulous time (as usual) and had lunch at ‘wichcraft - my favorite sandwich shop ever!

As Mrs. Bee mentioned, M&J Trim has just about everything one can imagine… unfortunately, they didn’t have what I needed. So we moved on to The Store Across the Street, and my mom and sister bought several pieces here, but still no luck for me.

64 West 34th Street, 212-354-1242

Read more…

My mom and sister have been in DC this past week and we’ve had many exciting happenings, (hence the lack of posts from me). I’ve been very busy with work… if you’re curious, click here. But I have plenty of developments to share, starting with my bouquet…

We have finally nailed down exactly what we would like with the florist. It’s going to be fairly similar to this bouquet, but with sweet peas instead of the stars of Bethlehem.
Read more…

Remember my post about Mr. Raspberry’s lack-of-doing in the wedding planning, well I have an interesting update…

Our Dance Lessons are checked off! As I posted about earlier, this was one of his tasks. So, yesterday morning, he called me frantic to tell me WE forgot to do something very important that morning… I was totally puzzled, because I didn’t feel like I had anything looming to take care of.

Well that important thing was the registration for dance lessons. They opened up at 8am, and he left for work and called me from the car to see if I could log on with his information to book us for the class. Let me remind you - this was one of his very few tasks! GRRR… I was not a happy camper as I then could not find the website to register. In the end, IIIIII got it all taken care of and we are all set to dance our Wednesday nights away!

So, my frustration in the wedding planning continues. I just think boys don’t understand the level of stress it adds to our lives when there are still 8000 things to do before the wedding and they continually forget… just like he forgot to call the tailor in Thailand this weekend to confirm his tux is being made!

I love him to pieces and he was totally sweet about forgetting and made it up to me by being very sweet and taking care of a bunch of stuff in my garden all week.

Just a little venting…

On yesterday’s show, Martha Stewart had Karen Porter of Tilly’s Cakes on to teach everyone how to make Petit Fours with little butterflies. I have posted a couple of times about the bridesmaid tea I’m hosting the day before the wedding, and Petit Fours were one of the must have aspects. I was so excited to see these easy steps! You can find the recipe for the pound cake here and the recipe for the icing here.

I think I will do them with candied violets or make them into little wedding cakes.

Or maybe I’ll cheat and buy flowers like these from Wendy Kromer Confections. These cherry blossoms are $28.00 for a set of 24. Aren’t they so cute!

1. I love love to cook and eat really good food - my favorite snack is popcorn on the stove with truffle oil and parm cheese, but sometimes I just can’t resist velveeta and rotel tomatoes melted with tostitos!

2. I am a camera junkie - I take pictures of anything and everything - it drives Mr. Raspberry nuts.

3. I like to eat good summer tomatoes like an apple and keep the salt and pepper grinders by my side to keep applying - I know, weird.

4. I enjoy consuming alcoholic beverages out of my camelback during the summer - people think you are drinking water, and you can take it anywhere with you.

Read more…

For all you cherry blossom brides who are lucky enough to have scheduled your wedding during the 2 week period - which fluctuates - when they are in bloom, and for all you brides (including me) who wish we had the cherry blossoms for our weddings….

Read more…

A while back I posted about the luncheon/tea that I am throwing for my bridesmaids the day before the wedding. Well, I’ve still been busy collecting ideas and when Mrs. Bee posted about Carolyne Roehm earlier today, I found this project which I think will be perfect for the petit fours at the tea!

Read more…

With the onslaught of spring in DC, I have been a super motivated bee!

And truth be told, there is another motivator, which is the Cherry Blossom Ten-Miler that Mr. Raspberry and I are running on Sunday. I love to run and have run several marathons. But in the past six months, my running has significantly tapered. I am even a little nervous about the run on Sunday because I have been a lazy lout. I know it will be fine and I will do fine… I’m just guessing that I’m not going to like what the clock says when I reach the finish line.

I really only started running daily again last week, and I attribute this renewal in my desire to run to the beautiful weather, and the cherry blossoms and tulip trees which are blooming all over the place right now.

I even stepped on the scale today and was excited about the number!

How are you doing with your workout plan, and has spring helped get you motivated to get moving for your wedding?

We put all of the final touches on the bridesmaid dresses (which we are having made in Thailand) this week, except for the bow/knot for the back.

The final color choice was the same color as this ribbon (it is actually a little darker than the color showing up on my screen)…

and they are going to be similar to this Watters and Watters dress.

So we are debating between these two backs…

Read more…

This past weekend I was a vendor at a bridal event for Washington Life magazine, and had the opportunity to meet and see the work of a couple of great DC vendors. One of my absolute favorites was Ultra Violet flowers. They are located in Georgetown on 31st Street.

Read more…

This past weekend, two of my bridesmaids and I went to a wedding event at Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salon and Spa in Washington, DC (well Chevy Chase really).

It was a great time! They were offering a plethora of free mini spa services - I received a facial, massage and manicure, but there were girls having hair consultations and airbrush makeup also. There were several vendors on hand to showcase their products and services and plenty of bubbly going around.

My facialist had some great recommendations for me to keep my skin crystal clear - including watching how hot the water I wash my face is. I love really hot showers and unfortunately, I have been too hard on the tiny capillaries in my face.

I am not sure if this is something going on at the location in your city, but the wedding rep here said that many cities are offering it for brides at this time of year. So I would get on the phone and call your Red Door Spa to see if you can get in on the event!

I need some help.

Mr. Raspberry is fabulous in oh-so-many ways, but I feel like recently I have been nagging him to take care of a couple of wedding related items that he has agreed to take care of. For example, he is in charge of the dance lessons, booking the tuxedos, getting a final budget from his parents and getting the guys’ meaurements.

And none of these things are checked off…. I hate feeling naggy about them, but I am getting nervous as we are less than 4 months from our wedding date and I feel totally overwhelmed with how many things still need to be done. A couple of the things I have been asking him to do for 2 months!

So, I am looking to you for some help. I have tried explaining to him that I am stressed about the long list of to-dos and he understands, but he is really busy with his job also… AHHH!

Please help! How have you been managing your stress? And the stress on lack of initiative on your SO’s part? Is it just time to hire a coordinator?

Washington Life Magazine is having a fabulous event for a small group of brides to showcase some of the best vendors in the DC area. It is a Champagne Brunch on Sunday, March 25 and since I did the invitations for the event, I have a couple of extra tickets.

If you are still early in the planning stages of looking for vendors and want to go, email me at sarah@hautepapier.com by Monday at midnight!

Mr. Raspberry and I are back from Vermont where I attended my first shower! It was so much fun! I was a little bit nervous as there were a few of his parent’s friends whom I had not met. It’s a little nervewracking to be the center of attention, but it was all so much fun.

All of the guests complained that they didn’t want to play games, but Mr. Raspberry’s mom insisted and came up with two great ones. The first was to guess what ingredient was missing from each of the 15 James Beard recipes that she had printed out for us. It was very funny as a couple of the recipes were old classics (think Yorkshire pudding) that no one had made in years. The second game was to guess what spices were in 10 little glass jars. This was especially funny, as they were very common spices and some of them still puzzled us! Mr. Raspberry’s mom also gave me a box with new bottles of all of the spices from the tasting, which was so cute!

Since we flew up there, we didn’t bring our presents back with us, but there were a couple of things that I had to bring… I love Anthropologie and was so excited to get these perfect pieces from there for hosting parties…

Read more…

A while back I posted about the luncheon/tea that I am hosting for my bridesmaids the weekend of the wedding. While watching Martha Stewart today, I got another great idea for making the roses for the napkin rings.

Martha had Cassie Chappell from Mommy Makes Roses on today. She makes these fabulous roses out of coffee filters! Yes, that is a fake rose out of coffee filters!

AND she taught us how to make them. You can get the directions on Martha’s site here.

I hope to make some this weekend and will take plenty of pictures to see if they are as easy as she makes it look!