Weddingbee Blog

You guys, I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to think up a favor for our guests. Like, a serious amount of time that could have probably been spent doing other things that were more important. In hindsight, I had no reason to stress about the favors. Our photo booth photos could have been our favor, as well as our sweets table, but I just really wanted something fun at each seat to show our guests how much we appreciated having them with us!

Since I thought so long about it, I feel like it’s only fair to share some of those options as well as the big winner. The runners up were…

Hershey’s Kisses in springtime colors to match our wedding colors, which were baby blue and sage green and chocolate (get it?!) brown (but obviously I’d eat all the pink ones to keep them in our color scheme).

Hershey’s Pastel Kisses via Oriental Trading (Great prices there!)

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Hive, have you seen the new Randomizer series? I have, and it’s awesome! It seriously put me into “wanting to do recaps” mode just so I could participate. I feel like before I can start recapping, I should share one of my favorite things with you: our invitations!

Our invitation suite was a DIY affair…and it ended up taking longer than I thought (which is how it always happens, right?!). I’ll break the whole process down for you, but it’ll probably be easy to do in pictures.

The first step was to create the invitation suite. As much as I loved all those modern invitations I kept talking about so many months ago, I really wanted something that looked fresh, but ultimately traditional. I spend all day, every day designing hip, modern things…for our wedding, I decided to follow my little designer-heart and create something that I loved, even if it wasn’t exactly “cool” and seemed traditional. That was my inspiration…
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Hive, I had my bridal shower a looong time ago. I mean, I’ve been married for six months now, so that should be indication enough that’s it’s been a while. It was actually last February, so we’re getting closer and closer to the ’year away’ mark. I loved my shower, and had always wanted to share it with you guys, but it happened right before crazy-wedding-frenzy-mode and I never got the time. I was thinking about it today, and I decided that there’s no better time than the present!

My mom planned my shower, but after mucho begging from me, I got to help. I know, I know, Wedding Planning for Dummies actually told me that I should have absolutely no part in planning the shower, but I still lived at my parents’ house, and I have all the crafting goodies my mom could’ve have needed (not to mention I love planning parties) so she let me help.

It all started with the invitation. Mama Giraffe chose a theme of “bright colors, polka dots, and stripes.” She was worried at first that it didn’t match our wedding colors, but it turned out great and was so “me.” After an extensive online search for invitations and finding nothing, she had finally agreed to let me help and had me create them. She “art directed” the whole thing, I just created it on the computer for her. She made up a rhyme for the invitations, and continued rhyming throughout the rest of the shower.

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As I told you guys a couple weeks ago, I was a bridesmaid in Bridesmaid Marie’s wedding. That’s the way to do it folks: if you’re planning a wedding, find an engaged BFF and plan them together—it makes it way more fun!

Anyway, I shared some hairstyle photos with you guys, and I ended up looking pretty hot. So, I figured I’d better fill you in on the details!

Even though I showed the Hive a couple of options, the next day I threw ’em out the window and bought these babies to the hair salon with me.

Hairstyle Chat / Braided Updos

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Hive, I know I’ve been absently recently. There’s a lot going on, and even though I haven’t shared my recaps yet, I feel like this is a very important post for me to write, so I’ll be dropping in some images from the big day. Don’t worry about them though, I’ll catch you up on everything once I start recapping.

In the beginning, I was anti-video. Don’t get me wrong, I think wedding videos are gorgeous, and watching a few made me tear up a little. I scrapbook, and love flipping through albums, so spending moolah on photos made sense, but on video?

How to Hire a Wedding Videographer / Wedding Photography Directory

I mean, when was the last time I watched one of my parents’ home videos? I showed some baby ones to Mr. G a few years back, but that’s pretty much it. Who wants to watch a video of themselves? And, better yet, who wants to pay a ton of money for it?
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Can you believe it’s already Thursday? This week is fllllying by! Just in time for a long weekend.

And, this little Giraffe has big plans this weekend—it’s finally time for Bridesmaid Marie’s wedding! I’ve been counting down the days here. Since she and I spent the last couple of years planning weddings, we’ve been one down and one to go since my big day in May. I was totally wedding burnt out for a few weeks after the wedding, but that passed and now I can’t wait!

Bridesmaid Marie and I at my bachelorette party

We spent last weekend making programs and super cute place cards (I’ll ask her if I can share them), and now the big day is almost here! Poor Marie has one heck of a cold, but hopefully she can sleep it off.
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So, I realize the last post I wrote about save the dates was in January, but, as I started to move on to sharing our invitations with you guys I felt like the right thing to do would be finish off my STDs. I’m just going with a “better late than never” attitude on this one, and besides, it is on my list of things to blog about before we get our pro pics, so I’m finally getting back to it.

Where we last left off, many moons ago, I didn’t choose an STD, then I designed a million save the dates, and then we finally decided on one, and then realized I needed a postcard to put that sucker on, and then I finally shared them with you.

I never shared the assembly or budget, though, and I’ve always wanted to let you know how we put them together because it was so easy and simple; so, finally, our STD assembly!

To refresh your memories, here are our STDs (the bottom two photos are digital mock ups).

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Sashing? Dashing? Close enough, right?

This is so strange, but it’s true. For some reason, when I made the easy decision of picking out my dress, I decided I had to have a sash. In fact, I got my heart all set on it. I’m not 100% sure why I had to have one, but I think the artist in me was drawn to the pop of color, and the opportunity to use it to coordinate our wedding colors and make them even more cohesive (… because I was a crazy bride like that).

If you look back at the image of my dress that David’s Bridal provides, you’ll see something around the waist.

Screenshot from David’s Bridal /Style T9309

Just so you guys know, the sash in that photo doesn’t come with the dress (included is a length of 2″ white ribbon, there’s even two teeny loops to hold the ribbon onto the dress), but they suggest it with the dress, as well as a thicker, fancier sash, like the purple one in the photo below.

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Just to clarify by “a Giraffe,” I mean me.

I realized I’ve never told you about my wedding dress/dress hunt. Why, you ask? Well, it’s not really a good story.

Really. It’s just not much of a story at all.

Here’s what happened.

Mr. Giraffe proposed, and that night I bought 3 wedding magazines. I flipped through one, saw an advertisement for a dress, and decided I wanted that one. A month later, I was home from college for Thanksgiving, I headed to store, tried on that dress, and was sure I wanted that one. We set a date 2.5 years in the future. Then 1.5 years later, I headed to the same store, tried on the same dress, and bought it.

That’s really it, the whole shebang. I didn’t cry, but I was happy and wanted that dress.
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Hehe—that title could mean anything!

Anyway, Hive, it’s about time I got you guys caught up on everything I didn’t get to before the wedding. Thanks for bearing with me as I took some time to come around. I still have residual weird angry and bitter feelings about coping with our wedding actually being over, but BM Mang just sent me some photos she took on our wedding day and looking through them really perked me up. I’m thinking that I’ll be back on top of the world when we get our pro pics.

Anyway—back to why we’re here! I have a big topic to talk about today—you know what it is—the elusive cake topper!

via Super Weddings

Originally I wanted a monogram cake topper, like the one above, but preferably with lower case Helvetica letters in .75″ thick clear acrylic. Yeah, that was what a had in mind. It’s only a trifle super specific.
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“Smile because it happened.”

Or at least that’s what Dr. Seuss tells you to do…or what Mr. Giraffe keeps telling me to do.

See, here’s the thing, Hive…In the interest of full disclosure, I’m going to be honest with you all. I feel conflicted about our wedding. I can look back and key into my feelings on that day and I remember how I felt: entirely blissful, glowing, sheer happiness. That’s the thing, I remember feeling that way, I remember telling Mama Giraffe that it was the best day of my life, I remember crying uncontrollably right after our ceremony (but before pictures—oops) because I was so overwhelmed with emotions and happiness.

I know that’s how I felt; I remember it, but I don’t feel that way anymore.

Mr. G and I had a long talk about this while we ate dinner our the beach during our honeymoon, but I’ll break it down for you guys.

It’s over.

The wedding is over and gone and I am so heartbroken about it.
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Hello Hive,

Oh, I’m sorry if you don’t recognize me. I know the name Mrs. Giraffe sounds strange, but I swear I’m just the same as that Miss Giraffe from a week-and-a-half ago. Really.

I logged into Weddingbee on the second day of our honeymoon to see all the well wishes you guys left for me and the Mister. It was wonderful. Thank you.

Mr. Giraffe and I just returned home from Mexico on Sunday and I’m back at work today so we’re trying to get settled into a routine. Y’know, a routine that means packing and moving into our new townhome and how to start the process of changing my name. Man, I thought I’d be done with projects now that the wedding is over…
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Hive,

Here it is. The day, the big one, go time.

The forecast is calling for rain, rain, rain, and thunderstorms..but I am ready.

I just had a crazy last two days and a wonderful rehearsal dinner with way too much chocolate cake. This last month has been such a wedding planning super storm that I haven’t been around much. No worries, though, I have a ton more to share with you, a little more about Dadzilla and some DIY projects that happened to work their way in here some where.

I haven’t blogged about the honeymoon, but I’ll just let you know that by 10:35 tomorrow morning, Mr. Giraffe and I will be in Cancun, on our way to a sunny beach. I have a whole week ahead of me there .

Thank you for the support over the last 8 months and staying with me during some crazy projects. You, hive, are awesome, and I’m so honored I got to share my journey with you.
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Okay hive, here’s a little new flash for you: a good toasting flute is hard to find. In the interest of full disclosure, that little tidbit should have read “an good toasting flute is hard to find a week and a half before your wedding” …but I digress.

Last weekend, Mama Giraffe and I hunted the mall, party stores, other stores for the perfect toasting flutes. For those of you on a hunt of your own, the a few places we looked (that typically carry a handful of styles) were Bed, Bath & Beyond, Party City, Carson’s, Hallmark, A different Hallmark, Macy’s, Another Carson’s, and a handful of other places. There’s also quite a few to be found online, but that would entail not waiting until the last minute.

Mama Giraffe had absolutely no idea what she was getting into when she told me she’d like to buy toasting flutes for us. I think it’s my style: I wanted something simple and classy that would remind me of our  wedding. Tricky, eh?

Where to begin?
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It is so easy to get wrapped up in wedding craziness. All these books, blogs, and TLC shows convince you that you need things (that you don’t really need), and to be something (that might not actually be you at all).

I’ll admit it, I’ve been sucked up in this a few times. You can’t help it really; I read all these posts here on Weddingbee about two shoed brides and fancy shoed brides and all kinds of shoes! The bees who are writing the posts are always so excited, and those feelings come through the posts. And, well? I wanted that feeling. I wanted to be a bride who had shoe excitement. I really did.

So what did I do? I spent (or possibly wasted) hours of lunch breaks looking at shoes online, from sites like Zappos and Endless.

Such. Pretty. Shoes!! Calvin Klein via Zappos

The thing is, folks, I spent hours look at fancy heels—supposed wedding shoes—and I just got angry.

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