Weddingbee Blog

I used my Craigslist Cricut purchase ($100 for a perfectly good Cricut Create with a cartridge, yeay-er!) to cut out little labels to decorate my apothecary jars for the candy buffet:

Photo by Miss Paisley

The shape of the labels mimic the shape of our invitations:
Read more…

Finding a band was something I originally asked Mr. Paisley to do, but gradually, as summer turned to fall, and Mr. Paisley got wrapped up in teaching and his Ph.D. studies (um, so FREAKIN’ proud of him, I’m not about to mess with that!), I realized I may as well take on the task. And what a doozy of a task it ended up being!

I started looking into big band music. It was too expensive all around. I didn’t reeeeally want a DJ… so, I turned to one of my favorite bees, Miss Cowboy Boot, for her bluegrass band inspiration!

I contacted her band, Elephant Revival, and their manager was very nice and said he’d ask the band if they’d want to go to California in the summer. To encourage them, I spent hours researching Bluegrass festivals where they could get gigs around my wedding, to make it worth it.

Sadly, I never did get a response back from the band manager.
Read more…

So call me frugal, but I made favor boxes that came out costing a grand total of 3 cents each! I took a favor box I got from a wedding and took it apart to use as a template. Then I drew out the design on a bunch of Michaels’ discounted sheets of 18″X18″ paper in one of our wedding colors. It took a while, but Mr. Paisley helped.

My favor boxes in progress. A pattern drawn in pencil on a slightly-worse-for-wear sheet of paper

You see from the above that one of my sheets got a little munched. That’s bound to happen when your work station looks like this:
Read more…

So, if you read my last bridesmaid-dress-related post, you’ll know that for about four months, finding the right dress was the bane of my existence. I was trying to find something gorgeous, affordable, and flattering for all body types. My ladies range in size and one is currently pregnant!

Originally, I was dead-set on a lovely pale blue dress, much like this color:

Melissa Sweet Bridesmaid Dress

By the way, if you covet this dress like I did, let me save you some time and possibly a trip to the dressing room: the stiff faille fabric and babydoll design will unfortunately make ANY girl look six month preggers—just beware.

Anyway, so I had somewhat resigned myself to this color. That is, until I saw these bridesmaid’s gowns in a pale champagne pink:
Read more…

I’ve had some interest from friends and fellow brides on my wedding spending and finding good deals. I’ve scored big time on the classifieds here on Weddingbee, The Knot’s Trash-to-Treasure board, and Craigslist. Why, just last weekend, my dear cousin and bridesmaid picked up another 40 cylinder vases (I have about 200 more!) for my centerpieces that I found for a steal on Weddingbee.

Some of my favorite finds?

Antique Spanish-style candelabra, with six LED flickering candles, Craigslist $35. Photo: Personal photo

Read more…

J Mendel Crystal Blue Gown Spring 2010

Sigh. Isn’t this dress to die for? I wish it could be an affordable bridesmaid dress instead of a thousands-of-dollars designer dress. And it’s in my color, too! Because I can’t get enough of the thing, here’s Kate Walsh in the dress at the Emmy Awards:

Read more…

Little balls of loveliness, created from two things I love: tea and food coloring (it reminds me of Easter!). You just take some brewed tea, add a few drops of food coloring, and take standard white tissue paper pre-cut into 10″ X 5″ stacks. After following Martha’s instructions, I got this lovely thing:

custom dyed tissue pomander

Pretty, no?

I even saved time by skipping the hot glue.
Read more…

Actually, there’s a LOT you can’t do in my hometown, a rural county nestled next to Sonoma and Napa. But no matter, as the setting of our wedding, it’s the natural beauty of this area that counts:

Photo Credit: Lakeport Chamber of Commerce

Read more…

Here is an inspiration board I created featuring our wedding colors, peach and aqua. The peach along with the homey and handmade details bring warmth to the pale aqua palette. My pops and I have decided to undertake an insane amount of DIY, and are already hard at work making many elements you’ll see at the wedding by hand, including 16 long rustic farm tables, 8 walnut burl benches (from the orchard across the street from the house where I grew up), an arbor made out of driftwood that came ashore at my grandma’s house, a dance floor, table numbers and wedding signage. My dad is the best!!!

Credits: Style Me Pretty (12), Weddingbee (8), Project Wedding (2), Jennifer Longaway (4), Beth Helmstetter (6), Jose Villa (4), Melissa Sweet (2), Luxury & Lifestyle (2), the knot (2)

Is your dad involved in your wedding planning?

Hello there! It’s so nice to see you! I’m Miss Paisley, and I’ve actually been a bee since I was a very young gipper. First, I was a “busy bee” at Busy Days Preschool, where I adored the mascot bee with all the unbridled enthusiasm of a five-year-old.

Then, my first job out of college was as a daily news reporter at the Record-Bee newspaper! Of course, the bee was also the mascot there. On a recent visit back to my hometown paper, my dear friend and editor of the Bee gifted me this lovely hat:

Please excuse the harsh lighting. It’s a self-portrait taken late at night, after seeing Dear John at the movies.

Which I think is so appropriate considering I’m once again… a bee!

I can’t wait to get started telling you all about our chic, family-lake-house wedding we’re planning. Get ready for a healthy serving of DIY projects, a little letterpress printing, and a side of bumps, surprises and relationship lessons.

But first, let me tell you more about Mr. Paisley and me.
Read more…