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Weddingbee Blog
Hello hivesters! It’s pretty swell to be back gracing the pages of the Weddingbee, and I hope everyone is having a fantastic holiday season!
I began blogging for Weddingbee in January of 2010, and was married May 1st. I loved writing my recaps (perhaps most of all!) and wrote all of them over the course of July 2010, and said goodbye at the end of my last recap.
I loved the process of being assigned ten random photos from the amazing day of our wedding, and it was no small thing, given that our talented photographer, B. Scott, gave us over 1100 photos from the day!
Number 343: The first random photo chosen is moments after our first kiss as husband and wife, right after we turned to face our family and friends. we’re still right in the middle of that “holy crap, we just got MARRIED” feeling. We’re also letting our recessional song, I Believe in a Thing Called Love hit its stride before we strut down the aisle.
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Hello hive! Happy May!
This weekend, Mr. Pencils and I celebrated one year of marriage together. I can scarcely believe that it’s truly been 365 days since we said our vows, became husband and wife, and, of course, took lots and lots of photos.
And I think I know the two most pressing questions on your mind:
How have the Pencils’ fared in their first year and what, just WHAT, does Mrs. Pencils’ post-wedding chop look like NOW?
I can report, on both counts, with one simple picture:
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| Life is good! |
It has slowly begun to dawn on me over the last few weeks how very real our little family is, and how very real it all now feels.
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I know y’all have been seeing a lot of us old bees but I hope you have room for another bee’s humble story. I’m coming out of the drawer (get it? ’cause I’m a pencil!?!? ok, lame, I know) to share with you the story of how I came to be sharpened (someone, stop me!)
How I found Weddingbee and all of YOU amazing people:
When I first got engaged in July 2008, an amazing friend mentioned in passing this strange website where lots of different engaged girls blogged about their weddings and they took on different monikers, like bugs and flowers and food. I was interested but not enough to go home and try to find this strange blog about “weddings” and “bees.”
A year later, I was in the thick of actually planning my May 2010 wedding, and I was searching for inspiration. I remembered this blog I had heard of and googled, quite literally, “wedding” and “bee.” Of course, I found this illustrious wedding site and was enticed by these amazing women planning these beautiful weddings. Bloggers like Mrs. Lab and Mrs. Cowboy Boot immediately drew me in and I slowly realized all of the brides-to-be had a unique voice and wonderful wedding story to tell.
As October rolled around, I realized I wanted to join these women. I created a blog and promptly sat on it for nearly two months.
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When Mrs. Mouse proposed the idea of sharing our high school selves with the world, I hesitated. Do I go all out and share my embarrassing amazing photos of me on the drill team freshman year? Do I blur out the faces of the innocent from my dance photos? Do I talk about the best year of high school, which, despite the serial monogamist I am, was my senior year, when I was single and had the best group of friends a girl could ask for?
The answer, for all, is a deep, resounding YES! Get excited, hive, ’cause we’re about to hop and skip down memory lane!
Let’s just start with the worst. My freshman year, I was co-captain of the “drill” (read: dance) team and for the homecoming performance, we borrowed jerseys from the varsity football team, and ended the dance by doing a dog pile—with yours truly at the bottom. I was choreograph-dragged off by my fellow teammates and the yearbook photographer caught this little gem just prior to the dragging:
This experience is a prime example of the hierarchy placed on certain boys in the social order (beyond elementary school, where the boys who picked their nose were just gross and the ones who washed their hands were gorgeous). It was THE biggest deal which boy’s jersey you borrowed for the dance and, at the time, it was THE thing we girls talked about for weeks leading up to the performance in front of the whole school.
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My favorite post is one of the many millions (or 6) from our actual wedding ceremony: our vows. Mr. Pencils and I spent many hours crafting our words for each other and we wanted a balanced, similar-toned but also personalized vows. The few hours we spent one Friday night creating them is one of my favorite evenings to date with my now-husband, and reading this post reminds me of the most important part of a wedding day: that physical moment when you and your chosen person look into each other’s eyes and say, “yes, I want you, now and always.” This post also resonates with me when considering my second favorite post alongside it, where I expressed some superficial as well as deep-set fears about our wedding day and marriage. Three months prior to the moment below, I wrote that I feared “I won’t be the wife that Mr. Pencils thinks I’m capable of being. I fear that my messiness, my long work hours, my addition to chocolate/Coca Cola/bad TV will drive him to drink.
I fear that all these fears will surface and Mr. Pencils will wonder why he chose this crazy, loud, irreverent, over-thinking, uncouth woman to be his wife.
I fear that in all this hoopla, I’ll forget the real reason for it all—us. Mr. P is my other half, my self’s reflection, my counterpart.
Our wedding day and our marriage itself is the beginning of something bigger, better—but it’s still just us. He is the man that will be my children’s father, his hands will hold mine as we create the life we’ve imagined. We’ll dream together, laugh together, cry together, FEAR together.”
When I read these fears, six months after our wedding and nine months after I wrote them down for all of you to read, I realize that the fears I had, the fears you may have, are silly, over-thought, justified AND ridiculous worries all at once.
Many bees have come before me, but I had to dive in. I have far too many embarrassing secrets to share, so I thought I’d go with two that I’m hoping some of you will relate to!
The first, and it should come as no surprise if you read my personal blog and know that Mr. Pencils manages nearly all of the domestic duties of the house, is that in my personal life, I’m incredibly messy and I have a hard time responding to emails in a timely manner. In my work life, I’m on the ball. Emails? Within hours, 48 at the most. My desk? Organized, color coded, file foldered. My Outlook? Every single email has its own folder and I have a task list with deadlines, reminders and flags. Uber Type A.
Yet, as soon as I get home, I seem to lose my focus and drive and I become quite messy—not dirty—just really, really messy. I’m ashamed to show you, but take a look at the image below for my proof:
My second secret is not such a secret if you knew me in high school (which would be odd if you did).
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
Hey hive!
So you thought I was gone… but really, I’m just gearing up for a fantastic bee meet up for the DC area bees! We’re going to be enjoying the Dim Sum and Happy Hour at Ping Pong next Thursday with some drinks, food and ample wedding talk!
The idea originated by those on the boards, so please head over to the boards here to RSVP if you haven’t already!
Date: Thursday, July 22nd
Time: 6:00 PM (or whenever you can get there!)
Location: Ping Pong (900 7th Street NW)
Head here for menu and metro directions. We hope to see all DC/MD/VA bees there!
Ahaha, get it?!?! The Pencils NUMBER TWO reception? Like a number two pencil?!?! Ahaha!
Hokay, so. Remember a really long time ago I told you all about our plans to have a second wedding reception in my hometown in Idaho?! No? That’s a’ight! This past weekend, though, it happened—we gathered with fifty of (mostly my) friends and family to celebrate Mr. Pencils’ and my May nuptials with some kegs, some BBQ, and delicious sheet cake. It was friggin’ fantastic.
Mr. P and I began the trip with, what else, multiple layovers. The best of which occurred in Memphis, where we sampled some original Southern barbecue. I promptly declared myself vegetarian on Wednesday and ate pork ribs on Thursday. I’m still trying…
Mr. P was veerrrry excited.
Mr. Pencils and I so fully enjoyed our time at Arenas del Mar resort in Costa Rica, and were excited to move to the second half of our honeymoon to the Gaia Hotel and Reserve. While Arenas was on the beach, Gaia sits higher up on the mountain, in the middle of greenery. I will say, though, it was hard to say goodbye to this:
Luckily, we had an amazing room with a view of its own waiting for us!
On our second full day in Costa Rica, my hair became too much. TOO MUCH. So what’s a girl to do but chop it off? And if you don’t have a barber nearby, a girl’s new husband, who regularly shaves his own head, will do.
After a long day in the sun sailing and snorkeling, I was losing my mind with my ridic long hair. So we borrowed some scissors from the front desk area, with the promise to return them soon. Then, we got down to business.
My hair really was long!
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After our bubble send off, we hopped in our car and were promptly driven around Washington DC and it’s metropolis for two hours—one hour too many from our wedding in Frederick, Maryland. The extra hour consisted of two restroom breaks for our driver and drop off at the WRONG hotel. Luckily, our driver has stopped at the hotel for another bathroom break and we were able to catch him and have him drive us around for another ten minutes to the correct hotel.
And thus begins the Pencils’ Pura Vida Costa Rican honeymoon.
There are moments that I have dubbed the “forever moments” from our wedding. To me, they represent the happy-go-lucky, joyful, loving feeling that surrounded Mr. Pencils and me on our wedding day.
Some of these moments will be familiar to you, hive, as I’ve already shared them. Most of them I’ve held close to my vest and will now reveal. I present our forever moments, in no real particular order:
During bridal party portraits, my father looked at me and told me how beautiful I looked. I can’t believe our amazing photographers caught the moment:
You didn’t think I would end the Pencils’ recaps without a details post, did you? And I even have one more up my sleeve after this one! Get excited!
There were a number of small touches that graced our tables, hands, and guests’ seats throughout the wedding. Every wedding has wonderful details, and our travel and ribbon theme made up ours.
First up, the original cake toppers I had gotten that ended up being an addition to a random table.
As Mr. Pencils got ready, he was accompanied by some small details, including the watch I had bought him for Christmas to wear on our wedding day.
We had wed and danced and eaten icky carrot cake. Suddenly, the clock struck our pumpkin time and we had to leave. Our guests were ushered upstairs and out, with bubbles in hand. We were instructed to wait just a few minutes and then say goodbye to our guests, on our way to the hotel by the airport that would soon deliver us to Costa Rica.
What we saw when we got outside amazed me.
In a word, sanity on our wedding day. I know, sanity from a vendor? Yes—an amazing vendor, two awesome shooters who not only captured every.single.amazing.moment of our wedding day, but also gave Mr. Pencils and I some of our favorite moments from the day. Beyond our pre- and post- wedding photo shoots, our photographers did something that has Mr. P and I eternally grateful.
After the completion of the cake cutting and various tosses, they pulled us outside for a moment of alone time. Sweet, sweet alone time.
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Mrs. Pencils, Washington DC/Frederick, MD Age and Occupation: 24, Program Director, Education Non Profit Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Administrative Assistant, Ocean Conservation Non Profit Engagement Date: July 26, 2008 Wedding Date: May 2010 Venue: Morningside Inn About Me: I'm a nerdy Northwestern girl who always knew she was meant to live in the East, harboring a deep love of ice cream, underwear, Diet Coke with a splash of Coca-Cola, pashminas, scrapbooking, stationery, wall calendars and books written for preteens. I think every day should include good thin crust pizza, chocolate, an obscure historical monument, lots of laughter, a dash of wedding planning and, of course, amazing Mr. Pencils! I'm loving the adventure of planning a Maryland wedding and Rocky Mountain reception, and most of all, I just love love!
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