Weddingbee Blog

Our search for invitations was a lot like a Disney fairy tale, minus the ridic, repetitive songs by Randy Newman, subjugation of women, and impossibly tiny waist sizes. We knew what we wanted, and short of singing about while longingly looking into a reflective pool, we were on the hunt to find it. In this analogy, us=princess, invitations=fairy tale prince. I’m now slightly offended and disgusted by my own analogy, and will chock it up to a 70 hour work week.

Originally, I had imagined a beautiful DIY invite project that allowed me to utilize one of these designs from MyGatbsy:

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I loved the options of colors and the cool price (around 2.50 each). I imagined myself spending a few Saturdays, watching reruns of bad TV, baking cookies and crafting some awesome invites. I kept looking though, just to be sure.

Then I found cool fabric folio invitation like this on the Wedzilla blog:
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I was raised Catholic, then Episcopal, and Mr. Pencils attended a Protestant church until high school. I would classify myself as spiritual, and Mr. P… well, he’s not sure what he believes. A church wedding was out, to say the least.

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The question remained though: who should marry us? It took literally 30 minutes of being engaged to name one person:
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A number of blog posts about financial planning after marriage led to a pretty great decision for the Pencils this past fall. Before, I would have said, “joint everything or nothing” because that’s how my parents did it and it works for them.

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I forgot to remember that what works for one couple doesn’t always translate to success for all. For example, me and Mr. Pencils.

See, I used to think that having a separate personal account meant that there were secrets to keep, and I thought that if a husband and wife didn’t share everything, they would lack trust. Don’t judge—I was worried that if Mr. Pencils and I had separate accounts, it might make it all that easier for one of us to have an indiscretion!
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That pretty much describes our wedding party… and I love it!

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As you all know, I have lived in three distinct places: Idaho, Washington, DC, and Baltimore. I also have best friends from every single place I have lived in. I say best friends, because I truly do view each and everyone of these women as the BEST women around and BEST friends.

And yet, you all also know that I am not good at making decisions. So, when it came time to choose a Maid of Honor, I balked. I flopped. I didn’t choose one.

Yep, I didn’t choose one. Instead, I chose a man of honor.
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My sweet tooth began to act up a few minutes ago, and to satiate my desire—while still being able to fit into my white dress—I took a mini-break from work to scout some groom’s cakes. I have always known we had to have a groom’s cake, partly because it is a Southern tradition, and with half of my family hailing from Louisiana, it is quite apropos. But also, I wanted one because you can get these cakes made into some really fantastic things these days!

When I was a wee lass, Mama Pencils told me a legend around groom’s cakes (I just had to believe her when Wikipedia confirmed this old wives’ tale). Young single women are supposed to sleep with a slice of the groom’s cake under their pillows and they will dream of the man they are going to marry. We want a groom’s cake to highlight one of Mr. Pencils’ favorite things and to get some chocolate cake on the table for chocolate lovers like me, not necessarily to help my single ladies get a glimpse of their future. How about a modern twist: maybe my single friends will bump into the man or woman of their dreams at the groom’s cake table!?!?!

While I am pretty sure I know exactly what the P-man will want, I did some searching anyway and found some really cool cakes! Don’t they look yummy…
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Initially, a tough choice Mr. Pencils and I had to make was where to have our wedding. I never imagined choosing the actual location could prove so difficult, emotional, overwrought and frustrating. At the time, I found myself wishing that we were from the same hometown or had the foresight to plan a destination wedding. See, we had to decide between three different places: Idaho, North Carolina or Maryland.

The dilemma is somewhat complicated. I was born and raised in Southeastern Idaho. Idaho is that state that is above Utah and in between Montana and Oregon/Washington. We border Canada… ringing a bell yet? I love my home state, mostly for its natural beauty, the simplicity of life there, and I was drawn to the idea of a lower cost, outdoor, gorgeous, natural wedding. I mean, look at how beautiful my home state is:

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When I chose my dress, I chose it mainly for one reason. Oh, I love the Alencon lace, the sweetheart neckline, and the A-line silhouette. But most of all, I love one little detail: the little silk ribbon that runs up each side and under my bum. It is so simple, yet gorgeous:

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I started thinking of many ways to incorporate this little detail into the wedding.

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It didn’t take long for Mr. Pencils and me to decide on our color scheme. We knew we wanted an outdoor wedding—at least for the ceremony to be outside—and a color palette to reflect nature and the world around us. The mister put his foot down on fuchsia pink, which I love as an accent color, as in this inspiration board:

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Thus, it was not meant to be pink. Luckily, I had another idea. Our favorite colors. Read more…

Egads! Hello hive! I am so honored to bee here!

I gotta say, 2010 started off swell… and then turned amazing when I got a little New Year’s gift from the ‘bee! I’ll be honest—I have been compulsively, obsessively, pretty terrifyingly checking my Blackberry at every.single.beep hoping it was that little email that said “Weddingbee Application”. I am loving planning my wedding, and the biggest source of inspiration has been all of you, hive—every bee and every bride-to-bee here. I couldn’t wait to see if I would get the chance to share my planning adventure with you!

When the email didn’t come, but I started to see others that had heard back… I got nervy. I did the least patient, most spaztastic thing I could think of:
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