Weddingbee Blog

My dearest hive! I have missed you all so very much! In the chaos of snagging a husband and starting an amazing new job, I realized that despite having nearly everything I’ve ever wanted, something was missing. Perhaps you can deduce what I am getting at here—you all are that something and I cannot wait to share our wedding day with you

Back on that rainy day in November—in fact, the only day that week with a damp cloud in the sky—my very best friend and I did an amazing and wonderful thing: vowed to grow old together.

We vowed to love each other through good times and bad, to start a family with each other. We promised that, whatever the obstacle, we’d overcome it—together. That, despite my messy quirks and his compulsive cleanliness, we would always make it work…because we not only love each other to the moon and back, but because we respect and value one another. And at the core of it all, that’s what matters most.

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Howdy, Hive! I’ve missed you! I am diligently working away on my recaps but thought I’d take a break to share something fun with you: OUR HIGHLIGHT VIDEO!

The Sealman and I definitely have a few dorky moments, but apart from that…we LOVE our video. Many thanks to Chris from Chriz Photography for doing such an amazing job!!!

Marie and Shaun Bently Reserve Wedding Highlight from ChriZ Photography on Vimeo.
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My husband (!!!) and I are on our Disneyland mini-moon—currently giving our feet a rest—so I thought I’d pop in and say hello! We’re spending a few days here at the Grand Californian Hotel before heading down to San Diego for a couple of nights, but I’ll fill you in all the mini-moonin’ details later.

Basically our wedding was absolutely perfect and I cannot wait to get our pro photos back so I can tell you all about it. Everything lived up to (and exceeded) my expectations and it was absolutely the best day of my entire life. I wish I could get married to Mr. Seal every weekend because, hive, we throw one hell of a party. Everyone had a blast.

Anyway, here’s a little sneak peek to tide you over.
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Here I sit, the morning of my wedding, amazed that these last two years have flown by so quickly. My lovely bridesmaids are getting their hair and makeup done and I FINALLY feel like it’s real…I am getting married to my incredible love…today. In a whirlwind of planning, crafting and blogging, I’ve come upon the day that will make me a wife…at last. The past few weeks have been especially busy, but I have sincerely enjoyed every minute of my engagement and am so ready to be married.

To my fellow blogging bees: Thank you for your shoulders to lean upon, your cheers to keep me keepin’ on, and your unparalleled ingenuity that never ceases to inspire me. I am so thankful and proud to stand amongst you all and to call you my friends. Truly and honestly.

To the hive: This is going to sound trite, but I promise every word is true—
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Howdy, Hive! Just your friendly, neighborhood Miss Seal here checking in. The Mr. and I leave for our hotel in San Francisco tomorrow and the excitement is really building. Family and friends have started arriving from their OOT destinations and the calls are flooding in. I still can’t believe I am getting married…the day after tomorrow.

So remember that calm before the “inevitable storm” I spoke of? Well, as it turns out…the storm has yet to hit. I’m still waiting for the crazy to slap me across the face, but I’m hoping it’s just not gonna happen. I mean, I did get those two teeth extracted, but with the exception of a bit of soreness and eating more slowly, the swelling is gone and I feel good.

The lovely Miss Ferris Wheel (my date/city/birthday bee twin) even sent me this adorable bouquet on the day of my oral surgery. It definitely put a swollen smile on my face.

Anyhow, I’m writing today not so much to update you on my life, but to let you know that you can and will get through wedding planning.
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…gets shared with the hive!

Last weekend, I had the privilege of spending four nights in Sin City with 17 of my favorite ladies! Our flight from SFO was at 7AM, so our journey began very early. Like…so early that I only slept 30 minutes before heading to BART.

Thank goodness for Go Girls.

On BART with a patronizingly happy MOH Meghan

Image courtesy of BM Sarah

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Disclaimer: This post talks a lot about teeth. In particular, bad teeth. If for some reason you are sensitive to such a topic or just plain don’t want to hear about it, kindly feel free to skip this one.

Today marks 22 days until our wedding. I’ll soon (as in a few hours) be leaving to Las Vegas for my bachelorette party and I know when I return I’ll only need blink twice and November 11th will be here. With that said, I can’t quite be excited yet. Having been engaged for just a couple months shy of two years, I was certain that I’d be overcome with joy (and perhaps nerves) once the under-30-days mark hit.

But, as I said, I can’t be excited quite yet.

You see, about four months ago I chipped a molar while eating a chocolate chip. Yeah. A chocolate chip (I told you I was a chocaholic). Anyway, seeing as how I currently have no dental insurance, I thought I’d be okay with just thorough brushes twice a day, some mouth rinses and (since I’m being honest, occasional) flossing. Well, all was fine until about three weeks ago when I notice a bump below the gum line of my broken tooth. My heart sank because I knew what this was—an abscess. Considering abscesses are signs of infection, I knew I needed to seek prompt dental care.

Cue the full-blown anxiety attack.
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After a roller-coaster ride of making a hair and makeup artist decision, I’ve finally found the woman who will be making me up on the day of the wedding. Despite some previously unfortunate circumstances on the glamour front, and having not budgeted any money for my day-of hair and makeup, I was left in quite the predicament. Thankfully, I have the most amazing family in the world, and my parents graciously offered to pay for my dream vendor! A winning situation? I think, YES!

Anyway, enough jibber-jabber. Let’s get on to the good stuffs.

Last week, I met with the lovely Susie Cee for a hair and makeup trial, and boy was I blown away! From the moment I sat down, I knew I was in good hands and knew that the unexpected investment would be totally worth my parents’ money.

What I typically look like without makeup:

Mr. Seal and me after completing Bay-to-Breakers in SF this past May

Now, you may be wondering why I didn’t show you what I looked like “before makeup” on the actual day of the trial, and I will gladly explain. The only picture taken of me without makeup that day was by Susie…and it was right after I got my eyebrows waxed. When I showed the picture she sent me to the Sealman, he (no joke) laughed for a full minute. Anyway, I’ll let you see the picture below, but I just couldn’t bear the thought of that photo being on the FRONT page of the blog for all to see and laugh at…because I totally look terrifying.

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Welp, kids…the Sealman and I officially applied for our marriage license and, I’ve gotta say, it was exciting.

We began the day by finishing up the very last of our church paperwork and—despite an onslaught of relentless rain—decided to take care of our license, too.

At our local parish waiting for our letter of permission to get married in San Francisco.

(Don’t mind my hair—we had just taken refuge from the torrential downpour outside. Mr. Seal was mocking me, but the joke is on him because I’ve just shared his goof-face with the world wide webzzz.)

Thankfully the town in which Mr. Seal and I live also happens to serve as the county seat, so we didn’t have to travel too far in the storm to take care of our soon-to-be-married business.

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Woo hoo, hive! I’ve got some great news. After over a year of searching, I’ve found a wedding band to pair with my engagement ring.

In case you all forgot what my e-ring looks like, here’s a refresher!

This puppy is a three-stone diamond ring with 10 additional diamonds on the sides.

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Well, we’re in the final countdown. (You have permission to hum the song if you’d like.) On top of life being completely crazy right now, I am totally suffering from “I don’t wanna do nothin’ wedding-related” syndrome. Don’t think it exists!? GOOGLE IT, PEOPLE.

Apparently it happens all the time. Basically this means that, despite actually needing to hunker down and get stuff done, I just plain don’t want to. That’s not to say I’m not enjoying the (unfortunately light) trickle of RSVPs, I think it just means that I am absolutely ready to be married and done with doin’ stuff. I honestly never thought I’d be affected! Not me. I loved being engaged. I looked forward to writing vendor emails and sending in deposits and payments (sick, I know).

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The Sealman and I have decided to exchange gifts on the morning of the wedding. Initially, I was against the idea—we were having a big, pretty wedding and get to spend the rest of our lives together, what more do we need? But then I saw a gift that I really, really wanted to get him and decided it was only fair to afford him the opportunity to do the same.

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So remember how we have a ginormous wedding party, right? To refresh your memory, we’ve got: 10 bridesmaids, 10 groomsmen, 2 ushers, 2 flower girls and a ring bearer. Phew! Anyhoo, when it came time to deciding whether we’d setup a head table for the entire wedding party or a cozy sweetheart table for just the Sealman and I, the size of our wedding party definitely factored into that decision.

After meeting with our catering coordinator and going over the dimensions of our reception space, we were presented with a few options.

1. A (very) long, single-sided head table.

Like this, but longer.

Image via ArisingImages

Though I liked the idea of being surrounded by my wedding party, I didn’t like the thought of splitting up couples. As it’s physically impossible to fit a table long enough to include everyone and their date, quite a few of our party members would be separated from their significant other.

2. A long, double-sided head table (would enable us to keep couples together).

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…Alternatively titled: Miss Seal practically keels over with giddiness when someone she knows gets engaged.

Not that I didn’t get excited over newly engaged couples before—I just think, now, being able to fully understand just how exciting getting engaged is, I all but have a heart attack every time someone close to me pledges to wed their beloved!

For example, when BM/FSIL Maria got proposed to by Big Brother Seal, I put together an engagement basket for her. I packed the basket with wedding movies, magazines, planning guides, her favorite wine and tons of other goodies. When BM Carina got engaged to her awesome man—being that she lives a few hours away from me—I sent off an engagement box stuffed to capacity with wedding planning necessities.

Very recently, MOH Meghan was proposed to by her boyfriend during a trip to New York for one of his cousins’ weddings. After all but peeing myself, I calmed myself down and focused on the task before me: her engagement goodies. Once I procured all of the necessities (and gladly purged myself of 75% of my old magazines), I snuck into their home to ensure that the basket awaited them upon their return. Care to see some of my handiwork?
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I can hardly fathom how quickly time has flown since I showed you a sneak peek of our invites back in May. Sometimes, I find myself nervous to go to sleep because I just know I am going to wake up the morning after the wedding.

Anyhow, the invites should have reached most of our guests’ homes by now (I’ve got a few RSVPs to prove it!) which means I can finally share our invites with you!

A little bit of back story first…

As perhaps you may recall, we ordered our Save-The-Dates through The Aerialist Press-this sufficiently quenched my thirst for beautiful letterpress and thus decided to go a different route for our invites. The Sealman and I had met a wonderful woman named Mimi at a bridal fair way back yesteryear and she stuck with me for a few reasons. Firstly because her custom invite designs were gorgeous, and secondly because her given name is a nickname I’ve had since before I can remember.

I let time pass, briefly reconsidered letterpress and then mentioned to Mr. Seal that I was considering contacting the “invite designer with my nickname.”
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