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Weddingbee Blog
Hi, I haven’t blogged here in 800,000 years because wedding planning (invitation design, specifically) and life in general has driven me against the wall in the blogging department. I eat, sleep, work, and wedding plan, but now that my invitations are at the printer, I get to blog again. So, howdy. Again. 
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My wedding budget strategy has been to think of how much I think something should cost, double it, and hope I get a nice surprise when I request a quote from a potential wedding vendor. This has worked well for me, and so far, I get to feel like I’m saving tons of money on our wedding when my quotes are constantly coming back under budget. I loop Bossyboots into our updated wedding costs, and he thinks I’m a genius for saving us all this money.
Cue angels singing.
Recently, I said to myself “Self, you should book yourself a wedding cake. Your wedding is happening in two months, and people will expect cake. I know cake isn’t really your thing, but you are having a wedding, so just get a cake.”
Self is quite wise.
As many bees have revealed…I am not a big cake person. White cake is totally boring to me, most other cakes are a lot of meh, I enjoy carrot cake and yellow cake with chocolate icing. The only cake I REALLY love is German Chocolate cake. Not just any German Chocolate cake: Betty Crocker Super Moist.
$1.98, ladies.
(Source)
Don’t judge - $1.98 means more moolah for the fun stuff. My Rue La La addiction won’t enable itself.
When we first started wedding planning, I knew exactly what kind of dress I wanted to wear, and it looked like this:
That’s right. Pink. Soft, beautiful, ballerina pink. I wanted it even before Reese stole my style!
I quickly realized that if I wanted a pink dress, I’d need to have it custom made.
This summer, Bossyboots and I started a new tradition… “Sundays at Starbucks.” We are well-aware that Starbucks does not have the best coffee, but we are addicted to the green straws and morning buns. So, there you go. People with low standards—that’s us.
Again, if the vast number of calories shown above isn’t an advertisement for marathon training, I don’t know what is. It’s like there’s a tapeworm in my stomach. Trust me, sometimes the thought of a morning bun and an American-oversized Starbucks drink is the only thing that keeps me going on the treadmill.
Anyway, Bossyboots and I found that our wackadoo schedules have really been affecting our relationship. We both work a ton, and the weekends are often full of errands, succeeded by laundry, succeeded by marathon training, succeeded by washing dishes. You get the idea.
Do it! Like everyone else on the planet, Bossyboots and I had specific plans for our engagement photos, namely a Save the Date. We’re getting married in March 2012… we’re kind of behind the 8-ball right now. Since our wedding is a destination adventure for most of our guests, we sent out an email back in May to most of our peeps so that at least they knew the date and location. So really, we’re not behind so much as extra reminder-y about our wedding.
I will say I’m a big fan of the email pre-STD. People like to plan ahead, and it always works better when you can give them as much notice as possible! We spread the word via email and word-of-mouth as soon as we had a date, so that helped me not have a panic attack about waiting until the six-month mark to send out STDs. And I am not making sexually transmitted diseases jokes because you can do that on your own—so go nuts! (Ha!)
From our photos, two were at our Tippy McTiptop:
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So Bossyboots and I met with Christina Noel Photography for engagement photos last weekend, and I wanted to share a peekaroo with you, of course! The days leading up to our shoot were rather hilarious, and it was all my fault. I mean, I had to figure out my outfit, fix my teef, and let’s not even talk about the hair hilarity. I went crazy. My hair process may have involved an online tutorial or two. Bossyboots definitely told me I needed to take it down a notch or thousand. I can’t help it. I’m a recovering Type A individual. In recovery!!!
Anyway, in spite of my crazy, check out a few of our smoochytimes photos!
I knew who I wanted to shoot my wedding even before I met Bossyboots (the second time)…And he won me over in three photographs. (It’s the troof.)
Way back in 2008, I somehow happened upon an acquaintance’s engagement photos (I don’t even remember how I stumbled across them!) They were a sequence of underwater photos that literally took my breath away. The photos were creative, loving, fun, and beautiful. I’d never seen anything like them. At the time, I filed them away an amazing piece of art, but something I’d personally have no use for since the photographer was centered in Dallas (dun dun dunnnnnn).
Fast forward to 2011 - I was engaged and planning a wedding in Dallas.
Read more…
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
Today, we will be talking about teeth, or rather - teef - if you’re a Chicagoan.
Meet Duncan Keith, also known as “Duncan Teef.” He lost seven teeth in the process of bringing the Stanley Cup home to Chicago back in 2010. I am sure you can all connect the dots here.
Anyway. I am quite lucky to be the proud owner of every single one of my natural teef. My parents gave me the gift of good dental genetics, and so there’s a whole mouthful over here. There are a multitude of jokes that can be created out of my previous sentence—see what you can come up with.
Despite my fortuitous dental makeup, I am also an avid Coke drinker (see sidebar over thar –>). In the past six months, I’ve also picked up a wicked addiction to the green mermaid lady. People, my teef are straight-up tawny. Don’t say yellow - I’ll throw a puck at you.
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The Snapdragon wedding planning journey has been rather hilarious. We have been flying by the seat of our pants, taking quite a few gambles, and hoping for the best. I call it “The Tides of Adventure” - it makes life more exciting.
Seeing as Bossyboots and I have engagement photos this weekend, I decided I should probably go shopping. Here in Chicago, you aren’t allowed to walk around nekkid. Nearly nekkid—yes. Totally nekkid—no. Too bad.
We’re taking shots around downtown Chicago, and we’re so excited! I really wanted to wear a flouncy skirt and crazy pumps, so…. that’s what I’m doing. Funny how that happens! I already own unwalkably sky-high platform pumps, so I just needed the rest of the ensemble—yes, I realize that’s mostly everything. Pumps and an engagement ring, that’s what I had to work with here.
I turned to a girl’s best flouncy friend: Anthropologie! And wouldn’t you know it, they had exactly what I wanted: the Noon and Night dress. What should have been a ten-hour strenuous shopping day lasted 60 minutes. Done and done. BAM.
Bees, I went bridesmaid dress shopping this weekend, and I learned things. Lots of things. Like organza is not the same as chiffon. Beading = expensive. Proper lining is important.
I also learned that I can’t take these people anywhere:
This is Goober and Wrigley-T. They’re crazy for fashion.
Thank you, David’s Bridal, your patience knows no bounds.
I’m going to have a “real” moment with you guys. I know we all have perfect body image and all that stuff (right?), but… when we’re getting ready to walk down the aisle, we do tend to eat one less piece of cheese, just a tinier sliver of cake, etc etc. It’s hard not to think about the fact that we’ll likely be in 70% of the million wedding photos no matter how healthy (!) and positive (!) we are.
I’m currently in training for my second marathon. Basically, running a million miles per week guarantees that I can eat pancakes every day and not gain weight. Not a healthy approach, but I do love my pancakes.
Running hasn’t always been a passion of mine—(on my Saturday long runs, running is definitely not my passion!). I signed up for my first race—an 8k—purely because I wanted a challenge. I have never, ever, ever been athletic. People please, I have a BFA. Sometimes, I like to sign up for things that are way outside my comfort zone, just to see what I can do. Also, this 8k featured a free beer afterwards. I’m Irish; I’ll take it.
Of course that 8k was the day that Chicago was buried under a freak blizzard. Did my friends and I drop out of the race? No. Because this way we can say we are bad-ass ladies. Proof:
Read more…
Since the Snapdragon bridal party needs to get themselves something to wear to the wedding, Bossyboots and I have been working hard on an overall feel/colors for the big day. Really, our venue has done most of the work for us already. Since it’s a garden hidden in the middle of a major city, we’ve decided to take that romantic, secretive look, and run with it:
Photos from F8 Studio, Life as Art Photography, Snippet and Ink, and Florence & the Machine.
The soda part is a joke. Sort of. I mean, there are two Mexi-Cokes chilling to the perfect temperature in my refrigerator now—ice flecks, a few drops of condensation on the glass, a frosty bottle cap. So I guess Bossyboots’ and my foundation might be slightly made of soda.
(SOURCE)
Nevertheless, I was at my regular book club dinner for half-price wine glass night, and a few of us got into a conversation about how weddings often force couples into evaluating the role religion—faith—spirituality will all play in their life. In addition to money, children, and about eight-hundred-thousand other things (!)
You all know that Bossyboots and I are investigating a Catholic or Catholic-esque ceremony. In preparation, we’ve been attending mass, but we are also mixing things up by attending a Protestant church that I like. I feel like a bit of a mish mosh because at my core, I am spiritual—but I wouldn’t say I have a faith (to quote one of my book club buddies). I definitely don’t have a religion.
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That’s what I think of when I hear the phrase “wedding theme.” Prom flashbacks!!
Nevertheless, Bossyboots and I do have a distinct theme that guided us in our wedding venue search: “Food and Booze.”
Food and Booze, people, food and booze.
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Asking your ladies to be bridesmaids is a special event, requiring careful forethought and planning. You may want to craft a beautiful custom card, extolling the many virtues that your ladies possess. You might feel compelled to create a box of gilded butterflies, or some other amazingly detailed extravaganza on par with your lover’s wedding proposal.
Me? I asked the ladies on GChat.
So, we’re getting married in Texas. Bossyboots and I live in Chicago. As I have said multiple times, we’re getting married down in the Lone Star state because that’s where my immediate family lives, and about a third of my siblings are too disabled to fly or ride in a car on a long road trip. This decision was really tough for us to make, but in the end, I didn’t see the point of a wedding where a large chunk of my siblings couldn’t attend. And Texas is awesome. We get to have a messy BBQ welcome dinner, bluegrass music, frosty Shiner, open sky, with Tim Riggins and Matt Saracin for my single friends to smooch. Texas men are highly lustable. And sweaty, apparently. And they really do all play football.
(SOURCE)
Texas forever, Hot Stuff.
The hink is that easily 80% of our guest list is based in Chicago. Out of the 162 people we have on our guest list, I am just praying that somewhere between 80-100 check that “yes” box on our RSVP. We’re doing everything we can to make the trip to Texas convenient, courteous, and affordable for our invitees, but… you just can’t get around the freaking crazy plane ticket ($250-$330). Yeouch.
Cue panic.
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Miss Snapdragon, Chicago/Dallas Age and Occupation: 32,Associate Producer Fiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Lighting Designer Blogging Since: November 14, 2008 Engagement Date: January 1, 2011 Wedding Date: March 2012 Venue: Marie Gabrielle About Me: Voracious reader of short stories, Russian literature, National Geographic and Cosmo. I'm a GENIUS at spicing up Weight Watchers recipes and a pathological cheater at board games. I run a slow marathon, but my feet are learning to move faster. Mornings aren't my thing, but I can night owl with the best of them. Don't tempt me with your Cherry Cokes---I'm trying to quit. Tomorrow. Or never.
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