Weddingbee Blog

When I wrote this post about being a bride in your 30s, I didn’t write it because I thought 30+ is OLD. Far from it! As a matter of fact on my birthday last month, I couldn’t help feeling settled, happy and beautiful in a way that I never did when I was younger. At the time I wrote this post, I was the only current/recently married bee in her 30s, so I just wanted to provide that perspective. As I said in the post, we should be happy and grateful that we have found someone to marry regardless of the time that person enters our lives.

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Yesterday I celebrated another birthday as the well as my first month as a newlywed. As one of the older bride bloggers in recent memory on Weddingbee, I figured that I would talk about being a slightly older bride. I’ve definitely appreciated Miss Star’s posts about being a younger bride (here, here, here, and here). Since I’ve got a couple years on her (okay, like, a whole lot more), I thought I would also provide some perspective on the other end of the spectrum. I know that I am not the oldest bride/newlywed ever on Weddingbee, but I think being a bride marrying well after the national average of 26 years old for women in the U.S. has some specific joys and challenges as well.
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to say Goodbye…

One of my favorite songs that say goodbye. This was the first CD that I ever bought, by the way!! If you’re not familiar with Boyz II Men, you’re missing out on some great late ’80s/early ’90s R&B.

I can’t believe that I am writing this, but this will in fact be my last Weddingbee post ever. I remember way back when when I started to read WB: Mrs. Penguin was still engaged; there were barely any discussion boards; and even Mr. Bee would occasionally write a post. That was way back in the days of late 2007 (gulp!) months before I got engaged.

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Hey, all!

I’m almost outta here, but I thought I would pop in to describe something about me that I have never addressed before: how to take care of hair like mine. Many of you, who may actually remember when I was planning my wedding in the olden days of 2008-2009, know that one of my biggest issues was making sure that my hair was looking a-okay for the big day. If you don’t remember my hair adventures, take at look at this, this and this (with some background here and here).

In case you don’t remember, here’s what my hair looked like on my wedding day.

Image by Dante Williams

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Hey, all!

Mrs. Swan here! Remember me? I dipped out for a bit, but I just wanted to begin to bring some full closure on my time on Weddingbee. Can you believe that Sunday will be my 1st Anniversary? I can’t!

I know that a reader or two had asked about a post with my Swan Tips for the day of your wedding all in one place. I thought I would just lay them out here. I’ve linked them to the related recap post just in case you are wondering what the heck I’m talkin’ about. Also just in case you’ve forgotten what my wedding looks like (or have never read any of my posts), I’ve interspersed some of my favorite pictures from the recaps throughout the tips.

So here are my Swan Tips just in case you might want them:
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Hey there, hive! I’ve got a story for you. I don’t really know how to address this issue, since it touches on some feelings that I’ve been harboring since oru wedding. I am slowly coming to terms with this a full NINE months AFTER my wedding. What is troubling me so? My dress.

Honestly, I liked my dress. I liked it a lot… but I can’t help but feel that I lost out on some bridal rite of passage by not buying a brand name/designer dress.

By the way, just in case you forgot, here’s my dress, which is also Mrs. Nachos’ dress. Great minds…

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Hey there, hive!

I had the pleasure of attending the Wedding Salon at the Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan on April 12. I most definitely had a wonderful time as it was my first bridal show. I never went to one even while engaged! It was a great opportunity to get a look at what vendors are offering and see some new bridal fashion.

I also got to see a special someone. Do you know her?

Courtesy of Miss Hamster

Miss Hamster and I were also joined by the lovely MOH/Sister Hamster and Mrs. Lovebird and friend.

The event was divided into various rooms connected by a hallway and also occupied the Grand Ballroom, which was full of even more vendors and live music from various bands.

What I liked about the Wedding Salon was that there were vendors for every person’s interests:
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So there’s the saying, “Always a bridesmaid, never a bride,” but what if you’re like me? I’ve never been a bridesmaid!!! Yes, that’s right. I’ve never gotten the chance to look like this:

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Katherine Heigl, you look maaaarvelous, daahling… just not in this.

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Mr. Swan didn’t make too many demands during the planning process except for one: Piano Man. You mean the Billy Joel song, Mr. Swan? Yepper doo. Can I just say that I was happy to even know this song ’cause sometimes Mr. Swan whips out names of songs, and I give him a blank stare? Mr. Swan lucked out this time because I am very familiar with and like Billy Joel. Besides, Billy is a New Yorker.

For those who aren’t familiar with the song, here’s a clip from 1975 of Billy Joel singing Piano Man.”\ I’m happy to say that this clip is older than I am.

I’m sure you’re asking, “’Piano Man’, but why?”

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Luckily, our reception wasn’t all about Mr. Swan and me dancing. I think our guests had a good time too, because I think everyone managed to find a way to entertain themselves even if they weren’t dancing.

With a relatively intimate wedding, we were able to talk to many of guests throughout the reception.

I got to meet a new friend, Baby L.

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We danced… and danced… and danced some more.

I will say that I was a little worried about the dancing portion of our reception. I’mma be real and say that I wasn’t worried about my friends and family not getting down, just some of our other guests. Then I just consoled myself by saying that at that point in the wedding it was going to be my job to make sure that I enjoyed myself and to not worry about whether other people would get out of their seats. I was going to make sure that I got my money’s worth out of our DJ, Rob, who we met through DJ Gaza. Rob did a great job mixing much of the music that we (okay, I) requested with some of his own choices. I had given him a detailed document of “suggestions” of the genres and types of songs we wanted to have played (really, they were “suggestions” not “must plays” although a few of those were thrown in). I was really glad to hear the things we wanted. I think everyone danced at some point during our wedding even if it was just for one song.

I thought I would post some pictures of Mr. Swan and me as we danced with each other and our guests.

I loved dancing with my family and friends.

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Yep, we surely ate cake, but definitely more of the miniature variety. As I mentioned before, we had a local baker, Keavy Landreth’s Kumquat Cupcakery, provide a variety of lovely mini-cupcakes for the reception. Here’s a look at the set-up:

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One toast down and another to go…

BIL Swan gave our other toast, and boy was it a toast!

As much as I am sure he does not want me to write this, I didn’t really find out that BIL Swan was one of the most consistent readers of my blog until his toast. I knew that the IL Swans read my blog, but I was pretty shocked to learn that BIL Swan is an avid reader. Et tu, BIL Swan? Really?
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After our first dance, we settled in to eat a little, but before too long it was time for our toasts. Our first toast was by Godmother Swan. Since we did not have a bridal party, we got a little creative with who would deliver our toasts for us. Godmother Swan has been a very special part of my life. She was a good friend of my grandparents when she lived in the Caribbean. I’ve never met any of my grandparents (most died before I was born or when I was a baby), so she has always been a living link to my maternal grandparents. She’s also Mommy Swan’s godmother and the grandmother of my goddaughter. Are you still following? Let’s just say that while not blood related, she is like family to me.

Her toast was sweet, and I was glad to have been able to give such an honor to someone who has been like a second mother/grandmother to me all of my life.

There was a drawback, though.
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Before I get further in recapping the reception, I thought I would show you some of our reception’s little personal details and decor.

As I am sure I have said umpteen times here, I am not a crafter. I’ll show you the scary results of one of my half-way DIYs below. I am also not the most creative person around, either. I am always in awe of the ingenuity and overall badass-ness of my fellow bloggers and you, dearest hive members. Y’all be creative! Since I am pretty much okay with my lack of the crafty gene and visual artistry, I looked at different ways that I could add a personal touch to our wedding details.

Here’s our reception room all set up. I love the floor to ceiling windows and all of the light streaming in. The clean, modern lines of the room really reflected the look we wanted.

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After our wonderfully productive and fun cocktail hour, our guests proceeded upstairs so that we could finally start the reception.

I have a confession to make: I did not want to get announced as we entered the room. Whatcha talkin’ about, Mrs. Swan? I was kinda uncomfortable with the hoopla-esque feeling of it. In my ideal world, Mr. Swan and I would come upstairs, take a seat just like our guests did, and let things proceed from ther.

But we got announced anyway… yeah, I punked out on this one, too. It was one of those times where people were saying, “You’re not going to do THAT? You’ve got to do THAT!” Okay. We did it. It was another small thing I hadn’t expected to do, but it was actually fun.

We decided to do the first dance immediately.
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