Weddingbee Blog

Hey all!

Join me for some fun conversation as I make my Bee TV debut tomorrow evening at 7PM EST!

With a few months of newlywed-dom under my belt, I’ll definitely try to share some insights with you about life after the wedding. Also, I may even whip out some dancing, but I can’t make any promises. I’m excited to “see” you all tomorrow night!

As I said before, my biggest piece of advice is to make sure that you have fun during your wedding.

I spent a lot of time looking like this during our reception:

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BUT I feel like it took a lot of work on my part to make sure I was that way. I think it’s because I really took a scalpel to our wedding and really tried to capture the essence of what we wanted it to be.
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You can’t always have great weather, and that was the case this summer in the Northeast. We got so much rain that we didn’t know what to do with it all. That was most definitely the case during our final days in Newport.

So what’s there to do in Newport on a rainy day? Tennis, anyone?

Mr. Swan and I took a trip to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. I can pretty much appreciate most sports, and love live tennis. Mr. Swan and I have even had one of our most fun outings ever together at the U.S. Open. I think that it had a lot to do with the martinis they were serving, but the tennis was good, too!

Here’s Mr. Swan at the street entrance. You have no idea that you’re about to walk into this….

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As you can see from my last post, we spent a lot of time on boats our first couple of days in Newport; however, Newport has other places to experience that don’t require a life vest or cause seasickness. I’ll show you a few that the Mr. and I had a chance to see.

One thing that I failed to mention before was that SIL and BIL Swan were kind enough to give us a little basket of minimoon cheer for our time in Newport. In addition to the sailboat trip we had (and other cute gift basket items), they also gave us a gift certificate for a tour and tasting at Newport Vineyards. Yes, that’s right. While it’s not Napa, Rhody has got its own little wine making area right next to Newport in neighboring Middletown and Portsmouth, Rhode Island. In addition to Newport Vineyards, Greenvale Vineyards is just a short drive from the heart of downtown Newport.

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I thought that while we’re waiting for my pro pics from Dante Williams that I would share our minimoon to Newport, Rhode Island.

As I mentioned before, I was not completely sold on the idea of Newport, but as I researched all that the area had to offer, I was pretty excited to get there. We packed a lot into about five days, and yet it didn’t seem rushed at all. I highly recommend a getaway after the wedding, however small or modest it may be.

During our first two full days in Newport, we spent quite a bit of time on the water. Mr. Swan grew up sailing a lot with his family as well as coming to Newport, so it was like reminiscing for him. Our first few days included a trip to the Newport area’s second beach, which is technically in Middletown, Rhode Island (but, hey, who’s counting?).

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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. One of my primary motivations for writing this post is that I often feel like sometimes there is this sense that there is a self-destruct button when one turns 30, especially for unmarried women. Well, I am here to let you know that I been to the mountaintop, and the view is fine.
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Doesn’t it look like there’s a mummy in my garment bag?

Well, my lovely dress is having a rest, and it has been sitting on the futon in our office for the almost four weeks that I have been married. Honestly, I don’t know what to do with it. I know that I need to get it cleaned, but what should my dress’ next life be?

There are obviously quite a few options for what I can do with my dress post-wedding:
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When we last left me, your worried heroine, I was NOT at all happy with my hair situation.

I had a rough draft, I was not happy with the real run-through for a variety of reasons, and there I was, practically a week before the wedding, stressing about what to do with my hair. At this point, Mr. Swan stepped in. During the process he had had opinions about the wedding planning, but I was definitely surprised by how strong of an opinion he had about this.

“There is NO way that you are leaving your hotel that morning!” That’s pretty much a direct quote from him. A’ight, Mr. Swan. Rock on wit’ ya bad self… I hear you!

Fair enough, Mr. Swan, but how was I going to find someone who could do my hair the way I wanted it and make it to my hotel room for that morning with essentially TEN days left before the wedding? I had some ideas of where to call, yet I was worried about the price and working with someone new. After some discussion and encouragement from Mr. Swan, I decided to reach out to Khamit Kinks, one of the oldest natural hair care salons in New York City.

I have only been to the salon once before, and while it tends to be on the pricier end of the spectrum, the salon is also known for its professionalism. At this point, I not only needed professionalism, but a miracle!
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Hey everybody!

I am really enjoying this Bee’s Life series, so I thought I would add my perspective.

HOW I FOUND WEDDINGBEE

Let me say that I have always loved all things wedding. I used to occasionally buy wedding magazines and watched quite a few wedding TV shows like “Who’s Wedding Is It Anyway?”. This was years before meeting Mr. Swan. I didn’t know very much about wedding blogs, but I had already started reading niche blogs because of my other interests. My first real blog obsession was reading real estate blogs, of all things (there’s nothing like reading about condo developments ). Although my profile says something else, I began my career as a real estate lawyer, and in many ways, I still like reading about who’s building what, where, and how (and especially for how much).

Well, when Mr. Swan and I started to get serious, I began wondering about whether there were wedding blogs out there, too. One day, during some work procrastination, I Googled “Brooklyn bride” and the now ubiquitous Brooklyn Bride popped up. Boy, was I hooked. Not only does Vane have a great sense of style, but it was also the pared down, modern style that really resonated with me (Plus, she was representin’ for the BK!). Brooklyn Bride had a ton of links, and I started clicking on them to get a sense of other wedding blogs out there. I actually ignored Weddingbee for a long time because I didn’t really get the title! (Sorry, Mrs. Bee!) Of course, I finally clicked on the link and then was completely hooked. That was the fall of 2007, and so I have been reading and have been a part of this community for almost two years now. The one time I have had the fortunate chance to meet Mr. and Mrs. Bee, Mr. Bee promptly told me that I am like a Weddingbee Encyclopedia since I can recall random Bee posts from years past. I guess my little knack comes from all of my time here as a lurker, to community member, to blogger. I’ve been here a LOOOONG time.
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Remember how my first hair trial was more of a rough draft?

Well, I went back for a more formal hair trial that would allow me to see how the style would look on my actual wedding date. That meant that my hair needed to be washed, the roots re-twisted, and then styled. (By the way, I am sure that many of you can’t visualize what I am talking about here, so I’ll post more about a typical hair appointment for me another time.) In other words, I needed a full-out hair appointment.

Unfortunately, my formal hair trial was not the visit that I wanted. I don’t really ask for much when I go to the hair salon. I just want someone to do a good job, not make me wait forever, and not have it cost a ton of money that I don’t have. I just wanted to be able to have some time with my stylist to have some discussion with her and to make sure we were both on the same page. The problem with my appointment: she kinda quadruple booked herself for that time period! I know that I was the first person she booked for that time frame because I made my appointment a week earlier, and she was apparently completely free then! The result was way too much waiting and a very distracted stylist who really had no time to talk to me about what we were going to do.

Anyway, I managed to take a pic or two of the front portion of my hair after she was done.

I don’t look so happy here (I REALLY wasn’t happy).

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Okay, it’s actually a major one: my dress!

I decided not to blog about my dress before the wedding because I never know when Mr. Swan is lurking around here.

Since I’ve already shown you some of the other dresses I’ve tried on, I’ll just cut to the chase.

Here it is:

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Hey, everybody!!

I am back and married. (By the way, props to anyone who gets the movie reference in the title of the post.)

Getting married is FUN, everyone! If I can give any words of advice to all of you in the latter stages of the planning process, it would be to for you to make sure that you have FUN on your wedding day. Period. All I remember is the wedding being such a joyous, wonderful moment in time. It was so amazing, and I can’t wait to share it all with you.

While I am waiting for our pro pics, I will definitely catch you up on a few things that I didn’t get a chance to blog about before the wedding.

I want to leave you with a few images to show you a glimpse of how we experienced the day:

We had a meaningful ceremony.

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I’m here writing my last blog post as a single woman, and all I can think about is being thankful. I have so much to be thankful for, and I really appreciate it all so much.

I first want to thank you, Weddingbee. I’ll tell you a secret now: I almost didn’t apply to be a bee. I blogged for months before even applying. I wasn’t sure how if at all that I would fit in here with my “different” hair and non-DIYness. Even after being chosen to be a bee, I was unsure about how you all would react to some of my posts. Yet, each time I put myself out there, I found such wonderfully thoughtful and sincere responses and support. I want to thank Mrs. Bee, Mr. Bee, Pengy, my fellow bloggers, and you dear Weddingbee readers for creating such a vibrant and accepting community. I have been amazed and overwhelmed by your talents and kind words throughout my wedding planning process.
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With the preparations pretty much close to being done and things beginning to move closer towards the wedding, I feel like I’m in a bit of a holding pattern here. I don’t really feel like I can resume life as I know it just yet because I feel like I’ve got to put any extra energy I have towards finalizing the wedding planning. At the same time, I’m daydreaming. Oh yes, I’m daydreaming about a time when I will not have to travel for work OR have to partake in any wedding planning. This process has been a lot of fun for me, but I am definitely ready to move on. So, what am I looking forward to taking up or restarting?

1) Knitting - I think I am going to take up knitting. FMIL Swan has given me my own little starter kit, and I am excited to take a beginners’ class at a local knitting shop. Perhaps knitting will let me get over my DIY insecurities? Any knitters out there care to give any tips to a beginner?

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… but Mr. Swan can!!! As you all may notice from my posts I am not the DIY Queen around these parts; however, I discovered that Mr. Swan is pretty darn crafty!

We had this very, very basic thing we needed to get done that would technically require me to flex my crafty skills. Let’s just say that the project won, and I sulked back into my little corner.

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