Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
After a whirlwind morning filled with hairspray fumes (me), stubborn zippers (me again), and cheap Mexican food (Mr. Panther), it was finally time for our first look.
I grabbed my recently delivered bouquet and headed outside. Our photographers had found a field in between our ceremony area and the tennis courts.
The field was grassy, and I was a little nervous about navigating in my shoes. But we brides will do just about anything for the perfect picture, so I hiked up my dress and headed forward. I could see Mr. Panther standing in the middle of the field, and I just wanted to get to him. We had spent so much time planning this day together—it seemed crazy that we’d already been through so much of it separately.
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
While the girls were wrestling me into my dress, Mr. Panther and the guys were having a much more relaxing start to their day. Mr. Panther’s best man, Moses, had borrowed his stepfather’s 1950s Triumph TR3 for us to use as our getaway car, and spent the morning teaching Mr. Panther how to drive it.
Next, they squeezed in a trip to Chipotle before suiting up. After a quick lunch, it was time for the groomsmen to head back to their rooms and for Mr. Panther to don his attire. He was tying his tie when our second photographer showed up at the hotel.
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
After a whirlwind morning of hair, makeup, and mimosas, it was finally time to get dressed. My bridesmaids had already slipped into their J.Crew Arabelle dresses (in matisse blue, in case you’re wondering!), so they were on hand to help me out. Bridesmaid Jess, who is blessed with height, held my gown off the floor so I could get it off the hanger.
I had decided at the last minute to skip my torture device (“shaping slip”), which had only gotten tighter and more torturous in the 11 weeks since I had purchased it. Aren’t you supposed to lose weight right before the wedding? Weird. Oh, well.
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
Oh my goodness, I’ve let a month and a half go by since my last recap! I don’t know this keeps happening, but let’s just pretend that the long break represented the long night’s sleep I got the night before the wedding…or not. I’d like to say I awoke on July 2nd fully rested and refreshed, but I don’t think any bride gets a good night’s sleep before the wedding. It didn’t matter—the day had finally come!
Our team of hairdressers and makeup artists from Dana Bartone & Company was scheduled to arrive in our suite bright and early, so I hopped into the shower right away. Before I could even towel off, our breakfast and lunch delivery from Panera Bread had arrived, and we were off and running.
I got my hair done first, but our photographers didn’t arrive until I was in the makeup chair. Thank goodness for that—no photo of me without makeup will ever make it onto the internet! I ended up going with a low side chignon, using my clip-in hair extensions. I couldn’t decide between my handmade obi flower clip and my cheapy chiffon flower from Forever 21 (go figure), so we just ended up clipping in both. More is more!
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
In my last recap post, I said our next stop would be the rehearsal dinner, but I forgot about our hotel cocktail hour! Our hotel had made a few mistakes with our group rate, and kindly made it up to us by hosting a cocktail hour in one of their social rooms. That was where Mr. Panther gave his groomsmen their gifts.
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
I’ll be honest—I often find rehearsal recaps to be a bit of a snooze, because they’re always just a bunch of photos of people standing around. That’s what you do at rehearsals, really. Our rehearsal, like so much of my life, was kind of a comedy of errors. Two of my bridesmaids didn’t make it, we were all sweating balls and nobody knew what they were doing. But somehow, it still ended up being pretty fun.
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
I’m thinking you guys are sick of my excuses about why my recaps are so late, so I will just say this: I am the worst person ever. I’m not done with my thank you cards yet, either. I KNOW. I’M WORKING ON IT!
The better news: The recaps are here! I’ve decided to title them “Jungle Love” (even though we didn’t get married in the jungle), because we are panthers, and panthers come from the jungle. And we love each other. Plus, it reminds me of the end credits from Jay & Silent Bob, which I also love, despite the fact that it’s a pretty dumb movie. It’s also hilarious.
The week before our wedding was just a teensy bit overwhelming. And by that I mean, I may or may not have wished for death a few times. I was so sick, and so, so tired. I just wanted to get the damn thing over with so I could get a full night’s sleep. I felt guilty for just wanting to get the damn thing over with and some major family drama had me stressed beyond belief. And on top of all that, I still had what felt like a million tasks to take care of. I had done everything I could to avoid last-minute projects, but since we were flying to Connecticut and had limited suitcase space, anything that couldn’t be done during the shower week in June had to be left for the week of the wedding. This included escort cards, welcome bags, wedding party gifts, photo booth props, bathrooms baskets, and a million other random things that we forgot to think about. Don’t do this to yourselves, ladies!
One of the random things was a base for our cake topper. Mr. Panther worked his magic with a cardboard base from Michaels, white spray paint and floral wire. Didn’t he do a great job?!
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
Hello again! I keep faking you guys out – acting like I’m JUST ABOUT to start my recaps, then getting crazy busy again and disappearing. By now, so much time has passed, I worry that we’ve got a whole new set of readers who don’t even know who I am. And that would be a problem, because this here is the dreaded wedding shower recap – the last thing you want to see from somebody you don’t recognize. So I’ll keep it short!
My wedding shower was just a few weeks before our wedding, during a whirlwind of activity. It was the day after my hair and makeup trial, which was coolio because it meant I could leave my eyelash extensions in. Hey-oh! Read more…
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
Planning a wedding is hard. Your degree of involvement in the planning process can determine just how hard, but no matter what, it’s difficult. There is one up-side, though: Prioritizing becomes a little simpler.
When you’ve got a hard, set goal to work toward, and when society deems that goal The Biggest Day of Your Life, it’s easy to put it first. When I was planning my wedding, my priorities were simple: 1) Wedding planning stuff. 2) Exercising so that I would look decent on The Biggest Day of My Life. And 3) Work. I knew I was going to need my paycheck to cover the wedding expenses, after all. Read more…
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
I LOVE it! (Except for hearing my own voice… Read more…
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
I’m baaa-aaaaaack! It’s been over a month since I shared the first portion of my bachelorette party with you guys, and that is embarrassing. It’s funny: I really thought that after the wedding, I’d have all the time in the world to blog, cook, play with my pets and do all the other things that I could barely squeeze in while wedding planning. But nope. Turns out all the important things I was pushing aside back then are still here, and they’ve been waiting very patiently for my full attention. But long weekends are wonderful things, so I have returned with more details from my Sex-and-the-City-themed bachelorette party. To see the first post about it, click here.
Now, as you may have seen in my title, this post is about the “hot mess” portion of the evening, and since I’ve been gone so long, I’m a little afraid that you newer ladies who don’t know me very well might see pictures of me licking a street sign and think less of me. So I’m going to throw in a photo from our wedding to kick things off. It’s one of a few teasers we got from our photographers. We are DYING to see the rest!
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
Hello there, hive! Does anyone remember me? I feel like I’ve been gone forever. What’s that? It’s only been a few weeks? Oh. In case you hadn’t guessed, Mr. Panther and I are back from our honeymoon and enjoying our newlywed bliss. Actually, I’m enjoying our newlywed bliss with our dog and two cats, and Mr. Panther is on a business trip, but that’s OK. We took tons of photos in St. Lucia, but I think before I get to the honeymoon, I should go back to where I left off in my blogging ventures! And that brings us to my magical, wonderful bachelorette party. Can anyone guess what the theme was?
No? OK, why don’t I start at the beginning? Read more…
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
Oh, hey, hive! Just wanted to check in and say hi and tell you a little about this thing Mr. Panther and I did over the weekend …
We got married!
It was amazing. It was full of warm, smushy, happy love; the weather was absolutely perfect; and our friends danced their pants off until the very end of the night. And the best part? At the end of it, Mr. Panther was my husband! Read more…
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
The wedding’s getting close, guys, and I’m starting to lose it. Prepare yourself for an overflow of randomness in this post.
Back in my early ‘Bee days (eight months ago! OMG!), I wrote a post about my unwillingness to keep things simple. I said, “This is my wedding. If I’m going to go overboard, isn’t this the perfect opportunity?”
I kept up this mindset for a long, long time, but as the wedding creeps closer (10 days! OMG!), I find myself desperately trying to simplify, simplify, simplify. Instead of tissue paper flower escort cards, I’m making single layer tented cards. Instead of making bird-on-a-wineglass place cards, I’m forgoing place cards entirely. Instead of hand-stamping and matting all our thank you cards, I created a design that matched our invitations and had them printed out. It all makes me sad, especially the bird place cards, but there’s nothing to be done. I just ran out of time. And I don’t want to kill myself over something that, in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t really matter. Sigh.
There have been many casualties in my mission to annihilate unnecessary details. Sadly, one of them just might be my beautiful, sparkly, wonderful J. Crew bracelet.
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
While I was in Connecticut for my bridal shower, I also carved out some time for the eagerly awaited hair and makeup trial. I was PUMPED. I’ve had my inspiration photos for quite a while, and couldn’t wait to see how they’d work out.
Makeup was easy. The word “fresh,” “classic,” or “timeless,” have never described me. I wanted bold, dramatic, and smoky, like this:
Mrs. Panther, Atlanta GA/Westport CTAge and Occupation: 24, Web WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Music Recording EngineerEngagement Date: March 13, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: The Inn at LongshoreAbout Me: I'm a total goofball who goes through life at a breakneck pace, trying not to knock anything over. I tend to fall in love with everything I encounter, but more than anything, I love my two little kitties, Bela and Josie, and my big kitty, Mr. Panther! As a wannabe crafter, I'm still waiting for my artistic talents to emerge. (Any day now, really.) In the meantime, I spend my days eating anything put in front of me, buying every pair of shoes I see and absorbing wedding inspiration from every inch of my surroundings. Mr. Panther and I are hardcore New Englanders planning Connecticut nuptials from our new home in the Dirty South, and can't wait to mix our newfound love of classic Southern charm with some modern city touches.
