Weddingbee Blog

Hey Chicago Bees! If you’ve been buzzing around the local boards, you know we’ve got a meet up planned for tomorrow night! If not, consider this your official notice.

Date: Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Time: 5:30, 6:00 - everyone is arriving at different times - come when you can!

Location: A Mano
335 N. Dearborn (by HOB, under Bin 36)

Why?: A chance to talk shop with fellow readers & bees! Oh, and A Mano has $10 carafes of wine on Tuesday. Just sayin’

Hope to see you there!

Mama Quiche is my best friend (in addition to Mr. Q, of course!), so there was no doubt that she would take part in walking me down the aisle. I’ve known Stepdad Quiche (hereafter referred to as Petey Quiche, because it’s more fun) since I was a lanky teenager, running cross country. Yes, my mom married my cross country coach. He has made her very happy, and is always looking out for us Quichey women! I was honored to have him walk me down the aisle as well (& he may or may not have cried when I asked him, but SHH! Don’t tell him I told you that!).

What’s that you see in the first picture? Does the veil attack Petey Quiche this time? I think it did!
Read more…

Fresh from our first look, it was time for the ceremony to begin (we took some bridal party pictures before the ceremony, but I’ll share all of those later).

I’ve been dying to show you how some of my DIY details made their way to the ceremony. As I’ve said before, the wedding lawn is incredible on its own, but I wanted to do a little “something” to dress it up a bit. It’s hard to pick my favorite thing, but I love the way the “floating” flower petals look! I haven’t even mentioned my pomanders yet, but the way they POP makes me sooo happy!

Gorrrrrgeous, no?
Read more…

We decided to do a “first look” for a couple of reasons - mainly, to allow extra time for fun pictures. Also, since we were together all morning, we’d already cursed ourselves by seeing each other before the ceremony. Oops! It’s a good thing we don’t believe in stuff like that!

The first look gave us time to be giddy about getting ready to walk down the aisle & to also calm each other. We also got to relive prom when I pinned on his boutonniere (successfully, might I add?).

One last kiss from my girls & I was on my way to meet Mr. Q at the end of the pier!
Read more…

Besides little snippets here and there, I’ve never “formally” introduced my dress to the hive! I found my dress on the first (and only!) day of dress shopping, about 14 minutes after we got engaged. Mama & Sister Quiche Nen were in town for the Sheffield Garden Walk weekend & they suggested looking for dresses. I had a few dresses in mind that led us to two random, strip mall bridal stores on the NW side of Chicago (you can see those horrid results here). At the second shop, I ended up throwing on a Watters WToo dress that looked cute on the hanger. Once I had it on, we all instantly fell in love with it! It cost around $700, so we bought it on the spot.

source
This image, found after shopping, made me fall in love with my dress all over again!

I love the slim, floaty-ness of the dress. It’s very dainty & feminine, and I love those touches as well. The flowers and leaves (which sounds strange, but look so pretty) in illusion tulle seem to float on the dress. I knew I didn’t want a big, poofy number… so this ended up being perfect for me!
Read more…

I know I said I’d post about my dress next, but I just had to share these incredible pictures of the boys getting ready. Mini Quiche A stole the show with his smoldering Blue Steel and deserves a spot in the next J.Crew catalog. Don’t you think?

Read more…

After a thoroughly relaxing morning of yoga, food and swimming, it was time to leave the beach to get ready for the wedding. Mr. Quiche and I were very blase about seeing each other the morning/early afternoon of the wedding. I certainly wasn’t going to stay sequestered in our room all day, and neither was he… so, we just decided to hang out together!

But alas, it was time to leave everyone partying it up on the beach. I was glad to get away to shower and relax for a bit before all of the girls descended on the room to help make me pretty. I originally planned on having one of my bridesmaids (Laura) do my hair in a simple low bun. I decided that morning to have someone from the spa do my hair, as it allowed Laura more time to hang out and get ready. I didn’t want to stress her out! Luckily, Coyaba was on top of things and a stylist was sent to the room around 1. Perfect timing!

Read more…

Sorry to keep bragging about how stress-free, laid back, cool, calm, and collected I was at the wedding. Trust me, EVERYONE can accomplish this with a few easy steps - a hot cup of coffee, a hammock, a walk on the beach, a splash in the water, a sandcastle, and some yoga. Do this every day for 5 days, and I guarantee* that you will feel relaxed as well. The Jamaican mornings were some of my favorite times of the wedding weekend. Luckily, amazing Ashley was there to capture these unforgettable moments - she was everywhere!

Guest Photo

It’s also nice to bring some friends along with you. Why shouldn’t they enjoy the mornings, as well?

Read more…

Our rehearsal dinner, to put it mildly, kicked a$$. You may think I’m biased, but that statement was repeated over and over by our guests, not me. For me, the night of the rehearsal dinner was a big blur. Luckily, I have all of these amazing pictures from Ashley Colhouer to remind me what a great time I actually had!

My sister started off the night in typical Quiche family tradition - making everyone cry! She slaved over this amazing scrapbook that documented our engagement and wedding planning process leading up to the big day. We LOVE this book. Plus, it helps that she is like a scrapbooking goddess, so it is very creative & pretty.
Read more…

I was perusing Dear Abby (yet again…shameless!) & the topic of asking your girlfriend’s parents for “permission” to marry their daughter was heating up!

The reader responses were all over the board, of course. Some stated that they were independent women who have been succeeding on their own & would be downright insulted if their fiance asked her parents first. That to me is a bit ridiculous… insulted? I know it’s old fashioned, but I like the tradition of the hubby-to-(hopefully)-be nervously approaching his girlfriend’s father (or mother, you get the idea) with the anticipation of what is about to finally happen. I love it!

Mr. Quiche called my mom before he popped the question, and I thought it was very thoughtful & downright cute of him to do it! It made my mom happy, too. When I called her after he proposed, she was practically bursting at the seams!

With Mama & Petey Quiche… a little wedding day teaser for you!

Read more…

Yes, I succumbed to the P.W.C., otherwise known as the Post Wedding Chop.

I love it! I was SO tired of my hair by the time I cut it, so I am in heaven. It is the perfect summer style - so light and fresh! It doesn’t hurt that Mr. Quiche loves it, too.

I have been wanting to chop off my hair for quite a while now, but waited so I could pull my hair back for the wedding. I also wanted to donate it to Locks of Love - but my stylist told me that I couldn’t! I was surprised. He told me it was because they no longer accept blonde hair, which didn’t sound right to me, but how was I to know?
Read more…

We so lucked out on the stress-front during our wedding. As in, we had none. The staff at Coyaba thought of everything. All we had to do was meet with them for an hour when we arrived (we turned over our decorations, ceremony layout, and determined the line-up) & that was it until the rehearsal. I think the entire run-through of the big day took about 15 minutes. This was the first time that it really hit me - “Wow, I am getting married”!

Loved my J.Crew seersucker dress. We added little loops to each side at the seam & I used a bright pink grosgrain ribbon as a belt for a little POP of color!

While we waited for everyone to get to the wedding lawn, we all just meandered around together, took pictures, and had Red Stripe.
Read more…

Not signs in the Five Man Electrical Band “long haired freaky people, need not apply” sense, but in the figurative sense.

Drawing by Brian Andreas

I’ve expresses my love of Brian Andreas in the past (his quote even made an appearance on our invites!). This story is the very first one of his that I read, some 6 years ago, and I was hooked:

I used to wait for a sign, she said, before I did anything. Then one night I had a dream and an angel in black tights came to me and said, ‘You can start any time now.’ And then I said, ‘Is this a sign?’ And the angel started laughing and I woke up. Now, I think the whole world is filled with signs, but if there’s no laughter, I know they’re not for me.

I’ve read a lot of blogs where a bride books/buys something based on a sign. There are a lot of cultures where signs are extremely significant. While I definitely think my life is grounded in reality, I have to admit that I’ve listened to signs in the past.
Read more…

*Disclaimer: I can’t even describe how difficult it is to pick only a few pictures for these recaps! When I can’t pick just one (or two), I’m going to start inserting photo collages. Not only do they look great, but you don’t miss anything either! Thanks, Mrs. Quiche :)

We didn’t want to burden our family and friends with organized activities (after all, this is also a vacation for them, not just our wedding!), but we wanted to adequately thank them for traveling to Jamaica to celebrate with us. By Thursday night, everyone was on the island and ready to party. We wanted to get everyone away from the resort for a bit to experience another part of Montego Bay. Mr. Quiche headed up this adventure - chartering a catamaran!

He contacted a few different places before settling on Chokey Taylor’s Freestyle catamaran. As an added bonus, Chokey Taylor is also an awesome reggae singer… and his website is always a treat to peruse. As a matter of fact, I recommend opening it in a new tab & listening to the music while you finish reading this recap!

Everyone left their beach chairs around 3 or 4 to start getting ready.
Read more…

We do!

Now, I am an extremely cautious person by nature. I don’t tend to do anything that I feel might cause me any type of hurt. For example, when I was little I was in gymnastics. Fairly common activity for a little girl, right? Well, when “forced” to walk across the balance beam, I crumbled. Did I mention that the “balance beam” was essentially a 2×4 laying on the floor (as in, no distance between the beam and the floor). I was the awkward girl with long as* legs doing (very, very bad) eagle spreads and herkies on the trampoline, never a flip. And the list goes on.

So, when Mr. Quiche suggested that we go Zip Lining* a few days before the ceremony, I immediately said, “no.” I was more than happy for everyone else to go, content arranging OOT bags (let’s face it - laying on the beach) by myself. Not only did I not want to perish, but what if I swept by a tree or something and ended up with a big scrape across my arm? Or face?? But, once Mama and Petey Quiche decided they wanted to go as well, I couldn’t very well say no. Right?

Exiting the bus, not looking too thrilled.
Read more…