Weddingbee Blog

to bring you pictures of my new Post-Wedding Chop!

Honestly, this chop had nothing to do with the fact that our wedding is now over, and had everything to do with the fact that, regardless of timing, my hair looked ratty, shapeless, and just plain awful. It had more split ends than I’d ever seen. It was just time.

So I decided to follow the lead of many of my fellow bees (see Crepe, Hyena, Barrettes, Glasses, Pretzel, Plaid, Sand Dollar, Hot Wings, Lamb, Guinea Pig, Poodle, Buttons, Cheeseburger, Cowboy Boot, and a whole lot more) and choppity chop chop it off.

As a reminder, here’s a before photo:

And here is the after:
Read more…

Now that all of that serious stuff was out of the way, it was time to do a little partying! We’d originally planned on having our cocktail hour on the lawn, but the rain had spoiled that plan. Instead, they set up our cocktail hour inside the Bartram’s Garden Coach House, which was pretty cute and totally a decent alternative. Still, by the time the ceremony was over, the rain had stopped, so some of our guests took the opportunity to wander around the garden to check it out.

We didn’t have a receiving line, so we spent most of the cocktail hour mingling with our guests.

Mr. S hung out with his college friends.

I made crazy eyes at the camera while chatting with some friends who traveled to Philly for the wedding. The girl on the left was totally my wedding planning buddy—we were both engaged at the same time and spend HOURS emailing each other about the most mundane wedding crap. She was a lifesaver!

Read more…

So, here’s the thing about Mr. S’ vows.

He spent hours drafting them and typing them out on his prized vintage typewriter. He took them very, very seriously and was really excited to read them at our wedding ceremony.

And then, as we were on the bus on the way from our hotel to the wedding venue, Mr. S suddenly looked at me with panic on his face. “Shit, hon,” he said, “I left my vows at the hotel.”

“Shit, hon” is right. Shit.

There was no time to go back and get them. I asked him if he could remember what he wrote and he said that he remembered the gist of it, and that he’d wing the rest. This made me a tiny bit nervous, because Mr. S is shy and doesn’t like to be the center of attention. I was worried that he’d get major stage fright. But he said that he just needed to take a few minutes to go over them in his head, and he was pretty sure he’d be alright.

So, when I last left you, I was singing the praises of our friend and officiant Todd. He gave an incredible speech and now it was our turn.

I took out the sweaty, wrinkled piece of paper on which I’d printed out my vows, and read:

Read more…

When I last left you, we were all lined up at the front of the barn.

Our officiant was our good friend Todd, who got ordained online just for us. He did such an amazing job. I mean, incredible.

Mr. S and I put together a rough ceremony by researching scripts online, taking our favorite parts from each of them, and mishmoshing them together into something we liked. But we left one part open for Todd to say whatever he liked.

Read more…

All of our portraits were (finally) done, and our guests had arrived and were waiting in the barn.

It was time.

Mr. S’s brother poured everyone in the wedding party a shot of tequila.

(photo by my sister’s fiance)

Read more…

There’s just one more set of portraits to get through before the main event, y’all, so hang in there!

We posed by ourselves and with our attendants, and now it was time for a couple of family shots.

Me with my little sister:

Mr. S and me with my sister, her fiance, and my mom. (Side note: my sister’s fiance’s crazy jacket and pants were apparently a huge issue beforehand, because my sister wanted him to wear something more “normal” and he refused. His outfit was a big topic of conversation that night. Everyone was talking about it. And then they were like “Ooooohhhhh, he’s European. That explains it!” Whatever that’s supposed to mean. I think he looked pretty rad. Anyway, I can’t wait to see what he wears to their own wedding next summer!)

Read more…

The couple’s portraits were finished, and now it was time to take some photos with our attendants!

Read more…

After our grassy field portraits, we wandered around the rest of Bartram’s Garden. It’s such a beautiful place, and the rains had made it even more green, lush and wild than usual. So we took advantage of our setting. While I was bummed about the weather, our photographers assured us that the cloudy sky made for some great picture taking. And, honestly, we were having so much fun that the misty rain didn’t really bug us that much.

Read more…

From the beginning, we planned to do all of our photography before the ceremony, so that we, our families, and our attendants could enjoy cocktail hour with our guests. So you’re going to have to sit through a handful of photo posts before we get to the main event. Hang in there!

When we booked Bartram’s Garden as our venue, I was really excited to have some photos taken in the big grassy field with the Philadelphia skyline in the background. I loved the juxtaposition of the tall, wild grass framed by the sleek skyscrapers.

Unfortunately, while the rain had slowed down to a drizzle by the time we got to Bartram’s, it was too foggy to really see the skyline.

Still, it was a pretty grassy field, and we got some good photos, so all’s well that ends well. What you can’t tell in these photos is that the only thing going through my mind was please don’t fall please don’t fall please don’t fall please don’t fall because it was muddy out there, you guys! And I am one clumsy lady. Luckily, I managed to stay upright. Yay!

And if you squint, just maybe you can see glorious Center City Philadelphia behind us. Maybe.
Read more…

It was time for our first look, but the rain had started to come down pretty hard. We could’ve done an indoor first look, but our hotel, while clean and very nice, wasn’t that photogenic. Luckily for us, our photographers found a cute outdoor spot right behind the hotel, and it wasn’t too rough to go right around the corner in the rain.

Armed with the photographer’s umbrella, I went around the corner, where Mr. S was waiting, umbrella-less (he never, ever uses an umbrella).

Read more…

While we were primping in our hotel suite, so were the dudes.

But before that, they went out for a nice, leisurely lunch and had a few beers. Those lucky guys didn’t need to spend hours on themselves like we did.

Read more…

Don’t forget: the Philly meet-up is this Sunday, June 26. If you are coming, please PM me here so that we can get an accurate count.

Mrs. Socks, Mrs. Pain au Chocolate, Mrs. Thimble, Miss Candy Apple and I hope to see you at noon at Bar Ferdinand at 1030 N. 2nd St. for a yummy tapas-style brunch and delicious wine and cocktails.

Image via BarFerdinand.com

I woke up bright and early on the morning of the wedding and had to, as usual, shake Mr. S out of bed. After we ate a quiet breakfast, I kicked Mr. S out of our hotel room so that he could get ready in his brother’s room. I was expecting the girls shortly.

But first, I had about 45 minutes to myself, which was fabulous. I ran across the street to pick up some bottles of OJ and cheap champagne. And then, back in the hotel room, I poured myself a cup of coffee and relaxed, listening to music, relishing the last few minutes of quiet before everyone arrived. I changed into a robe, and posted this self-portrait to Facebook, with the caption “We’ll call this one ’before.’”

I arranged all of my accessories and other pretties on the table.
Read more…

After rehearsing, Bridesmaids J and K went back to J’s house to make the wedding cupcakes, and the rest of us relaxed for a couple of hours. And then, it was time to head to my mother’s new place for a nice family dinner.

With the exception of our parents, none of our relatives had met. My sister and her fiance live in Europe, and Mr. S’ brothers live in Florida and Ohio, so the wedding was the first opportunity for us all to get together in Philly. It was really nice to see everyone getting along and having a good time.

Mom cooked up a yummy spread.

And we all hung out inside for a while.
Read more…

Before we could have a wedding, we needed to have a wedding rehearsal. Bartram’s Garden is only open during the day on weekdays, so we had to rehearse during the day. So, there was no rehearsal dinner, just a rehearsal lunch. I ordered sandwiches, chips, salads, desserts and drinks from an awesome cafe, and we chowed down at the pavilion at Bartram’s.

Read more…