Weddingbee Blog

Remember how I talked about using a wine box for our ceremony and then promptly never mentioned the subject again? Yeah, I’ve been a bad bride. We bought an unfinished wine box with the intention of staining it and wood burning our names on it. Well, the box has been sitting in our apartment for months now, just begging to get all fancied up. Long story short? We lacked the motivation to get going on the thing. Every now and then I would get short bursts of motivation. One day I went out and bought a wood burning kit. Then something came up and I didn’t think of the box again for two months. Another time I bought foam inserts and a X-Acto knife…and the box sat for months. You get the idea. A few weeks ago, I set aside a specific day to tackle this project. I was tired of looking at the unfinished box with all of the tools stacked on top of it. So I grabbed the wood burner and practice wood and went to work. Yeah, it turns out wood burning is a much harder skill than I thought.

FAIL!

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Image via Chicoparty.com

Today officially marks 100 days until our wedding. Where did the time go? Even though we’ve been engaged for 13 months now, there’s a panicky part of me that needs more time. But, thanks to our type A careful planning, everything is pretty much done! Mr. Warbs and I did a little dance when we got to the back page of our wedding planning checklist. We’re in the home stretch, Hive! Just a few more big things to conquer and then all that’s left is the little details that keep me up at night. Pssh, no big deal.

While my anxiety has slowly been building up approaching the 100 day mark, Mr. Warbs has remained as excited as he was the night he proposed.

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After my first makeup trial, I decided to be a little more selective in finding the next makeup artist. I pored through countless websites looking for examples, reviews and of course, prices. I was pretty lucky to find a few who were still around during the holidays and had good reviews online. The day after Christmas, I had a trial with a nice woman who was also the most affordable. I was pretty adamant about the amount of coverage I wanted and probably came across as bitchy. Oh well, she did a great job anyway!

From the beginning I felt comfortable because she told me what she was doing every step of the way. I think my bitchiness about coverage might have gotten to her because she used super light coverage. I was happy I didn’t look all crazy, but would have been fine with a tad bit more coverage. I know, I sound like Goldilocks. Hive, weddings make people crazy. She got major points for asking before applying shimmer to my face. I absolutely cannot stand shimmer because I always tend to leave traces of it on everything and everybody. But since she had a light hand, I let her try it out. It actually looked really pretty. You win this one, shimmer. We also tried out some false lashes which I was surprisingly OK with. I’m normally a freak about things going in, around, or near my eyes. But I could barely feel the lashes and I felt like they made me look hot. But, I was scared I wouldn’t be able to take them off by myself so I had her take them off before she left so you won’t see them in the photos. Yup, I’m that girl.
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Hey there, remember me? Miss Warbler? Yeah, it’s been a while. Sorry for not keeping in touch. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy our time together, I’ve just been…busy. You know, wedding planning and all. Don’t take it personal. It’s not you, it’s me.

It’s been a while hive, but I promise I haven’t been sitting on my ass this whole time. Wedding projects (and mishaps) will be shared in due time!

Over the holiday break, I had a couple of makeup trials. The first trial was…not good. There’s no other way to put it. But I guess it was my fault. In an effort to try and save some money, I went to the mall and tried out a makeup artist at a department store. I figured that it might be cheaper and if the bridal party had to drive to the mall the day of the wedding, than it would be worth it to save a little cash. It’s what I did for prom, so why couldn’t I do that for the wedding too? Yeah, you can go ahead and file that one under harebrained ideas.

Even though I didn’t have an appointment and it was the weekend before Christmas, I was helped right away. I took bridesmaid E with me to get her opinion on the makeup. The whole time I sat in the chair, the MUA wouldn’t let me see my face so all I could go off of were E’s facial expressions which were pretty amusing. Except that she was making them at my face. I don’t usually wear a lot of makeup, but expected to probably wear a medium coverage for the wedding. However, I was a little worried when the MUA artists put on generous amounts of liquid foundation, two different powder foundations, concealer and a shimmer setting powder. How in the hell is that medium coverage? Bridesmaid E snapped a photo of the end result.
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While planning our wedding, I came up with some pretty good ideas and some, um, not-so-good ideas. Harebrained ideas. Or, as Mama Warbler likes to call them, Lucy-you’ve-got-some-’splaining-to-do ideas. Yes, I STILL love Lucy!

First of all, you should know that the Warblers don’t sing or dance.

OK, these Warblers do. Heeeey Blaine.

Image via Glee Wikia

I’m talking about Mr. Warbs and myself, of course. With the exception of bad karaoke and singing in the shower, we are not musically gifted.
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Exactly one year ago today, Mr. Warbs got down on one knee in our bathroom and scared the crap out of me. I know that’s not a very eloquent sentence, but that’s what happened! Since then the weeks and months have seriously flown by like nothing. Here we are a year later and it all still feels so new. Sure, I’m not the clueless bride who clung religiously to bridal magazines anymore, but I’m far from being a pro. I still have trouble getting used to saying “fiance” and occasionally will call Mr. Warbs my boyfriend. Whoops! Trust me, I get the super awkward look every time.

There have been a few changes, though. We’ve become closer to each others’ respective families. My sisters and my mom have always loved Mr. Warbs, but it’s even more amazing that my nieces and cousins love him as well. If I go to a family function or dinner without him, they genuinely miss him. And since I know my family, I know they’re not just being polite. On the flip side, I simply adore his parents. They are the sweetest couple I’ve ever met. I can tell that Mr. Warbs’ definitely gets his caring and respectfulness from his dad. I’ve never seen a man more devoted to his wife’s every need. My future looks good on that front! My MIL is also a true gem. From the beginning of our relationship, she treated me like her daughter and has been very protective of me. When a car mechanic tried to screw me over on a deal, she yelled, “No one is gonna [expletive] with my daughter!” Yeah, I hope to never get on her bad side.
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A zillion months ago, more like two months actually, I teased you with a photo from our engagement session. After a long wait, we finally got the rest of the photos from our photographers on Saturday. After cringing at awkward angles and laughing at weird faces, it’s time to share our favorites with the hive!

Sorry, this is a shameless personal photo post. Lots of photos coming at you…now!

*All images in this post by Nataly Lemus Photography

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One of the things I’m looking forward to most with this wedding, besides actually getting married, is all of the eating activities. There are all types of excuses to scarf down food. Besides the dinner at your reception, you can fill up on good food pretty much from throughout the entire wedding planning process. Engagement dinners, multiple bridal showers, bridal luncheons and of course, the rehearsal dinner. Ah, the rehearsal dinner. I don’t know why most people only have one; I think I’ll need a few rehearsals to perfect my yummy face.

Early on, we considered having it at a great Mexican restaurant a few blocks from Mr. Warbs’ parents house. Since they’re regulars, the owners gave them a really good deal that included pitchers of margaritas, beer and platters upon platters of food. My kind of party! But, it wouldn’t have worked out logistically. The Mexican restaurant is in Whittier which is nearly 60 miles away from Malibu. So our options were to have the rehearsal dinner Thursday, have the actual rehearsal on Friday and the wedding on Saturday. There was way too much back and forth involved in that plan. We could also have had the dinner a couple of weeks before the wedding, but that just seemed odd to me. It just made more sense to have the dinner in the Malibu area. No enchiladas for us.

We checked out a few over priced restaurants before we settled on Buca di Beppo.
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In celebration of Gobble Gobble Day, Mr. Warbs and I drove up to Las Vegas to eat turkey and break in my sister’s new house. Oh yeah, and to gamble. It’s Vegas. The day before we set out, I found Mr. Warbs packing some clothes in my suitcase. His clothes in my suitcase. Now, we share a lot of things, but for some reason, I was really bothered by this. Our conversation went like this:

Me: Um, that’s my suitcase.

Mr. Warbs: Yeah, I’m just packing some stuff.

Me: So, I don’t get to use my suitcase?

Mr. Warbs: Yes, there’s plenty of room in here for your stuff too.

Me: What?

Mr. Warbs: We can share.

Me: …

I consider myself to be a logical person. I can see the logic behind only taking one suitcase for the both of us.
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Remember the frustration I felt shopping with my mom for her dress? Well, it was all for naught because she found her dress! Without me. I guess shopping with me put too much pressure on her shoulders. Sometimes it’s better to just step back and trust the woman who brought you into this world. I received an excited phone call from her over the weekend. Not only did she find her dress, she also found dresses for my Special Ops Flower Girls (shhh, we’re working on something). Sweet. Now that all of my ladies have their dresses, it’s the guys’ turn! Good luck Mr. Warbs!

I have no idea which store she purchased these dresses from. When I asked she could only say, “Um…it was a store next to Target.” Only my mother. Here are the dresses! Sorry about the photo quality.

Flower Girl Apple, Mama Warbs and Flower Girl Lala

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When it comes to wedding favors, Mr. Warbs and I come from different camps. I think that it’s nice to give our guests something to remember our wedding by. He thinks that favors are unnecessary because nobody ever keeps those things and we can put the money towards something else. I do agree that most favors are disposable and probably do get thrown out. I’ve only been to a few weddings and I definitely didn’t keep the favors. Hell, I don’t even remember what the favors were. Mints? Candy? Beats me.

So, if we’re going to give our favors, we want them to be something that our guests can keep for a long time. And since we’re having a loose bookish theme, it would be great if the favors could have a literary theme. I thought bookmarks would be cool. Cheap, compact and they’re even in our wedding colors. Win!

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Alternative title: Impending Doom

I had a pretty scary dream last night. Even scarier than my regular nightmares which are usually one of the following: I’m being chased in slow motion by Freddy Krueger from the movie Nightmare on Elm Street or I’m one of the people from the movie The Human Centipede. I’ve never even seen that last movie, but after hearing the plot described I began having recurring nightmares. If you’ve never seen it either, do yourself a favor. DO NOT look up the plot or photos online. You’ve been warned.

Last night’s dream was about our wedding. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. In the dream we were all running around trying to get ready for the big event and all of our vendors were MIA. Our photographers, florist, makeup artist and hair stylist abandoned me. A bride’s worst nightmare, right? Well, that was just the tip of the iceberg. The dream got weirder. My MOH disappeared, and by disappeared I mean he vanished right before my eyes while I was talking to him. Mr. Warbs and I got separated by a huge shrub maze that materialized right in the middle of our venue. It took us forever to find each other again and when we did, I discovered that a handful of my teeth had fallen out. At that moment I looked down at my watch to see that we only had half an hour before the ceremony was supposed to start. No way was I walking down the aisle with no MOH, no flowers, no makeup and half my teeth missing!

Now, I’ve been known to have some strange dreams, but that freaked me out the most. I’ve had the teeth falling out dream enough times to know that it’s supposed to mean I’m afraid/I feel like I’m losing control.
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We’ve booked the venue, photographer, videographer and all the other big details. Now that we have some downtime before the big day, it’s time to get started on the DIY projects! Early on I fell in love with the classic look of blue mason jar centerpieces. Perfect for our outdoor wedding. But they’re extremely rare and tend to go for about $8 or $10 per jar. A cheap bride’s best friend, also known as Google, helped me find an easy way to get the same look for a lot less. Stain the damn things blue with glass paint! If you are a broke bride or are just feeling crafty, here’s how I did it.

What you’ll need:
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I detailed my experience shopping with my mom for her dress here. We bickered, laughed, and gave each other headaches. And in the end we left empty handed. Well, this time it’s time to talk about the other mama: my future mother-in-law. While out with her sister, she found a dress she liked at David’s Bridal. I got an excited phone call about it and told her if she liked it to just go ahead and buy it. She said the color was a nice burgundy, the dress was knee length, had a jacket and was perfect. In my head I was thinking “Yay! One less thing I have to make a decision on!” But she would not buy it without showing it to me first. So we made plans to go see the dress together the next day. I figured we’d see it, I’d give my stamp of approval and she would buy it. Simple right? Well, the next morning she called me and said she was worried that the color was too dark of purple. She said it was almost black, actually. Wait, wasn’t the dress supposed to be burgundy? And didn’t she love it less than 12 hours ago?

Turns out that both of my mamas are indecisive. And my MIL in particular doesn’t see colors too well. Yup, she’s legally color blind.
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Alternative title: How I Ended Up With Two Pairs of Wedding Shoes

Like pretty much any woman who has ever existed, I love shoes. Heels, sandals, and fancy sporty shoes. Designer shoes to Payless shoes, I love them all. Lately, I spend most of my time online looking at shoes that I can’t afford. Or you know, couldn’t possibly walk in.

I would break all sorts of body parts in these babies.

Christian Louboutin “ballerina” heels / Image via Glamour.com

A couple of weeks ago, my favorite shoe site, Kate Spade hosted a “Friends & Family” sale. 30% off EVERYTHING in stores and online. I think I literally squealed in my chair. Mr. Warbs looked kind of worried. A Kate Spade shoe sale meant that I could now possibly afford to buy the shoes I’d been coveting for months:

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