Miss Scone, Napa/Kansas CityAge and Occupation: 31, RecruiterFiancee's Age and Occupation: 33, Motorcycle MechanicEngagement Date: April 15, 2010Wedding Date: July 2012Venue: Boulevard BreweryAbout Me: I am a West Coast girl that fell for a Midwestern girl. I can’t get enough of baking, projecting, family and our fluffy dog child Darby. I bake by smell, haven’t used a timer in years and years. Having a major project on the horizon and a busy schedule keep me sane. I love beer even though I live in Napa (but I like wine too, just not as much as beer). We are planning a family friendly convivial affair in Kansas City and can’t wait to share the adventures.
I am feeling very cakey right now, probably because it isn’t on the menu plan and I really would love a bite. So let me share some more cake ideas with you…
Early early into our unengagement I came across Lego cake toppers. Let me pause here: both Sweetie Scone and I were giant Lego nerds growing up, so these were just too fun not to look at in Fall 2009.
Well one day I came home from school and Sweetie Scone had a surprise…she had custom designed and ordered our very own Lego cake topper! (FYI, it was less expensive than buying one on Etsy.) Our cake peeps are still in pieces waiting for their grand entrance.
Miss Porcupine, NYC/Lancaster, PAAge and Occupation: 26, Sales Coordinator/PublishingFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Assistant Manager/SalesEngagement Date: August 8, 2010Wedding Date: March 2012Venue: Riverdale ManorAbout Me: I'm a born and bred New Yorker with a love/hate relationship for the city I have always called home. Although I may seem quiet from afar, I have a loud personality once you get to know me. I am a book nerd at heart, but love a night out in the city with good friends. I have a serious addiction to all things cheese, chocolate, cardigans, Mexican food, and reality TV. The future hubs and I met in college, settled in New York, and decided to go with a rustic/peacock infused wedding in Lancaster, PA, right near his hometown. Come the big day, we will be together 5 years, and we're looking forward to making it official!
Sometimes the best decisions are made under last minute pressure (or one can hope).
When it came to thinking up ideas for escort cards my brain made a nice little “hummmmmmmmm” sound in the background. It seemed so trivial to think about when you have a 1 1/2 year engagement, until I realized I have about 50 days until the wedding and I better make some type of decision on what to do.
There are so many cute ideas out there and I liked a bunch of them.
Miss Coyote, Westchester, NYAge and Occupation: 26, Administrative AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Computer ProgrammerEngagement Date: August 2010Wedding Date: June 2012Venue: Franklin PlazaAbout Me: I am an overly-caffeinated, sports-obsessed history nerd who loves a good book and hates bananas. Originally from a small town in Upstate NY, I made the move to Westchester County and never looked back! My loves include NBC Thursdays, red wine, fleece pajamas, and my amazing fiancé. Together we are planning a formal evening affair for 175 guests with a mix of new and old traditions and plenty of personal touches.
Now that we have a bajillion engagement photos we’ve been trying to figure out what the heck to do with them. You already saw our save the dates, but I have a few other tricks up my sleeve for these photos.
Miss Woodpecker, Branford, CT Age and Occupation: 27, Graduate Student/School Psych InternFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, GlazierEngagement Date: Christmas Eve 2010Wedding Date: September 2012Venue: Owenego Beach ClubAbout Me: I’m a Connecticut native planning a coastal beach wedding in our hometown. My loves in life include: food, family and the fiance. I’m a planner/organization fiend, by nature and by addiction, and am obsessed with all things wedding and design. We're trying to put personal touches on everything we can in our wedding, to really make it personal to us, our family, and friends. In the middle of wedding planning, I’m also finishing up grad school, and will be starting a brand new career within weeks of our wedding. It’s going to be an adventure!
I just found the greatest invention known to man color-obsessed brides. OK, that statement might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but that’s pretty much how I felt when I found Whatsitscolor.
Let me start from the semi-beginning. I was super excited when I chose navy as our primary wedding color because I thought, “That’s so easy! Navy is so simple!” Turns out, there are millions of shades of navy and there is no such thing as just “navy.” I realized this when I started designing things for the wedding and found so many great templates and pictures I could use online that looked like they were the same color, but when put next to each another were very different. I most recently found this baby, and I’m pretty much obsessed:
And I loved her! I immediately began fidgeting around to see what kind of monogram/date I could fit in, when I realized my standard navy blue shade looked nothing like this one. I’d been trying to match everything I downloaded to one, but seriously it is impossible. There are just too many colors.
Miss Petit Four, San Antonio/Isla MujeresAge and Occupation: 25, Technology teacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Math Teacher and Football CoachEngagement Date: Feb 13, 2010Wedding Date: March 2012Venue: Zama Beach Club, Isla Mujeres, MexicoAbout Me: I am a polka-dot obsessed, destination wedding diva living and loving in the great state of Texas. I am an island girl at heart and I visit the beach as often as I can. I am a wannabe DIY goddess, but that doesn’t mean I won’t give it my best shot. I love pearl earrings, the color pink, and ruffles are a part of my everyday wardrobe. My wonderful fiance and I are planning a destination wedding with our closest family and friends and we’re leaving a trail of glitter in our path!
Searching for bridesmaids’ gifts was one of the hardest tasks I have yet to come across while planning this dang wedding. I needed to find something that was small enough for me to take to Mexico and something the girls wouldn’t mind lugging back to the states.
I liked the idea of getting them jewelry and I probably still will get them each a nice necklace or something, but I wanted to do something a little different. (I promise, this is cool! Keep reading.)
Miss Unicycle, Chicago, ILAge and Occupation: 23, Editor for a Web Publishing CompanyFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, MD/PhD StudentEngagement Date: March 26, 2011Wedding Date: June 2012Venue: Bridges of Poplar CreekAbout Me: I’m a writer by trade who likes analyzing pop culture, making fun of celebrities, and laughing until I cry. I’m the queen of half-assed crafts, and there’s nothing I won’t try to DIY. You can usually find me reading blogs on my laptop in front of a good Lifetime movie, wine in hand. I’m planning a polka-dotted summertime wedding to my physics geek college sweetheart, and when I’m not making stupid puns I’m freaking out about my wedding timeline.
There’s been a lotof talkon Weddingbeeabout “other”wedding dresses, meaning the dress you wear to your rehearsal dinner, shower, and/or bachelorette party. In fact, it was Weddingbee that introduced me to the concept of wearing a white dress to all wedding events (not that I needed to be introduced to the concept of wearing certain colors, but you get what I mean).
I’m so grateful to the bees who blazed the wearing-white-to-other-wedding-events trail before me. That was sarcastic actually. If I hadn’t decided I needed a new white dress for every event, I’d be a lot better off, I imagine. I want my money and naïveté back! And my closet space too. For those of you who haven’t considered the fact that you have to wear white to all wedding events because you’re the friggin’ bride I apologize for giving you the idea now.
I decided to make a dress to wear to my shower (possibly both showers) because it would be “cheaper” and I could “make it look however I wanted.” I seem to have forgotten that buying fabric is rarely cheaper than just buying a Forever 21 dress. I also seem to have forgotten that I suck at sewing, so it’s literally impossible for me to make it look however I want. But I did my best!
Personal pic
I promise you I’m not wearing opaque white tights. That’s my real leg color…
Miss Mink, Charlottesville, VirginiaAge and Occupation: 34, College AdministratorFiance's Age and Occupation: 40, Craft Beer ConsultantEngagement Date: November 26, 2010Wedding Date: June 2012Venue: Pippin Hill Farm & VineyardsAbout Me: I left a pre-war brownstone in Boston six years ago to live in a funky, Southern city where Thomas Jefferson, Dave Matthews, and urban chicken keepers enjoy equal social standing. I still love my Patriots and Red Sox, but have fallen in love with Virginia. I work in education and specialize in integrating technology into my work to improve the student experience. I’m a diehard blogger, animal lover, jamband follower, and DIYer. I paint to relax and have transferred by energy from home projects to wedding projects in recent months. When Mr. Mink and I started talking about marriage, we knew our wedding would be outdoors, that my golden retriever would be part of the day, and that the music would be fantastic. We’ve taken a few risks during our planning process and we’ve been enjoying the process immensely!
I pulled out my passport the other night to send it off for renewal and realized something a little sad. The last stamp in my book is from 2003. I studied two languages and went abroad three times in college. It’s a little startling to realize that I haven’t left the country in almost a decade. The sad fact is that despite telling myself that I wouldn’t let it happen, I’ve become a workaholic. I get to use technology and social media, which make my job pretty enjoyable. It’s not that I don’t travel. I do quite a bit of business travel (enough that I could trade in hotel points for the $200 Pottery Barn gift card I mentioned yesterday). I just haven’t done much leisure travel in recent years. Clearly, I’m really looking forward to our honeymoon.
Mr. Mink, on the other hand, has been to every sunny vacation destination you can think of. Name a tropical island and he’s probably been there. As a result, I told Mr. Mink that he could decide where we’d go, but I had two requests. First, there must be a beach. Second, I want to see dolphins. My response to the idea of swimming with dolphins is a lot like Kristen Bell’s reaction to the idea of meeting a sloth, which you may have seen on the Ellen show recently.
For what it’s worth, as an animal lover, I also feel this way about the prospect of meeting a panda, elephant, sloth, sea otter, or seal pup.
Shortly after articulating my two requirements, I thought the dolphin request might be too limiting, so I retracted it, but Mr. Mink said that if I want dolphins, we’ll find dolphins. Read more…
Miss Doe, Northern CaliforniaAge and Occupation: 24, Real Estate AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, Recycling ManagerEngagement Date: December 25, 2010Wedding Date: May 2012Venue: Monte Verde InnAbout Me: I’m a Rat Pack fan and a Christmas nut that loves to read, good wine, cheesy ’80s movies and ’90s sitcoms. My wiener dog with an attitude problem and lazy basset hound are my constant source of entertainment. He's a hunter and I like cooking so it's not rare to see wild game on our dinner menu. Both of us were born and raised in a small historic farming town where our feet are still firmly planted. We have been together for nearly a decade and have shared many life experiences together, including birthdays that are only one day apart. We are two old souls that are creating our long-awaited wedding with loads of tradition that blends our two styles into rustic elegance in the foothills of Northern California.
You know those songs that aren’t technically a one hit wonder, nor are they necessarily a guilty pleasure? I’m talking about those songs that come on in a bar, a party, or a wedding where everyone gets up and dances?
I am talking everyone….no matter if they are young or old, male or female, their preference on toilet paper being hung over (right way) or under (wrong way). You get my drift; they are simply…super awesome songs. If these songs come on, there is no way people can stay seated. They must dance.
Mrs. Marmalade, Norwalk, CT/Raleigh, NCAge and Occupation: 27, Administrative AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Army OfficerEngagement Date: December 31, 2009Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: Old Cadet Chapel/Highlands Country ClubAbout Me: I'm a Tri-State area "lady," through and through. A big chunk of my life has been split between NYC and Connecticut, and I'm finally heading down south to live with Mr. Marmalade. Our long distance relationship has been one adventure after the next, we've spent time in Texas, Louisiana, Florida,and Georgia, thanks to his military career. Next to Mr. Marmalade, my loves include live music, useless trivia, shoes, design, and my crazy half-tiger kitty, Oliver. I have a passion for food and wine, and I've been known to travel long distances to get my hands on the best meals. I come from a tight-knit big fat Greek Ecuadorian family---we're loud, we talk with our hands, and we spend hours talking loudly with our hands over large meals. I'm going to miss them so much as I pack up and begin my life, far away from home. But with Mr. Marmalade by my side, I'm ready to take on whatever may come. Next up: our wedding!
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
You get my drift; they are simply…super awesome songs. If these songs come on, there is no way people can stay seated. They must dance.
