Mrs. Penguin, Northern CaliforniaAge and Occupation: 27, Weddingbee Editor in ChiefFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Doctor of Physical TherapyEngagement Date: January 29, 2007Wedding Date: June 7, 2008Blogging Since: September 14, 2007Venue: Winery in the Gold CountryAbout Me: I love the Spice Girls, dogs with underbites, bean burritos, making messes, high fives, avoiding showers, crossword puzzles, blogs, weddings, and blogs about weddings!
We’re ringing in Friday with a brand new bee! Please join me in welcoming our newest worldly bee to the hive—Miss Pudding!
Miss Pudding, Greater Toronto Area/Vermont Age & Occupation: 26, High School Teacher Fiance’s Age & Occupation: 26, Computer Engineer Engagement Date: August 2008 Wedding Date: July 2010 Venue: Catholic Ceremony, Cultural Hall Reception About Me: Quite literally a citizen of the world, I was born in Poland, grew up in Canada, and now live in the beautiful state of Vermont. I love reading historical biographies, multi-tasking, teasing my hair, and, despite my height, wearing high heeled shoes. I am the ultimate klutz with an uncanny ability to put on a graceful front. Mr. Pudding and I have been dating for over six years, and are very excited to finally merge our (very large) families. We are planning a traditional Polish-Catholic wedding that is anything but predictable.
Mrs. Joey, SeattleAge and Occupation: 28, Project Administrator for Public Health NGOFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, High School History TeacherEngagement Date: June 24, 2008Wedding Date: August 2009Venue: Eastside Catholic Chapel and Lake Union CafeAbout Me: I'm a Seattle girl through and through except for the fact that I don't drink coffee. I love my job most of the time because I get to travel and work with brilliant people who are trying to prevent Malaria. I love DIY projects of all sorts, cooking, and watching sports. I'd wear anything at Anthropologie and could spend all day on Etsy. I love to travel but shouldn't because I always get myself into unbelievable situations!
Well that’s it—the whole shebang. We planned, we wed, we partied and we survived. The whole thing was very surreal. Some days it was too real and other days I felt like I was living in a dream (and sometimes a nightmare). Read more…
Ms. Potato Chips, Boston/Narragansett RIAge and Occupation: 29, PhD StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Personal Trainer/Business Owner/Physical Therapy AssistantEngagement Date: January 1, 2009Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: The Narragansett TowersAbout Me: A semi-professional bookworm, if I could be a literary character I’d be a cross between Jo March and Jane Eyre, only better accessorized and much lazier. My hobbies include sleeping in, seasonal brews, running, Trader Joe’s, and watching Unwrapped and Good Eats with Mr. Potato Chips. I harbor an irrational fear of tulle, crafts, things that are fussy, and overuse of the phrase "Your Special Day". After a year or seven together, down the aisle we go, slouching toward adulthood and planning a Rhodie party with equal parts whimsy, cheer, and pizza.
This is one of those nerdy/crazy times when archival research intersects with wedding/wedded life. Are you rolling your eyes yet? Bear with me. What follows, for your reading pleasure, are portions of an article written in The New-England Weekly Journal (Containing the Most Remarkable Occurrences Foreign & Domestic) on February 15, 1731. It is part one of a two-parter called “A Letter to a Lady on her Marriage.” I think we’ll all learn a thing or two about how we ladies ought to govern ourselves after we’ve snagged that husband. No need to thank me.
Miss Frozen Yogurt, DallasAge and Occupation: 28, Special Projects CoordinatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Equity TraderEngagement Date: March 19, 2009Wedding Date: April 2010Venue: Marie Gabrielle, DallasAbout Me: I was born and raised in Texas, and have lived in several of the cities across the state, but I currently reside in Austin. I went to college in Boston and have a special place in my heart for the Northeast. I love reading, shopping, wine, reuniting with college friends that are scattered across the country, reality TV, trying out new recipes, and attempting all the DIY projects that come along with wedding planning. I'm a "bleeding heart, save the world type" and thankfully my job allows me to work on legislation and policy to help out those in need. I met Mr. Frozen Yogurt in a bar, though he doesn't even drink! And now we are planning a modern yet vintage wedding in Dallas while dealing with the trials and tribulations of first time homeownership.
Do you ever feel like you don’t take enough time to actually focus on your relationship? Maybe because your days and weeks are muddled with wedding planning, working, home remodeling, etc. Or maybe because things become “routine” and you fall into your patterns. OK, this is starting to sound like an infomercial, only I don’t have a wonder product to sell to you.
But seriously, sometimes I feel disconnected from Mr. Fro Yo.
It’s not that we don’t talk everyday—we do, several times a day. Then we go home from our respective jobs, take our dog for a hike, maybe do a little P90X, make dinner together, curl up on the couch together where he often plays with my hair as I lay in his lap, and then go to bed and read together for a while before finally falling asleep. But sometimes it feels like we’re two people taking part in activities while in the same room, but we’re not really “together”.
So, I’ve decided to stop taking all these sweet little moments for granted and really appreciate everything we have with each other. Read more…
Mrs. Mary Jane, Grand Forks, NDAge and Occupation: 26, Instructional DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Lead ProgrammerEngagement Date: February 28, 2009Wedding Date: September 2009Venue: City HallAbout Me: I'm a career woman on the surface and a homemaker at heart. I love fast cars and high heels, and my favorite food is cake. Mr. Mary Jane and I are both full-time employees and students, and we just bought our first house. We love to curl up on the couch with buttery popcorn, Sour Patch Kids, and the latest Netflix arrival -- whenever we can get a break from everyday life.
Miss Pretzel, SeattleAge and Occupation: 32 Learning, Training, and Development SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 28 Manufacturing EngineerEngagement Date: September 2, 2009Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Catholic Church & The Engine Room at Georgetown StudiosAbout Me: I’m just a thirty-something girl who never dreamed of weddings, poofy dresses, or ritzy receptions. I was born and raised in New Hampshire, went to undergrad and grad school at Purdue University in Indiana, had my career take me to Wisconsin, Atlanta, and then finally settled in Seattle. I am a rabid knitter, except recently, wedding projects have replaced my yarn and needles. I’ve been fiercely independent since the age of 2 and 30 years later I think my family and friends had given up on me settling down and getting married.
Ironically, I had to go all the way to Seattle to find a boy from Purdue. We fell in love over Seattle Beers and cooking together. We love Chuck Taylor All Stars, holding hands, clever t-shirts, bacon, KEXP Radio, craft beer, buying local, cooking from scratch, gardening, mastering our new Gocco, and of course, each other. I love NASCAR, he loves Legos. I can talk like a Muppet and he can fit a whole McDonald’s cheeseburger in his mouth. We are a two reception couple, currently planning a brewery inspired bash.
When we left off, I had fallen in love with little wooden versions of Mr Pretzel and me, like the ones made by goosegrease on Etsy. Mr Pretzel was pretty smitten with the idea, too. Something about the simplicity of these minis spoke to our clean, modern sense of design. This project stayed on the back burner until a trip to Jo-Ann’s Fabric. Mr Pretzel and I were picking up supplies for another wedding project and I said, “Let’s swing by the wood section.” I was thinking we could build our own people using various wood shapes. As we were comparing wood spheres for the appropriately sized heads, my eyes landed on a package of perfectly sized, already assembled, wooden people! My eyes scanned the price… $1.29! Woo hoo! I did a quick celebratory dance and quickly pulled Mr Pretzel to the next aisle to stock up on paints.
An afternoon later, I had a mini-Mr Pretzel and a mini-Miss Pretzel—for a whopping $8.37! If you have a selection of paint on hand, you could do this project for a mere $2. Seriously? Seriously! Alright Miss Pretzel, get on with the ‘structions!
Miss Poodle, Santiago, Chile/San Bernardino, CAAge and Occupation: 27, Industrial & Web DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Firefighter & Mountain PatrolEngagement Date: February 25, 2009Wedding Date: January 2010Venue: Mr. P's Grandparents’ RanchAbout Me: I’m a Chilean girl who's crazy about nature and swimming. I enjoy carving, drawing, reading and sewing; I drool over computers, fabric, pretty paper, purple and patterns. To me, chocolate should be one of the seven wonders, right next to lemon pie. I never thought an exchange work experience program was going to change my life forever, but while working in California, I met Mr. Poodle, and ever since my days are better and brighter. We are two goofy souls that, after finding each other, couldn’t help but want to be together forever. It has being a long and sometimes hard road, since we have to deal with such a long distance between us, but we are now facing the last stage of our Fiancé Visa, and soon we will be together. You know the best part? We will be married! So I’ll be blogging from Chile until just a few months before our “green and purple” wedding.
It’s been a week since Mr. Poodle and I finally were reunited, and we went from using Skype and the phone to say hola and buenas noches each day to saying it with a real hug and a kiss. It has being AMAZING!
But, we struggled again with the visa process. This time it was not our K1 Fiancé Visa, but my family’s. Since they were not able to start their process until our visa was accepted, we’ve now realized accepted the fact that the timing (for our January wedding) was just NOT going to work. And since we would have only been able to have a few of them with us at the wedding, we have decided we are going to move our wedding celebration date, so that way ALL of our Chilean guests (OK, all 4 of them) can be able to make it to our special day.
It sounds crazy to think we are going to change our wedding date just for 4 guests, right? But they are my special invitees (including Poodle Mom and Poodle BM Sister) and they mean the world to me.
After our talk, we decided the best month for us will be April, since it will be Mr. Poodle’s brother’s spring break (he is his best man). This will assure that the most important people in our lives will be able to make it. Read more…
Miss Trail Mix, New YorkAge and Occupation: 26, PE TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, MBA StudentEngagement Date: March 2009Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: Tannery Pond at the Darrow SchoolAbout Me: I'm a country girl who somehow found herself living in the Big Apple and loving every minute of it. I'm planning a rustic, country-chic wedding in my hometown in upstate New York and it's going to be a Party with a capital P. White wine, flea markets and running keep me happy and my friends, family and fiance are my world. I'm a little bit crafty, a little bit crazy but mostly just crazy in love.
When it comes to food, I know what I like. I am one of those people who LOVES food. I definitely live to eat.
Anyways, when it came time to talk about the menu, Mr Trail Mix and I had a pretty clear idea of what we wanted. Since all the food will have to be cooked without access to a kitchen (our venue is essentially a field), we wanted to keep it simple and easy but tasty. Read more…
Mrs. Sunbeam, San Francisco/Grove City, PAAge and Occupation: 26, Grad Student & Office ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Motion DesignerEngagement Date: May 10, 2008Wedding Date: September 2009Venue: Harbison Chapel & The Maple Lane FarmAbout Me: Mr. Sunbeam and I are high school sweethearts. We both come from a small town in PA but are growing to love the California lifestyle. He loves wine and I love cheese... the perfect combination! When I'm not drooling over wedding blogs, I'm attending grad school, out being a foodie, or attempting to "walk" our cat at the park. Two things guaranteed to excite me are wedding cakes and breaking out my suitcase to travel. Mr. Sunbeam and I are personalizing our hometown wedding to celebrate our high school sweetheart status and PA roots with a few CA touches. After ten years of dating we couldn't be more excited to call each other husband and wife!
When we left off, Mr. Sunbeam and I were busy as could be to get everything in order before our friends and family arrived. Besides visiting our reception site, I visited our church to make sure our decorations would hang properly, we were stuffing OOT bags, fluffing poms, emailing vendors, and running to Pittsburgh to pick up cheese for our reception. I was starting to wonder if I should miss out on the bachelorette because there was so much to be done, but decided ’no way!’. We had to let go and start having some fun! Read more…
Miss Snow, Madison, WI/Asheville, NCAge and Occupation: 28, PhD student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Graphic DesignerEngagement Date: August 5, 2009Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: Claxton FarmAbout Me: I am true Southern gal displaced in the beautiful and blustery midwest. A true theatre geek at heart, I love any kind of performance and spend most of my time researching old productions in dank library archives. When not in the library, I love music (punk rock, bluegrass, and everything in between), design in all forms, any reality TV show on Bravo (especially those that feature housewives or sharp knives), beer and wine from Oregon, and exploring the outdoors. My fiance and I are true best friends, and he inspires me every day. After a long and happy dating relationship, we’ve decided to tie the knot in the mountains of North Carolina, our home state. We’re planning a long-distance, largely-DIY, eco-conscious hip farm affair that celebrates family, friends, and love.
First, thanks to all who expressed such concern, support, generosity, and kindness about the loss of Claxton Farm’s beautiful barn and about our wedding plans.
Luckily, the owners that manage the site have made plans to rebuild over the next six months. Mr. Snow and I have decided maintain our wedding plans for this location, old barn, new barn, or no barn. In one respect, the natural beauty surrounding the barn makes for a gorgeous wedding location, and the spirit with which the owners and event planners approached this crisis meant a lot to us. In another regard, this tragedy (more for the owners and who depend on this space for their livelihood) reminded both Mr. Snow and me how little a venue matters in the large scale of a marriage. Read more…
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