Ms Seahorse, BostonAge and Occupation: 25, Veterinary Jane-of-all-tradesFiancee's Age and Occupation: 36, former non-profit fundraiser in search of something betterEngagement Date: October 17, 2009Wedding Date: September 2010Venue: Fort Pond LodgeAbout Me: By day I'm a cat-wrangler, vet tech assistant, pet-sitter, receptionist, and pre-vet student, but the rest of the time, I'm a former-roller-derby girl turned dedicated-wedding planner. I love reading, writing, bicycles, animals, roller skating, and antique-y things of all sorts. I'm a vegetarian who likes spicy foods, while Fiancee Seahorse is a meat eater who does not like spices. We live outside Boston with our menagerie: a fifty pound dog, a one-eyed, seventeen-toed, toothless cat, and a perfectly put together cat who has a penchant for pooping near rather than in her litter box. In addition to planning our small lake-side wedding, we enjoy running around with the puppy, playing board games (Scrabble, anyone?), having little adventures, talking about how we should really clean the house more, and maintaining our little garden of vegetables and wedding flowers.
Recently we celebrated our all-official two year anniversary, and it was a really, really good day. Wait ’til you hear about the excitement of our lives… you will be blown away, for sure. Well, if you are like us and your usual version of “celebration” involves playing board games.
So we slept in, meaning I woke up at 7:30, and we had a slow, relaxing morning. Tea, breakfast, a job offer (!). You know, same ol’, same ol’. Then I went to see my wonderful therapist (see: healthy habits) and then our dates began! We decided to go back to the jeweler we had visited a couple of weeks ago, where we had fallen in love with some rings that were way outside our budget and fallen in like with some rings that were closer to our budget. The intention of this visit was to fall in love with the in-like rings and fall out of love with the out-of-our-budget rings. Mission unaccomplished.
the rings we were supposed to love, but failed (source)
Mrs. Thimble, NYC/PhiladelphiaAge and Occupation: 26, Actress & Costume Designer (+ day job)Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Lawyer & Techie WizEngagement Date: August 22, 2008Wedding Date: October 2010Venue: The Pearl S. Buck HouseAbout Me: I’m an easily inspired over-thinker delighted with the process of designing, building, directing and {dare I say} co-starring in the early-autumn affair I’ve been dreaming up. I’m a sucker for trendied-up comfort foods and old family anecdotes; I have an affinity for adjectives, alliteration, eyelet and earl grey; and I live for quality time with family and friends. I never guessed I’d marry my “high school sweetheart", but when it turned out to be my funny, techie, loyal Mr. Thimble I was committed for life. We’re both mid-career transition and ready to move back to small-townish TBD, PA in a pre-wedding flurry of all-good life changes.
Today marks 35 years since Mom and Dad Thimble pledged their love and vowed to honor and cherish each other for the rest of their lives. They’re still going strong and have been an inspiration for me in everything I do—especially in approaching my relationship and building my life with Mr. Thimble. I thought I’d share the love with the hive today and show off some retro inspiration in my parents’ real wedding:
Mrs. Ballet Flat, New OrleansAge and Occupation: 24, Geographic Information Systems AnalystFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, IT AnalystEngagement Date: March 16, 2008Wedding Date: May, 2009Blogging Since: September 25, 2008Venue: St. Charles Borromeo Church/Jefferson-Orleans NorthAbout Me: I absolutely love wedding planning, spending time with Mr. Ballet Flat, various crafts, watching football, baking, pop music, bargain hunting and ice cream. My idea of a great date night is dinner and clearance shopping with Mr. Ballet Flat! I currently live below sea level in the suburbs near New Orleans, where I make maps all day, everyday for my job. I'm slowly becoming more and more obsessed with anything New Orleans related for our wedding, and I can't wait for the big day!
For my gift to the hubs, I had to make it. I just couldn’t avoid crafts for this. For crying out loud, the first year gift’s tradition is paper. Doesn’t that scream, craft me!?
Anywho, I went to Hobby Lobby, and picked up scrapbook paper (in our wedding colors and some lovey dovey paper prints) with a candy jar. I was on a mission.
The idea? To show the hubs that it’s the small things that matter. Tiny, small favors that brighten the day. I wrote down 52 small favors to do for my husband (one each week this year). These favors range from washing his car to cooking up his favorite meal to giving him “me” days in the house.
This week, he picked the one where I say I’ll do all the dishes this week. Ack!
Here are the 52 small favors all folded up. Read more…
Mrs. Jasmine, Chicago/LAAge and Occupation: 25, AttorneyFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, AttorneyEngagement Date: March 24, 2007Wedding Date: June 7, 2008Blogging Since: September 20, 2007Venue: Hotel on the westside of Los AngelesAbout Me: I'm a happy-go-lucky, imaginative spirit trapped in the body of a lawyer. I love reading, shopping, dining out, and exploring my beloved adopted city of Chicago with my fiance. We're planning the wedding of our dreams in my hometown of Los Angeles and we're excited to incorporate our cherished Indian/Pakistani customs and traditions.
It’s been two years! For those of you who don’t remember me, I’m an old-timey bee from Ye Olde 2008. I realized that it has been entirely too long since I caught up with my beloved bees, so I just wanted to pop in to say hello. Read more…
Mrs. Deviled Egg, PittsburghAge and Occupation: 27, Public RelationsFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, AccountingEngagement Date: December 24, 2007Wedding Date: May, 2009Blogging Since: October 21, 2008Venue: Historic auditorium and meeting hall in one of Pittsburgh's commuter citiesAbout Me: I am obsessed with all things crafty, especially scrapbooking, knitting, jewelry-making & cake decorating. I also love being an aunt, wrapping presents, watching football (Go Steelers!), shopping at yard sales and consignment stores, procrastinating, singing and learning to play the guitar. When it comes to wedding planning, I'm excited about working on DIY projects and finding creative ways to stay under budget. Of course, nothing is more exciting to me than knowing that the wonderful Mr. Deviled Egg will be my husband.
Yesterday was a momentous occasion for the Deviled Eggs—we celebrated our first wedding anniversary! We’ve been through a lot in the last year. But no matter what life gave us, we took each challenge as an opportunity to grow together in love and as a couple. We celebrated the day by enjoying a fancy dinner in the ‘Burgh and then went home to enjoy the top tier of our wedding cake.
But for those of you who remember my DIY wedding cake, the top tier wasn’t real. It was just a decorated cake dummy. In order for us to do the traditional wedding cake sampling on our anniversary, I had to make a replica of our cake as a substitute for the fake one.
Here’s how it turned out:
Courtesy of my iPhone—sorry for the poor lighting.
And, for comparison sake, a shot of the original: Read more…
Mrs. Taco, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 29, writer/editorFiance's Age and Occupation: 37, editorEngagement Date: May 13, 2009Wedding Date: August 2010Venue: The Green Room at the War Memorial Veterans BuildingAbout Me: I like laughing and talking with good friends over good food and good drink, be it wine, cocktail, or brew. I write and edit things for fun and profit, but I rarely "write" these days without a keyboard and high-speed internets. Favorites include Mr. Taco, my Boston terrier, San Francisco, getting out of town, and the Roaring ’20s. I was kind-of planning a wedding since roughly 2006, when I discovered "Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?" on the WE channel. I ran and didn't look back with a theme I called "urban vintage," and it culminated in the most magical day a taco could ask for.
It’s was our three-year dating anniversary yesterday, as well as the one-year anniversary of our engagement. Bumbling engagement LOLs here.
On May 13, 2009, we picked at our anniversary/celebration dinner, since excitement trumped our appetites. My disastrous, habitually chipping “manicure” in the ring-photo text was the target of joke after joke. We took time to lament the sad state of Love Plant, a potted rose plant Mr. Taco gave me on our 2008 anniversary. (It’s still alive in the purgatorial sense of “not dead”, by the way.)
A year ago, a friend suggested I wait a month before starting any planning, allowing for time to bask in my one-time engagement newness. I completely ignored this helpful advice, but, for better or worse, we I got a lot done in those first few months. We were then left with seasons-long stretches of twiddling our thumbs and putting off the small stuff. And then the small stuff became more imminent, as did August 14, 2010. At some point, people transitioned from saying, “oh, you’ve got a while” to, “hey, it’s coming up!” Read more…
Mrs. Hot Wings, Chicago/San DiegoAge and Occupation: 28, ProfessorFiance's Age and Occupation: 32, InstructorEngagement Date: December 20, 2008Wedding Date: August 2010Venue: Ocean View Villas/Jasmine Seafood RestaurantAbout Me: I am a psychology grad student living in Chicago and planning my wedding to a fellow psych grad student. I am a Sunny So-Cal bred gal who trudged across the country to follow her love of psychology and ended up finding a partner in the process. I am overly passionate about anything I involve myself with. I am an activist, a foodie, a reality TV watching junkie, an over-analyzer, a photography obsesser, and am utterly cheesy to the core. This is a story of what happens when a boy and a girl meet, fall in love over academic dorkiness, and a shared love for life. We (mostly I) are planning our semi-destination wedding in my hometown of San Diego. We are excited to bring our families and friends together from across our lifespans to celebrate our future in a grand 400+ person culturally blended affair!
The wonderful thing about having a long engagement (22 months to be exact) is that you get the chance to celebrate a couple more date-a-versaries before the wedding anniversaries become real. Mr. HW and I had dinner and gifting plans after work to celebrate our 5 years together. But I came to my desk to find these!!!
Love and spring had sprung in my concrete, windowless, crap of an office. Not to mention the mess of papers that is EVERYWHERE! Aw yes, ladies, he’s a keeper and you can’t have him.
We celebrated our 5 year dating anniversary and reflected on how amazing and fast the time has flown over a fantastic meal at Topolobompo (Rick Bayless is a freaking genius y’all). Read more…
Mrs. Hot Cocoa, Boston/Los AngelesAge and Occupation: 31, JD/PhD StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 32, Medical StudentEngagement Date: May 30, 2008Wedding Date: March, 2009Blogging Since: April, 2008Venue: Ritz Carlton, Marina Del ReyAbout Me:
I am a professional student by day and an amateur cupcake taster, bargain shopper, and wedding planner by night. I am obsessed with NPR, the Food Network, paper, dance shows, Anthropologie, post-structuralist theory, Weddingbee!, "The Office," and celebrity gossip. When not procrastinating from my dissertation, I spend time catering to Jellyby, our overly anxious shih tzu, and getting to know Mr. Hot Cocoa. We have only been dating for fifteen years, so it's like I'm in love with a stranger! From the East Coast, we are planning a Jewish-Chinese Extravaganza in L.A., where we both grew up.
One year ago, on this date, we had a pretty awesome Chewish wedding.
In the last 364 days, we bought a house and moved in together after almost fifteen years of long-distance dating; one of us started an exhausting medical residency, while the other had on-again, off-again relationship with a Ph.D. from hell; our families celebrated weddings and reconciliations and survived difficult illnesses and hospitalizations… Read more…
Mrs. 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.
Before I talk about the really fun and awesome night Mr Trail Mix surprised me with for our engage-aversary, I have to reveal our dirty little secret… neither one of us can remember the actual date of the proposal! *blush* He thought it was one of two dates while I thought it was a completely different date. So, for anyone out there reading this, I highly recommend making a note somewhere of the damn date you got engaged!
Anyways, like I mentioned before, Mr Trail Mix surprised me by planning a whole evening for us to spend together. I walked into the apartment to flowers and an anniversary card…
He only got me one flower because I’m leaving tomorrow to go on vacation for 10 days. How thoughtful (and cost-effective).
Mrs. Sushi, Hershey/HawaiiAge and Occupation: 27, Air Force PhotographerFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Laborer/Aspiring Hip Hop ProducerEngagement Date: December 25, 2007Wedding Date: March 2009Blogging Since: October 9, 2006Venue: Byodo-In Temple, Luau ReceptionAbout Me: I’m a notorious people-watcher who loves all things paper, food, traveling, grubbin’ on food, gossip magazines, food, sock monkeys…did I mention food?! Mr. Sushi and I are both haolepinos (half Filipino, half Caucasian) and hope to be able to somehow incorporate our cultures at our destination wedding in Hawaii. All while planning from the sweetest place in earth, Hershey!
Today, good ol’ Saint Patrick’s Day, is my parents’ 31st wedding anniversary. I don’t know the whole story, but the gist of it is that they paid minimal bucks and eloped in California. Remember, I said eloping ran in my family.
My parents have been a very good influence on me and my views of marriage. I definitely look up to them and hope to base my own marriage off of their own. The secret to their marriage…
Mrs. Sushi, Hershey/HawaiiAge and Occupation: 27, Air Force PhotographerFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Laborer/Aspiring Hip Hop ProducerEngagement Date: December 25, 2007Wedding Date: March 2009Blogging Since: October 9, 2006Venue: Byodo-In Temple, Luau ReceptionAbout Me: I’m a notorious people-watcher who loves all things paper, food, traveling, grubbin’ on food, gossip magazines, food, sock monkeys…did I mention food?! Mr. Sushi and I are both haolepinos (half Filipino, half Caucasian) and hope to be able to somehow incorporate our cultures at our destination wedding in Hawaii. All while planning from the sweetest place in earth, Hershey!
“But wait, Mrs. Sushi… wasn’t your wedding just last year?!”
Umm… yeah… let me explain about that.
We got engaged in December of 2007. Ironically, Mr. Sushi was ready to get married and I was… hesitant. Not that I didn’t want to marry him, I just wasn’t sure I wanted to do it RIGHT THEN. He was hinting for a Summer 2008 wedding, while I was pushing for a Summer 2009 wedding. I just wanted more time. We compromised and agreed to a March 2009 wedding. After deciding to get married in Hawaii, there were a few other factors that led us to our date in March; my brother and cousin both would be on spring break from college was the main reason, along with not wanting to get married in Hawaii in the middle of summer. Either way, we chose March 2009 as our projected wedding date.
In January and February of 2008, Mr. Sushi and I had some turbulence happen in our life. Read more…
Mrs. Hot Wings, Chicago/San DiegoAge and Occupation: 28, ProfessorFiance's Age and Occupation: 32, InstructorEngagement Date: December 20, 2008Wedding Date: August 2010Venue: Ocean View Villas/Jasmine Seafood RestaurantAbout Me: I am a psychology grad student living in Chicago and planning my wedding to a fellow psych grad student. I am a Sunny So-Cal bred gal who trudged across the country to follow her love of psychology and ended up finding a partner in the process. I am overly passionate about anything I involve myself with. I am an activist, a foodie, a reality TV watching junkie, an over-analyzer, a photography obsesser, and am utterly cheesy to the core. This is a story of what happens when a boy and a girl meet, fall in love over academic dorkiness, and a shared love for life. We (mostly I) are planning our semi-destination wedding in my hometown of San Diego. We are excited to bring our families and friends together from across our lifespans to celebrate our future in a grand 400+ person culturally blended affair!
How did you pick your anniversary date? Did you ever think of it that way? I mean, it is right? Sure, it’s your wedding date, too. But really, you won’t be celebrating your wedding each year. You’ll be celebrating your anniversary, or marriage age, so to speak. This is how Mr. Hot Wings wanted to think about it, at least.
At first, I thought it would be fun to be married and always celebrate our anniversary on New Year’s Eve. 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.
Happy 2010, friends!! Wowee, the future is amazing! Hover-boards as far as the eye can see!! It’s glorious here in 2010!
In addition to ringing in 2010, Mr. Potato Chips and I celebrated 7-1-5: our 7-year dating anniversary, our 1-year engagiversary, and our 5-month wedding countdown!
Just like last year, we headed down to Newport, RI.
Just like last year, the falling snow and New Year’s traffic turned a 2-hour road trip into a 3+ hour road trip.
Mrs. Gloss, Boston/MaineAge and Occupation: 24, Designer/soon-to-be ArchitectFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Systems EngineerEngagement Date: May 23, 2008Wedding Date: August 2009Venue: SS Katahdin/Lakeside TentAbout Me: I don't like nickels or the skin that forms on pudding when it's in the fridge for too long. I couldn't live without Pantone markers, fountain soda (3/4 diet, ¼ regular Coke), run-on sentences, or ridiculously oversized sunglasses. I will try to DIY almost anything and am just OCD enough to make most of it work. I am truly excited about having all my family and friends together, becoming Mrs. Gloss, and having amazing photos to prove it!
I know I should be finishing my recaps, but my computer is broken – and my Blackberry isn’t advanced enough to be able to resize pictures. So, they are on pause until I make up my mind about what kind of computer I want. Anyways, the point of the story is this:
My loving husband came home with what he dubbed ‘Wedding Ice-Cream’.
He really had me at ice cream, but wedding ice cream sounded like a huge bonus. As I manhandled the shopping bag from him I saw this inside:
Mrs. Beagle, AustinAge and Occupation: 26, Electrical EngineerFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, FinanceEngagement Date: July 12, 2008Wedding Date: October 2009Venue: Church Ceremony/Reception at The Waterford HouseAbout Me: I am a true, but rare, Austinite---I was born, raised, and continue to live in this great city! Although
I am an engineer by day, I feed my inner creative side through crafting, sewing, and obsessing over Martha Stewart. I love coffee, my mister, NPR, and exploring all the nooks and crannies of Austin.
I can't wait to share my adventures in DIY and wedding planning with all of you!
Unique Wedding Favors
My parents have been a very good influence on me and my views of marriage. I definitely look up to them and hope to base my own marriage off of their own. The secret to their marriage…
So, they are on pause until I make up my mind about what kind of computer I want. Anyways, the point of the story is this:
