Weddingbee Blog

In our initial meeting with our officiant, she asked us a series of questions so she could learn a little bit about us to help her customize our ceremony. There weren’t very many questions in that she learned how much Mr. Lox and I love wine. In fact, I would wager that it is our most prominent shared hobby. We frequent wine tastings and wine dinners. The owner of the best local wine shop knows us by name. We just really enjoy learning more about wine, and well, drinking it!

After figuring this out, she suggested we add a wine toast to our ceremony. A what now? I mean, that’s what we thought, at least. Please bear in mind, this is before wedding blog land entered my life. Right, so back to how this works. On a table near us during the ceremony, there will be a glass of red wine. At some point, the officiant will say something like this:

Mr. & Miss Lox, because you have pledged your love to one another through the exchange of vows and rings, it is appropriate on this joyous occasion that you make a toast—to life and love!

This wine represents the sweetness and bitterness of life. Throughout your lives, may you find life’s joys heightened, it’s bitterness sweetened and all things hallowed by true companionship and love. As you share the wine together from this cup, so too may you share joy and fulfillment from the cup of life. Drink now, and may the cup of your lives be sweet and full to overflowing!

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When we first met our officiant,  she really put us at ease and we felt we had connected with her. That’s why we hired her. Well, that and the fact that she came up with some great ceremony ideas that we had never heard of before. One of them was our stone ceremony, which we promptly fell in love with. But that wasn’t her only idea of the day.

One of the things she asked us was if we wanted to incorporate my engagement ring into our ceremony. Now at the time I had never heard of that being done. For what it’s worth, I also hadn’t gotten fully consumed by wedding blog land yet either, so there you have it. But it was new to me so that was pretty cool!

So what does that mean? I’m so glad you asked. It means that I will go down the aisle with zero rings on my finger. Right hand, left hand…no rings. You get it. After we do the exchange of the wedding bands, our officiant will say something like this:
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So, I feel like we’ve talked about pretty much everything *but* our ceremony lately, and that makes me sad. I remember that our officiant was one of the very first vendors we booked. And when we met with her, I told her that my main priority was to create a meaningful and personal ceremony. And the ceremony was at the forefront of my priorities because it alone is the reason for the entire day. And I meant it. And I still do.

So I want to start a series of posts about how we’re making the ceremony portion of our day as special as we can. And the start of that is the music.

Mr. Lox and I are having a DJ for both the ceremony and the reception. We wanted a string quartet…I mean, right up until we priced out a string quartet. I have to tell you, that is too rich for this budget bride’s pocketbook. So I reasoned with myself, a DJ is the next best thing. I mean, we were largely after string arrangements of contemporary music. And DJs have access to a whole host of things fitting that description. Plus the DJ was an incredibly reasonable rate for the entire day. Reasonable you say? What’s reasonable to you Miss Lox? Fair question.
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Now that we’re under the two month mark, I swear to you, I think of something new at least once a week. And every time I do, it’s a freaking crisis. Like OMGMr.LoxwehavetodothisRIGHTNOW! Needless to say, Mr. Lox wishes I would stop thinking of things I haven’t already written down somewhere. So would I, but that’s the way the wedding cake crumbles!

However, two weeks ago I thought of something that we should both be very glad I remembered. That’s right, our marriage license. You know, tiny little important detail without which the purpose of the day isn’t complete (!!!). So I decided to research what we needed to do to make this happen.

Before I go into what happened next, you should know that although I’ve been married before, it was never in the state of Maryland. So, you’re going to have to forgive me for this.

I already knew I needed to go to the courthouse. And I already knew the courthouse has hours that exactly mimic our jobs. So I knew some time off was in order to make this happen. No problem, you know, just take an hour or two off and the whole thing will be over. Right? Not so much.
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Today we’re rounding out the invitation talk by taking a look at the belly bands. These were another element that I DIYed for the invites. First, I should admit something. I didn’t even know what a belly band was until I found you all. Of course, I also didn’t know about pocketfolds or the wonderful world of paper. So, consider yourselves instrumental in my education.

Anyway, back to the belly bands. I knew I loved them, and I knew I wanted them. They give such a finished polished look in my opinion. But, I also knew I didn’t want to buy them. Which left me, my cardstock, my paper trimmer, and my nonexistent design skills. Alone together again.

This time I took a stab at things on my own. Using the monogram I had made and a wingding heart font, I pieced this together and printed them out on 80 lb white cardstock.

One by one I cut them apart with the paper cutter. (Because I can’t cut in a straight line to save my soul. That’s the truth.)
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Okay, so now you’ve seen our invites…both the parts we bought and the parts we made. So let’s talk about how the few things I made for them came into being! First up  are the wraparound address labels.

Now, like I said before, my graphic design skills are…well…actually, they aren’t. Like, at all. I might be good at a lot of things in life, but graphic design has never been one of them. I’m great at coming up with ideas of what I want, but totally lack execution skills. Enter our very own Miss Tartlet. This post of hers hit the blog in the height of my wraparound label obsession. She took pity on my poor self and designed the labels I was dreaming of. And they neatly printed out on 8.5×11 paper too! Needless to say, I’m still grateful. Also, how awesome is the hive? So so awesome.

Apparently I lack a picture of that awesomeness. Moving on then… I printed the labels on 80 lb white cardstock and used my trusty paper cutter to trim them out. Then I used my Xyron Creatopia (I knew I’d figure out something to do with it eventually!) to make them into stickers. See?

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Okay okay…I took a while to get this to you. Sorry about that, guys. I’m on it now. I promise, no more drawing things out. Let’s cut to the chase here!

First of all, you should know while I DIY-ed a few little details, I did not DIY our invites. First of all, I stink at graphic design. And second of all, Mr. Lox really thought it would be too much for me. It was a good call on his part, too. With being sick and all, I would have fallen behind and it would have been either really stressful to finish or I flat out would not have. Knowing that, here are the gorgeous invitations, which I purchased, and customized, through Etsy seller LittleSparkCreations.

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I have reason to believe a few of these little gals are still traveling to their final destinations, so even though it’s unlikely this will spoil anyone’s surprise I’m still going to draw it out. Alright, let’s admit it… it’s just plain old more fun for me this way! Anyhow, without further ado, let’s get to the goodies, and the invite I made just for the hive.

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So on Monday, despite feeling vaguely ill (totally unrelated, I promise) we did it! What is it? Right. Maybe some pictures will help …

Oh yes, that is me and a handful of the Lox invites in front of a post office! That can only mean one thing…
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So, let’s get real a bit today and talk about something I know so much of the hive has struggled with at one point or another. Dress regret. That horrible sinking feeling that so many of us feel just days after purchasing our dresses. It can be anything from a niggling little doubt in the corner of your mind, to a full-on panic. It can overshadow the moment you decided to buy the dress and make you second guess just about everything about it. And for any bride, that can be absolutely terrifying.

I mean, let’s think about it. It makes perfect sense. Even if your dress is not the most expensive item of clothing you’ve ever bought, it’ll probably be memorialized more than anything else you’ve ever worn. There will be more pictures and more memories attached to this garment than pretty much anything else in your closet. So it is understandably stressful for some of us to make this decision.

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You know what? I’m ready to admit it. I have been beaten by socks. That’s right. Socks. When last we spoke, Mr. Lox and I were irrationally battling over this. And now, now…I surrender. Do you hear me SOCKS**??? I surrender!

Let’s revisit our little sock tantrum here. First, I bought the lady socks…

Objects on your monitor may not be the color they actually appear.
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So, a Sunday afternoon wedding in the May sunshine sounds gorgeous, right? I mean, even if you don’t think so you can surely imagine why I might. I’m going to pretend you are all nodding and smiling right now. Let’s keep going.

So right, gorgeous idea. Except… if it rains. Now, our venue has an excellent rain plan. If you recall, our reception will be in a permanent pavilion structure behind the B&B. Here’s a refresher.

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With my attire all squared away, and roughly two months until our wedding, it was time. Time to dress up Mr. Lox, that is! We had talked about this quite a bit in Chez Lox and I wasn’t sure we were going to come to an agreement.

My first suggestion was for Mr. Lox to just wear a suit he already has. I mean, we have no bridal party so it’s not like there’s anyone to match. And since we are getting married outside in the afternoon, this really isn’t a super formal type wedding. I figured this was a place we could cut a corner since Mr. Lox already owns several very nice suits. However, I was instantly overruled. Well, okay then.

So then it was time to look at actual tuxes. But again, afternoon outside wedding does not equal a super formal event. So I was struggling to figure out how to fit Mr. Lox’s desire for a tux into that scheme. Enter the world of non-black tuxes!
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What is written here is a factual tale of what really and truly happened in my house. At this, clearly my shining-est hour, I am grateful that you all know me as Miss Lox. ‘Nuff said.

Mr. Lox and I have been ummmm… *disagreeing*… over socks. Yes, socks. You read it right. Now stop laughing and keep reading.

It all started when I realized that I am killing myself doing internet research for a few last items I would like for the wedding. They are, in priority order: a photo sharing site, socks, and an umbrella for Mr. Lox. And I thought to myself, “Self? Who is great at internet research and has completed their one and only wedding DIY project?” And myself answered back, “Why Mr. Lox, of course!” So I decided to ask Mr. Lox to help me with these three tasks. (P.S. – Indication #1 that you are losing it? Talking to yourself. Take note.)

I asked once, he said, “Of course!” A few days went by. I asked twice, he said, “Certainly!” A few more days went by. I asked three times, he said, “Sure!” Yet another handful of days passed here.
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I know one of the things the hive is interested in is how we keep ourselves organized throughout the planning process. So today as I sat down to destroy my dining room knock out a DIY project (more on that another day), I figured I would take some pictures of our storage space before I messed it up started.

First of all, you should know that Miss Cotton Candy totally put me to shame with her super organized self in a tiny space. Truth is, my apartment is roughly twice the size of hers. And while our closets are full, she is probably going to throw a shoe at my head when she reads this. But darn it, we didn’t have crafting space built into our lives when I suddenly decided I loved paper and wanted to DIY a bunch of wedding things!

So what’s a girl to do? Well, we bought this lovely dining room table and chairs shortly after we moved in, and settled into a routine of eating dinner together, at the table, with the TV off. I loved that ritual. Sadly, the table has now become wedding craft and scrapbooking central. And we eat all of our meals on the couch.

Our dining room once looked like this…

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