Weddingbee Blog

We’re super excited about our latest and “sweetest” additions to the hive.  But we have so many brides leaving us this summer that we already need to be thinking about our next batch of characters!  We’ve decided to do another round of flowers (bees + flowers = a match made in hive-n, right?), and we’d like you to help us choose them!

So far, we’ve had:

Bird of Paradise  
Bluebell
Daisy
Hibiscus
Lily
Orchid
Plumeria
Poppy
Rose
Sunflower
Violet Read more…

Big news in Weddingbeeville: as I mentioned earlier today, we’ve just crowned not one, not two, not three, but FOUR new bees! With summer robbing us of a full TEN bees, we have no choice but to bring on a whole new swarm!

On Monday, we’ll start introducing our latest bloggers (along with their shiny new icons), but in the meantime, here’s a sneak peek at the brand new candy lineup:

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Dear Blogary,

Boy, are my antennae twisted. Sometimes being Editor Lovebug is the most fantastic thing ever. And sometimes, it sucks hornet stingers.

Take yesterday for example. I got to write acceptance letters to some new bees! That’s my favorite thing ever! But just last night, I had to write about a dozen rejection letters, too. I HATE having to do that. I feel just awful for the wannabees who we don’t have room for. How can I make them see that even though they can’t all be bees, their blogs are still fantastic? I don’t want *anyone’s* feelers to be hurt–I’m a LOVEbug for cryin’ out loud…but we only have spots for about five percent of our applicants! It’s easier to get on The Price Is Right than it is to blog for Weddingbee!…

In all seriousness, Mrs. Bee and I want everyone to know how much we appreciate all of our applicants. We’re super sorry to have to turn anyone down! You guys are smart, funny, and so creative…we’re honored you’ve shared your ideas with us.

So, thanks to everyone who takes the time and initiative to apply. We think you’re the bees’ knees!

On Wednesday, I received the following email from a photographer:

I would appreciate if you would remove the negative feedback ASAP about my studio on your blog web site.

It was written by a person who was never a client and this type of negative commentary is VERY damaging to my long standiong reputation.

You should think about taking a more responsible position with your weddingbee web site. The fact that you allow this type of slanderous commentary means that you also support the lies and misrepresentations of anyone who has an agenda.

NOT COOL AT ALL JUST TO PUT A FEW BUCKS IN YOUR POCKET….VERY IRRESPONSIBLE MRS. B!!!!!

Because I was working on our comment policy, I thought it’d be interesting to get reader and vendor feedback on how we should deal with negative vendor reviews/comments by readers.

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On yesterday’s candy characters post, reader mee!! left the following comment:

maybe for this new batch of bees you could have certain requirements so that there is more diversity on the site. i.e., a bride incorporating african-american traditions such as jumping the broom, a jewish bride (or a bride having a traditional jewish ceremony), a south asian bride having a traditional hindu ceremony, or even a bride hosting a traditional christian/catholic ceremony. i love weddingbee as a resource for wedding ideas, but i also view it as a place to learn about the wedding traditions of other cultures. it seems all the focus is on chinese/korean/vietnamese/japanese traditions. there are 22 asian bees on the site, and while they are all quality bloggers who have shared a wealth of information and knowledge that could work for any bride, i think this site could serve it readers better if there was a bit more diversity. just something to think about. keep up the good work!!!

This is something we’ve always thought a lot about here at Weddingbee. So I went back and counted: so far, we’ve had 20 Asian brides and 18 non-Asian brides on weddingbee. Based on our recent reader demographic poll, 59% of our readers are Caucasian, 33% are Asian, 3% are Hispanic, 3% are other, and 2% are African American.

If the majority of our readers are not Asian, why are there so many Asian bees?

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Remember our recent weddingbee demographic poll? Well we wanted to see how weddingbee compared with the demographics of the average internet user. Check out these stats BIL Bee compiled using Media Metrix!

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BIL Bee came across an interesting site yesterday that analyzes website demographics. This is what they have to say about us:

[Weddingbee.com] appeals to an almost exclusively female, college educated, 18-34 crowd, Asian audience.

Here are some interesting details:

• A visitor to WB is 1.75 times more likely to be female than the average Internet user
• 3.1 times more likely to be 25-34
• 2.2 times more likely to make $0-30k
• 11.8 times more likely to be Asian!
• 1.7 times more likely to have a college education

I don’t know why we have such a large Asian audience, but we do want to attract as diverse an audience as possible. I guess we’ll need to work harder on that. Anyway, interesting stuff!

Blogher is an organization that brings together female bloggers both online and in real life.

They’re hosting a Blogher Business ‘07 conference tomorrow and Friday in NYC, but I won’t be able to attend. I will however be attending the meet-up event at NYC hotspot Cain tonight. If you’re interested in blogging and business, stop by!

Cain
6:00 - 8:30 pm
544 West 27th St.
(bet 10th and 11th Ave)

I don’t like attending big events or parties because 1) I’m an introverted hermit, 2) I have horrible facial blindness and never remember what anyone looks like (this has caused me embarrassment on numerous occasions in the past), and 3) I have hearing problems so it’s really hard to understand what people are saying in loud settings.

But when Rebecca of Engaging Concepts invited me to Preston Bailey’s book release party, of course I couldn’t pass it up! She’s awesome and has been an amazing supporter of weddingbee since Day 1! As I was waiting in the lobby to meet her, Martha Stewart walked right by me! It was definitely a sign that the night was going to be an interesting one.

Rebecca knows everyone in the wedding industry, so she introduced me to a ton of people including the editor-in-chief of Brides Magazine (who I’ve met before and is super nice!), editor in chief of Bridal Guide Magazine, David Tutera, Terry Gruber (totally cool guy!), and so many more. The best part of the evening was talking to people in different aspects of the wedding industry who were weddingbee fans!

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I just got back from a book release party at the Rainbow Room for Preston Bailey’s latest book, Inspirations. My geeky, hermit self met so many wedding celebrities, and I can’t wait to tell you about it all. But for now, here’s a pic:

Hmmm, I don’t know where he’s looking lol. He is such a sweetie! PS - the party will be featured on Entertainment Tonight tomorrow.

Many of you have suggested that we use “weddingbee.com” instead of just “weddingbee” as the logo on our t-shirts. My mom even called yesterday to tell me the same thing. But we actually have a reason for not using the .com - we want weddingbee to be a brand that extends beyond the website. For instance, when you think of Daily Candy, you think of it as Daily Candy and not dailycandy.com. And one day, weddingbee will venture into merchandise, books, magazines, and more, so it’s important that we be known as just Weddingbee.

Now in regards to the weddingbee logo placement on our t-shirts, readers initially voted in favor of putting it on the back of the shirt. But several of you have mentioned that it would be more inconspicuous that way, and would thus be less advertising for us. We thought about it from a practical standpoint - you’d probably be more likely to wear a t-shirt that didn’t say “wedding” on the front after you were married. And you know we’re all about being able to wear things again after the wedding.

We actually put a lot of thought into all these little decisions, so there is a method to the madness.

Hi everyone!

2006 has been an amazing year for weddingbee! It’s hard to believe that it’s already been almost a year since we first launched. We want to extend a huge thanks to all the weddingbee bloggers and readers - you guys are what make weddingbee such an awesome community, and I feel so lucky to be a part of it.

We’re gearing up to make 2007 an even better year. We have lots of things in store - new features like wedding wikis, a 1 year weddingbee party tentatively set for February 8th in NYC, and perhaps finally…. weddingbee gear. I’m going to have some weddingbee t-shirts printed to give away at the party, so we can look like some kind of weddingbee gang with them on haha.

We’ve received tons of requests for gear, so I thought maybe it was finally time to start selling some. We’d love to hear your feedback on this - would you buy weddingbee gear? And if so, what type of gear (tshirts, pins, etc.) and what should we put on them (logo, bride, bee, etc.)?

Thanks for all your feedback on the photographer dvds!

When we first thought up the idea, we wanted to create dvds of New York venues (outdoor, churchs, lofts, etc.). See Mr. Bee and I went on a venue visiting spree (8 in one weekend) and if we had had a video tour of these facilities, it would surely have narrowed down the number we visited. So we thought a venues dvd with tours, commentary, and specs such as capacity, cost, etc. would be a really helpful and time saving resource for engaged couples.

But venues would be the most labor intensive dvd to produce and we thought maybe we should start off with florists, photographers, or videographers, then move onto venues, bands, and djs (which would require a lot of original footage).

Several of you mentioned cost as a concern. If they were offered very inexpensively and in your area, which would be of the most value to you?

We’re constantly thinking of ideas to grow weddingbee and make it a better resource for all brides/grooms out there, so your feedback is very invaluable and appreciated.

We’d been planning on launching a dvd product since before we launched weddingbee, and we’re mapping it out now so we want to get your feedback. We’re planning on creating a dvd of the best photographers in New York, in different price ranges, which would showcase portfolios as well as interviews with the photographers. These photographers would be selected by polling wedding planners, other industry vendors, as well as real brides.

Mr. Bee and I had to meet with a lot of vendors before booking them, so we thought a dvd like this would really help narrow down a search. As Mr. Bee said, “I would have paid a fortune not to have gone on those photographer meetings.”

Please let us know - would you purchase such a product? And how much would you pay?

Mrs. Ant asked how long I thought it took brides to stumble onto weddingbee. I honestly have no idea, but I thought I’d share some stats about exactly where our traffic comes from.

These are our Visits by Source according to Google Analytics:

The majority of users directly type in www.weddingbee.com, but the second largest source of traffic is Google. Fascinating stuff?

How long did it take you to stumble upon weddingbee after you got engaged?