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!
I seriously love my bridesmaids. I could not have asked for a more beautiful (inside and out), caring, awesome group of girls to be with me on my big day. So, it was only fitting that I wanted them to wear something they would totally love and feel great in. Something puffy and shiny, with lots of ruffles…heh, JK.
Miss Kettle, Chicago, ILAge and Occupation: 26, Non-Profit Donor Resource CoordinatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Musician & TeacherEngagement Date: May 29, 2011Wedding Date: February 2012Venue: Patrick C. Haley Mansion, Joliet, ILAbout Me: I'm a city girl who loves a good escape, so I'm planning a Chicago wedding outside of the city. I've been described as a quirky yet down-to-earth drama queen who loves fiercely. I used to be a scientist, but now I'm learning to navigate the world of non-profit organizations. I love cooking, blogging, shopping, and music, and movies (Hans Zimmer is my favorite movie composer). Mr. Kettle and I had a short courtship and now we have a happy home with our cat-who-thinks-she's-people, Belle. We spend our days and nights with good food, live music, video games, family, and friends. Our wedding has become this wonderful excuse to bring together hundreds of people we can't bear to be without.
No matter how much you want to bury your head in the sand and try and forget about the million and one details of wedding planning, you must take time and find actual clothes to wear. Not doing that is against the law. At least in Illinois. With this in mind, I had to figure out something to wear to our engagement party. It was shaping up be a big party, so I had to be dressed impeccably.
Well, I think I put too much pressure on myself. I didn’t really have the time or money to shop the way I’d like. And I had the silly notion I should wear our wedding colors. There’s only one problem with that. “Regency” isn’t really in right now.
Personal photo of wedding color palette
Left to right: regency, black, taupe, ivory, gold
Color fail.
So I branched out. I found a great dress at Delia’s that I bought. Read more…
Ms. Gazelle, Calgary/VancouverAge and Occupation: 32, EngineerFiance's Age and Occupation: 32, Technology AnalystEngagement Date: September 3, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: Brock House Restaurant, VancouverAbout Me: I am a marathon runner, cyclist, Ironman triathlete and beautiful shoe fiend who also loves kicking back and watching Glee. I grew up a bit of a nomad as I traveled around the world with my family, living everywhere from Australia to England to South America and Indonesia. I finally settled in Calgary a few years ago and met Mr. Gazelle who loves me even though we cheer for different hockey teams. We are planning a bit of a destination wedding in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia and we can’t wait to share the day with our close family and friends.
Something that I was never able to share with the Hive before the wedding were our finished bridesmaids’ dresses. My mom, being the awesome seamstress that she is, offered to make the dresses for our girls. We settled upon Butterick B5322 for MOH-T:
And for BM-D, she would get the strapless version of Simplicity 4070. Read more…
Miss Kettle, Chicago, ILAge and Occupation: 26, Non-Profit Donor Resource CoordinatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Musician & TeacherEngagement Date: May 29, 2011Wedding Date: February 2012Venue: Patrick C. Haley Mansion, Joliet, ILAbout Me: I'm a city girl who loves a good escape, so I'm planning a Chicago wedding outside of the city. I've been described as a quirky yet down-to-earth drama queen who loves fiercely. I used to be a scientist, but now I'm learning to navigate the world of non-profit organizations. I love cooking, blogging, shopping, and music, and movies (Hans Zimmer is my favorite movie composer). Mr. Kettle and I had a short courtship and now we have a happy home with our cat-who-thinks-she's-people, Belle. We spend our days and nights with good food, live music, video games, family, and friends. Our wedding has become this wonderful excuse to bring together hundreds of people we can't bear to be without.
In my last post, I left off with ominous words. Yes, we left David’s Bridal and headed to Eva’s Bridal. This wasn’t the Eva’s Bridal in Tinley Park where I bought my dress. This was the Eva’s Bridal in Orland Park. They had dresses and were up the street, so we figured we’d check them out so the day wouldn’t be a total waste.
After the magic with the first dresses, I didn’t think we’d find it again. But I went through the same routine nonetheless:
Have the girls pick out dresses they all seriously like.
Veto the ones I hate on sight.
Have them try on the dresses they picked.
Have other girls try on dresses as I decide they work on each successive girl.
We changed it up this time and made step #3 “make sure the dress is available in our color choice.” We looked at all the purples and ultimately chose that same blue-ish purple color we now know is called Regency.
I didn’t have high hopes that we’d find yet another dress that looked amazing on every girl. They’re just too different. They have seriously different body types. Kind of like this: Read more…
Miss Kettle, Chicago, ILAge and Occupation: 26, Non-Profit Donor Resource CoordinatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Musician & TeacherEngagement Date: May 29, 2011Wedding Date: February 2012Venue: Patrick C. Haley Mansion, Joliet, ILAbout Me: I'm a city girl who loves a good escape, so I'm planning a Chicago wedding outside of the city. I've been described as a quirky yet down-to-earth drama queen who loves fiercely. I used to be a scientist, but now I'm learning to navigate the world of non-profit organizations. I love cooking, blogging, shopping, and music, and movies (Hans Zimmer is my favorite movie composer). Mr. Kettle and I had a short courtship and now we have a happy home with our cat-who-thinks-she's-people, Belle. We spend our days and nights with good food, live music, video games, family, and friends. Our wedding has become this wonderful excuse to bring together hundreds of people we can't bear to be without.
I didn’t want to make a big production of finding bridesmaids’ dresses. I had my maid of honor and Mr. K’s maid of honor look online for the last month or so. We found a couple of great options. David’s Bridal seemed to be the place to go to in order to fit into a certain price range and style selection. I made an appointment for a Wednesday when most everyone was available.
My maid of honor, MOH Indy, lives in NYC, so she wasn’t available. But Mr. K’s maid of honor, his sister, was available, as were her twin daughters who are our flower girls. Also available were all my bridesmaids, except one. Our two junior bridesmaids were also there to try on dresses. Throw in my mother, Mr. K’s mother and sister, and we had a group of 14 females—only 4 of whom weren’t trying on a single dress.
It was so much more fun than you could imagine. I was going around ooh-ing and aah-ing at all the pretty dresses and taking pictures. The flower girls didn’t want to take off their “princess dresses.”
Personal Image: Vera Wang shoes that we still drool over in memory.
Miss Snapdragon, Chicago/DallasAge and Occupation: 32,Associate ProducerFiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Lighting DesignerBlogging Since: November 14, 2008Engagement Date: January 1, 2011Wedding Date: March 2012Venue: Marie GabrielleAbout Me: Voracious reader of short stories, Russian literature, National Geographic and Cosmo. I'm a GENIUS at spicing up Weight Watchers recipes and a pathological cheater at board games. I run a slow marathon, but my feet are learning to move faster. Mornings aren't my thing, but I can night owl with the best of them. Don't tempt me with your Cherry Cokes---I'm trying to quit. Tomorrow. Or never.
Bees, I went bridesmaid dress shopping this weekend, and I learned things. Lots of things. Like organza is not the same as chiffon. Beading = expensive. Proper lining is important.
I also learned that I can’t take these people anywhere:
This is Goober and Wrigley-T. They’re crazy for fashion.
Thank you, David’s Bridal, your patience knows no bounds.
Mrs. Teacup, Santa CruzAge and Occupation: 34, Pharmaceutical SalesFiance's Age and Occupation: 41, Ditto! (For a different company)Engagement Date: October 1, 2010Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: ceremony in our family's Catholic church in Watsonville; reception at the Santa Cruz Beach BoardwalkAbout Me: I’m learning to embrace my true spirit as GIRLY GIRL after previous careers in the Navy and consulting for the government. My favorite hobby is SLEEP, with dancing HULA a close second. An INTROVERT in extrovert clothing, I’m questing to UNDO 34 years of TYPE A conditioning. Constantly processing the details of our upcoming nuptials, peek into this late blooming bride & groom's roller coaster ride to the altar. Giant Dipper required, sold separately.
Hello, dear hive! I hope your weekend was full of fun and happiness. Mine certainly was, although it didn’t start out that way…
Remember how last week I was all insightful and inspired? Well, it only took a mysteriously missing bridesmaids’ dress to derail the zen-like approach to wedding planning in one quick instant. My FB status update says it all.
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!
There are just a few things that I’m genuinely sad didn’t exist when I was getting married back in 2008. Among them is the existence of the White by Vera Wang line. Her spring 2011 launch was met with rave reviews, and she’s just launched her brand new Bridesmaid Collection, that includes some incredible dresses, all priced under $200. A dream!
Vera’s team sent over a preview for us here at Weddingbee! The entire line is available exclusively at David’s Bridal. Be sure to click through; you won’t want to miss the shoes…
Mrs. Honey, Durango, COAge and Occupation: 28, Financial AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Lab Tech/PhlebotomistEngagement Date: August 1, 2010Wedding Date: January 2012Venue: Vallecito LakeAbout Me: I am a Colorado girl through and through, marrying an adrenaline-fueled Alabama boy. We love the outdoors just about as much as we love spoiling our dog and three cats. On any given weekend you can find us being adventurous, doing anything from rafting to snowboarding, and everything in between. We live in an outdoor mecca and truly believe in "Work Hard, Play Harder." I'm an optimist to the core, a crafter wannabe, a Southern food cook-in-training and a big time believer in girls nights. We met, fell in love and got engaged in eight short months and are now knee-deep in planning what we hope to be a super-fun, very us wedding celebration. Join us as we plan a rustic meets whimsical, Colorado winter wedding with loads of personal touches and good food!
I dropped the clue of how many bridesmaids I will be having in my last post, but in case you missed it, I have eight. Eight lovely ladies standing up with me on our wedding day—that’s a lot of girls to worry about dressing. Don’t fret. I will introduce the Honey ’maids soon. Today I’m talking about the search for what to have the girls wear. My bridesmaids’-dress search was, um, not.fun. So rather than bore you with my freak-outs, meltdowns, and indecision-making, I have created a step-by-step guide on how I came to the conclusion of what my girls will wear.
Step One. Image search the crap out of bridesmaids’ dresses:
Mrs. Cucumber Sandwich, Washington, DC/Cape May, NJAge and Occupation: 28, School CounselorFiance's Age and Occupation: 40, Collegiate AthleticsEngagement Date: March 27, 2010Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: Congress Hall HotelAbout Me: I am a school counselor who spends my day wrangling children and my nights attempting to be creative with wedding projects. My enthusiasm for each of these activities far surpasses my skill. Thank goodness Mr. Cucumber Sandwich is there to pick up the pieces and be the voice of reason about my DIY tries. I have an obsession with terrible romantic comedies (‘From Justin to Kelly’ anyone?, anyone?!?), competitive Scrabble play, and hot dogs. I could eat astronaut ice cream for every meal and can’t seem to resist buying more shoes. Our wedding is going to be a true hodge podge of semi-destination, tradition, Yuengling, New England charm, with just a dash of ‘Jersey Shore’ thrown in. It has been six years in the making and I can’t wait to marry my best friend.
Four down…one to go! I am so excited that my bridesmaids have started picking out their dresses. BM Smoked Salmon Sammie ordered hers almost three months ago, and I finally got to see it when I went over her house for dinner the other weekend.
Miss Doily, Cedar Rapids, IowaAge and Occupation: 25, Autism Paraeducator/ StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Freelance Writer/ PublisherEngagement Date: August 27th, 2010Wedding Date: March 2012Venue: Father’s Vineyard Church/ A Touch of Class Banquet CenterAbout Me: I’m an Iowan girl with a deep love of Harry Potter, classic movies, cardigans, and Post-Its. My type-A Virgo tendencies often cause me to drive my laid-back college sweetheart fiance batty with lists and PowerPoint presentations. I love to be crafty and do things myself, which explains why my two crazy kittens often will prance around the house covered in glitter and ribbons. When I am not bogged down with work, school, or wedding planning, I like to travel to visit my expansive family and have wild adventures with my best friends. After a rollercoaster ride of a love story, I’m ready to take that final plunge, marry the love of my life, and become a Mrs.!
I’m one of those brides who could honestly care less about the dresses that my bridesmaids wear. In fact, I told them that we could pick a designer and color and length, and they could choose from there. Whatever made them feel beautiful. My bridesmaids are all different sizes and shapes. MOH A is a size four and is 5′3″. BM S is a size sixteen and is 5′6″. BM E is 5′2″ and is a size eight. No two girls are alike in any way. Thus the reasoning behind getting different dresses. MOH A and I talked about the reason we had to pick one designer and color. Navy is one of those weird colors that all designers seem to do in varying shades. Some navy blues are so dark they are black, and others are light and look almost like a dark royal blue. Not that I minded the shades, but for some kind of cohesiveness MOH A urged me to go with one designer, thus one shade of blue.
Now MOH A pretty much took charge on the dress front, which is fine with me. About half of my bridesmaids live in Des Moines, where MOH A lives, so if she wanted to book the appointments to find the dresses, I was game. I was happy to delegate (which is completely surprising because I am usually one of those people who likes to control every little detail). So MOH A made an appointment at a swanky bridal salon in Des Moines because there was one dress that I really loved the idea of and wanted the girls to try on.
The Convertible Wrap Dress from Dessy. The top can change into anything the wearer wants! / Image via Dessy
Mrs. Cucumber Sandwich, Washington, DC/Cape May, NJAge and Occupation: 28, School CounselorFiance's Age and Occupation: 40, Collegiate AthleticsEngagement Date: March 27, 2010Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: Congress Hall HotelAbout Me: I am a school counselor who spends my day wrangling children and my nights attempting to be creative with wedding projects. My enthusiasm for each of these activities far surpasses my skill. Thank goodness Mr. Cucumber Sandwich is there to pick up the pieces and be the voice of reason about my DIY tries. I have an obsession with terrible romantic comedies (‘From Justin to Kelly’ anyone?, anyone?!?), competitive Scrabble play, and hot dogs. I could eat astronaut ice cream for every meal and can’t seem to resist buying more shoes. Our wedding is going to be a true hodge podge of semi-destination, tradition, Yuengling, New England charm, with just a dash of ‘Jersey Shore’ thrown in. It has been six years in the making and I can’t wait to marry my best friend.
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!
I came across this gorgeous wedding shot by one of my favorite wedding photographers, Steve DePino, just as I was starting to stress over my bridesmaids’ dresses.
Mrs. Sparkler, ChicagoAge and Occupation: 27, Communications AficionadoFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, PublisherEngagement Date: July 21, 2010Wedding Date: September 2011Venue: Chicago Illuminating CompanyAbout Me: I’m a Southern lady living in the big city of Chicago. Well, lady may be a stretch, but I’m working hard to keep some Virginia charm in our sleek, urban, wedding-palooza! I’m addicted to marathons, not-so-famous bands, Chicago restaurants, and Mark Twain. I cry during SPCA commercials, and I think LOST was the best show to ever hit television. Mr. S and I met at a classy college mixer and, 7 years later, he’s still by my side. He’s the only child, laid back, free spirit... I’m the oldest of five kids, type-A, organizer. It doesn’t work on paper, but we’ve never paid attention to that stuff anyway. Somehow it works. And like they say, sometimes when you know…you just know.
I’m in the middle of recapping my AMAZING bridal shower (seriously, my family made the day so special… I don’t even know how to begin to thank them), but I wanted I had to share a quick pic with you all!
Sister Sparkler’s MOH dress came in! I’m so happy with how the gray and lavender look together!
Hmmm, what could be in that giant white garment bag behind them?
Mrs. High Wire, DallasAge and Occupation: 23, Legal AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Director of CommunicationsEngagement Date: October 9, 2010Wedding Date: September 2011Venue: Clark GardensAbout Me: My loves include yoga, anything spicy, our eccentric cat, our rambunctious dog, and Mr. High Wire, of course! Like the steadiness act of the tightrope walker, this gal is busy balancing life while planning a wedding to the man of her dreams. We’re hosting a laid-back, vintage-inspired, bird themed wedding with heavy doses of love, good eats (did someone say tacos and margaritas?), and endless Texas charm. Mr. High Wire and I are so happy to have you along for the walk across the tight rope.
So, three out of the four High Wire Bridesmaids have selected their dresses for the big day! Eep! For now, my 4th lady, and 25% of the bridesmaids, is still naked for the big day. I’m not remotely worried. She has, what one would call, a pretty rockin’ bod that pretty much looks good in anything she puts on. I have no doubt she’ll find something that suits her.
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
I’m not remotely worried. She has, what one would call, a pretty rockin’ bod that pretty much looks good in anything she puts on. I have no doubt she’ll find something that suits her.
