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.
Before I talk about our upcoming honeymoon I wanted to mention the honeymoon we already had. Mr. Cucumber Sammie and I decided to take a mini-moon right after the wedding, but we hadn’t decided where. Mr. CS really wanted to pick the place himself and have it be a surprise. Well, he decided, we went, and now I will recap it for you in timeline form!
Monday Oct. 10th (day after the wedding)
11:00 AM: Take ferry from Cape May to undisclosed mini-moon location
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.
How are you? I am fine. I have been very busy. I have missed you. Have you missed me?
I have been a married lady for exactly four months! Where has the time gone? It has been so long since I posted. I was so excited after the wedding to have my life back. No more projects, no more phone calls to vendors and no more wedding obsession. I was completely unprepared for going back to “real life”. I had put off doing so many things pre-wedding that it felt like it all came crashing down around me post-wedding. My house looked like a ribbon/burlap bomb had gone off. Laundry seemed like it hadn’t been done in months. My email inbox was in complete disarray. I had a whole closet of chalkboard paint and card stock. Don’t even get me started on all the wedding stuff I brought back from Cape May! And I had a huge pile wedding gifts that I had to find a home for in the house somewhere.
Not to justify my behavior but another reason I was gone so long was that it is kind of hard to look back. Don’t get me wrong, I loved, loved, loved my wedding but now I am sad that it is over. I guess I had a touch of the post wedding blues.
Having just now crawled out from under all the things I put off, I am ready to start posting again! I can’t wait to start my recaps and share all the wedding goodness with you. We finally booked our honeymoon and I am so irrationally excited. Want a hint? Read more…
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.
I dedicate this post to Miss Funnel Cake and her out of this world cake topper.
Unfortunately I am not even close to her level of craftiness so I decided to buy my cake topper. Best.Wedding.Decision.Ever! I am so in love with our cake topper it is not even funny. I stalked Etsy for days looking for the perfect topper and finally came across A Simple Start’s page.
Her toppers were so adorable and reasonably priced that I immediately sent her an email with a little inspiration board of Mr. Cuke Sammie and myself.
Jenni immediately emailed me back and said she would love to make us a topper with Pickle Puppy. In about three weeks I had these glorious images in my inbox. Read more…
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. 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.
Like a kid at Christmas time, I woke up at 5AM ready to go because today is the today! I am enjoying my last few minutes of calm before I climb in the car to Congress Hall. It is almost cliche at this point to say but I can’t believe how quickly we got here, from engagement day to wedding day. I am ready for this. I am ready for our new life to begin as Mr. and MRS Cucumber Sandwich.
This post is difficult to write because I am trying to find just the right words to say how much the hive has meant to me over this last couple of months. I don’t think I can ever say thank you enough for sharing your thoughts, inspiration and weddings with me. But thank you! It has truly been an honor to be here, surrounded by such amazing women.
To my friends and family; thank you so much for dealing with my crazy. I can’t wait to party tonight!
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.
Being able to count down to the wedding in days or even hours instead of weeks has really lit a fire under my ass. I have been knocking out projects left and right. Up until about 2 weeks ago, I was completely avoiding wedding tasks at all costs. And now I am a DIY machine (well, not quite). I was really worried when I hit the wedding ’slump’ that I would never recover. I am happy to report from the other side of the ’slump’ that you definitely get your momentum back!
I am loving the way my chalkboard menu turned out so I wanted to share with the hive! It was a really easy and cost-effective project. We decided to use one giant menu instead of individual menus and since our table numbers were chalkboards I figured why mess with a good thing?
I had an old frame laying around that I painted in our wedding color of navy. Read more…
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.
Alternative title: “Why We Decided Not to Hire a Day-of Coordinator”
I can almost hear the gasps through the internet. You read that correctly—we are not having a DOC for our wedding day. There are a couple of reasons why not, and I wanted to share them in case anyone else is struggling with this decision too. I am not saying not hiring a DOC is right or wrong, but here is what Mr. CS and I came up with. You should probably take it with a grain of salt, though, because only the wedding day will tell if this was a good decision.
1. Our venue comes with a fantastic wedding coordinator. If I could make the word fantastic 10 times larger I would. She is just that good. Daniella (the wedding coordinator) deals strictly with weddings at our venue. I believe this makes her slightly different than just a regular venue coordinator. Starting from about three months out, she has been at our side the whole way. She has gone over every detail with us and even made some great suggestions of her own. I am fully confident that she understands our vision and the Congress Hall team will execute it to perfection.
What does this have to do with no DOC? For the wedding I am subscribing to the philosophy that too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth. I think if too many people are “in charge” it will just lead to confusion and mismanagement. I think there should be one point person on wedding day, and having a DOC along with Daniella might be dangerous.
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.
The wedding is getting closer and closer, and I have been DIY’ing until my fingers bleed. All right, that is not entirely true, but I have been very busy supervising DIY projects until my supervisees’ fingers bleed. The huge project I/they were able to knock out this weekend was burlap table runners!
Images of burlap and milk glass danced in my head all weekend.
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.
… it says u + me = us! (please tell me someone else remembers that song)
Our RSVP date was this weekend so let’s bring on the numbers!
Total Guests Invited: 177
# of Yes: 95 (53%)
# of No: 33 (18%)
# missing: 52 (29%)
To be fair that is not 52 RSVP cards that we have to track down, it is more like 25 families/couples. I have a lot of phone calls to make but if I had to give my best, most educated guess…I believe we are going to have 120 people at the wedding. Perfection!
Since everyone is coming from out of town that statistic won’t really help you (100%). I could give you the break down of the Ms. Cucumber Sandwich RSVP response rate vs. Mr. Cucumber Sandwich RSVP response rate but that would just be cruel. Lets just say about 90% of the RSVPs missing belong to him. Oops, I guess I just let the cat out of the bag.
I don’t really have any pictures for this post but I did want to share some of the amazing advice we received from family and friends. Read more…
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.
It is amazing the clarity that comes with having only a limited amount of time left for DIY details. Originally I had envisioned all kinds of options for my table numbers. Time has not been my friend though and I am down the the wire. Just like that I was able to decide what I wanted to do with the table numbers in only about 20 minutes. Who knows what I might have accomplished had I had this clarity early in the game?!?
I had ventured over to my local craft store one day and picked up about 20 of these babies.
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.
When the lovely Sammie Sisters said they wanted to throw me a shower, they asked if I had any ideas. Well that is a silly question…of course I have ideas! I casually threw out suggestions of various places around Philly that I thought would provide a fun atmosphere. Subtly was my middle name.
I immediately sent an email titled “shower locations’. Subtly was out the window. On my short list was a cooking class at the Viking Cooking School or Clean Your Plate, perhaps a party in the Please Touch Museum, or a delightful tea in the Morris Arboretum. Unfortunately my best idea was yet to come. Would you like a hint?
What could that be in the background? Need a bigger hint? Read more…
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.
The Cucumber Sandwiches have made their way to courthouse and are ready to make it official!
So giddy and excited! Let’s get this show on the road and get licensed already. But first pose for another picture. Read more…
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.
Since Mr. Prez gave a big speech last night about the state of affairs, I figure it is time to reassess mine. With less than a month to go some things are getting done, some are being replaced and some are being plain thrown out!
Lets start with what is no longer making the cut for the Cucumber Sandwich wedding.
We will not be having a photo booth at our wedding. Originally I really, really wanted one but as time is growing short and my DIY list is getting longer this project did not make the cut. I could have delegated it to Mr. Cuke Sammie but I am slowly coming around to not having one at the wedding. I have convinced myself that it will take away from our raging dance floor. I have no idea if this is true but it is what I tell myself late at night. Read more…
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.
I mentioned a while back that Mr. Cucumber Sammie and I will be including some cultural traditions in our ceremony to represent our heritage. We covered Mr. Cuke Sammie’s African American roots with a broom jump. And now it is my turn!
I am Irish, Irish and just a little bit more Irish so picking a heritage pull a tradition from was easy. There is tons of great inspiration for including Irish elements in your wedding. I would have loved to get Mr. Cucumber Sammie in a kilt but before I could even get the words out he said, “not going to happen.”
We also briefly flirted with the idea of the Irish handfasting. Read more…
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.
It’s bachelorette party time! I have to give you a little back story on the theme of the party. When I was a young Cucumber Sandwich, going to college in Washington, DC, I found myself hanging out with a certain demographic of the city. Those hunky men in uniform, to be exact! My friends and I always went to bars by the 8th and I Marine Corp barracks. We thought we were so cool because we were friends with Marines instead of frat guys. This little phase went on for about 2 years.
The theme of my bachelorette party was ’From Bravo to Bride’ because those lovely marines had a nickname for girls like us. Bravo Whiskey. I was so young and naive that I thought it was a cute pet name. Come to find out, it stand for Barracks Wh*re. Ooops. Sorry MamaCS!
I knew it was going to be a good time when I received this exciting invitation in the mail from BM Smoked Salmon. The invitation says: Read more…
Spring Wedding Favors
