Miss Aardvark, Beaver Dam, WIAge and Occupation: 23, Assistant Product ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Business Analyst Engagement Date: May 28th, 2011Wedding Date: April 2012Venue: St. Philip Catholic Church/Arcadia Brewing Co.About Me: I am a resourceful lady who love surprises and adventure. At the same time, I value traditions, family and friends. I like to make crafty messes, sometimes, clean them up, and do pretty much anything outdoors. The Mister and I are pretty avid cyclists---we have nine bikes in our home right now...and one motorcycle! We both enjoy eating food we can't pronounce (language doesn't really matter) and going places we've never been. We currently reside in rural Wisconsin, enjoying the cheese and beer it has to offer, and getting outside whenever we can!
I have loved the idea of incorporating flags into a grand exit for a while. They are so cute and playful, and pretty in photos. On top of that, we wanted our “big exit” to be from the church instead of the reception. It’ll be daytime, so we nixed the idea of sparklers. Furthermore, our church does not allow rice, birdseed, or bio-confetti to be tossed because it would end up all over the city sidewalk (and I guess the city doesn’t like that?). Flags seemed like the perfect solution. But what would the flags say?
Mrs. Sunhat, Dyer, IN Age and Occupation: 32, Tax AccountantFiance's Age and Occupation: 35, Landscape ForemanEngagement Date: September 25, 2010Wedding Date: December 2011Venues: St. Andrew the Apostle, Fiesta PalaceAbout Me: I'm a Midwest girl who grew up in the country and now works in the big city! I love cooking, entertaining, reading (addicted to my Kindle) and going to the movies. I don't miss an episode of Hoarders and I start cleaning every time I watch! My profession doesn't call for much creativity so wedding planning has been a great outlet. Mr. Sunhat and I met online three years ago, cheer for rival MLB teams and share a home with our dog, Wrigley. We are planning a traditional, Polish, Catholic wedding with lots of DIY elements and some fun surprises. I'm so excited to be married on New Year's Eve and we can't wait to ring in the new year as husband and wife!
Once upon a time, in my early days as a Bee, I wrote this post about my plans to create a brooch bouquet. I even gave you a little sneak peek at its progress here, but that is where I stopped! Other projects became more of a priority and I never got around to sharing the final product with you before the wedding. It’s your lucky day because I’m sharing now!
This project was indeed a labor of love and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. I’m still so in love with it and I now get to enjoy it every day.
So how about I just show it to you and then tell you how it came to be?
I won’t reinvent the wheel when other bees before me have posted fantastic tutorials on how to make your own, including Mrs. Sloth’s and Mrs. Stripes’, whose post was recently featured on the Helpful Series. I followed Stripes’ method with just a few modifications. Read more…
Miss Mink, Charlottesville, VirginiaAge and Occupation: 34, College AdministratorFiance's Age and Occupation: 40, Craft Beer ConsultantEngagement Date: November 26, 2010Wedding Date: June 2012Venue: Pippin Hill Farm & VineyardsAbout Me: I left a pre-war brownstone in Boston six years ago to live in a funky, Southern city where Thomas Jefferson, Dave Matthews, and urban chicken keepers enjoy equal social standing. I still love my Patriots and Red Sox, but have fallen in love with Virginia. I work in education and specialize in integrating technology into my work to improve the student experience. I’m a diehard blogger, animal lover, jamband follower, and DIYer. I paint to relax and have transferred by energy from home projects to wedding projects in recent months. When Mr. Mink and I started talking about marriage, we knew our wedding would be outdoors, that my golden retriever would be part of the day, and that the music would be fantastic. We’ve taken a few risks during our planning process and we’ve been enjoying the process immensely!
Without a die cutting machine, I went online to find paper I could run through my printer that had perforated tags on it. I found one website that had what I wanted after much searching and placed an order. About a month later, Avery came out with the same product and it’s probably at every office supply store in the country. Oh well. Next, I had to create the board. Read more…
Miss Mink, Charlottesville, VirginiaAge and Occupation: 34, College AdministratorFiance's Age and Occupation: 40, Craft Beer ConsultantEngagement Date: November 26, 2010Wedding Date: June 2012Venue: Pippin Hill Farm & VineyardsAbout Me: I left a pre-war brownstone in Boston six years ago to live in a funky, Southern city where Thomas Jefferson, Dave Matthews, and urban chicken keepers enjoy equal social standing. I still love my Patriots and Red Sox, but have fallen in love with Virginia. I work in education and specialize in integrating technology into my work to improve the student experience. I’m a diehard blogger, animal lover, jamband follower, and DIYer. I paint to relax and have transferred by energy from home projects to wedding projects in recent months. When Mr. Mink and I started talking about marriage, we knew our wedding would be outdoors, that my golden retriever would be part of the day, and that the music would be fantastic. We’ve taken a few risks during our planning process and we’ve been enjoying the process immensely!
For years, I was convinced that I wasn’t crafty despite the fact that I love painting. Liking something and actually thinking you do it well are two different things! So, while I enjoyed DIY projects around the house, I didn’t think I was doing anything all that great.
Until wedding planning started. I realized that I love wedding projects and I’m pretty happy with how they turn out. Hooray!
Miss Doe, Northern CaliforniaAge and Occupation: 24, Real Estate AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, Recycling ManagerEngagement Date: December 25, 2010Wedding Date: May 2012Venue: Monte Verde InnAbout Me: I’m a Rat Pack fan and a Christmas nut that loves to read, good wine, cheesy ’80s movies and ’90s sitcoms. My wiener dog with an attitude problem and lazy basset hound are my constant source of entertainment. He's a hunter and I like cooking so it's not rare to see wild game on our dinner menu. Both of us were born and raised in a small historic farming town where our feet are still firmly planted. We have been together for nearly a decade and have shared many life experiences together, including birthdays that are only one day apart. We are two old souls that are creating our long-awaited wedding with loads of tradition that blends our two styles into rustic elegance in the foothills of Northern California.
Lately I have been drooling over all of the beautiful wedding hangers out there. I don’t know what has come over me, why do I care so much about a hanger? I have no idea, all I know is that I wanted one…bad. At $20-$40 each though, I didn’t want one that bad. I started to toy with the idea of crafting my own. It couldn’t be that hard, could it? Well, let me show you my first few attempts:
Okay, I know that looks bad. Did I just scare you? I will tell you that it does take a few tries. I promise though, that once you get the hang of how the wire bends, it’s smooth sailing. I encourage everyone to not be scared of this project and give it a shot. You can make these beautiful hangers for less than $5. So here we go.
Miss Mink, Charlottesville, VirginiaAge and Occupation: 34, College AdministratorFiance's Age and Occupation: 40, Craft Beer ConsultantEngagement Date: November 26, 2010Wedding Date: June 2012Venue: Pippin Hill Farm & VineyardsAbout Me: I left a pre-war brownstone in Boston six years ago to live in a funky, Southern city where Thomas Jefferson, Dave Matthews, and urban chicken keepers enjoy equal social standing. I still love my Patriots and Red Sox, but have fallen in love with Virginia. I work in education and specialize in integrating technology into my work to improve the student experience. I’m a diehard blogger, animal lover, jamband follower, and DIYer. I paint to relax and have transferred by energy from home projects to wedding projects in recent months. When Mr. Mink and I started talking about marriage, we knew our wedding would be outdoors, that my golden retriever would be part of the day, and that the music would be fantastic. We’ve taken a few risks during our planning process and we’ve been enjoying the process immensely!
Did I mention that we are going to have FOUR of our little nephews in our wedding? We don’t want them to be overly scripted or get too rigid with their roles, so I envision just sending them all down the aisle as a group to do what little boys do: make noise and make people smile.
I wanted to give the boys boutonnieres, but didn’t find the idea of having anything too formal pinned to their outfits. I started to look for a cute alternative. First, I found ribbon badges all over the internet. My favorite came from the Weddingbee boards.
The button in the middle of the ribbon badge from those images was cute, but not cute enough. I wanted something that little boys would like. I also hoped that it would be in some way related to the wedding. That’s when I started looking for little golden retrievers. I was thinking of boutonnieres like these from Fritts Rosenow:
Mr. Mink, who I call eagle eye when we shopping, helped me comb the scrapbook and jewelry sections of the craft store one Sunday completely expecting to find some little golden retrievers. Read more…
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!
Where we will actually be standing for our ceremony is pretty bland, aside from the surrounding scenery of a frozen lake and *hopefully* snow covered landscape, so this is where my dreams of a handmade arch came into play. For our wedding arch, we wanted something natural and rustic, to complement the outdoor winter setting. Aspen trees are plentiful in our part of Colorado, and to us, are the perfect winter tree. The white bark is beautiful all by itself, even without the foliage to complement it.
Every year we go out into the National Forest surrounding Durango, hand-pick, and then chop down our Christmas tree. It’s a tradition I’ve participated in with my family for years and years, and now that I have Mr. Honey by my side, it makes the tradition even more special. This year, in addition to the Ponderosa Pine we would be chopping down, we added Aspen trees to list. We bought a permit for $22 which allowed us to cut 20 Aspens down. This not only provided enough trunks to hand build our arch, but we helped thin out our forests, too. Yay for preventing forest fires!
My dad happens to be the most handy, creative man I know. He can build anything, fix anything, and tends to go big when doing so. I left this project in my dad’s very capable hands, after showing him a couple pictures of what I was envisioning, similar to this:
Mrs. Elephant, Dallas, TXAge and Occupation: 27, Financial Operations AnalystFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, IT Student/Store ManagerEngagement Date: March 29, 2009Wedding Date: April 2011Venue: The Tribute Golf ClubAbout Me: I'm a Philly native creating roots deep in the heart of Texas. I might be a little obsessed capturing those Kodak moments of anything and everything (mainly on vacations). I've become more of a gamer thanks to Mr. Elephant, who I met online and can't wait to spend the rest of my life with. We are planning a wedding based on our favorite colors, blue and green, with a travel theme for 150 of our closest friends and family. Hopefully our long (2-year) engagement won't kill me!
Guess who’s back? OK, it’s just for one holiday post, but I loved coming back for the randomizer series and wanted to drop back in and share one of my recent projects.
I have been intrigued by polymer clay ever since we ordered our cake toppers from Etsy seller Mud Cards. Keren did such an amazing job on the first topper, that we had her make a second one as well.
Since our engagement in 2009, I’ve tried to get a different ornament each holiday season to remember that year by. With Christmas around the corner, I started to think about what our ornament for this year would be. Being our first newlywed Christmas, I wanted this ornament to be special and DIY it.
But what should I make?
I threw around a couple of ideas, before I circled back to my original (and favorite) idea, a replica of our wedding cake! After a quick stop at Michael’s, who was having a sale on clay (originally $2.29, on sale 4 for $5), it was time to get started. Read more…
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 thought I would take an afternoon off from wedding tasks and shift my focus from said wedding to Christmas. I needed a way to display Christmas cards our friends and family have been sending us. Well, leave it to bride brain to turn a Christmas project into a wedding project.
Heading to Pinterest for inspiration, I found the perfect solution and immediately picked up my supplies. A $5 picture frame from the thrift store:
And clothespins and jewelry wire from Wally World: Read more…
Miss Mink, Charlottesville, VirginiaAge and Occupation: 34, College AdministratorFiance's Age and Occupation: 40, Craft Beer ConsultantEngagement Date: November 26, 2010Wedding Date: June 2012Venue: Pippin Hill Farm & VineyardsAbout Me: I left a pre-war brownstone in Boston six years ago to live in a funky, Southern city where Thomas Jefferson, Dave Matthews, and urban chicken keepers enjoy equal social standing. I still love my Patriots and Red Sox, but have fallen in love with Virginia. I work in education and specialize in integrating technology into my work to improve the student experience. I’m a diehard blogger, animal lover, jamband follower, and DIYer. I paint to relax and have transferred by energy from home projects to wedding projects in recent months. When Mr. Mink and I started talking about marriage, we knew our wedding would be outdoors, that my golden retriever would be part of the day, and that the music would be fantastic. We’ve taken a few risks during our planning process and we’ve been enjoying the process immensely!
Having an image of a wedding gown on a special hanger seems to be a staple for wedding photography these days. Wedding blogs are full of beautiful pictures of wedding gowns hanging in quiet elegance, waiting for their owners to put them on. No matter how many of those images I see, I love them. A photographer I know likes the pictures so much that she brings a nice hanger to every wedding just in case the bride doesn’t have one for her dress shots.
I decided to step things up a notch and make hangers for my dress and my bridesmaids’ dresses. I dabbled in jewelry making a while back and thought I had the tools needed to bend some wire. After looking at different Etsy listings for inspiration, I realized that there is tremendous potential for these things turn out poorly. I decided that I might not be skilled enough to make this and have them be as beautiful as the ones I have seen in pictures.
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 discovered glitter jars, and literally, that next weekend I did a trial run to see how I liked them. I used glitter I had on hand, and even with hot pink and lime green glitter, I loved how they turned out. I started collecting glass jars, and maybe even started buying things at the grocery store because I liked the jars. Okay, yeah, I totally did that.
My biggest obstacle with this project was finding the right color of glitter; it tends to come in bright, flashy colors which doesn’t jive with our wedding palette. Thankfully on my recent trip to Hobby Lobby I came across the perfect pack of glitter titled warm combo which included a dark blue and gray. I also bought a pack that had various whites and silvers, and one that was as close to peach as I could find. I have been dying to do this project and have finally knocked out a big portion of the jars and am ready to share the details with you all.
Here’s what you need:
Jars in any shape or size of your choosing (removed of all labels, hooray for Goo-B-Gone)
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!
Between my spheres and the pom poms I’m (still) making, yarn is ending up with quite the presence in our big day. We aren’t doing a monogram on our cake, so when I came across yarn wrapped letters, I knew it was the perfect way to incorporate our initials, and yes, more yarn.
I bought some whimsical wooden letters at Hobby Lobby for $2.99. They sat untouched for a couple months, until this last week. Read more…
Mrs. Sunhat, Dyer, IN Age and Occupation: 32, Tax AccountantFiance's Age and Occupation: 35, Landscape ForemanEngagement Date: September 25, 2010Wedding Date: December 2011Venues: St. Andrew the Apostle, Fiesta PalaceAbout Me: I'm a Midwest girl who grew up in the country and now works in the big city! I love cooking, entertaining, reading (addicted to my Kindle) and going to the movies. I don't miss an episode of Hoarders and I start cleaning every time I watch! My profession doesn't call for much creativity so wedding planning has been a great outlet. Mr. Sunhat and I met online three years ago, cheer for rival MLB teams and share a home with our dog, Wrigley. We are planning a traditional, Polish, Catholic wedding with lots of DIY elements and some fun surprises. I'm so excited to be married on New Year's Eve and we can't wait to ring in the new year as husband and wife!
While our wedding date just so happens to be New Year’s Eve, we aren’t necessarily going all out with a New Year’s Eve theme. We are simply adding elements that complement the holiday while trying to avoid going too over the top.
So far, I have shown you our personalized clock and the boutonnières. Next up is some sparkly table decor!
I knew just where to find those big letters so I skipped my happy booty over to Jo-Ann’s, used my 40% off coupons (they accept Michaels and Hobby Lobby coupons as well!) and scored a bunch of paper mache letters to spell out “NYE,” “MR,” and “MRS.”
Mrs. Funnel Cake, Zürich, Switzerland/Columbus, OhioAge and Occupation: 24, Visual Communication DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Application EngineerEngagement Date: May 30, 2010Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: Catholic church followed by a botanical conservatoryAbout Me: I'm an American designer who moved to Switzerland for love after a fairytale beginning at the top of the Eiffel Tower. I love travel, photography, museums, learning German so I can speak with my mother-in-law, cooking (eating), cuddling, and I'm not afraid to try something new even if it terrifies me. My Swiss/Brazilian man and I are both down to earth people planning a traditional Catholic wedding in my hometown with some quirky cultural exceptions to reflect our different backgrounds. We look forward to celebrating with friends and family from all over the world in a classic, sophisticated fusion of heritage and love.
For months I sewed fabric flowers at work every day and my colleagues had started asking, “When’s the wedding again?” or “Do you think you’ll get them done in time?” or the ever-popular, “How many flowers left now?” which I never had an answer for.
I was never stressed about getting this project done, though. I started in June and our wedding is in October. (Cough… next week…) So I took my sweet time sewing those flowers as slowly as I wanted to. I sewed them while talking to friends at lunch and did not worry about working on them in the evening or on weekends if I had better things to do. It took so long to get them done because I did this project about as slow as one possibly can.
But you can bet I was happy when I finished these babies and marched them to the post office! Read more…
Mrs. Funnel Cake, Zürich, Switzerland/Columbus, OhioAge and Occupation: 24, Visual Communication DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Application EngineerEngagement Date: May 30, 2010Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: Catholic church followed by a botanical conservatoryAbout Me: I'm an American designer who moved to Switzerland for love after a fairytale beginning at the top of the Eiffel Tower. I love travel, photography, museums, learning German so I can speak with my mother-in-law, cooking (eating), cuddling, and I'm not afraid to try something new even if it terrifies me. My Swiss/Brazilian man and I are both down to earth people planning a traditional Catholic wedding in my hometown with some quirky cultural exceptions to reflect our different backgrounds. We look forward to celebrating with friends and family from all over the world in a classic, sophisticated fusion of heritage and love.
After finding afewflowertutorials on Google, I was playing with my newly purchased (extremely expensive) Swiss fabric. Before I knew it, I had crafted this little beauty:
Ohh bees, I fell for this adorable little flower and wanted to make more. My fingers craved the tactile comfort found in sewing and I opened up to a craft I haven’t been able to undertake since I moved to Switzerland. The most sewing I’ve done in the last three years was when I made curtains for our flat on an old secondhand sewing machine. (And that was mainly done to avoid buying expensive Swiss curtains!) Read more…
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
