Weddingbee

Our ceremony was held at The Athenaeum, in old town Alexandria, VA. The room was a big, empty gallery space with beautiful natural light and a nicely historic feel.

The folding chairs belonged to the Athenaeum. Our groomsmen and ushers set them up before the ceremony. As much as I drool with desire over a pretty Chiavari … these were free. And, after all, people just sit in them. (Or so I kept telling myself!)
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Maybe not, but they certainly influence the style of your wedding and the way you feel about yourself all day….

Here’s a rundown of what I wore on our own Big Day. (All made much more fabulous thanks to the photography of Punam Bean.)

Dress: Alfred Angelo 1839

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Once I pulled my wedding dress out of the closet on the day before the wedding, I couldn’t WAIT to put it on! The morning of the wedding, I woke up bouncing up and down with excitement that I finally got “to wear my dress, wear my dress, wear my dresssssssss.”

After we finished with hair and makeup, the time finally arrived. My MOH (a dear friend from college) and BM (Mr. T’s beautiful sister) came to my room at the Hotel Monaco for the dressing and final preparations.

As much as I love the traditional photos of an army preparing the woman in the huge white dress, I didn’t need much help with my simple, step-in-and-zip-up model. In fact, the gals needed as much help as I did:

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OK, so this is jumping ahead in the wedding-day recap. But I couldn’t resist sharing photos of our beloved Sheltie Ring Bearer!! (Photos, as always, are by Punam Bean.)

(Zoe in the arms of the Sheltie Wrangler — a friend who kept her for the weekend, brought her to the wedding, and pointed her down the aisle when the time came.)
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When I first started researching the cost of professional hair and makeup for weddings, I was SHOCKED! For a girl who usually gets her hair cut at the Aveda Institute for $18 a pop, prices in the hundreds of dollars were awe-inspiring. And that was just for the bride — bringing my mother and bridesmaids along for the ride would cost, roughly, one gazillion dollars.

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While planning our wedding, I loved the idea of staying at a nice hotel the night before the wedding (by myself) and on the wedding night (joined by Mr. T). Unfortunately, we couldn’t spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars for the privilege. Originally, my plan was to bid on Priceline a few days beforehand and see what came up. But then my favorite travel discount site, Travelzoo, shared the great news that a new Hotel Monaco had opened in Alexandria, just 3 blocks from our ceremony site, and they were having a $99/night special.

And it turns out, staying there was a fantastic decision — they made the wedding weekend an absolute dream!

(Taking a pre-ceremony break on the world’s most comfortable bed)
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Well, it’s official. We’re back from our honeymoon. Let the long years of married life begin!

Our honeymoon started in San Francisco. We took a few days to see the city (best tips: ride the city’s 1940s streetcars, and check out the food stalls at the Ferry Building) and met with several friends, including the lovely and talented Mrs. Eggplant.

Unfortunately, I was under the weather part of the time, and Mr. T had to go to one dinner without me. He took this pic to show to the other couple, lest they accuse him of having made up the whole wife thing:

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Hello, all! Sorry it’s been a while — things got unbearably busy in the last weeks before our wedding. But the Tulips are now Mr. and Mrs!

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Despite my earlier post, our Gocco invites did finally come together in a presentable way. And here they are!

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Perhaps it’s the lesson of many long years of illness, but for the most part I’ve been easy-going about this wedding thing. As with most of my life, I do what I can given the time and energy available. And if something becomes impossible, I learn to do without.

So it was a bit of a surprise this week when I had my first genuine Bridezilla moment!

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