Mrs. Lioness, AtlantaAge and Occupation: 25, Physical TherapistFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, AttorneyEngagement Date: August 29, 2009Wedding Date: April 2011Venue: Anthony’s Fine DiningAbout Me: I’m a Southern girl with New England roots. I say "wicked" and "y’all" in the same sentence and I like to drink sweet tea with my lobster. Mr. Lion and I are both former Floridians now living in Atlanta, which fortunately is still SEC country...Go Gators! We both love baseball, coffee, traveling, cooking, and playing Words with Friends with each other on our iPhones all day long. I’m very passionate about the things and the people I love, and I tend to plan things with all of my heart...our wedding, of course, is no different! Oh, and also Mr. Lion is a first generation American of Cuban descent. I may look more like Lucy than Ricky, but I’m doing my best to incorporate some Latin elements into our vintage-garden-Southern wedding!
Mr. Lion and I both come from divorced families. And you know what? I don’t really think it’s that big of a deal…but I’ve noticed that it can be in the wedding world. (I’m not really the type of gal who gripes about how silly society can be, but here it goes.) I’ve run across this expectation that my parents and Mr. Lion’s parents should join together as our two families unite. Well, that a little tough to do if our individual families aren’t even united. Besides, what if that’s not what we want? Why is that the expectation? I have friends who grew up behind a white picket fence in upper middle class suburbia. I also have friends who grew up overseas in the middle of a civil war. I have friends who grew up in households with traditional marriages, I have friends who have same-sex families, I even have a friend who has lived with her significant other for decades and (gasp) just doesn’t want to get married.
The “weird” has become a heck of a lot more normal. Maybe some of the psychology or sociology bees out there can shed some light as to why, but all I know is that the “unusual” is actually pretty common. In my opinion, the same holds true for the opposite. When I think of a “normal” family with two heterosexual married parents, 2.5 kids, and a pet or two, the first image that comes to mind is far from normal: Read more…
Mrs. Cheeseburger, Baltimore, MD/State College, PAAge and Occupation: 25, Medical StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Medical StudentEngagement Date: June 28, 2008Wedding Date: March 2010Venue: Catholic Church Ceremony & Hotel ReceptionAbout Me: I'm a passionate girl from Pittsburgh, currently living in Baltimore for school, who loves Penn State, seeing movies, football, thunderstorms, black and white photos, Christmas, good beer, my amazing friends and family, and of course, my mister! We met, fell in love, got engaged, and will be married at our alma mater (go lions!) in a traditional Catholic ceremony followed by a hotel reception with lots of DIY details. It means so much to have our families and friends meet at our favorite place on earth to celebrate our love for one another - I truly couldn't ask for anything more!
Everyone is getting married! Or at least it seems that way, doesn’t it? It’s just that time in our lives, I suppose!
I think there are certain things about weddings you just simply cannot understand until you’ve planned one yourself, and now that I’m on the other side of things, I think it’s made me a better wedding guest!
Here are just a few of the ways my behavior has changed since being a bride. Read more…
Mrs. Zebra, Providence, RIAge and Occupation: 24 Marketing/Costume DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 26 Management/Firefighter Engagement Date: December 12, 2008Wedding Date: March 2011Venue: The Providence BiltmoreAbout Me: I'm a small town New England girl with an affinity for procrastination, crossing the proverbial line, and putting her foot in her mouth. I'm a lover of history, all seasons, sewing and Incubus. I design costumes on the side for my old high school's theatre department, which is where I met my sexy man. Our motto for our Big Fat Lebanese/Portuguese/Irish near-300 person wedding is "the more the merrier"! We are marrying in a Catholic ceremony and are hammering out the details of our Victorian-inspired reception.
I always give people the benefit of the doubt. If I take the time to send out a thoughtfully written email and I receive no response I get a slight eye twitch. When I call them to follow up, I usually say something along the lines of, “I’m not sure if you received my email, I sent it about a week ago, but I was wondering…” If they say no, I usually say something along the lines of, “Oh, my email has been acting a little funny.” Now, I’ve got you. Depending on how someone responds to this, illustrates the kind of person they are.
Ms. Sloth, PhiladelphiaAge and Occupation: 35, Account Manager and Fashion BloggerFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Design AdminEngagement Date: December 25, 2009Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Bartram's GardenAbout Me: I'm an internet junkie and music snob with a good eye for a bargain. I couldn't live without thrift store shopping, cheeseburgers, sushi, Coke Zero, websites devoted to silly photos of baby animals, Photoshop, and Mr. Sloth. Speaking of which, he and I are a pair of goofball homebody nerds who love our beagle (the most ridiculously adorable dog EVER) to an embarrassing degree. We're planning a low-key and intimate yet festive and quirky outdoor wedding with DIY details and deeply personal touches, and it's all taking place in the city where we fell in love and call home: Philadelphia.
My mother gave me some “advice” the other day. See, every once in a while, she comes up with something that I “have” to do or “shouldn’t” do. The other day’s something was telling the guests that they don’t have to wear a jacket.
Ms. Sloth, PhiladelphiaAge and Occupation: 35, Account Manager and Fashion BloggerFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Design AdminEngagement Date: December 25, 2009Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: Bartram's GardenAbout Me: I'm an internet junkie and music snob with a good eye for a bargain. I couldn't live without thrift store shopping, cheeseburgers, sushi, Coke Zero, websites devoted to silly photos of baby animals, Photoshop, and Mr. Sloth. Speaking of which, he and I are a pair of goofball homebody nerds who love our beagle (the most ridiculously adorable dog EVER) to an embarrassing degree. We're planning a low-key and intimate yet festive and quirky outdoor wedding with DIY details and deeply personal touches, and it's all taking place in the city where we fell in love and call home: Philadelphia.
Since Mr. S and I are trying our best to keep the guest list small and manageable, we’ve had to address the plus-one issue. Specifically, who gets to bring a guest and who doesn’t?
Mrs. Hippo, New York City/Dallas, TXAge and Occupation: 34, Event Planner for a Non-Profit Fiance's Age and Occupation: 35, Finance ITEngagement Date: August 8, 2009Wedding Date: March 2011Venue: Samuel Lynne Galleries and Marc EventsAbout Me: I’m a thirty-something bride living in New York City and planning a modern-ish wedding in Dallas, Texas. I love trashy reality television (Jersey Shore, anyone?), online shopping, Sunday brunch, Central Park, and random celebrity spottings on the streets of Manhattan. While I love NYC, I miss good Tex-Mex, my college friends, central A/C, and being in close proximity to a Target. I’m thrilled to finally be planning an event that’s not work-related and to be marrying my best friend in what I hope will be a unique and personal ceremony followed by a reception with plenty of good food, good drinks, and dancing (regardless if it’s good or not).
King Hippo and I have very different invitation lists. While my list includes three grandparents, four aunts, two uncles, ten first cousins, plus a large group of friends from various aspects of my life, King Hippo has no living grandparents, one aunt, one uncle, a handful of cousins, and a much smaller circle of friends. Needless to say, there will be no “his side” and “her side” seating at the ceremony. It just wouldn’t work for us since our list is definitely bride-side heavy.
I’ve been to weddings where one side of the guest list was larger than the other, and it’s completely not a big deal. But to me, having ushers escort guests to seats and asking them to sit on one side when they are really guests of the other side just points out the guest list disparity even more, and frankly, I’d just rather avoid that all together. So, I’ve come up with a plan.
Mrs. Barrettes, Tumon, Guam/Napa, CAAge and Occupation: 29, DancerFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Licensed Building ContractorEngagement Date: November 16, 2008Wedding Date: October 2010Venue: V. Sattui WineryAbout Me: I'm an East Coast girl, living on a tiny little island in the Pacific, twirling, leaping, and shimmy-ing my way through life, and now, wedding planning! I'm equal parts nerdy and cool... okay, mostly nerdy. I love satin bows, red lipstick, black & white graphic anything, the shine of sequins and the sound of a champagne "pop". My favorite books are The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James, and Tender is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I can also conjure a pretty good Patronus Charm. I started my appreciation for good red wine while traveling on the high seas, and it's only fitting that my passion for wine drinking led me to my Napa-bred honey. We bonded over bottles of Cabernet on my oceanfront porch and haven't looked back since. We're sealing the deal at a winery in the Napa Valley on a 'perfect ten' of a day!
I’m just as guilty as the next person when it comes to Facebook stalking—err, “research”. I have certainly seen wedding photos of Facebook friends mere minutes after they stepped into their venue. Guests are excited and iPhones and BlackBerrys come out to play, and before you know it, your months of planning and preening are reduced to a photo on someone’s “Mobile Uploads.”
Mrs. Glasses, Tokyo/Los Angeles, CAAge and Occupation: 24, English teacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, English teacherEngagement Date: September 2008Wedding Date: October 2010 Venue: Parents' backyardAbout Me: I’m an expat living in Tokyo. I’ve been in Japan for almost three years now, where I met my fantastic English fiance. It’s time to leave Japan, so we are planning a fun, intimate, backyard ceremony back home in the suburbs of L.A. in October. Our wedding will be a mix of my love for food, beer, my Japanese culture, and Mr. G’s Englishness. We are on a tiny budget and DIYing almost everything!
We’ve had a lot of e-mail contact with prospective wedding vendors, but now it’s time to lock down a contract. That means we’ve got to reject a few vendors that we haven’t decided to go with. I hate tasks like these—I am bad with words and don’t like letting people down. I did what I always do when I am avoiding something…delegate the task to Mr. Glasses!
Some basic guidelines I gave him after I did my research:
Thank the vendor for corresponding.
Compliment the vendor.
Give a reason why we went another direction.
Thank the vendor for their time.
And here is the Glasses’ generic “No, thank you” e-mail: Read more…
Mrs. Pin Cushion, Oakland, CAAge and Occupation: 25, Nurse Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, PhD StudentEngagement Date: November 23, 2008Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Radonich Ranch, Los GatosAbout Me: I'm the 3 Cs: crafty, creative and quirky (oh, that's not a C? Close enough!). I'm also a recycling fanatic, fluent in bad accents and I have the loudest laughter this side of the Mississippi. I have not just one sweet tooth, but a whole mouth full of sweet teeth. I cry at 97.4% of all movies I see, but my fiance's always there to hand me a tissue. My geek-chic fiance and I are planning a wedding full of color, cookies and handmade goodness and I can't wait to spill the beans on all of our crazy ideas!
Me or him? Mr. or Mrs. Pin Cushion? It seems like most of our guests think Mr. Pin Cushion.
I’m talking about names here, dear readers. It seems that when it comes to our names, our wedding guests think that Mr. Pin Cushion’s first name should come before mine. Since anonymity is not my strong suit (as evidenced by my lack of blurring in my invitation post), I’ll just come out with our names: Chris and Kendra. (See? Even I say his name first. Sheesh.)
Since our engagement, Mr. Pin Cushion and I have received piles of lovely cards and well wishes. And it is undeniable that people write Chris’ name before mine about 80% of the time.
See? A random sampling of cards. My name first on the left and his name first on the right
Mrs. Mouse, AustinAge and Occupation: 25, Weddingbee Editor/AttorneyFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Civil EngineerEngagement Date: December 19, 2007Wedding Date: September 2009Venue: Barr MansionAbout Me: I just graduated from law school and will be taking the bar, getting married, going on a honeymoon with my guy, and then trying to figure out what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. I was born and raised in a small East Texas town, but I'm no country girl! I'm obsessed with British accents, fantasy (including Harry Potter, of course), and classic rock. My fiance and I consider ourselves both music and beer snobs--but every once in awhile we love to hear a crappy band and drink a cheap brew or two. We're planning an eco-friendly, casual, English garden affair for the end of summer, and we can't wait for it to get here!
Hey there, hive! It’s been awhile. I thought I’d drop in to tell you guys a story that I was previously too embarrassed to share. It’s the story of how I forgot to invite someone to my wedding.
You see, I have this friend. We’ll just call her Elle. Although if she’s reading this post, I’m sure she knows who she is. Elle and her husband were on our guest list from the beginning. I met her in law school, and we hung out occasionally and took a couple classes together. She and her husband invited the Dude and me to their wedding, which was about a year before ours—we went and had a blast. Even though we weren’t exactly attached at the hip, I knew that I wanted Elle and her husband at our wedding, so we added them to our guest list, a spreadsheet I had created on my computer in Excel.
Cut to April of 2009, about five months before our wedding (and right before I started blogging for Weddingbee!). The Dude and I were at work one day, when some burglars broke into our house. They took everything: the Dude’s expensive music equipment, my grandmother’s jewelry, our recently purchased wedding bands, and YES, my laptop. Read more…
Mrs. Hot Wings, Chicago/San DiegoAge and Occupation: 28, ProfessorFiance's Age and Occupation: 32, InstructorEngagement Date: December 20, 2008Wedding Date: August 2010Venue: Ocean View Villas/Jasmine Seafood RestaurantAbout Me: I am a psychology grad student living in Chicago and planning my wedding to a fellow psych grad student. I am a Sunny So-Cal bred gal who trudged across the country to follow her love of psychology and ended up finding a partner in the process. I am overly passionate about anything I involve myself with. I am an activist, a foodie, a reality TV watching junkie, an over-analyzer, a photography obsesser, and am utterly cheesy to the core. This is a story of what happens when a boy and a girl meet, fall in love over academic dorkiness, and a shared love for life. We (mostly I) are planning our semi-destination wedding in my hometown of San Diego. We are excited to bring our families and friends together from across our lifespans to celebrate our future in a grand 400+ person culturally blended affair!
As a bride, showers are great because they don’t involve all that much work. You don’t have to plan anything. Someone else does the inviting, and you simply show up. You basically show up and feel special. That’s how it has been at least… until now! That’s right, the work has begun. For each lovely gift you receive, it is proper etiquette to send a thank you card.
Mrs. Frozen Yogurt, DallasAge and Occupation: 28, Special Projects CoordinatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Equity TraderEngagement Date: March 19, 2009Wedding Date: April 2010Venue: Marie Gabrielle, DallasAbout Me: I was born and raised in Texas, and have lived in several of the cities across the state, but I currently reside in Austin. I went to college in Boston and have a special place in my heart for the Northeast. I love reading, shopping, wine, reuniting with college friends that are scattered across the country, reality TV, trying out new recipes, and attempting all the DIY projects that come along with wedding planning. I'm a "bleeding heart, save the world type" and thankfully my job allows me to work on legislation and policy to help out those in need. I met Mr. Frozen Yogurt in a bar, though he doesn't even drink! And now we are planning a modern yet vintage wedding in Dallas while dealing with the trials and tribulations of first time homeownership.
Hello hive! I’ve missed you guys!! I’m still waiting on my pro-pics. I definitely haven’t forgotten about my recaps, and I’m anxious to start them (and see the pictures myself!). But since I was missing the hive, I had to pop in.
So, the reason for this post is to talk about gifts, ease my guilt, and educate myself on the etiquette of gift giving.
Mrs. Frog, Phoenix, AZ/Chelan, WA
Age and Occupation: 29, Public Relations
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Online SalesEngagement Date: February 8, 2009Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Amy's ManorAbout Me: I'm an opinionated Midwestern girl now living in the Valley of the Sun marrying a laid back Northwestern guy. I'm equal parts sass, silly and sweet. I'm fiercely loyal with a strong devotion to my family and friends. I have a not-so-secret obsession with apple juice, a new obsession with DIY projects and I love a really good cheese plate...with lots of wine. After 7 blissful years of dating, I'm having the time of my life planning the destination wedding of my dreams to my Mr. Frog-turned-Prince Charming.
I’ve had multiple discussions about this with friends, family and within the online wedding world. It’s definitely a heated topic, depending on who you talk to. Personally, I live in the camp that respects the tradition of the bride being the only person in a white dress on the wedding day. I know some people probably think that’s kinda bitchy, but as a soon-to-be-bride, I have waited a long time to wear a beautiful white wedding gown and can only hope that guests will understand and respect that. Read more…
Mrs. Turtle, Central CaliforniaAge and Occupation: 21, Art Student/TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 22, English StudentEngagement Date: August 16, 2008Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: Mr. Turtle's Grandparents' backyard, Arroyo Grande, CAAbout Me: I am a California girl who loves the beach and the mountains, but is quite satisfied living right in the middle where I can enjoy the best of both worlds. I am happiest when traveling to faraway places, wandering through museums, watching old movies, or baking up a storm. Mr. Turtle and I are high school sweethearts and fellow book nerds who both drive Mini Coopers and are most likely to be found browsing in antique stores. We're having so much fun planning our European garden wedding with a vintage twist and can't wait to share more of life's adventures together!
How is it possible that planning a wedding, just one day out of your whole life, can present so many of the most awkward moments you’ll ever experience? You know what I’m talking about… moments like:
“I’m so excited about coming to your wedding!” (Umm… what makes you think you’re invited?)
or
“You’re just going to love my new boyfriend. He’ll be at the wedding!” (And he’s definitely not invited…)
or worst of all…
“I am going to be a bridesmaid, right?”
*Crickets chirping*
And as if there isn’t enough social awkwardness in the world already, this technological world that we live in now, filled with inventions like Facebook and Twitter, manages to introduce a whole new level of awkwardness! Read more…
Ms. Stripes, Los AngelesAge and Occupation: 29, Costume Designer/StylistFiancee's Age and Occupation: 29, ChefEngagement Date: June 23, 2009Wedding Date: September 2010Venue: Heritage Square MuseumAbout Me: I’m a type A creative with a messy streak, a loud mouth, and an uncanny knack for combining clashing patterns. I can usually be found with my nose in a book, my feet (or at least my toes) on the ground, my head in the clouds, and my arm around the prettiest girl you ever saw- aka
Fiancee Stripes. Together we’re planning a FUN vintage/modern French carnival wedding extravaganza and rockin’ dance party on a dime. (Say that three times fast!) Good coffee, long lists, Uniball pens, and my iPhone keep me sane, and making art, making trouble, and making out keep me happy! I love urban adventures, bike rides that end with afternoon drinks, breakfast for dinner, beautiful light, photography, travel, my furry family, and of course, my beautiful fiancee! I’m super excited to be here and can’t wait to share all our adventures as we craft a joyful, budget-friendly, design-savvy and all-around AWESOME wedding!
Do something pretty while you can
Don’t be afraid
Skating a pirouette on ice is cool
Planning our wedding has been an inspiration and a springboard for me to focus on the little details in life more often. A few fresh flowers at the dinner table, a small homemade flower pin gifted for no reason, or simply dropping a beautiful thank you card in the mail are small powerful ways to enrich our daily lives.
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
