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.
Mrs. Oyster, DallasAge and Occupation: 30, Music TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 46, Art TeacherEngagement Date: January 9, 2009Wedding Date: July 2010Venue: The Tower ClubAbout Me: I'm a Texa-Californian with a penchant for sparkly things and a tendency to think a lot. I've been known to sing random songs or dance when there is no music on. My fiance and I love world culture, we love to travel, and we have an incredibly eclectic taste in music. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to celebrate our marriage with our family & closest friends. We're planning an “urban black-tie” wedding and hope to incorporate our personalities and some of our own interests. We look forward to a life of love, laughter, good music, beautiful art, and to creating our home together with our four (!) cats.
Our lovely invitations, chosen by Mr. Oyster, are probably the only thing I’ve been 100% consistent about throughout this entire wedding planning process.
When it came time to order them, I’d decided that the wording should be simple and formal. Easy, right? I arrived at the shop with all the information in tow (typed up, no less!) and a day later, I got the call.
They wanted to change our invitation wording because it was improper!
Specifically, they want to change my “half past five” to “half after five” and we disagree about the usage of “two thousand ten” vs. “two thousand and ten.” (They prefer the latter, by the way.) All my research says that both are acceptable, but it seems that “half after” and “two thousand and ten” are most likely related to British usage and are therefore more formal.
Mrs. Trail Mix, New YorkAge and Occupation: 26, PE TeacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, MBA StudentEngagement Date: March 2009Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: Tannery Pond at the Darrow SchoolAbout Me: I'm a country girl who somehow found herself living in the Big Apple and loving every minute of it. I'm planning a rustic, country-chic wedding in my hometown in upstate New York and it's going to be a Party with a capital P. White wine, flea markets and running keep me happy and my friends, family and fiance are my world. I'm a little bit crafty, a little bit crazy but mostly just crazy in love.
A friend recently showed me a book she was (jokingly) gifted with after getting engaged this past fall. It is serious and well-intentioned yet so unintentionally hilarious.
It’s Carolyn Gibson’s Complete Guide to Wedding Etiquette, published in 1974 (which is about exactly where it should stay).
It was pretty evident from the illustrations in which era this book was published… Read more…
Mrs. Ribbons, Washington D.C./Bloomington, INAge and Occupation: 23, Research Associate for an international development firmFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Proposal Coordinator for contractor
Engagement Date: May 2, 2008Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: Indiana Memorial UnionAbout Me: I'm an Indiana transplant living in DC with my fiance and our pretty kitty. I enjoy the color pink, I'm obsessed with the Dior New Look and tulle, and I heart my level 80 paladin. I'm a sucker for bad TV, literary theory, and cakes of all persuasion. I also happen to be marrying the cutest closet nerd around! It's all about Bloomington for us because it's where we met -- on the college paper. If there's a theme for our small summertime wedding, it's Dior meets Dorothy Draper on a lark in Bloomington; think poofy, plus graphic prints, bold colors, and a whole lot of prettiness.
It seems I have committed an etiquette faux pas. I called my mom today and she said, “Aunt So and So got your save the date today. She didn’t really know what it was. But she told me you didn’t include their last name on the envelope.”
That was true. I didn’t. Somewhere on the fine internet I saw a save the date envelope with first names only and thought, ‘oh cute, what a nice and informal way to do these.’ Well, my mom is now appalled that I don’t know how to address envelopes and that I will surely offend all of our guests. Um? Seriously? Read more…
Mrs. Lamb, NorfolkAge and Occupation: 25, Homeland Security ConsultantFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Graduate StudentEngagement Date: January 2009Wedding Date: January 2010Venue: Trinity Presbyterian Church/Harrison Opera HouseAbout Me: I’m a Homeland Security Consultant with a tendency towards pulling office pranks, taking lunch breaks, and drinking Wawa shakes. I’m also an English major with a serious obsession with alliteration and rhymes. While I’m not keeping America safe, I’m training for half marathons and the Escape from Alcatraz swim. Or moving for the third time this year. Or baking. Or wedding crafting. Or crying about wedding planning. All the while, I’m getting myself into Lucille Ball-esque scrapes and making Jim Carey-esque faces. Our big fat Czech/Baptist/Jewish/Italian wedding is a combination of vintage eclectic, DIY, and little spoonful of sugar from our Event Coordinator. It’s going to be a Norfolk flavored wedding with the verve of an only-daughter-blow-out bash!
Having these bad boys at the ready, will save you heartache, pain, agony, ulcers, and appendicitis. OK, well maybe not appendicitis.
If you plan on buying them, no problemo. Just order a bunch (like the same number of invitations you ordered plus extras if you’re having a shower) a few months out. If you’re a glutton for crafting punishment like me, then get those magic fingers a cuttin’ and a stampin’! Here, I’ve turned my kitchen table into a Thank You card workshop. After stamping and arranging cards to dry all over the table, I promptly started cursing that I had run out of horizontal drying surfaces. “Dagnabbit! I’ve stamped myself into a 2 foot square space and can’t reach the bathroom!”
Mrs. Spaniel, Los AngelesAge and Occupation: 28, Law StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, PsychologistWedding Date: March 2010Venue: Calamigos RanchAbout Me: I'm a third-year law student trying to balance graduating with starting my career, keeping up a relationship, and, oh yeah, planning an Old World, multi-cultural, "mountain lodge" wedding for 180 guests! A South Asian Jewish girl getting ready to marry my handsome Catholic Dane, I'm hoping to blend our cultures in our wedding just a bit more gently than by providing samosas as appetizers and offering æbleskiver for dessert. (Although that would also be awesome.)
I admit it: I’m a bit of a stickler about sending thank you notes. It’s not that I’m an etiquette freak or anything—okay, maybe I am a little bit—but I think it’s super-important to acknowledge someone’s generosity as soon as I benefit from it. I guess I view most etiquette rules as “guidelines”—they are always safe to follow, but it’s okay to sometimes bend them if it seems appropriate to your situation. But on the issue of thank you notes, there is no bending for me! Read more…
Mrs. Guinea Pig, Baltimore, MD Age and Occupation: 26, PhD student Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Operations Director at a non-profit Engagement Date: December 25, 2008 Wedding Date: May 2010Venue: The Chesapeake Bay Beach Club About Me: I'm a tomboy science nerd whose girly side has made a startling appearance thanks to wedding planning! I love to bake, knit and sew but I also ride a motorcycle (that Mr. Guinea Pig wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole). We live with our three crazy cats and love to read, travel, watch movies, and do home improvement projects together! My parents/family are Canadian but I'm definitely American, although I've lived in 5 different countries, 6 different states, and speak Russian fluently. Mr. GP and I met online (did I mention I'm a scientist?) and had a whirlwind romance - now we can't wait to get married & celebrate with all our friends and family in a blue and yellow waterfront affair!
Mr. Guinea Pig and I have been working on the wording for our invitations, and surprisingly, it has been a bit of a struggle! Our invitations have a floral design on them but they’re not overly formal, and we’re having trouble finding a balance with the formality of the wording.
Our invitation designer recently sent us several options to choose from but Mr. GP and I gravitate towards different ones. Here are a few of the options we saw:
1) Dad and Mom Guinea Pig request the pleasure of your company at the marriage of their daughter…
2) … joyfully invite you to share in the marriage of their daughter…
3) … invite you to share in the celebration of the marriage of their daughter…
4) … invite you to share in the joy of the marriage of their daughter…
So, Mr. Guinea Pig likes #1 (I, for some reason, have a completely baseless aversion to saying it this way), and I like #3, but I don’t like all the ’of’s. #2 sounds like I’m asking people to share my marriage! I’ve been trying to find other options for this type of wording (i.e. my parents doing the inviting), and it turns out, there aren’t as many choices as I would have thought. Some other ones I’ve found are: Read more…
Mrs. Beagle, AustinAge and Occupation: 26, Electrical EngineerFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, FinanceEngagement Date: July 12, 2008Wedding Date: October 2009Venue: Church Ceremony/Reception at The Waterford HouseAbout Me: I am a true, but rare, Austinite---I was born, raised, and continue to live in this great city! Although
I am an engineer by day, I feed my inner creative side through crafting, sewing, and obsessing over Martha Stewart. I love coffee, my mister, NPR, and exploring all the nooks and crannies of Austin.
I can't wait to share my adventures in DIY and wedding planning with all of you!
I know we are all too familiar with the cheesy “silence your phone” commercials during movie previews. Practically everyone owns a cell phone today, and while most people are used to silencing it during meetings, church, etc., I think it is important to remind people that a wedding is also the occasion to “unplug”.
Mrs. Quiche, Chicago/Montego BayAge and Occupation: 28, Interior DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 42, Telecom GuruEngagement Date: July 2, 2008Wedding Date: May, 2009Venue: Coyaba Resort, Montego BayAbout Me: I love Chicago and can’t imagine living anywhere else (Well, except Paris. Or anywhere in France, for that matter!). I’m a full-time worker, part-time student, soon-to-be-step-mom, indie music lovin’, architecture and design fanatic, macaroni and cheese addict, vegetarian, Francophile, Ohio State football obsessed, wedding planning girl. Mr. Quiche and I are “Partners-in-Crime” and cannot wait to celebrate our marriage surrounded by our family and closest friends. I plan on DIYing my little heart out (or as much as a suitcase to Jamaica will hold).
I was perusing Dear Abby (yet again…shameless!) & the topic of asking your girlfriend’s parents for “permission” to marry their daughter was heating up!
The reader responses were all over the board, of course. Some stated that they were independent women who have been succeeding on their own & would be downright insulted if their fiance asked her parents first. That to me is a bit ridiculous… insulted? I know it’s old fashioned, but I like the tradition of the hubby-to-(hopefully)-be nervously approaching his girlfriend’s father (or mother, you get the idea) with the anticipation of what is about to finally happen. I love it!
Mr. Quiche called my mom before he popped the question, and I thought it was very thoughtful & downright cute of him to do it! It made my mom happy, too. When I called her after he proposed, she was practically bursting at the seams!
With Mama & Petey Quiche… a little wedding day teaser for you!
Mrs. Peep Toe, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 29, Policy AnalystFiance's Age and Occupation: 36, Olive Oil Production ManagerEngagement Date: December 16, 2007Wedding Date: May, 2009Blogging Since: November 26, 2008Venue: Hotel VitaleAbout Me: I am a west coast lady who loves the San Francisco Bay Area. I love living with Mr. Peep and our animals: Huck the Dog and Ferris the Cat. I work to save the environment in San Francisco, while Mr. Peep makes ridiculously delicious Olive Oil. On any day you can find me reading the latest book I have gotten my hands on, eating Swedish Fish, and perusing wedding blogs! We are both champagne drinking foodies on a Bud Light budget. We are planning an eco-chic, intimate, and interfaith San Francisco City wedding.
Hive, I need your opinion. It’s been 6 weeks since our wedding and I have yet to send a single thank you note!!! And as each day passes (and the wedding becomes more and more of a distant memory*), the pressure to send them out is flying out the window.
I know I need to send them, but I feel like I am going through an internal struggle about what thank yous to send.
Here are the conversations that I have been having with myself (yes, I am part crazy lady, with multiple personalities):
Responsible, rational Peep: You need to start writing and sending thank you notes, STAT.
Crafty, lazy Peep: But wouldn’t they be so much better if they were crafty like Mrs. Corn’s?:
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!
When I started reading Weddingbee last September, I was suddenly overwhelmed with ideas that I could incorporate into my wedding. Gradually I started changing my mind about many early decisions I had made based on new information gleaned from the hive. Originally I wasn’t going to wear a veil because I thought they were too “bridal”—but when I realized just how many quirky options there are out there, I decided on two veils! One for the ceremony, one for the reception. I wasn’t going to spend a lot of money on a photographer or flowers, but I quickly discovered (based on a ton of photographic evidence) how key these two items are for pulling off “the dream wedding”. And c’mon, I had never even HEARD of out-of-town bags or blocking out hotel rooms for non-local guests!
Having your mind opened is a good thing, no doubt.
One thing that I am stubbornly clinging to, however, is the idea of not having assigned seating for the dinner reception. Some of you will gasp. Read more…
Mrs. Deviled Egg, PittsburghAge and Occupation: 27, Public RelationsFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, AccountingEngagement Date: December 24, 2007Wedding Date: May, 2009Blogging Since: October 21, 2008Venue: Historic auditorium and meeting hall in one of Pittsburgh's commuter citiesAbout Me: I am obsessed with all things crafty, especially scrapbooking, knitting, jewelry-making & cake decorating. I also love being an aunt, wrapping presents, watching football (Go Steelers!), shopping at yard sales and consignment stores, procrastinating, singing and learning to play the guitar. When it comes to wedding planning, I'm excited about working on DIY projects and finding creative ways to stay under budget. Of course, nothing is more exciting to me than knowing that the wonderful Mr. Deviled Egg will be my husband.
Thank you notes. They have to be the most dreaded post-wedding task. (I hear you moaning and groaning right along with me.) I confess that I even gave some thought during the honeymoon in regards to how unappealing the job seemed. Even with the wedding a month behind us, I feel like I just finished writing thank you notes for the shower. Looking at the calendar, I had those finished over seven weeks ago, but, as I stare at the list of names on my wedding thank you list, it seems like it was just yesterday when I was writing notes to most of them in appreciation for the wonderful kitchen tools, bedding, towels and other gifts I was grateful to receive. And now, I have close to 100 notes to write, and I just have no motivation to check this task off of my to-do list.
Regardless, I need to get my butt in gear and get these hand-written messages of gratitude to the people who shared our day with us and/or were thoughtful enough to give us a gift. I really am thankful for all of the generosity, but just not so thrilled about the process of expressing all of that on paper.
Unfortunately for me, Mr. DE has the worst handwriting. I think he could probably do a better job if he put the pen in is toes and tried to write that way. Read more…
Mrs. Stiletto, ChicagoAge and Occupation: 26, Non-Profit/FundraisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Engineer and PhotographerEngagement Date: March 2, 2008Wedding Date: September 2009Venue: The 19th Century ClubAbout Me: My fiance and I love living in the city of Chicago with our cats Basil and Linus, and vow to never move to the suburbs if we can possibly avoid it! We’ve poured ourselves into planning a wedding that reflects our personal style - modern and high contrast with a vintage twist. Blogging keeps me creative, baking keeps me happy, and grande nonfat no foam sugar free vanilla lattes keep me sane.
I never thought I’d love a thank you card more… until I saw Etsy seller Rasideas’ “Around the House” thank you notes. The gray is just perfect (all of the walls in our condo are painted gray, and we love it!), and the clean simplicity of these cards fits our style to a T.
And, aren’t they perfect? Because at my bridal shower in July people may kindly be buying us our…
Unique Wedding Favors
