Weddingbee Blog

…or FFfF, because that’s the sound I made for the longest time when I thought of favors. On the one hand, there’s a part of me that loves the idea of them. This is probably because I went to too many birthday parties as a child where we were sent home with Lisa Frank paraphernalia. Stickers, notepads, colorful pens, and temporary tattoos. Oh, those were the good days!

Okay, I am still one-hundred-percent all about the birthday party favors. But a wedding is a completely different affair. As in, we would be having 150-200 adult guests instead of 5-10 children. I wasn’t too keen on spending a lot of money on a favor that, from what I’ve heard, more often than not goes untouched and unappreciated. Yet as our day grew closer, I found myself genuinely wanting to offer our guests a token of love and our gratitude.

It wasn’t until I was searching Weddingbee for inspiration and came across Mrs. Sloth’s own favor post that I was convinced. (Thanks, Mrs. Sloth!)

And thus, with minimal money and minimal work, these were born:

photo by Bryan and Mae Photography

Read more…

Paddle fan programs are nothing new in the wedding world, but boy are they still fun! Here’s how ours turned out:

I would tell you that the concern for our guests’ comfort on a potentially hot summer day was the leading deciding factor to use paddle fans, but honestly, the cuteness factor had just as much influence. I just cannot resist things that are both adorable and functional.
Read more…

Note: No, this is not a recap yet, so sorry to disappoint! I’ve got a couple of last-minute posts I ran out of time for in the days leading up to the wedding, but patience is a virtue. Or so I’m told.

When Mr. Bunting got his passport, a few readers noticed something suspiciously shiny and silver in the photograph of Mr. Bunting. First, I commend those of you who noticed! You are all like wedding piranhas, sniffing out all the little wedding-related details. If Waldo wore a veil, you would find him without fail every time.

personal photo

While it so clearly resembles a wedding band, I assure you that I did not cave and let Mr. Bunting wear his wedding ring before we were officially wed.

So this is the story about a friendly jaunt that I took to the next level.
Read more…

Hi, Hive!

I’m back, married, and it was legen-… wait for it… -DARY! But alas, we don’t have pro photos back so you’ll have to wait a little bit longer before my recaps begin. Sad, I know.

I’m saving most of the details for the recaps, but I can at least spoil you all with a few teaser images shot by some of our lovely guests. Right? Right!

personal photo

The morning forecast had been calling for thunderstorms and rain right when the ceremony was scheduled to start, and that had the butterflies in my tummy doing barrel rolls a la Starfox-style. Mrs. Meerkat even drove out of her way to bring me a cute pair of galoshes and matching umbrella, just in case. (Isn’t she the SWEETEST?! The answer is yes, yes she is.) As cute as they are, I’m thrilled to say they won’t be making an appearance in photos at all. The weather was absolutely beautiful—warm, sunny, and very summery without a single raindrop! Just what we ordered.

Read more…

Dear Hive,

Today, I will be marrying my best friend. It seems so incredibly surreal that our engagement period is about to draw to a close, and that our relationship is about to enter an entirely new territory. I feel like we are leveling up. We have been dating for over seven years, and though we both knew within our hearts that we would eventually marry, it is still almost unbelievable that our day is finally upon us. The entire wedding planning process has been such an amazing adventure, and it has certainly had its ups and downs. But you know what? Despite all of the stress, drama, and occasional fits of tears, planning my wedding to Mr. Bunting has been an experience I will forever treasure. There have been so many new and wonderful memories made, and I can honestly say that I have thoroughly enjoyed and savored every minute of it.

Throughout our engagement, people continuously told me how it was such a lot of time and money to invest into a single day.

Read more…

Remember my freak-out with Mr. Bunting’s passport? Well guess what came in the mail!

It took months of ups and downs (mainly downs) and searching and phone calls and emails and more phone calls and waiting and even more phone calls and finally…we have it. We had contacted everyone we possibly could that was involved with his adoption and called the passport agency on a daily basis for help, all to no avail.

So how did we finally get it? Well that’s the real kicker.
Read more…

Mr. Bunting and I were at the mall the other day trying to find him some dress pants for another friend’s wedding, and as we approached the jewelry arena (seriously, the way they’re all facing one another in an open square makes it a fighting arena for the sparkly), I suggested we stop by to see if Mr. Bunting’s wedding band was in. It had been several weeks since we’d ordered it, so even though they hadn’t called yet, I speculated that it may have come in that day. I’ve had that happen to me before, on several occasions actually. (That just makes me look impatient, I know.)

So we strolled on in, and this is what followed:

Clerk: Hello! May I help you with something?

Mr. Bunting: Yes, I got a call today that my ring was in.

Me: Wait. What?

Mr. Bunting simply nods.

Me: Wait. Really? Like for serious? They called you? (I think he’s lying just to get the clerk to check, which is a very odd way to have them check.)
Read more…

I met with our florist recently to refine our order and play with some flowers (yay, flowers!). While I had provided our florist with plenty of inspiration photos that closely resembled what I wanted, this was the first time I actually got to see some of those flowers together in person. More importantly, it let me see just how our florist actually interpreted my inspiration photos. A handful of the reviews left by other brides for our florist commented on how the floral arrangements were great, but not what they originally wanted or imagined, so I really wanted to get a glimpse of what I’d be getting before the actual day.

Don’t get me wrong, our florist is a lovely woman, but I do happen to be a detail-oriented control freak when it comes to this wedding, so despite how much I got along with her I just couldn’t forget those reviews. Just as you’d do for hair and makeup, I’d suggest a trial or mock-up (if possible) for anyone who is a little concerned that what they get will not be what they specified. It may make me a bit obsessive, yes, but when I can see for myself how something may look then I feel much more comfortable with letting someone else take full control. Like I said—control freak.

Image via Nazarene Blogs

Read more…

Sometimes I wish I had a man with an acoustic guitar follow me around all day, playing songs that fit the mood of the moment. Life would be so much cooler with a daily theme song, wouldn’t it?

Video via YouTube

Read more…

Before I get to the good stuff, let me give a bit of back story about my quest for photographers.

I’m a picture person. I could spend hours (and often do) just looking at images online, in books, in magazines, everywhere. For this reason, I always knew that photography would be an important element to our wedding, and after getting engaged it was one of the first vendors I started searching for. I searched high and I searched low. I had specific standards for the photography, and if I was going to pay for it, then I was going to pay for it to be done in a style that I loved. Most of the local photographers I perused were nice, but didn’t jump out at me. When I discovered the online portfolios of our region’s high-end photographers, my standards shot even higher. But the price tag…they were all simply more than we could afford.

Photo by Bryan and Mae Photography

Read more…

Tuxedos never really fit in with the outdoor ceremony we’ve been planning, and though I was slightly sad I wouldn’t see Mr. Bunting all dressed up in one, I’ve never regretted our decision to avoid the tux. They do look snazzy, but there were several factors that turned us away from them and, honestly, they never stood a chance. (We really wanted to embrace the atmosphere of our park, and tuxedos were just too formal. We also had to consider the potential summer heat.)

In the beginning, I had told Mr. Bunting that he could choose what he and the groomsmen wanted to wear aside from a tux (unless he reeeeally wanted them). If they wanted to wear suit jackets, they could wear suit jackets. If they didn’t want to (and I was secretly hoping they wouldn’t), then they wouldn’t have to. Of course they didn’t want to wear jackets for an outdoor June wedding, so it was a win-win situation!

I stayed true to my decision of putting Mr. Bunting in charge of the groomsmen. I let him mull it over. He mulled it over a lot (or perhaps too little). I casually reminded him that we needed to start making decisions for their attire. He mulled it over some more. I began to wonder if he really was thinking about it, or if he even cared, so I started probing him more for ideas and answers. I thought maybe if I showed him some ideas, he’d find something he liked. So I started focusing my Google and blog searches on groomsmen attire.

Haha, that’s when it all changed.
Read more…

I know it’s been a popular wedding trend over the last year or so, but sometimes a trend is so appropriate for your own wedding that you just have to grab a noisemaker and hop on that jolly ol’ bandwagon. Folks, trends typically become trends for a reason (because they’re awesome), and there comes a time in every bride’s life when one trend just cries oh, hell yes. Well, I have heard that cry, and I’m unashamed to tell you that I’ve got two handfuls of noisemakers for the bandwagon ride!

What bandwagon will I be riding today? Hair flowers and fascinators, of course!

Image via Long Wedding Hair Online

Read more…

Let’s be honest. Mr. Bunting and I don’t always agree on musical tastes. I can be a little bit country, and he can be a little bit in-your-face-with-the-screaming punk/alternative rock. Seriously, some of the things that blast out of the stereo when I borrow his car have all of my Senses Fail-ing, all right. OK, OK, so I do enjoy several Senses Fail songs, but the majority of Mr. Bunting’s music involves rocking bass that rocks my head a little too much, and throats that I swear must have callouses from all the screaming. I’ve since learned to turn the volume down before the sound kicks in lest I end up like this:

Image via GraphicsHunt

Read more…

Three years ago on May 8th, Mr. Bunting lost his father. It was unexpected, tragic, and easily the worst day of our lives.

At 5 AM that morning, I had left with a group of classmates to go on a two-month geology adventure to the canyonlands of the Southwest. By the time I got the call, we were already several states away in our van. There is no greater feeling of helplessness than when your loved one is in need and you can’t even be there. But I have amazing parents and they arranged an emergency return flight for me, so by 11PM I was finally pulling into his driveway.

I know the anniversary of his father’s death is, and always will be, a sorrowful time for Mr. Bunting. I also know that this year may be especially hard as our wedding day approaches, knowing his father won’t be there. I never once fathomed that we would be missing one of our parents when we finally exchanged vows, but you can never really see sudden tragedies coming.

I think it’s important to honor those who are with us in spirit at our wedding, especially since they have played such crucial roles in our lives. So I’ve taken it upon myself to find a way to incorporate his father into the wedding in a way that will commemorate him without detracting from the celebratory mood of the day. I already plan on including some memorial wording on our programs, but I almost feel as if that’s not enough tribute.

Image via Beliefnet

Read more…

I hated cake toppers. It’s true. I thought they were all ugly and cheap looking, and there was no way I was going to have one on our cake. I’m not big into monogrammed letters, either, so I wouldn’t even consider having bejeweled initials. I was resolved to use real flowers or to make something myself.

Looking back on my naive self, I can’t help but laugh. Not because I’ve changed my mind about monogrammed initials, but because I thought that’s all the wedding world had to offer when it came to cake toppers. Again, this is where I love the internet, especially Etsy, because it opens up a whole new world of opportunities. Granted, I still cringe at the majority of cake toppers (I’m picky about proportions and aesthetics, what can I say?), but there are some reeeeeeally great ones available! So many, in fact, that I’d be hard-pressed to pick a favorite. Let us explore the wonderful possibilities together. Shall we? Yes, we shall.

Lovebirds have been a popular choice lately, and with good reason. There are plenty of styles to choose from, too:

Image via Red Light Studio on Etsy

Read more…