Weddingbee Blog

With tummies still full from a massive array of appetizers, entrees, and desserts at my parents’ Christmas party, my sisters and I snuggled on the couch with a copy of Martha Stewart Wedding Cakes and got down to business.

We had flipped through the pages of this book many times before, yet the intricate detail and gorgeous artwork of the cakes still causes my jaw to drop each time. So let’s take a quick tour of some of the masterpieces that are featured among the pages of this amazing book.

I have always had a major weakness for eyelet, so this seems like a great place to start! Whenever Mama Dalmatian and I are shopping and we spot an eyelet piece on the racks, my response is always “I do love me some eyelet!” As it turns out, this prolific statement also applies to wedding cakes.

Image via MarthaStewartWeddings.com / Photo by Anna Williams

Along with eyelet, I have also always been a fan of basket-weave patterns. And while I am generally not a huge fan of fruits in desserts (this is a nice little glimpse into my not-so-ideal eating habits), the berries in this add such nice, rich color.
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Once again I have left you hanging—my bad. I explained my excitement of getting the phone call that my dress had arrived, but then I never shared photos of me in my dress. Granted, I shared photos of the sample gown, which luckily was remarkably similar to the final product, but for the sake of full disclosure here is a quick recap of the fashion show I had when my family came in town last month.

Image via The Daily Puppy

I must say, it was a very surreal feeling to be slipping into my dress.

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Note about this post: I do not mean to stir up a fur-debate, so just know that from here on out whenever I say “fur,” I mean fur-esque.

When Mr. Dalmatian and I decided on our date, we considered a few things. One thing that we didn’t really consider was the time of year, because it seemed like a given that we would get married in the spring or summer. Not only did this fit with our desire to have an outdoor ceremony, it also seemed to make the most sense with the timeline of our lives, since we would both be done with grad school. I am very happy with this decision, and can’t wait to be surrounded by lovely May flowers on our wedding day, but there is one small thing I am sad to be missing.

Image via Hasel.typepad.com

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I must warn you: this may be my first post about wedding cakes, but it will most certainly not be my last. You see, I have a mouth full of sweet teeth (and miraculously enough not a single one of them has ever had a cavity!). Every member of my family is a huge fan of candies, cookies, cakes, and most of all: frosting. When we were little we used to express our desire for a little something sweet after a solid meal by explaining that our dinner shelf was full, but our dessert shelf was empty!

Did someone say dessert shelf? My hometown bakery / Image via NorthshoreUpdate.com

Clearly, wedding cakes were one of the first things I started bookmarking for inspiration when we got engaged. When I look back on this mouth-watering section of my wedding folder, I notice a certain trend: ruffles! This is not too surprising, given I am a self-confessed ruffle-aholic. Here is a little sample of how this addiction translated into cake-spiration:

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It was a random Thursday afternoon. Mr. Dalmatian had come home for a few hours between his classes. I was supposed to be studying for my nursing boards. Mr. Dalmatian was supposed to be writing a paper that was due the next day. Instead, we were watching Hulu, snacking on cookie dough, and cuddling with Echo. Oops!

Can you blame me for being distracted by this cuteness?

When my phone rang and I saw it was from an unknown number, I let out a little groan. Have I mentioned I hate talking to strangers on the phone? Ordinarily, I would have pretended to miss the call and hoped they left a voicemail, but not this time. You see, 1) I was in the process of applying to jobs and figured it could be a potential employer and 2) whenever Mr. D is there he makes me answer the phone to try to help me get over my phone-phobia. He’s always making me a better person, though sometimes I drag my feet kicking and screaming. Oops!

I am awfully glad he made me answer this phone call though.
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You know what they say, the best laid plans often go awry. I already told you about the time we planned a trip to NYC, only to buy my dress beforehand in Nashville. I also told you about the time I bought a mailbox at the flea market…

That’s right, my great find is no longer going to be featured in our big day. Is it because I decided I didn’t like the idea of mailbox as a card box? Of course not! I still love this. It is because I found another mailbox that I simply had to have.

I was up in Chicago for Thanksgiving, and Mama Dalmatian and I had a day to ourselves before my other family members arrived. We decided to go antiquing together because my obsession with this activity stems directly from my mom. We were at a big antique barn and already having way too much luck when I spotted something in the next booth. I’m pretty sure I literally gasped. Granted, I am pretty easily excitable—but this was seriously a kick-butt find.
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In my opinion, there are a lot of things country music stars do right. First and foremost, the music. I had no knowledge of the genre before I moved to Nashville five years ago and, to be quite honest, I really had no interest in learning. But then a funny thing happened.

My mom and I took a day-trip from Chicago to Nashville (thank you Southwest deals) to visit Vanderbilt. Mama Dalmatian says she knew right away that I would end up there, partially because I was completely enthralled by Vandy’s blooming gardens and pedestrian bridges (I really love me a pedestrian bridge), and partially because as we explored the city in our rental car I had the country music blaring and a huge smile plastered across my face.

My favorite pedestrian bridge at Vandy / Photo via DonHardingGroup.com

And thus, my love for fiddles and honky-tonks was born. But we’ll get more into the music part in a later post. Right now, I want to talk about another thing that country music stars do right: LOVE.

They throw adorable rustic weddings with cowboy boots and all. Proof:
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Let me just preface this post by saying that I love my dress and every lovely detail of it. But let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Okay fine, not so much nitty gritty as silky smooth, but that just doesn’t have the same ring.

Ever since I started looking at wedding dresses (we are talking long before my engagement here, bees), there was one little detail with which I was completely enamored: buttons. I loved the look of a little row of buttons all lined up down the back of a dress. It just seems so much more special than a zipper, even if there is a zipper hiding underneath. I was completely drawn to these little suckers, and couldn’t get enough. Buttons all the way to the ground? Love. I do not care that the skirt of a dress does not need to be buttoned. Like most obsessions of mine, my fascination with buttons had nothing to do with practicality. Rather, it has to do with the romantic feel they embody. I can’t quite explain it, but something about pictures like these just make my heart melt:

Image via DressesDenimAndDiaperBags / Dress by BHLDN

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…or multiple stamps, as the case may be!

Let the invitation games begin! No, we are not getting married until May. Yes, we just sent out our save-the-dates. Yes, the wheels have already started turning about our DIY invitations. I have a plethora of inspirational design ideas to share with you, but let’s start with a jumping off point: my first invitation-related purchase!

Let me start by briefly explaining my shopping habits. I love online shopping. I also love a good deal (almost as much as Mr. Dalmatian does). Thus, flash sale websites are right up my alley. In case you couldn’t guess, I also love weddings. So when I heard about DressRush.com, a site with daily deals for brides (and others too), I was all over it.

Now, let me briefly explain what I envision for our invitations, and pretty much every other detail of our  wedding:
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A few weeks ago I emailed our photographer with a quick question about our engagement photos. This was not an urgent question (we are not taking our engagement pictures until March, mind you). I purposely sent the email in October, however, because I knew that our super adorable preggo photographer was due to have her twins in November, and I figured I would get my question out of the way before her life became exponentially more crazy (and cute!).

So, I sent my email at 3:13 p.m. She wrote me back at 11:04 the next morning. I read the first line of her response, which read “I’m so sorry for the delay in response.” I thought that this was very nice, although not necessary (read: it had literally not even been 24 hours). Then I continued to read her explanation and learned that she had had her babies and was still in the hospital! I immediately wrote back, expressing my congratulations and telling her not to worry about responding back to me.

This made me think about a few things.
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Nope, I’m not going anywhere. You can’t get rid of me that easily! What I’m referring to, of course, is our exit from the reception or, as our fabulous venue calls it, our “gala send off.” How fancy is that? It brings something like this to my mind:

Image via FoxNews.com

I am definitely on board with anything that makes me feel like a princess (technically duchess, I suppose, but I’m sticking with princess), so a gala send-off it is!

We have a choice of using bubbles, rose petals, or sparklers. For those of you who are as impatient as I am, I won’t drag this out (because obviously wondering what item we are using at our send off would keep you up all night). For us, the choice was clear:
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It had been way too long since my last baseball reference, so I had to do it with this title. Go White Sox!

Now down to business. Since we have covered my shoes, my dress, and my veil, I figured I’d keep the ball rolling and share another piece of my wedding day look (although this will probably contribute more to our sweetheart table look since I don’t plan on carrying it around all night, but you get the idea): my purse!

Here is a pic of my everyday purse (yes, I am cruel and dragged Adam to SeaWorld San Antonio on his birthday last winter - I love dolphins that much).

Personal Photo

As you can see from the pic, it would make an excellent something blue. However, even though my wedding is be no means fancy shmancy, I don’t think my lovely Anthro bag is very fitting for a formal occasion. This means I will need a wedding day clutch.

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I have already shared a couple of photos of how drop dead stunning my sister, MOH A, looked on her wedding day last May. But in order to share another detail of my wedding day look, I am going to turn to a few more photos of hers.

Photo by Edward Fox Photography

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Hi there! Remember that time I started telling you about my dress shopping adventures and then totally left you high and dry without a drop of info about my final purchase? My bad! In case you missed the beginning of the story (or in case you need a refresher since it has been so long), I fawned over some inspiration dresses, planned a trip to NYC, and did a little bit of shopping here in Nashville with Mama Dalmatian.

Now, first things first:

Image via The Daily Puppy

Okay, now second things second: I have a very important warning for those of you who have not yet embarked on wedding dress shopping:
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After sharing my inspiration for a bridal bouquet, I got a little distracted by the completion of our save-the-dates (okay, I confess that not all of them are addressed yet, but they are all assembled!), but it’s time now to get back to pretty, colorful flowers!

The package we have selected from our venue includes 3 bridesmaids bouquets. Now, you may recall that I have 4 lovely bridesmaids. Luckily, our venue was willing to accommodate this and told us that they could make 4 bouquets, they would just have to be on the small side. We’ll take it!

I didn’t want to deny my bridesmaids of beautiful bouquets, but the more I looked at inspiration pictures, the more I realized that size doesn’t matter (insert inappropriate joke/comment of your choice here). Look at these darling bouquets that are small in size and huge in charm:

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