Mrs. Sparkler, Chicago
Age and Occupation: 27, Communications Aficionado
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Publisher
Engagement Date: July 21, 2010
Wedding Date: September 2011
Venue: Chicago Illuminating Company
About Me: I’m a Southern lady living in the big city of Chicago. Well, lady may be a stretch, but I’m working hard to keep some Virginia charm in our sleek, urban, wedding-palooza! I’m addicted to marathons, not-so-famous bands, Chicago restaurants, and Mark Twain. I cry during SPCA commercials, and I think LOST was the best show to ever hit television. Mr. S and I met at a classy college mixer and, 7 years later, he’s still by my side. He’s the only child, laid back, free spirit... I’m the oldest of five kids, type-A, organizer. It doesn’t work on paper, but we’ve never paid attention to that stuff anyway. Somehow it works. And like they say, sometimes when you know…you just know.
As I write this, I can’t stop shaking my head at the fact that Sparks and I have been married for 4 MONTHS now! I really can’t believe it. Time has been flying by ever since the big day.
I’m not going to lie… the actual week of our wedding was pretty stressful. All of the “little” projects on our “To-Do” list started to feel really big, and it didn’t seem like we had nearly enough time (or money, grrrr) to get anything done. So here’s my biggest piece of wedding advice for ya:
Do whatever you can, as early as you can.
Seriously. Don’t feel silly doing your programs or favors 5 months before the actual wedding. Because you won’t feel silly when you have all of that stuff done, and you can relax poolside with your bridesmaids before the wedding. I procrastinated on a couple of important projects, and as a result, had a few internal freak outs, a near-breakdown in a hotel lobby (before BFF saved the day… thanks, lady!), and a grand total of 5 minutes to get ready for my rehearsal dinner. Yep. But that’s another story.
Sparks and I started the celebrations on Wednesday before the big day.
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Mrs. High Wire, Dallas
Age and Occupation: 23, Legal Assistant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Director of Communications
Engagement Date: October 9, 2010
Wedding Date: September 2011
Venue: Clark Gardens
About Me: My loves include yoga, anything spicy, our eccentric cat, our rambunctious dog, and Mr. High Wire, of course! Like the steadiness act of the tightrope walker, this gal is busy balancing life while planning a wedding to the man of her dreams. We’re hosting a laid-back, vintage-inspired, bird themed wedding with heavy doses of love, good eats (did someone say tacos and margaritas?), and endless Texas charm. Mr. High Wire and I are so happy to have you along for the walk across the tight rope.
With the majority of the reception “to-dos” behind us, it was time to get the party started!
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Mrs. Argyle, St. Louis
Age and Occupation: 24, Project Coordinator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Pilot
Engagement Date: February 15, 2009
Wedding Date: September 2010
Venue: Jewel Box in Forest Park and Windows on Washington
About Me: I'm a true Midwestern girl (born and raised), lover of red wine, reality TV and the entire J.Crew catalog. I love to dance regardless of who is watching, and enjoy a good laugh with my girls. I have a soft spot in my heart for planet Earth, my two dogs and my fiance. Fall is my favorite season (which is why we are marrying in September), but I love a warm summer day and the Colorado mountains in the winter. We are planning a modern soiree downtown, with lots of bold colors, and fun, eco-friendly elements.
It was finally time to put on the dress!
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Mrs. Teaspoon, Sydney, Australia
Age and Occupation: 27, Medical Scientist
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Banker
Engagement Date: June 4, 2010
Wedding Date: September 2011
Venue: St Aloysius' College, Milson's Point
About Me: I am a mad scientist who enjoys swimming at the beach in summer and skiing powder in winter. Our favourite times together are spent with the sand between our toes, cooking up a storm, re-watching and re-reading every Harry Potter ever made, and spending time with our dear friends and family! We have travelled the world together in our 6 years of dating, from Paris, to Thailand, to Las Vegas, and we are tackling the many challenges of planning our special day the best way we know how---together!
After our entrance into our beautiful reception venue, we sat down and enjoyed a lovely entree (appetiser for the North Americans) and for me, only my second meal of the day. Oh boy, did I scoff it down. After that, I just wanted to keep chatting with our guests. However, Mr T reminded me that everyone else probably hadn’t inhaled their meal yet, so I should probably wait for a minute.
Regardless, it was then time for our first speech from my dad, who was incredibly nervous about speaking in front of 106 people! Before the wedding he mentioned that he had found a great idea—that he just had to pretend everyone was in their underwear. Real original, Dad. Anyway, I suggested that he should just tell everyone how nervous he was and that he was imagining them all in their underwear…then go back to that every time he got nervous again.
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Mrs. Brooch, Arlington, VA
Age and Occupation: 25, Writer/Editor
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Front Desk Manager
Engagement Date: October 3, 2009
Wedding Date: April 2011
Venue: Oxon Hill Manor
About Me: I’m an indecisive girlie-girl with a motor mouth, can-do attitude, and knack for making others laugh. I dream of becoming a best selling novelist like Elizabeth Gilbert or Julie Powell (a girl can dream, right?), and love long road trips, a beautiful countryside, music, blogs, books, and all things vintage/thrift/antique/or homemade. I’m a Virgo, i.e. overly sensitive, emotional, and critical, and there’s no such thing as short and sweet in my world. I want to say and do it all. Mr. Brooch grounds me. I point where to go and he figures out the way. He’s a pragmatic fancy-pants who enjoys video games and movies. We both adore our mutt, Rocky, and spending time with our amazingly supportive family and friends. We’re planning a garden wedding with a formal reception with lots of whimsy and unique, Southern-inspired details.
As I put the final touches on my ensemble, our guests poured into the garden at Oxon Hill. At the entrance, we had a little table with a lemonade dispenser and this adorable sign made by Mrs. Dolphin via Gator Bride Designs.
Photos by Meredith Perdue & Graham Terhune
We’re told people marveled at the view as they stepped in… I’m not surprised at all. The view from the garden is stunning and not one visit to Oxon Hill Manor for appointments and planning was without a huge sigh at the gorgeousness beyond the gated entryway. This heart wreath was placed there as an ode to it being our favorite place at the venue.
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Mrs. High Wire, Dallas
Age and Occupation: 23, Legal Assistant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Director of Communications
Engagement Date: October 9, 2010
Wedding Date: September 2011
Venue: Clark Gardens
About Me: My loves include yoga, anything spicy, our eccentric cat, our rambunctious dog, and Mr. High Wire, of course! Like the steadiness act of the tightrope walker, this gal is busy balancing life while planning a wedding to the man of her dreams. We’re hosting a laid-back, vintage-inspired, bird themed wedding with heavy doses of love, good eats (did someone say tacos and margaritas?), and endless Texas charm. Mr. High Wire and I are so happy to have you along for the walk across the tight rope.
Our guests began helping themselves to drinks and finding a seat for the reception.
We decided not to do assigned seating. Instead, we put signs on just a couple of tables to reserve seats for the bridal party and some VIP family members (like my grandmother). If you are considering forgoing assigned seating, you can rest easy! We had absolutely no issues. There were more than enough seats for everyone, which helped avoid problems. Assigned seats are not really common in our circles, so most everyone knew how to make it work.
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Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
Mrs. Bacon, Chicago
Age and Occupation: 26, Digital Advertising Manager
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, IT Client Services
Engagement Date: June 17, 2010
Wedding Date: September 2011
Venue: Ravenswood Billboard Factory
About Me: I'm a Midwestern girl that can't seem to commit to staying in one place for too long and is constantly daydreaming about my next adventure. I am an aspiring foodie with a weak spot for the unusual and I love semi-reality food television. My other loves easily include laughing as a form of exercise, a book that I can't put down, summer baseball games, espresso with whipped cream, couch potato days and nights with the ridiculous Mr. Bacon, and our two kitties, Lincoln and Sawyer. We're planning a faux-destination wedding for 150 of our closest friends and family in the city we've both adopted as home that has a modern, yet whimsical twist and as many personal touches as we can manage.
(Word of apology: Sadly my camera was left at home all day, so this post isn’t quite as illustrated as I wish it could be)
The morning on the day before the wedding was full of hustle, bustle and bonding: the ladies of the wedding party, along with some ladies from out of town, set off to Potbelly’s for some pre-mani sandwiches and the boys were off to Wrigleyville for sandwiches as big as their heads.
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| Baconator with his dad and the Bacon Groomsmen getting pumped! |
The ladies were then off to get our nails done and some midday cocktails, but the boys had something so much more… um… manly to do: Whirlyball.
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Mrs. Zebra, Providence, RI
Age and Occupation: 24 Marketing/Costume Designer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26 Management/Firefighter
Engagement Date: December 12, 2008
Wedding Date: March 2011
Venue: The Providence Biltmore
About 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.
Shit guys, this is hard.
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Mrs. Argyle, St. Louis
Age and Occupation: 24, Project Coordinator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Pilot
Engagement Date: February 15, 2009
Wedding Date: September 2010
Venue: Jewel Box in Forest Park and Windows on Washington
About Me: I'm a true Midwestern girl (born and raised), lover of red wine, reality TV and the entire J.Crew catalog. I love to dance regardless of who is watching, and enjoy a good laugh with my girls. I have a soft spot in my heart for planet Earth, my two dogs and my fiance. Fall is my favorite season (which is why we are marrying in September), but I love a warm summer day and the Colorado mountains in the winter. We are planning a modern soiree downtown, with lots of bold colors, and fun, eco-friendly elements.
While us girls were getting all made up, the boys had other ideas. They spent the morning doing ‘guy’ things. Which really just consisted of hanging out, eating lunch and watching some sporting event (or guy movie) on TV.
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Mrs. Bacon, Chicago
Age and Occupation: 26, Digital Advertising Manager
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, IT Client Services
Engagement Date: June 17, 2010
Wedding Date: September 2011
Venue: Ravenswood Billboard Factory
About Me: I'm a Midwestern girl that can't seem to commit to staying in one place for too long and is constantly daydreaming about my next adventure. I am an aspiring foodie with a weak spot for the unusual and I love semi-reality food television. My other loves easily include laughing as a form of exercise, a book that I can't put down, summer baseball games, espresso with whipped cream, couch potato days and nights with the ridiculous Mr. Bacon, and our two kitties, Lincoln and Sawyer. We're planning a faux-destination wedding for 150 of our closest friends and family in the city we've both adopted as home that has a modern, yet whimsical twist and as many personal touches as we can manage.
Happy New Year, Hive!
(Who am I kidding, I’ve missed quite a few holidays, so please forgive me as I quickly catch myself up.) Happy Columbus Day! Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Hannukah! Merry Christmas! Whew, now that we’re all caught up, let me say that I’m so excited to share our wedding day with you. I can’t believe that we’ve already been married four months; I mean, come on, where did all that time go? My dress still isn’t dry cleaned (ew, I know, but I promise I’m working on it…) and the Baconator is still procrastinating his last few thank you cards, so how in the world is it already 2012?!
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| Photo courtesy of my über talented cousin |
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Mrs. Zebra, Providence, RI
Age and Occupation: 24 Marketing/Costume Designer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26 Management/Firefighter
Engagement Date: December 12, 2008
Wedding Date: March 2011
Venue: The Providence Biltmore
About 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.
The main focus of our reception was the dancing! I couldn’t wait to bust some serious moves out on the dance floor. We had purposely chosen dinner music that would set the mood of an upcoming party. The energy in the room was electric and I was so happy that everyone came prepared to party. It also didn’t hurt that we had hired a DJ who I believe to be the best in the area. Seriously, I don’t think many people left our reception until it finished at 12AM. I credit Brendan Lafferty with the excellent party because the music was absolutely impeccable.
I got to share a pajama’d dance with my Godson before he and his brother left the wedding for a cousin sleepover. This allowed my Spiffy to gift our guests with her worm. Yes, oh yes, the worm happened at our wedding.
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Mrs. Balloons, Aspen, CO
Age and Occupation: 24, Mass Communications graduate, Web Design student, & winery worker
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Engineer
Engagement Date: July 10, 2009
Wedding Date: August 2011
Venue: The Sundeck at The Little Nell
About Me: I'm a small-town Midwest girl planning an intimate mountaintop destination wedding complete with a huge DIY at-home reception. As an honors graduate fallen victim to the worst job market in history in my area, we're doing everything we can to still have the wedding of our dreams on a tighter budget. I currently enjoy working at a winery, but I'm lonnng overdue for a day job! I am: a big-time daydreamer, one of the pickiest eaters you'll ever meet, and a lover of pretty paper and awesome fonts. I'm a girly girl who loves to get dolled up, but also a country girl who loves to get muddy and go 4-wheeler riding. I also enjoy singing in the car, boating, going to concerts, the History Channel, carnival food, and going to watch St. Louis Cardinals baseball with my handsome engineer.
My journey down the aisle was truly one of the most spectacular events that I have ever experienced. Every worry or doubt that I had ever had about having a mountaintop destination wedding seemed completely insane as I turned the corner to see such a breathtaking, amazing view. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the temperature was absolutely perfect. I was beaming from the inside out as I watched my future husband’s face light up with a smile as he stood against a backdrop of gorgeous mountains and pines. As I continued down the aisle with the angelic harp playing in the background, I literally felt as though I was thrown into a fairytale…everything was so beautiful that it didn’t seem as though it could be real.
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Mrs. Zebra, Providence, RI
Age and Occupation: 24 Marketing/Costume Designer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26 Management/Firefighter
Engagement Date: December 12, 2008
Wedding Date: March 2011
Venue: The Providence Biltmore
About 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.
Photo booths! All the rage! I don’t care if they are a passing fad, I’ll take a strip of goofy photos any day. Our photo booth luckily tripled as guest entertainment, favors, and a guest book which we felt was worth the added expense. My only regret is that I forgot about the booth and was only able to get one picture with Zeb right before we were introduced. Our guests clearly had a blast in it.
We really loved the classic look of our photo booth, with its red background curtain. It’s like being in the mall circa 1989 with a neon scrunchy in your hair. At the end of the night we were given our guestbook to enjoy immediately. Our guests loved looking at it during our post-wedding brunch the following day. We also received a CD of all the images as well. They are some of our favorite pictures of our wedding guests.
Picture courtesy of Sara Zarrella Photography
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Mrs. Balloons, Aspen, CO
Age and Occupation: 24, Mass Communications graduate, Web Design student, & winery worker
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Engineer
Engagement Date: July 10, 2009
Wedding Date: August 2011
Venue: The Sundeck at The Little Nell
About Me: I'm a small-town Midwest girl planning an intimate mountaintop destination wedding complete with a huge DIY at-home reception. As an honors graduate fallen victim to the worst job market in history in my area, we're doing everything we can to still have the wedding of our dreams on a tighter budget. I currently enjoy working at a winery, but I'm lonnng overdue for a day job! I am: a big-time daydreamer, one of the pickiest eaters you'll ever meet, and a lover of pretty paper and awesome fonts. I'm a girly girl who loves to get dolled up, but also a country girl who loves to get muddy and go 4-wheeler riding. I also enjoy singing in the car, boating, going to concerts, the History Channel, carnival food, and going to watch St. Louis Cardinals baseball with my handsome engineer.
From the moment that I began my wedding planning journey, there was one aspect that I didn’t have to think twice about…the element of surprise at the end of the aisle. Even though there are tons of adorable first look photo shoots floating around the web, my desire for that grand moment of surprise when walking down the aisle remained. The night before the wedding Mr. B and I stayed in separate hotel rooms, the day of we got ready in separate locations, and we took extra care to be sure that we would not see each other when we got to the top of the mountain. Even though our wedding ultimately contained lots of non-traditional elements, I am so happy with our decision on keeping this particular tradition. Seeing my future husband’s reaction as I turned the corner and walked down the aisle is an image that I will always look back upon and smile. In fact, I’m literally smiling right now as I’m typing this and thinking back on that moment. 
So I’m sure by now you’re wondering what first look I’m talking about! When discussing with my photographer which photographs were going to be most important and which “must have” shots needed to be included, the topic that kept popping up was how important to me it was to include the real moments with my father and not just posy type of pictures. This is when she came up with one of the greatest suggestions…a first look with my father before the ceremony!
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Mrs. Argyle, St. Louis
Age and Occupation: 24, Project Coordinator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Pilot
Engagement Date: February 15, 2009
Wedding Date: September 2010
Venue: Jewel Box in Forest Park and Windows on Washington
About Me: I'm a true Midwestern girl (born and raised), lover of red wine, reality TV and the entire J.Crew catalog. I love to dance regardless of who is watching, and enjoy a good laugh with my girls. I have a soft spot in my heart for planet Earth, my two dogs and my fiance. Fall is my favorite season (which is why we are marrying in September), but I love a warm summer day and the Colorado mountains in the winter. We are planning a modern soiree downtown, with lots of bold colors, and fun, eco-friendly elements.
Being the type-A planner I am, I timed our day to flow smoothly, giving me and the Mr. some time to sleep in (yes, I slept until 9:00 a.m. on my wedding day). Our ceremony wasn’t until 4:30 p.m., so we had plenty of time to relax. My wonderful hair and makeup artist did not arrive until around 10:15 a.m. When she showed up, Mr. A took off to go hang out with the guys, and my four beautiful bridesmaids and mom showed up to get all pretty for the big day. Holly quickly put my hair up in curlers to set, and while they cooled, I spent some time with my mom in the other room organizing all of the little details for my photographer to snap photos of. And, before I knew it, it was my turn to get my hair and makeup done.
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