Mrs. Dalmatian, Nashville, TNAge and Occupation: 23, Pediatric NurseFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, Computer Engineer and Entrepreneur Engagement Date: April 13, 2011Wedding Date: May 2012Venue: Historic CedarwoodAbout Me: I am a Northern girl from Chicago who is planning a wedding filled with Southern charm in Nashville, Tennessee. I love dogs, the White Sox, Full House reruns, and anything with ruffles on it. Mr. Dalmatian is my computer-genius problem-solving fiance who is constantly teaching me new things and making me a better person. We live with our adopted pup Echo, who is very excited that his parents are getting married!
I have explained how important it was to me to get pricing information from photographers. But pricing wasn’t the only thing I needed to know before signing a contract. In order to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything critical, I looked up some sample questions online. My mind has a tendency to go blank when I am excited, and I didn’t want to book someone just because they were friendly. Don’t get me wrong, I want our photographer to be friendly, but there are some other things I am hoping for as well.
I found many lists of recommended questions, including these from Real Simple, iVillage, and About.com. From these, I did some cutting and pasting, eliminating questions not necessarily because they weren’t important but because I knew they were not relevant for me (let’s be honest, I will read your weddingwire.com reviews, but I am not going to be calling former brides—have I mentioned my phobia of talking to strangers on the phone?). I also eliminated questions that I could determine the answers to by exploring their website.
After this editing, these questions remained top priority for me: Read more…
Mrs. Aardvark, Beaver Dam, WIAge and Occupation: 23, Assistant Product ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Business Analyst Engagement Date: May 28th, 2011Wedding Date: April 2012Venue: St. Philip Catholic Church/Arcadia Brewing Co.About Me: I am a resourceful lady who love surprises and adventure. At the same time, I value traditions, family and friends. I like to make crafty messes, sometimes, clean them up, and do pretty much anything outdoors. The Mister and I are pretty avid cyclists---we have nine bikes in our home right now...and one motorcycle! We both enjoy eating food we can't pronounce (language doesn't really matter) and going places we've never been. We currently reside in rural Wisconsin, enjoying the cheese and beer it has to offer, and getting outside whenever we can!
For some reason, saying (OK, typing) those words makes me feel all nostalgic for dial up…but then I remember that horrific noise and the warm fuzzy feelings are gone. However, this post is not about the history of the internet; it’s just about my, well, Mr. Aardvark’s and my little corner of the web.
It seemed to me that having a wedding website was an important but not very interesting thing, so as I mentioned before, I put this task in Mr. A’s more than capable hands. He is an IT type by profession, so I thought this would be no big deal. Let me tell you, he did LOTS of research on the various free and “free” wedding websites available and finally landed on Project Wedding.
I have to say, he did a fantastic job! I am not sure how much of it was custom work and how much was pre-set templates, but it looks really nice (if I do say so myself).
Miss Fox, Washington DC/Havre de Grace, MDAge and Occupation: 26, Massage TherapistFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Field Support EngineerEngagement Date: April 18, 2010Wedding Date: June 2012Venue: Vandiver InnAbout Me: I’m a dancer turned massage therapist who was born and raised in New York. Alas, true love has brought me “south” where I still maintain my penchants for pretty shoes, wine, crossword puzzles, cherry blossoms, and the Mets. I own more sunglasses than a normal person should and don’t eat red meat (though I make up for it by eating my weight in sushi). I tend to be a big planner who likes to get things started early, but generally end up being indecisive and procrastinating when it comes down to it. I have a (not so) secret crush on Chris Carrabba, but my loyalty and love ultimately goes to the future hubs, of course! Together, my Foxy man and I love to discuss (read: debate) politics and current events, have Mario Kart and Scrabble duels, and just laugh. A lot. We’re hoping and planning for a laid back, fun, summery, rustic vibe to our June wedding that will be genuinely “us” – that is, if we finally make some decisions. Huzzah!
Miss Fox, Washington DC/Havre de Grace, MDAge and Occupation: 26, Massage TherapistFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Field Support EngineerEngagement Date: April 18, 2010Wedding Date: June 2012Venue: Vandiver InnAbout Me: I’m a dancer turned massage therapist who was born and raised in New York. Alas, true love has brought me “south” where I still maintain my penchants for pretty shoes, wine, crossword puzzles, cherry blossoms, and the Mets. I own more sunglasses than a normal person should and don’t eat red meat (though I make up for it by eating my weight in sushi). I tend to be a big planner who likes to get things started early, but generally end up being indecisive and procrastinating when it comes down to it. I have a (not so) secret crush on Chris Carrabba, but my loyalty and love ultimately goes to the future hubs, of course! Together, my Foxy man and I love to discuss (read: debate) politics and current events, have Mario Kart and Scrabble duels, and just laugh. A lot. We’re hoping and planning for a laid back, fun, summery, rustic vibe to our June wedding that will be genuinely “us” – that is, if we finally make some decisions. Huzzah!
Which has led me to become obsessed with MindMeister.
When I first started following Weddingbee, I was stoked to find Mrs. Pencils, a fellow Maryland bride. I decided to go through most of her old posts to get ideas and information about weddings in the DC/MD area since quite frankly, I was still pretty clueless about a lot of things despite living in the area for over two years. During this process, I found a post where she mentioned MindMeister (you can read it here), an incredible map-it-out, list-type website. To which I now have everything related to the wedding mapped out on:
It is amazing because I tend to lose track of what we already decided on and what ideas I have and don’t have; in a word, it’s fantastic for scatterbrains like myself. The best part, though? Read more…
Miss Fox, Washington DC/Havre de Grace, MDAge and Occupation: 26, Massage TherapistFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Field Support EngineerEngagement Date: April 18, 2010Wedding Date: June 2012Venue: Vandiver InnAbout Me: I’m a dancer turned massage therapist who was born and raised in New York. Alas, true love has brought me “south” where I still maintain my penchants for pretty shoes, wine, crossword puzzles, cherry blossoms, and the Mets. I own more sunglasses than a normal person should and don’t eat red meat (though I make up for it by eating my weight in sushi). I tend to be a big planner who likes to get things started early, but generally end up being indecisive and procrastinating when it comes down to it. I have a (not so) secret crush on Chris Carrabba, but my loyalty and love ultimately goes to the future hubs, of course! Together, my Foxy man and I love to discuss (read: debate) politics and current events, have Mario Kart and Scrabble duels, and just laugh. A lot. We’re hoping and planning for a laid back, fun, summery, rustic vibe to our June wedding that will be genuinely “us” – that is, if we finally make some decisions. Huzzah!
My current obsession is not so much wedding planning (that’s a lie—yes it is) but creating and re-creating my wedding-planning binder. I am an organization freak, often too much so, with so many things filed in so many places that I confuse myself. I initially went to Barnes and Noble and bought myself a nice little wedding binder that claimed to come with everything I needed, was a pretty color, and seemed like a good fit.
Mrs. Kettle, Chicago, ILAge and Occupation: 26, Non-Profit Donor Resource CoordinatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Musician & TeacherEngagement Date: May 29, 2011Wedding Date: February 2012Venue: Patrick C. Haley Mansion, Joliet, ILAbout Me: I'm a city girl who loves a good escape, so I'm planning a Chicago wedding outside of the city. I've been described as a quirky yet down-to-earth drama queen who loves fiercely. I used to be a scientist, but now I'm learning to navigate the world of non-profit organizations. I love cooking, blogging, shopping, and music, and movies (Hans Zimmer is my favorite movie composer). Mr. Kettle and I had a short courtship and now we have a happy home with our cat-who-thinks-she's-people, Belle. We spend our days and nights with good food, live music, video games, family, and friends. Our wedding has become this wonderful excuse to bring together hundreds of people we can't bear to be without.
We have avoided this issue by choosing to get married in February. Mr. Kettle and I have been very happy with our selection of wedding date. But there is one possible hitch to our happy wedding: winter Illinois weather.
There was a terrible storm this past winter. In Chicago, a little snow doesn’t bother us. But when this storm was on its way, people went to the grocery store and then went home. They didn’t come back out for at least a couple days. There were no cops or buses on the street; who would drive a vehicle through a few feet of snow? There was no one out except Walgreens employees.
I didn’t think too much about that happening to our wedding. I figured that through sheer will, the weather would be nothing but a bit of sunshine and light snow. I’d stand there in my pretty dress with the matching veil and perhaps a lovely fur coat taking in a few snow flakes and hopefully some wintry sunshine. Kind of like this: Read more…
Mrs. Kettle, Chicago, ILAge and Occupation: 26, Non-Profit Donor Resource CoordinatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Musician & TeacherEngagement Date: May 29, 2011Wedding Date: February 2012Venue: Patrick C. Haley Mansion, Joliet, ILAbout Me: I'm a city girl who loves a good escape, so I'm planning a Chicago wedding outside of the city. I've been described as a quirky yet down-to-earth drama queen who loves fiercely. I used to be a scientist, but now I'm learning to navigate the world of non-profit organizations. I love cooking, blogging, shopping, and music, and movies (Hans Zimmer is my favorite movie composer). Mr. Kettle and I had a short courtship and now we have a happy home with our cat-who-thinks-she's-people, Belle. We spend our days and nights with good food, live music, video games, family, and friends. Our wedding has become this wonderful excuse to bring together hundreds of people we can't bear to be without.
My best man, BM Doc, has an older brother who was engaged while we were in college. His wedding party was spread out geographically. The best way for him to keep everyone in the loop was to let them know in a very classic way: a newsletter.
I loved this idea then, and I love it still now. While we have five people in our wedding party from out of town, that’s actually only a small fraction of our hugely large wedding party. But keeping everyone on the same page has been…a task.
In order to better serve the needs of our my sanity, I came up with a great newsletter. This isn’t just for the bridesmaids, though. It will go to the bridesmaids, the junior bridesmaids and bridal attendants, the groomsmen, the parents of the flowers girls and ring bearers, and also to the ushers and hostesses. That’s a lot o’ mail to send out. But it will be worth it to keep anything from falling through the cracks.
I’m not sure how often I’ll have to do these newsletters, but this one was right before the six-months-to-wedding mark, so there’s no way to tell. In this newsletter, I covered: an introduction of who all was in the wedding party (in case anyone didn’t know yet); a reminder of our engagement party in two weeks; information about our changed venue; clothing FAQs, as we’re coming up on the date to order these items; other cutesy things.
Mrs. Ostrich, San Francisco/HawaiiAge and Occupation: 30, Fashion Buyer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 38, CopywriterEngagement Date: October 4, 2009Wedding Date: April 2011Venue: Sweet ceremony by the sea and sunset celebration on the North Shore of HawaiiAbout Me: Born in the city of angels and residing in the city by the bay, I’m a fearless fashion buyer by day, a passionate blog author by night and a dreamy bride-to-be in between. I thank my lucky stars to live in such a stunning city that gives me gifts like organic honey lavender ice cream, movie nights in the park, tucked away beaches, legendary record stores, '80s dance parties, awesome sports teams, stellar flea markets, and vintage bookshops. Oh, and I love to dance! We always find every excuse to escape to the beach, and decided a little seaside wedding in Hawaii is our idea of bliss. Full of our favorite people, music, food and sparkly lights, this is one sunset celebration we will always remember.
After 12 months of long distance planning, my idea of the process was very different from the actual experience, both good and not-so-good. And looking back, I wished someone gave me a little survival guide before my planning adventure began. And now that all is said and done, I created a little survival guide of my own, with my story and the tips and tricks that I hope will be enlightening and reassuring for all awesome DW brides out there.
Act II - 12-8 Months Before - Pictures worth 1,000 words, begin a long distance relationship with your awesome vendors and save those dates!
12-10 months before:
All the Pretty Pictures:
In the land of virtual wedding planning, the inspiration board and color palette for destination wedding brides are the keys to the proverbial promise land. The more specific you are in the images (I want wood benches and globe lights that look likethis) and color choices (fabric swatches or Pantone chips, please ), the easier it’ll be for your vendors and wedding planner to make your vision come to life. So I collaged my little heart out. Remember some of ours?
Mrs. Kettle, Chicago, ILAge and Occupation: 26, Non-Profit Donor Resource CoordinatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Musician & TeacherEngagement Date: May 29, 2011Wedding Date: February 2012Venue: Patrick C. Haley Mansion, Joliet, ILAbout Me: I'm a city girl who loves a good escape, so I'm planning a Chicago wedding outside of the city. I've been described as a quirky yet down-to-earth drama queen who loves fiercely. I used to be a scientist, but now I'm learning to navigate the world of non-profit organizations. I love cooking, blogging, shopping, and music, and movies (Hans Zimmer is my favorite movie composer). Mr. Kettle and I had a short courtship and now we have a happy home with our cat-who-thinks-she's-people, Belle. We spend our days and nights with good food, live music, video games, family, and friends. Our wedding has become this wonderful excuse to bring together hundreds of people we can't bear to be without.
I’m not exactly a type-A personality, but being organized is super important to me. Marrying a man like Mr. Kettle makes that all the more important. We each have things we forget, and of course they’re different types of forgetting. That type of behavior doesn’t gel with effective wedding planning.
Seeing as how we didn’t want to pay money for a wedding planner, just a day of coordinator, it was imperative that I stay very organized while putting together the details of our wedding.
I managed to get some big decisions handled up front. At least they seemed big at the time. Then five minutes later, I would think about everything else left to do and that one item checked off would seem like nothing. I feel this way every time.
Enter a two-fold solution: A wedding binder and a wedding website. I have both and so far I’m super glad I do. Some things I have recorded in both. Others I use just one or the other.
This Russel + Hazel wedding planner became my best friend. From Office Depot I got a calendar, page protectors, highlighters, colored gel pens, and a briefcase. The briefcase has a dual purpose. This wedding binder will have to be carried with me everywhere I go from now until February 11th, so I wanted something to carry it in that wasn’t my purse. ‘Cause that sucker is huge!
Personal photo: This is the super cute bag I got for my binder.
Mrs. Teaspoon, Sydney, AustraliaAge and Occupation: 27, Medical ScientistFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, BankerEngagement Date: June 4, 2010Wedding Date: September 2011Venue: St Aloysius' College, Milson's PointAbout 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!
This is where I tell you all about how ridiculously anal I am! Shame, shame…I am way way too organised sometimes. Not to worry, it is becoming a great strength to have when it comes to wedding planning!
From the day after we got engaged, I started putting Post-It notes on the wall above my study desk every time I thought of something that we needed to do for the wedding. I like to call it the great Post-It note wall! It is still there in all its glory! However, now there are a lot more things on the “done” side of the wall rather than in the month-by-month organisation area.
Mrs. Ladyfingers, Saint Petersburg, FLAge and Occupation: 30, Marketing ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Sports WriterEngagement Date: December 24, 2010Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Palma Sola Botanical ParkAbout Me: I hail from Oklahoma, he was born and raised in Long Island. Fate brought us together, and now we live in a cute little rental house with our nutty dog, and our aloof cat. We both love to read, watch movies, explore our town, and laugh like hyenas. When I’m not obsessively wedding crafting, I enjoy stalking style and decorating blogs, making collages and painting, napping, thrifting, rearranging our bookshelves, and being a total weirdo with my friends. Hi!
Now that the 100-day mark has come and gone, I find myself more motivated than ever to complete the mound of DIY projects to which I have committed myself. Yeah, that’s right: Hi, my name is Miss Ladyfingers, and I am a procrastinator.
The one project I promised myself we’d have done by 100 days—the invitations—is, hallelujah, complete. But there are many others that are half-done, and still more to be started.
So how do I look at a long to-do list and not freak out? Short answer: Impossible—Freak out is my middle name. Long answer: But! I can refrain from having a total nervous breakdown, thanks to some simple organizational tactics. I’m not professing to have some revolutionary “Getting Things Done”-caliber technique. Many of my ideas are lifted from other bees. Others are just plain commonsense. But personally, I love these kinds of posts. I have a whole file of “how I got organized” posts. So in case you’re like me, here you go: How I plan to keep my wits about me in these final months.
Mrs. Cucumber Sandwich, Washington, DC/Cape May, NJAge and Occupation: 28, School CounselorFiance's Age and Occupation: 40, Collegiate AthleticsEngagement Date: March 27, 2010Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: Congress Hall HotelAbout Me: I am a school counselor who spends my day wrangling children and my nights attempting to be creative with wedding projects. My enthusiasm for each of these activities far surpasses my skill. Thank goodness Mr. Cucumber Sandwich is there to pick up the pieces and be the voice of reason about my DIY tries. I have an obsession with terrible romantic comedies (‘From Justin to Kelly’ anyone?, anyone?!?), competitive Scrabble play, and hot dogs. I could eat astronaut ice cream for every meal and can’t seem to resist buying more shoes. Our wedding is going to be a true hodge podge of semi-destination, tradition, Yuengling, New England charm, with just a dash of ‘Jersey Shore’ thrown in. It has been six years in the making and I can’t wait to marry my best friend.
Since we are having a semi-destination wedding, Mr. Cucumber Sammie and I decided that it would be helpful for our guests if we set up a wedding website. At first the bridal side of my brain kicked in and I was convinced that I was going to build my own website from scratch! I didn’t earn that A in seventh- grade typing for nothing.
I spent a couple of days Googling “how to build a website,” and it just seemed way too complicated. And there was a Real Housewives of Beverly Hills marathon on, which was way more appealing. After my realization that building a website with no prior experience was a crazy idea, I started searching for a template we liked.
I checked out My Wedding, The Knot, and Brides. I was not thrilled with any of their templates. I wanted something simple and that didn’t look too much like a wedding website. I wanted a wedding website that didn’t look like a generic wedding website. As I type that I realize how insane that sounds. I also contemplated making my own template and website through Blogger. Mrs. Ostrich has a wonderful tutorial on how to build one.
Finally I found our perfect template at Wedding Wire. I was just about to give up and there it was…in our wedding colors….and free! Does it get any better than free when you are planning a wedding?
Mrs. Cucumber Sandwich, Washington, DC/Cape May, NJAge and Occupation: 28, School CounselorFiance's Age and Occupation: 40, Collegiate AthleticsEngagement Date: March 27, 2010Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: Congress Hall HotelAbout Me: I am a school counselor who spends my day wrangling children and my nights attempting to be creative with wedding projects. My enthusiasm for each of these activities far surpasses my skill. Thank goodness Mr. Cucumber Sandwich is there to pick up the pieces and be the voice of reason about my DIY tries. I have an obsession with terrible romantic comedies (‘From Justin to Kelly’ anyone?, anyone?!?), competitive Scrabble play, and hot dogs. I could eat astronaut ice cream for every meal and can’t seem to resist buying more shoes. Our wedding is going to be a true hodge podge of semi-destination, tradition, Yuengling, New England charm, with just a dash of ‘Jersey Shore’ thrown in. It has been six years in the making and I can’t wait to marry my best friend.
Me giving advice on being organized is like Kim Kardashian telling you she prefers small engagement rings. But somehow I am going to forge ahead like I am sure Kim is doing with her 20-carat sparkler.
There are a couple of tricks I use to stay organized for the wedding. (Now if only I could carry these over to my daily life.) The first and most popular is the wedding binder.
Mrs. Honey, Durango, COAge and Occupation: 28, Financial AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Lab Tech/PhlebotomistEngagement Date: August 1, 2010Wedding Date: January 2012Venue: Vallecito LakeAbout Me: I am a Colorado girl through and through, marrying an adrenaline-fueled Alabama boy. We love the outdoors just about as much as we love spoiling our dog and three cats. On any given weekend you can find us being adventurous, doing anything from rafting to snowboarding, and everything in between. We live in an outdoor mecca and truly believe in "Work Hard, Play Harder." I'm an optimist to the core, a crafter wannabe, a Southern food cook-in-training and a big time believer in girls nights. We met, fell in love and got engaged in eight short months and are now knee-deep in planning what we hope to be a super-fun, very us wedding celebration. Join us as we plan a rustic meets whimsical, Colorado winter wedding with loads of personal touches and good food!
I went to bed the night we got engaged and I only slept a few hours…my mind was literally running around in circles. I would close my eyes and wedding visions would fill my brain. I can’t even tell you what it was I was envisioning, the thoughts were so intertwined and vague. I mean, sure, reality had *kind of* set in that we were engaged, but it hadn’t even been 24 hours and I had wedding on the brain. You all know the feeling, right?
I got to work Monday morning, which would end up being a very unproductive day for me (sorry, boss!). I did what any newly engaged girl would do: I Googled it…and by “it” I mean wedding…and every combination of the word. Wedding planning. Wedding ideas. Wedding pictures. Winter weddings. Wedding blogs.
It was that last one that got me: Wedding blogs. I was instantly hooked…line, sinker, and all. The prettiness, the creativity, the uniqueness. I always knew I would not want a traditional wedding. No church for me. No formal dining for me. But these blogs introduced me to the loveliness of everything wedding. Ruffled. 100 Layer Cake. Style Me Pretty. Snippet & Ink. (And of course the ’Bee!) The names of the blogs alone are to die for!
In that first day I caught on to trends like the cupcake tower, Chiavari chairs, the dessert buffet, bunting, colored shoes, amazing photography, mismatched bridesmaids’ dresses…and so the list goes on. I spent so much time swooning (which is also a new vocab word, thanks to wedding blogs) over prettiness like these:
Ms. Ferris Wheel, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 29, PsychologistFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, PsychologistEngagement Date: May 23 and 28, 2010 (one for each of us!)Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Parc55 Hotel (city lights ceremony, ballroom reception)About Me: Born in the Southeast, educated in the Northeast, and over-educated on the West Coast, I finally earned my city-girl credentials and have put down roots in gorgeous San Francisco. I’m a raging perfectionist with a lightning quick wit and a terrible sense of both time and direction. Our wedding task list is endlessly growing because of my predilection to think that DIY projects I can make = DIY projects I should make (so not true!). I always go to bed wishing there were more hours in the day to enjoy all the things I adore, whether that be hobbies, friends, my career, our two dogs, or Mr. Ferris Wheel. Ours is a story of a non-traditional couple living an oddly traditional life planning a not-so-traditional wedding in this city we adore. Together we are bustin’ out all of our best skills (and some of our worst ones) to plan a laid-back-chic DIY-craftastic love-alicious affair!
Many moons ago a document was forged, upon which was painstakingly penned a list of all tasks, known and imagined, in order that peace and tranquility might be obtained by those soon to be betrothed.
Translation: We made a wedding to-do list on Google Docs.
Why Google Docs? One word: convenience. Read more…
), the easier it’ll be for your vendors and wedding planner to make your vision come to life. So I collaged my little heart out. Remember some of ours?
