Mrs. Lioness, AtlantaAge and Occupation: 25, Physical TherapistFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, AttorneyEngagement Date: August 29, 2009Wedding Date: April 2011Venue: Anthony’s Fine DiningAbout Me: I’m a Southern girl with New England roots. I say "wicked" and "y’all" in the same sentence and I like to drink sweet tea with my lobster. Mr. Lion and I are both former Floridians now living in Atlanta, which fortunately is still SEC country...Go Gators! We both love baseball, coffee, traveling, cooking, and playing Words with Friends with each other on our iPhones all day long. I’m very passionate about the things and the people I love, and I tend to plan things with all of my heart...our wedding, of course, is no different! Oh, and also Mr. Lion is a first generation American of Cuban descent. I may look more like Lucy than Ricky, but I’m doing my best to incorporate some Latin elements into our vintage-garden-Southern wedding!
Oh, you do remember? Great! Well, you may recall that templates were available for 2010 and 2011 months. 2012 brides, you’re in luck! Read more…
Mrs. Green Tea, SacramentoAge and Occupation: 30, Tea AnalystFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Coffee CriticEngagement Date: November 17, 2006Wedding Date: August 23, 2008Blogging Since: June 10, 2008Venue: Vineyard on the DeltaAbout Me: I'm just your average obsessive compulsive, arts & crafts loving, funky-on-the-inside/boring-on-the-outside girl, who dares to say 'Hey! I can make that!' Nerdy professional by day, goofy won-ton by night. The won-ton sometimes comes out during the day when I'm fed the dollar breakfast at Ikea. Since our engagement, wedding planning has put me on high alert for bargains and I've been pushing my nimble fingers through callous building experiments!
I’ve received quite a few requests for an updated template of this little calendar (see original post HERE):
So I woke from my blog-hibernation briefly, updated the template and posted it for you to download. Read more…
Mrs. Cola, Mountain View, CAAge and Occupation: 27, Product Communications and PromotionsFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Managing Partner and Senior DesignerEngagement Date: March 5, 2009Wedding Date: June 2010Venue: The Mountain Terrace, Woodside, CAAbout Me: I’m a Washington State native, enjoying life in Silicon Valley California with my fiancé, our three kitties and one leopard gecko. I like reading wedding blogs, Photoshopping wedding design mock ups, making lists, and planning, planning, planning! I’m a bit of an anomaly, on one side I’m a very girlie girl, I collect shoes, I lay out my outfits 4-6 weeks in advance, and I’d never leave the house without my hair curled and makeup on. But on the other side, I’m a total tomboy, I love to go camping and hiking, play drinking games (hey, I’m Irish!) and most of my closest friends are guys. My fiancé and I are planning a DIY-focused wedding with a balance between easygoing (what he wants) and chic and stylish (what I want), and are tying it all together with elements in lavender, sage, butter cream and chocolate.
Since so, so many people asked me for the template to my “Old School” Disposable Table Camera Sleeves (original post here), I’ve decided to share!
Keep in mind that this will only fit the camera I used; if you have different cameras, just follow along the tutorial from the link above to create your own template. I used Fujifilm QuickSnap 400 Speed Single Use Cameras with Flash, like these. Read more…
Mrs. D'orsay, Baltimore/Lancaster UKAge and Occupation: 24, nonprofit communications Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Web site developer and designer; co-owner of men's skincare shopEngagement Date: August 10, 2008Wedding Date: August, 2009Venue: Oakland ManorAbout Me: I'm a Maryland raised environmental policy wonk/activist/organizer and communications aficionado. In the past year I've lived in Baltimore, MD, Tucson, AZ, Miami, FL and Lancaster, England. In my not so spare time I enjoy planning trips with Mr. D' Orsay, visiting friends and family and crafting like a mo-fo. I also enjoy modern dance classes, rugby and soccer but have been banned by my mother, MOHs, and Mr. D' Orsay from playing till after the wedding. I have an unnatural addiction to cheese and shoes, but love Mr. D' Orsay more than either and can't wait to become Mrs. D' Orsay!
“I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?”
“I think you can in Europe?”
What a timely and accurate movie quote for my life (can you name the film?!). While in England, I was mostly “whelmed”. I had contacted all our vendors (except for alterations and MUAs), sent inspiration pictures, and generally felt on top of things. We were focused on the visa; after all, what more was there to do?
Turns out, the answer to that is “LOTS”, or “MANY” or even “SEVERAL”. I’m admittedly not the best decision maker, and it takes me a while to decided, undecided, re-decide and repeat that pattern a few times. Which is why 3 months out, I’ve gone from “whelmed” to overwhelmed. Suddenly, I need to figure out where we’re getting cakes for the cake buffet from, send out the US invites, re-decide on centerpieces, figure out hair and makeup, find shoes for BMs, design DIY paper and other craft projects… the list goes on and on.
So, what to do when you’re feeling overwhelmed? Read more…
Mrs. Daffodil, San Francisco/Los AngelesAge and Occupation: 26, Nonprofit Strategy ConsultantFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Resident PhysicianEngagement Date: December 29, 2006Wedding Date: May, 2008Blogging Since: August, 2007Venue: Church w/ floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Valley; Westin in downtown LAAbout Me: I moved around a lot growing up, but consider myself a Southerner at heart. I love scrapbooking, dancing, doggies, and diet coke. I am all about personalizing everything and hence, I'm a DIY bride who is just loving the entire wedding planning process! Mr. Daffodil and I met in our college fellowship group and were "just friends" for three years before we started dating. We've been together for four years now and can't wait to get married in sunny SoCal, Mr. Daffodil's hometown.
This post is long overdue! This is the addendum to my original post back in August about our “Wedding Weekend Packet”. We created the primary packet for our friends and family, but gave our vendors smaller, individualized versions. I promised I would share them, so here they are! We created five separate ones… Read more…
Miss Fondue, NashvilleAge and Occupation: 27, Technical AnalystFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Network Admin Student/Senior Game AdvisorEngagement Date: December 25, 2007Wedding Date: May 2009Blogging Since: September 14, 2008Venue: Ravenwood Golf ClubAbout Me: I’m your average computer geek marrying a gaming geek and trying to find a good balance of elegance and geek chic in our wedding. I adore The Sims, Nintendo, cosplay, (good) music, TiVo, theme parks, and our two crazy felines.
You know how all those wedding sites and magazines have lists of questions to ask your vendors? They are useful, sure, but they don’t make it easy to take them along to meetings and record your answers.
So I compiled my own lists of questions to ask our vendors, and printed one up for each vendor meeting I went to. I left enough space so I could write the answers directly on the sheet, along with contact information, and package prices. This made it super easy to compare different vendors.
I thought some of you in the hive might find these useful, so I am sharing my work with you! You can either print them directly off your browser, or copy and paste into your favorite document editing program, if you wish to add your own questions.
They are hosted on Google Documents, so just click on the image to view the whole worksheet. Read more…
Mrs. Lemon, Los Angeles/MontereyAge and Occupation in 2006: 26, Graduate Student (Public Policy)Fiance's Age and Occupation in 2006: 29, Environmental ConsultantEngagement Date: April 7, 2006Wedding Date: July 7, 2007Venue: Rosary Chapel & Monterey Marriott, Monterey, CAAbout Me: My FI and I met online, but we like to tell people that we met at a "cookie shop" which is the technical location of our first encounter. He proposed exactly 1 year, 1 month and 6 days after our first date (it's the only part of his proposal speech that I remember), and we're planning long-distance from Los Angeles for a July wedding in my hometown of Monterey, CA. I have a passion for all things "cool, cute and quirky" and I enjoy video games, reading blogs (WeddingBee, trashy celeb, consumer & political) and crafting in my spare time, if I have any!
Last year, when we were preparing our Out of Town bags for guests, we knew that water bottles would be an essential ingredient to include. Yet, since it’s me, there was no way the water was getting into people’s hands without some sort of fun intervention!
Mrs. Daffodil, San Francisco/Los AngelesAge and Occupation: 26, Nonprofit Strategy ConsultantFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Resident PhysicianEngagement Date: December 29, 2006Wedding Date: May, 2008Blogging Since: August, 2007Venue: Church w/ floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Valley; Westin in downtown LAAbout Me: I moved around a lot growing up, but consider myself a Southerner at heart. I love scrapbooking, dancing, doggies, and diet coke. I am all about personalizing everything and hence, I'm a DIY bride who is just loving the entire wedding planning process! Mr. Daffodil and I met in our college fellowship group and were "just friends" for three years before we started dating. We've been together for four years now and can't wait to get married in sunny SoCal, Mr. Daffodil's hometown.
I wanted to add that after my original post, several people who had helped out with our wedding called me to let me know that, indeed, the packet had been extremely helpful and was really key to our uber smooth wedding day…which made me super happy to hear of course! And above is a pic to prove it! So hopefully, this (or something similar) will come in handy on your wedding day too!
Thanks for your patience as I made all the edits. Happy planning!
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Mrs. Peony, New YorkAge and Occupation: 27, Marketing CoordinatorFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, QA EngineerEngagement Date: June 28, 2007Wedding Date: April 18, 2008Venue: The FountainheadBlogging Since: August 7, 2007About Me: Both Mr. Peony and I are huge computer nerds, and our conversations usually consist of the latest gadgets, programming languages, and video games. At the same time, I can also be very girly with an obsession with handbags, makeup, and high heels. And art! I've studied studio art extensively, almost majored in art history, and freelance as a web and graphics designer. Mr. Peony and I are having a ball of a time planning a wedding for 250(!) guests, doing our best to infuse our personalities (geeky chic) with the wishes of our very traditional Asian parents.
I Google everything and anything…I’ve gotten so good at it, in fact, that people are usually amazed by the speed and efficiency at which I can find obscure information off the web.
(It also doesn’t hurt that Mr. Peony works for Google. And yes, their cafeteria is fantabulous.)
Today, Google released a large collection of templates for Google Docs. When I saw that “wedding planners” was the first template mentioned in the blog post announcing this new feature, I knew I had to share it with Weddingbee readers.
Ms. Dahlia, Detroit/ClevelandAge and Occupation: 24, PhD StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, IT System AdministratorEngagement Date: December 31, 2006Wedding Date: May 2008Blogging Since: September 19, 2007Venue: United Methodist Cathedral & historic downtown hotel in ClevelandAbout Me: I enjoy cooking, dancing and swimming. I am a geek and apply game theory to my everyday life. Winter is my favorite time of year, especially when spent curled up with good coffee and a book by Madeleine L'Engle.
I need to share with you one of the most amazing organizational tools. Seriously. Shared by some of the awesome women over at Indiebride, it is by far the most comprehensive wedding planning spreadsheet I have seen, complete with formulas to help you calculate total costs and the number of people each person (bride, groom, parents) is inviting.Here are just some of the features:
Budget- it sure helps to keep track of the costs (and when more payments are due) in one spot. Read more…
Mrs. Bubblegum, Exeter, NHAge and Occupation: 24, Actuarial AnalystFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Ressearch & DevelopmentEngagement Date: February 9, 2007Wedding Date: May 2008Blogging Since: November 2, 2007Venue: Dunegrass Golf ClubAbout Me: I can be summed up by the four things I love most: kitties, cheese, math, and Mr. Bubblegum. I am knee-deep in DIY projects to keep wedding costs low but quality high for the special day when I get to marry my bestest friend.
When we first started the venue search, I came down with a severe case of sticker shock. Medics were flown in, tests were run, surgeries were scheduled, and eventually, I recovered enough to make a sensible plan.
Step 1: Email
I created a blast email to send to the venues I was scouting. It was verrrrry long, but to summarize, I asked:
-Available dates for May 2008?
-Room capacity… minimums, maximums?
-On-site catering? If so, is it on-site exclusively?
-Suggested menu with prices?
-Bar service and options? Can we provide our own alcohol?
-Fees for the use of the hall and what does that include?
-What linens are included, and are chair covers available? Can we rent linens elsewhere?
-Any decoration restrictions?
-Ceremonies offered on-site? And what’s the fee?
-Time frame for an evening wedding? How much set-up time can we have?
-Any other costs not already addressed?
Mrs. Lemon, Los Angeles/MontereyAge and Occupation in 2006: 26, Graduate Student (Public Policy)Fiance's Age and Occupation in 2006: 29, Environmental ConsultantEngagement Date: April 7, 2006Wedding Date: July 7, 2007Venue: Rosary Chapel & Monterey Marriott, Monterey, CAAbout Me: My FI and I met online, but we like to tell people that we met at a "cookie shop" which is the technical location of our first encounter. He proposed exactly 1 year, 1 month and 6 days after our first date (it's the only part of his proposal speech that I remember), and we're planning long-distance from Los Angeles for a July wedding in my hometown of Monterey, CA. I have a passion for all things "cool, cute and quirky" and I enjoy video games, reading blogs (WeddingBee, trashy celeb, consumer & political) and crafting in my spare time, if I have any!
Now you’ve seen the super easy way, but if that doesn’t fit your needs and you’d like to be a bit more creative, then here’s a little tutorial with some tips and tricks to help you create your mood/inspiration board in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements (And if you don’t have Photoshop, download GimpShop! for free).
Before you start, take a pencil to paper and plan out what you’d like your collage to look like. Photoshop and other illustration tools are only helpful when you already know what you want them to do… and they can become mighty frustrating when you’re trying to imagine with your mouse. Have some examples on hand and or sketch out your ideas and get ready to replicate them!
Mrs. Corn, Newport, RIAge and Occupation in '07: 31, HR for public accounting firmFiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Consultant for public accounting firmEngagement Date: October 7, 2006Wedding Date: September, 2007Blogging Since: June 1, 2007Venue: North Lawn of Fort Adams State ParkAbout Me: I am a lazy scrapbooker who loves the instant gratification of making cards and I am very easily distracted by all things shiny. In honor of my childhood nights spent hibachi BBQing on the beach with my family, we are hosting a traditional New England Clambake for our reception.
Wow…I had no. idea. so many of you would want the template to the programs I made. Of course, that should make sense, considering how long I fruitlessly searched for something to help me. Fortunately, my sister, who is a minister (and who is conducting our ceremony) sent me the order of the service, so I was able to go from that. Then I may-or-may-not have stolen bits and pieces off of random sites along the way (hey, at least I admit it).
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
So hopefully, this (or something similar) will come in handy on your wedding day too!
And yes, their cafeteria is fantabulous.)
Fortunately, my sister, who is a minister (and who is conducting our ceremony) sent me the order of the service, so I was able to go from that. Then I may-or-may-not have stolen bits and pieces off of random sites along the way (hey, at least I admit it).
