Monday, October 27, 2008

Bachelor/Bachelorette Parties


Lk Pwl #3
Originally uploaded by uacheesehead
This pic, taken by my friend Josh, started me thinking about unique bachelor and bachelorette parties. I hope that we have moved beyond the traditional gross stripper+beer=bachelor party philosophy and into the realm of real creativity.

This picture is from our friend Brad's bachelor party (more about his wedding in a bit - must get pictures off of camera) that my husband threw. They took the family boat out on lake powell and had a great weekend of jetskiing and camping. I know that this opportunity doesn't present itself to most people but boats can be rented for the weekend!

For my bachelorette party, we all went to disneyland and had dinner and drinks in downtown disney. The traditionalists at my office made fun of me (of course) but isn't it really more about your personality and interests and less about what society expects of a bachelor(ette) party?

Any other fun ideas out there? Anyone? Bueller?

Friday, October 24, 2008

'If I knew then what I know now' - The Bouquet

My wedding was beautiful, fabulous, and fun but I have learned so much about the planning of a wedding throughout the process. I've also actually found ideas now that I wish I had known about then. Here is the first entry in a series of wistful looks back in time and things that I would change if I had it to do all over again.

Maybe someone else will find a great idea here or I can use these ideas for a 5 year anniversary vow renewal!

If I knew then what I know now, I would have had DK Designs make me a clay bouquet like this one. Yes, it is made of CLAY (and about the same price as my flower bouquet without the worries about drying, preservation, or wilting).
Beautiful!!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

The list

My cousin just got engaged and she asked me to put together a list of resources for her. She asked if I used a book but I actually got most of my wedding ideas from magazines and bloggers. I'm going to pass on a list of my favorite wedding blogs and sites so I thought I would post it here too.

Blogs
Stinkerpants Blog
Broke-ass Bride
Mrs. Candy Corn
Binational Bride
Polkadot bride
Style Me Pretty

Though I hate to send traffic that way, I would hate for her to miss the pre-eHarmony weddingbee archives of:
Mrs. Lovebug
Mrs. Lime
Mrs. Penguin
(no offense to bees and ex-bees that I didn't pick; she is getting married outside on a beach in Hawaii so I didn't think that the big city bloggers would do much for her - plus these guys are my very favorites and I wanted to limit the list to 3!)

Sites
The Somewhat Official Knot Bio List - easiest way to find knottie bios
Indiebride - check out Kvetch for some great boards. Posters tend to be really positive and supportive, no matter how crazy your idea is!
Martha Stewart Weddings

Plus there's the worst wedding blog ever, this one! Sometimes you just can't do it all!

The Bridesmaid Pledge

I am the only one of my close female friends/family members that has gotten married and had a full-fledged bridal party. I’m ready to be someone else’s bridesmaid now!!

There is a sort of social antagonism surrounding the concept of being a bridesmaid. Why is that? Why can’t the stigma of ugly, poufy, identical dresses and subordination to the bride’s will be left in the past? Why must there be so much drama?

I’m not saying I was the perfect bride, either, and that there was no drama with my wedding party. It was there, though very minimal in comparison with others.

I don’t know, maybe it is because I’m married or for whatever reason, I just think that being a bridesmaid would be incredibly fun and that I’d be good at it. There is actually a ‘bride’s pledge’ circling the net where the bride basically pledges to not harass the bridesmaids, not make them wear ugly dresses, not make them cut their hair or get Botox (seriously, WTF? Who does that?), etc., etc. I think that’s all very reasonable but seriously, as cynical as a bridesmaid may be, the wedding day is really all about the bride [and groom]. So, I make my own bridesmaid pledge (if I am ever to become one). These are all things I learned from planning my own wedding, which was my first experience dealing with bridesmaids.

1) I will never complain about the dress, shoes, accessories, hairstyle, etc. that you choose for me. It is one day out of my life and I will wear anything you want. Just because I let my BMs pick their own accessories and dress style doesn’t mean you have to do that too.

2) I will never ask “are you doing [fill in the blank here] at your wedding?” That is a passive-aggressive insinuation that that is what you should be doing and you should do whatever you want.

3) I will offer my wedding planning expertise (well, maybe not expertise, per se, but I did plan a wedding!) only if asked.

4) I will NEVER use the word Bridezilla. It is the equivalent of calling the bride a bitch and it is absolutely unacceptable.

5) I will always offer to help. Whatever I can do, I will do.

6) I am available to run interference between you and whoever is bugging you: vendors, parents, in-laws, stepsiblings, other bridesmaids, etc. I will body check if necessary. I will take them down.

7) I will smile for pictures and never complain about how long they take.

8) I’m already married so I can’t steal your ideas for my own wedding! Bonus! But feel free to steal mine.

9) I will take pictures (or designate someone to take pictures) of all the things your photographer won't think of (centerpieces, placecards, buffet, tablescape, aisle decor) and upload them to flickr for you. I wish someone had done this for me!

10) Anything you feel that I need to add onto this list is negotiable!

And look how cute my BMs were! I don’t think I tortured them too much (at least I hope not). That adds to my BM street cred.


Tuesday, October 21, 2008

polaroid wedding


polaroid wedding
Originally uploaded by mark van etten
Look at the sweet quality of this polaroid wedding photo. This is great incentive to bring my polaroid camera to weddings I attend in the future. This was taken with an sx-70 which makes it look even cooler and more vintage-y. That is good incentive for me to get mine working soon (with the proper exposure).

Saturday, October 11, 2008

I'm really glad this didn't happen to me at my wedding


We also got married on a platform over water. Thank you Brad for having sure footing. 

Friday, October 3, 2008

The weddingbee drama

See my personal blog for my feelings on this.

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Photo by Jacob Konst

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