Gringa and Groom: A Bee's Life: Lioness Edition

How did I find Weddingbee?
Mr. Lion and I had been engaged for about, um, two days when I got a phone call from some random company telling me that I had won a FULL SET OF COOKINGWARE AND THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO OBLIGATION TO BUY OMG SO EXCITING! Naturally, I was skeptical. If you have to say "no obligation to buy," there's usually an obligation to buy! Just sayin'. However, I do have a soft spot for ~~kitchen toys~~ cooking, so I decided to Google this company before writing it off completely.

The Weddingbee Boards were the first hit. According to a post on this message board, this company was part of some kind of bridal scam. I read through and found all sorts of unbiased opinions about this and other scams. I appreciated the honesty, but what really drew me in was the sass. One post on this board topic said something along the lines of, "No! They're definitely not a scam! I went to the meeting at that hotel by the airport and I got a free set of cookware AND THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO OBLIGATION TO BUY OMG SO EXCITING!" As you can imagine, the posts following this one exposed the fraud. "Clearly, you work for them sooo take your nonsense somewhere else," and responses like this caught my attention. These gals had moxie. They had spunk. They had...personality.

But, I moved to Boston for my three-month clinical affiliation, Mr. Lion and I did the long-distance thing for a little bit, and wedding planning was put on the back burner. I put those sassy girls and their fun wedding-related comments out of my mind and moved on to other things...like teaching people how to walk after they get a liver transplant! Okay, okay, so I didn't put wedding planning out of my mind completely. There was still some brainstorming going on. The first true wedding-related idea I had was that I wanted a DIY photobooth, a fauxtobooth if you will. One day, I was on the phone with Mama Lioness and I was trying to explain the concept to her. She's such a visual learner, I thought it would be easier if I had a visual aid to convey my vision. So, I Googled it. Mrs. Avocado's post just so happened to pop up! I saw that little bee logo and instantly recognized the site. Well hello again, old friend! Weddingbee was bookmarked and brainstorming officially turned into planning.

My Application Story:
I've always loved to write, and I'd had a cooking blog for a little while, so I felt like I was at least on my way to "finding my voice." At first, I didn't think I would be able to smoothly transition from food blogger to wedding blogger because I was afraid I would run out of things to talk about. As we got deeper into our engagement, however, I found that all I talked about were weddings! I knew I just had to be a part of this community so that I could share my ideas and give back for all they had given me. I counted down the days until I was eight months away from our wedding, started up a wedding blog for the sole purpose of applying, and decided to close my eyes and leap.

Sister Lioness started to read Weddingbee recently, too (probably because I talk about it so much). She's not wedding planning (though she is MOH in the Lioness wedding!), but she appreciates the DIY projects, the witty writing, and the sense of community throughout the Hive. She'll text me things like "Did you see what Stripes posted today?! Her DIY projects are amazing!" and "Haha! Starfish and Sister Starfish remind me of us!" I didn't want to tell her when I applied to blog because I didn't want to have to tell her that I got rejected. Well, I didn't have to! I got that beautiful email from Pengy and just texted Sister Lioness with "Mrs. Penguin thinks I would be a great addition to Weddingbee." Squealing ensued.

On Being a Weddingbee Blogger:
I'm not gonna lie, it's hard work! I write as often as I can, though not as often as I'd like to. You know what though? It's so worth it. I love every second of it. Every comment I get just makes my day! I really appreciate all of the feedback and all of the ideas. I feel so ridiculously lucky that I became a Bee as early on as possible; it's like I get to go into overtime with you guys! You, Hive, are shaping my wedding journey so much and I am so appreciative for that.

The best advice I can offer for those thinking of applying to blog is to "bee yourself."

Source

The posts that I write while I'm in a goofy mood are the posts that receive the most comments. Y'all seem to like me for who I am, and I'm sure this community would be no different for any of you! So write in a way that reflects who you are and be proud of it. Even if it's a little quirky at times.

Whew! Did you read that whole thing?! Did it put you to sleep?!?! I know Lion Corgi's wiped out...