A Surprise for Mr. Lion

I love when a bride's wedding day accessories reflect her personality.  It's even more adorable when she sneaks in a little something to reflect her significant other's personality.  And what better place for that than the garter?  It's discreet, intimate, but not any less fun!  I thought that my garter would be a good place to do just that.

...because my garter is actually a practical joke.  Mr. Lion and I do not have the most serious of relationships.  We're kinda silly together.  Exhibit A:

Personal photo: dressing up like cows for free food

Basically, he knew this was coming.  So how is my garter a practical joke, you ask?  I've mentioned in the past that Mr. Lion is a huge Yankees fan, while I'm a huge Red Sox fan.  Welllll....

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Words cannot express how psyched I am to see the look on his face when he sees this.  Don't worry though; it's all in good fun.  Besides, I'm making it up to him with a Yankees-themed groom's gift.  You'll see!  Stay tuned!

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."

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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...

{personal photo...please excuse Mr. Lion's 5:00 shadow}

Playing with Paint

Remember how we got engaged on a hot air balloon?  Remember how I found that random old mailbox while antiquing?  Remember how I'm a huge Disney geek?  Yeahhh I'm not gonna link to that last one...I'm sure I've mentioned it once or twice :)

One of my new favorite love stories is Disney/Pixar's "Up."  One of the film's scenes features our hero, Carl, decorating his new home with his new wife, Ellie.  They're painting their house all kinds of fun colors, when they decide to take the paint a step further and "personalize" their mailbox.  It was so sweet, so simple.  Hmmm...maybe a mailbox with similar decorations would make a nice holding place for photobooth (more on that later) props!  Behold, the inspiration.

Sources (clockwise from top left): super robot monster, The Best Things in Life Begin with J, Wildflowers Photography via Wedding Chicks

Materials:

• One giant aluminum mailbox.  Bonus points if it looks like it has a story behind it (i.e. a dent on the side).  I don't know why.  It's just more fun that way.
• Acrylic paint (I chose acrylic because it would be safe on skin and tough on the aluminum)
• Paintbrushes
• Little to no artistic skills.

 I used a paintbrush to paint Mr. Lion's hand to prepare for handprinting:

He's making that face because "it's the first step towards becoming a Ninja Turtle"

Next, Mr. Lion gave his stamp of approval:

Then, I added my handprint so that our prints were holding hands:

Then, I used a paintbrush to write our names next to our handprints:

Tah dah!
{all personal photos unless otherwise noted}

It's probably the easiest DIY project on our to do list, yet it's probably the one I'm the most excited about!

Inviting the VIPs: Batting .250!

Good news, everyone! (Did you say that a la Professor Farnsworth?  You were supposed to.)  You may recall that we sent out a few wedding invitations a bit early in order to provide ample opportunity for our VIPs to send us some brag-worthy responses.  Well, that didn't take too long, now did it?!  I opened our mailbox the other day to find this:

Figures.  Disney World is the first one I get back.  It's like they know me!

I ignored the fact that it was all bent up and shoved into our tiny mailbox (despite the "DO NOT BEND" in red ink) and hastily opened it to find this!

You called it, Miss Giraffe!  Why, thank you Cinderella and Prince Charming!  We're very much looking forward to happily ever after.  The only problem?  We invited Mickey and Minnie, not Cinderella and Prince Charming.  Um.  Awkward.

{all personal photos/screencaps}

Will we hear from the President, the Pope, or Disneyland?  You keep checking here; I'll keep checking my mailbox!

Personalizing the OOT Bags

In addition to our groceries, a map, and a list of our favorite local places, I wanted to include a personal note in our OOT bags.  Sticking with our local theme, I found these lovely letterpress notecards:

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Yes, they're beautiful, but I had my reservations.  First of all, they were a little too expensive for me.  My main concern, however, was the wording.  "Greetings from Atlanta?"  It may sound trivial, but I really wanted "welcome to Atlanta."  I know, I know, cue Luda soundtrack.  But seriously.  We're welcoming them into our home, not greeting them from afar!

Well, if you can't find the right notecard, you just have to create it yourself!  There's a sign on Ponce (a major road here) that I knew would be a perfect setting for a photo shoot.  We grabbed a prop, called up our photographer friend, and brought along Lion Corgi for a little doggie cameo.

{photos courtesy of Weddings by Evan Hampton}

I love Lion Corgi's face in that first one...she's like "Do you see my dad in the background?  Is he for real right now?"

How are you personalizing your OOT bags?

OOT Scoot Boogie

Every time I see "OOT," I start singing "Boot Scoot Boogie."  Maybe that's not normal.  But that's just what happens.

Of course, I'm talking about OOT bags, or out-of-town bags!  Approximately 84% of our guest list will be coming into Atlanta from elsewhere.   Most are from Florida, we have several from Massachusetts, and even a few from overseas!  Many of these loved ones have already expressed that they plan to attend our wedding.  Mr. Lion and I are just so humbled by the fact that these people would inconvenience themselves just for us; the least we can do is give them a little somethin' extra to make their stay more comfortable.

Though I've never actually received an OOT bag as a wedding guest, I've run into quite a few in the wedding blogosphere.  My personal favorites are the ones with a theme:

A Baseball Basket by Kate Parker Weddings

I like the idea of building a basket around the couples' interests (like the baseball one above), but what better theme for an OOT bag than a local theme?  As an OOT guest, I would appreciate some exposure to local fare and flair; I'm sure some others would feel the same way.  Most city-specific OOT bags that I encountered included a map, a list of fun local places, and some local delicacies, not unlike this Miami bag:

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I found all kinds of inspiration for cities across the Northeast and the West Coast, but it was slim pickins for little old Atlanta.  Then, I found some inspiration where I least expected it:

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A light bulb went off over my head during one of my cherished weekly trips to TJ's.  What if we bought groceries for our OOT guests?!  And not just groceries...Georgia-themed groceries!  So naturally, I bought as many of these babies as I could get my paws on (Get it?  Lioness?)

{personal photo}

Trader Joe's makes these reusable grocery bags for every major city (Sister Lioness has a really cute NYC one with a fun spin on Lady Liberty's "Give Me Your Tired").  They're only $1 and they're fabulous.  We decided to fill our Atlanta bags with:

• A glass bottle of Coca Cola
• Peaches
• Pecans
• Peanuts

Aaaand that's about all I've got so far.  "Cotton" balls?  Maybe some vidalia onion jelly?  Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Thinking Ahead

Remember my Save the Dates that I blogged about here?  Remember that gorgeous template that I used from Wedding Chicks here?

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Oh, you do remember?  Great!  Well, you may recall that templates were available for 2010 and 2011 months.  2012 brides, you're in luck!  Wedding Chicks recently updated the template to accommodate your plans as well.  You'll find the 2012 template here.  Just wanted to pass that along!