I wrote my first blog post of all time on May 1st, 2004. I discovered the world of blogging a few months prior when I did an internet search on my American Eagle t-shirt phrase and found a LiveJournal page by a girl in New York. It all seemed so ridiculous and self-involved and my friends and I mocked the people who would do such a thing. Then I swallowed my pride and decided to start my own. I started my first blog with this sentence of a post: "I am not sure what this is, I am at work and I get really bored so I thought I would try this out. " Pitiful right? Then I found this article on Time.com while surfing the 'net at work one day, and realized that blogging could be something powerful and exciting and so I began to write scores of mediocre posts detailing my life and different things I found online. I had no readers, a handful of comments, and averaged about 50 posts a year. Definitely not Weddingbee material.
Then I started dating this great Polish guy, and things were looking good. Really good. Like marriage good. I'm not sure exactly how or when I found Weddingbee (sometime in September or October I think), but I posted excitedly about it in November of 2007:
I have a new obsession. It is one of the most addicting sites that I have ever visited. Weddingbee. It is a wedding themed blog updated by brides across the country as they discuss everything pertaining to their own weddings.
All of the brides have the cutest handles, like Kiwi, Mangnolia, and my favorite flower, Gardenia. Each new batch of bride bloggers choose a nickname from a group, the newest group being types of desserts. Yum!
I check it obsessively, so much so that I have even started reading through the archives. The posts are organized by bride, and I have read through the complete weddings of 3 different brides. There is no end in sight in terms of reading them all (something I am gleeful about).
I am in love. I am going to buckle down and write daily, so that when Swayzie finally proposes I can become a bee myself!
All of the sudden I went from posting once or twice a month, to posting 18-20 times per month, and then every single day! My old "lifestyle blog" wasn't going to cut it anymore so I created a bride blog, entirely devoted to all things wedding, where I continued to post daily. I spent a lot of time on Weddingbee, reading and commenting on as many posts as possible, but I also spent a lot of time building up a community outside of Weddingbee as well. I linked to a lot of other bride blogs, I read their posts and commented on them, and I began to receive comments from other bride bloggers. I was actually bride blog friends with both Mrs. Pomegranate and Mrs. Sea Breeze before they became Weddingbee writers. When Mrs. Pomegranate wrote on her bride blog that she had been accepted to Weddingbee I was positively green with envy. I wanted to write for the 'bee more than anything!
Applying for Weddingbee
I confess I still have my Weddingbee application, and I've actually read through it several times since I sent it in. It's so fun to read about the wedding I wanted before so many of the decisions were made. I thought some of you hopeful applicants might like to know a few details about a successful Weddingbee application (although who knows if my application was good, maybe I got in by the skin of my teeth!) as you compose your own.
My application was 3 pages, single spaced. I read through the posted guidelines and made sure I felt like my application fit them exactly. I read through it, out loud, several times to make sure it sounded good. I treated it like a job application and made sure there were no spelling mistakes or sentences with poor grammar. Even though it was a risky move, I was completely honest about two very important things. The first was that I still wasn't technically "engaged" in the traditional sense of the word. I explained that I was planning the wedding and letting my significant other give me a ring on his own time. I tried to spin it into something unique and interesting, and said I planned on blogging about the proposal as it happened, which wasn't something I had seen on Weddingbee before.
The other thing I was honest about, and this was the riskiest move of all, was Mr. Avocados then-reluctance to have his pictures online. I wrote:
I should be up front and say that S is leery about having his image plastered all over the internet and so if I am accepted as a Weddingbee blogger the two of us are going to have to work something out between us. He knows that I am very interested in blogging for Weddingbee, and very encouraging in my efforts to apply and so I know that we can come to an agreement. This might mean that I am a little more selective about which engagement photos I post, and that most of my posts about the wedding will probably be photos of me and the details of the wedding.At the time I didn't know that Mrs. Bee has never posted a picture of Mr. Bee and so I chewed my nails to the quick wondering if that had been a smart move on my part. The day before I received my acceptance email Mr. Avo relaxed his strict stance on me putting up pictures of him so it was never an issue, but it killed me to be honest and upfront in this part of my application. I share this with you so that those of you who have things you are worried will eliminate you (like Mrs. Mary Janes worry that a courthouse wedding wouldn't "fit" in with the Weddingbee blogging world) will reconsider and attempt to find a way to spin those things into something unique and fresh to the WB blogging world. Weddingbee wouldn't be what it is if we were all the same!
Blogging Tips
I've been asked a few times by hopeful applicants what they can do to have a better chance, and I think this is my opportunity to share my beliefs about what helps make a good blogger, and thus a good candidate for Weddingbee. There are many others who are much better writers and bloggers than I am, but I hope my tips will be helpful to those who are in the midst of the application process!
1. Grammar, punctuation, spelling.
No explanation should be needed here. If you are composing a post that you hope ends up on Weddingbee one day, write using the skills you learned back in your 10th grade English class.
2. Leverage your unique voice.
I knew what made my story unique, and I made sure to compose my application and write posts for my blog accordingly. I'm a Mormon, and my ceremony wouldn't be photographed or discussed in detail. Mr. Avocado is Polish and we wanted to incorporate some Polish traditions. I still wasn't officially engaged at the time because Mr. Avo was being slow about giving me my ring. I liked to take pictures and noted that I would be using a lot of them in my posts. I talked about the DIY projects I had planned. My mother is a wedding photographer and did some portrait sessions for us. My father is an organic farmer and we used his produce at the wedding. When composing your own application, think about what sets you apart from the pack. What makes your wedding story different from all of the other wedding stories being sent in to Weddingbee?
3. Regularity.
Weddingbee has made it very clear that writing 3-4 times/week is a must, and they mean it! My own sister realized how difficult bride blogging can be when she launched her own blog before her wedding. She had the best intentions, but soon she was wrapped up in decisions about flowers, cakes, and first dance song options, and writing for her blog wasn't a priority anymore. Give yourself some time to decide whether you will be able to write on the consistent basis that Weddingbee depends on.
Why Mrs. Avocado?
Back when I was still a hopeful reader desserts were introduced and I salivated over the characters. Apparently a lot of other applicants did as well because they were snatched up really quickly! Then, right before I applied, drinks came out. There were a few options that would work for me, but most of them were alcoholic! It would have been a little silly for someone like myself, never having drank an alcoholic beverage in my life, to be Margarita or Pinot Noir. Luckily they sent me a list of all of the available characters from every generation, and I decided to snatch up the last tropical fruit available, Mrs. Avocado. I suspect I chose it, in part, because my maiden name starts with the letter A and because I can't ever seem to eat enough homemade guacamole with Stacy's Naked Pita Chips. :)
Writing for Weddingbee
As the others before me have mentioned, writing for Weddingbee takes dedication. The best posts sometimes take hours to write, and even the short & fun ones can take up to 20 minutes. During my 105 days as a "Miss" I wrote 91 posts! I was living at home, working as a waitress a few days a week during that time so I was able to set aside incredible amounts of time for my Weddingbee blogging, something I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. That doesn't mean you need to be a bit of a bum like I was to handle the responsibility, but the ability to make blogging a priority is a MUST. We all get so excited when a new writer is introduced, and want to hear from them and learn about their wedding as much as possible!
The last bit of advice I can bring to the table is to be prepared for both critcism and an overwhelming feeling of love from the community. As with all life experiences, writing for Weddingbee brings out the good and the bad. You will have people tell you they don't like your ideas. Commenters will criticize your decisions and it's important to take it like a champ and move on. For every Negative Nancy there are 50 other wonderful commenters taking the time to tell you how much they love your writing and what you bring to the table. I applied, wrote constantly, and continue to write even now because of the wonderful community that can only be found at www.weddingbee.com
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