Avocado Wedding Randomized

Hello again everyone! I couldn't resist this opportunity to stop by and revisit our wedding in a really unique way. Several of the photos below are ones I never would have shared (because I liked others better), but they all highlight really happy things that I love talking about.

First, our exit from the temple. If you read my posts when I was planning my wedding and recapping, you may recall that for LDS weddings the ceremony is held inside with no video cameras or photography. This photo shows our public debut as husband and wife!

 

Our full wedding party, minus one junior bridesmaid. Out of my bridesmaids two are married, and one will be married this March. I haven't been a part of many wedding days lately and I miss it (and let's be honest, I really want to help someone with their wedding planning :) ). 

 

While the boys played golf, we walked around the neighborhood (just a few blocks from Pike's Place) and did bridal party photos. 

 

I hadn't seen many wedding photographs featuring suitcases back when I was planning. Now I feel like I see them used all the time. 

 

See more of our bridal party photos here.

 

Two very similar shots of our ring ceremony. 

 

My non-vows to him. I still mean every word:

Growing up I called myself a princess and hoped to find Prince Charming and live happily ever after. Reading C.S. Lewis taught me that marriage isn’t a fairy tale, and I’ve grown up enough to know that ours won’t be. You aren’t perfect, and I am most certainly not anywhere near it. Our relationship works because we are both able to acknowledge each others imperfections, love each other despite our differences, and work together to make improvements in our attitude and behavior. Thank you for helping me improve every day. There are so many reasons I am a better person because of you.

Our love isn’t flowery, simple, or easy. It is rooted in practicality, common goals, and a deep respect for each other. I will be working each and every day to seek forgiveness for my faults and praise you for your achievements. I know that in choosing to be sealed in the temple we created a union that will last for eternity.
I have always known the temple is the right place to be married. On October 10, 2001, as a 16 year old girl dreaming of true love I wrote you this letter:

“To my sweetheart,
We are finally getting married. I am so excited. I have been excited for this day as long as I can remember. I know that as long as I am getting married in the temple, we are right for each other.”

Thank you for taking me to the temple to be married today. When I stopped looking for my perfect happily ever after, I found my forever.

Kocham cię

I love you

 

Our escort cards displayed in the suitcase my grandma used throughout high school. I loved all of our wedding details, but I admit if I could do it over, I'd do it completely different. More personal, more us. 

 

Still the best cake I've ever had. Ever.And I think cake buffets are my favorite wedding trend and I hope they never go away. 

If you'd like to see more of my wedding, you can visit the links at the bottom of this post and see the day from beginning to end. 

If you're already married, would you do your wedding details differently? For those who are currently brides, I don't even know what the latest trends are! Can you tell me what all the cool kids are doing now? 

Carousel Sighting

I know it's been a long time since you've seen my icon pop up, but I've got a crazy story that I just had to come back and share with you!

Back in March a writer getting married in Italy was announced. Miss Carousel, remember her? I know I was really excited to hear all about her wedding, and I decided to send her an email letting her know we would be coming to Italy to find out if she had any advice regarding where we should stay and what we should see. She didn't just write back a few ideas, she composed an extensive spreadsheet brimming with resources and an itinerary complete with estimated costs!

I wrote back a BIG thank you, and asked a few more questions, but never heard back from her. I stop by Weddingbee every so often, and I noticed she wasn't showing up here either.

After months of waiting and planning, our Italian vacation (minus our 18 month old son, so I deemed it our second honeymoon) arrived. We started in Bologna, moved to Florence, stayed out in the Tuscan countryside, saw the Cinque Terre, and ended in Lake Garda. By this point I had completely forgotten that we were staying in Lake Garda on Carousel's wedding day. We were eating breakfast in the hotel lobby when a woman walked up and asked if I was a writer for Weddingbee. I was stunned when she told me that she was Carousel's wedding planner and that Carousel would be arriving shortly from the hair salon. She wasn't just staying in the same hotel, we were literally staying in rooms adjacent to each other! Somehow, the bride-to-be and myself had managed to book the exact same hotel for the weekend, without even knowing it. I found out when she would be arriving, and went over to surprise her and say hello. It was so fun!

She was waiting for her mom to get there before stepping into her dress, and after we talked for a few minutes (and got over the shock of seeing each other in person!) she was kind enough to invite us to the ceremony and cocktail hour held later that afternoon. The ceremony wouldn't work with our schedule, but I sheepishly agreed to stop by at some point, feeling a little bit like a wedding crasher. Ha! Carousel said she is very sorry she fell away from blogging, as a job change combined with wedding planning overwhelmed her. I assured her we all want her back, and to see pictures from her beautiful wedding! Her dress was handmade in Germany and just stunning. I took some pictures of her in it, but she asked me to save the "big reveal" of her wedding day for her own posts. So I'll just show you a few pictures and we'll have to keep our fingers crossed she makes her big return soon! Here I am showing off the yummy appetizers they had at cocktail hour. We didn't go to the ceremony or reception, but the guests just coming from the ceremony were all remarking how beautiful it was!

 

In the middle of the cocktail hour some guys in period costumes came over and started a sword fight right in front of the guests. The hotel where they held the cocktail hour was located on the lake right next to a Medieval reenactment castle and they wanted us to come over and see some of the fights. Carousel wasn't around during this so I didn't get a chance to see whether she thought this was an interesting development or any annoying one. :) I couldn't resist posting this one photo that shows a bit of the wedding details/style. I'm not sure if this little boy was acting as ring bearer for the day or some other part of the wedding party, but he was SO CUTE. I need to get a church outfit just like that for Babycado.

 

Enjoy your honeymoon, but come back soon Carousel! It was so fun to meet you on your wedding day, halfway across the world!

Sentenced to Wed

When I said goodbye that one time I told you I'd be back every once in awhile, and I meant it. This time it's to share glimpse of my SIL's wedding invite, a wedding we will be flying out to Poland(!!!) to attend this October. I am beyond excited. Mr. Avo frequently tells me to stop getting my hopes up about the event, because I talk about it as though it's going to be the BEST WEDDING OF ALL TIME. I have no idea what weddings are like there, but I'm not sure that they are the often-over-the-top DIY plan-your-brains-out type of shindig that we like to throw in the States.

The invitation we got in the mail was far from boring though. Look, a wax seal! (Albeit a broken one, it had to travel a long ways all the way down to Dallas to find us.) The paper it was printed on was really cool as well, I'm not sure where you would find paper goods like that in the US.

It was all in Polish so I had to have Mr. Avocado translate for me, and as he started reading he said "Hear ye! Hear ye!". The entire thing was written as an invitation to a court proceeding in which the couple had been "sentenced to matrimony". Hilarious!

If that isn't an indication of a fabulous wedding-to-come then I don't know what is.

And oh yeah, if you're wondering who that "Piersona" person is, it's my sweet little son. I had a baby! Hard to believe, but I actually like babies more than weddings. Who knew right? Here we are together on his blessing day, which is why he's dressed in all white, wearing a sweater his grandma made for him. Thanks to Mr. Avo for taking this sweet picture of the two of us!

If you happen to know the real spelling of P's name please don't use it in the comments! I'd also love to have people refrain from typing out our last name as well. :)

Have you ever attended an international wedding? What was it like? Did you have trumped up expectations like I do?

The Avocado Wedding Album

I've had my wedding album in hand for a few months now and finally got around to taking some photos so you can see how gorgeous the finished product is. The album was designed by the company Albumesque, and assembled by the company KISS wedding books, both are companies that work exclusively with photographers. I wanted an album that focused on clean and simple design elements that allowed the photos to really remain the focal point. All photos by Kelli Nicole Photography.

The album came with this lovely floral case, I store it inside whenever I don't have it out to show it off to protect our big investment from accidental damage.

I decided to order the 12X12 with a black leather cover, and it's HUGE. It's beautiful, but I think if I could do it over I would scale it down in size.

The front page. I'm so glad Kelli Nicole took the time to take detail and establishing shots, as this shot of the Seattle skyline really sets the stage for the rest of the album.

I chose not to have any overlapping images or graphic elements in my design as I wanted things to be very clean and simple. It took me hours to narrow down thousands of images to just over 100, but I think those that I chose tell the story of the day really well.

My favorite part of the album? The full page spreads. At two feet wide they are absolutely stunning to view in person. The quality of Kelli Nicole's photography really helps as well. :)

A few details...

The book lays flat when opened, and the small fold in the middle is hardly noticeable.

Any my favorite, a yummy super-soft leather cover.

I'll leave you with my favorite spread. Stunning, right?

Did you order an album through your photographer? Do you have any suggestions for companies non-photographers can use to get their album done?

The Avocad's 1st Anniversary

Today marks the first of what I know will be many wedding anniversaries for us. How do I know? Because we aren't going to make it happen. We aren't soul mates. We were never "meant to be". We chose this, and we are going to continue to choose to make it work for the rest of our lives and beyond.

I've written a lot about our wedding, 29 posts to be exact. If you want a detailed summary of the entire experience visit my last post about the wedding experience and scroll down to see a list of links to all of my recap posts.

For this anniversary post I went through a few thousand photos (literally) and chose 5 that describe some of my favorite moments of the day.

I can remember the way I felt at our "first look" so clearly. The endowment ceremony and time together in the celestial room the day before had been so calming. Everything felt so right, and we couldn't stop smiling at each other. I was so sure I wanted to be with him forever.

This was moments after we walked out of the temple as husband and wife. Right behind the camera stood a ring of our closest family and friends, clapping and cheering and waiting to come forward to hug us. We really did it! We were married!

I hadn't placed a lot of importance on making sure we got a classic temple shot, but now I'm so glad we did. A year later and the scaffolding on the spire doesn't bother me at all. Pretty golden Moroni can still be seen and it's truly what is inside that matters. Our sealing in the temple means absolutely everything to us. It gives us an eternal perspective when marriage is hard. It's what will keep us from ever giving up.

The first dance was just one of the many my new husband showed me how much he cared about me, and what he was willing to do to make me happy. He took some lessons with me, practiced with me, and on our wedding day he got up and performed in front of everyone. One year later and he still continues to make sacrifices for me and for our marriage.

I think this photo describes the way we approached our marriage in the beginning. We jumped in head first, giving it everything we had and learning a few tough lessons along the way. I love my husband ten times more today than I did that night, and I expect that love to grow exponentially each year. When we welcome the baby into our lives next April we're going to have to work even harder to keep our marriage strong, but I think we're up for the challenge.

I chose him. He chose me. We'll continue to choose each other, eternally.

A New Twist on the "First Look"

Want to spend a few minutes with your beloved before the ceremony breathing in each others excitement, but you also want the first time he sees you to be the moment you walk down the aisle?

Consider doing what this couple did and use blindfolds! I don't know this couple so this might not be the situation I think it is, but doesn't it look like they decided to spend some time together before the ceremony without actually seeing each other?

This photo makes me want to cry a bit, it's so touching!

All photos in this post by Clayton Austin

If you had described something like this to me I would have pictured something really cheesy, but this is fabulous! I just stumbled on Clayton Austin's work and I'm loving it. Check out this bridal session on his blog, it's so original! I kind of want to link to all of his sessions but I won't. So much inspiration to be found!

I'm always looking for new photographers to inspire me, stumbled on anyone whose work you think the hive might enjoy browsing?

A Bee's Life: Avo Edition

Becoming a Blogger
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