Girls Did Have Fun

For me, my bachelorette party was the most anticipated event surrounding the wedding, except of course the wedding. Girl time is of uber importance to me and while Mr. Honey is my significant other, the love of my life, beyond important to me and the man I'm about to marry...he could never fulfill the space of my girls. A weekend filled with girls, fun and my upcoming marriage at the center of it all was what fueled my excitement. If you recall, I wanted a good balance of class and well, not class. I needed some inappropriate paraphernalia...that being said, this post may not be suitable for work.

We rented a condo in Telluride through VRBO, which was awesome because we had a kitchen, multiple bathrooms (imperative for 14 girls) and a hot tub. The leaves were at the height of changing colors and it was the perfect temperature all weekend long. Here's how it went.

Friday Night We...

Got dolled up in Pretty Dresses

Gorged on Dirty Chips and Fried Pickles at The Llama

Drank Pitchers of Margarita's

Created our own dance party

And Finished the Night by Playing Good 'Ol Fashioned Bar Games, Foosball anyone?

BM Scoot & I just made our one and only goal!

Saturday We...

Had breakfast at Baked in Telluride

And Went on a Hangin' Tough hike

Saturday Night We...

Put on Tutu's and Cowboy Boots

A Room Full of Tutu's!

Got Ready

Had a Dance Party in the Living Room

Opened Gift Bags

Took Jello Shots

Wore lots of phallic accessories and sported hilarious name tags

Ate cupcakes and I drank beer out of a wine glass (that's a first)

Graced Telluride with 14 girls in Tutu's, Cowboy Boots and flashing weenies

And All Because

Has anyone else seen this cup and just died over it? Gah my friends know me!

Seriously, the weekend was beyond amazing. As I shouted on our way down town Saturday night "This is like a dream!". Maybe because we were all strutting our stuff in Tutu's but really it was because I had 13 of my most favorite ladies in the world all in one place. Celebrating me. Giving cheers in my honor. Supporting me. Sure, my girls and I got a little crazy, but it was also surreal, and I can only imagine what our wedding day will be like when I have Mr. Honey by my side and we have all our family and friends surrounding us.

Thank you BM Hogan & J.Summers for throwing me the most perfect bachelorette weekend ever.

Anyone planning a 'theme' for your party? What was your favorite part of your bachelorette party? I love hearing bachelorette party stories!

I've Been Cheating

On my wedding dress. And remember my wedding dress is Penelope, as named by Cinny, who is altering her. It's been nearly two months since I had my fitting and I probably won't have my dress back in my hands for at least another month or so. Le sigh. I'm going to preface the rest of this post with this statement: I l-o-v-e my dress, I truly do. And also this:

I had my dress for four months before I went for my fitting, I pulled her out to show her to a select few people, but I hadn't tried her on again. I was nervous walking into my fitting. I hadn't been able to find the right bra and I may have gained a pound or two. I stepped into the dress and it was all good. My lack of bra was solved by Cinny sewing in cups (yay, no bra!) and regardless of my extra pounds (gah southern food is not good for you!), she fit. I went over the basics of what I needed altered. The chest area needs to be fitted better, the textured skirt needs to be raised to hit my hips rather than under my booty, and I need a bustle. I stood there looking in the mirror, and there was just something missing...and it wasn't the dress's fault. It was how I saw myself in the dress. My hips looked big, my chest looked odd, my dress with shoes looked off and I was freakin' hot (seriously, how do you summer brides do it?!). I pushed the feelings aside and let Cinny do her thang pinning and tucking so that it would fit me better. I didn't even tell my mom how I was feeling because I felt guilty and wrong. I should have been stoked to see myself in my dress.  

1. Dissatisfaction 2. Is that really me? 3. Getting things where they need to be 4. Looking better 5. It fits ME

Once she had the dress all pinned and tucked, I was finally feeling like the dress looked good on me. It's amazing what a properly fitted dress can do! Cinny first pinned the skirt where it needed to be and then after I had ok'd all of the pinning, she needed to take a look at just how she was going to raise the skirt. This was the first time she had worked with this dress (is that good or bad?). Then Cinny made my heart stop, she said "Ohhh I'm not sure we can raise this skirt." *Heart pounding. Awkward silence* I bought the dress because I was assured that the skirt could be raised; and where it sat on me as-is was not okay. It made me super-dooper hippy and  made my body unproportionate, not how a bride wants to look on her wedding day. What Cinny did next was take a razor to my beloved dress, yes a razor:

See how far the skirt is from my hips?!

After razoring on my dress she declared she could in fact take the skirt up. Hugest.sigh.of.relief.ever. We agreed on the what's and the when's, then I paid a deposit and left my dress in good hands with loads of faith that the next time I get to see her will be better than this time.

Now, here I am, two months later: devoted reader of Weddingbee and addicted to Pinterest. Between dress posts on the 'Bee and new pins daily on Pinterest, I've developed a crush on a couple new dresses. Shhh don't tell!

Image via Pinterest/Photo from Watters



Image thanks to Miss Dalmation/Photo from Brides.com

Taffeta, full skirt, flower belt. And pockets. A dress style I never considered and also never tried on. I began to wonder if this shape would be better on my body, if it's more bridal, if I should have actually done more shopping before purchasing. I feel guilty, like my poor dress is off in some shop being made to perfectly fit me and I'm kind-of second guessing her. I say kind-of because I don't regret buying my dress, I know I will love it once it's all said and done. I look back at pictures of the first time I put MY dress on and I remember that immediate feeling of "yes, this is it." I think the combination of not having the most ideal first fitting, not having my dress in my home, and the absurd amount of beautiful wedding dress images has caused my bridal eyes to wander. Please come back to me, Penelope!

This is normal right, hive?! Did you have a less than stellar first fitting? Have you "cheated" on your wedding dress??

Table-Rama

Included in our rental fee for our venue, is a plethora of tables, both rectangular and circular. When I discovered this I immediately knew I wanted to do long banquet type tables. But I don't like the word banquet, so I'm just going to stick with referring to them as long tables. 

Image via TheBlogWorthyBride/Photo by Mark Brook Photography & Joy de Vivre

Our venue is more rectangular in shape and kind of narrow, so the long tables fit the flow of the building better. Using all 15 long tables, provides seating for right around 130 people. Depending on where our final guest count comes in, we have the space and option to add a few round tables as well. I can be obsessive about things and in my head I don't see round tables, I only see long tables...but a back up plan is always good right? Our venue was very affordable; affordable is good, but because it was affordable the tables and chairs are very generic. Read: no chiavari chairs for Miss Honey. As much as I'd like to whine about this reality, there's just no other option, so I've accepted and have moved along.

Fortunately it's easy to make generic tables look good, chairs not so much, but we are talking tables. I didn't really know what I wanted for table coverings until I found it. And what I want are white linens and burlap runners. Mama Honey was having a very hard time envisioning this combination, and so I bombarded her email with loads of inspiration pictures to prove that it's the perfect touch of rustic, creating a pretty tablescape.

Image via Style Me Pretty/Photo by Carrie Patterson

Image via Elizabeth Anne Designs/Photo by Leigh Miller Photography

Image via Style Me Pretty/Photo by Two Pair Photography

When I went for my first dress fitting a while back, Mama Honey and I hit up the Joann Fabric store and bought a whole package of burlap (I'm not a sewer so my terminology is just short of thimble) for $50, thanks to a 20% off coupon. I have left this project to my mom but I'm making this very easy on her because we are leaving the edges unfinished, so all she has to do is cut the runners to fit the tables. Sure, it's easy for her but I would still somehow manage to cut the burlap into triangles or something. Seriously, my lack of skill around fabric is frightening.

I'm confident in my choice of what will cover the tables, but what I'm struggling with is the centerpieces. I want something simple. I think I need to add a little splash of color; that last picture above really makes me smile. We aren't doing assigned seating so I can't go that route. Our floral budget is next to nothing so our centerpieces won't be focused around florals either. I absolutely love the look of these candle holders and matching candles:

Image via Martha Stewart Weddings

I just don't know if this is the most functional centerpiece. Wax dripping on burlap and white linen? Not so pretty. I also think that really high centerpieces can be conversation killers. I'm sure we have all swooned over these to die for flowers by EmersonMade:

Image via ElementsOfStyle/Photo from EmersonMade

But, lets be honest, there is no way in hell I'm going to bust out that many perfect, pretty paper flowers. What do they say, no need to re-invent the wheel? That took me to what I've already got stock piled...I've acquired, by accident, quite the collection of mason jars, which I love but I feel like the tables need a statement. The mason jars are pretty standard, some of which were actually used for a friends wedding so were handed down already wrapped in twine. That's what threw me off, the mason jars with twine on burlap. Too much rustic, not enough whimsy. Sometimes, I swear blogging has superpowers. As I wrote this last paragraph, wishing for a cure for my lack of whimsy, this image fell from the wedding heavens also known as Pinterest:

Image via TheGlitterGuide

Glitter covered jars. I'm dying over these! This is such a new discovery that Mama Honey doesn't even know such a purty picture is sitting in her inbox yet. I think I may have just figured out my perfect balance between rustic and whimsy: a few twine jars here and few glitter jars there, sitting on a runner of burlap with the soft glow of tea light candles. And I think this weekend will be perfect to test out my vision.

Have you had any "blogging is a superpower" moments? How are your centerpieces coming together? Anyone else like me and have the majority all figured out, just missing that one piece?

Spinnin'

While I wait for evidence pictures of my bachelorette party, I thought I'd talk about music. I big puffy heart dancing, and while I was gettin' down with my ladies this past weekend it really made me excited to dance on our wedding day. Really excited.

When we first started planning our wedding way back when, in an effort to save money, we decided an iPod reception was the way to go. I would make the play lists, simple and free. Done and done, right? Wrong. I have read posts and comments about doing this, and while it is still the right choice for some couples, I got scared. An iPod reception is totally doable, we just changed our minds. We are saving money and DIYing 97% (I just made that percentage up) of this wedding ourselves. I realized a few months ago that there were two areas I didn't want to do ourselves...the food (I know, I haven't talked about our food, that is coming!) and the music. There are too many wild cards. What happens if someone wants to request a song? I'm that girl who always requests a song songs, I'd probably be mad I couldn't do that at my own wedding. What if the party is really diggin' the 90's music and I've got a whole bunch of country music lined up after Juicy plays? And, AND what if we had a technical error?! I cannot have a music-less reception. Too much stress.
The Honey's music tastes are all over the board. Mr. Honey listens to the AC/DC or George Clinton station on Pandora. While I tend towards Snoop Dogg or Lady Gaga. We both frequent the George Strait and Bob Marley stations. That covers country, funk, rock, rap/hip hop, reggae and pop. Woah. If the mister had his way, and our wallets were more full, we would have a funk band. That guy can get down to some funk. To me, though, a one genre band just doesn't do it. The most listened to play lists on my iPod are titled "Dirty Dirty" and "Boot Scootin" or hip hop and country. This would be my ideal concert:

Snoop Dogg & Jason Aldean at the CMA's 2008

As much as I like to think I could create the ultimate play lists to meet all of the above genre's, I just know I couldn't. At my friend J.Summer's wedding in July I chatted with the DJ's she hired...who also happen to be the guys that spun for high school parties back in the day, so I know they got skillz. I sent them a Facebook message, they sent me the contract, and just like that we've got ourselves some DJ's. Even better is that since I've been friends with them for over a decade (that makes me feel real old) they are giving us a deal on the price. It will be nice to have friends be the ones in charge of setting the dancing tone of our evening, which is why we ultimately decided to let go of the iPod reception. I can craft, I can't spin. An added bonus was that by filling out the contract I was forced to make some decisions about important wedding songs. A few more things knocked of that ever growing list, hooray!

Where do you fall in the music vendor arena? iPod, band or DJ? More importantly, who else is a fan of hip hop AND country??

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Hive, I'm so SO excited for this weekend. Here's a clue:

Image via Wanelo

This combo can only mean one thing: my Bachelorette party!! I am heading to Telluride, Colorado with 13 of my closest ladies to celebrate ME. Wow, it's so surreal! My girlfriends and I do girl trips quite often but of course this is the first time it's in my honor. BM Hogan and Friend Jackie have been scheming together to come up with what I know will be a legend.ary weekend. One for the books, for sure.
When it came to giving a little input to what I wanted for my bachelorette there were a few things I wanted.
- I wanted to be out of Durango. Our bar scene is pretty great for the size of our town, but it's still small. Running into everyone and their mother or even ex-boyfriends was not appealing. I wanted a weekend away exclusively with my girls.
- I was intrigued by Mrs. Cowboy Boot's "Class, Not Trash" bachelorette party. I wanted one night to be a dressy night; Durango isn't the most dressy of towns, and usually any excuse we can find to put on a more dressy outfit, we take it. Dressing up in Telluride? Even better.
- I'm not gonna lie, I also wanted the inappropriate paraphernalia. One night we will be engulfed in the typical bachelorette material. How often can you actually do this and get away with it? (Okay this is my 5th bachelorette party this year, but this one is about me!) Remember my adoration for these floofy skirts? Well somehow we have managed to incorporate them into a theme...stay tuned!

So, with those three requests (plus a request for vanilla coffee cream for the mornings), we have a weekend packed full of girl time. Woop woop! Drink Mimosas, wear pretty dresses, squawk with the girls, dance my arse off, laugh until our cheeks hurt and maybe even get an afternoon fall hike in.

See you on the flip side, when I'll be back to share some of the details with you! Where do you fall in terms of bachelorette parties? Keep it clean or make it wild? Or are you like me and you just want it all?!

A Mini Honey

No, no, no I'm not announcing that I'm preggers. Nope, I am instead joining Bees before me who have had their moniker made into teeny tiny little charms. I first remember seeing Mrs. PAC posting hers and it stuck because I was getting close to my eight month mark of being able to apply to be a Bee, and I thought to myself "In the small chance I'm ever a Bee, I will definitely do that". Well, here I am...a Bee with an insanely cute moniker. Then Miss Sunhat posted hers a few short weeks ago and immediately after I read hers I was on the search for the Etsy seller that could make me a mini Honey Pot. It didn't take me long because I actually turned to the seller that Mrs. Snow Cone mentioned in her post and sent Heather from Sweet & Savory Trinkets a message. Not only was she easy to work with, but I got my charm in my mail box less than two weeks after I contacted her. Easy, quick and affordable...that's what I'm talking about!

Before I show off my 'lil charm, can I just say that I wish I had more excuses to wear food jewelry? I mean seriously, the miniature food is so cute that not only do I now want a smothered green burrito for dinner:


Listing by Sweet & Savory Trinkets

But I'm also trying to decide how I can justify buying candy corn bobby pins:


Listing by Sweet & Savory Trinkets

If you have a favorite food and can pull of wearing food accessories, take a look at this shop. Anyway, want to see a picture of my mini Honey Pot? Of course you do!



She got the color of the pot perfectly and I love how the honey drips have a shimmer to them. Ack, it's so cute! It's hard to conceive just how tiny the little things are, and when it arrived I was so impressed at the details contained in such a small package.

It's so teeny that it just about fits inside my engagement ring. I have not quite decided what to do with it...it will somehow make an appearance on our wedding day, along with the Bee charms. I'm not a charm bracelet kind-of girl, I'm more of a "oh this is cute lets put on my key chain" girl but I think this is just too fragile for my key chain. I will have to come up with something special to do with my Mini Honey to help pay homage to Weddingbee long after our wedding has come and gone. I'm taking suggestions.

Hive, if you ordered any piece of miniature food accessory, what would it be?! Something sweet? Or savory?

TuTu Cute

I'm not sure where my inspiration stemmed from, but I knew early on that our three flower girls would be in a skirt of tulle as they prepare my aisle. Tutu's are just so whimsical, fun and girly:

Image via The Knot/Photo by Millie Holloman Photography



Image via The Knot/Photo by Erin Hearts Court

Image via 100 Layer Cake/By Bombarro's Boutique on Etsy


I've been keeping an eye open for Tutu's since last year but couldn't find the right color or the right price. Then BM K (whose daughter is a flower girl) forwarded me an email from Zulily. This site sponsors deals from various businesses that focus on children and mothers. The sales are short lived so you have to jump on them, and you also have to be a member. Yes, I'm now a member of a children's clothing site. The sale this day was for Bella Daniella Tutu's, the sale price was $19.99 and one of the colors was peach. Score! I didn't hesitate putting the order through, this was one thing that was proving hard to find, and I couldn't be happier with the purchase. Is it just me, or are three Tutu's cuter than one?

So much tulle...and yes those are some fur baby paws. He approved of the Tutu's.

Here is a close up to show off the adorableness of the peach tulle:

I want to put one on and twirl in it...but I don't think one would even fit over my thigh. Damnit. Each Tutu also came with a matching headband:

The little girls will wear cowboy boots and cute little cardigans to coordinate with all of the bridesmaids. I'm staying subscribed to Zulily for one reason. Patterned tights. I'm dying to get them some fun, patterned tights. 

Image via Boden USA



They will be so cute! Well, when are flower girls not cute? Tell me about your flower girl outfits, hive! Anyone else going the Tutu route?

Snow Suit Up

Images of A Christmas Story still come up when I hear "snow suit". At least Barney Stinson makes it sound a little cooler. Let's talk about what the guys of the Honey wedding will be wearing for our winter wedding.

When the topic of what the guys would wear came up a few months back, I was pleasantly surprised by how much Mr. Honey cared about this. Not that he shouldn't care, I just didn't think he would be as opinionated as he is. I knew tuxedos were out, and even the full suit was seeming to structured and complicated for our wedding. I also didn't want the guys to be perfectly matched since my ladies are all picking their own navy dress. I was envisioning coordinated in a mismatched kind of way:

Image via Bridal Banter/Photo by James Christianson

 After a few of my suggestions got tossed out the window (letting the guys pick their own pants and shirt, for example) I have pretty much left this in Mr. Honey's court. One Two things I'm requesting are that there is a mismatched element to their attire and that Mr. Honey stands out as the groom in some way.

The other night, Mr. Honey came home pretty focused and motivated about groomsmen attire so we came to some almost concrete decisions: how they will get their outfits, what their outfits will consist of, the mismatched element and how the mister will noticeably be the groom.

Three of his groomsmen are clear across the country, and since they are so far away, the plan is to have them spend more than just a few days here in Durango...snowboarding, back country expeditions, drinking beer and now, shopping for their groomsmen outfits. After hearing Mr. H's reasoning for this, it does make sense. We aren't going for anything super fancy, so we should be able to piece together their outfits while they are all here in Durango. While the obsessive planner in me is struggling with the lack of control, I am leaving it to Mr. H to get this accomplished. He is conscious of his clothes and I know he won't take this decision lightly, he wants him and his men to look good.

The groomsmen will be sporting gray pants, a shirt and a gray vest. Mr. H is adamant about not having white shirts. Why? I'm not really sure...but it's something he seems to be very passionate about. Perhaps they will end up with navy or peach shirts, or even a different color gray. Again, because of his input on this aspect, it's in his court.

Image via Ruffled/Photo by Katie Day Photography

The Honey groomsmen are pretty alternative fella's. Skaters, kayakers, snowboarders and surfers, so I know they will rock the fancied up version of themselves but to let them showcase their coolness, we ordered six pairs of these shoes:

Image via Vox

Navy blue skate shoes! They are perfect and I think the guys will all actually wear them long after our wedding has passed.

To appease both of my requests, we are hopping on the mismatched neck ware train. Finding coordinating neck ware in our colors will prevent the guys from being too matchy-matchy. How will my groom stand out? He will be the only one to wear either a tie or a bow tie, while the other guys sport the other option. I think the bow tie will bring a little Southern charm, being that Mr. H and four of his five groomsmen are from Alabama. He has yet to decide whether he will wear the tie or bow tie (my vote is him in a tie, them in bow ties...but I've relinquished control!)


Image via Southern Weddings/Photo by Katelyn James

Image via Bridewithablog/Photo by Bloom Photography

Like my girls dresses, I'm having to just have faith that the men's outfits will come together. I can see how it will look in my head, but we won't actually see it come together until W-Day. Inhale...and...exhale.

Was your groom more opinionated about his clothing than you expected? Are you leaving it for him to decide, or am I crazy?!