Ideas Borrowed From Weddingbee

I've gotten a lot of great ideas from Weddingbee over the months. I know it's my job to put out inspiration and give the details of my plans for others to read, but I've gotten as much out of it as I've put it.

I decided to put in a sampling of some of my favorite posts that have given me some amazing ideas for my wedding, for posts, or hell just for everyday life. These are my top 9. I guess I could have found one more, but I figured I'd just stick with the ones I've been saving up for months now. If you're new to the hive, I suggest you read these. They may give you inspiration anew!

Mrs. Hyena's idea to put the garter on the football was genius. We have a ton of young un-married people coming to our wedding (at least 50 on the guest list). I am looking forward to the garter and bouquet tosses. But most weddings I've been to feature reluctant catchers. If he puts my garter on a football, they guys will actually want to catch it. Plus, it's a great reminder of the day we moved into together and an inside jokes amongst all our friends that our football belongs to me and not Mr. Kettle.

Mrs. Macarons idea to use Nailtiques for nail growth changed my life. If you've read any of my posts, you can tell I have a flair for, ahem, dramatic language But seriously, the Nailtiques was amazing. Seriously, read my post about it. And it turns out Mr. Kettle loves long nails. Like, really really loves them. So I'll be using Nailtiques long after my wedding to give my man what he wants.

Mrs. Swan's Natural Hair information is super useful. My locs aren't as long as hers were when she got married, but if you are looking for unique hairstyles or natural hairstyles, check out this post. They can be done even with hair that isn't locked, and they're just so pretty!

Mrs. Eggs Benedict gave me a great idea for doing the same wedding vows even though we've written our own. Mr. Kettle wants us to write our own vows, but I'm not so comfortable with that huge display of affection coming from me in front of all of those people. Somehow, the thought that we'd be saying the same thing makes me more comfortable. I hadn't thought of it until I read her post.

Mrs. Hyena's name change suggestion. One thing about getting married I'm dreading (I know, I know, there should be nothing to dread) is all the paperwork involved in changing my name. If you have a ton of things your name is on (license, bank account, insurance, credit cards, cell phone bill, lease, etc.), check out this post for a tip on how to make the process go easier.

Miss Cannon's post on trends was dead on for the summer. If you want to know what was all the rage in the summer, check out this post. It's interesting to see which trends are still popping up and which ones aren't. Are you embracing or shunning any of her mentioned trends?

The comments on Miss Sunhat's post about the guest book had amazing ideas! I've already done a guestbook post myself, but the comments on this post were some of the most unique ideas I've heard.

Mrs. Waffle's illustrations inspiring me to pick up a sketchbook and colored pencils. I've put a couple of comic strip thingees that I've drawn in posts. They're meant to be funny or cute. I don't know if I've accomplished my goal, but the idea came from Mrs. Waffle. How cute is that pic of her in the bee costume?

Miss Fox and her great idea about wedding bands influenced my rings. I just linked to this in a post yesterday, but in case you missed it, here it is again. There are a lot of halo engagement rings in the hive, and if you're looking for the options for your ring, this post covers most of them.

Have you found any great ideas on Weddingbee you'd love to share with someone who may have missed it?

Bands On Our Hands

Alternate post title: He went to Jared! Again!

I love my engagement ring, and I've never regretted the choice for such a unique ring. There's only one issue: I want to wear my engagement right and wedding band on the same finger, and I didn't want a gap between the rings.

Ms. Fox wrote a post that perfectly describes my problem.And to show my version of these issues, some ring porn.

Personal image: My ring hanging out with my new natural long nails!

Personal image: My ring being all shiny and distracting from my skin (not a fan of my hands)

 Personal image: I got all artistic with these shots at one of Mr. Kettle's last outdoor gigs. I can't wait for next summer already!



Personal image: My ring hanging out at a club. That girl likes to have fun (the wall behind her was advertising Absinthe!).

Now that I've shown you the ring, perhaps you can understand my dilemma. But when I saw Ms. Fox's post, I was so happy. She's the first person to ever talk of a ring with criss-crossed bands.

I admit I had my head in the sand about wedding bands. I didn't want to face the inevitable contoured band that we'd have to pay to get made since the ring was made. But a light emerged and I shook off the sand and headed to Jared's website where I figured we'd purchase our rings from.

Image via Jared

 They didn't seem to have a lot of options, but I didn't give up hope as they always have a larger selection in store. Mr. Kettle and I stopped through one productive weekend and tried on bands. I found several bands that were perfect.

They criss-crossed once, twice, even three times. So many diamonds. They were so shiny! They were actually a bit too shiny. They just didn't really look right. Mr. Kettle and I aren't shiny people. Unless you count carmex for him and occasional glitter eye shadow for me.

We took a break from looking at my rings to look for his. He tried on a band with diamonds and confirmed we are NOT shiny people. He ended trying to decide between two bands. He was going to pick one that matched one of my earlier rings options, but I could tell he wasn't happy about the choice.

When I mentioned it was too bad the one detail (black bands on the ring) couldn't be matched in my ring, the jeweler took us to another case. It was like that list bit of sand still left over keeping from imagining other options finally shook off. I saw the perfect ring and it matched his perfectly!

Mr. Kettle and I are shiny people, but we are unique-twist-on-a-classic look people. So, after much talking, here are our wedding bands!

Personal image: They wrapped them up pretty for us to take home!

Personal image: Our individually boxed rings.

Personal image: Okay, now I'm just being a tease.

Personal image: Our rings!!! Black and white diamonds in white gold for me and black banded white gold for him.

Personal image: Just his ring getting a solo shot.

Personal image: Just my ring.

Personal image: My two rings together. As Stacy London would say, "it doesn't have to match, but it goes."

Personal image: The two rings together. There's still a gap, but it's a gap with attitude!

How did you pick your wedding bands? Are you wearing your engagement and wedding rings on the same finger?

A Honeymoon That's Perfect For Us

Hive, I've talked about my honeymoon way waaay more than I ever intended. It's like a bar joke that won't ever die. "Two newlyweds walk into a bar on their honeymoon..." Or, you know, something more clever and memorable than that.

I have good news to share and then I won't speak of the honeymoon again until recaps. Our honeymoon is booked! Woot!

It's not at all the honeymoon I imagined and wrote about before. There were just too many obstacles in our way. Mr. Kettle has taught me so much about compromise since we've been together and that really came in handy when we were sorting out the details of our honeymoon.

To refresh your memory: I saw our honeymoon as a wonderful holiday triple threat. We were going to do Carnival, Valentine's Day, and Mardi Gras. We were going to Panama and New Orleans and it was going to be wonderful.

The price ended up being more than I expected, so we waited to re-assess our funds before we booked. The day I was going to book the trip (to make sure the New Orleans hotel wasn't full), something major changed. Mr. Kettle got word of a great opportunity for his music. He's a musician and a teacher and he's damn good at both.

The only thing about this opportunity it is was the week after our wedding, when we were supposed to be in Panama. Being the awesome almost-wife that I am, I reasoned that we could go to Carnival another year. And maybe with more advance planning, we could actually go to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Trading in a warm beach hotel for a hotel in the city of Chicago in February isn't what I was thinking, but it will allow us to be in the city the week after our wedding.

We are going to stay in a hotel in the city, so we'll still be honeymooning, we'll just also be working on Mr. Kettle's music opportunities. And we'll be going to New Orleans still for Mardi Gras. Searching for hotels in Chicago was a lot of fun. I compared options and found an amazing deal on a wonderful hotel and spa right smack in the middle of downtown.

Image via hotels.com / Dana Hotel and Spa

Image via QuikBook / Do you see that view?

Image via concierge.com / I could see having dinner there!

They also have in-room couples' massages. I'm thinking a relaxing week followed by a big party in New Orleans will be perfect for us. It makes sense for the Kettles that a big part of honeymoon includes Mr. Kettle's music. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Are you going/Have you gone on a honeymoon? How long did it take to secure your plans?