A Candied Shower

I actually wasn't sure I was going to have a shower for the wedding. My amazing aunt threw me a family shower (complete with ornaments and undies for the gifts!) while I was home last Christmas, which was a lot of fun! I would have called it a day at that. But apparently my mom and BMs had other plans.

As you may have gathered from my bachelorette party in Victoria, BC, I like tea. A lot. And I like tea parties even more. So, of course, my lovely BMs and aunt decided to throw a beautiful tea-themed shower in my honor. They seriously rock. Have I mentioned how much I love my family and friends?

First, let's look at this cake that BM L made. She made it. For real. It is a tea pot. A tea pot cake. Yes, she is ridiculously talented.

And not only did it look ridiculously cool, it also tasted delicious. 

Don't worry - that's not spam on the cheese plate. It's just some sort of pretty, pink champagne cheese that they bought because it matched the pink cake.

Mmm, delicious beautiful cupcakes that, again, BM L made. She is a domestic goddess.

A close-up of the tea pot cake. So cute!

I love these tea cups. We have a ton of my grandma's old tea cups that they brought out for the occasion. Okay, I had actually brought them out before, so that I could use them as centerpieces for our cocktail-hour tables, but you get the idea.

Aren't they fun? I think my favorite was the lily of the valley tea cup.

Basically, we ate delicious food and cake, laughed and caught up, opened presents, and played a cute shower game.

A few of my favorite people in the entire world: 

BM M, Aunt S, BM L, Mom CA, MIL, CA, BM C, and Step-Mom CA 

(Oh yeah, and Mr. CA stopped by with flowers. We forgot to snap a pic, though! Oopsie.)

They threw the shower for me the Sunday before our wedding, which I was hesitant about at first. I didn't want to be a burden to people who were already helping so much with the wedding! However, it really ended up being such a great time to relax and catch up with my friends and family. It was a very quiet time, and I was so glad that I could talk with everyone outside of the crazy wedding environment. It made me a bit less stressed out and fortified me for the week to come! The champagne helped, too. As did the cake.

Did you have a shower that was close to the day of the wedding? Did it help you de-stress before all of the wedding chaos started? Was your shower a 'theme' shower, or was the theme simply 'yay you're getting married'?? 

Then the Letting Go

I have been meaning to write this post for a while now, but have found myself groping for words that truly convey what I am trying to get across. It's a bit of a heavy topic and I am honestly finding it difficult to calcify my thoughts into a coherent chunk of writing. So, I have been putting off the writing of the post. However, the recent news of Kim Kardashian's filing for divorce after a mere 72 days of marriage (72!), spurred me into action. 72 days. That's only four days longer than Mr. CA and I have been married. In our 68 days of marriage, I feel like we have not even scratched the surface of our love, our relationship, our marriage - 72 days is just a blip in the radar of life, really.

Reading about K's plans for divorce, part of a NY Times article really hit me, and at first I wasn't sure why:

"...the fake reality of television shows that place more importance on a lavish wedding than on a lasting marriage."

This. Exactly this. How dare she make a mockery of the institution of marriage? How dare she focus so much on the wedding and not on her relationship? How can they even know after 72 days of marriage if they could make things work or not?

I suppose that what has been bothering me about the whole debacle, and why the quote hit me so hard was this: the situation actually reminds me a lot of the wedding planning process these days. It reminds me of my own experience with wedding planning. Why? Because I think we're placing too much importance on our weddings.

Now, before you come after me with pitch forks and torches, let me explain. I love looking through wedding sites for inspiration, projects, and ideas. There is so much information out there for frazzled brides trying to find their way in wedding planning and I. love. it. I obsessed over things like flowers and cake flavors just as much as the next bride.

But, I also know how easy it is to get caught up in all of the details, all of the planning, just for one day. I know how it is to look at blogs and think, wow, my wedding will never be that beautiful. Do you want to know something sad? Throughout my planning, I kept thinking I need to do this to optimize pictures from the wedding day, and even found myself thinking our wedding will not be good enough for our photographer.

What the hell? Why did I think these things?? Who was I trying to impress with my wedding? Why did I feel like my wedding wouldn't be good enough for our photographer?? Something is very, very wrong here. Looking back, it just seems so ridiculous, but with all of the inspiration shots of perfect weddings and photo shoots, it is hard to remind yourself that really it's just a day, and that day doesn't have to be perfect. Instead, that day should be focused on you, your husband/wife, and your love for each other. Not on the flowers, or the cake, or the photography.

You can spend as much or as little time as you want planning - working out details and seeing your vision for your wedding come to life is so much fun! I just worry that brides (and some grooms) feel caught up in the mentality that they have to spend mountains of time and stress and thought on planning one day. That they have to do certain things a certain way and they have to achieve a certain look. You don't. Weddings are a celebration of love; everything else is just an added bonus.

I am so glad that throughout our engagement, Mr. CA and I took the time to focus on our relationship. We took time out for ourselves, we did our homework and watched Fireproof, we went through our pre-marital counseling and a Pre-Cana course, we went out for dinners together. We reminded ourselves that we were planning a wedding, but we were also planning for a lifetime of commitment to each other. A lifetime of fun and laughter, yes, but also a lifetime of give and take, of compromising, of sacrificing, of working really freaking hard on our relationship. Because honestly, marriage won't always be easy. You won't always feel like the perfect couple, answers and fights won't always be easily resolved, and you will probably find yourselves in tough situations making hard decisions at some point or another. You may even find yourself questioning your relationship. Let me repeat: it will not always be easy.

During the planning, I ended up letting things go. Did I want to do a hundred DIY projects? Yes. Did I accomplish those hundred DIY projects? No. I did a few, but for the most part I asked myself "will I look back on my wedding in 30 years and be upset by the lack of signage for the bathroom, or sad that I did not personally hand craft our chair covers?" The answer was no. It was not worth the stress to me. Instead, I stopped looking online for inspiration and focused on cultivating our relationship, on looking forward to our vows and marriage. 

At the end of the day, our wedding was a pretty kick-ass party (if I do say so myself). Everything looked beautiful, and I was so happy with how things came together. Yes, even the little details that I had agonized over. Did everything go perfectly as-planned? Nope. Did the details matter? Ultimately, no. It was fun to plan them and totally rewarding to see how everything came together when I walked through the doors into our reception, but ultimately they are just place cards and table numbers. All of this stress over making everything perfect for one day is not worth it. I could have married Mr. CA under a bridge wearing a paper bag and we would still be together today after 68 days of marriage. 

I am not, of course, telling you to stop looking at wedding sites. Far from it! I love the inspiration as much as the next bride, and I love seeing what other people came up with for their weddings. But just keep in mind that your engagement should be a fun and happy and reflective time, not stressful.

Things do not have to be completely perfect for your wedding. Let things go that aren't necessary. Remember to focus your energy on building and strengthening your marriage, not on cake that will be eaten by the end of the night or place cards that will be tossed.

Ultimately, try not to compare your wedding to others. If you don't want to do tons of DIY projects, then don't do them. If you want to, that's awesome! I bow down to you, oh DIY goddesses. Just don't feel like you have to because everyone else is. People have been getting married for years and years without stressing over the signature cocktail or how to make the perfect headpiece or doing a million DIY projects, so if you decide to forgo that (we did!), you will be okay. In five years, no one will care that you didn't have flowers in the church or that you didn't have a custom hand-drawn invitation. If you did, great; if you didn't, great.

Enough babbling. Really, though, I am just trying to tell you that your wedding can be as simple or as elaborate as you want. Spend time on the things you care about and let the other stuff go - wedding planning shouldn't eat you alive. Your focus is better spent on your upcoming commitment to your significant other. Never forget that, and never forget what the day is truly about.

Have you found yourself caught up in all of the details for the wedding? Have you been able to keep an eye on the bigger picture of marriage throughout your planning? Did you find yourself thinking my wedding isn't good enough like I did? And, on a lighter note, have you been following the whole Kardashian situation? What are your thoughts on their 72 day marriage?

Apples Gone Wild: Part II

If you missed the first post, my lovely BMs took me up to Victoria for a fun, low-key bachelorette party.

Me in front of our Elizabethan cottage. I swear I was not pregnant - that dress is just a bit froofy.

Our second day in Victoria revolved around something that I was really looking forward to - Afternoon Tea at The Empress! I'm a huge tea fanatic and love all things tea, so this was one of the main draws for Victoria as our destination. I had been to The Empress several times for tea as a child and was really looking forward to going back!

 So, we got all fancified and headed down to the lovely Victoria waterfront.

The ivy-coated facade of the Empress always gets me. Sigh. So old-fashioned and gorgeous!

I loved every minute of it. Having afternoon tea at a fancy (or even not so fancy) hotel is totally a fun experience, especially if you have your best gals with you. You choose which tea you would like, and they bring a pot of it out. If you decide you want another kind of tea, they'll bring another kind! The sandwiches were amazing, and super filling. I LOVED the scones, jam, and cream - could have eaten about 50 of those. We were pretty stuffed by the time we got to the desserts; those plates don't look like they have a lot on them, but we ate a lot of food! Plus, we drank a lot of tea.

They even brought me a little chocolate banner on their pretty china.

We all wore our tiaras, and the old women who were having high tea loved us - they thought we were just the cutest group ever. I think they were just surprised that we decided to have high tea for a bachelorette party.

I like to call my look in this picture my "Cinderella Step-Sister Look." Note the apparent bubble-butt and pregnancy-esque stomach? Yes. Clearly, this dress does not always look flattering on me. I swear it is cute in real life, though! Probably shouldn't sit down in it anymore, though - the petticoat lining underneath really poofs out. Hot.

After afternoon tea, we walked around the waterfront a bit to work off all that sugar. We actually saw a few weddings in progress that weekend, and I can see why. It is absolutely beautiful there! Sigh. I love Victoria. 

While we were walking around the waterfront, we noticed this ship:

Which meant that, although we did not have strippers at my bach, we did encounter some "men in uniform" of a different stripe. Apparently they are Russian sailors?

Yes. They were thoroughly excited to encounter a group of American girls in tiaras.

While we were sitting at the table eating dinner after the sailors left, a large bachelor party walked by. They were all very intoxicated, and when the groom turned around, it was clear that the groomsmen (or whoever) had cut out circles in the butt of his pants. So yes. He was essentially wearing ass-less pants. Apparently they were having people smack his bare butt with a wooden spoon? So it was a nice and rosy, splotchy red. Lovely. Just what I want to see when I'm eating dinner.

The group parked themselves right in front of our table and, lo and behold, as they were milling about with the groom's butt pressed against a nearby restaurant's window, another bachelorette party came from the opposite direction. I am still not quite sure what was going on, but there were two brides wearing some very, ahem, revealing outfits. And by that I mean that they were essentially wearing lingerie. In broad daylight. In the middle of quaint, downtown Victoria.

Now, I don't mean to get on my high horse, and it might just be that I am a very old/ lame/ boring/ prudish person, but the two groups made me uncomfortable. In fact, I was embarrassed to be seen near them for fear that people would think we were part of the group! Listen, I am all for going out, getting wild, drinking, and having fun with your friends at your bach. I don't even care if you're wearing penis paraphernalia! But the two other groups we encountered just seemed a bit much. Degrading, almost? Maybe it was the nudity? Maybe it was the spoon-spankage? Maybe it was the lingerie? Maybe it was the straddling?? (The girls in the bachelorette party were all over the guys, so I certainly hope they were "with" them - as in, the guys were their soon-to-be husbands. Because if not, what the heck were they doing?) To me, bachelorette and bachelor parties are a time to go out and have fun with your friends to celebrate your upcoming nuptials. Not to be all up on other guys.

Remember, folks: just because you're at your bachelorette party does not mean that you are single for a night! You are still in a relationship! Act like it.

Okay. I don't want to offend people and their varying ideas of bach parties, but this all just seemed a bit much to me. End tangent.

We spent some more time laughing at the other bach parties, then spent the rest of the evening at a bar, where some dude bought us free champagne. Thanks, buddy!

And, a last shot of me with our champagne. With my crunchy veil. And my bachelorette garter (around my arm). And my spinny pin (that we didn't end up using). Attractive.

All in all, I had such a blast at my bach! Spending time with my girls is the best, and the high tea was just the icing on the proverbial (tea) cake.

Did anyone else have any weird encounters during their bachelorette party? Any other appearances by Russian sailors?

Do you think that bachelorette/ bachelor parties give people a 'get out of jail free card' to go nuts? Or am I just a prude? How far do you think is too far in terms of appropriate/ inappropriate behavior?

Apples Gone Wild: Part I

I can honestly say that the past 2.5 months have been the busiest, most insane months of my life. Okay, okay, they might be trumped by the first few months of my life (getting pushed from a nice, cozy uterus out through a narrow dark passageway tends to be somewhat traumatic and chaotic), but seriously, it's been close.

However, now that we have moved down to VA (wahoo!!) and have been on our honeymoon (double wahoo!! more on that later!), things are finally settling down a bit in the CA household. Sort of. Anyway, I am now hoping to get back to blogging about some of the stuff leading up to our big day.

First up? My bachelorette party!

From the get-go, I knew that I only wanted my closest gals with me - the guest list was only myself, my MOH (sister), and my 3 BMs. Since I live on the East coast and the ladies are all on the West, it made planning a bit tricky. But my girls took the helm and, after some discussion, settled on a place near and dear to my heart for a lovely weekend getaway. Our destination? Victoria, B.C.!

First, let me say that there is something to be said about wild bachelorette parties on the town complete with crazy scavenger hunt checklists, strippers, and penis straws, but I personally am pretty uncomfortable with that type of thing. I am just not a huge fan of some random, sweaty man in a thong rubbing up on me. I don't like asking random strangers to write on my boob with sharpies. And why exactly would I want to wear any sort of penis paraphernalia? Not my cup of tea.

(And just to clarify, I absolutely don't care when other ladies have this type of bach! Seriously, I like living vicariously through them - they look super fun. It's just not what I wanted for mine.)

Since the ladies knew that I love all things tea, English gardens, and waterfront views, that I wanted a lower-key bach without strippers, and since it is pretty easy to get to from Seattle, Victoria seemed like the perfect place for a relaxing, classy bachelorette weekend away.

So, I flew out to Seattle for a long weekend because really, I just wanted to spend time with my best friends. Isn't that what a bach is for? I woke up bright and early to have my final dress fitting, and then met up with the gals to catch the Victoria Clipper. It's almost a 3 hour trip to Victoria from Seattle, and we whiled away the time gabbing, catching up, and laughing at the guy passed out next to us. 

We stayed at the English Inn, which is a little bit outside the main downtown area. Although that means it's a bit of a trek (read: about a 10 minute taxi ride) from downtown, it also means it is very quite, and has lots of room. The Inn is a darling property with rambling, beautiful gardens, open lawns, and quaint Shakespearean-esque buildings. Apparently they hold weddings there, too. We stayed in a little town-house with two bedrooms upstairs and a fold-out couch downstairs.

My sister is a bed hog and took up at least 7/8ths of the bed each night.

 The blondies - my lovely sister/ MOH, and cousin/ BM. They are super excited about their tiaras!

The brunettes, fixing their tiaras.They don't look as excited.

The whole gang! If you look closely, you will see Bernice, Bessie, Bride, Babs, and Bertha. These are not our real names. The name tags came with the fun bridal gear that MOH brought along, and we thought it would be fun to go incognito. Us with our fake names - we're so wild! Watch out!

I love this picture because a) my cousin is gorgeous and sweet and I love her, and b) there was a bride and groom directly behind us out on the lawn getting their pictures taken. I wanted to show off my veil to them, but I restrained myself. Instead, we probably just got in the background of some of their pictures. Oops.

I had to do it - a close-up of my crunchy veil. This thing was hideous and awesome. They forced me to wear it all weekend.

After we were all settled in, we grabbed a few more pictures of the property and headed out for the night! We had a delicious dinner downtown at Nautical Nellie's (we only eat fish with large flakes, of course), and then hit some fun bars with awesome live music.

Just my kind of night - halibut, beer and my ladies. Oh, and a crunchy veil. And yes, I am a terrible blogger and took pictures of neither the meal nor the beer. My bad.

But stay tuned: there's more coming up!

What sort of bachelorette party did you have: wild or tame? Did your gals get you any penis paraphernalia or other bridal garb like my tiara and veil (and garter. and necklace. and badge)? Anyone else go to Victoria for their bach?

Honey Prep. Moon Organization. You Know.

Or, How to Prepare for your Honeymoon.

You know, because Mr. CA and I are still in that blissful newlywed stage between the wedding and the honeymoon where all I want to do is think about what an amazing time I will have on the trip with my fabulous new husband?? Yeah, that stage.

 

{Cappadocia rock column, via Library of Congress}

I already told you where we're going on our honeymoon (hint: it has the same name as the fowl that most carnivores eat for Thanksgiving), but since we had a month between the wedding and when we leave, and all I can do is think about sweet, beautiful Turkey, I thought I would write up a post on preparing for your honeymoon.

Yes, I realize that I am super anal and type-A, and most people don't need a post on how to prepare for their freaking vacation, but too bad. I know that some people (anyone?!) are like me and like to get organized ahead of time. Particularly if you're going on your honeymoon directly after your wedding! You don't want to have to worry about this stuff when you're in that yummy newlywed glow the morning after the wedding, so do yourself a favor and think about this stuff beforehand. That way, when you embark on the trip, all you have to do is make sure you catch the plane (or train. or boat. or automobile).

1. Itinerary and Important Information

I am insane. You must already know this about me, yes? I like being organized, and thus I make a little folder for each trip that I take. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just a manila folder (mine are pretty red), but I print out copies of all of my flight information (with confirmation codes), hotel reservations, train tickets, tours I have booked, etc. and stick it in the folder. That way, all of my reservation information is in one handy place in my purse/ backpack/ carry-on when I finally set off, and I can access it easily and quickly. Need my boarding pass? Oh, it's right there in the folder! Need to give our hotel's address to the taxi driver when we land? Yep, that's there too!

This isn't necessary, but I also will typically send a copy of my itinerary to someone at home in case of an emergency. I don't go crazy and type up a super long document detailing my every move, and I am not hugely specific, but I do like to send my mom information on cities I will be in, and the dates, just in case anything should happen. Or, you know, in case someone wants to send us newlyweds a bottle of champagne in our hotel room. Ha, just kidding! (Or am I?)

If I am travelling internationally, I will also stick a copy of the front page of my passport in this folder. That way, if my actual passport is stolen, I will have the copy to take to the nearest American Embassy. Or however that works - I've never actually had a passport stolen (knock on wood!!).

2. Marriage License

Order an official copy of your marriage license and take that with you in your handy folder (see above). There are a few reasons for this.

First, you might want to try for a first-class honeymoon upgrade or other honeymoon perks! I mean, duh, you are going on your honeymoon! You deserve the best, and this is probably the only time in your life where you can shamelessly ask for freebies. Except maybe when you are pregnant.

If you do try for upgrades or perks and the airline/ hotel/ restaurant is amenable, they may require some sort of proof that you are, in fact, recently married. I have no idea if we'll try for an upgrade, but it would be awesome if we could pull it off! Mrs. Penguin had some great tips for attempting a first-class upgrade; I suggest you click on over and check them out!

Second, you may have played the Name Change Game and changed your last name after getting married. Depending on how far along you are in the process prior to your honeymoon, this may cause some issues with boarding planes, customs, etc. 

For example, all of my current identification is in my maiden name, and our tickets to Turkey are in my maiden name as well. Phew! However, my father purchased flights for a family trip in December, and he used my new, married surname for one leg of the flight. Only problem is, I won't have officially changed my name by that time. Uh oh! Don't worry though - as long as you have an official copy of your marriage license with you when you travel, you should hopefully be fine. This may vary according to airline, though, so you might want to call the airline beforehand to confirm.

3. What to Pack

Well, this will obviously depend on where you're headed! And I'm sure you all are far more savvy travellers than I. But, a few suggestions:

- Passport (if you are travelling internationally): Make sure the valid-through dates will cover you through your honeymoon, and at least 3 months after.
- Any necessary visas (if you are travelling internationally): You can find this information here.
- Camera, with necessary batteries, memory cards, and chargers (You might even want to consider an underwater camera!)
- iPod, iPad, etc
-Books (if you are intending on doing reading, or have long international flights like us): I just finished reading Sophie's Choice and In the Garden of Beasts, and have loaded Game of Thrones and a few of the Mary Russel books onto my iPad. Woohoo! 
- Guidebooks for wherever you're going
- Foreign currency: Remember, you get the best rates through your bank!
- Sunhat, sunscreen, insect repellant
-Clothes, toothbrush, toiletries, etc.

Do you have any good tips for preparing for your honeymoon? Or do you prefer the more relaxed (ie normal) approach?

A Bee's Life: Candy Apple Edition

How Did I Find Weddingbee?

No idea. Seriously none. Zip. Zero memory of how I found the site!

During my early wedding planning months, I did lots of Googling. I hadn't thought much about weddings before Mr. CA proposed and therefore had no idea what I was doing. I excessively trawled the internet, searching such inane things as “wedding coordinator vs wedding planner” “Seattle barn locations,” and “what exactly does a junior bridesmaid do?” Of course, many of my searches brought me to blog posts or board threads or vendor reviews on Weddingbee. I didn't understand what the site really was (was it about bees? people who liked bees? people who were planning weddings and liked bees?), but I appreciated the abundance of answers to my questions and the positive energy that emanated from the Hive. I took the information I needed and didn't give the site itself much thought. Selfish Mrs. Candy Apple!

In January 2011, another arcane search brought me to a board in the hive (no memory of which thread it was) but for some reason I spent some time just poking around the site. My interest piqued. I trawled through the boards a bit (and learned that I should never confuse the terms "trawling" and "trolling" on the boards ever, ever again). Hey, this community looks really open, friendly, and engaging! People have the same issues/ questions/ lack of wedding knowledge as I do! I am not alone! Then I found the blog. Oh, the blog! I fell in love with the idea of the Bees and the concept of monikers and the darling icons, although it took me a while to catch onto the general idea of Bee generations.

My Application Story

I had been blogging on and off beginning in 2004. I started writing short emo posts on lame college things I was doing, what I was reading, how poetic the street-lamp's reflection off the newly-paved road in the rain was. Fluff. While I was studying abroad, my posts allowed my family and friends to keep up with my adventures. Since then, blogging was mainly just an outlet for me - an amalgamation of random stories, pictures of food, and snippets of my life.

After I found the blog on Weddingbee, I tentatively started blogging about my wedding plans. I had about 3 readers on my personal blog at that time and once I started writing about weddings, that dropped to 2 readers - my dad has informed me that he has not read a single post since I started in on the wedding stuff. Sorry, dad!

When the Carnival Bees were introduced, I finally plucked up the courage to start a draft of my application. The final document was around 11 pages and had lots of pictures. With pounding heart, I double-checked everything one last time, and clicked 'send' on my email to the application team.

Promptly after that fateful click, I panicked about not having enough time to blog for Weddingbee, and about how no one would like my posts or care what I had to say, and decided that I would be the worst blogger on the history of Weddingbee. I spent the rest of the night wide awake and starting at the ceiling in a panic-induced insomnia. But I consoled myself with the fact that I would never get accepted. Phew. Crisis averted.

A few weeks later, I received my acceptance email from Pengy. Um, excuse me? That wasn't supposed to happen.

After the initial elation and shock of the acceptance, I had a long, serious, hard think. Although I still felt self-conscious about blogging for the 'Bee (how am I worthy to be on the main page?!), I decided that I would just need to suck it up and go for it. And here I am!

Why Miss Candy Apple?

I like sugar and I like eating healthy. Pretty simple, really. A Candy Apple seemed like the perfect blending of the two. Also, the bow is super cute.

Advice to Potential Bees

I know it has been said before, but blog, blog, blog! Seriously, blog at least 3-4 times a week for about a month, if not more. Not only does the application team want to see your commitment, but it will also help you get in the rhythm of blogging regularly. And the more you write, the more comfortable you will feel writing and the more your 'voice' will come through.

Okay, Candy Apple, it's easy enough to tell me to write lots of blog posts. What else?

When you write your posts, think carefully about your content. Does your post have focus? Do you actually know what you are trying to say in a specific post? When blogging for a larger community, it is easy to lose a reader if your post jumps all over the place with no specific direction. That's not to say that all of your posts should be super-serious and straightforward and that you can never be unsure of things. On the contrary, non-serious posts can be the most fun! I just mean that posts should have a clear direction and should be easy enough for a general reader to follow.

Oh, and that goes hand-in-hand with engaging readers. You know those little questions we put at the end of our posts? I actually really liked that addition to my blogging, because it helped me focus the content of the post (did I really need to add that extra paragraph? or was it just fluff? what am I really trying to say in this post??) and it also allowed me to specifically ask for help and advice from readers.

Most importantly, find your 'voice.' I hated reading that in the Bee's Life posts that I read obsessively before applying because it felt so general and ambiguous, but it's so true. What the hell does that even mean?? Honestly, I don't know exactly what it means, but here are some of my thoughts on it:

- Write like you would write to your best friend. Then edit the ish out of it. Then edit some more.
- Don't sugar-coat things. Rather, write realistically and honestly about topics of planning/ weddings that you're interested in and passionate about. Your interest will come through in your posts, and your honesty will be welcomed. People don't want to read only the good! We want the bad and the ugly too.

Oh, and it never hurts to add pictures. (Just remember to source them appropriately!)

Being a Blogger Bee

Not going to lie - blogging has been tough. Much tougher than I thought it would be. There were weeks during the time leading up to our wedding where I didn't feel like I had enough time to eat, let alone blog. I had slight panic attacks that I wasn't blogging frequently enough and I felt like I was letting readers down. It wasn't that I didn't have things to talk about - I think I felt like I had so much to say, I just didn't know where to start a lot of the time. And then I would stress-eat to cope.

Overall, though, this experience has been absolutely incredible. I have loved getting to know all of the blogger Bees, and have so appreciated all of the readers' supportive comments and helpful advice. I am so grateful for and humbled by this opportunity.

Now that I've gone on and on about focusing your posts, I'll stop my incoherent babbling now. Whoopsie. Oh, but I certainly can't leave you without a picture!

Oh yeah, I never did talk about my dress prior to the wedding, did I? Well, there ya go.

And that's the end of this episode of A Bee's Life! What do you think - would you apply to be a blogging Bee?

He Wed, She Wed

It's official - the Candy Apples are married!

The wedding day itself, as well as the week preceding and the weekend after, were absolutely amazing. We are still trying to process everything, but had a total blast with family and friends. We are a bit bummed that the fairytale weekend is over and that we're back to reality, but seeing pictures go up on Facebook has been super fun.

We're a bit sad it's all over, but the best part is: we are now husband and wife!

{Guest Photo}

Lots more to come, but here's my favorite picture thus far. So happy to be married!!

At Last

Well, this is it!

I cannot believe this day is finally here. So much stress, organization, planning, excitement, tears, and love have gone into this day. I have looked forward to marrying Mr. CA for a long time, and this engagement over the past year has been quite the ride.

But really, it's not just a day. It is the beginning of us as Mrs. and Mr., united as one. Us against the world. Or something like that.

{Sarah Rhoads Photographers}

Hive: I may not have always been the best blogger (*ahem*), but I am so thankful for all of your comments, words of encouragement, ideas. This day would not have come together without you.

Bees: I don't even know what to say. You have helped me to keep my sanity throughout this process. I love you all, and truly value the friendships I have made these past 6 months.

And, Mr. CA: There are no words I could say that would be eloquent, or sappy, or deep, or meaningful enough to convey how I feel for you. I should have looked up some of Abigail Adams' letters to John, but I didn't have time (damn you, programs!), so this will have to suffice.

You make me a whole person. I realize that I am most certainly not nothing without you, but with you, I am so much more than I ever thought possible. Your strength gives me strength, your faith gives me faith. Thank you for putting up with me, for supporting me, for making me laugh, for constantly and unwaveringly loving me. Each day, I am so thankful and amazed that we found each other. I cannot wait to spend the rest of our lives together, because I just know we're going to have an absolutely kick-ass life.

That's it from me, y'all. Over and out!

xoxo,
Miss (for the last time!) Candy Apple

A Candied Invitation: Part II

So here it is - the big invitation reveal! In case you missed it, I have already talked a bit about these invitations: how infatuated with the calligraphy I am, how much in love with the invitations I am, how amazing the vendors I worked with are. I could go on and on and on about my obsession wtih our invitations, but I think it probably would just be better if I shut my trap and showed you the gorgeousness.

I probably don't need to tell you how excited I was to rip open these packages. Like a 4 year old on Christmas!
 

For our reception insert, I decided to make (well, have Kristin make) a little coaster. I thought this would make the suite a bit less formal and more fun. Um, and an indication that there would, indeed, be drinks. Mmm, drinks.

A close-up on the beautiful letterpressing of the coasters. Isn't it lovely? Kristin did an amazing job. I loved the deep, earthy green she used on "Dancing;" how perfectly it matched our envelopes, and how nicely it complemented the warm gray of the main text.

Pretty letterpressing! It seriously pained me to blur things out; the invitations were just too beautiful.

Our silhouettes! Yay.

Possibly my favorite part of the invitation suite: the animal icons for the meal choices!!

Another fave: I asked Kristin to put little heart icons, rather than check boxes, for the guests to indicate whether or not they would be attending.

After reading lots of fun and witty response options on the 'Bee, I knew I wanted something similar. Mr. CA didn't really like any of the options I came up with, so he did some thinking on his own. I LOVE what he came up with! As I have mentioned, Mr. CA is fairly stylish, so we thought it would be fun to do a play on that. While the three responses may not be grammatically correct, we loved how they read. I'm not entirely sure some of the guests 'got' it, but ah well. I thought it was clever.

One of our guests actually added a fourth 'response' that they subsequently checked: "Insert other witty response here." He got major bonus points.

Kristin also letterpressed the RSVP envelopes (and the backs of our regular invitation envelopes) with our return address, in the same gray ink. I forced her to use the filled-in heart icon rather than an ampersand, and I LOVE how it turned out.

More invitations. Seriously, you guys - I took at least 100 pictures of these things.

Love. Stacks and stacks!

And, ta-da! The assembled product! I kept it super simple:

1) Tuck the guests' RSVP card into the stamped RSVP envelope.

2) Stack that on top of an invitation

3) Top everything off with a reception coaster

4) Wrap twice with pretty twine

5) Add a Moo card

6) Stuff into a double-stamped envelope

7) Rinse and repeat!

Easy peasy! But seriously, it took me forever. Like, 4 nights, and I stayed up to 2am the last night because I'd be damned if I was spending another night working on them. I'm anal and had to get everything lined up juuuuuuuust right, the Moo card positioned juuuuuuuuust right. Oh well. They turned out purty, I think.

We used traditional "Nuptial Mass" and "Sacrament of Marriage" wording, to indicate that we would be doing a full Catholic mass wtih the wedding ceremony.

Another shot. Because I'm in love.

This was a shot from 2am when the lighting was all funky. I took a million pictures because I was delirious in my happiness that everything was done.

Okay, and another shot of Michele's beautiful work.

Our full suite!!

Another close-up of the silhouttes. Because they rock.

Beautiful, thick coasters.

Everything ready to go.

We received so much positive feedback: excited texts, emails, phone calls, and facebook messages. I know they may not be the most involved invitations, and I didn't DIM (Do It Myself), but dang was I proud of those things. They turned out even better and more beautiful than I had imagined.

People loved how much of our personalities went into them; I stopped counting the number of times people said 'your invitations were amazing, and SO you and Mr. CA!' I loved it, and I loved each piece of the invitation set. So much happiness.

Were you as relieved as I was when your invitations went out? Were you as excited as I was for people to receive them? Pleased with how much of yourself you put into the invites? Did you use any fun wording on the RSVP card, or the invite itself?

Invitation Design and Printing: Twin Ravens Press

Calligraphy: Calligraphy by Michele
Baker's Twine: Divine Twine
Mini Cards: Moo Cards

Silhouettes: Blue Clara