Semi-Homemade Wedding

I'm Married!

2011-07-31T18:20:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I'm here and I'm married! The day was perfect, really amazing. I couldn't have asked for more. My vendors were impeccable and my friends and family all seemed to have a blast. I'll be gone for awhile while I wait on pro pics (and figure out how to organize recaps!), but until then, here are some photos from Anthony's cousin to give you a little feel of the day.

How did you feel the day after your wedding?

This is It

2011-07-30T04:34:00.000-07:00

I'm getting married. It seems crazy to write, but it's finally here. Everyone keeps asking me if I'm nervous, but that's the farthest feeling from my mind. I am ecstatic to start my new journey with Mr. Biscuit, and have no reservations. Something funny happened to me in the past few days: I stopped caring that everything would look perfect and realized that all that matters is that we'll be married today. That's it. I never thought I'd start letting go and get to this point, but here I am.

Hive, I want to thank you for listening to me. From problems with a no liquor wedding to finding a new florist 6 weeks out, you have truly been there through all the wedding planning ups and downs. I will be thinking of all of you as I go down the aisle, because without you, planning would not have been as fun or rewarding.

And, I'll leave you with this picture that I drew for my blog when I became a bee. The software I use to draw has a pepper stamp. There is no earthly reason for the pepper stamp, but I like it.

Signing off,
Miss Biscuit

And--they're off!

2011-07-26T07:01:00.000-07:00

Can you guess what this post is about?

Here is a hint:

And another:

Yup, you guessed it, I am no longer "Brace Face Biscuit"! Those babies came off Monday, and I have never felt better. It now takes me 5 minutes to floss my teeth rather than 30, and I can actually eat things like apples and popcorn! It also means that my wedding is ridiculously close. Aaaahhhhh.

Anyone else have a major change to their appearance the week before your wedding?

The Final Countdown

2011-07-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

I know, I know...my post title isn't original, but this song has been stuck in my head for the past few weeks, always while I'm super stressed. And then I think of Gob and his "illusions," which causes me to laugh and stay sane.

via Joystiq.com

A lot has been happening and with one week to go with my planning, everything is now coming to a head. Plans are finalized, and my grandiose vision is slowly turning into reality. However, some stuff that I've previously blogged about just didn't work out. Surprisingly enough, all of my DIY is coming together nicely despite my numerous rides on the DIY fail ship.

No, these issues happened due to my--albeit high--expectations. I'll go through the list with you, and give you some solutions to help you all out who aren't currently on the wire time wise.

Dilemma #1: My cake.

     The beautiful idea I had just didn't work out. Our baker cannot recreate the lace work I desire. I was only able to pick from three bakers, and I chose the one that provided me with a cake made of edible products and didn't give me indigestion. So, the cake will still look cool and taste great, it just isn't what I originally envisioned.

Solution: Martha Stewart Weddings may not be the place to look at cakes, especially if you have limited bakers to choose from. Also, don't just assume that if you could teach yourself to do something (i.e. I do know how to elementary meshwork on cakes) that your baker can do something more extravagant.

Dilemma #2: Our beverage situation.

     Mr. Biscuit had a big mis-communication with the food and beverage vendor at our venue. We only get one microbrew instead of 3. So, we'll have Great Lakes Commodore Perry, Sam Adams, Corona, Yuengling, and Bud Light (*visible shudder*) served at the wedding (in addition to wine). I'm incredibly disappointed about this one, and to be honest, I probably would have just had liquor if I knew this would happen. Mr. Biscuit is still pretty firm on not wanting liquor--as are my parents--because he doesn't drink it. I'm afraid we'll look cheap for not serving liquor, even though I am ecstatic that one of my favorite beers (that just happens to be from the same city I spent four years in during undergrad) will be served.

Solution: Don't trust your FI to properly relay messages. The end. And don't care what other people think. We are providing more than enough alcohol for everyone and paying pretty much the same amount of money as a liquor, beer, and wine bar. If someone thinks we cheaped out, that's their own problem.

Dilemma #3: Our ten day forecast.

Solution: Have your wedding indoors (woo hoo!). Oh, and make sure you give all of your relatives large metal poles to hold outside. Tell them that it is a very important tribal ritual in your SO's family, and it is rude to question culture.

Dilemma #4: Keeping track of guests.

We've been having some problems with my rather large Excel spreadsheet. I haven't been saving it as much as I should have, and some people have been getting deleted. Trouble ensues.

Solution: Save your damn spreadsheet. On a MacBook, you simply press Command S. Or File-->Save. I don't think it could be easier. Sigh. Oh, and save all your RSVPs and double check everything. This is really not a realistic problem. I have never heard of anyone having any issues with this before. Probably because everyone is much smarter than I am.

Dilemma #5: Our honeymoon

We were supposed to do a whirlwind trip to Europe. It didn't work out, because my parents talked to some of our family who are fairly high up in the military and suddenly equivocated traveling to Tuscany with taking a pleasure trip to the African Congo.

Solution: Don't care about appeasing your parents. That's the only one I could come up with on this one. We're still doing something, and it will still be fun, but it won't be Europe. And I'm not telling you all yet. It's a surprise! We'll let you know once we're back (with a billion pictures, I promise!).

Dilemma #6: Having fewer than 250 guests, meaning I could have had my wedding at a different--read: more aesthetically pleasing room--at my venue.

Solution: Have a B list, instead of a billion people on your A list, and plan accordingly. I knew the droves of 85 year olds I was inviting wouldn't be able to make it, but there was that thought in the back of my mind.
I'm also looking on the bright side. We're still having around 230 guests, and we won't be cramped in a smaller room. Also, our uplighting wouldn't have been as dramatic with windows, since it doesn't get dark until about an hour before our event ends.

So there you have it. The five plans I had that were dashed. Are they that important in the grand scheme of things? No way! Are they disappointing? Of course. I'm glad most of these issues occurred in the last few weeks, when I didn't really have time to dwell on it. Going to school full time and trying to finalize wedding plans doesn't leave much time to do anything else with my brain.

What were some of things that just didn't work out for you during planning? How did you deal with your disappointment?

Cake Renege

2011-07-11T13:13:00.000-07:00

Way back when, even before I came up with my Mad Hatter idea, I knew I wanted a Mad Hatter cake. I had seen it years ago on some cake show and thought to myself, "Wow. That's the coolest cake ever. I must have this at my wedding." Sure, I had other ideas about my future wedding to Mr. Someone-I-Haven't-Met-Yet (OK, let's be honest, Mr. Guy-in-middle-school-who-didn't-know-my-name), but that cake was the only thing that stuck into my adult life. And that's a good thing. If not, my wedding may have looked like Lisa Frank ate some bad clams and vomited all over the room. Well, it may look like that anyway, but at least we'll refrain from having rainbow kittens riding on unicorns. I swear.

Everyone in my family has been on board with my Topsy Turvy/Mad Hatter cake decision. It was one of the elements of the wedding Mr. Biscuit was super excited about. However, no decision could be that simple for the Biscuits. Of course not.

I started thinking about how to design the cake and got nervous. As my "wedding journey" (wow, how pretentious do I sound, huh?) progressed, I began wanting the reception to have a slightly more elegant feel than I had originally envisioned. It also didn't help that I was looking at old pictures of my parent's and saw their monstrosity of a cake that was really "hip" in 1975. They had not one, but two staircases coming off their cake. And turrets.

And then I started worrying that maybe a cake decorated in the normal topsy turvy style would look a little bit like a birthday cake for a 5 year old.

So I decided to Google "Topsy Turvy Cake" and most of hits were of cakes like this:

via Pinkcakebox.com

Not a 5 year old's cake, but still not what I was going for.

This was not acceptable. Suddenly, my bride brain took over and the world felt like it was crashing down around me. I was going to have an ugly cake, an ugly wedding, and everyone was going to judge me.

I began obsessively looking at cakes. Eventually, after hours of poring through buttercream and fondant works of art, I came upon this gem:

via Martha Stewart Weddings

It was perfect. I loved it. I needed to have it. Only I wanted the cake and lattice work to be gold, and the flowers purple.

But then Mr. Biscuit stepped in, and said he would be really disappointed if we didn't have our topsy turvy cake. Way to be a Debbie Downer, Bis. So I then had a big decision to make. I'm completely embarrassed to admit it, but I really soul searched this one out folks. Don't make fun of me. Yes, I have gotten to the point in planning that I have to look inside myself before I make any decisions. Because they are all SO important.

Eventually, we decided that we could keep the design I loved and make it Topsy Turvy to appease Mr. Biscuit. I'm sure you all quickly came to that conclusion while reading this, but at the time, it was a very tough decision. Now, we're both happy and I'm crossing my fingers that my four tiered beauty won't be ridiculously expensive (we don't find out until we have an exact number of guests and RSVPs are still trickling in).

Did you change your mind a lot during wedding planning? Do small things suddenly seem like a BIG deal now that you're close to the day?

Going With Your Gut

2011-07-06T20:36:00.000-07:00

Hive, I wasn't going to write this post because I was afraid it was a wee bit too personal for blog land. But, you know what, wedding planning isn't always a happy sunshine land that rains candy canes and I think it's an important thing to realize. I had always heard there would be one big family fight during wedding planning, but I always thought I would escape it. And until we were six weeks out, I managed to stroll along without conflict. But then it happened: The Biscuit Flower Event.

You may remember way back when, I had an initial meeting with my florist who was friends with my grandmother. We wrote up a makeshift quote, and she was pretty rude and less than helpful. She definitely put me off, and I was told to come back when I actually knew what I wanted flower wise. That was easier said than done, as I know next to nothing about flowers. Remember my brown thumb?

So, I eventually found proper inspiration--at about six weeks out--and came back to the florist with my grandmother. The first thing the florist said as we walked in the door was "Oh, I didn't realize you were still getting married since I never heard back from you." Uh, you told me not to come back until I actually knew what I wanted. We had a quote written up, and since she didn't have a contract, I (incorrectly) assumed that was enough. She then said that she was on vacation that week, but maybe the girls downstairs could handle it. My mood began to drop.

And the meeting went downhill from there. From name dropping other brides who "didn't get married" (or who found a nicer florist) while looking for my initial quote to insinuating that I had found a new groom ("are you still marrying Mr. Biscuit?") to making me feel stupid for having seven bridesmaids ("my niece has a lot of friends too, but she only had four bridesmaids") the meeting started to leave a very bad taste in my mouth.

When I showed her a picture of the flowers I wanted she asked what they were. Isn't that her job? To know what flowers look like? She then claimed that the bouquet for bridesmaids would be $200 a pop and didn't offer any alternative flowers that would give me a similar look. By the end of the meeting, I was fuming and could barely speak a word. I was told to write down the flowers I wanted and to give her a call.

After telling my mother about the issue, she decided enough was enough and it was time to find a new florist. Instead of my grandmother defending me, she claimed the florist was "being realistic" and was not happy with my decision to find someone knew. And you know what? Maybe the florist was being realistic about my options, but she darn well sure could have been more helpful.

So there I was. Six weeks out, with no florist. I had no idea what to do. Until I realized that my venue was having a bridal show the next day. It was serendipity. While at the show, I met with a florist who works with my event rental company and my photographer. And he was free July 30th. Score.

After meeting with him, I realized that I should have gone with my gut a long time ago. I showed him my inspiration, and he actually knew what flowers were on the page. He also knew what he could substitute in order to make my *gasp* seven bridesmaids' bouquets affordable. So far, I am extremely impressed with him. Seriously, best florist ever.

In the end, it seems to have all worked out, but for a couple of days, all was not well in the House of Biscuit. Luckily, my grandmother is not mad that I'm not using her friend anymore (and really, how could I? She's on vacation that week), but I do still feel a little guilty because I know I disappointed her. However, at the same time, I knew from the initial meeting that our personalities did not mesh, and I had been worrying about my flowers ever since. I feel extremely lucky that I wasn't locked into a contract and could switch florists midstream.

Did anyone else let a vendor go close to their day? Anyone follow their gut from the start?

Thank You Rules

2011-06-23T17:11:00.000-07:00

I'll be the first to admit it: I'm not that great at Thank You notes. As a child, we had a special Hallmark program to make cards on our computer and the most commonly used one had a turtle on it:

It's not that I wasn't grateful for my gifts. I guess I'm kind of a procrastinator. OK, that's a lie. I'm the Procrastinator. I'll formally claim my title--someday.

But I know wedding thank you's are something I can not put off. I know that I get anxious when I don't hear back from a bride within a month or two of the wedding. I often wonder, "Did they get their gifts? Did they hate them? Were they kidnapped by giant monkeys in top hats while on the honeymoon?" Legitimate stuff.

I'm also worried about being seen as the bride who snubs if I put it off for too long. Two years ago, my family went to a wedding for my mother's friend's daughter. Yeah, say that three times fast. We gave the couple a card and cash and never received a thank you note. My mother was worried we didn't give enough money and the couple felt snubbed or that someone stole the card. I'm going to say that maybe the bride wasn't exactly versed in the laws of etiquette and didn't send out Thank You notes. Any way you slice it, we don't exactly have a flattering view of that couple anymore.

So, in an effort to minimize the number of guests who find me an uncouth, I have set some simple ground rules for myself as our wedding guests come trickling in:

1.) Write a Thank You note as soon as I receive a gift.

2.) Do not use aforementioned gift (or cash any checks) until two day after the note has been mailed to allow it to reach the generous party.

So far, it's been working out pretty well. I have my first batch of notes--for my shower and the first round of wedding gifts--going out tomorrow and I have not used any gift yet even though I'm itching to. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep this up after the wedding as well.

How did you make sure all of your notes got out in a timely manner?

How To Have a Successful Bachelorette Party

2011-06-20T18:39:00.000-07:00

Note: Some of these pictures may not be considered safe for work!

Here's my 10 step plan to ensure a ton of fun during your bachelorette party!

Step 1: Have a super fun shower at your parents' beforehand.

I was lucky enough to have a nice small shower planned by my awesome mother and sister right before my friends and I went up to Pittsburgh to get our bachelorette on. The highlights were the games my sister chose: one was trivia about me and one was trivia about British sayings. No toilet paper in sight. A+ Sister Biscuit.

Step 2: Begin the evening with cookies shaped like a certain part of the male anatomy.

My friends baked delicious cookies for me! My favorite was the one that was--erm--missing half of part of the cookie and had "Livestrong" iced onto it. Oh, and the cookie they made of Mr. Biscuit. It was the first to go.

Step 3: Have 2 sashes.

One lit up, and one was smaller and prettier. Unfortunately, the one that lit up stopped lighting after we hit it twice, so I kept the pink one on.

Step 4: Decide it is too early for dinner, and drink a pitcher of Sangria first.

Yum!

Step 5: Eat at a lovely German brewery. Make sure to drink beer, take ski shots, and dance on the chairs.

Step 6: Go to another awesome bar. Accept free shot from bartender, drink a double IPA, and meet another bachelorette friend and her companion.

Step 7: Go dancing at a bar with no cover that only plays "house music." Make sure there are only 5 very weird looking people there awkwardly standing on the dance floor.

I don't have pictures after this point, but I can show you a reenactment:

Step 8: Fall and cause some carnage.

What good is a bachelorette party if you don't have a gnarly scar? I know some of you get sick when you see gore, so I chose to add an artist's rendition of the event.

Step 9: Wake up feeling very sick and cursing yourself for mixing drinks. Go to brunch. Get sick outside of restaurant, in BM A's car, and on your parents' lawn.

Step 10: Sleep the rest of the day, while your disapproving mother shakes her head as she always does if you have more than one drink.

How was your bachelorette party? Anybody have an embarrassing incident the day after? Any carnage?

An Open Letter to My Wedding Guests

2011-06-16T16:43:00.000-07:00

Dear potential guests,
Our RSVP deadline has came and went. So far, we have 158 yeas, about 10-12 nays, and close to 140 that have not responded. I know some of those are nos, but I'm still waiting to hear from about 100 people give or take.

I was very benevolent when I began planning. I decided I would invite all the people so no one was left out. Because of this, I chose the larger (but not as pretty or sunny) ballroom at my venue. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make so that I could have all of my loved ones (not just the first 250) join us.

It's like the census, guys. Fill it out, mail it back. The return address is already on there. No extra writing necessary. If I can't implore you to do so with my words, just consider the following warning:

Love,
Miss Biscuit

Were your RSVPs slow to come in? Do you think I should pursue the other venue since it looks like I'm going to be under 250?

Awkward Moments of Wedding Planning

2011-06-10T15:25:00.000-07:00

Hive, I'm about to have my bridal shower. I'm pretty excited, as it should be a good time.

My grandmother was kind enough to deposit some money in my checking account as my shower gift. Side note--any one else think this is kinda funny? Because she is showering me with money--so, technically making it rain? OK, maybe that's just me.

Anywho, she gave me the deposit slip and then said that she wanted me to buy something "personal" with it. I was so excited that I had free reign to spend it on something other than something for the wedding. Then I realized that she may have meant:

instead of

And then the awkward turtle came to hang out with us before I quickly made my exit.

image via areyouaniceguy.com

Anyone else have an awkward moment during planning?

Register? But I hardly know 'er!

2011-06-07T19:39:00.000-07:00

~~Mr. Biscuit and~~ I registered very early in the planning process. Like, last June early. I know, I know, I was jumping the gun a bit, but I was bored and spending way too much time in front of my computer while I was supposed to be studying for my boards.

After that deed was done, Mr. Biscuit and I started thinking. Did we really need a registry? Mr. B has lived on his own for years and can cook (yay!) so he has pretty much everything he would need for the kitchen. I like to bake and don't really have the supplies for it; however, Mr. B's oven is a glorified heating coil that I can't bake in as I've been sufficiently spoiled by my parents' professional grade oven, and we also don't really have room for a ton of stuff as Mr. Biscuit's house is about 1000 sq. feet. Sure, after I graduate we may move into a larger house, but until then, it would be kind of close quarters. And I don't really like the idea of having close quarters with a pastry cutter. That's creepy.

To be perfectly honest, we could really use a little help on mortgage payments over a new pot or pan. But, uh, it would probably be considered a wee bit crude to register for cash.

So, we decided the easiest thing to do was to register for nothing. But I had already made a completely superfluous registery at Tiffany & Co while daydreaming about having Christmas breakfast using my Tiffany Holiday collection pitcher that showed up in registry searches. What were we to do?

Well, we eventually concluded that we would register, but only at stores we wanted things from. We honestly have no need right now for anything from Target or Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and were afraid that if we registered for anything there, we would be inundated with gift cards. And the last time I checked, gift cards were not useful currency when trying to pay a mortgage.

In addition to the frivolous, already finished Tiffany registry, we added a registry to Williams-Sonoma (where I made sure to include MANY low priced baking accessories), Pottery Barn, and Anthropologie (in the form of a wish list). Yes, we made quite a few registries, but our guest list is over 300 and we didn't register for that many things at any one store, so I felt it was appropriate.

None of these stores are actually in my hometown, but most of my guests are traveling to the wedding--and ordering online or driving up to Pittsburgh is pretty simple. I also thought that maybe people would, you know, take the hint that maybe we were a little cash poor but not appliance poor when they saw that we really didn't register for that many things.

As soon as people discovered where we had registered, I received a LOT of flak. The conversations usually went a bit like this (though I didn't say what I actually thought):

But so far, I have kept my tact and stood with my guns. I refuse to register somewhere where I don't actually need stuff. I also refuse to say, "Um, if you want to give us something, a check would be sweet." I finally added a little tagline to our Registries page at our website which is hard to read, but basically says we registered for things that we needed plus some upgrades, since we were lucky enough to not need much. Oh, and it delineated me as the baker and Mr. Biscuit as the cook.

It served a dual purpose, to explain why we didn't register anywhere in town, and to show that I was not the one who registered for the $200 knife (yes, that's singular). I truly hope that knife is in some way magical. And named Wally.

Emily Post may be rolling over in her grave, but to be perfectly frank, I don't care. We don't expect gifts from our guests, but if they clicked the registry page, they were either:
a.) wanting to buy us a gift that we wanted and needed
b.) wanting to look at our registry and be a Judgey McJudgerson.

So, we were either not offending someone or offending someone who was already looking to be offended. I can live with that.

How did you deal with registry woes?

You're Invited...

2011-06-05T16:55:00.000-07:00

to the Biscuit wedding! Our invitations are out, and aside for a few in transit--including one that may have been eaten by Germany customs, everyone has them.

So without further ado, see what I've been doing (and accept my apologies for the lapses in blogging while I was trying to get them out). Some of these pics were taken with an iPhone, so I'm sorry for the poor quality.

Here some of them are, ready to go:

The envelopes were made out of fabric, and the addresses were iron on transfers. I forgot to take an up close picture of the finished envelope, but (un)luckily one was sent back to us, so you can get a better idea of what they looked like and how they held up in the mail.

Sad returned envelope :(

Upon opening the envelope, everyone was presented with this:

It's a fabric covered booklet! I bought a custom stamp and embossed what I have dubbed our monogram onto the front, and tied the booklet together with ribbon.

Once my guests opened the booklet, they were greeted with my invite! I stitched the booklet together to make it look like an actual book.

The actual invite

The reception info (including removable directions printed on the same paper)

Accommodation info (which is no longer applicable, thanks to our hotel being sold out)

Our reply card page and envelope. It was originally going to be a postcard, but was perforated for dimensions that were too small to make it through the mail. So I bought some black 4 bar envelopes from Paper Source. This wasn't the brightest idea, however, because then I needed to write out everyone's return address in white pen (because who has a white pen just laying around?). I know there were other ways around it, but I thought it was cute and was too lazy to actually print out labels.

So there you have it. My labor of hate. I wouldn't call it a labor of love because by the time the majority of these 145 invitations were finished I was about ready to chuck them out the window. In the interest of full disclosure, I still have about five or so that I need to send out, but they are for guests who cannot make it (or guests who my family sprung on me at the last second).

I also want to give a big thank you to my childhood friend, Meghan. She works for (and her Dad owns) a printing company in town and she helped me so much with my design! It was originally not in high enough resolution, so there was quite a bit of work that needed done. Thank you Meghan!

How did you feel when your invitations were finally done?

Bride Brain

2011-05-31T19:31:00.000-07:00

Over the course of wedding planning, I have found that I become completely scatterbrained during the more high stress times. Well, more scatterbrained than usual. I call this phenomenon "Bride Brain."

Bride Brain likes to manifest at inopportune times. Like in the Cleveland airport. Last weekend, Mr. Biscuit and I were on the way to Menomonie, WI (say that three times fast!) for a wedding. In order to get to Menomonie, we needed to fly into Minneapolis via Cleveland and we had only a 40 minute layover to get dinner, a beer, and reading material for the flight. Yes, all of these things were necessary.

Mr. B and I branched out at the Hudson News. He bought a cycling magazine and a music magazine. I bought Self and Cosmo. I chose to read the Self on the plane first, but got through it pretty quickly. So, I decided I'd move on to the Cosmo, even though I wanted to save it for the ride home. Well, I looked at the cover and what did I see?

Yes, I'm a genius. I bought a Cosmo in Spanish. And being the stubborn person I had, I refused to feel like an idiot for doing so. I used my rudimentary knowledge of the Spanish language (hey, I took four years of Spanish...10 years ago) to read that magazine. The sad thing is, I'm pretty sure I got out of the Latin Cosmo what I would out of one in English even though I read Spanish at a six year old's level. Context clues are clutch.

Oh, and Mr. Biscuit still almost wet himself from laughing so hard even though I tried to play this blunder off.

What has bride brain done to you?

Something awesome to come home to.

2011-05-22T19:03:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I was in Menomonie, WI celebrating a close friend's nuptials. It was a fabulous weekend, and a great trip. When we came home, we were greeted with a facebook status from one of Mr. Biscuit's aunts. It turns out, that the hotel where we are having our wedding is completely booked on our wedding date. How did this happen? Well, our room block has been long gone, as my side of the family and my friends jumped the gun and booked their rooms in March (thanks friends/family!). Mr. Biscuit's family, however, had not booked their rooms yet.

And during that period of time between March and May, participants in a motorcycle convention booked our hotel. The largest motorcycle convention in the area, called Mountainfest. If you've never heard of Mountainfest, a few competent motorcyclists and thousands of others who need their license revoked flock to my town and rev their engines for a weekend. It's harmless fun, and the patrons are very polite and bring a lot of business to Morgantown, but most of the area does try to refrain from leaving their house for those 3 days.

So, my wedding is going to occur in the middle of motorcycle fest. A+. It is almost impossible to drive anywhere when these folks are in town, and equally as difficult to find hotel rooms. I may or may not need a stiff drink.

Anyone else have a major event in their town on their wedding day?

Leaving the EST Time Zone

2011-05-11T14:43:00.000-07:00

Mr. Biscuit and I have yet to book our honeymoon. I know, I know, we have less than three months and we should get on that. I assure you, we're working on it. We've had some trouble with the itinerary.

I've done some traveling in my 24 years, and I have a firm knowledge of what I like and what I don't like in a vacation. I'm one of those people who loves Disney World or even--gasp!--cruises. There's always something going on and something to do. I really don't like laying around on a beach all day and have a hard time justifying paying thousands of dollars to vacation on an exotic beach.

I've also been to a few tropical-ish places. Hawaii? Check. The Caribbean? Check, multiple times. They were nice, but they just weren't places I'd want to spend a huge chunk of money on for a nice vacation.

Mr. Biscuit didn't really have any input in the matter (as per usual), so all the decision making was up to me. The only thing I knew for sure was that I wanted to get Mr. B out of the time zone, because, well, he's never been out of the time zone. Never. He has traversed up and down the EST, but really, those lines are like asymptotes for him. He can approach CST, but never reach it.

Mr. B put me in charge of the honeymoon because of how much I traveled, which is kind of laughable. He's seen about 1% of the world, and I've seen MAYBE 2%. So, logically, it would make sense to put me in the pilot seat for planning, but really, neither of us are exactly jet setters.

We eventually decided we wanted to go to Europe. Mr. B has 2 weeks he can take off of work, and our wedding is right at the beginning of my 4 week summer vacation, so really, I've got nothing but time after our day. And how fun would it be for Mr. B to be totally immersed in a new culture and a new time zone all at once?

Now comes the tough part, though. Where do we go in Europe? Originally, we found this awesome cruise for an incredibly fair price that started in Barcelona and took us to France, Monaco, and Italy. But then I thought about how much extra traveling we'd have to do to see anything. And I also thought about all of the extra cost we'd incur. On one cruise, I decided I wanted a daiquiri in a monkey. I ordered it, and I'm pretty sure it was non-alcoholic because I'm sure the cruise guy thought I was five, and I drank the whole thing quickly and felt nothing. How much was the non-alcoholic monkey? Sixteen bucks. Ouch.

super expensive monkey

OK, so the cruise was out.

I had thought about possible retracing steps from a vacation I took a few years ago in Italy, and throwing in some hiking in the Dolomites, but I knew Mr. B was excited to eat tapas in Spain. I still really wanted to go back to Italy, though, because I thought the food there was amaze-balls (a technical term).

me want food (in Rome)!

But Spain and Italy are rather far away, and I didn't want to spend my honeymoon chilling on the Eurail or in an airport.

I was about to throw in the towel and book a trip to Disney World where we could see the whole darned world in an hour, when my very generous grandmother insisted on buying us first class Eurail passes, so that we could take night trains in style.

So, while my itinerary isn't booked yet, I do have an idea of what I want now. We aren't going to spend much time in any one place, but we will definitely glaze over the continent of Europe, and it will be awesome.

Here's the Biscuit Whirlwind Tour (or, around part of Europe in 13 days):

1.) Fly into Rome. Stay for two nights (since I know my way around Rome, I know how to see most of it in a short amount of time--or at least, what to skip).

2.) Train to Florence. Stay for 3 nights--side trips to good wine tasting. I want good food and wine on this trip. The end.

3.) Night train to Paris (via Milan). Stay in Paris one or two nights--because it's wicked expensive. Possibly take side trip to England or Belgium and extend stay.

4.) If we don't go to England/Belgium, we'll head to Nice for a few days to get our beach in.

5.) If we do go to England or Belgium, we'll go back to Paris and night train it to Barcelona. We'll spend the rest of our time there (hopefully with day trips to hike some).

6.) Fly out of Barcelona and laugh when Mr. Biscuit is jet-lagged for work on Monday since he is SURE that he won't be. Sigh. Boys.

I know this trip is kind of crazy, but we're young and we like things fast paced. We're hoping to cut overnight costs with our night trains, but we don't need to stay anywhere particularly nice. Our only caveat is that we must have a private bathroom wherever we stay. As for flights, we'll get at least one for free because of the points my parents have accumulated (thanks Mom and Dad!).

Anyone else take a whirlwind tour for their honeymoon? Anyone have some suggestions about where to go and what to see?

Trials and Tribulations: Makeup Edition

2011-05-10T14:47:00.000-07:00

I have been vacillating over whether I should DIY my makeup or get a pro to do it for awhile. My wedding is at one in the afternoon (thank you Catholic scheduling!) and my hair dresser doesn't do makeup. Just when I was about 99% ready to do my own makeup (and possibly have shiny face or no eyelash syndrome) one of my bridesmaids said she found someone in town who did airbrush makeup for $50. I looked up this salon and found out it was about 1.5 driving minutes away from my hairdresser. Serendipity, my friends.

I scheduled my trial for yesterday morning, and was incredibly excited for what was to come. People hype up airbrush makeup so much, that I was sure I was going to look amazing. I half expected to walk out looking like Jessica Alba.

Of course, when you set the bar that high, there's going to be some disappointment because I'm no Jessica Alba.

Don't get me wrong, I am extremely happy with my complexion and blush. I asked for a smokey eye though, and I probably should have specified a brown smokey eye because it turned out a little dark. So dark that when Mr. Biscuit came home he likened me to Elvira.

via AHollywood.info

via Seattle Twist

The funny thing is, you can't really tell in pictures. In fact, in pictures I don't look that shabby. On the day of, we're going to do some fake eyelashes, but I asked that they be minimal and not crazy finger things. I just need something to open my eyes because they (like the rest of my face) are small.

So, without further ado, here's a few gratuitous pics. Remember, I'm thinking about going more brown on the eye instead of black on the day of. The lipstick I applied (my own) had pretty much worn off by the time I took these pictures, but I like the color it turned to. A nice rich berry stain.

Excuse the weird smiles. I'm trying to hide my braces because I'm sick of looking at them.

I'm glad I did this trial, because I don't think I'd be happy with the end product day of; however, the airbrush makeup really is great. It's not coming of and makes my complexion look flawless. I highly recommend it to anyone who is a little slow on the makeup uptake (like myself). Up next: the hair!

How did your makeup trials go? Is anyone DIY-ing it?

Can I win at shoe again?

2011-05-05T17:41:00.000-07:00

Recently, I've been a little worried about my wedding shoes. Remember the beauties? As much as I love them, I know I'm not going to make it past the ceremony in them no matter how many gel soles I put in them. I'm not exactly graceful when walking in heels. Unfortunately, my dress is currently hemmed for my 5" shoes. So, if I switched to flats for the reception, I'd be tripping all over myself. A+.

So what's the answer to this predicament? Easy: find cute shoes that are super comfortable and almost as high! And that I did, today while shopping.

via Must Have Shoes

Come on, don't tell me these aren't the best shoes EVER (aside from the ones you're wearing, and ya know, the other ones I bought). I'm hoping to get some more leverage out of them, but for the $80 price tag at DSW I can live with just traipsing around my house with them.

Did you choose a different, fun reception shoe?

And Now--for something I really don't care about

2011-05-03T14:49:00.000-07:00

Yes y'all, I'm talking about what the groom/groomsmen are going to wear. I'll be honest, at first, this was something I didn't care about at all. Mr. Biscuit could wear tails, a tuxedo, a suit, boxers and a cowboy hat as far as I cared.

But then, I saw this really pretty wedding on Snippet & Ink and fell in love with the use of teacups and the adorable outfit of the groom:

Images via Snippet and Ink/Photography:Erin Hearts Court /Florist:Heavenly Blooms /Groom's apparel: tie: Jimmy Au’s / Tux & Tulle

They're my far more stylish wedding twins! Yippee!

I immediately went on a search for affordable neckties just like what my new best friend Leo wore. After a fortuitous Google shopping search, I found them. For only $15 a piece from cheap-neckties.com. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know it's no Brooks Brothers, but the ties look quite nice and buying 8 of anything adds up. After they came in, I once again was completely apathetic about what Mr. Biscuit and his guys would wear. Except for their ties, which were awesome.

via cheap-neckties.com

But at some point it occurred to me that if I did not go to our local tuxedo rental shop with Mr. Biscuit, it would never get done. Side note--sometimes I feel like I'm marrying a sock, because Mr. B has no opinion about anything wedding related except for the beer. It's really a double edged sword. It's nice to be able to do what I want, but once in awhile I'd like to have SOME input.

But I digress.

One afternoon, Mr. B and I drove the 1.5 miles to the shop and picked out the tuxedo. Things went fairly easily. We knew we wanted a light gray one, and there was only one. A+.

via New and Blue

That day, I also discovered that I didn't really like tuxedos. While at the shop, I learned the difference between a tuxedo and a suit. I know, I'm a wedding failure. For some reason, I thought that maybe tuxedos came with vests and suits didn't. Sigh.

For anyone wondering, a tuxedo has some sort of silk on it. And I don't really like this look. Before I could speak up about it, though, Mr. Biscuit said how much he liked that tuxedo. Yes, I'm serious, he actually had an opinion about something wedding related. Choirs of angels began to sing, and slowly the sock transformed into a man. You know when the Beast turns into the prince in Beauty and the Beast? Yeah, it was kind of like that.

I was so elated, that I immediately shut my mouth and we proceeded to order said tuxedo with a silver white shirt (because the guy said a white one would make my dress look dirty--I don't know if I buy that, but whatevs). Besides, I'm sure his groomsmen and he will look quite dapper in it, and it's not like I'm the one wearing the thing. I didn't ask him if he liked my dress before I bought it, did I?

Mr. Biscuit hasn't really had an opinion since that day, but that's OK. His actions at the shop showed me that when I don't care about an important wedding detail, maybe, just maybe he will.

How did you choose your groom's attire? Anyone else marrying a sock (I mean that in a good natured way. I love Mr. Biscuit, he's just not really into the details :) )?

The Princess Diaries

2011-04-26T17:29:00.000-07:00

As soon as I found out the blogger bees were going to write about their Royal Wedding predictions, I jumped at the chance to join in! And then I realized that I know nothing about flowers, designer gowns, and really anything royal wedding related. It's OK though, I've been watching all the TLC specials, and I feel like I may have some semi coherent predictions.

1.) The dress
Many have speculated that Kate will wear a more form fitting gown. I disagree. While I can't imagine Kate in a ruffly ballgown, I also can't see her in a trumpet sheath. She will have to have a decent train. It takes about 4 minutes to walk down the aisle, and she will be photographed from the ceiling. There needs to be some sort of wow factor. She also needs to stand out amidst the thousands upon thousands of people who are there.

For some reason I have this idea in my head that her dress will look a bit like Princess Mia's in The Princess Diaries 2, except it will be poofier with a longer train. I also think that she'll stay on trend and have a separate dress for her after party. I think she'll keep it long but still form fitting. Her veil for the ceremony will probably cathedral length, and I think it will drag around three feet in front of her. As for the designer, I think she'll stay classic with McQueen, with Issa doing her reception dress.

via Order of Splendor/Disney Pictures

via InStyle/Netaporter

2.) Flowers
I think the flowers will be classic, with a modern twist. I hypothesize Kate will choose an accent color for her bouquet, something like ivory flowers with a pop. I'm guessing lilac mixed with traditional cream roses and other ivory flowers. OK, I'll admit, I cheated here...I read that lilac was being shuttled into the reception venue.

by Richard Wood Photographics via Lush Floral

3.) Hairstyle
Kate will wear her hair in a traditional updo, so she can do her tiara justice. She's so classic, I see her doing a simple chignon.

4.) Bridal Party
The men will wear their tradition military garb. Those who are not affiliated with the military will be dressed in tuxedos. With Kate's style in mind, I see the girls in long, form fitting sapphire dress.

Dessy via French Novelty

5.) Wedding Theme/Colors
I think the wedding will have splashes of sapphire and gold as the colors, and the overall tone will be traditional and regal. As much as I'd like to think that Kate wants a vintage, garden wedding, I have to assume that she will stay on point with what I'm sure the royals want.

6.) Cake
I think the wedding cake will be 7 tiers and a traditional white with floral accents.

7.) Ceremony Time
I think that the ceremony will last one hour and 22 minutes. Just because then it will be longer than my wedding.

8.) First Dance
I hope Will and Kate decide on a classic first dance song, rather than a recent pop tune. My random shot in the dark guess is "Something About the Way You Look Tonight"-by Elton John. OK, fine, I found this answer on a betting odds website. If it's a good enough guess for others to put money on, then it's good enough for me.

So there you have it. My ideas about the royal wedding. Feel free to laugh at me when it's all incorrect.

What are your predictions?

The Five Stages of DIY Grief

2011-04-25T15:01:00.000-07:00

Hey there hive, I've been slacking in the blogging realm lately. It's because I'm stuck in major DIY hell complete with fire, brimstone, and vats of various craft adhesives. My current issue has been my invitation design. To most people, this is a mundane task; however, I have somehow escalated it into a ridiculously complicated endeavor that has taken weeks to resolve itself. You see, my original design didn't have a proper resolution, and ever since Ive found that out, any attempt to design something new spiraled out of control. During this process, I went through the normal stages of DIY grief. What? You've never heard of such a thing. Well, consider yourself lucky. For those fortuitous DIY queens who have never had a blunder I'll illustrate these stages.

Stage 1: Denial

Stage 2: Anger

Stage 3:Bargaining

Stage 4:Depression

Stage 5:Acceptance

So, there you have it. I'm currently in the acceptance phase of my invitations, though I'm running through steps 1-4 on various other projects. I hypothesize that in another month, I will be one big ball of wedding apathy.

Have you gone through the stages of DIY grief?

Whiter Shades of Pale

2011-04-18T17:16:00.000-07:00

Hive, at this point at time, my skin is the color of paper. I seriously look like I've been painting closets for the past six months. In fact, if I shaved my head and stood against a white wall naked, no one would be able to find me.

Some of you may be shocked by this statement, but if this is my coloring on my wedding day, I'd be totally cool with it

However, in a few months, I'll probably get a few shades darker by walking my dog and walking to and from class. Believe it or not, I tan ridiculously easily, despite SPF. I don't turn golden brown overnight, but by the end of the summer my foundation goes up quite a few shades inadvertently.

I'm writing this post because as I was looking through my venue's "perks" for booking a wedding, I saw that they give one month of unlimited tanning booth sessions for the bride. Growing up in Morgantown and seeing droves of coeds who looked like they rolled in Doritos walking around, I wasn't surprised. I remember back in high school (while my complexion would probably fall in between snow and transparent) girls who couldn't afford to tan would lay out slathered in butter. They may have got the idea from Seinfeld or perhaps ~~great~~ minds think alike.

via Moira's Cancer According to Seinfeld

But as a budding medical professional, this truly bothered me. It makes me so sad that society has made tanning seem healthy and luxurious. In fact, it boggled my mind when I saw how many people in my class used the tanning bed many times a week. And as for those spray tanning booths? Is it really safe to be breathing in chemicals for a minute straight? Even if you hold your breath, that stuff permeates. And how does it look to patients who you're telling to live a healthy lifestyle as you're slowly possibly causing a completely preventable cancer?

OK, now I'll get off my high horse, because like I said before, I tan very easily and I'm not exactly running around town in a wide brimmed hat from April to October. I do, however, go to my dermatologist every year to get a full body check up. Is it awkward? A little. Is it important? Very. Last year, my doctor found a few weird moles on my back. They were new ones and he biopsied one. It turned out it had a mild dysplasia. Not cancer, but eventually, one day, it could have turned into a melanoma. Of course, I had it completely removed as soon as possible. It wasn't fun, but it also wasn't painful nor a big deal. I also now have a small scar on my back from it. I see it as a reminder to always wear sunscreen especially on my back.

I guess my take home message for this is, everything in moderation, and always get your appropriate medical checkups. Oh, and pale is just as beautiful as tan. I think if more people realized this, we could change the perception of what is truly healthy.

Is anyone else a proud pale bride?

Penchant for Pinwheels

2011-04-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

You know when you start nearing the 100 day mark and you're supposed to stop looking at inspiration and start actually doing things for your wedding? Well, I didn't get that memo. I was perusing my throng of wedding websites over the weekend, and I saw something that was pretty cute:

via HELLO, my name is Heather

This got the wheels turning...hmmmm, maybe I could have some cute pinwheels for the kids to play with.

After further investigation, my dreams got loftier and were escalated to also giving some as props to the groomsmen and bridesmaids.

from Rule42

Then, suddenly, my pinwheel fever exponentially increased and I realized I wanted to make them for guests to hold as we left the church. And then I found this awesome tutorial and decided I wanted to make them ALL myself. Why? Because I suppose I'm a wedding masochist. Oh, and I am gunning for the title "Queen of Bulk DIY."

Oh--and shhhh! don't tell my Mom. I think she'll kill me if she knows I've added another project. This is just a big secret between us OK? But come on--how can you say no to this stuff?

from Rule42

photo by Helen Maybanks Photography via Pinwheel Parties

My dreams were almost dashed after I couldn't find any scrapbook paper or origami paper that was double sided in the colors I was looking. Then, the lightbulb went off in my head and I realized I could back each paper with another coordinating piece using fabric glue. OK, maybe it was a fortuitous Google search, but I like to pretend I did it myself.

Have you all took on a large project close to the wedding? Did it work out?

The Engineer Shuffle

2011-04-11T17:36:00.000-07:00

Since I went to an engineering school for undergrad, I became quite deft in the ways of the engineer shuffle. You know, that super cool dance all the engineers know. What, you haven't heard of it before? Well, let me illustrate it for you.

As much as I'd like to say I learned the shuffle from years of observation, I have to admit it. I am an engineering shuffler. You know, that girl you see dancing by herself doing the lawnmower? Yup, probably me.

Mr. Biscuit isn't innocent in all of this either. He participates in the hipster shuffle. This consists of him standing up slightly slumped and bobbing his knee and head to the beat. Together, these shuffles create a disaster of epic proportions.

So you can see why we have been a bit worried about our first dance. We care about human kind. We figured the only way to counteract the awkwardness that is the Biscuit dance would be to choose an awesome song. We also could have taken lessons, but decided that that was too much work.

Originally, I wanted to let Mr. Biscuit choose our song. I thought it would be meaningful if he picked out a special tune just for us. After a few weeks of musing, Mr. B finally chose the song: "Perfect Day" by Lou Reed.

via Youtube

Yes, yes, it's a lovely song, but there's a catch. This song was featured in the movie Trainspotting during a scene featuring a heroin overdose. Songfail.

So we were back to square one. Well, that's a lie, to this day Mr. Biscuit is convinced this will still be a good song to play. He still thinks this even though every person we ask recognizes that song from the movie. Sometimes, you just have to let things go. We wanted something that was fairly unconventional, but meaningful. Our short list included, "Jesus, Etc." by Wilco, "Such Great Heights"-Iron and Wine version, and "In Spite of Ourselves" by John Prine and Iris DeMent. For some reason, though, each of these was eventually nixed.

Feeling desperate, I kind of gave up on finding a first dance song. Then one day, while I was driving to school, I listened to "The Weather," by Built to Spill. I had never really listened to the words before, but it was a very nice, sweet, simple song.

I cleared it with Mr. Biscuit and the deed was done. Sure, it gets a bit fast in the middle and drags on at the end, but we can dance to it double time and have our DJ splice it so it's shorter. Besides, we saw BtS in concert last September and told Doug Martsch that we would be dancing to it. Clearly, we're legally bound now.

How did you all pick your first dance?

Awesome People Still Exist

2011-04-04T16:04:00.000-07:00

Hive, I've been having some trouble finding vintage china tea cups and milk glass in my town. We have a few thrift stores in the area, each of which are pretty slim pickings.

So I was pretty excited when I took my monthly swing by one of the thrift stores and saw a woman holding a beautiful gold rimmed, floral tea cup. I thought about my options for a moment, then I realized that I had no common decency so I went right up to her and asked her where she found it and if she had any more.

She told me where she found the gorgeous cup, but then let me know it was the only one they had. My face fell and I proceeded to tell her that it was a shame as I was collecting cups for my wedding and was having issues finding them. She just kind of shrugged and I went on my way.

I won't lie to you. I may have thought some not so nice things about this person. I mean, I had a legitimate reason for these cups and I overheard her telling her friend earlier that she didn't even know if she wanted said cup. I also may have been acting like a brat. At least I was only acting like one in my head though.

I sulked for awhile by the other china that didn't hold a candle to aforementioned cup, but I eventually decided to let it go and started to leave as I saw the woman checking out. As I was leaving, though, she ran up to me and gave me the cup. She said, "Here. Take this as a wedding gift. I hope you have a happy marriage."

I was shocked. My first thought was, "Wow I'm a horrible person." I mean, I may or may not have sneered in her direction a mere 5 minutes prior to this act of kindness. My second thought was guilt. I felt like perhaps I had guilted this woman into giving me the gorgeous cup. I begged her to let me pay for it, but of course, she wouldn't let me. To be fair, the cup and saucer only cost $1, but still, a buck is a buck.

This woman is a truly selfless wonderful person. Instead of thinking I was some selfish, horrible, bratty bride, she took pity on me and my desperate plight for affordable tea ware. I was planning on keeping or reselling most of the teacups I'm using for the wedding; however, I will be donating this one back. I truly hope that the cup eventually finds it way home to this awesome awesome person.

And what did the cup that inspired such a crazy, wonderful story look like? Here ya go:

Perfection. Utter perfection I tell ya.

Did anyone catch you off guard with a kind gesture during wedding planning? Any strangers really surprise you?

Spicing Up My Ballroom

2011-03-30T15:19:00.000-07:00

One of the downsides to having a ginormous wedding is the limited venue choices. I've talked about it previously, but as my countdown nears the 100 day mark, I get a little bit sad face when I think about my venue.

You see, if I were positive my wedding would have fewer than 250, I would have been able to be in the other hotel ballroom. The one with actual windows. And a view of the ~~slightly brown and silty~~ gorgeous lake.

image via Lakeview Golf Resort and Spa

Instead, I have the ballroom with no windows. And big fire doors. There are no dramatic vaulted ceilings nor eye catching chandeliers. I'd show you a picture, but I have none of my own and it would be rude to post someone's wedding photo under this circumstance. Not to mention creepy.

Instead of dwelling on what could have been, I have been focusing my time and resources to what can be. No, I can't make the wedding look like a casual outdoor garden party, but I can make it like a whimsical, indoor tripping on hallucinogens garden party.

And how am I going to do it? Well, I have a 3 point plan of attack. I call it The Biscuit Offensive: Light it, Hang it, Distract it, and I need the hive's suggestions to make it happen. I will now unfurl the elaborate plan for you:

Step 1.) Light it-I think lighting makes or breaks a room. I'd like to some purple lighting throughout the room to give it a nice, ambient glow. My only problem with this is that my room is BIG. So I'd need a ton of uplights to get a full room glow. I'm assuming I'd need at least ten-fifteen to hit one wall.

Image via Absolute Best DJ Services - Wilmington, NC

This causes another problem though: I'd like my guests to appreciate the centerpieces. Should I get tiny white LEDs to stick in my vases to give the center of the table a little spot light? If you have any ideas, please, I'm all ears!

Step 2.) Hang it-To draw the eyes away from the ceiling space, I'm going to hang quite a few Chinese paper lanterns in various colors (pinks, purples, greens, and creams) and sizes. I think the lanterns will look pretty and will be colorful enough to draw the eye away from the fire doors and straight to the fun colors. I'm currently on the hunt for no assembly required paper lanterns. I'm not sure they exist, though. Super cheap ones will suffice, because I'm sure I'll need at least 50.

Image via Mrs. Seashell/Winfield Little Photography

Step 3.) Distract it-I am hoping that all of my different touches on the tables here, here, and here will, again, draw the eye away from the perimeter. At least for an hour or so. Besides, once the party really gets started, who looks at the details?

How did you decorate your venue? Anyone have cool ideas for inexpensive/easy ways to garden party up a ballroom?