I LOVERMONT!

The first time I visited Vermont, I fell in love -- with the state, and with Mr. Onion. Then we got married in Vermont, and spent our first wedding anniversary in Vermont. So many happy memories.

Now, there is one more reason to love this beautiful state. Vermont has become the fourth state to legalize gay marriage — and the first to do so with a legislature’s vote! I couldn't be more pleased. And I grew up in Connecticut, which is one of the other states to have said "YES" to same-sex marriage. This is a happy day for love. I hope the rest of our country will catch up soon!


Photo: Burlington Free Press

See the whole story in the Burlington Free Press.

Short Dress Brides

I was overwhelmed by the amazing response to my "Calling All Short Dress Brides" post. Thank you so much for sharing your images and stories. I'm honored that I inspired so many of you, or gave you that little push or added bit of courage to step outside the box and wear a short dress on your wedding day. There is so much talent and creativity in all the submissions I got.



Weddingbee reader Emma (from Dublin) had her dress made by Sarah Foy in Dublin Ireland. Inspired largely by my dress (this is why I LOVE weddingbee), Emma had a a top, skirt, petticoat and reversible bolero made. To go out after the reception she had a black pencil skirt (not pictured), kept the top and turned the jacket inside out so the peacock coloured side was out. She's worn the top and petticoat again already and hopes to wear all the separate pieces often (a girl after my own heart)! Photos are by Therese Aherne





Weddingbee reader MrsPeas shares photos of her Josephine dress by Stephanie James. Photos by Sara Remington of Anna Kuperberg photography




Amanda got her J.Crew Goddess dress (short) on sale for "next to nothing!"
photos by Brandi Thompson





Weddingbee reader betting_im_not bought her Galina dress from David's Bridal. It was originally strapless, but she bought another damaged dress and used the fabric to make the cap sleeves. This style has been discontinued.





Weddingbee reader EmilyinParis shared photos of her beautiful Ramona Kaveza short dress from her wedding in Paris. How chic! She bought her dress at Bridals by Lori in Atlanta, Georgia. When she started planning she Googled "short dress brides" and found my post, and hence weddingbee!





Weddingbee reader Sarah shares photos of her dress. Photos by Bellissima Photographic Artistry.





Weddingbee reader Kelly modified a long J.Crew dress. See her post about the transformation here. Photos by CaseyBower Photography



Weddingbee reader melissaofMandMWedding shared a photo of her Dolly Couture dress. It was custom made using the style of the Edmonton and the lace fabric from the the Hastings on Hudson gown.



Weddingbee reader Alisa doesn't have a photo yet, but wanted to share how excited she is to have her dress custom made by Kimera Design on Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn. She was also inspired to hire Wes Jones as her videographer because of my posts.


Weddingbee reader Joanne is a UK based bride getting married in July and is "a massive weddingbee fan!" Her dress is from Candy Anthony in the UK. She makes 50's and 60's inspired wedding dresses.



Weddingbee reader pdxkate is getting married in May and found this vintage dress on eBay "pretty much for a song!"




Weddingbee reader Erinp123 bought her After Six style #6507 (actually a bridesmaid dress) at Melissa Ashley Brides in downtown Westerly, RI. It has ivory lace with champagne satin underneath and was a little over $200. She writes "The minute I tried on a short dress, I knew it was right because I felt like myself." I love that she said she knew because she felt like herself! This is so important -- to feel like a beautiful version of yourself on your wedding day.



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Weddingbee reader hickchick bought a Sweetheart Gowns #2630 (seen above long) and had it altered to fit her style. She later found a dress at a consignment shop, and if I understand correctly, her seamstress combined both dresses to create the perfect dress for her!




Weddingbee Reader Msk8teohh9 custom designed her dress (impressive, right?!) and outsourced the making of it to a company in China called Milly Bridal. She is getting married in July!





Weddingbee reader and wedding photographer Alisha Clark is actually a three dress bride! She has two dresses for sale, and this is the one she desided to keep - it's from Dolly Couture.

Weddingbee reader CattyS had her dress made by Liza Rietz from Portland, OR. She hasn't tried it on yet, but can't wait!

20% off Cynthia Rowley

I loved my Cynthia Rowley wedding shoes! The "something blue" of the soles were so sweet. I didn't know much about her clothes until I found these shoes and now I drool over them frequently.



I got an email offering 20% off for Valentine's day and I had to share for all of you needing to look fabulous for wedding related events! Over valid through February 14. Code = CR214.



How sexy would this be for your rehearsal dinner? Regular price: $330 - Sale price: $129 + 20% off that?! Seriously?!


Or this number -- Reg. Price: $310.00, On Sale: $219.00 + 20% off that!

See more at Cynthiarowley.com

Calling All Short Dress Brides

UPDATE: It has been so much fun getting your emails, stories and short dress photos! Keep them coming. I'd like to have all submissions by Wednesday, February 4th. And don't forget to include your weddingbee name (or how you'd like to be acknowledged), the dress maker and where you got it to help other brides. If you're worried about surprises being ruined I can crop your head out of the photos (does that sound creepy?) so no one will know it's you!

The Ring Shots series has gotten so popular I thought I'd put out a call for photos of something I love -- short wedding dresses. Until recently I was the only short dress "bee" and always wished I could see images of bee readers in their short wedding dresses.



Are you planning to wear a short wedding dress? Were you already a short dress bride? If so, I'd LOVE to see photos of you in your dress to share with the hive in a future post. They can be from your fitting, a bridal session or from your wedding. (If there is a lot of interest this could be a few posts). Email them to onion@weddingbee.com. Please including where you got your dress (designer/store) to help other brides search for their perfect dress.

Here are a few photos of my gown, a Romona Keveza from her legends collection that I bought at Mark Ingram's Bridal Atelier in NYC:










Photo by Daria Bishop Photographer.

The Women Who Came Before Us....

Do you ever stop and think "Wow, I really can do whatever I set my mind to," and thank the countless women who came before us to make that possible? Seventy-one years ago Miss Ford applied to Walt Disney Productions as an artist. She received the letter below and it just blew me away. She is told that women don't do any of the creative work for Disney Cartoons but she could apply to be an "inker" or "painter" and fill in the drawings...but those places were limited and lots of "girls" apply.



Today there isn't a single job that we couldn't do if we wanted. We can choose to work, choose to be a stay at home mom, choose to work from home...but they are all our choices. We aren't expected to stay home with our children or expected to work, we can simply decide what works for us. We make choices for ourselves and together with our significant others.

So I'd like to raise a proverbial glass to the women who paved the way and women today and all that we are capable of in 2009 and beyond! Look at the path our daughters will have to lead...it brings me great joy.

Bride Wars and Vera Wang Contest

THE BRIDE WARS CONTEST



Vera Wang is holding a "Bride Wars Contest" -- enter to win Vera goodies for your bridesmaids and yourself! Good luck to all you future brides :) My fingers are crossed for you. Details below:

Tell us in 100 words or fewer why you chose your maid of honor.

First Prize: Eight (8) Vera Wang Bridesmaids Dresses
Second Prize: Ten 5-piece place settings of Vera Wang Wedgwood china, ten crystal wine glasses and ten 5-piece flatware place settings. (Retail Value approximately $2500)
Third Prize: A Vera Wang Linens Package - The Sophisticated Scallops Collection.(Retail Value $1500)

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Ends 1/19/09 at 11:59:59 pm EST. See details and enter on Vera Wang's website here.

Parent Albums...in time for the Holidays!

A week or so ago I told you I finally broke down and decided to make my own wedding albums -- for my parents, my in-laws and for us. Well -- the parent and in-law albums are done just in time for Christmas!!



You asked to see the finished project and I'm so excited to share it with you. I was surprised at how easy it was once I got started. The most time consuming part was choosing the images. I placed a large order from mpix.com. They arrived quickly and the quality was great. This is the second time I've ordered from them and both times I was very happy with the product.

I picked Kodak e-surface paper (no additional cost) which has a nice matte finish, crisp images with spot on color. I loved that they had the option for many large and odd shape prints. We ordered a few large/square images that really make each album special (make sure they will fit in your album before you order).

I bought the albums at Kate's Paperie in NYC but they are available on-line here if you're interested. I planned to use clear and kraft corners but couldn't find them in stores and didn't have time to wait for an on-line order to arrive. I happened to have blue photo corners that I used for my in-law's album and I bought black corners from Kolo (also at Kate's Paperie) for my parent's album.




So without further ado, here are the finished albums. First up (with the blue corners) is for my in-laws:



I had some brown ribbon left over from the wedding that I used to tie the smaller album to hold it closed.


The pages are interleaved with glassine to protect photo surfaces.


These two are examples of 5 x 5 inch square prints.





Second up (with the black corners) is for my parents:





On the inside front cover I included a wedding invitation and reception card.


Here is another large odd shaped photo -- 6 x 9 inches.




The pages are of this album is also interleaved with glassine to protect photo surfaces.


Another square - this one is 8 x 8 inches.


A detail shot of the spine.


The rest of the images used in both albums are 4 x 6.


Here is the last page of the album. Here you see a different layout I picked to keep it interesting.

Some tips:
1) Lay out all your images in the album before you secure any of them to the page. This way you'll be sure they all fit and are in the order you want.
2) I used two different photo corners -- lick and stick (like an old stamp) and self-adhesive which you just peel and stick. The self-adhesive made the process go a bit faster, but I would use either again.
3) To place photos put two corners on opposite corners, place, push down, then place the other two corners. This way you'll be sure to place the photo where you want it.

There are many options to make your own album...Blurb, Mpix, Snapfish, Shutterfly. The list goes on and on. But I really wanted to have prints in an album, not a magazine style book. Mr. Onion and I plan to make our own album (a 12 x 12.25 inch version of the ones I used for our parents) AND a blurb book to include vows and special memories and details of the day.

I hope this inspires the 73% of you married ladies who haven't made an album yet! For those of you who have made your own album, what kind of album did you make? Any tips for those who are intimidated to start such a daunting project!