Hello everyone! I am so excited to be the newest member of the garden! Let me introduce myself…

I am Violet Bud! I am currently a student, just about to start my first year of graduate school next week! My goal is to be a Doctor of Physical Therapy in three years, although between studying, clinicals, and wedding planning I’m not sure if I’m going to make it. I am super excited not only to be starting a new chapter of my career and education, but also to be starting a new chapter of my life with my fiance, we’ll call him Violet Dude. He is also a student at the same university that I attend, and he is currently trying to complete his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering. Between the two of us, I think we’ll be spending more hours studying than wedding planning, which I think will make for a stressful few years. Fortunately our wedding is planned for August 17, 2013 so I have a little over 19 months to get everything done.

Our wedding is going to take place somewhere near my hometown of Canton, OH. We haven’t made any final decisions about a venue yet because the guest list just keeps on growing. Both of us being college students means our budget is pretty small, but I like the challenge of being a DIY bride. I already have a lot of plans in my head for all the DIY aspects of our wedding, and I can’t wait to share them with you! I expect that it will be a formal, classic wedding with a bit of a modern twist on some things.

A little bit more about me: I am an internet junkie. If I could spend most of my day on the internet reading through wedding blogs, pinning on Pinterest, reading vendor reviews, and writing my own blog (and now this one, too!), I totally would. Unfortunately, I actually have to be a functional member of society, so I can’t do that every day…but rest assured that I will be sure to blog about anything great that I find! I also love to crochet, do paper crafts, quilt, and make other crafts in my spare time. I’m sure that spare time will now be filled with wedding-related crafting, but that makes me just as excited. My boys are my life…and when I say “boys” I mean my fiance and our two cats, Ace and CC. They brighten my day and I’m not sure what I would ever do without them.

I can’t wait to start blogging, I already have so many things in mind that I’m looking forward to sharing with you. Look for them soon!

Hello Bud readers! I am Hydrangea Bud – H-Bud for short – one of the newer BridalBuds, and this is my very first blog post. I am super excited to be sharing my wedding experience with everyone!

I feel that I should preface this with the fact that I have worked in the wedding industry for almost 7 years. After being around countless weddings, it feels incredible to finally be planning my own special day with my wonderful fiancee – let’s call him H-Fi. We’ve been together for almost four and a half years and were engaged April 21, 2011. Hard to believe it’s already been 6 months. In that time we have nailed down the date, location, photographer, videographer, DJ, officiant, my dress, the bridesmaid dresses… needless to say, I’ve been a busy bride! I have lots to share with you in the coming months.

I’ve found that the emotional side of planning comes in waves… Will my guests like this? Can I trust this vendor to do a good job? Am I spending the right amount of money on this?  Some days I am bouncing around with excitement, others I am frustrated with tedious details, and sometimes I am just completely overwhelmed and apathetic. Thankfully the happier days are more frequent than the others, and it’s only natural to have feelings of frustration and exhaustion when you are planning such a major event. Overall my prior experience with weddings has made the process fairly easy, and I am thankful for that!

I have my first floral appointment this Sunday and am anxious with anticipation! This is a vendor I have known for a long time and I am on the edge of my seat to see what they will come up with for our wedding. Our ballroom has a very french-country feel with crystal sconces, wainscot, and french doors, and we are trying to enhance that feeling with the decor. Full, soft, flower arrangements, silver or mercury glass containers, and other intricate details – which of course I will be blogging about.

Talk to you soon!

H-Bud

Hello there garden! I’m one of the newest bloggers here on BridalBuds and I’m so excited to document my experience and trade ideas with you guys. Let’s start off with just a little bit about me and my fiance:

Mr. Lion and I!

(not the best photo, but the only one I could find on this computer!)

Well Mr. Lion and I will have been together for five years next month!  I was 16 and he was 19 when we met, and we are now 21 and 25 respectively. For the bulk of our relationship it’s been semi-long distance, since we attended different high schools and colleges. Mr. Lion graduated with an accounting degree and now works in the accounts payable department of a third-party logistics company (yeah, I don’t really know what that means either…). I’m currently in my senior year of college, studying art and set to graduate in December 2012. I’m a photographer, running my own portraiture and wedding photography business (www.rachelkathrynphotography.com). Mr. Lion is a self-taught guitar player and pretty incredible, if I do say so myself!

We’re having a long engagement. And I mean long. Two and a half years to be precise. This month will be our “one year engagement” anniversary, and we’re planning the wedding for April 2013. This caused a lot of raised eyebrows and comments about how you’re SUPPOSED to do things, but its just what works for us. Since the beginning we knew our education came first and so it was really important to us that I earn my degree before we got hitched. While I would give anything to go ahead and be married tomorrow, I’ve definitely enjoyed the perks of a long engagement. One of which is getting to just relax and enjoy being engaged for awhile! Now that we are a year and a half away from the wedding, we are really starting the process of planning and it’s been both fun and nerve-wracking.

Mr. Lion and I are on a tight budget. What with our student loans, we don’t want to start our lives together more in debt than we need to be. Our budget is set at $6,000. Now, I’ve seen beautiful weddings that cost more and less than this, so I know it is more than possible. I’m trying to look at it as a challenge; “Champagne taste on a beer budget” is a motto of sorts for me. We don’t have a lot of money to spend so we’re just going to have to spend it wisely!

That’s enough rambling on my end. Looking forward to reading and posting!

Anyone else with a long engagement? Why did you decide to have a long engagement?

Hello everyone!! I am Cherry Bud! I am ESTATIC to share my ideas and wedding planning with you. I am sure it will be interesting! ☺ I am planning my wedding which will be on March 23rd, 2012! Not only do I have the normal challenges of planning a wedding but also I have to plan it cross-country!  I live in Texas and my wedding is in Pennsylvania. It is going to be a challenge not being able to see anyone or any place in person! I cannot wait and have many things in motion already.

I am a fun loving talkative girl. I literally do not shut up ☺ I love reading about weddings and planning my own. We are definitely on a budget and paying for it ourselves. I am always reading how to save money and how to be a little less traditional! We started with a cruise wedding and now are having a traditional wedding. It’s been an experience already and it’s less then a year away!  I also am a master’s student currently and love school! I live with my two puppies that keep me on my toes. My fiancé is second to them! Just kidding. I recently purchased a home and am learning to take care of it. It’s hard work! I am also learning to cook currently…. it’s not going to well!

How did we meet??

I met Mr. Cherry almost 9 years ago. He was in a band and I was promoting bands. I happen to see him standing in front of me wearing a bright yellow shirt for a magazine I worked for. I walked up to him and asked him where he got it. He told me that it was free and the magazine sucked. I explained to him that I wrote for that magazine and he quickly changed his tune!

Later that day we went to get pizza and he asked me if I had a boyfriend. I told him I work for the bands; they don’t want to date me! He said I would date you.  I asked him to marry me because a friend and I were asking everyone we knew to sign a paper saying yes as a contest. He was number 137. I won that contest for many reasons and won him. ☺

Engagement

It finally happened after 8 years and almost three months…but who’s counting? I am finally engaged to my Mr. Cherry! I am so happy and ecstatic that this FINALLY happened! (There is HOPE for all you waiting lol!)  How did we get engaged you ask? Oh yeah- it was in a mall. I wanted my ring so bad that I was be so sweet and taking him into jewelry stores all day. ☺ I said look at this one and look that that one! I had no idea he had already purchased the ring so he patiently looked and nodded all day.  We were finishing up our Christmas shopping and I was ring CRAZY!

Later that day we went home and he went out on an errand. We he came back he asked me to go back to the mall. I did not want to go shopping anymore at all. I finally said I would go and off we went. Of course I invited his sister to keep me company! She came and apparently had to make quick arrangements as I was getting proposed to at this mall. She met a friend at the mall and ditched us! I was pretty bummed she left us! Off we went around the mall, of course me dragging him everywhere! We walked past a jewelry store and sure enough I said, “ Can we look in here?” He looked at me said “ I think have something better”. He got down on one knee and proposed. It was a surprise and I had no idea. It was perfect. He knew I wanted to be surprised to badly and that he had to catch me off guard. He knows me so well ☺

Now I have a fantastic funny story to tell and a wedding to plan!

I hope you enjoy my input and ideas and please let me know! I can’t wait to get started! I thought I would share a photo of us from when we first started dating at 17.

Why…Heelllloooo there! I am Honeysuckle Bud and I am the newest edition to the garden! I am really excited to be a part of this great Wedding Planning community and I just can’t wait to start posting with all my ideas!

So a little about me? Well… I am a Mid-Twenties Quirky and Enthusiastic Midwestern Princess, addicted to Starbucks Caramel Macchiatos and Red Bull Energy Drinks. Hater of Turnips and Slow Drivers. I am a lister of lists and stresser-outer by nature. I love to laugh and go to the movies…I have seen 18 movies to date this year alone. (I don’t even want to think about how much money I spend on Movies every week.) I currently work at a local bank as a Personal Banker but always looking for bigger and better things. The last 5 years of my life were working 60 hours/wk in Sales and while planning my wedding, I wanted something as stress free as possible so I went to Banker’s Hours…literally!

I am getting married on March 17, 2012 – Not because it is St. Patrick’s Day – However, that does play a part in it, but rather that is my FH (we’ll call him Mr. Honey) & I’s current anniversary and it just happened to fall on a Saturday in 2012. It will be our 5 year dating anniversary the day we get married, along with St. Patty’s Day which is our FAV holiday – we are both very proud of our Irish Heritage!! We are having a destination wedding on Marco Island, Florida. We are only inviting around 50-60 guests to attend and plan on holding an “after celebration” gathering for all Friends and Family not coming to the actual Wedding.

I met Mr. Honey in college at a local bar where me and my friends went to every other night. He came up to talk to me, spitting some terribly cheese pick up lines. I interrupted his “Did you fall from Heaven because…” line and asked him what he was drinking. He had a pitcher of Captain Morgan and Diet Rum. Mmmm…my favorite. I grabbed the pitcher, turned around and walked away. One of my friends said Handsome Honey was just dumfounded. He was in shock, never had a girl steal his drink and walk away. I think he was intrigued, because he came over (after getting a new drink) and asked me out on a date. Sadly, I shut him down. I had just gotten out of a long term relationship and was not interested in meeting anyone. Over the next few weeks Handsome Honey just kept asking (and getting shut down). After the third time, I got tired of saying “No” and accepted. After that date, we were inseparable! I got to know him outside of the bar & Frat Boy scene and slowly but surely fell in love with him.

He is 2 years older than me, so he obviously graduated College before me. After his graduation, he moved 2 hours away to the “Big City” and for 1 year 5 months of our relationship we had a long distance situation. It was a struggle and very hard to handle. We would fight and argue with trust issues but we survived, fighting tooth and nail to make sure we would. In April 2009, I moved myself and my son to the “Big City” and Mr .Honey and Honeysuckle Bud took the plunge and moved in with each other. After living together for almost 2 years, Mr. Honey proposed, on October 5th, 2010.

I wish I could say that my engagement was “Magical” or “Beautiful”, however, I can not. It was a random Tuesday when we were both off work together. My son was at school, I was upstairs blogging or doing whatever I do while Mr. Honey was downstairs in his man cave. He was wanting to go purchase a new MacBook, but I kept giving him trouble that he couldn’t go spend that much money because he “was trying to save for something special”. That is what he told me every time I wanted to go out and eat, or go to the movies, etc. After texting back and fourth  a few times (yes…we are THAT couple that will text in the house that we are both in) I heard him coming up the stairs. I wasn’t really paying much attention when he sat down next to me. I turned to look at him and he had a red box in his hand tied with a ribbon box on top. He handed me the box and asked me to open it, so I did. Inside was this Amazingly Beautiful 1.5 Caret Princess Cut Diamond set in White Gold. It took my breath away. I looked at him and he spit out “Will you Marry Me?”. When I screamed “Yes!” (instant water works started) he gave me a hug and kiss and proceeded to tell me to get my shoes on that we were going to Apple. As un-beautiful and un-perfectly planned as it was…I wouldn’t have changed it for anything. Mr. Honey is an unusual breed and I am drawn to his uniqueness. If he would’ve done it traditionally it would not have meant as much to me because I know it would not have been natural for him.

That is our story, I apologize that it was so long!! Back to the purpose of this post – I am just thrilled to be the newest Bridal Bud and I am looking forward to reading everyone’s ideas as well as posting some of my own!

Helllllo BridalBuds and Blossoms! I’m so fortunate to have come across BridalBuds by a chance encounter with an old friend. This is such a great resource for those planning their wedding and I’m honored to be a part of it as well. I’m excited to learn from all the other buds and hopefully be a resource for some as well (and if not a resource…at least a few laughs along the way).

So…let me tell you a little bit about Mr. Apricot and I. I’m in Athletics Marketing and absolutely love my job. There is never a dull day in the office and working for an athletics team that you are a fan of is a great feeling. I am also currently working part-time on my MBA. Needless to say, between a full-time job and school, wedding planning is not always in the forefront of my day but we still have plenty of things done that I will speak to later. Mr. Apricot is a math teacher and the most amazing person I’ve ever met. He is insanely funny and I will never understand his simple ability to make me smile by just looking at me. I honestly cannot wait to be his wife. There is a third part to our story that I’m sure will come up time to time, our puppy Lacey. When we got her in December, we immediately knew she would be a HUGE part of our lives…here is Crazy Lacey!

As the bio says, Mr. Apricot and I met on a blind date. A mutual friend that I knew from college and Mr. A knew through a family friend, thought we would really hit it off. I honestly was not too thrilled to go on a blind date but after some convincing, I said yes. We agreed to meet at a park. The first meeting was so incredibly awkward! We walked around for a few minutes then decided to go and sit on a picnic table and just chat. Well, the chatting lasted until dusk and leaving the park, despite the sometimes awkwardness, I knew I wanted to see him again. We went on a few more dates and starting really getting to know each other. What I learned was how much fun we had together and how genuine he was. Since the day at the park, my life has never been the same.

The park holds an insane amount of significance for us as this was not only the place where we met, but where we got engaged…. I’ll save that incredible story for another blog. Until then- I’m so excited to share my experiences in wedding planning with you all! I have a knack for being quite detail orientated (you’ll probably think I’m boarder line obsessive) but I like things perfect. And I know our wedding next June will be for us!

Ciao!

Hi Everyone!

I’m beyond excited to be part of BridalBuds and even more excited to be a bride-to-be!

A little bit about Mr. Peach and me.

We met in high school and have been dating for nearly 5 years!  Mr. Peach proposed a little more than a month ago, and as soon as the ring reached my finger the planning began!  (It also helps to have Peachy Mom and Peachy MOH going full speed ahead with you.  More about them later).  I’m currently going into my 3rd year of law school and working at a small law firm in NYC this summer.  Wedding plans are certainly a welcomed distraction from my legal life!

Mr. Peach and I will be getting married on Sept. 29, 2012 (less than 500 days away!) at a hotel in New Jersey (more on the venue later).  While we don’t have a specific theme per se, the most important things to us are for the planning and the actual wedding to be enjoyable and fun for not only us but for our guests AND for everything to feel very much like Mr. Peach and me.  From our engagement party invitation all the way through to our cake, we want our guests walking away saying “that’s so them!”  We’re going to try to incorporate some DIY projects and added personal touches to make our wedding extra special and a day we will never forget.

So welcome aboard this journey-I look forward to sharing my plans, thoughts, frustrations (hopefully few) and most importantly my happiness and excitement with you!

I have been wanting to start a blog since I got engaged, but I just didn’t get around to it, so I’m so glad I found BridalBuds. I’m really excited to be a part of this community and I can’t wait to hear everyone’s feedback as I blog about our wedding planning process. We’ve only been engaged 3 months but we’ve done some wedding planning in that time. I’ll be blogging more about what we’ve been doing up to now really soon.

Now for a little bit more about me, I’m originally from FL, born and raised, but I moved to Greensboro, NC about 2 years ago and it’s been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. When I lived in FL I worked in PR, my favorite part of my job was event planning. Since moving to NC I’ve worked in PR but I haven’t been able to do any more event planning. My dream is to one day own my own event planning business so hopefully my wedding will be the jump start to getting back into event planning.

Not only am I currently planning my wedding but my best friend got engaged last summer and is getting married this Labor Day weekend so I’m helping her with her wedding as well. Being that I’m the MOH and that both her and her fiance are doing their Residency right now I get a lot of questions and I’m loving it. Since my wedding isn’t until next fall it’s been fun helping her in the meantime. I’ll be blogging about the bridal shower, bachelorette party and I’m sure other aspects of her wedding too.

I asked myself the same question once we announced our engagement and when I started this blog.

So, I thought I’d start of here the same place I started planning: GOOGLE!

The first thing I did was Google for ideas. Well, perhaps that’s not entirely true–I’ve been secretly watching bridal shows on TLC and HGTV for years. And truth be told, I put that ‘serious googleing’ for wedding ideas off, mainly because I didn’t want to scare Mr. Daisy away.

I spent a lot of my Christmas break finding inspiration. And here’s the (rather edited) result…

This is my favorite picture, and it has become the inspiration for almost all of my planning. I love it! It’s goofy and fun, with a vintage flare. And who needs a whole stack of serious looking wedding photos?

I suppose the best bit of advice I could give for starting out is to poke around the internet until things start to spark your interest and imagination. If you see a pattern starting to emerge, maybe you’ve found your theme. I found myself drawn to a lot of vintage styles & touches and decided that I wanted a vintage flare. Another great way to get ideas is to watch some of the Bridal TV shows that cover multiple weddings in one episode, and looking at bridal websites that cover a variety of different weddings/styles. I found it a great way to see things that I wanted, and others that I hated.

Hello all!

I’m excited to start blogging for BridalBuds. I got engaged about two months ago, on Christmas 2010.

I’ve been dating Mr. Daisy for a little over  4 years. We both work for a theatre and that’s where we met. I’m a student and Scenic Painter. I graduate  this spring.

Once we announced our engagement I started doing some online research for inspiration and local bridal shows. That’s how I stumbled across BridalBuds. What caught my eye the most was a blog entry about a fantastic green pair of shoes that sadly can’t be found. I like blogging but I have a hard time getting motivated when I don’t have a purpose or an audience. So that’s why I wanted to blog here in the garden.

We’re pretty far along in our wedding planning, mainly because of one major wrench in the works: Over the summer Mr. Daisy and I both go away for 8 weeks of the summer, where we will almost basically be out of the planning and prep loop. We’ll get back home 12 days before the wedding. However, we can’t postpone it any further because we run into the work year where we don’t have the luxury of taking off a weekend.

Our wedding is more or less a DIY wedding. I’ve worked a few different jobs that all have skills in event planning/execution. I like working on projects like this and it’s hard for me to “turn over” any element over to someone else. I had always imagined having a backyard wedding. However, our families are big. The only yard large enough, is my grandma’s. My parents were married there over 20 years ago. However– since then the traffic on the road adjacent to their yard is a no go for weddings. Getting over having a bigger wedding than I’d ever imagined was one thing. Also, Mr. Daisy is from the East Coast, and I’m from Utah, where a wedding is usually just a reception with appetizers, dancing and mingling. However the East Coast wedding that Mr. Daisy sees is more of what I’ve always considered the movie or TV standard: Ceremony, Cocktail hour, Dinner, and Dancing. And this is the version we are more or less going with.

I’ve still managed to hang on to a large number of DIY elements including despite the changes; the dresses, floral & center pieces. There are also quite a few elements that are not quite big DIY, but are from family members who are professionals in the industry. My aunt is designing our invitations and announcements, She’s a professional designer for a lot of scrapbooking paper companies and designs stuff like this on a regualar basis. My mom is a Costume Designer and seamstress, she is making my dress, the bridesmaids’ dresses, and the accent stuff for the boys (vests/ties). And I’ve got some help/advice with the floral from a friend who has been in the floral and bridal business for a long time.

Hey Everyone! I’m Rose Bud and I’m stoked to be part a part of the Bridal Buds community.  If you were to tell me that I would be blogging for a site like this before getting engaged, I’d probably think you were crazy.   I was never the kid that had dreamed of my fantasy wedding, nor did weddings even come across my mind when I was in high school and college.  It wasn’t until I became engaged to my wonderful fiance, Mr. Rose, where I began to fall in love…or more so getting addicted to everything about weddings.   The more that I’ve been planning, the more I’ve come to appreciate the hard work, beauty, details, and all the love that goes into it.

Mr. Rose and I have been engaged since June of 2010.  It’s funny, I feel like I’ve gotten a lot done, but there’s still so much more to go.  I’ve pretty much booked all my wedding vendors as of now, but now it’s trying to get all the little details put together.  In terms of style, I’m going for a vintage garden theme.  I absolutely love anything vintage and anything from Anthropologie! Sometimes I just go into the store to get ideas.   Since I love to do crafts, I’m going to be implementing lots and lots of DIY projects.  Lastly, I’m a huge bargain hunter.  Whether it’s shopping for the wedding dress or looking for vendors, I absolutely need to find a great deal before signing any contract or making a purchase.

I’m so fortunate to have an extremely flexible, generous, and caring fiance who supports me in all my wedding decisions. Even though I’m looking forward to my wedding day, I’m even more excited about spending the rest of my life with Mr. Rose. He’s the only one that can make me laugh till I cry and through our many years together, he has helped me to become a better person. Furthermore, he had the best proposal ever! If you’re interested in hearing about it, you can go to Rose Bud’s profile.

"Love is ...dancing"

Here’s a picture of Mr. Rose and I at a friend’s wedding. I don’t know why, but we can’t seem to take a normal picture together. We always bring out the crazy/goofy side in each other.

Hey everyone!

I am Blueberry Bud and am the newest addition to the garden! My best friend first introduced me to BridalBuds when I was looking for tips myself, so being able to blog here now and show you some of my own tips and tricks feels amazing!

So I suppose I should start by telling you a little about me and Blueberry Dude.

We live together in Leicester, UK and have been engaged for just over a year after making the engagement official on the 26th December 2009 – it seems so long ago! Our wedding date is set to be in August 2013, which will give us ample time to plan, create and find lots of bargains to fit our rather small budget.

Planning our wedding is one of my favourite things to do in my spare time but when I’m not casually browsing through pretty dresses and other frilly things I find myself blogging in other areas, having fun outside of the house or socialising with my friends through a variety of mediums.

Below you can see me and Blueberry Dude on the train home from a long day in London. This was taken on my birthday, just a few days before we made our engagement official! We had had a wonderful but tiring day going round Hyde Park and visiting a close friend of ours – hence the tired eyes!

I am really looking forward to sharing my tips and tricks with you all as I progress through the wedding planning process.

This is my first time arranging a wedding and I have quite a while to wait yet – so I hope that the hints I give you are as exciting and interesting for you to read as they are for me to discover and create!

Some brief notes, so you can have an idea of what I’m— errr, we are planning:

• Colors: No thank you.  As of now, the plan is to put the BMs in neutral dresses (probably black or grey) and get the flowers at the last minute (day before), and put them together ourselves the day of the wedding.  I can tell you that I love orange (how appropriate).  Orange will be somewhere in there.
• Food: BBQ/Southern comfort food.  Ideally, I’d love to have someone come with a smoker… I can already taste the turkey legs, ribs, grilled corn, pulled pork, cole slaw, hush puppies… nom!
• Drinks: Beer & Wine.  We’re going to have a couple of different kegs of our favorite beers; and wine.   Haven’t thought out the logistics of that yet.
• Location: As of now, we’re considering a couple of historic sites… but more to come on that in another post.
• Date: All we’ve talked about so far is Fall.  Mr. Man seems to think he’ll be able to talk me into a Spring wedding, but let the record show: IT AIN’T HAPPENING.  Why does he want this?  Football.  Surprise, Surprise.  I’m pushing to consider getting hitched on a Friday (cheaper), that way we can make a weekend out of it – be lazy on Saturday, watch the Skins wherever we honeymoon on Sunday.  I’m thinkin’ Sept/October. I’ll keep you lovelies updated, don’t you fret.
• Dress: I’m a plain jane.  My only requirement is that it not be frilly and that it absolutely, positively must have pockets.  I will not budge on this.
• Veil: I don’t do veils.  I think they’re annoying.  I plan on having a cute-as-a-button birdcage with a to-die-for fascinator.
• The Boys: Mr. Man wants to wear black suits, but I’m trying my bestest to convince him to wear grey or khaki; again, I’ll keep you updated.
• The Ceremony: Quick and dirty.  Nothing religious.  Maybe have a friend get ordained.  I dig.

Since I’m new to the garden (that makes me smile), I figured I’d write a lil post introducing myself and my other half —affectionately known in the blogosphere as “Mr. Man.”

About Me:
I’m Nicole and I love all things wedding.

I’m a bubbly twenty-something who refuses to spend more than $10,000.00 on my wedding… which brings me to my little disclaimer: We’re not technically engaged yet.

Before you start thinking that I’m some creepy, wedding-obsessed weirdo, let me tell you that we’ve been together for a lot of years… almost a whole hand of fingers, and a wedding’s happening… hopefully this Fall.  We’re trying to do the responsible thing and get ourselves together financially before blowing a ton of dough on a wedding.

I live in the  D.C. area and was born to two pretty stellar people who love each other very much, who raised me well, put me through school, but don’t want to shell out the big bucks for my wedding.  My parents aren’t horrible people who refuse to help with my wedding; on the contrary, they’re wonderful and they’re more than willing to help pay, but they don’t believe in a “one day party” that costs tens of thousands of dollars. The good thing is that I don’t either.

Right now, our focus is on buying a house.  We’ve been looking for 3-4 months and are on our 7th offer.  Yes.  Seven offers.  Believe-you-me, the market isn’t the awesome buyer’s market everyone says it is… it’s a zoo out there.  Moving on; my intention was to buy a house and move into it before having to move out of my apartment.  You can probably gather that that didn’t happen… I put everything I own into storage and moved into Mr. Man’s basement.  Not ideal. But, alas, I digress.

I love writing, love all things wedding, love food (cooking it and eating it), love decorating things (can’t wait to buy that house); I coach varsity cheerleading, I am crazy about my crazy family, and I live for the people I love.

We have two wonderful children of the four-legged variety, we’re big Redskins fans, we love grilling out, drinking beer, watching movies and lots of other stuff.

I chose to be “Orange Bud” because orange is my absolute most favoritest color…

About Mr. Man:
He’s not much of a talker.  I do most of the talking; but that’s okay.  Mr. Man loves football.  Really loves it; he knows everything there is to know about it, blogs about it, eats, breathes, sleeps, bleeds it.  I think this is a good thing; as he’s dragged me in with him – we look forward to Sundays (read: REDSKINS FOOTBALL) and good snacks (provided by yours truly)!

Mr. Man is allllmost three years older than me, but I’d like to think that I’ve got the maturity thing down a little better (kidding, honey… merely kidding).  He’s pretty great.  Makes me laugh; sometimes he even makes me laugh so hard that I cry.  He makes me feel home.  And folks, that’s the most important thing to me.

Mr. Man hails from Michigan — well, his family does.  He loves American muscle cars, sports (bigtime Washington Caps fans, too), our doggies, and me (duh)!

Hey, I’m Apple Bud (no relation to Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter). Pleasure to meet you.

I’m marrying the love of my life on September 3, 2011 in Brooklyn, New York. My saucy fiancé (who shall henceforth be referred to as Apple Sauce) and I have been together for more than 7 years — we’ve kind of lost track of the official monthiversary count — and he finally popped the question on 11/11 during our first hours of a 10-day vacation in Italy.

That's me, newly engaged and posing outside the Colosseum.

Here’s my tip to all dudes on the verge of a proposal: While doing it abroad is AMAZING, there is one major pitfall … phone calls back to the States are expensive, and Internet over there just isn’t what it is here. So suffice it to say, I was BURSTING with the happy news and had to wait almost two weeks to share it with everyone. (Italy is incredible, though. If you haven’t been, go IMMEDIATELY.)

My groom, with gondolas, in Venice.

Back to the issue at hand: I work in the digital department at MTV Networks, so I’m pretty good at this whole world wide web thing, and I plan to exploit those skillz to the fullest for the wedding. (Online RSVP, whaaat!??) Apple Sauce is a digital imaging artist, a/k/a photo retoucher, at an ad agency, and he’ll be using those considerable skillz when it comes to our wedding photography. (Discount, whaaat!??)

What else should you know? Oh, our venue was used during filming for the as-of-yesterday-Golden Globe-winning HBO series Boardwalk Empire, so we’re loosely using that show’s aesthetic as our “theme.” So, think a Roaring 1920′s, Old Brooklyn, Coney Island boardwalk-type feel.

I know, I’m really excited about it, too

That's us!

I was so excited to find BridalBuds a few weeks ago. Working through the learning process of planning a wedding, I found consolation in realizing that other Buds face this same process. These Buds also gave me ideas of how to face each of the many decisions and creative roadblocks. I decided I wanted to offer these same comforts to other soon-to-be brides, and open myself to this network as I become a Blossom.

Aside from the benefits of BridalBuds as a bride, I have never kept a blog or a journal but have always wanted to. Some recent writing assignments revealed that my once decent writing skills have dwindled with lack of practice and I felt encouraged to write more for a minimally critical audience. I am no journalist, but I do hope there will be improvement evident over the next several months of blogging, reading, and commenting.

As mentioned in my profile, I have been engaged five months. Prior to that, I was the girl who swore I would have no problem planning a wedding in less than 6 months and never wanted to be engaged longer than that. Now, 5 months in, I have a dress and we have committed to a venue! That’s it. Okay, so we have ideas for most of the rest, but this has been much more of an undertaking than I expected. One of our fellow Buds was an inspiration for our wedding location and venue, and I’m looking forward to reading more posts over the many details that I have only begun to think about. I truly admire all of the DIY and planned on doing much more than it appears I will pull off, but BridalBuds is inspiring and I hope to use some of your ideas and share some of my own soon.

Looking forward in this blog, I will begin by looking back. I have been told, experienced, and reassured by fellow Buds that deciding on a location/venue is one of the more trying challenges of wedding planning. That is where my planning began and that is where my blogs will begin. Thanks for reading and I hope to share something of interest and something of comfort with each post!

Freesia Dude and I are both passionate about nature and the beautiful world we live in. During our “engagement” road trip through the Florida Keys, we enjoyed many spectacular sunsets like the one above he photographed in Key West off of Mallory Square. We love the beach and it has been an important place for us throughout our lives and in our relationship. We cannot imagine a more perfect place to celebrate our commitment to eachother. Check back to read how we make this happen!

After shameless months of blogger-jealousy toward my real-life friends, Lavender and Dogwood Blossom, I am super excited to be the newest BridalBud! I’m so happy to have been chosen to be a part of this fantastic community and hope that my wit and planning experiences will both help any other brides-to-be, as well as provide a little comic relief.

Here I am with Olive Dude at STACK in Las Vegas, where we celebrated our 25th birthdays. (I’m 5 days older than him)

So, who am I, you ask? I’m a Jersey girl (yes, you can imagine the accent should I ever use the words coffee, quarter, bought) who permanently moved to Maryland after college for both friends and Olive Dude. We met through the Greek System at University of Maryland – were best friends for a year – then realized we were in love. We’ve been together a little bit over 4 years (lived together for a little over 1) and just got engaged on New Year’s Eve. Although I have a serious itch and would love nothing more to be married ASAP – our wedding probably won’t be until Summer 2012. In the meantime, I will take my obsessive online shopping skills and direct them towards all things WeddingWire to help prepare for the big day. The only things I’m sure of at this point is that (1) we will be having cupcakes instead of a wedding cake because I am borderline obsessed, and (2) I will be using my handy designer skills to custom make the invites. I happen to work at a print production shop as well – bonus!

Other fun things you might want to know about me:

• I love trashy television shows. Even Bridezilla.
• I’m a workout-aholic and Olive Dude is a personal trainer. If you ever need food/excercise tips to prepare for the big day – I got em!
• My New Year’s Resolution is to run 1,000 miles in 2011. Dogwood Dude and I have a bet on my ability to complete this. Just wanted it out in the blogosphere.

I hope that you will find my posts interesting and my wedding planning inspirational and fun. I’m trying to keep it fun and stress-free. (Please remind me of that in about 9 months).

Hi I’m Jasmine Bud! I found it only appropriate to refer to my fiance as none other than Aladdin – (so hopefully you can appreciate the Disney reference). I’m so excited to have the opportunity to share my wedding ideas and plans to all of your brides-to-be!

A little bit of background info on us.. We got engaged on July 25, 2010 on a cruise that traveled to the Caribbean. Our wedding is not until May 26, 2012, which gives us ample time to have everything perfect and virtually stress free come that time. Since I work in the wedding industry, you can only imagine how many inspirations boards, wedding dresses, cakes, venues, djs, and planners I have seen in my life. Despite this fact, I did my best to not plan any part of my wedding pre-engagement. I’m thrilled to finally be able to look at those images and think about, “Would that be something I want in our wedding?”

Though our wedding is a year and a half away, we have already started planning and I look forward to sharing more details with all of you!

My favorite thing about wedding planning has been blogging about it. I started writing a personal wedding blog shortly after I got engaged four months ago. I’m so happy to be sharing the details of this part of my life with my fellow buds and all of BridalBuds loyal readers.

Orchid Boy and I are an internet dating success story and after almost two and a half years of dating my best friend, we are now planning our wedding that is going to be 550 miles away on Long Island. We moved to Raleigh, N.C. from Long Island two weeks after we got engaged and are loving sharing our first home together. We have two cats and make awesome pizza.

Orchid Boy and I, are in one word, broke. Our entire wedding is on an extremely tight budget, so we are cutting plenty of traditional elements out and are getting really creative. We are both incredibly laid-back and our wedding is equally so. We’re having an afternoon wedding, where flip-flops are encouraged and ties are forbidden. We just want everyone to have a really fun day.

I’m so thankful for my wonderful family members (that includes my future in-laws) and my awesome friends who have been so helpful, supportive and understanding. I have been taking advantage of their amazing talents and words can’t describe how much I appreciate them letting me do so.

Well, hello hello!

I’m the newest flower in the Garden… and it’s lovely to meet you!

I’m an elementary school teacher planning my small Italian wedding – a walking contradiction, isn’t it? Grab a chair. I’ll be tellin’ you all about it soon!

I know the trend here is to call our fiance “Dude”, but I can’t. It makes me think of “Dude, I lost my Car” and other Ashton Kutcher fiascos. Instead, he’ll be Mr. Magnolia – how’s that?

Here’s a recent photo of Mr. Magnolia and I – part of a tease for our engagement photos, actually, I don’t have all of them yet and I’m bursting to see the rest!

{Image Credit: Pagakis Photo Studio}

We’ve been engaged since August 2009, and we’re planning a July 2011 wedding. When I’m not wedding planning or teaching, you’ll find me browsing Etsy (I am absolutely addicted), baking, scrapbooking, or watching Sex and the City DVDs. I love chick flicks, high heels, sundresses, summer, cherry ice cream, and meeting people. I’m so excited to be a Bridal Bud and share my wedding planning journey with you!

Have you had engagement photos done? Let’s see ‘em!

Hey there! I’m Poppy Bud, the newest member the the Garden…and I am so happy to be here! I can’t wait to share my planning experience, gather feedback, and make new friends.

I have been engaged for almost two months now, and let me tell you…it’s been a whirlwind! No one told me so much went into planning a wedding. So far Poppy Dude and I have the “bare bones” figured out.

• Who: Me and the love of my life and best friend.
• What: Gettin’ hitched!
• When: August 6, 2011
• Where: Campbell, NE
• Why: For love, of course!

Other than that, nothing else is set in stone. I have oodles of ideas floating around in my head…but we’ll get to those later! A few things you should know about me and my wedding planning process: I am a get it done, not afraid to get my hands dirty kinda gal planning a uniquely individual wedding on a budget! Both from rural Nebraska, we want our wedding to reflect upon the family values and lifestyle we hold so dear.

(photo credit to TM2 Photography)

I look forward to sharing more with you later!

Hi. I’m Poinsettia Bud. So nice to meet all of you! I am very exciting to be a part of the BridalBud Community and get feedback and suggestions throughout my planning process.  I got engaged on July 6, 2010 to the love of my life.  Two months have passed and I am still on cloud 9, seriously.

In two months time, we have a date, a wedding dress, a wedding planner, a guest list, and a lot of ideas.  We went back and forth deciding between a beach destination wedding or a Washington DC wedding.  Even though a beach destination wedding sounds like an amazing time, there is something to be said about bringing my closest family and friends to the city I love.  Because of this, we “plan” on having a New Year’s Eve Wedding on December 31, 2011.  We are paying for the wedding on our own so we are having a small, intimate wedding and reception.  We will be inviting 80 of our closest friends and families to celebrate our nuptials and bring in the new year with us.  Sounds great, right?  Well, I say “plan” because we have already run into some road blocks because of our desired date – venue limitations, noise ordinances, time schedules, time and a half pay for catering services, and corporate party and event conflicts, just to name a few.

What do you think about weddings around holidays?  Have you ever attended a New Year’s Eve wedding?

Hello everyone!  I am so happy to be joining this wonderful group of women!  I am really looking forward to sharing our wedding planning adventure with you and looking forward to hearing your comments and ideas!

Violet Dude and I met over a year ago on Match.com.  I was very skeptical at first, but a friend pushed me into it.  I had just moved to Rhode Island after a really ugly break up, and I didn’t know a soul (other than my parents) My friend had met her husband on Match.com and told me that I should try it out.  I’m not one for the bar scene and didn’t know how else to meet people, so I figured “Why not?”  Even if I came away from the experience with a couple new friends or acquaintances, I didn’t have anything to lose.  Well, my friend was right.  It didn’t take long til Violet Dude and I “Met” We had more in conman than anyone I’d ever met, and hit it off immediately. He is truly my best friend and soul mate and I can’t wait for our wedding next year!

Violet Dude is an interior woodworker who graciously took me in with all my baggage (Two total diva cats) And has made my life so much more fabulous than I could ever have imagined! We lead a pretty simple life, but its perfect for us.

So, I suppose I should tell you a bit more about me, huh?  Who IS this new Bud they call Violet?  Well, I am a 28 year old student of the world!  I love learning and am going back to school for my 3rd degree.  I love to travel, and spend time outside.  I Love going to zoos and aquariums and teaching City Boy Violet Dude all about nature and animals. I work as a graphic designer for a chain of urban retail stores, but my design passion has lead me to do more pro-bono work for non-profits that I am connected to. I am a Licensed Massage Therapist, and hopefully soon I’ll start a new chapter in the Travel and Tourism industry!  I like to treat life like an adventure and always take on new things!  This whole wedding planning experience is definitely new!

Our wedding “Theme” is Vintage Baseball. Think shabby chic meets the Boston Red Sox.  Lots of Cracker Jacks and cotton candy. Decor is entirely DIY, including flowers. We don’t want it to be too “fussy” just a laid back night of laughs and shenanigans with our favorite people!

Feel free to ask questions, and give feedback! I really want to hear what you all think!!

Violet Dude and I in one of favorite places

Hello Everyone! I am so excited to be joining the BridalBuds Team.  I look forward to going through the wedding planning process with all of you and hope that you will help provide feedback along the way.

Hydrangea Dude and I met almost three years ago through a mutual friend and started dating him 9 months later.  It is so refreshing to find someone who truly loves me for me (even with all my crazy dance moves and goofy nature).  I am excited to be marrying the love of my life and best friend in about eight months and am looking forward to all that wedding planning has to offer, from the flowers, to the menu to THE DRESS.

I am one of the first of my friends to get married, so I am relying a lot on advice from others, wedding magazines and of course a lot of google searches.

A little about my wedding – I live in Atlanta but am planning our wedding in Fort Lauderdale, FL, where Hydrangea Dude’s family lives.  My family is from all over so it was easier to plan our wedding in South Florida – and hey, who doesn’t love traveling to Florida for a wedding?  My wedding date is April 16, 2011, and I look forward to sharing all the fun, the journey to choosing vendors and hope you can provide me with some great tips along the way.

I couldn’t be more excited to introduce myself as the newest BridalBud, Cotton Bud!  I’m happy to have been chosen to be a part of this fantastic community and to share the planning of our rustic, casual wedding in New Hampshire.

Who is this Cotton Bud?  I’m an adventuring vagabond ready to begin the next chapter of my life with the man who fills my heart with so much love, Cotton Cutie – aka CC, from here on out.  I’m originally from Boston’s Irish community, South Boston, and moved to central NH as a teen with my fantastic parents Cotton Mom1 and Cotton Mom2.  (Yup, that’s right – CC is getting TWO mother-in-laws in this package!)  After a few not-so-gracious teen years, I settled into the travel industry and began the incredible decade that was my 20s traveling in Europe and living/traveling in the Caribbean.  As much as I loved the free/cheap travel afforded me by working in the travel industry, I felt a pretty big hole inside and wanted to do more.  I wanted to give back somehow and be someone who made a difference.  I decided to leave the travel industry behind and return to college with the ultimate goal of becoming a teacher.  This is about the time I met CC and here we are – a couple of Cottons kickin’ it in Northern California living our dreams.

Photo by Cotton Bud

CC and I have the most incredible, supportive families any bud could ask for.  The Cotton Moms and CC Mom and CC Dad are such caring parents, if not extremely patient with us both.  We are also supported by my mentor/friend and his wife (Cotton Rog and Cotton Sue) and CC’s birth mother (CC Judi).  Unfortunately, we’re both from the East Coast (CC is originally from Philadelphia) and do not get to see our family as often as we’d like.  This has been a deciding factor for us with planning our wedding.  Although we both live in CA, we’re having our wedding in NH, in Cotton Moms 1 & 2′s rural town of Alexandria, to make it easier for our families to travel to.  This has naturally provided some interesting problems when it comes to this bud’s desire to DIY the heck out of the celebration!  I’ll definitely be talking about this more in the future.

Aside from traveling as much as I possibly can, I also love to craft, Craft, CRAFT!  Planning our wedding has been an amazing opportunity for me to express my creativity in ways I had no idea existed.  I enjoy photography, camping, reading, exploring national parks, road trips, bar-b-ques, Latin American culture, taking classes, and discovering the world around me too.

I’m very excited to have been given the honor of being a bud and look forward to sharing all of our wedding planning fun with you!