Well, It's About Time...

Hey there, hive.  It's certainly been a while since I dropped in.  In fact, it's been so long, that I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't a single reader who actually remembered me or my wedding.

Why is that? Because believe it or not, over the weekend, Mr Corn and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary.  Yup...way back in 2007, before photo booths, cupcake towers and heavily customized themes were even a trend; back when there'd only been 5 generations of bees; before the WB boards were ever in existence(!) - I planned my DIY heavy, Coastal New England wedding on the water at a historic fort complete with winery rehearsal party, Revolutionary War reenactors, gale force wind, an authentic Revere Cannon salute and a tradition clambake reception with LOBSTAH!!

Since our 09-08-07 wedding, we welcomed our little 'kernel', Garrison, on 07-08-09...

...who's now a very grown up 3 year old who just started pre-school!!

Then, last fall, we added another addition to the cob, Clarinda, on 10-27-11.  We call her Ladybug...

...and already she's a fast-moving 10-month old!!

And while I've contributed many things to the hive since our 09-08-07 wedding - including a retrospective on what I was glad we did and what I wished we had done better for the big day, and participated in several of the ongoing series, including The Randomizer, The Best of Weddingbee and The Secret Lives of Bees; one thing I've never done is officially say goodbye.

So as I look around my life and realize the insane impact Weddingbee has had on my life, from being fired for blogging to being part of an amazing community that picked me up by my bootstraps and continues to support me today, I realize that I'll never truly leave this place.  But I am signing off as a regular contributor (yes, I'm aware that's a moot point since I haven't actually contributed a post in 9 months). But in any case, it is time to say goodbye.

So to that end, I would love to encourage you to check out my personal blog, Other Pieces of Me, where I write about those two cuties above as well as share other fun anecdotes about our lives and occasionally I even give away stuff.  Additionally, you can find me on the internet as a writer for FLOR's design blog, Musings.  And lastly, you can always find me getting creative on my business blog for my custom invitation and announcement business, LimoncelloSTYLE.

It has been a great ride, hive.  Thanks so much for always bee-ing there for me.

Much love to all,

Miriam aka Mrs Corn

The randomizer: Corn

Hi hive! Well. It certainly has been a while, huh. As in, I'm pretty sure most, if not all, of you have no idea my wedding ever existed. But I do! And even though it was over four years ago, and even though I have since had two (TWO!!) children, I still count my wedding day as the happiest day of my life. Never before nor since nor in the future will there ever be a gathering of all of the people that we love the most, who love US the most all in the same place at the same time. It was a day filled with absolute and complete and utter joy. So, when the opportunity came to trot down memory lane via. the Weddingbee Randomizer series, I decided to devote a bit of my very-minimal free time to reflecting on our awesome day.

So here we go...

Our wedding was held on the north lawn of Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island and we had a traditional clam bake as our reception with lobsters, steamers, corn on the cob, chorizo sausage, chicken and red potatoes. One of the many fun aspects of being the bride was getting to be first in line for the buffet :) When I got back to my seat I found my personalized cotton bib that the clam-bake company had provided for us as a surprise, I was totally stoked!:

At the end of the evening, my new husband and I took a moment to ourselves to stand in the breeze by the water and reflect on the day:


My sister and her, then, 2.7 year old little boy, who was also my mother's escort down the aisle. It is amazing to me that my own son is almost the same age now as his cousin (who is now almost 7 [eep!]) was then. Also - knowing what I know now about little 2.7 year old boys, I am AMAZED we got him to walk down the aisle at that age, regardless of the fact that he was escorting his Gram!!:


After the ceremony, we took some bride and groom portraits on the inside of the fort which was also hosting a Civil War Reenactment that weekend. This picture was taken as we walked from modern times on the outside of the fort, back to the 1800's on the inside of the fort!:

My mom and dad both looked so stunning that day. The search for the perfect outfit for my mom was a difficult one, as everything was too formal or too Love-boat-dinner-buffet for her taste, so I was really glad that she finally found something that she loved so much. And my dad looked so great in his tux! Funny story, he was in it by noon he was so excited (the wedding was at 5):


My handsome husband and his groomsmen - his father and brother:


My father, who passed away two Christmases ago, was handicapped at the time of our wedding and could not walk me all the way from the fort. So I was escorted by a group of Revolutionary War reenacters (incidentally, the same guys as the Civil War reenacters...just with different uniforms) to my dad who waited for me at the top of the aisle. The wind at 5:00pm on the point of land was absolutely insane and my veil and dress were all over the place!:

To this day, our wedding cake was by far, the best cake I have ever eaten. Also, I hear that sentiment often from people who were guests at our wedding, so it MUST be true. For your reference, it was by Sin Desserts in Providence, RI. I also still love that our topper was so us...it reminded me of sitting at the end of a dock dangling our feet in the water:


Our escort cards were enclosed in Stardream Sapphire Blue penny envelopes from Paper Source and strung between two tall garden hooks. I think all the Stardream Sapphire Blue paper lovers out there like me should take a moment to mourn the loss of such a perfect representation of the blue of the water in New England on a sunny summer day around 3:00pm...as they discontinued this color about two years ago. Sigh.:


Hours before our wedding started, McGrath Clambakes dug a hole in ground, lined it with rocks and lit a bonfire! Once the rocks were heated, they placed cages of food on top of the rocks and then covered everything with thick canvas and let it all steam. This picture of them preparing the clambake is so fun since I never got to see it in person:


I hope you all enjoyed my little trip down memory lane. I'm pretty sure I'm the only bee to have hosted a traditional clambake for my reception (although I know a couple have ventured to do it for their rehearsal dinners). It was an amazing day and I have really enjoyed taking a moment to look back at it again. I hope you have too!

Love to all,

Mrs Corn

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To see more of my crazy, clambake wedding, you can view all of my posts HERE.

The Kernel has 'popped'

Hey there hive...just wanted to give a quick update to let you know that our son, Garrison Reid, was born into this world naturally on July 8, 2009 at 4:50am weighing 10lbs 5oz and measuring 21.5 inches.

We have been home a bit over a week and it has been an amazing time of bonding and getting to know the little guy.

And just to keep this post wedding related...for those of you who remember, Mr Corn and I were married on 09-08-07 and as you can see, Garrison showed up on 07-08-09...needless to say we are tickled over the coincidence...of course that means there is a bit more pressure on child #2 :)

Love to you all,

Mrs. Corn

A little magic for a gray Monday

As you may or may not know, I worked for Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL for four years right after I graduated from college, in the entertainment department.

A friend of mine, David, was a performer at the Beauty and the Beast show and had met a beautiful girl named Heidi, who was a dancer at the show, and had been dating her for quite some time when he decided to propose.

David worked for weeks to pull off an amazing proposal to Heidi. He was not a trained dancer, but he was able to arrange with the stage manager of the show to learn the Equity level choreography for the grand finale and surprise Heidi as she was dancing on stage. In the finale number, her dance partner danced off the stage and was replaced by David much to Heidi's complete surprise.

It has been ten years since they were married, and for their anniversary, David has posted, for the first time for all to see, the video taken that day. I was there in the audience, having sprinted across the park to see it in time, and I can assure you, it was the most magical proposal I have ever seen or heard of since.

Hope you enjoy the video on this gray Monday.

LAST MINUTE: Calling all Boston Bees

**hey, Bee or Pengs: can you add our icons to this? I can do it, but I wasn't sure if you had a better file of the images to use**

Corn, Toucan, Hot Cocoa and Margarita are headed to the Fenway AMC to go see Bride Wars THIS SUNDAY, January 18, 2009 at the 11:45am showing.

Afterwards, we will head over to the Cold Stone creamery and meet up with Latte around 1:30pm for yummy desserts!

We know it is last minute, but we would love if you would join us for either or both of the activities. The plan is to meet at 11:15am in the lobby at the top of the stairs and we'll head into the theater at 11:30.

Let us know in the comments if you plan to be there! We hope to see you soon!!

The secret life of Mrs Corn...the REAL secret!!

Hee hee...so remember how a few months ago Weddingbee did a feature where the bees listed out their secrets and my super-duper, top-secret secret was the 'long lost', anti-climatic pictures of me trying on dresses a few years ago??

Well, here's a secret: that wasn't really my secret :)

You see, I have been holding on to the BIGGEST SECRET OF MY LIFE for the past three months and now at the moment when I am about to completely burst my seams it is finally appropriate to tell...

let's see if you can guess:

Yup...that's right. We're having a baby corn!!!

Mr Corn (who from here-on-out shall be referred to as 'Pop-corn') and I are really, really excited as is everyone else in our immediate families who has known since the day I took the test way back in October.

We have made it through the 1st trimester which is the scariest part (in Pop-corn's mind), hence the secretive aspect. And should, God willing, all go as planned, we will officially welcome our baby-corn to the family sometime in early - mid July of 2009.

Here's a pic that was taken yesterday of the kernel...

So there you go...our biggest secret is now "out there" for all to know!!

The secret life of Mrs Corn...the long-lost dress hunt

Way, way WAY back before I had even FOUND Weddingbee, not to mention had applied and then become Mrs Corn...I headed to David's Bridal in Harrisburg, PA on the Friday after Thanksgiving 2006 to try on wedding dresses with my mom and my sister.

It was an extremely overwhelming experience (as you will see from the expression on my face in most of these pictures). We had a wonderful sales girl who was very helpful, but stretched a little thin. You see...I had the mistaken impression that on 'Black Friday' everyone would be too busy checking out the holiday sales to go to a wedding dress store.

Big mistake. HUGE! Turns out Thanksgiving weekend is the. weekend. to drag your entire bridal party plus all the women in your family including Old Aunt Agnes and her bridge buddies to a bridal store...why? Because everyone is in town.

As we head towards Turkey day this month, please keep that in mind so you don't freak out like I did...

So WHY exactly is this my 'secret' post? Because no one, not even my mom or sister or, heaven forbid, my husband Davis has ever. seen. these. photos...until now. I don't think there is a single smile from me in any of the photos and it ISN'T because of bad photography moments...I really was miserable for most of the day.

So now, without further ado, I present to you the never-before-seen photos of all the dresses I tried on before I found 'the one'.
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The very first dress I tried on had box pleats...it was the only one in the store with box pleats and box pleats had been on my request list since I had even thought about getting married when I was a kid...that and sleeves, but we all know how few of those options there are :)


The first thing I noticed about the dress was that with the dropped waist, I looked weird...to me. Maybe not to anyone else, but since I am all legs and no torso, seeing a dropped waist on me weirded me out so much that I vetoed the dress and moved on...


The next dress was the 'crustiest' dress in the store...absolutely covered in lace and beading. I had a strict 'no crusty stuff' rule for my shopping excursion...but really liked the look of the dress... I liked it so much it ended up becoming the front-runner for the day.

Next I tried on a dress with an illusion neckline. This was good for me to see because I loved the look of the illusion necklines that I had seen in the magazines...but on me, it looked ridiculous!

Below is my sad attempt to see what the potential could have been had the neckline been both illusion AND portrait...it actually, in my opinion, is much better...but alas, there were no illusion, portrait neckline dresses in the store so it was time to move on.

In my quest to find something, ANYTHING, with sleeves, I tried on a gown with a lace overlay thinking that would be the key...but I felt it looked dowdy on me and reminded me of my grandma's housecoat...so it was rejected too.

The wrap dress below was next and got an immediate veto from my mom...which is a shame because in pictures it really was very flattering on me. I do remember thinking it was slightly uncomfortable to wear...sort of like having your nylons on twisted...but had I known how good it looked on film, it could have been a serious contender.

This next dress was all about the beautiful overlay...I loved it. The detail was so different and really gorgeous...but in the end, the dropped waist did the dress in for me. Interestingly enough, now that I am going back through all of these pictures, this is the dress that is most like the one I eventually chose.

I was interested in trying on this style of dress (below) because of the two toned nature of it and because I had heard it had wonderful tummy hiding features...but it was the quickest 'no' of all of them for me:

This next series of pictures is of the runner up dress of the day...this is the dress that actually inspired me to start trying on veils to see what they would look like and I finally started to relax and feel like a bride.

The last dress of the day was actually the second one I tried on. The one with all the lace and the beading. I tried it on again with a veil and a sash and was completely smitten.

In the end, I didn't buy that dress that day...I wanted to at least go to another store and see what some of the other options were out there.


So a few weekends later, my mom came up to visit me in Boston and we headed to Manhattan Bridals in Dedham, near where I live. It is a small boutique and isn't the fanciest of places, but let me tell you...the service was extraordinary! And personal! And just all around, a wonderful, lovely experience.

The first dress I tried was an Empire waisted Alfred Angelo dress with two toned detailing. I liked this dress a lot but felt that it was a bit young for me. I should point out that the slight sweetheart neckline did wonders for my big ole' chest that no other dress did and I still kind-of wish the dress that I eventually chose had a sweetheart neckline.

Next I tried another dress with an overlay...but it just wasn't happening. I couldn't shake the grandma picture out of my head.

Having always LOVED me some Audrey Hepburn classic style, I tried on a boat neck dress...HUGE MISTAKE...the girls were very. constricted. in this style below:

Ahhhh...something a bit more romantic maybe? With a cap sleeve? Close...but not quite special enough:

And then, nirvana...look how innocent I look below before getting to see myself in the mirror in the dress I eventually chose...

I liked it so much I tried it with a wrap....but that wasn't going to work....

...so then I tried the cathedral length veil and I was h-o-o-k-e-d!!


Below are pics of the dress and me in the dress from my wedding day...I couldn't be more pleased with the outcome and I definitely felt more beautiful that day than ever before or since.



Ok...so that was 13 dresses to find 'the one'...how many did you try on and did every one of them make you smile or were you a frowner like me?