Wanna Hear a Secret?

It's the last day of April & that means it's National Honesty Day!

This holiday is celebrated on the last day of April since April Fools Day falls on the first & encourages national truth & honesty. What a great virtue to live by & a fantastic way to encourage us to be honest today & every day.

In honor of the holiday, we've decided to disclose a couple of truths about us. Can you guess who made each confession?

Confession One:

I own over 100 pairs of shoes. {And my collection continues to grow. yikes!} I haven't decided if that is a good or bad thing {my husband will argue bad because he is forced to put his shoes in a separate closet} but what I do know is my fetish began at a rather young age.

In fact, when I was a little girl, I went shopping with our Mimi & picked out a pair of shoes & a purse I just had to have. In true Grandmother fashion, she bought me the shoes & purse, making me the happiest girl alive.

Not too long after, I went to spend some time with our Nana & she asked me what I wanted to do. Without hesitation, I exclaimed I wanted to go shopping & returned home with a new pair of shoes & another purse. When Mimi came to pick me up, Nana told me to show her the purchases we had made earlier that day only for Mimi to inform Nana I had her buy me the EXACT same pair of shoes & purse earlier. I think they shared a good laugh. {And since we're making it a point to be honest today, I'll just say I may or may not still do this... you never know when you'll wear out your favorite pair of shoes & if they'll be available for purchase at that time... am I right?}

Confession Two:

Are you ready for this? I'm deathly afraid of BEES! I know, I know what you're thinking right now. Really? Afraid of bees & your whole business is the face of a bee? I never said I didn't like the look of a bee. Actually I think the silhouette is quite possibly the best logo ever, but if there's ever a real bee near me, you'll catch  me running in circles with my eyes shut & my ears covered!

 

I think a few Friendors have caught on to this secret lately while working with us. I just can't help but squirm & squeal.

 

On Easter, a bee landed on my leg. I literally froze & screamed for my Dad to get it off. Of course, my Dad came and saved the day!

 

On National Honesty Day, I'll admit that I am a {bee} that's afraid of bees. :)

 

{An oldie but definitely a favorite. Our bee in training.}

Many Thanks!

Happy Tuesday! It's been a while... & we've missed you!

We're happy to report we've been living up to our name recently. "Busy" is the name of the game & we couldn't be happier!

In many ways, the last five & a half months have flown by. They've been filled with fun meetings, joyful celebrations, happy matrimonies, long days & late nights. And as we come up on our half year anniversary of launching The Bee, the old saying "hard work pays off" has more meaning than ever.

Amidst the laundry list of {to do's} of the current wedding season, we took on an ever-so-special project with Bumby of Bumby Photography- OUR FIRST STYLED SHOOT!

She's a brave one, that Bumby, enlisting our services without having worked with us previously. {oh! & jumping up on this lift to capture the perfect shot!} She's the best & we are ever-so-grateful for her trust & more importantly for her support!

It all went down a week ago today {you may or may not have noticed our lack of social media updates & blog posts but we're committed to our clients & our projects & they will always come first}. It is hard to put into words the mix of emotions filling us to the brim last week... In fact, we were brought to tears as each vendor arrived & unloaded their works of art & in a collaborative effort, brought our visions to life. Scratch that. They exceeded our expectations, each of them going above & beyond what was asked of them.

These wedding professionals are specialists of their craft & we are honored to have them as part of something so meaningful to us. We cannot wait to share the final edits with you! We've seen a few sneak peeks & let us to be the ones to tell you, you won't want to miss them. Bumby certainly found her calling in life. So glad she came into ours.

A special THANK YOU {from the bottom of our hearts} goes out to the following:

Bumby, for presenting us with this opportunity & supporting us from the beginning.

Julie Fetcko for opening up her doors & providing the most spectacular backdrop & props to complement the shoot. Wait until you see where & what we got to work with!

A Chair Affair, Inc. for providing the foundation of our shoot {tables, chairs, chargers, flatware & miscellaneous décor pieces}. As always, such a pleasure to work with & provide high quality rental décor without a doubt.

Lee Forrest Design for the over the-top-floral designs that completely blew our minds. Each arrangement was a true masterpiece.

Everything Cake for her superb eye for design & creating the most beautiful cake we could only dream of. We'd say we had our cake & ate it too!

Pretty Peacock Paperie for creating the cutest & highest quality invitation suite to fit the theme perfectly. We just couldn't get enough of all the little details she surprised us with!

Calvet Couture Bridal for opening up her boutique & allowing us to hand pick the perfect silhouette for our bride to fit seamlessly with the era & theme of the shoot.

Over The Top Rental Linens for providing high quality table linens that provided pops of color & allowed us to show off the color of the year!

Brie & Brie for fashioning the perfect updo for our beautiful bride to suit the era of the shoot. She continues to live up to her "Best Updo Artist" title.

Tracie Cervero for her flawless makeup application & for sticking around for touch ups to ensure our models maintained a fresh look from beginning to end.

Sabrina & Patrick for taking the time out of their personal lives to model for us; for enduring the no-see-ums and warm sun; for being so sweet & so in love. You two looked awesome & really pulled it all together!

All in All, last Tuesday was one of our best days yet as The Busy Bee & we cannot wait to work with each of these companies as we continue to grow! We {HIGHLY} recommend all of their services!

We Must Endure the Rain

{From the Desk of Shannon Elizabeth}

We were completely unprepared for the rain today. But that seems to be life at times, right? Often times our gloomiest of days roll in over heads with little to no warning and all of a sudden we're left to sink or swim. Most of the time we are prepared for bad weather by keeping an umbrella thrown on the bottom of the car floor or a pair of rain boots by the front door so we can quickly slip into them without even having to worry about  "ruining" a cute outfit because {luckily for us} Hunter made them the latest fashion statement.

But today we were left without the luxury of our typical rain accessories because neither of us bothered to check the forecast. It wasn't until we were halfway out the door we received an email from the client we were on our way to meet to "drive safely" because a bad storm was fast approaching. No time to turn back but how sweet it was to read the concerns from someone we had yet to meet in person. Little did we know, that statement would have even more meaning after our meeting.

So there we were enjoying our toasted bagels & fancy lattes & green teas when she decided to share a story that still weighs heavy on her heart. And we were quickly reminded that life is too short. Tomorrow is never guaranteed & we did everything we could to fight back the tears & reach across the table to hug one another. To hug her.

And that seems to be life. People are taken away from us, obstacles are laid before us, bad weather sets in & we are left to deal. No fair warnings. No heads up. Only the family & friends around us. Only our own will.

But that's what makes us stronger. That's what brings us together. It's what molds us. It's what defines us.

It's not always easy to come up with the right words to say to someone who has or is enduring the rain {even when we can relate & especially when we can't}.

But there is one thing we do know. Life does not provide us the option to choose the weather for the day or even our current season. However, we can rest easy in knowing we will never be given more than we can handle. And so we know, we must endure the rain for it is the rain that makes the flowers grow.

It's the rain that allows us to fully {bloom}.

Buck or Doe?

{From the desk of: Jenna}

Ever since I can remember, it's always been The Fizer Sisters & The Heiblum Sisters. They are twin sisters we met in high school & we've been best friends with them since day one. Heather & Vanessa are identical twins with two separate personalities but both sweet as can be. Heather is the more reserved, quiet one while Vanessa is the outspoken, outgoing one. And when the four of us are together, our time is always filled with great laughs & stories to tell later.

I created this announcement for Vanessa last fall. We were so overjoyed with the news of her & Adam's sweet baby to come! Vanessa had been wanting a baby for as long as I can remember. She & Adam are always stealing my baby. Always.

Soon after I had taken the photo above, Shannon and I received a text message that included two pictures labeled: {Baby A & Baby B}.

I immediately called Heather to see if this was some joke or the real thing. She confirmed that yes, 

{two peas in a pod were due July 12, 2014}

That's when the planning of the {Buck or Doe?} Gender Reveal party started! Adam is a hunter & loves his deer heads. Honestly, I do too. I don't hunt, but I'm obsessed with a good deer head silhouette. If Maddie Lu was a boy, he'd have deer heads all over his room. Hmm, maybe if I have a third?

{Invitation}

Vanessa gave us a guest list, & soon the invites went out! She wanted the party to be small & intimate & all things yellow & green. She's more of a neutral hue kind of girl rather than a pink or blue kind.

{4x6 Prints}



{Chalk Art}

(Side note: Tell me why I didn't include the real deer head that was above this table in the photo? Oh well!)

Buck = Green

Doe= Yellow

Cookies & milk.

You have to love Vanessa when she asked how we got the milk green & yellow. Don't be fooled, she's a teacher- & a great one at that!!





{8x10 Print}

We created the foam pins for their guests to guess Buck or Doe. This was probably our most favorite detail of the whole party. Along side of the chalk art.

Majority of the party guessed: GIRLS!

Seriously though, those Antlers. I'm obsessed.

{8x10 Print}

And now for the food table. We decided to keep with the theme & make everything green & yellow. We felt bad after the fact that Vanessa doesn't like cheese. In order to accommodate the yellow in our spread, let me tell you that most of that food was cheese. We owe her one. But hey, at least she got her pigs in a blanket!



And now for the big reveal.......



PINK!!!

Vanessa got so into the silly string!!

We are so excited to welcome Kendall & Taylor into the world! Who would have thought, an identical twin girl would be pregnant with identical twin girls!?!

Congratulations again Adam & Vanessa. Here's to your sleepless nights & having my baby back in MY arms. (KIDDING!) We love you guys & are so excited for these girls to join our family!

Brides For The Day

We know, we know. Secrets, secrets are no fun unless you are a part of one. But this secret wouldn't be the same if we let you in on it just yet. Without giving away the store, we'll let you know we are working on a special project with some very talented Central Florida wedding professionals & we cannot wait to share the details with you!

With that, today we got to play {Bride}!

 

 

 

First stop: A Chair Affair, INC

Also known as Wedding Planner's Heaven on Earth!

With rows upon rows of chargers, chiavari chairs, cake stands, candelabras & as many farm tables to make every rustic bride's dream come true, we thought we died & went to Event Rental Heaven. You can bet we were dancing on Cloud 9 when they opened their doors & let us go to town. 

Next Stop: Pretty Peacock Paperie, LLC

 

 

We were so excited to see Natalie's new office!

Black, Gold & pretty paper: these are a few of our favorite things!

 

Between choosing our samples for our upcoming project, we snuck in some quality "catch up" time & learned of the plans for her new space.

 

We love her vision not only for her space but for her business & her clients.