Earrings?...

Trying to decide which earrings to get...

Reception Decor

Okay, I think I'm getting it all together...

 

Centerpiece 1:  Mixed flower arrangements + two votives + glass beads

Centerpiece 2:  Hurricane lantern + pillar candle + glass beads + two votives

Centerpiece 3:  Orchid spray in water + two votives + glass beads OR live orchid + votives + glass beads

 

I want to make at trip to the Flower/Garment/Party Supply District on Monday or Tuesday to finalize my ideas, buy glass beds, and maybe any favor stuff?...ribbon/bags/tulle

 

I also need to get some heavy fishing wire or something to string up between the trees.  I can create two triangles and hang things between the trees to the dance floor.  So...anyone up to making paper puffs?... Either that or maybe I'll look for the lanterns in LA if I go down that way.

 

I also still need to figure out how to display the seating chart.  And those table cards...I don't think I want to buy 25 of those card holders...  And I'm a little scared to ask Michelle after the appetizer showdown.  But I will be going to the area for the flowers this afternoon...soo...maybe I'll gather up some courage and talk to her about that...  I have to go in there anyway to talk about the cake too!... Maybe I'll do it on Friday...probably can't wait too long though...

Check and check, and cheques and cheques!

Eddie and I spent yesterday afternoon making final payments at Tennessee Gardens and (hooray, hooray) the food!  We were also planning on taking care of the flowers, but she was closed, so I'll go after school today.

So we started at Tennessee Gardens to make the final payment.  We sorted out the AV equipment (through the DJ), picked the linens (plum sheer overlay over ivory, plum napkins), checked out the hurricane lanterns again (need about 2 handfuls of the glass stones, will also be using the mirrored rounds, and votives on every table), got the ok to hang things from the trees (my puffs!), and worked out the proof of licensing for the restaurant.  We had a little hiccup as far as the appetizers, which on our paperwork said was included, but when we were going over the paperwork, she said that it was only provided if we were getting it catered there.  This sent me into a little panic because we then wouldn't have any appetizers except for two eggrolls per person!...  But when we went home, Eddie checked the paperwork and called Michelle back, who eventually said that she would provide it...  But now I'm a little panicked because I hope she's written this down somewhere and it doesn't come to the day of the wedding and there are no appetizers!

After Tennessee Gardens, Eddie hopped on the horn again and talked with the lady at Benjarong and got us another fabulous deal.  We went to pay it off, and enjoyed the yam neur and and a bowl of tom kha kai while we were there.  I'm super excited that we're having Thai food at the wedding! :)

Engagement Pictures Take 2

So ecstatic about the pictures we took on Monday! 

We decided to take the pictures at UCR's Botanic Gardens because we hadn't been able to take them there the first time we went, and because that's where our "first date" was. 

We ended up being a little early, so I dropped Eddie off at the Gardens to scout out some picture taking places.  I went to meet Allan and the team at the Starbucks by campus.  When Allan arrived, he started telling me about the kind of pictures and poses he was going for this time: something softer and quieter.  Perfect!  After a stop for coffee (the guys were coming off two weddings over the weekend, one of which was Tony's cousin!)

Headed to the Gardens and started taking pictures.  Two other team members (Christian and Matt) joined Allan Jay and Tony.  Matt became the DJ playing various mood music.  :)  Because we weren't doing a lot with the lighting, keeping it mostly with natural lighting, it was a little disconcerting to have four cameras pointed at us at various times.  But the guys were fun and there was a lot of chatter back and forth which helped me feel more comfortable. 

Over all, a very enjoyable couple hours and I think it shows in the gorgeous pictures Allan Jay posted.

So here are some from Triversity Wedding Photography's blog.

Best Co-Workers Ever!

I have such sweet co-workers!  Lexi brought this over for me after our conversation yesterday about my hair for the wedding!

Dress fittings

Isn't she lovely?
Isn't she wonderful?
Isn't she precious?
(but definitely more than one minute old)

Reception Program/Menu

As I was researching wording and styles and such, I also found that people do programs for the reception as well!...  I'm still not completely sold on designing yet another thing...though I did like the idea of having something with an outline of the reception and something with the menu...but I'm almost wondering if I could do something on a folded sheet of paper for each table, maybe attached at the bottom with ribbon to prevent it from falling over...  I'm envisioning a tented card with the menu and schedule of events...maybe two per table?...  At the same time, I don't want to overload the table with STUFF.

 

Here's the information for the menu side:

 

Cocktail Hour

Assorted (fruit/cheese/crackers) - (we actually still have to work this out with the reception venue)

Eggrolls

 

Dinner

Thai Beef Salad

Green Curry Chicken

Thai BBQ Chicken

Drunken Noodles

 

Dessert

Wedding Cake

Strawberry Victorian

Triple Creme

Carrot Cake

 

With each item I'll probably include a brief description (mostly for those people who haven't had the Thai food and want to know what's in what)

 

 

As far as the reception program side:

 

Introduction of the wedding party

First dance

Father - Daughter dance

Mother - Son dance

Grace

Dinner

Tea Ceremony

Photomontage

Toasts (Groomsman, Maid of Honor, Yam Seng?)

Cake Cutting

Dancing, Dancing, Dancing

 

We still need to talk with the DJ about our song selections, but that will be another post I'm sure...

 

Revised Ceremony Programs

So I've rearranged the program to be more book style rather than the elongated sheet from yesterday.

I'm trying to decide between three names centered or aligned to the initials.

I'm also trying to decide whether or not to keep the inner pages together or to cut them apart.

If they're stuck together I have to tie them on with ribbon or something.

If they're apart, I'll punch the corners.

Seating Arrangements: Take 1

So Eddie's started organizing the guests into tables.  He's started on his family/friends list first.  After organizing most of them, he's informed me that he has some tables with 9 filled spots and 1 opened... Uhhh... who is that lone random person going to be?!??  When I asked him how he'd like it if he were at a wedding and the one random person at a table of 9 other people somehow related, and he said he'd understand it coming from where we are...and that if I want the headache of fixing it all it's all mine.  Gee thanks!  Grflghbrgh

So, I'm going to tackle that headache...and then I have to redo the programs because Eddie's "constructive" (insert sarcastic tone) criticism was the program I showed him was weird.  Weird.  I'll show him weird!...  Grrr.  Sorry, feeling slightly (a little more than slightly) aggravated.

Ceremony Program

So, in an attempt to put together something that others can help me with before final crunch time, I've started designing the program for the church ceremony.  There are thousands and thousands of designs out there: multi-paged, multi-folded, funny shaped, be-ribboned creations.

Upside down creation

I want to keep our design fairly simple - one page (if double sided).  I'm debating the use of ribbon (because that means someone is going to have to tie these ribbons!) vs. a square with our initials gluing the two layers down. Another ribbon option sans the tying of a thousand little bows would be like the second picture, where it's pulled through to have two loose, but not necessarily tied into a bow. In such an instance the loose ends would be much shorter, probably where my finger is pinching the ribbon.

Bow option

Loose ends option

I'm partial to two layers as I've always liked the vellum paper (as anyone who has seen past invitations I've made can tell you) - hence the need for the ribbon or paper anchor.  One design I've come up with has the wording printed on the vellum, over a white cardstock with our initials printed in the center.  I've also bought a corner punch with various designs to cut out of the corners of the white page. 

Initials under the vellum

Corner that I like the most

Corner option 2

Corner option #3, although not done correctly...wasn't centered when I punched it...

I'm also playing around with a no vellum option.  It would have our initials at the top, then the wording underneath with the corners cutoff to avoid being too plain.  The colors of the no vellum option would be mostly purple, as the cardstock would be on a purple base.  The hint of teal would be in the initials at the top of the page. 

Before I can complete the programs, I would also have to figure out the songs and such for the ceremony, and I would have to know the schedule of events ... unity candle, bouquet for Mary, etc...

Bouquet for Mary

I have to remember to go to the florist to add a bouquet for Mary to the flowers we're ordering.  Either that, or I'm going to use my toss bouquet...and then toss my actual bouquet...which would be fine with me because I'm probably not going to dry and keep my bouquet forever and ever (more clutter).

Feathered Frenzies

So I wanted to finish the bracelet and the headband today.

Unfortunately, the feathers are proving a little more fractious than I anticipated... I can't seem to get them to stay flat, or rather they're too flat -to the point if dicing straight out when I need then to curve around the bracelet into a nice, tame cuff of eyes.

I also need to scrounge up the black it dark brown head band that would camouflage into my girls' hair better than the reddish tortoise shell one that I currently an using for my prototype. 

I also have decided feathers never again as all the little hairs and now all over, despite a good sweeping.

To add more to my plate...

So I've been playing around with the idea of these tissue paper pom poms to hang from either the trees or the strings used for lights above the grassy area (where the tables would be).  I'm not sure if they would still look okay even without the lanterns with them...

The poms are pretty easy to make; I watched a video with Eddie's cousin the other evening.  All I need is different colored tissue paper (anywhere from 8-14 sheets depending on how puffy I want them) and a pipecleaner to bind it together. 

I thought that the poms would be a nice addition of color and flowery shapes to the garden (which I fear pales in comparison to the gardens at the Huntington Library that we saw on Saturday).  I think I'd go with purple, teal (if we can find it) and white pom poms - each pom one color, not multicolored poms.  I'm pretty sure I can go to Kohls and get a few packs of the colorful tissue paper to try it out.  I just need some pipe cleaners from Michael's or Joann's.

Bracelet idea

Something I found and want to try to recreate. 

Got a bracelet at Kohls (thanks Dad for those $10 coupons) for $0.04. 
Got the feathers from my 400 pack.

The problem I'm having is that peacock feathers aren't as small as these other feathers...so only two or three fit, but even then it's overlapping or haning off the sides.  I'm not sure how it will look or if the feathers will fall nicely...  I'm going to try to get it done this weekend.

PS Just read somewhere that brides are moving away from the matchy-matchy jewelry/accessories for their bridesmaids.  Look at us on the cutting edge of all things wedding... ;)

On the Nature of Blogs, Wedding Photography, Customer Service, and the Bomb Dot Com

(Another draft of a blog that never got posted) from May 12

OMG.  Yesterday night I had a "blogs-are-public-forums-and-you-never-know-who-might-stumble-across-your-blog-and-read-things-about-themselves" moment. 

So around 9 o'clock, I get a phone call from a number that I didn't recognize.  And imagine my surprise when it was Allan Jay, our wedding photographer.  We're not really scheduled for anything else between now and the wedding, so his call seemed to come out of the blue.  He had happened to stumble across my blog when Googling Triversity Wedding Photography (his company).  So he called after reading the blog entries about the engagement photos and our reactions.  He was concerned that we were not satisfied with the engagement pictures.  He was also very positive about criticism, as he viewed it as a way to improve and grow because few people often give him feedback like that.

To be completely honest, I could not, for the life of me, remember what exactly I had posted in the blog, and I wasn't really sure that I even really had offered any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism in the post.  I know how we felt about the pictures being more dramatic and not very natural to our usual selves, but I thought of it more as a practice for the wedding, giving us a better idea of what we wanted in our pictures and knowing more what was his style.  But I did post some of the pictures that we felt were NOT the style we were going for.  Can we say awkward?...the captions were meant jokingly, but could totally be read rather as insulting (just thinking if I were the photog, I would be sensitive about my work!)...

After my initial mortification, this is was actually an encouraging encounter with thoughtful customer service.  Allan truly cares that his brides (and grooms, but we all know who's opinions are REALLY more important ;) ) are happy with the work and pictures and the whole experience with the TWP team.  He was very open and wanted to dialogue about what we wanted in our pictures (while I was still trying to get my metaphorical foot (in the form of typed words) out of my mouth).  He even offered to retake the engagement pictures.  Even if we were too busy before the actual wedding, he wanted to take them after the wedding when we're freer.  I'm going to be messaging him with more specific details of the style/sentiment/etc. of the photos.

So to anyone else Googling Triversity Wedding Photography, Allan and his team are fully committed to you and making your wedding photography experience everything that you want it to be.  They are the bomb dot com ;)

Check and check

(had this from May 7th... just never posted it...) Went to pick up Mei's dress, but it was still tight under her arms, so we'll pick it up when we get my dress.  Since it was slow and I really haven't had the time to work on the beading of my dress, I brought it down to be alerted (tighten the mermaid shape, shorten the length, add the bustle).

Mum also came along to see what the dress shop was all about. She talked with the lady at the shop about the styles she was interested in and the materials.  After much debate, and the lady's insistence that Mum pick something that wouldn't make people say "THAT's what the Mother of the Bride is wearing?" (apparently Mum's taste is too simple...), Mum has decided on a scoop necked dress with rosettes and short sleeves made out of a crinkled taffeta.  The lady is ordering samples of blues and greens of the materials from which the dress could be made.  She also suggested a rhinestone or something at the center of each rosette to make the dress, as Eddie might say, pop.

We'll head back to the dress place on May 21st to pick up my dress, Mei's dress, and talk more details and hopefully order Mum's dress.  We'll also probably have Becks along to get her dress altered and maybe Marianne's if she's free too.

I did forget to bring my cheong sam to have that taken in a smidge as well.  Maybe I'll just go to the alteration place across the street from the Highlang house.  A few times on the way to the Stater Bros, I've seen the little, old Korean lady working dilligently by the front windows of the shop with her sewing machine and reading glasses.

Headband ideas

To Do!!!

Eek. 

 

So I need to get back on the wedding bandwagon and get some things done!  There are only a few more weekends til the wedding!  And most of them are booked!!

 

I was thinking about all the little odds and ends that I have to do before the wedding and it turns out that there are A LOT of little odds and ends! 

 

I need to:

• organize and order the photobook which will serve as a guest book (hopefully before the 8th because I have a coupon for a photobook for 30% off, and I do enjoy using my coupons whenever I can)
• contact the DJ at some point (and have a list of songs that we will want for different things)
• contact the bakery to let them know which flavors and design we want FOR SURE on the cake
• contact the venue to see if they have the table card holders; if not, find somewhere that I can buy/rent them
• ask Uncle Mike to help me design numbers for each table
• plan and design the programs
• buy and make the programs
• contact the music people at church for ceremony music
• put together a PPT with the readings/songs/etc. for people to follow along at Mass
• contact people at church about access to the projector for the PPT during the wedding...
• pick up Mei's dress
• finish bridesmaids gifts
• find/make a bracelet
• finish the headband/hairpiece
• BEAD MY DRESS
• get my dress altered
• bedazzle my shoes (not really bedazzle, just needs a little something)
• invitations for church people invited to the ceremony but not the reception
• decide on favor bags and get them ordered; order ribbon too
• bake sugar cookies
• make pineapple tarts
• wrap favors
• buy candles for the hurricane lanterns and perhaps votives to put around hurricane lanterns (I wonder if we could line the hurricane lanterns with those irridescent glass stones...
• plan and buy supplies needed to make the 8 centerpieces (vase, orchid stems, etc?)
• finalize menu and caterer
• contact the videographer about the slideshow
• find a limo driver
• assign jobs for day of wedding stuff (who is picking up the flowers, who is bringing the flowers back to the reception venue, who is picking up the green curry, who is driving us to the hotel, etc. etc. etc.)

These are just a few of the things that I've brainstormed.  I'm sure I will revisit this list and update it, but for now, lunch is over and I have a class to teach.  :)

 

 

Bridal shower invites

Beck, Fredster, and Jillee working on my (bridal) shower invitations.  They're so pretty!  LoL, Jillee asked what bath products to bring: soap, shampoo, or conditioner.

Gotta remember to check my spreadsheet to get the additional addresses to Margie ee ee

Only five more weekends :)

I wonder if I should try to schedule the hair/make up trial for the morning of the shower, or if there will be too much going on.

Ayiee!

So I went to get my bangs trimmed...and now I think they're too short!  I should have left them alone!  I hope they grow back enough before the wedding!  Ugh.

Accessories

The final products
Still to finish/start:
Head band/hair clip
Bracelet

Lessons I've learned from now completing two purses...

1.  A little glue goes a long way
2.  There are strings of sequins already seen together that could cut down on hours of work
3.  Measure twice, cut once
And most recently:
4.  Don't iron on strengtheners until after lining has been sewn on

Peacock necklace

The makings of a semi-diy necklace...hopefully it turns out wearable

Garment District Beading Expedition

On Saturday, Auntie Amy, Joy ee ee, Mum, and I headed out to LA to find some beads and sequins to balance out the niniji flowers on my dress. :) We ended up at Berger's Beads and found many of the beads and sequins I needed to match the dress. After much squinting and measuring (yay for Joy ee ee's tape measure), we were able to find the large teardrop pearl beads, the (what ended up being) Swarorski flat backed sew on crystal beads, the clear seed beads, the clear and white sequins (though one was French cup and one was flat, and they were both supposed to be flat), and the silver cylinder beads. The most expensive were the Swarorski crystals, and it turns out that we might have needed to get more (Mum was looking at the configured patterns and there are A LOT more crystal beads than what we first thought)...but I think we'll work with what we've got first.