arras

the arras is one of the only wedding ceremony items i did not pick up in the philippines. first of all, i didn't want filipino coins, because, well, henry and i didn't grow up with them. even though we're filipino-american and chinese-american, really, we've spent more of our time here in the states. so i figured dollars would be more appropriate. i thought it would be cool to find $1 coins of our birth years to have as our arrae, but this would be difficult to find. so okay, we'll just go with 2007, it'll be much easier and meaningful as the year of our wedding. i was just gonna collect random $1 coins or even just quarters. but then i came across these babies. i think it'll be cool to have the brand new $1 presidential coins where the "in God we trust" is inscribed on the edge of the coin. i only need 13 of them, so i think i'll just go to my bank and request them, although i could purchase a whole roll here. and i have the perfect little dark red organza pouch in the shape of a heart already at home! it was something from my manager that she stuffed valentine's day goodies with. perfect!

my mother's wedding dress

as promised, here is my mom's wedding dress... and me, trying it on. it's quite wrinkled as she was storing it folded inside a plastic comforter bag. i can't believe it even fit me, as she said she was 89 lbs. when she got married.


here's the beautiful detail along the bottom of the skirt and the bottom of the arm sleeves. the pearl beading is wonderful...


so i'm toying with the idea of updating her dress and getting it made into a dress to change into for the reception or even for the day after brunch. i was already wanting a 2nd dress for the reception, especially because i want something that i can dance and move around in. i don't think i can wear it for the rehearsal because i'll be wearing something like this for the tea ceremony, which we'll do during the dinner. although, i guess, i could also change from one to the other on that night too.


and of course, here is my parents' wedding portrait:



they looked so very beautiful and happy. very 70's with the bell bottoms and the bell sleeves, no? i think the dress will bring good fortune and success to my marriage. it certainly comes from a couple who has survived many challenges through their relationship. maybe the strength will be passed on to me and henry. :)

registry

whoaaaaaaa, something on our registry was marked FULFILLED!!!! wow! :)

i won i won i won!

wowoweee, i won something!

a couple days ago, i entered this contest, and how could i not? it was as easy as commenting on my favorite website!

today, i got this email from mrs. bee, saying:
Hi aoedorothee!

Congratulations! You're the winner of the $50 Ideal Favors Gift Certificate in yesterday's contest. Please email us your address so we can send you out your cert. Thanks for playing!

i totally didn't think i had a shot, there were 360 entries! but hooray for the laws of random probability!

excited for...

you know what i can't wait for? to wear my veil! hehe! i finally finalized the order from www.occanseydesigns.com just last week. kathy, the owner, was so nice and responsive. we had gone back and forth on all kinds of different veils, lengths, types of combs, types of bunching on the comb, beading... shoot, i never knew there was so much to buying a veil! so here's the description:
A Diamond white, single layer veil 50" long, mantilla cut, standard fullness, very minimal gathering at the comb, cut edge scallops with pearl clusters (5 pearls around a rhinestone) at each point and then a repeating pattern of seed bead, silver bugle, seed bead - and then a space - and another repeat -around the edging, attached to a 4.5" metal comb
and of course, the best part was the freakin price, dun-dadaaa (trumpets blowing): a whopping $85! whoohooo! yes, this is a good thing considering that the best veils that i've seen range from $200-600! so i was incredibly happy to have come under budget on this item.

i've been thinking about my mom's wedding gown lately though. she's got such wonderful pearl beading on hers. i'd love to incorporate it somewhere. and just to that touch of "something old" would be nice. i'm so sappy and nostalgic that way. i'd love to have a part of her wedding gown to add to my wedding day. and then maybe my little girl will want to incorporate a part of my wedding gown to her wedding day. awww, *tear*

i'll share pictures of me trying to fit into my mother's gown later tonight. i was like a suman (sweet rice tightly wrapped in a banana leaf). she was only 89 lbs when she got married! i was shocked i even got it to zip up!

bridesmaids dress update

oookay... so that seamstress might have been a dead end again... she's the 2nd one. i'm not as exasperated as i was with the first seamstress. she was charging $120, which was more of a shock to me. this seamstress... well, she came back with $165. it made my heart do that "oh my lord!" for a second. and then i recovered quickly and just was sad. i was really hoping that these dresses would be less than $100. i mean, i did buy the shantung silk already. so i was expecting labor to be much more reasonable. i expressed my frustration to my aunts and they acted quickly. the one who found this lady promptly called her and they had a nice chat and she got her to drop it down to $145. i mean, if you attach the word "custom" and "wedding", it's like they have higher rates for it. she scouted out local tailors and got quotes from them and they came it at $220. of course, she was scouting santa monica, ca cuz she lives in culver city. not exactly the lowest of standards of living over there. so she already sort of cut us a break. it's just that i think it's still a lot for my bridesmaids to pay for. what do you think? is it reasonable? or should i keep looking?

the bridesmaids dresses

finally found a seamstress to make the bridesmaids' dresses. she's a really nice lady who made bridal gowns and bridesmaid dresses for 20 years. her husband had passed away 7 months ago and she was very eager to just talk and talk and talk to us. i think she's pretty lonely. so we're both super excited to have each other. it seems we're meant to be because she started having dreams to go back and start sewing. and just when that happened, my aunt called her to see if she was available for me. so she interpreted all that as God's way of telling her to get back to work and continue with her talents. i saw her the wedding gown that she made for her daughter 2 years ago and her embroidery and beadwork were pretty impressive. i'm looking forward to the wedding dresses.

here is the idea board for the dresses. i have yet to take pictures of the overlay, but i'm excited about the overall look of the dress. :)

crisis averted

omg, i was sooo freaked out! this post totally made me a nervous wreck. and it scared me into action. i was already trying to figure out in my head who will be available to handle certain tasks during the day of the wedding and really struggling with possibly relying on my younger cousins. and then when i read this post, granted, nothing truly major happened; the cake didn't splat on the flor or anythng, but shoot, if things didn't go as planned like i'm envisioning it, i'd just be really really disappointed. so i sprang into action and spoke to one of my bridesmaids. i had initially asked her to be my DOC (day of coordinator), but then realized that i really wanted her to be my bridesmaid. and truly, she can do both, except during some parts of the ceremony when she can't. and then, that conversation prompted me to ask one of my old friends to be my day of coordinator. oh thank freakin god she said yes! i'm so excited! she's just as meticulous. she's also currently working on becoming a wedding/event planner. and she's super organized and creative already anyway. i totally trust her with my big day.

and now, i'm calm again. whew!

bridezilla moment?

yea, i think i may have flipped out a lil too much over this cake thing. but i also think i have some valid points. lemme just share my immediate reaction. this was from an email on the monday after the tasting:

oh i gotta tell you about the bakery appt. i was quite dissatisfied. i was already surprised at the lack of choices Rockwell's Creative Cakes (total misnomer!) had. they only have very very basic cake flavors, fillings and icing. and then, when i asked to do a couple of things out of their small box of creativity, the lady just kept saying, "we don't do that" in a snotty attitudy voice! i was staring at her, asking to color the bavarian cream filling in a light blue (put a couple drops of food coloring in it, dammit!) and after she repeatedly said, "we don't do that", she was like, you don't understand, we're like a factory back there. we just don't do that. and i responded with, wtf, (minus the actual verbal wtf) even if i'll pay you? (that, i actually said). then, she said (kind of with a huff), well, let me check. and came back and said $50. they'd do it for $50. aughh... i left there annoyed and irritated. but, that cake is actually gonna be worth a grip, probably more than $1000 with 5 tiers and 100 tiny desserts of eclairs, brownies, and cheesecakes, so we're taking it. it comes with our package. but i'm sooo gonna let turnip rose how we wre treated. i was talking to metzi (older dazer, also a pastry chef) and she couldn't believe a bakery would talk to a bride and tell her tha she's just a part of a "factory" assembly line process. i wasn't even offended by that comment, but after metzi said that, i was like, ya, huh?

i have yet to provide them with the design for the outside. but after researching a bit, this is what i like:


now, we'll see if they can/will actually do this shape. if it's just round, i don't mind. but i do like the design of the piping for this one. i didn't care for the quality of any of their swirl work. i figure dots won't be as easy to screw up.