love, really really

pictures!

2008-01-11T13:36:00.000-08:00

after a long wait (not really, we were just antsy), we finally got our pictures this past week! it's all hard copy photos as my photographer shot purely in film. we also got a gigantor box of all of our negatives as well as the dvd of all of the pictures. there are 3 large albums with pictures that she selected and put together as well as one shoebox of all of the other pictures. dang, there were so many that we only got through about 2 inches of the shoebox pictures before we decided to take a break from them.

the most beautiful pictures were the most emotional moment of the day for me. and it actually wasn't even about henry and i. when i came down the steps of the bedroom suite in the hotel, my dad waited at the bottom and i remember that all i kept asking was is he ready? he better be dressed already. as i came down the steps, he held out his hand and told me, "aww, you're beautiful chay!" and that's when i just lost it... started tearing, had to dab dab dab. and he gave me a great hug. i wish that the videographer had been there, but i'm sooo glad that the photographer captured that wonderful moment. i think i'm going to take 4 of those shots and put it together in a large frame for father's day... i actually thank one of the weddingbees for that idea.

i brought the pictures to work today and it was so much more fun looking at them with other people! when i first looked at them, i was so critical and just dwelled on what items were missed or confirmed that there were mistakes here and there with setup and it just put the pictures in a pessimistic light. looking at them today with fresh eyes and through people who are enjoying them are really helping me appreciate the pictures and also all of the wonderful things from that day. all i've heard from people are how much fun they had and how much they truly enjoyed it all, so i really have to focus more on that and look back on the day with the joy that it was truly full of. :)

the last night

2007-10-26T07:35:00.000-07:00

i was showering and my mom popped her head into the bathroom asking me what my plans are for the day. told her we were going to flower mart, then drop things off at turnip rose and finish packing up the gifts for the wedding entourage. then she goes, "it's your last night here. i'm sad." and she made a frowny face. "awwwwwww! ma!!!" i said. she started crying, so of course, i started crying! "awwwwwww," and i told her, "it's not my last night here! it's okay!" awwwww, sad!!!! "that's why i was waiting for you to come home last night, but you got home so late" [from music practice]. awwww!

mannnnn, this is why i didn't want to get ready at the house. it'd be filled with all the crying and stuff. we'll just save that for sunday night, before we leave for the airport. but at the same time, these are the moments that tell me that this wedding is mine, not just for a client. tomorrow, i'll be mrs. pang. and tomorrow, we'll be partying like it's 1999! whoohoo!

weather is clear!

2007-10-19T13:21:00.000-07:00

oh heck yea! it's gonna be a beautiful day!

"delightful" it says! what a wonderful thing for a bride to read 8 days from her wedding. and the sun will set at 6:04pm, just perfectly in time for our surprise! i do hope everyone gets to cocktail hour on time.

i'm getting so excited now! 2 weeks ago, i was really pretty stressed, but now, as tasks get completed (picked up the bridal gown, it fits perfectly now!), i'm getting more and more excited! and it totally helps when i hear how people are excited for us too. i received an email from a client of mine who just expressed such sincere excitement for my wedding. and she can't wait for me to work on hers too! and then last friday, my dept at work threw me a surprise bridal shower! it was so super sweet of them and their thoughtfulness was so unexpected and appreciated! they got us the coolest gifts and i was totally floored at how many things they were able to purchase for the group gift! i felt so blessed and loved!

and yesterday, we finally booked our hotels in italy and we're so excited to stay 2 nights at these small seaside towns of cinque terre. we'll also be going to rome for 3 nights for our big splurge! thank goodness for points eh?

how can i not be excited?!

form versus function

2007-10-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

i'm all about the cutesy little tokens during weddings. and believe me, i do take them home, so all of the time and effort spent folding, gluing, ribboning is totally not wasted on me as a guest. but as much as i love the cutesiness of things, i really also appreciate the function. and while some items are purely for novelty, i love it when brides find a cute new way to present things that have a specific function.

at first i thought my programs would follow the same intricate, time-consuming japanese binding/sewing that my invitation booklet had. and i definitely wanted the nice "tears of joy" tissues, cuz god knows, i cry at all of the weddings i've been to. but i also knew, first and foremost, that my programs were going to be functional. my primary purpose for them was not just to have something cute, but i wanted it to serve as a very detailed guide to encourage community involvement and response and even singing. being that half of my guests are chinese and non-catholic... heck, more than half of my wedding party are chinese and non-catholic, i felt that this was important and necessary. our family and friends are important to us and we definitely wanted not just witnesses to our ceremony who watched by the sidelines as we said our vows, but actual community involvement with responses to those vows. so i do hope that people use the programs to follow along and respond appropriately. it's not something that you skim really quickly because it's just an outline and then it just sits on the pew to be forgotten. and i hope it provides some comfort or direction for those who don't know when to sit, stand or kneel.

because the content of my programs are quite detailed and quite abundant, i wanted to make them extra large, so i chose legal sized paper folded in half. henry even liked the idea of making them exactly square, but then, we'd lose an inch, plus it would require more cutting. i really liked the fact that i didn't have to cut any further and we could use the standard legal size and i was really against losing another inch of space. so, function definitely trumped form on that idea.

like i said, i thought i was going to do the japanese binding/sewing thing... but we actually ran out of ribbon and i wasn't about to lose more time and money on this project, so we're stapling it. yes, oh yes, i know you can't believe it, but yes, we're stapling it. but not to fret, i didn't get the ugly standard aluminum staples. for the cute, yet still functional factor, my staples are red! so that was a compromise. and honestly, i love the clean look of the whole program. it's a neat booklet, no fru fru ribbon or bow. and it lays nice and flat.

as for the tissue pockets, i've decided to keep them separate from the program piece. i had planned on the martha stewart little pockets glued to one of the inner covers. but it was so bulky and interruptive and i just wasn't satisfied with any idea of it attached inside the program. thinking about it was honestly stressing me out, so we're keeping it simple (stupid) and just keeping them separate from the program. if people wish to take one, they're free to do so.

sometimes, being in the wedding business totally makes you nuts with all of the ideas for projects and DIY (Do-It-Yourself) items. what have you chosen to do or not do? or what areas of your wedding did you choose the more functional route rather than the cutesy form?

and we have have nightmare #2

2007-10-08T12:40:00.000-07:00

this time, the setting was at a huge mansion. and of course, there's hustle and bustle everywhere. i don't remember much else about it, but i do vividly recall the same stressed out feeling as in nightmare #1. this time, what i forgot were my shoes.

henry's had a nightmare this past weekend too. jeez.

so, note to self:
~ don't forget your veil and shoes. for that matter, don't forget your dress(es). and jewelry.
~ make sure the choir director knows the line up of the songs and who's gonna sing what.
~ have explicit, written directions and guidelines with diagrams if possible, so that the coordinators know what to do.
~ trust everyone to do their jobs and relax!

nightmare

2007-10-03T09:53:00.000-07:00

oh i had the worst dream last night! everything i love about my wedding totally went wrong! i was late to the church and i forgot my veil! the songs were sung, but not during the parts that jei and i had discussed. and then henry left to start partying without me while i had to stay at the church and clean up with my mom! that's when i got really mad and told my mom to call him and get his butt back over at the church. strangely enough, he came back with anna, chris & iya and some of their friends! it's strange because first of all, they're more my friends than his and 2nd, in reality, they're not able to make it to our wedding. soooo weird! and then my photographer came and i started to vent to her, except after she left, i realized that she's not even our photographer! she just looks like our photographer. and then my chest tightened up at the thought of how much we're paying our photographer only to have her source out the job to some look-alike!!! and that's when i woke up, thinking thank god it was only a dream! but aughh, it seemed so real! i swear i was trying to hold in my anger and frustration as all of those moments occurred in the dream. but in the end, i felt like my chest imploded. yea, not exploded, but caved in and collapsed inside!

*breathe, dorothy, breathe*

may i have the rings...

2007-10-01T20:39:00.000-07:00

hehe, wow, 2 posts in a row! well, i finally uploaded my camera, so i do have more items for you to feast your eyes upon!

last weekend, our rings were ready! i really wanted our wedding bands to match, rather than have my band match my engagement ring. it took us a few weeks to decide on a design that we liked, but multiple mall stores and many websites later, we finally found something from novell. henry and i weren't really too fond of the basic plain designs. my e-ring is more antique-looking and although we didn't need the bands to match that, we wanted to remain within the same sort of style. so here, i present to you our wedding bands:

we purchased them at black starr frost

and here's their nice store in South Coast Plaza:

being that it's south coast plaza (in the ritzy wing, i might add), i expected the people to be a lil snooty, but they really weren't actually. the lady who helped us (forgot her name) was knowledgeable and helpful. and the staff were all friendly without being fake.

so here's my ring in detail:

and his ring in detail:

we both love the fact that his ring looks like my ring enclosed within the outer bands. it's like my ring is being *hugged*!

here's my e-ring together with the band:

see, it doesn't really match, but it kinda goes together in a coordinated sort of way.

i won't be wearing it together though. i'll wear the band on my left and the e-ring on my right. i wore it this way all day long on saturday. we were both really excited and didn't want to take them off. henry kept saying how weird it felt and how he has to get used to it. but he didn't say it in a complaining tone at all, more like a super-excited-little-kid-got-a-new-toy tone! by the end of the day, we figured we better take them off, so we can save the moment for when it's time. and when i took off the band and put my e-ring back on my left, my right finger felt so empty!

and one last picture of the very happy couple:

it's moving too fast

2007-10-01T14:50:00.000-07:00

we're less than a month away from the wedding. gosh, where has the time gone? wasn't it only a lil while ago when i just got this little rock on my finger? i knew the engagement would fly by, but i didn't think it would happen this fast. being a wedding planner, a lot of my own wedding plans have been more like the other wedding work that i've done. so when my best friend asked me this weekend, "are you enjoying your engagement?" i had to kinda think about it first. i mean, i love the details and working on it and putting my vision together. but most of it has seemed like scrambling and hurrying to get things checked off the list, panicked because we're late according to the timeline that all the wedding magazines and websites have set. it's been difficult to stop and smell the roses sometimes.

then there'll be those few moments, like when i first received my veil and got to play with it after the hair and makeup trials... or when we picked up our gorgeous rings and didn't want to take them off so we wore them for the whole day... these were the times when it actually felt like it's our wedding. and those times when he's holding me close to just calm my stresses away and then i remember, this is why we're doing this. to have this peace all the time for always. and i let out a deep breath and finally relish our engagement.

mama's wedding dress updated

2007-09-30T22:13:00.001-07:00

so you want to see a preview? (henry, look away now.)
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before:

during:

after:

the new neckline:
do you like the new shape? it's totally different! and i quite love the new neckline! but she definitely has to adjust the seams where the skirt flares out. i can't quite figure out what's wrong with it, but it looks a little odd. do you think it needs to flare out more? how would i accomplish that? crinoline underneath? or do you think it needs to bunch up less or more?

i'm the bride!!!

2007-09-12T09:56:00.000-07:00

i've been planning this wedding for many months now and yes, at times, it feels like one of my wedding planning/coordinating jobs. yesterday, i felt for the first time, wow, it's MY wedding!!! I'M the bride!!!

Last night, I had my first hair and makeup trial with Lisa and Ona. It was truly a long night. I got there at 7 and didn't leave til past 11pm. I got airbrushed, curled, painted on, pinned up, generally purrtied up. Of course, I examined, and gave my feedback, and we changed some things, tried new looks. But the most spectacular thing happened when I put on the veil.

Oh My God. I'm the Bride! Meee! We took a few pictures and since it was late, we started packing up. But I didn't want to remove the veil! I drove home with it on and yes, at 11pm, I woke up my mom and asked her, "you wanna see?" with this excited glimmer in my eye. Hehehe, she was excited too, so she got up and grabbed her camera and I twirled around my living room, tossing the veil up, so she could capture that "veil flying" shot that I love.

my mom was a little slow with the shutter speed with this shot.

then she finally got the timing right!
And then she went back to sleep. I, on the other hand, knew that I had to sleep, but somehow, I was trying to figure out how I could do that and still wear my veil. hehe, i knew i really couldn't. so, very reluctantly, i took it off, and carefully hung it up. i did, however, keep the makeup and hair on. i actually wanted to see how long the makeup would last. so this morning when i work up and inspected it, i was glad to see that it actually lasted the 8+ hours since it was fresh. of course, it had faded some and the lashes were starting to come loose. and i'm sure there's makeup on my pillow, but overall, it was pretty good. my lipstick totally lasted, but didn't feel dry. and my eyes still had that nice shimmer. so i'm totally happy with it. but i knew i would be. i was very persistent in booking lisa even though her schedule is crazy. out of all my bridesmaidships, her makeup was simply the best. she laid on the lashes best, her foundation was nice and light. i didn't look like a drag queen. (i almost cried one time when i came home and my brother goes, "you look like a chola". nothing against cholas out there. i just didn't want to look like that on that day.)

here's an eyelash shot:

and a full frontal face:

i love that i have visible eyelashes now!

and a plain jane shot just for comparison (sorry for the lack of rotation, no time):

when did you first get that sudden realization that you were actually the one getting married? was it when you put on your dress? or your veil? or your make up?

i think i'm turning chi-inese, i think i'm turning chi-inese, i really think so!

2007-09-03T00:17:00.000-07:00

hehehe, for those who grew up in the 80s, i know the song's supposed to be japanese... but hey, this version works for me.

on sunday, henry and i went out with our moms to chinatown. we were looking for a cheung sam (chinese long dress) for me to wear during the tea ceremony. our shopping list also included a tea set to use for the ceremony. it was a great success as i found my dress, and even better was the price of $20!!! my co-worker had been looking some up for me and all of the prices we were seeing online were at least $75, so this was such a steal! and even better that i was able to find one close enough to my shade of blue, with some red details on it. and it even fits perfectly! sweeet! my mom also got a black dress with red details. the designs on hers are of bamboo and cherry blossoms. and she got some outfits for some relatives including a matching mother/daughter set! it's sooo cute!

the tea set was equally of great value! we needed lots of cups, so we bought 12 little sake sized cups for $0.69 each and a teapot for $9.99. it's clay brown and carved with a dragon on one side and a phoenix on the other side. it's perfect! from the traditional chinese weddings that i've been reading about, the dragon symbolizes the man and the phoenix symbolizes the woman.

and here we are when we had dimsum for lunch. tony, henry's brother also joined us. it was a great day and a great bonding time for all of us, especially the moms!

i feel so blessed to have a FMIL (future-mother-in-law) like mrs. p. i've heard sooo many brides and wives complain of their MIL and i'm so glad that she's so very easy going and loving to me. how is your relationship with your FMIL/MIL? did you guys plan any bonding activities with the moms before you got married?

fathers and daughters

2007-08-28T09:52:00.001-07:00

henry and i came home from a most wonderful engaged encounter retreat weekend and we were just on such a high, feeling such incredible love and closeness for each other and looking forward to our future together. but in the midst of all the togetherness and new life, there's also something else going on...

my mom told me that my dad wants to bbq for my bday on saturday. nice to hear, especially cuz i kinda forgot my bday is this week just because we've been so involved with the wedding planning. my mom mentioned to me that it's cuz it'll be my last bday before i get married. i just got all awwwwwww. it completely surprises me when men express their sentimentality. you see, i really didn't want to focus on the "leaving home" part of the wedding. in fact, i'm taking deliberate strides not to do the whole getting ready at home because i don't want it to feel like i'm leaving home. i don't want to focus on that fact at all because i don't want to be sad about it (aka, bawling the night before because i'm an emotional wreck!). i don't want to remember the day of my wedding to be the day i leave home... as if i'll never come back, gone forever and ever in married never-neverland. but i understand that it is one of life's milestones and it has an effect on everyone in my family. i just want the day to be a happy one, starting a new life with my husband, not of leaving an old life behind.

for those who have lived at home for a while... and even for those who don't, how have your parents dealt with you "leaving the nest?" and will you get ready at home? for sentimental or practical reasons?

on the home stretch!

2007-08-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

6 weeks, 180 invitations, and 2 post offices later... we are finally on the home stretch!!! this morning, my mother and i went to the lovely la mirada post office and that visit was a flop. when i handed the lady one of my boxed invitations, she weighed it again and told me the postage would be about $3! ummm, no. i already checked how much postage would be at the pasadena post office last week and was quoted $1.64, exactly 4 $0.41-cent stamps. and then she proceeds to tell me, it's because it wouldn't fit in the official slot on a card that she produced from underneath the counter. "see, it has to fit here," she says, as she pretends to shove my 1-inch high box inside the quarter-inch wide slot. and i just smiled sweetly and told her, it's okay, i'll just take it to another post office. somehow, i half expected the failure anyway.

so off i went to the pasadena post office near my work. i love that post office because it's in an old building and the fixtures look like the old post offices with wrought iron gates and that old architecture. and i love them even more because they're always very courteous and nice there. very un-postal service-like. so i got up to the window with my big box of 60-some little boxes, and i asked the lady to double check my postage. i held my breath as she says, "$1.64". whew! and i asked about the hand-cancelling of the postage and she said that they don't do that there. but they'll have to be hand cancelled anyway because they're boxes. they won't fit through the machine. score!!! i had her double check the boxes that were going to canada and the philippines. the one for canada actually cost less than the ones staying in the u.s., but the ones for the philippines were short from what the 1st post office told us. so i just added a few more stamps to the invites for the philippines and handed them to the lady. and off i went to work, with a much lighter load, both physically and emotionally.

i gotta say, it certainly could have been worse eh? any horrid post office experiences out there?

parental involvement

2007-08-10T11:29:00.000-07:00

it's so cute how my parents have been excited about my wedding details. my dad came with us to the tasting last weekend and at that time, i asked him to make the wooden frames that the drapery and hanging orchids will hang from as well as the trellis for our favors to hang from. he's very handy, having built many extensions of our house, as well as an elaborate tree house for my brothers, a gazebo for a spa and a fountain for the corner of our backyard. so of course, his role would involve building something for our wedding. we're having these little chimes made of bamboo that we purchased from the philippines as our wedding favors. and they will double as our escort cards with a hanging tag, so we need to devise a way for guests to be able to find their chime in an organized manner. my dad's engineering mind started cooking lately at how he will create this display and he just called me to tell me how much the large bamboo was (toooo costly!) and how he can make something similar and nice with regular 2x4 frames, and just adding the smaller pieces of bamboo. i can't wait to see how it turns out. but most of all, i love that my dad is involved and excited about my wedding! we didn't have a very good relationship in the past, but it's slowly but surely improved over the years, so i'm really glad that he's more incorporated in the planning now.

how are you parents involved in your wedding plans?

ah progress

2007-08-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

making the invitations has been a long arduous process for me. i know it's partially my fault because i totally burned myself out too much in the beginning and then i just didn't want to look at the darn things for at least 3 weeks. of course, that put us totally behind schedule and now, we're scrambling. we wanted to get these babies out before this weekend so that we can hand deliver them to our friends and families during the showers. i must say, they did turn out really nice. i'm very happy with the new paper, and the redesign of the pages. what i loved most, was that i was able to print everything myself and it all looks just beautiful. my parents thought they were very professional looking and my dad looked shocked that i printed it all on my color laser printer.

so without further adieu, i'd like to present, my invitation booklet:

i'll be showing the whole package soon as well as how my fiance and i did the japanese binding.

little angels

2007-08-01T21:55:00.000-07:00

i'm lucky to have relatives able to sew things for me. uncle dags' mommy is sewing the sashes for our little angels and look how great they turned out!

here's drexel, our little rosary angel:

okay, pa-cute, pa-cute (translation: make a cute face):

and here she is with her wings:

and here we are trying on their wings:

hehe! we'll have 2 flower angels who will distribute little bunches of mini roses to the guests as they walk down the aisle. a bible angel, who will carry the bible, a rosary angel, who will carry the rosary, and our ring and coin angel, carrying the all important rings and coins. total of 5 adorable little girls!

the best part to their outfits: $14.99 each at downtown LA. $7.99 each for the wings that include little fuzzy halos too (but they won't wear the halos for the wedding). and the sashes are being made from the material that i've purchased from the philippines. same material that the bridesmaids' dresses are made of, so it'll match perfectly!

what are you kids wearing at your wedding?

arras

2007-07-27T16:16:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-26T20:42:00.001-07:00

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

2007-07-25T13:59:00.000-07:00

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

i won i won i won!

2007-07-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

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...

2007-07-23T16:44:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-20T15:55:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-16T22:47:00.001-07:00

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

2007-07-06T13:57:00.000-07:00

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?

2007-07-05T13:13:00.000-07:00

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.

torn

2007-06-29T16:23:00.000-07:00

i really have this silly lil thought in my head that as the bride, i should have all things white. white dress (of course, well, ivory, but it's still in the white spectrum). white veil, white shoes, white flowers, white, white, white. but esp with the flowers and the shoes, i'm really looking toward the idea of having them of another color. i'm toying with the idea of blue shoes, but this isn't a huge deal to me. the flowers on the other hand, i'm suddenly quite obsessed with. at first, i thought it would just be too much white, but then i saw this and it looks wonderful! so now, i'm torn between this white on white look (mrs. pootiekins) because i'm a bride and ought to wear white:

now, of course, exploring all of the internet has given me vast more options. i REALLY love this idea of a bouquet wrap. it looks sooo romantic and soft, like the flowers have a dress on too (courtesy of mrs. apple)

and the bouquet wrap really looks best with the dark red flowers. i could totally see it with a dark red flower in my hair. but do you think i should reserve that for the bridesmaids? and have mine all white cuz i'm the bride? or should i just get over the all white bride thing?

and of course for the bit (lot) of bling (from the knot):

so whadya think? go with the red? or go with the white? i suppose the white would be fine with the bouquet wrap too... help me...

invite progress

2007-06-26T22:41:00.000-07:00

this is what i've been consumed with for the past 3 weeks. last week was pretty much a bust because i burnt myself out so much. so this week, i decided to focus on something else and let my husband-to-be take a stab at it.

this was my very first try. note the all-too-shiny side of the silk and the waayy too wide sinamay.

this was my 2nd try. thought i'd make the sinamay vertical. still too wide though, but at least you can see/feel more of the fabric.

the lovely back side. the main invite piece will end up here. i ordered it from the philippines and my cousin's bringing it back here next week. yayyy for no shipping charges!

the progress as of last week. each yellow post-it note represents 10. the stack is being flattened by the albums on top. the albums contain our engagement photos, by the way!

this week, henry tried his hand at it and he was great and just as meticulous about it as i was! you can't even tell which ones he did from mine!

my darling htb (husband-to-be) hard at work:

oh holy ......

2007-06-25T16:22:00.000-07:00

i saw some countdown thing somewhere and we're only at 124 days left! that seems sooo low for all the things i still need to do.

oh but it was a very productive weekend. we've narrowed down our rings, and i really love what we've chosen! we're still shopping around for the best deal so it's not quite purchased yet, but we've decided on one, so yay!

bought all 5 flower girl dresses, plus an extra one for his little cousin so she doesn't feel left out. i have to change the sash and use the shantung silk i purchased in the philippines to make a new one so that it will coordinate with the bridesmaids. hehe, and they're gonna wear red shoes too! soo cute! i'll show you pics in a bit.

ohhhh, i went to my first fitting after the alterations! it fits my midsection like a glove now. the chest however, was still giant, even after i was wearing the size A nubra. i thought the size b was too pointy and large for me, but i'll be wearing those. she'll also put in another hook onto the back just to close up the chest area more. AND, she still has to sew in extra cups into the dress. geez! my aunt and mom who were with me said, well, if you got married after you have kids, you'll have boobs like these. greattttttt, thanks guys.

the veil again

2007-06-25T10:38:00.000-07:00

here's the response for the quote i requested:

Hello-

Thank you for your interest in a Custom Bridal Veil. For that particular style (1SH354) - it can only be worn ontop of the head if it has a heavier, weighted edge -- such as the rhinestone band, or a lace. With a light edging, since there are no gathers at the comb - it tends to form little "peaks" right on each side of the comb when worn on top of the head.
So - to make this work - you can either wear the veil a bit lower - like this one:
mantilla style worn lower on head

OR - have a few gathers at the top on a metal comb. The little bit of gathering would allow you to wear it high on the head - similiar to this veil:
gathered style worn on top of head, front
gathered style worn on top of head, back

I hope this makes sense -- let me know which you'd prefer and we'll get you a quote!

what do you think i should do? my object for the high placement is really to get the veil to frame my face. but the one that's placed a little lower does that as well. i just didn't want any poufy thing that gathered veils tend to do. although the one she shows here isn't really too poufy, so it might work just as well... errr, what should i do?

the veil

2007-06-22T14:20:00.001-07:00

ode to anna's blogging style:

veil
–noun 1. a piece of opaque or transparent material worn over the face for concealment, for protection from the elements, or to enhance the appearance.
2. a piece of material worn so as to fall over the head and shoulders on each side of the face, forming a part of the headdress of a nun.

oh my god, i finally found a freakin picture of a girl with her hair up and her veil on top of her head! and it's gorgeous! (click on it to make bigger)

i've been totally stressing out over this veil issue, cuz i want a flower in my hair along with a veil. but i want the veil to be actually a veil, not some piece of tulle that's stuck to the back of your neck like some sort of tail. for me, i think it defeats the purpose of a veil if it's not actually covering your head. but when i would try on a veil that i liked, it only seemed to look good with my hair down or half down. i really like the look of the edge of the veil caressing my face. i just stumbled upon it on one of my first times trying on a veil and i love the soft, romantic, traditional look. but it was sooo hard to find a picture of anyone with this kind of hair up/veil on top of head style and i was starting to think that it just wouldn't look good. now, thanx to honeylicious, i have a tangible picture of what it'll look like! oh look at how gorgeous it is!!!!

mine will actually lay more flat on top of my head. more mantilla-cut with no gathers at the comb. many have had rave reviews about www.occanseydesigns.com and i sent them an email today requesting a quote for a fingertip veil with light beading around the edge to go with my gown. they seem to have great prices, so let's cross our fingers and pray for a good one for mine!

2007-06-20T16:33:00.000-07:00

note: i'm a teeny tiny big hooked on www.weddingbee.com. it's like the knot discussion boards where people blog about weddings and their ideas and post questions that they're having. except, everyone's really nice on it and aren't bitchy or judgmental. i was on the knot discussion boards the other day and although i've been at this a while, i'm not too familiar with the wedding boards. it took me forever to decipher the acronyms (PIB is not peanut in butter. it's Posted in Bio). but as i kept surfing and reading the questions and answers, it made me really afraid to comment on them! check it out, one poor girl asked:
Honestly, seriously...I used to bash on people about tulle and wedding questions but i'm at the point with trying to figure out my own decorations that I'm resorting these boards. I can't tape or afix anything to the walls of the reception site and think i'm gonna do table decorations and flower stands and possibly two arches for height in the room....but i have no clue how to decorate an arch...do i use the forbidden tulle?? any ideas...i'm so serious...i'm about to elope! TIA

btw, i dunno what TIA means.

some responses she received:
~ *sniff*sniff*

That cheese looks good, but it seems to be attached to some kind of wooden base with a metal frame and spring structure on top of it. Perhaps I should stay away.

~ mmmmm.....cheese.

Arches are gross. You should use paper bells. Lots and lots of paper bells. You could hire people to hold them. I heard Ethopia is a good place to find cheap labor.

~ balloons, lots and lots of balloons.

sad, no? man, i felt so bad for that girl.

the to-do list

2007-06-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

now, i have a much more extensive overall wedding-planner type of list. but i was going a little nuts yesterday trying to keep track of all the little things that i need to do more immediately, so i made myself a list:

the to-do pile:
~ order nubra
~ blog, ~~wedding blog~~ yesssss, one less thing.
~ create invitations (as of yesterday, i have 81 out of 100 completed with the 1st step! i'm on my way...), take pix of wedding stuff. ~~pick out perfume for invitations.~~ yessss, another thing done.
~ prototype of favors.
~ research hair, makeup, veil, flower for hair, my wedding shoes, wedding jewelry.
~ finish bridesmaid gifts, determine flower girl gifts
~ order flower girl dresses
~ try on alfred angelo bridesmaid dress, just in case that lady doesn't work out.
~ buy cheung sam/qui pao for rehearsal dinner, tea set for tea ceremony.
~ find out about the dance lessons. check city of la mirada for classes.
~ formalize ideas and needs/wants with videographer, photographer, florist, dj
~ pick out e-pics for the poster
~ pick out epics to burn on cd for cousin to get album made in the philippines.
~ ask u. bobby jay to help us with photo montage.

i did get a few things done today. too bad they weren't on my list though!

the done pile:
~ scheduled meeting with the church coordinator to do the FOCUS questionnaire. you know catholic weddings, they have a grip of requirements. but, i'm excited about this one. you get to know the strengths and weaknesses of your relationship. and after all this wedding stuff, we've definitely grown, i must say. so i can't wait to see what else it reveals. i just wish we were able to schedule this much sooner. our mtg's not til the 2nd week of july.

~ decided not to have the main invitation panel dhl/fed ex/ups'd to us from the philippines. they got it done much earlier than promised which i was so glad about. but now, it'll have to sit there in pinas and wait for mamsie (other grandma) to take it back here in mid-july. it was gonna cost, at the very least, the same price it cost to get them printed, doubling the overall cost of that panel! when the whole point of getting it printed there was to save money, that shipping wasn't really gonna work.

dang it, is that all i got done today? oh i worked on our wedding website the other day... that took practically alll day.

oh oh oh! i do wanna say that i love my dress!!! i tried it on immediately after i got it and of course, as expected, the chest was like 5 inches away from my body. i ordered it according to the size chart, and according to the size chart, i was a freakin size 8. so of course, it's gonna be that giant. but it was the smallest size that fit my hip measurements, so it kinda makes sense. but i took it to the seamstress that did mina's wedding on the sat before i went to the philippines. her place is called amy's tailoring but there's no amy there. her name is tina. she took over the spot from someone who wasn't the real amy either. hehe. anyway, she pinned it all on the sides and it was a nice snug fit. i was actually pretty nervous about that cuz caroline was saying that her seamstress took the sides in but the front chest was still the same (too big) and she had to alter it herself. but tina took it in and it felt pretty snug. with the nubra and another bra sewn in, i think it'll be just fine. i gave her a break and said she can get it to me later, so she said the 20th of june will be fine for her. and that's next wed! whoohooo! so i'll have my 1st (or is this my 2nd?) fitting with her at that time. i can't wait!

next time i blog, i'll tell you all the nifty stuff we got for sooo cheap at the philippines. :) shopping was awesome there! except for all the mosquito bites i got from divisoria. poo.

it's here! it's here! it's here!!!!

2007-05-15T11:49:00.000-07:00

oh my god, my brother just called and he said he just signed for a package from ups. and he told me it was from Allure Bridal Couture!!! i got my dress! i got my dress! i got my dress!!!! oh my goodness, it was only 2-3 weeks ago that i placed the order! i can't believe it's here so fast! oh geez, there better not be anything wrong with it, like reused or something. but then, that store has a very strict return policy so that's highly unlikely. oh my gosh, i hope it's perfect! and i hope it fits!!!

dress update and engagement pictures

2007-05-14T12:57:00.000-07:00

i had been trying to find that dress for less but for the longest time, i didn't even know the maker. i was seriously about to just order it from The Dresser, but one day, i was browsing through another bridal magazine and found a picture of my dress! and clear as day, it stated the designer/manufacturer. so i finally had something to search with! as soon as i got home, i got straight on the internet and found the $1500 dress for 1170! a week later, i called Pearl's Place, a store in new orleans and oh my god, they have it for 817. i was so in shock that when the guy told me the price quote, i responded with "dollars?!" and then i thought, aughh, they probably make their money in shipping, so i asked how much for shipping, and he just goes "12". and in my head, i thought, "thousand? no, that's absurd. hundred?... no. that doesn't make sense." so i asked again, "dollars?!" and the guy says yes in a very stern manner. so i was like, "to california?!" and he goes, "Yes". he was totally getting annoyed by me, but i was getting so excited. and i trust that place because caroline got hers from there too. so i know they deliver. and deliver fast even. she got her dress in 2-3 months after her order. so i placed the order 2 weeks ago. and they said i'd get it in 3 months, hopefully beginning of august, whooohooo!

we got our engagement pictures!!! oh my goodness, i was so bummed out last friday cuz ups didn't come to our house. but then it turned out that they delivered to the wrong house! our neighbor from down the street brought over 2 packages on saturday that i was expecting on friday. henry and i were working a wedding on sat, so when my mom called me in the early evening to tell me about the packages, i was sooo excited and couldn't wait to go home! oh they look soooo good! i'm very happy about them. i was so happy that i requested for sillouettes, cuz i really liked those pictures too. my parents had a sillouette picture when they got married, so this is a nice tribute to them too. we're (he's) quickly putting together our real website, so i'll have those pics posted on there soon. hopefully by the end of this week! just in time for the save the dates... and yes, they're still going out, hopefully the end of the week. i really feel like they're so late because some people are making plans for end of the year already. and i wouldn't want them to plan on our wedding date. so that's why i put this together: www.theknot.com/ourwedding/DorothyCruz&HenryPang. just a bit of info so you can save the date!

falling into place

2007-04-17T11:07:00.000-07:00

ah things are finally starting to fall into place. i was going positively nuts trying to find a dress. well, it was partially my fault too because i got my mind super stuck on this one kind of dress that i tried on. i really really liked how it fit me, but gosh it was by a super high end designer (www.inesdisanto.com) and it would've cost $4600!!!! are they insane?! oh and the lady helping us said that if they'd give us 30% discount if i bought the sample at the store, that was, mind you, 3 sizes larger than what i'd need. so that would have brought the cost down to an oh so low.... $3200... are they insane?! anyway, so i went on a quest to try to find something similar or find a dressmaker to copy it. and yes, i found both actually. there was something very similar at david's bridal for 10% of the cost of the original dress. no, not 10% off of the cost, i mean it cost $450, 10% of the original cost. haha, it'd would've been great. except that i'd need to "fix" that dress too and even after the fixes, i wasn't sure at all that it would look good. so i was really hesitant to go that route. even after my mom offered to pay for the whole thing. she's so sweet, she said she's always wanted to buy me my dress. and since i didn't have a debut or anything, she wanted to pay for this one. it was so touching!

and then i found a lady who said she'd be able to copy that dress. she's really skilled, i saw her work and i truly believe that she could do it. but she'd still be charging me $1500. granted, that includes every alteration and the dress would be totally custom-made to my size. but even still, what if it doesn't turn out? i was still apprehensive. so i just had to change my mind set and start from scratch. i went this past sunday with my aunts, grandma, and mama to the dresser in fullerton. they brought out the dresses i had tried on and liked the last time i was there. my aunts were gagging at the pickups that i liked so much. they asked the ladies who worked there, "really? really? are you sure this is the dress she liked?" and when i arrived, they go, "chay, really? it's ugly." now i know where my opinionated nature comes from. it was so different from dress shopping with other friends who just say, "oh yea, that's nice, that could totally work." but hey, that's what family is for right? to tell you when it really looks like crap. haha! so i started gathering some dresses, still rather on the big side (like big skirts) i still wanted something that was form-fitting, but i just kept myself open to other kinds. the first dress i actually tried on was sooo it. everyone just gasped cuz it was so beautiful. and i really liked it too. i noticed that i like the dress when i didn't want to take it off. and when i don't like a dress, i don't stay in it for very long at all. there was one dress that was barely on my body and the lady hadn't even zipped it up yet, when i told her to just take it off already. and after 7-8 dresses, i went back and tried on the first dress again and the lady helper put a veil on me with the same sparkly designs as the dress... it was just so lovely. really different from the first ines di santo dress that i thought i wanted. that dress was very modern and trendy actually. and another friend said, yea, well, it might be like the poufy sleeves of the 80s. cool then, but might not be so cool in 20-30 years. this dress that i'm falling in love with, it's definitely a much more classic style. and the beading is just beautiful on it. oh and the cost.. same as what it'd be to get that other dress made. so for the same price, i think this dress is definitely a much better buy. yayyy, so i'm totally excited! i got my dress, i got my dress, i got my dress!!!! and the best part, i'm totally happy with that decision! whooohooo!

and in other wedding news... we finally decided on the florist. it's our favorite florist lady after all the looooong meetings with other florists that we went to. we decided to scope out other ones just to see how their prices would be, hoping that they'd be lower. but after visiting ada and seeing her designs again, the others just don't compare. again, for the same amount of money, we'll be getting sooo much more from ada. plus, she's the one florist that i can relax with and know that the decor will turn out great. that was ada's biggest perk for henry; she's the only florist that i won't be micro-managing or worrying about how the flowers will turn out. i just needed to make sure of a couple of details like she wouldn't take other jobs on the same day and she'd be able to focus on my wedding. but i discussed that openly with her and she was already pretty clear that she can't take any jobs simply because of the sheer distance of my location from her shop.

and the videographer is done too. that was another bitch and a half to figure out as well. not very high on our priority list at all, but we're going with an old friend and dazer allan jay of triversity video. (don't mind the website, it's quite cheese) i forgot how talkative he is! but he's super genuine, really sweet guy. and i actually like his style a lot. it's very documentary-like, capturing basically every detail, the whole entire day. there's no short synopsis, you get the entire day's footage. so to watch it would probably mean living through the entire mass and reception all over again. the entire 5-7 hours of the occasion. so we asked about him producing a highlights version in addition to the long one, something 30-40 mins long that we could actually show friends and family without them falling asleep and he was totally fine with it. that should be more manageable for people to watch. but i do really appreciate the "extended cut" for posterity's sake.

so what's next.... the save the dates... i was really irritated at the timing of all this too because, 6 months to our wedding is coming up soooo quickly at the end of this month! so it's actually too late to get our engagement pictures taken and then produced in order to incorporate them into the save the dates. but it's okay, i had to let that go too. i'd rather take the time to do them right and have fun with it, than be rushed. my save the dates can go without a picture... or a different picture. *shrug*

i think the key to this whole wedding planning thing is flexibility. visions and concepts and ideas have changed so much in the last 2-3 weeks. i don't deal well with change, so it was hard to swallow at first. but once i accepted it, i was actually quite happy with what's turning out. so i think as long as i keep flexible, we'll be less likely to be disappointed and be truly happy with what we choose. :)

3.5 hours later...

2007-03-28T16:23:00.000-07:00

duuuuude, we spent freakin almost 4 hours hashing things out with our first florist interview. yes, we already pretty much had one picked out, but we decided to try out other options to see if they'll compare, price-wise and quality and style. so we found one that one of my clients are using for their wedding and this vendor is doing some drapery for them as well as some lighting. so we went to check her out and it was quite a productive session. it was our first one and that's always the hardest because that's where you really have to choose what kinds of flowers and style... many of which i hadn't really thought too specifically about. i'm not super tied to any one flower or anything. i just wanted the flowers to reflect our colors. it was so hard to choose a flower and then to try to envision what it'll look like, then choose bridesmaid bouquets after, then the sponsors' corsages and on and on and on. at first i was being more particular, but by the time 9pm rolled around, i was just saying yes to everything. sooo tiring. so now we're debating if we even wanna go through the whole thing again. i think we ought to give our original florist a chance though, cuz we do like her style lot. we're just really drained from that 3.5 hour meeting.

honeymoon - check!

2007-03-21T11:30:00.000-07:00

whoohoo! we got our honeymoon! my god, it'll be a lovely 3 week vacation! we're starting out in florence for 3 nights (taking visits to cinque terre and pisa during those days) and then 4 nights in rome. and THEN we set sail on a mediterranean cruise with stops to athens, mykonos (greek island), and egypt! yes, we're going to egypt! we get to see the pyramids and the nile river! can you believe it? dude, and the best part is, we're doing all of the hotels with points! AND my parents are helping with the cruise! it's going to be sooo awesome!

... hope work will let me take off. hehe! it's go live time for this huge upgrade project that we're doing around october. they better be on time, or they won't have me around. but 3 weeks, wow! i feel so big baller... but thank goodness for points!

yay!!!

2007-03-16T09:42:00.000-07:00

i have 2 more bridesmaids, whoohooo! i had such a great time with lana, herman, maria and of course, the fiance last night! we went to palms thai restaurant in hollywood. poor maria totally got lost cuz she was testing out her new navigation system, which apparently sucks big bootie. but i'm glad we got her out of her cranky pants mood and had a great time with duck red curry, and glass noodle salad and tom yum gum (something like that) - you know, that really spicy sour soup. and at the end of dinner, thai elvis sang happy birthday to maria, yayyyy! happy birthday dear friend! oh and then, i gave them their presents. they were so cute opening them, sychronized with each other. but maria was so caught up in the cute wrapping and i swear, she looked like she didn't even want to untie the ribbon cuz she was admiring it so much. lana was sooo excited that she just tore through it, and she quickly read the gifts and started nodding really really excitedly! hehe! she kept looking at maria, wondering why she wasn't even reacting. and maria was just on the first coaster. she saw her name and she showed us, "oh look, it has my name!" and lana says, "yea, look there's more." so maria saw the "will you..." and then read the rest of the gift. hehe! awww, and they were both so touched when they read the entire phrase. and i was really really happy that they were really really happy to be my bridesmaids! i really just wanted them to feel special cuz i am sooo thankful for their friendships through the years. and they're so funny. they started making up phrases to put around the house for lana's boyfriend, michael. "will you... clean the table?" "will you... sweep the floor?" "will you... put the toilet seat down?" hehe! good times, good times!

1 down, 5 to go

2007-03-15T16:43:00.000-07:00

whoohoo! last week, henry and i went out with jonathan and caroline. hadn't seen them in forever! i noticed throughout the night, caroline and i were just chit-chattering away. i missed that with girlfriends. we continued to hang out at their house and i asked my first bridesmaid to be my bridesmaid! i really wanted to make my girls feel special, so i made them a little something. i wanna share it but i still have 5 of them left to ask, so i'll save it for a little later. hopefully, by next week, i'll have 4 bridesmaids and 2 matrons of honor to present! oh and henry's so funny at how he asked his groomsmen too. he didn't really know how to ask jonathan, but it seemed like such a scripted moment when caroline asked, so how will you ask you groomsmen henry? and henry just goes, like this, as he flings the little screaming monkey to jonathan. hehe! it was the funniest moment! and jongo's like, oh that's funny, not even realizing that henry's actually asking him until henry said the words. then he just laughed even more. hehe! good friends, good stuff!

so tonight, i'll knock down 2 more bridesmaids. and tomorrow, one of the matrons of honor - who doesn't wanna be called matron because it sounds too matronly. but she doesn't wanna be maid of honor, because she doesn't want people to think that she divorced her husband already! hehe! she's so funny. so i'm currently throwing around the title lady of honor. any suggestions?

5 weeks later

2007-03-15T16:30:00.000-07:00

it's been a little over 5 weeks since we got engaged, 4 1/2 weeks since we started planning and by the end of last week, we had our [location] site (brackets are for jongo), decided on our dj, photographer and florist i think. then i didn't see my fiance for 3 whole days! i think we had a really hard time with it cuz when i visited him yesterday, it was like we hadn't seen each other for a year! we're counting the 7.5 months til we can just sleep in the same bed and neither one of us will have to get up at 2-3 in the morning to go home.

so yesterday, we started our gift registries. i feel like we really sucked at shopping. i know he feels pretty accomplished because the items we put on the registry are things we really wanted. but we only played with the online registry for only a couple of hours. and when i viewed it as a guest, i felt like it was such a skimpy list! shoot, and that was only one store! as a guest, i like to have lots of choices on gift registries, so i really like jay and cici's. they put down everything from napkin rings to lamps. so i don't really want to say where we registered yet because we're soo far from getting started. and macy's wont let you register online. you have to go in store... poo. and for another store, well, gosh, we were so tired from registering from the first store, that i think we only put down drinking glasses and just stopped.

then we talked about honeymoon stuff. oh so fun! we're thinking of taking 3 weeks off now. the way the cruise is working out, we'd only have 3 land days in italy. i hear it takes 3 days just to go around rome! and since we're there already, might as well see the other areas. i want to see pisa, and esp. cinque terre that jay, glenn and chris have told so many stories about. i'd love to see florence while we're at it. i wouldn't mind seeing venice. but that's much more out of the way.

a coworker was talking about how 3 weeks gets to be too much so i was thinking, would we want to come home already after the cruise? then henry reminded me of how we felt after 2 weeks in hawaii. we still didn't want to come home yet. so i think we'd be just fine with 3 weeks. i'm excited! i think i ought to learn how to speak italian though. i'm sure glad i took spanish in high school. hopefully that will help me learn italian.

we got our site!!

2007-03-08T14:59:00.000-08:00

yayyy, we got our reception location! aughh, what a struggle that was to make a decision and try to choose what's best for us and still consider the budget. and after all that weighing out, calculating spreadsheets, we still ended up with waaaay over our budget. geez louise!

but we're sooo super happy with turnip rose. they're rated the #1 best caterer in orange county, so i really didn't mind having just chicken. but since we were no longer having chinese banquet, henry was rather concerned about having good food that his family will enjoy. so we've upgraded to a duet of yumminess. sadly, no more chocolate fountain (even after i found a really great deal and price at amor chocolate fountains. their packages are a really good deal. the elegant package (3rd highest) is $750 for 4 hours with 4+ dipping items! but we couldn't bring in our own vendor as the location is actually run by a catering company. they wanted to charge us $3000 for a choco fountain. are they nuts? so no choco fountain for us. BUT we got a pretty cool surprise in place of it i think. they have these cute little chocolate covered strawberries and they're decorated like little tuxedos and dresses! how cute is that?! AND to top it off, they're injected with liqueur! yummm, looking forward to that!

soooo blessed!

2007-02-26T10:19:00.000-08:00

yayyyy for free stuff! henry's aunt and uncle own a shoe distributing company. the uncle actually designs the shoes and gets them made in china and then distributes it here in the u.s. so when i went over his house on friday, his mom told me that they're sponsoring the shoes for the wedding party. whoohooo! free shooes! just gotta look at the catalog and pick out a style.

ohhh, annnd, his mom is a dress pattern maker and knows lots of seamstreses, so she said that i could probably have the dresses made through them. yayyyyy!

ok, and it was a very wedding-planning-filled weekend. i'm exhausted. on sat, we went to see the sheraton delfina. *sigh* it was my favorite location for a long time. it was a great set up of the ballroom with the little room where the kids can play. and it was on the penthouse of the hotel with a great view. the guy we met with was really nice and easy to work with actually and with the date being on a friday on a very slow weekend for weddings, he's cutting us a good deal. but the good deal is still higher than what we'd like it to be, so it's not looking so good for the delfina.

and yesterday, we went to a bridal show, then went hotel-hopping around the anaheim convention center. not our favorites at all. ideally, we both want a location that has unique architectural features, and these cookie cutter, good-for-conventions hotels are not what we had in mind. good thing is the price, of course.

but we finished off the location hunt last night with a lovely place in newport beach. it has this really nice courtyard with a fountain and very spanish-style architecture and design. and the ballroom was ornately decorated with lots of paintings and mirrors. we've already received their wedding packet, so price-wise, it's pretty good, especially because they throw in so much stuff with it. but we really just need to sit with their folks to ask more questions. we'll see them on friday.

ooh oooh, i'm going to start bridal gown shopping on thursday night. i'm excited about it, but also worried. worried that i won't find one i like, worried that i'll find one i like but can't afford it. and to top it off, i have no clue what i'm looking for. they all look lovely to me so far. not sure what would be most flattering. i'm pretty sure i don't want a ball skirt, and i think i want a sweetheart neckline, but who knows. i'm open to anything right now.

the best part: i'm a lot less stressed out about it all. henry has taken the lead in analyzing the numbers and calling the locations and it's totally taken the load off my shoulders. he's even received some compliments from potential vendors who are just surprised and impressed that the groom is the one calling and inquiring about these things. i'm sooo blessed to have him! :)

let's go in on a pool

2007-02-21T16:07:00.000-08:00

so i had my first meltdown yesterday. it was only 4 days into the beginning of planning and i already had my first bridezilla moment. i was thinking, i bet my friends can go in on a pool and bet on how many times i'll go off the deep end during this wedding planning. henry said 4 times.. a week! hehe, i said to myself 20 times overall. but i tend to underestimate myself anyway.

but good news!!!! father joe said yes to do our wedding! whoohoo! well, that's one thing that's going our way. yesterday was just such a poopy day. but i know it will all be okay. i just had to give up my stress and worries up to the Lord and i immediately felt better and relieved. He'll take care of everything. i know i just have to not be so set in some of the things that i want for our wedding. keep things in perspective, y'kno? cuz some things are really so small, no one will probably even notice. it's just that i've had my heart set on certain particulars since i started planning my wedding (waaaay back in high school, hehe!) and i just have to learn to let things go. *sigh*

really really? really really.

2007-02-19T10:08:00.000-08:00

he wants to marry me, he really wants to marry me!

waay in the beginning, i was so scared about how this relationship would go. i was afraid that it wouldn't work out, just like all of the other ones. and when i found myself so happy being with him, i would ask, "really, really?" as in, "i can't believe we're here and so happy, is it really true?" and he'd just look at me sincerely and say, "really, really." and i'd sink into his arms in complete comfort and joy. (yea, like the christmas carols sing).

so we're settling on a wedding date and are looking at the friday after thanxgiving THIS YEAR!!! it's so overwhelming for me, but most of all, so flattering. i know he loves me, but i still can't believe he wants to marry me! one of the first thoughts after i got a moment to think was of disbelief, like "it happened to me, it actually happened to ME!" and now, not only does he want to marry me, but he doesn't want to wait very long at all. the only thing that seems to be hindering him is the saving up for it part. but he really wants to be with me and as soon as possible too!

there were times in my life when i just wanted the guy i was with to be committed to me and be first in his life, and especially when i put them first in mine. and i never thought i'd have this kind of love, where he doesn't just love me, he really truly wants to spend his life with me... and wants to start that as soon as possible! hehe! i'm absolutely touched and flattered, and really even surprised that he truly loves me that much and wants to start our lives together sooner than i even thought!

all you need is love

2007-02-12T15:36:00.000-08:00

The Beatles
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy.
There's nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be in time
It's easy.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
There's nothing you can know that isn't known.
Nothing you can see that isn't shown.
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.
It's easy.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
All you need is love (all together now)
All you need is love (everybody)
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.