a wind of change

It seems like after the first rush of wedding planning (especially if you've got some down time between the enagagement and the actual wedding) there comes this period where nothing happens. At least in my case this is what happened.

More than that, I couldn't stand anything wedding related. The shows I loved to watch so much (you know, like "Bridezilla," "Who's Wedding Is It Anyway?", "Rich Bride, Poor Bride", etc.) was like this constnt pinprick to my conscience.

Why you ask? It all boils down to this: money.

Basically, I couldn't justify to myself why we were spending all this money on one day when what was really important to us was sharing this special day with our friends and family. We knew that they didn't expect anything from us and for that, we are thankful. However the Martha Stewart in me (and maybe a slight case of too much oogling wedding blogs and other people's weddings) brought out the comptetative side in me.

However, with much deliberation, the Boy and I decided to scale down our wedding. We're much relieved by this news. It made me excited to plan the wedding again. And with the wedding less than 5 months away, I need to get excited again.

To save on costs, we decided to only hold the ceremony at the Garden we had booked for both the ceremony and reception (and cocktail hour). While we love that site and it is gorgeous, there was a lot of extra expenses we didn't anticipate when we first booked it. Luckily, because we're having our wedding on a Sunday, they were gracious enough to let us scale back to just a ceremony.

My best friend's (and Maid of Honor) parents were also generous enough to offer their home as our reception site. They have a fabulous deck and gorgeous garden and patio; this ended up being the best mistake we ever made. It feel more like us with this change in plans. Plus, with a view from their home, you can see all the beach/bay view that we in Southern California are so luck to have. And additional bonus with our summer wedding is that we will actually get to have fireworks at the wedding! Fireworks are illegal in California but from the home you have a great view of SeaWorld; all summer long, SeaWorld puts on firework shows so that means there will be fun firework at my wedding!

This home also has a very special meaning to our relationship (this was the spot when the Boy first told me he loved me) so it is perfect for celebrating our nuptuialsl.

Other updates:

- We found a photographer we liked and we've booked them. We are schedule to do engagement pictures in April (though I feel a little silly as we've been engaged for over a year now).

- We're having a good old fashioned BBQ for the reception (catered) plus tons of homemade goodies and a touch of Asian exotic foods.

- I'm thinking of having my mom wear a traditional Thai dress as her dress. I've been looking into some other traditional elements of a Thai wedding ceremony and I am hoping to include more than I orignally thought I would. There would be something sweet about it and I feel like it would also be very me.

- Mason jars. Anyone got some they want to give to me? I want to give each guest a mason jar to drink some fine lemonade/pink lemonade/iced tea from.

(image from Style Me Pretty)

- I made our Save the Date cards; they're cute. (I'll post on that later.)

- I also want to make out invitations; I have several mock ups but I think it would be easiest if I had a gocco machine. Anyone got one for sale?

- Bridesmaid dresses were supposed to be untraditional; several ideas later and 5 months to go, we're going traditional.

on the hunt

Okay chickadees,

I am on the hunt for wedding day shoes. At first, I wanted red shoes as I think they are so dramatic and flirty. Heels was another thing on my list of wedding shoe requirements (a must when I stand a measly 5'2" and the Boy is 6'3").

Since the purchase of the Dress, I have been having second thoughts about this seemingly small element of the wedding. Now I'd like yellow flats, cute darling little things. Yellow is such a happy and fun color and would stand out against the paler shades of pink, blue, orange, and copper. It would be unexpected...unless you knew me. Because, you see, I adore yellow and wear a fantastic mustard yellow coat whenever I get the chance. As for the low to no heel portion to the new shoe decision, this is a matter of practicality. Last September I re-hurt my left ankle somehow and it has never gotten better (yes, I am seeking medical treatment about this) so heels are hard to wear. In fact, I don't think I've worn anything that wasn't a flat shoe in forever (poor shoe collection, I have been reduced to living in my Converse, flat boots, sneakers or grey flats). I have a feeling the ankle won't get any better by the wedding (or not much) and since I am clumsy anyways, it's best not to tempt fate. I'd like to think my wedding day shoes will be comfy enough to dance the night away with family and friends but stylish enough for those wonderful shoe shots that I love in wedding day photography.

In light of this, I have been scouring stores and shops online.

This was the inspiration for the yellow shoe love. Plus it has feathers. Could it get any better?

(image from stylehive; shoe by j.crew)

How fun is this pair by Marc Jacobs? It's a shoe that has the cutest rat face you'll ever see. I especially love the little curl of the tail at the back.
(shoe found at zappos)

And lastly, but not least, this little gem reminds of the ruffly embellishments in my dress.

(shoe found on zappos; designed by Diego Di Lucca)

What do you think of a bright yellow shoe as my little secret?

hot guys in vests make my heart beat a little faster

(image from jcrew)
I came across this in looking for things for the bridesmaids to wear (did I mention I was trying to go about buying dresses in a nontraditional way? I just don't want anything shiney or too formal and I was looking for dresses that comfier, as if you put on something very nice to go to our garden party which happened to be our wedding).
The Boy and I haven't given too much thought to what he (and his groomsmen) should wear. Is that bad? In all this time, we've been focused on what the girls should wear: what I should wear, what the bridesmaid should look like, what my mom and his mom could wear...psst, I think I like the idea of my mom going a traditional route and perhaps just dressing up in our native costume). About the guys, well we didn't even think about it enough to even figure out whether or not they were going the tux route, though I do vaguely remember the Boy saying something o this nature very early on into the wedding planning process.
Now, I've never really seen the Boy all dressed up in his fanciest clothes. The summer we first got together he was the best man in his friend's wedding. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see him in all his glory (and the embarrassing story about him forgetting the rings in his truck) because I had another wedding to go to that weekend. But from the pictures I was shown afterwards, the Boy was owning his James Bond self.
Since then, there has been few times that have called for either one of us to really dress up. We're the jeans and t-shirt typical Californian couple in that way. Only once, in all the years that we've been together, have I seen the Boy dressed up in a great fitting pair of charcoal slacks and dress shirt. Wow.
Since then, Ive been obsessed with the idea of the Boy not wearing a tux to our wedding but something along the lines of the picture above. I'd even love it more if the Boy would comply and wear a cool vest like that one. I don't know what I'd do with myself if he did. I think I might just have to marry him if he did (psst, are you listening Boy?)

Paper Nightmares

I am annoyed with Walmart. Yes, I said it and I don't care who knows it.

Here's the story:
We are DIYing as much of the wedding as we can. I think it will add a cute and personal touch to the festivities (and being cost effective does help matters too).
Part of my quest to be DIY Bride is to make all the paper products for our wedding, including handmade invitations and Save the Date cards (pictures and stories about the invitations in another post). I was browsing some fantastic blogs when I first started this blog and came across a wonderful one called my polaroid blog; it's so fun and cute! You guys should check it out. She helped revive my love for old school polaroids (I am still on a quest for a polaroid camera; any one got one for sale?) If you scroll down her page, on the right hand side are cute pictures she has taken of people holding signs as her way to mark the day (there's a really cute hand drawn clock as well). Instantaneously, I got a flash in my brain (you know, the *flash* like Emily Starr has; points to you if you know the reference) and our Save the Date cards were born.
Basically, the Boy and I (with the help of his mother) took very silly pictures with us holding up signs of our wedding date; four to be exact. So in each panel, we are holding a card with the day of the week, the month, the date and the year (in that order). Cute, right? And so simple. I then planned to use my printer to print some cute save the date message on the reverse side and voile, a cute postcard!
So the giggly bridesmaid and I (yes, the very same one as the previous post only she wasn't as giggly today but moony over her new gorgeous haircut she got earlier today), waltz into our local Walmart with the silly notion that we would be able to print these pictures out in relative ease.
We were wrong.
Now the actual setting up for printing wasn't hard. I just popped by SD card into the kiosk and a couple of taps here and there to crop and sepia it and there it was. Now the reason I decided to get them printed out at Walmart was that their kiosks have this handy little feature where you can print out four pictures onto one 4x6 (I don't know if other photo places do it but I was sure Walmart did it because I have used it before). Easy peasy, right?
I printed out one copy to make sure it all turned out right (it is cute!) and then turned my attention to print out the rest. I hand tapped in all 100 print outs (that means I tapped the screen over 400 times people), hit the print button and it all should've gone smoothly and we should've been out there in under 20 minutes. The allotted time went by. Still no photos. We walked around a bit and came back to check on it. Nothing. Walked around some more. Nothing. Asked one of the photo attendants to check it out for us; she did and said we just had to be patient since we were printing out so many pictures. We shopped some more (I think I ended up with some many things in my cart out of sheer boredom). In the end, after almost an hour, we came back and there was still no photos to be seen dispensing.
I had had it. Really, I was fed up. And a little pissy.
Giggly bridesmaid was no longer giggly. Or moony. Or any feelings that could be construed of as happy.
In the end, I had to cancel the order altogether as I was not in the mood to wait another hour (or however long it would've taken to finally print). So we went into Walmart with the intentions of making my Save the Date cards; I came out with Valentine junk.

Curses on you, Walmart.

The Save the Date cards saga continues on...next version, Target?

The Dress

News of news: I am in possession of my wedding dress. The shop called last Friday to tell me the dress I ordered was finally in. So months of anticipation and slips in belief that this was the perfect dress lead up to Monday afternoon where I had a face to face with The Dress.

The Dress.

Would I still love it?

Did it fit?

Was the color off or would I wish I had gone with the champagne color?

How did it still fit in with our ever-changing wedding plans (thanks a lot to all the wedding blogs I've been reading!)?

And last but certainly not least, was it still the One?

I got to the shop and they pulled the dress out.

I made a face. This was certainly not the dress I ordered.

On the hanger it looked so...expected. I did not want to be expected. I wanted to dazzle. I wanted to be me in my wedding dress not a wedding dress on me.

I sighed quietly to myself. What would I do if I didn't love it anymore? With it all paid for, I would have to wear it even if I didn't love it. There would be no other way. We couldn't afford to not wear it (unless someone bought it off of me for the same price I paid for it). I was resigned to inevitable.

The consultant (not the one I originally bought The Dress from) escorted me to a dressing room. Once the curtains were closed, she proceeded to have me take off my shirt and help me out of my underclothes. By help I mean she took off the undergarment I was wearing, wrapped a corset around me, then proceeded to tell me to take off my pants. I was shocked. Nay, embarrassed. Now, I'm not a prude, per se, but the sheer brusque manner in which I was out of my brassiere and into a corset without so much as a "I'll turn around and let you get undressed" left me speechless. And cold. In my knickers with a perfect stranger and one giggly bridesmaid.

This did not help me love The Dress.

Off the hanger went the Dress, and into it I stepped. Still not convinced, the dress went up, the zipper zipped, and the consultant fussed over where to put the embellished strap dangling by my side. Her being flustered by the placement only intensified the giggly bridesmaid. I had to calmly explain that it didn't matter as I was planning to have it cut off anyways. The consultant breathed a sign of relief, spun me around and there I was in my wedding dress.

Shock sunk in. Giggly bridesmaid ceased to giggle but was shortly replaced with squeals. She loved it. She oohed and ahhed as appropriate. We stepped out to the main showroom and up on the pedestal I went. A few tucks here and there and a pin to simulate the sweetheart neckline I had planned for and the dress was transformed into The Dress I had fallen in love with. There it was. Me in my Dress.

(image by one giggly bridesmaid)

Falling in love with The Dress again did not diminish the fact that the shop where I purchased it was requiring me to take it home right away. How could this be? The wedding is months away and I was still counting on the idea of the first time the Boy seeing me in The Dress was at walking down the aisle.

Giggly Bridesmaid could not keep it at her home as they were in the process of redecorating and she could not guarantee the safety of the Dress. Calls were put out to the Boy who suggested calling the Maid of Honor. Thank goodness MOH picked up as I was on the verge of tears. Her parents could and would keep The Dress in their home. Several more phone calls were made including a short conversation with MOH's mother and the Boy and then me, one excited bridesmaid, and The Dress crammed into her car and drove away from the shop to its home for the next couple of months.

I do so very much love my friends and their family. They keep me sane (which is a task in and of itself minus the stresses of planning a wedding).

Along with The Dress trial, I tried on the headband I purchased with the intentions of wearing it for the wedding. *sigh* It did not turn out the way I planned. Had my dress been shorter and less embellished, I think the peony headband would look sweet. But with all that is going on in The Dress, it sort of calls for my hair off my face either pulled back or cut into a bob!

When I told friends about this, there were cries of anguish with the thoughts of my hair coming off. So to appease them I have agreed to try out some hair styles that will give me the look of the bobbed hair I like (which, if they will keep in mind, I will be returning to after the wedding). B suggested this look and I do think it goes pretty well with The Dress and the feel of the wedding:

(image from Brides.com)

Imagine it with side-swept bangs and either a flower tucked in the back or a cool birdcage veil. I will definitely give it a try. I've even got the earrings to go with it. But that's another story for another day.