My Big Fat Chinese-Korean Wedding

My SF Bridal Shower

2011-03-27T21:47:00.000-07:00

During July 4th weekend, I had a family shower in San Francisco. I wanted to have a family shower because I have a pretty large extended family, and I thought that to invite them to the shower my bridesmaids were throwing might double the number of guests (and thus be too expensive for them). Since my mom really wanted to celebrate with family, she threw me a family shower. For the location, my cousin suggested Lovejoy's Tea Room, which she had been to before. ;)

I'm really kicking myself for not recapping these things as they happened, because my memory is now pretty shaky on the exact events of the shower (or even the wedding)! So I'm not going to give a play-by-play recap of either of my showers, but just give some highlights and background.

This was my first shower, and I was so uncomfortable opening presents in front of everyone (and they weren't even.... those kinds of presents! Now that would've been uncomfortable!). Of course, I loved everyone's thoughtful and generous gifts, but I hated that everyone's entertainment was watching me open presents! I imagined that it must be so boring for them!

Love the Hotel Collection towels! So soft...

My mom made a recipe book with recipes from all the shower attendants.

Lovejoy's was great--the food was delicious, the setting cute and eclectic (each person had their own teapot, and all were different), and overall I'd recommend it for a shower or tea party. Some didn't like that there was only one bathroom available, but it didn't seem to be a huge problem--and Chado Tea Room in Old Town Pasadena has only one bathroom as well, so I imagine it's a standard thing. Here's a link to Lovejoy's menu: we had the high tea, which consists of 6 sandwiches, traditional English cole slaw, organic spring greens with mandarin oranges, scones with Devon cream and strawberry preserves, and shortbread cookies. There were even some leftovers, which made my dad very happy!

The yummy food

For favors, my mom bought individual See's candies (can't remember all the flavors, but try the apple pie flavor! It's my fave!) and made little heart labels for them.

My mom planned a couple of games. The first was a "How well do you know Jessica and Eddie" game. I think that my sister-in-law got all of the Eddie questions correctly ("Where did Eddie go to high school?" "Where does Eddie work?") while nobody got all of the Jessica questions right. The second game was this game where you have 12 or so little bags of various white powders (salt, sugar, baby powder, flour, baking soda, etc.) and you have to guess which each one is. My cousin and I got the most right! :) I think that that would also be a fun baby shower game!

My sister-in-law Lily blogged the shower on her food blog. Thanks Lily for helping jog my memory!

Finally, my dear cousin and bridesmaid Virginia was kind enough to take photos at the bridal shower, so all photos are by her. She took lots of great photos for me, but I can't figure out how to rotate them (I rotated them on my computer, but when I uploaded them to Blogger they were sideways... when I figure out how to fix this, I will update this post)... I'm so tech-savvy!

A group photo with everyone from the shower

Bachelorette Party Road Trip

2011-03-11T22:53:00.000-08:00

I recently checked my Google Analytics page after neglecting it for a few months, and I was dismayed to see that my personal blog (which I am trying to resurrect) gets VERY few hits monthly. However, I was even more surprised that my wedding blog (the one you're reading right now) receives a pretty great deal of traffic from around the world--15-30 hits daily, which isn't a whole lot, but quite a lot for a blog that hasn't been updated since September! So I will try (can't make any promises) to wrap up my posting here so that I can close the book on this blog.

I'll start with a recap of my bachelorette party road trip. It's a bit out of sequence, since my two bridal showers occurred first, but those will be a little harder to recap, so I'll do those later. My LA bridesmaids and two roommates all took a road trip from LA to various points in Northern California. Most of them didn't know each other (two from my college days, one from church, and two from the missions organization that I interned with), but everyone seemed to get along well (or maybe they were just pretending for my sake).

I had a few requests for my MOH, who planned most of, if not all of the weekend. First of all, I wanted to go on a road trip. I can't remember why, but I had serious road trip fever at that time. I think it might have been because two of my friends had gone on a mini-weekend getaway to San Luis Obispo the summer before and it was lots of fun. Secondly, I did not want anything too wild (i.e. penis straws and sex toys). That stuff freaks me out! I can't remember if I had any other requests, but my (perhaps skewed) self-reflection likes to think of myself as loose and relaxed.

Note: All images by my MOH Stephanie, or by someone holding Stephanie's camera. ;) Thanks Steph!

Friday
We started our road trip sometime in the early afternoon at my friend Stephanie's house, where two of my friends met us (and the other two we picked up at work or thereabouts). Stephanie had rented this van-type of vehicle... kind of like a van lite. It had three rows but was only a six seater (I think). However, we soon had some engine problems (I think the light was on), and had to stop at a Firestone to get that checked out about an hour into our journey.

Bummed to be stuck at Firestone instead of going along our journey

It turned out to be nothing (as far as I can recall), so we headed out once again, with a detour because of all the traffic. We were headed off to a much later start than we had anticipated, and everyone worried that we wouldn't make it to our destination in time. I, of course, had no idea where we were going, and worried no such thing. On the way, we played Steph's "getting to know you" type games. Everyone was asked to send in 4 interesting facts about themselves ("I have a butterfly tattoo on my lower back," etc.) and we had to guess who that person was. Steph had made macaroni necklaces (she's such a teacher, haha!) and we each got a macaroni "bead" for answering a question right or doing a dare.

My roommates made a sign for me...

To elicit honks from truck drivers' horns...

I also dared everyone to do some scandalous thing, which I will not post pictures of...

We just barely made it and pulled into... Phil's Fish Market in Moss Landing! I was surprised that we were going there, since I don't think I had mentioned my love for this place to anyone except Amy. Turns out Eddie (who I had introduced Phil's to the year before) had told Steph to go to this place. I think he missed it and was trying to live vicariously through me. ;)

I first "discovered" Phil's sometime in college, when it was featured on an episode of "Road Tasted" starring the Dean brother (Paula's sons). Since then, it has appeared on several other Food Network shows, including "Throwdown" with Bobby Flay. There is always a long line when you eat there, although it moves pretty fast. Anyway, they are a combination restaurant (with wine bar!) and fish market, and as a result, their seafood is really fresh and delicious. They are best known for their cioppino, an Italian-American seafood stew in a tomato broth (similar to a bouillabaise), and that is what we ate! However, Eddie and I went there around New Year's, and our table neighbors had ordered a huge spread of seafood that all looked completely delicious. We may have to diversify next time. It's just hard though because that cioppino is just so darn good! My mouth is watering right now!

You get to (have to?) wear these bibs while you're eating cioppino. It's nowhere near as messy as Boiling Crab though.

After dinner, we headed to a little apartment where Jessica's (my roommate) aunt and uncle live. They have teaching jobs in Monterey, but love San Luis Obispo, so they go there during the weekends and very gracious let us use their adorable apartment right by the ocean.

There we may have played a game, but mostly just fell asleep after discussing which movie to watch. #fail

Saturday

When we woke up that morning, Steph had made us a lovely quiche breakfast (thanks, Steph!), which we enjoyed along with our Phil's leftovers. Reluctant to leave this beautiful area, we took a stroll to the gorgeous oceanside, where we enjoyed the view. This was about two blocks away from Jess' aunt's place. #jealous

Finally (after strolling around town for a bit and looking at puppies and kitties), we pulled ourselves away and started our drive to the Santa Cruz boardwalk, where we were to do a scavenger hunt. Unfortunately, we hit a ton of traffic, so Steph made the executive decision to start the scavenger hunt in the car. This included tasks such as "find a guy named Eddie and get him to make an 'Eddie face'" and "get marriage advice from a couple. This involved rolling down the window and shouting at various cars to roll down theirs. #awkward

"Eddie" making an "Eddie face." Nice try, but not even close.

After a veeery long drive, we finally made it to Santa Cruz, where we proceeded with our scavenger hunt. Among other things, we found:

Amy getting marriage advice (for me, natch) from an Oxfam volunteer aka bachelor.

Taking a picture with a bunny (because I love bunnies). On the boardwalk, this was the closest we could get to an actual bunny.

Find a woman wearing blue and gray (our wedding colors)

Perhaps my favorite task (and corresponding photo) was "take a picture with a Korean man." It was a little awkward trying to ascertain whether various Asian men were Korean, but once we found one, we all did Eddie and my patented Asian heart pose.

Epic. Best. Photo. Ever.

We also had to:

Take a picture with something soft and squishy
Use $2 to buy the most creative gift for Jessica and Eddie's honeymoon
Find a stranger to perform a segment of the "perfect song" for Jessica and Eddie's first dance
Find a married couple who has been married for at least 20 years and ask for marriage advice

I could be wrong, but I think we more or less got everything.

After riding the bumper cars, we got back in the car and drove to San Francisco, where we met up with Lily, Eddie's sister, at her apartment, where we stayed that night. We headed over to Bodega Bistro, a Vietnamese restaurant near Lily's house. You can read about it on Lily's blog. We all had dessert cravings after that, so we headed to Safeway and picked up some wine and ice cream (It's-its and Ben and Jerry's Phish Food--two of my faves!). There we played some semi-"scandalous" games before going to sleep. =)

Sunday

We had a quick breakfast that Lily made: peanut butter banana sandwiches, scrambled eggs, parfait, and blueberry coffee cake (I couldn't remember what it was except for goat cheese--I love goat cheese!--so I did a fact-check on Lily's blog.)! You can check it out here. Then we decided to go to the Ferry Building because the girls wanted to do something San Francisco-y before heading back. It was also Joi's first time to San Francisco.

For some background, the Ferry Building is one of my favorite places in San Francisco. It has lots of fine artisan food purveyors that are rooted in the Bay Area, such as Cowgirl Creamery, Far West Fungi, Miette, Scharffen Berger, Blue Bottle Coffee, Acme Bakery, and Hog Island Oyster Company. Even though a lot of the vendors there are pretty pricey, it's still a great place to window shop and walk around.

Joi wanted a picture with the Golden Gate Bridge, but she had to settle for the Bay Bridge instead.

Eating oysters. I absolutely adore raw oysters. If you're in SF, you must must go to Swan Oyster Depot (not pictured).

After a quick stop to visit my cousin Virginia, who couldn't make it to any of the other events, we headed back home and arrived in LA, sleepy yet fulfilled.

Thanks Steph for planning the whole thing, and thanks to everyone else for coming and playing along!

MARRIED!

2010-09-28T22:51:00.000-07:00

We're married! I really haven't blogged in a while, huh? Well, first there were finals. Then I went out of town. Then I started an internship and I just got really, really busy. But even though the wedding has passed (and I am kinda over it), I am going to try my darndest to record the wedding planning process. Along the way to August 14th, I had two showers (one in SF and one in LA), a super-fun bachelorette party road trip, and made a ton of little (and big) decisions. I don't think I'll recap the wedding, because it was fairly traditional (boring), but I really want to chronicle all of the work that so many people put into it, so maybe a details post is in order.

These are some of the things that I want to blog about so that I can get some closure with my wedding blog (and a preview for what's to come!):

our super awesome fantabulous invitations designed by my favorite cousin, Vir and the ensuing drama getting them out (you'll want to stay tuned in for this one)
my SF family shower, organized by my mom
my LA shower
my bachelorette party road trip
our absolutely delicious (I think I gained at least five pounds!) honeymoon in Maui and Oahu
our "faux-tobooth" and ridiculous cardboard cut-out
vendor reviews (maybe)
the bridesmaid dress race against the clock
the name-change process (on-going)
our wedding website

In the meantime, our amazing photographer Sarah K. Chen posted some photos to her blog a few weeks ago! Here are a few of my faves:

More to come!

Turn, Turn Turn

2010-08-13T01:37:00.000-07:00

It's sad that my first post here in a long time would (likely) be my last post before marriage, but I'm pretty sure I'll be back after the wedding to share some of the awesome wedding-related things that have taken over my life. Such as: the beautiful and unique invitations that my cousin Vir designed for us, the ensuing postage and address label drama, my two showers and bachelorette weekend, and various other things!

Anyway, I've been working hard on wedding plans, and there is still much to do, and probably lots that won't get done. But as I've prepared for the wedding, life has gone on as usual. A friend of mine recently passed away unexpectedly. Friends have started new jobs, started dating, stopped dating, encountered health crises, and many other things. I've attended lots of wedding this year, and perhaps that has made the "wedding experience" less significant. But as my own wedding has come up, I am again reminded that weddings are an incredibly significant event in which two lives, two families, are inextricably joined. One of my favorite passages from Harry Potter is one from the Order of the Phoenix, when (spoiler alert) Sirius has just died. I'm just going to paraphrase it, since I don't have my Harry Potter books with me at the moment. Harry looks out at the students just having finished the term, relaxing and having fun and he wonders how it is possible that people can still laugh, still enjoy themselves without feeling like the world is falling apart, like he does. In a way, I feel that that is true about weddings (in an opposite sense). It will be a huge milestone for me, but for most, it will be an event to attend. As life-changing as this event will be for me, death, birth, and life goes on...

This passage, from Ecclesiastes 3, reminds me of this season of wedding planning, and of marriage in general:

¹For everything there is a season, and^(A) a time for every matter under heaven:
²a time to be born, and a time to^(B) die;a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; ³a time to kill, and a time to heal;a time to break down, and a time to build up; ⁴a time to^(C) weep, and a time to laugh;a time to mourn, and a time to^(D) dance; ⁵a time to^(E) cast away stones, and a time to^(F) gather stones together;a time to embrace, and a time to^(G) refrain from embracing; ⁶a time to seek, and a time to^(H) lose;a time to keep, and a time to^(I) cast away; ⁷a time to^(J) tear, and a time to sew;a time to^(K) keep silence, and a time to speak; ⁸a time to love, and a time to^(L) hate;a time for war, and a time for peace.

I actually wanted to have this passage as a reading for our wedding, because we've been through a lot together--all these seasons--but Eddie pointed out that it might not be a great idea to have "hate" and "war" in your wedding passage. :)

See you on the other side!

Registry Favorites

2010-06-04T20:53:00.000-07:00

Since I love to cook, I have long been excited to start our registries! We haven't finished them yet, not by a long shot (turns out registering is A LOT of work!), but since Eddie and I are natural-born researchers, we have had a lot of fun figuring out what we would like to register for.

Here are a few of the items that I'm especially excited about. I can't review them yet, but I'm excited by what I've read about them:

Chef's Quad Timer Professional

No, it doesn't have a magnet that you can stick to the fridge. No, it's not shaped like something cute, like a fruit or a chicken. And it's a little more expensive than your average kitchen timer. BUT this timer does something that I've never seen before and is VERY cool. It actually keeps track of up to four burners (but obviously they don't all have to be things on the stove) at once. This is perfect because I'm always setting the pear timer, then the microwave timer, then my cell phone timer, then just trying to remember, but this keeps it all in one place!

Zyliss Pizza Wheel

This actually resembles the pizza wheels that real pizzerias used. The handle that comes on most home pizza wheels make them unwieldy and more bulky. This is cooler-looking and more accurate. Wish it came in other colors besides red, but that's ok.

French Rolling Pin

Once upon a time, I made croissants. They were quite delicious but it was extremely annoying to roll out the dough, especially considering that I did not have a rolling pin. I've wanted one for several years now but I always told myself I'd wait until I got engaged so I could put it on the registry. I specifically wanted a french rolling pin because they give you more control over the dough (you can feel it more). Plus, they look prettier and they're what professionals use.

Oxo Salad Spinner

This is the best salad spinner out there, period. Unlike other models, it stays on the counter without fussing around, and is extremely quick. You can also use the spinner basket as a colander if you so desire. I remember the first encounter I had with the OXO salad spinner. I was in ninth grade and had never even seen such a thing, since our family was wont to buy bagged salads. But now when I have to wash my own greens, and the salad is super soggy even though I pat them down w. a paper towel, you bet I'm wishing I had one of these babies.

Bodum Glasses

I became rather enamored of these glasses while visiting my cousin and her husband over the years. These mouth-blown glasses are double-walled so that they don't "sweat" when a cold drink is inside and your hand doesn't get hot or cold depending on what the drink is. No coaster necessary! However, the coolness factor does come at a price ($19.95 for two), so we only registered for two sets of two (so, four).

Stainless Steel Cookware (Calphalon Tri-Ply pictured)

We haven't registered for these yet (because Eddie keeps changing his mind... :P) but I am so very excited about switching over to stainless steel (I currently use my roommate's nonstick pots and pans). I like to cook at high heat so obviously cooking with nonstick pans can be frustrating (you're not supposed to heat them over med. heat). Plus stainless steel is just so much cooler-looking!

Calphalon Unison Nonstick Sear

These are pretty much the coolest things I've ever seen. One of the (many) things that I hate about cooking with nonstick pans is that you can't get a great sear out of your food (which is one of the joys of cooking!). These are nonstick, so they're easy to use and clean, but they also sear. They're pretty pricey, so we are probably only going to register for one or two pieces (haven't decided yet), but these are so dang cool.

What's your favorite kitchen item?

MyPublisher

2010-06-01T06:58:00.000-07:00

When our disc of images with our e-pics came in, I immediately got to work on a gift for our parents. I thought it'd be great for our parents to have an album of our engagement pics so that they could carry them around and show them to people. I especially thought that this would be useful for Eddie's mom and dad, since they aren't especially internet-savvy and work in their store all day (so it'd be nice to have paper copies to look at). I had hoped to have this completed by Mother's Day, but it'll have to do for Father's Day.

I also thought it a good idea to try out an album service since professional albums cost oh so much money ($1k and up). Our photography package comes w. an album credit, but if we wanted an album that included more pictures, or to make a less costly version, I thought this would be a good way to see what we'd get.

Here are some photos of the finished project, which arrived on Friday afternoon.

I used MyPublisher and the quality is just ok. The color is not totally accurate (it has sort of a bluish tint to it), and the images are a little pixelated. It's also a lot thinner than I expected (although not sure why I expected it to be so thick, since it's only 20 pages). If you're looking for a professional quality album, I would not recommend MyPublisher, but you get what you pay for. I used a buy one get one free code (you can get one of your own here) and the total came out to about $42 (shipping was $12.95!!), which I think was pretty good for the price. I would have thought it wasn't worth it for just one album though. The software to create the album was really easy to use and they have pre-set layouts (which I did play with a bit) so that designing is super simple. So far my parents have really enjoyed it; I hope that Eddie's parents will like it when we send it to them! :)

Tasty Delights

2010-05-27T06:31:00.000-07:00

Those are the words that my dad used to describe yesterday's events in an email to me. Yesterday, my parents, Eddie, and I gathered at Lawry's for our much-anticipated tasting. We were pleasantly surprised to be the only ones tasting. They only do tastings for one group at a time. The customer service is really great. I'm more and more glad that we chose to do Lawry's, after all my angst about it. Anyway, here's some food porn, I mean pictures of the tasting.

Cajun crab stuffed pepperoncini and Salmon Roses with mustard dill.

Goat cheese crostini with blood orange and black pepper marmalade (the darker one) and apricot marmalade (the lighter one)

Shrimp on a wonton cracker (left) and Tuna and avocado tartare with California caviar on sesame wonton crisps

A close up of the tuna avocado tartare. The green caviar is wasabi flavored.

A close up of the shrimp on a wonton cracker. This was just ok. The main problem with it was that it's not really something you can just bite into; the slaw falls out and juice oozes onto your hand.

Next were prosciutto-wrapped dates with goat cheese and mini crab cakes with remoulade sauce. Everyone, especially my dad, LOVED the dates (my dad kept saying, "Wow! This is sooo good!!"). They are my favorite hors d'oeuvre and really easy to make, but these were warm, unlike the ones I make. The crab cakes were pretty good but not as crabby as I would have liked, and I felt like there were little bits of cartilage in them.

Potato pancakes with creme fraiche, smoked salmon, and red onions. My mom looooooved these, but I thought that they were too thick. Kind of like hash browns. I guess I was expecting more of a latke.

Then it was time for the main courses (we didn't try salad or dessert, but we already know our selection choices for those courses). We started with the fish options. Here's the mahi-mahi with asparagus and mashed potatoes. We actually didn't ask for this one to be served, but since there was a luncheon going on at the same time that was serving this dish, they gave it to us. It's funny because it's the one we ended up picking for our fish entree.

Miso-glazed sea bass with asparagus. It looks almost the same except there's a wasabi sauce.

Now for the chicken dish. Both chicken dishes were really good, which is saying something because wedding chicken is usually not pretty. Here's the sauteed chicken breast with sun-dried tomatoes and spinach.

And here is the chicken piccata with lemon-caper sauce and Israeli couscous.

Finally, here's the vegetarian option, the wild mushroom ravioli. It's actually super hearty and filling, unlike many vegetarian dishes. I generally don't like ordering ravioli in a restaurant because it comes with three pieces or something, but this was huge. Actually all of the dishes are really ginormous and super filling. Let's just say we left with A LOT of leftovers!

All in all, I think that our guests will really enjoy the food at our wedding. They say that the bride and groom never has time to eat at their wedding. Whatever. I'll MAKE TIME.

Wedding Guilt

2010-05-25T06:12:00.000-07:00

A lot of people tell me that for our wedding, only my and Eddie's opinions matter, but most of the time I don't feel that way. After all, a wedding is a public ceremony signifying commitment not only between two people, but of a community of people to a new family. To me (and in our respective cultures), you can't just do whatever you want because that would be totally disrespectful. However, everyone seems to have an opinion. I've been to plenty of weddings where I heard people criticize the bride's dress, the food, the location... pretty much everything! Now that I'm getting married, I know that it's completely impossible to please everyone. That said, here are some of the things that make me feel guilty when planning our wedding:

I feel guilty about having a bridal shower (actually two showers, but we'll get to that later). I mean, a party all about me? Where one of the main purposes is to give me presents? And my poor bridesmaids and mom having to pay for it? In general, I feel guilty that our wedding party has to spend money on anything.

I feel guilty that our wedding is in the morning and our family members and wedding party will have to wake up super early to get ready and take pictures.

I feel guilty that our day infringes upon so many people's time. I feel guilty that there are several birthdays, anniversaries, and other events going on on or around our wedding day, and that people have to give up time when they'd probably like to be celebrating in their own way to celebrate someone else.

I feel guilty that the venues are in an expensive part of town and if guests want to stay close by, the nearby hotels are expensive.

I feel guilty that I can't invite my whole church (well, I don't really feel guilty about it, just bad) to the wedding. Many of the church members have done that, but it wasn't really an option for us given that the restaurant only fits 250 guests (and to be honest, that was a big reason that I picked that restaurant).

*Note: Last time I talked about some of my thoughts about wedding planning, a lot of people emailed me worried about how I was doing. Honestly, I'm just trying to document the process in this here blog, and I know that these are feelings that all brides have. So no need for the concerned email, but thanks for the thought! :)

Floral Fascination

2010-05-24T07:02:00.000-07:00

Last week I had my first dress fitting. (Yes, I know. I bought my dress in December and I only had my first fitting last week. Don't worry, it'll actually be done really quickly.) I am so glad that I was able to do that because it reassured me again that I liked my dress. It's not that I disliked it, but I hadn't seen it in months, so I was feeling a little "meh" about it. But I'm glad to have seen it ON me again, because it's really a beautiful dress.

Anyway, now that I have the dress part figured out, I thought I should move on to the other accessories. Despite my shoe angst, I do have a pair that I'm still a bit non-committal about (they're cute, it's just that they were more than I was wanting to spend). But I started thinking a bit about veils. By the way, Rosa Clara, my dress designer, makes amazing and dramatic looking veils (which are a bit too dramatic for my taste). I am sure that I don't want to buy a new veil; I'll probably just borrow one if I decide to wear one. I am sort of ambivalent about veils, but they are undeniably "bridal." However, I really love the hair flower (or fascinator) look! My favorite fascinators are/were made by Muscari. However, their site is no longer up, and I can only presume that they are no longer taking orders.

Muscari's "Sugar Bush" flower

Here are some acceptable (i.e. nice enough, but don't make my heart pitter patter or anything) hair flowers that I've seen in my trawls of the internet. First we have the "in-my-dreams expensive" category:

Claudia Griffiths "Gisele" Headband, $190

Jennifer Behr "Bella" Flower, $225

Then we have the "still-out-of-reach-but-more-attainable" category:

Lo Boheme "Rose" Hair Piece, $115

Twigs & Honey "Dream" (custom order) hair piece, $62

Finally, I saw these on Weddingbee, and I think they look nice, and the price is decent. But again, totally not swooning over (any of!) these.

Handle and Spout White Hair Pin Set, $35

Sure I could make one, you say. But then again, it's me we're talking about.

Our E-Session: Behind the Scenes

2010-05-19T06:13:00.000-07:00

When thinking of engagement pictures, you might think that two people, blissfully in love, come together, and magic happens in front of the camera. Well, it was not quite that natural for us. There was a lot happening behind the scenes and a lot of little decisions that we had to consider. Read on...

Location: As I mentioned earlier, shooting at Oxy, our alma mater, was a no-brainer for us. However, we did have to decide where on campus to shoot. After all, our photographer had never been on campus, so she was not familiar with where the most photogenic areas might be. We walked around the campus pointing out various sites ("That's the academic quad, where people study outside and eat lunch," "This is the music department," etc.) and letting Sarah take the reins creatively. We were a little surprised that she wasn't really interested in shooting very much at the more "iconic" Oxy areas: Coons Steps, the fountain, the academic quad, but it kind of makes sense that she didn't because she doesn't know the "significance" of these places. Oxy alumni, can you recognize the locations? :)

Outfits: You have no idea how much time I spent thinking about our freakin' outfits for this shoot. It's ridiculous. We actually took our pictures in various outfits, had many discussions, and ultimately came to this conclusion.

We had two outfits, casual and semi-formal. For the casual outfit, Eddie was having a hard time deciding what to wear. Finally I told him that he could/should wear one of his many brightly-colored t-shirts. He is always wearing a t-shirt (his dress code at work is super relaxed), and I think that they look good on him, so there's no reason that he shouldn't wear one, right? He chose this one that his sister got him for Christmas of ants playing Tetris.

Eddie: Threadless tee, jeans
Me: J. Crew (outlet) cardigan, Gap black tank top, Gap jeans, black H & M necklace.

Eddie: White shirt, black tie, black slacks. His proposal outfit minus the suit jacket, actually.
Me: Calvin Klein dress (Ross!), J. Crew Bouquet cardigan (ebay!), and the J. Crew bouquet flower sash. Eddie actually bought me the J. Crew belt for me for Christmas, hoping I could wear it with my dress, but unfortunately it'd look kind of weird since I have an empire waist. So I thought this would be a nice compromise. Eddie's mom bought me the flats at Nordstrom Rack (brand: Preview). I think if I did it over again, I would have worn heels, since they elongate the body and just make your legs look better. The full length shots of me in the dress aren't that great.

I had been hoping not to buy anything new for the e-shoot, since wedding costs are mounting anyway, but in the end wasn't happy with any of my dresses. You see, I tend to favor loose, flowy clothes, but I realized in my trying on various outfits that that look isn't always the most flattering in photos--it can tend to make you look bigger. So we did some last minute shopping the day before (right before a wedding we went to) and I found this dress at the Ross on Lake Ave. in Pasadena! Everything else was from our closets though. :)

Make-up: This too was an anxiety-wrought decision. I didn't want to do my own make-up for the shoot because I know that it makes such a big difference when you have a pro do it, especially for photos. However, I didn't want just anyone doing my make-up, and I didn't want it to be expensive. I also couldn't have the make-up artist who's doing my wedding day make-up do it because 1) she charges A LOT for e-session make-up, 2) she's out in Orange County, and there wouldn't have been enough time to drive there, and 3) she gave birth to a baby that very week. At first I thought that I'd just go to the Bobbi Brown counter at the Glendale Galleria (which is close to Oxy) and have it done by one of their make-up artists (make-up application is free if you buy three products). I admire Bobbi Brown's make-up philosophy (natural, you but better), but in the end, I just wasn't confident in having someone whose skills I couldn't see (none of the artists have portfolios to share) do my make-up, also having read some negative reviews of make-up counters on-line. Eventually I found Christina Yi on Project Wedding. Christina is based in Alhambra and is super sweet! She used to work for the well-known LA make-up artist Kelly Zhang but is starting out on her own. She is really young (she graduated high school the same year that I graduated from college), but she really did a great job and was really professional. I got a lot of compliments on my make-up! I highly recommend Christina to any of you who are still looking for your make-up artist or just want someone to make you up for a special event! She is really sweet and it's easy to have a relaxed conversation with her. That said, make sure to allot enough time for your make-up to get done. For my make-up alone (scroll down for hair info), it took over an hour and a half. I talked to some of my friends and this is normal... it just takes a while for make-up artists to work their magic!

Me pretending to be fierce. You can see my make-up pretty well in this photo, I think.

Sarah strongly suggested getting my make-up professionally done and having false eyelashes. I was really nervous about the latter because I had never had lashes applied before, but I asked for the lashes anyway, 'cause hey, I'm not the pro here. But I really dislike when they're super obvious looking in pictures, like some spider affixed itself to your eyeball. I thought it looked really fake and I had Christina cut it the shortest possible length. Looking at the photos, it really made a big difference, and didn't look fake at all.

Can you tell that I'm wearing false lashes?

Hair: I was really torn about hairstyling (do you see a pattern here?). I didn't really want to have it curled or whatnot since that is not how I wear my hair in real life. I had kind of settled on getting a blowout by my regular hairstylist, but then I found out that her salon is closed on Sundays. After I told her that I had been frantically looking around Yelp for other hairstylists (many of whom charged $45+ for a blowout!!), she very generously offered to come in just for me, but she could only make it at 3pm. I decided that this wasn't enough time, so Christina recommended Factory Hair Design in Alhambra. They did a blowout (ask for a blow dry) and trimmed my bangs for $18. I had gotten a haircut just the week before, but my bangs had grown A LOT since then. I'm glad that I went with this simple style because not only did it save me a lot of money, but it was a lot more "me" than getting my hair done up all fancy-like.

Sigh. Wish my hair looked like that all the time.

Nails: I thought (correctly) that there would be a few "hand shots" in the mix of things, so I decided to get a manicure. Before this, I had only gotten two manicures in my life: one at my eighth grade graduation, and once on a whim with my cousin at a mall while I was in college. I went to a Koreatown nail salon that I found on Yelp. I have to say that they did an awful job (plus they were really rude to all the non-Asian customers!) on my nails! I had to keep telling the lady to paint ALL of the nail (she wasn't doing the edges), and she cut my cuticles. Now I know that this is normal, and people do that, but my cuticles weren't that bad before, and two days after the manicure, they were AWFUL. There weren't too many "hand shots" in the proofs--coincidence? I'll try to find someplace better to go to for the pre-wedding manicure. :)

Maintenance: I also scheduled a few things close to when the e-session would be. I got my eyebrows threaded (if you don't know what that is, click here) at Wow Beauty Center, which I found on Yelp. I've been going there on and off for the past year, and I really like them. It's only $7 or 8 (can't remember) for the brows and they do a really quick, thorough job. What I like about them is that they don't charge you an initial shaping fee like so many places do. So that's why I don't go there very much. I just let my eyebrows grow out to bushy wilderness, then go again! :) I also took my e-ring in to Robbin's Brothers (the setting anyway), where Eddie purchased it, because they offer free lifetime cleaning. They made it look so much better (and it's dirty again now, sadly)! Here's a quick snap of it.

"Props": I kind of wanted to incorporate props, but not in such a way that they thematically took over the e-session or became a gimmick. I also wanted the props to relate to our relationship rather than be totally random. I came up with the idea of having macarons, since Eddie had macarons with him when he proposed to me (and we attempted to make them for our engagement party). Sarah thought that it'd be a great idea to shoot our rings on top of them, but I didn't have Eddie's on me, and we haven't picked out mine yet, so if I can remember, I'll try to get them for the getting ready photos. I actually went to Paulette in Beverly Hills after class on Friday to pick out an assortment of six. If you're curious, they are: earl grey, lychee (omg! delicious...), Colombian coffee, peach, Sicilian pistachio, and passion fruit. We also wanted to shoot with ice cream cones, inspired by this shoot by Stephanie Williams. Eddie wanted to actually bring a cooler with ice cream and cones, but I balked at that idea, insisting that we instead go to "The Cooler," which is kind of Oxy's student union, to just buy it. We almost forgot, but just as the light was running out, we ran in and grabbed a couple of ice cream cones.

Like how the macarons match our outfits?

And that, folks, was everything that went into our engagement session! I bet you didn't think it was this complicated! ;)

E-Session Photos: Film

2010-05-18T07:35:00.000-07:00

The disc of images that arrived last week also included some film images that Sarah (our photog) took. She has been trying to become a film photographer for some time now, and she experimented a little bit at our shoot. We didn't get a ton of the film images, and I didn't like them as much as the digital ones, but here are some for you to see!

Do you like digital or film photography better?

All photos by Sarah K. Chen. Please do not take or repost without crediting her.

If My Life Was a Korean Drama...

2010-05-17T06:46:00.000-07:00

We finally got our disc of images for our engagement session! We had already seen the digital prints (about 145 of them) online in a gallery, but now we can get started on various projects involving our photos! I'll post a few more up in the coming days, but here's one photo just for fun. A couple of weeks ago, Sam jokingly suggested a caption contest as a potential e-pic use. What he (probably) didn't know is that I actually had thought of that while looking through the gallery of proofs online. We started joking that one of the photos looked a lot like a Korean Drama advertisement, so we started coming up with funny names for it. Here it is:

Eddie's Korean Drama caption: "One More Time."

What's yours?

My Favorite Part...

2010-05-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited. We just scheduled our tasting for Lawry's in a couple of weeks! My parents are tagging along and we get to try 8 hors d'oeuvres options (we'll have three at our "cocktail hour") and 2 chicken and 2 fish entrees (guests will be able to choose between one chicken, one fish, and the prime rib option, which I'm sure 90% of the guests will choose). We'll also have a salad and dessert course, as well as a vegetarian option, but I'm not sure if we'll get to taste them. However, Eddie and I have already had these courses when we visited Lawry's in January, so we know that they're good.

Here are the hors d'oeuvres options.

Gougeres
Cajun crab stuffed pepperocini
Chipotle Meatballs
Shrimp on a Wonton Cracker with Asian Slaw
Salmon Roses with Mustard Dill Sauce
Tuna and Avocado Tartare with California Caviar on Sesame Wonton Crisps
Seared Ahi Tuna with a Wasabi Dipping Sauce
Spicy Avocado-Basil Bruschetta
Potato Pancakes with Creme Fraiche, Smoked Salmon and Red Onion
Chicken Yakitori with Scallions and Water Chestnuts
Teriyaki Chicken Skewers with Pineapple
Dates with Goat Cheese wrapped in Prosciutto
Goat Cheese Crostini with Blood Orange and Black Pepper MarmaladeSpanikopita
Savory Cheese and Tomato Tart
Potato Pancakes with Caviar and Creme Fraiche
Mini Quiches with Assorted Fillings
Mini Crabcakes with Remoulade Sauce
Thai Corn Fritters
New Potatoes with Creme Fraiche and Caviar
Cherry Mozzarella with Basil and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Chicken Samosas with Yogurt-Cilantro Dipping Sauce
Goat Cheese Purses with Caramelized Onions

We only get to taste 8 of them, and it was very difficult to choose which ones to taste. My parents, Eddie and I each chose two to taste (my picks: goat cheese crostini and prosciutto-wrapped dates). Unfortunately, we probably won't be able to taste the hors d'oeuvres options since we'll be taking the group formal shots during the cocktail hour. So the tasting is a great opportunity for me to actually enjoy the food (I hear you don't really get to eat much at your wedding...)! I look forward to posting pictures of the tasting as well. :)

Which ones would you choose?

100

2010-05-06T18:50:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to say that we are at the 100-day mark! Our wedding is rapidly approaching and while I am soooo excited to be getting married, time is running out!! But anyway, happy. :)

Here's some eye candy (and DIY instructions) to make up for lack of content. These pictures are from weddinggawker. Check it out for visual stimulation (as well as craftgawker and foodgawker).

Beautiful centerpiece idea from OnceWed:

DIY fondant cupcakes from The Inspired Bride:

I'm not that into ring shots, but this one is so clever! (via lunaphoto)

Ahhhh. SO CUTE. (via one love photo)

These are not from weddinggawker, but from Carol Hannah (Project Runway Season 6 runner-up):

Decisions, Decisions...

2010-05-05T07:17:00.000-07:00

During this engagement period, I've been asked many times by friends if they can help out with any wedding prep. Usually this offer is followed by, "You know, like.... stuffing envelopes or something." Well, the thing is, I don't really need help with making things for the next couple of months. But what is really the hardest thing for me is making decisions! A friend recently observed that when it comes to wedding-planning, the bulk of the planning really consists of making decisions, big and small. Which menu options should we offer? What color tie should the groomsmen wear? Which hotel should we stay in for our honeymoon (we're actually not staying in a hotel--more later about that)? Who should be in the wedding party? Who should marry us? What shoes should I wear on the wedding day? These are all things that I have stressed out about (or that I anticipate stressing out about) for WEEKS.

Eddie and I are both indecisive people, so this aspect of wedding planning (actually, it's not just an aspect, it's pretty much the entire thing!) is really difficult for both of us. I have this tendency to just pile up decisions and pretend that they don't exist, so I decided (hey now!) to make a decision every day until the bulk of the decision-making is done. I start to feel awful (physically as well) when I know I have a decision to make, but my friend pointed out to me that it can't hurt to lighten the load and get some of the decisions out of the way. I think that they will only pile up more and more, but maybe knowing that I can actually make some will help me soldier on for the rest.

If anyone would like to be my personal decision-maker, please let me know! ;)

But... What Do You DO with them??

2010-05-04T06:30:00.000-07:00

Nowadays, I don't know a ton of couples who haven't done e-pics. Often it's included with the wedding photography package, so there isn't really an excuse not to take them. Plus, they help you to build rapport with your photographer and it's great to have good pictures of yourself. But I've heard many people say, "But... what do you do with them??" Here are some ideas:

Change your Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and any other social networking site profile picture
newspaper announcement for your engagement
blow up life-size pictures of yourself for your future home. Then, while you walk down the halls, stop to admire your beauty and how photogenic you are
headshots for your burgeoning acting and/or modeling career
make wallet-sized prints and pass them out like your prom pictures with little notes on the back like "Stay Cool" or "K.I.T."

Ok, just kidding. (Although these are all uses I've seen for e-pics--nothing wrong with it!!) But here are some great uses for your e-pics. Don't let them go to waste!

Make an album of them for your parents. They can then carry them around and brag about them to their friends (literally- we are doing this for this purpose). If you sign up for MyPublisher, you can get a code for a free photobook with purchase of at least one album. The catch is that they must be identical albums, but this works since we are making them for our parents.
Make prints for your Save-the-Dates. We are also doing this... eventually.
Make a large print and display at your wedding (tradition for Asian weddings). You can display it in your house afterwards, or if it's embarrassing or garishly large, at your parents' house. Our package comes with an 8 x 11 print, so we're doing this.
Make an album of the pictures and use as a guestbook.
Use for as many wedding-related items as possible, including your wedding website, favor tags, invitations, etc.

I hope that we get our disc of images soon... there are 146 photos in all (not just the ones on the blog) in an online gallery (if you want to see them and know me in real life, you can e-mail me and ask for the link) but once we get all of those on disc, I do have a few blog posts I've pre-written about our experience but I need to fill in the pics. There were a lot of great ones! In the meantime, here are a few more from Sarah's blog:

What are you doing/did you do with pro pics of yourself?

An Unexpected Gift

2010-04-29T01:13:00.000-07:00

Since Eddie's mom was in Korea recently, she brought a few gifts from family friends and relatives with her (along with my hanbok) when she came to visit this past weekend. These included a tea set, some Korean money, and a very special little gift!

Here's the box it came in.

When my FMIL opened up the box, I was a little confused. A gold ring? I thought that maybe it was similar to the Chinese tradition of giving tons of gold jewelry to a couple on their wedding day.

Then she slid it onto my pinky and it only went up to the knuckle.

Eddie models the ring.

Eddie said, "Do you recognize that?" And I went, "Ohhhhh." In December, we had scanned the following photo of Eddie for use in a future slideshow:

I love this photo for so many reasons. 1) FAT BABY! 2) He's wearing a fluffy pink butterfly suit! 3) He's sitting on a throne, and 4) the gold baby rings! Yup, if you haven't figured it out yet, the gold ring is a gift for our future child. (Don't worry, there will be many more embarrassing photos of Eddie to come. There are embarrassing photos of myself too but I already uploaded them to Facebook so you can check that out if you like.)

Eddie tried to recreate that moment by 1) trying to look fat 2) putting the pink money purse on his lap and 3) sitting on my housemate's red futon.

I told my FMIL to hang onto the present for 4-5 years but she insisted on me keeping it.

When did/will your family start applying the pressure to have kids? ;)

E-Pics Blogged!

2010-04-27T07:05:00.000-07:00

Our photographer, Sarah K. Chen, just posted our e-pics to her blog! We lovelovelove them! Check 'em out here. (I have linked to the individual post. If you want to read her full blog, you can click here, but note that she has shot a bunch of boudoir photos lately so some of the images are NSFW.)

Ok, here's one of my faves:

What do you think?

Wedding Weekend Extravaganza!

2010-04-26T06:54:00.000-07:00

We had quite a whirlwind wedding weekend--a rather crazy 50 hours or so! Eddie's parents and sister were in town, and we definitely got a lot of wedding things done in that time. Here's what we did on Saturday (just one day!)--more to come in future posts:

had a meeting with the rehearsal dinner caterer
soon dubu lunch with Eddie's family and mine (second time our parents have met--the first was three years ago at our graduation)
went to the hanbok rental place
Eddie took his parents to the ceremony and reception venues
I went to my friend Sarah's bridal shower
we had a party with most of our wedding party to meet Eddie's family and, in some cases, each other, that featured Eddie's aunt's delicious kalbi (Korean shortribs), Korean tacos, and Rock Band (Eddie's parents didn't play :P)

I am pretty exhausted!! But the great news is that there is a ton of stuff to blog about! I'll start with what I have pictures of: hanboks!

I already posted some pictures earlier this year of my FMIL wearing the hanbok that she got me in Korea, but they brought it down with them and I tried it on in their hotel room in the morning.

As with the previous pictures, you kind of have to see it in person to know what it looks like--the color of the skirt is a lot more red looking. You may have to look a bit closer since it kind of blends in with the skirt, but there's also a matching purse. It is used to collect the money that we'll be given at the paebaek or by other guests. I joked that it camouflages with the skirt so that people won't be able to steal the money purse.

We also went to the paebaek rental store that our photographer suggested--it's the one she used when she got married in 2007 (Happy Anniversary, Sarah!). I'm not really sure what it's called, but the address is 952. S. Western Ave. and the phone number is (213) 427-0560. Here are a few peeks at the inside of the store. I love all the pretty colors!

Here are some pictures of us in the rental hanboks! Eddie was hesitant about wearing the male hanbok but I have to say it puts a smile on my face--especially that hat. :)

The rental (for the bride and groom's) is $150 (non-negotiable). They don't really do the full paebaek rentals (chestnuts, rice cakes, little cups for soju, etc.), but they said it'd be about $250 at another place so I think we're going to DIY--just buy at the grocery store and maybe try to find some of the other items elsewhere... These are only a few of the pieces pictured--there are 11 in all!! You can see our funny little hats. :) In case you're wondering (I was!) my hat (and Eddie's as well) stays on via a string that is worn behind my head, like a headband. However, I think it'll need to be pinned into place because it fell off pretty easily. You can see that the rental hanbok is quite short. That's because I wear the hanbok that Eddie's mom got me under that one. It'll be a pretty heavy get-up, all in all.

Getting all of this stuff together actually makes me more excited for the paebaek portion of our wedding. I think it'll be a lot of fun!

Have you ever been to a paebaek?

Anniversary Photo Shoots

2010-04-23T07:56:00.000-07:00

Eddie and I had so much fun during our e-shoot that afterwards I asked if we could do an anniversary shoot. :)

A few days before, I had seen this in my Google Reader: a 60th anniversary shoot by Jose Villa. Doesn't it just melt your heart?

See more here. And check out this adorable 30th anniversary shoot from our photographer, Sarah K. Chen!

Potty Training

2010-04-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

Recently a married male friend of mine (I don't think he reads this, but if he did, he's not the type to get upset over something like this) casually mentioned, "When I was sitting on the toilet..." (He was referring to peeing, not pooping.)

*wha...?*
I did a double-take.
Sitting?

After some questioning on my part, my friend mentioned that yes, he sits on the toilet to go pee. He started when he got married, because he didn't want to make a mess for his wife, who likes to keep the house neat.

"So men can be trained!" I exclaimed.

The next time I talked to Eddie, I mentioned our friends' bathroom habits. He was shocked and horrified that our friend would set such an example and make women think that a man would do that. He declared that he would stand, and that it would be very clean. Note that I did not actually ask if he would sit, just mentioned someone else who did.

The urinal at Roy's (one of the venues we were interested in), complete with TV over it. Eddie took MANY photos of this.

Would you change a major habit for your spouse/significant other?

How Sweet It Is To Be Loved...

2010-04-20T07:51:00.000-07:00

Here's another confession: I don't have a sweet tooth. I absolutely love to bake, but I just don't really care for sweets too much. I'd take a piece of meat (preferably barbecued-yum!) over a cupcake any day of the week. I do make an exception for ice cream, and I do occasionally like to indulge in little baked treats or my new obsession-macarons. So of course I wanted our wedding cake to be fabulous.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your perspective), dessert is already taken care of by our venue. Not only that, but it is rich and delicious! So having an additional wedding cake would be complete overkill. Thankfully, that saves us a thousand bucks or so. (Did you know? Wedding cake is expensive!!) But we may have a small cake just for us to cut. The jury's still out on that one, but if we do, it'll likely be either from King's Hawaiian Bakery or Porto's--both tasty and affordable bakeries. If you haven't been to either of these--run, don't walk and get yourself a slice of paradise cake (King's Hawaiian) and a potato ball or fruit tart (Porto's).

Cake by Porto's Bakery (from wedding planner Angel Swanson's fabulous Love and Splendor blog)

King's Hawaiian Cake (at a wedding at Oxy!) from Weddingbee

Last week, I mentioned my friends E + C's fabulous dessert buffet. I have to say that if we didn't have cake provided, I would have 100% gone that route. It was a huge hit at our friends' wedding, plus Porto's (which makes the best mini desserts!) sells mini dessert platters for 24 for $24! Here are some inspiring dessert tables:

These gorgeous dessert tables were created for Brides magazine by Amy Atlas:

From Something Old, Something New

Mini Dessert Table from My Sweet and Saucy (images by Amelia Lyon)

Drool. Although I'm a pretty good baker, I'm not that good at decorating baked goods. So I'm particularly excited about the frosting tip set that I registered for! :) Maybe by that time one of my close friends will have a baby or get engaged and I can make a dessert table for their shower. ;)

Other fun ideas include: cake as centerpiece (mentioned here), cookie buffets, and candy buffets.

A collaboration between The Inspired Bride and Bake It Pretty, images by Michael Haug, featured on Style Me Pretty Did you notice how it goes perfectly with our wedding? Trying to find a way to re-create this even though it's oh-so-unnecessary....

What's the best wedding dessert(s) you've ever had?

Wedding Shoes FAIL

2010-04-19T07:03:00.000-07:00

I know that I am really behind and I need to get my dress altered, but I know that it's also really important to have shoes before going in for alterations. So I've been on the hunt for shoes for a while now, but it's been hard. I have seen many wedding blogs posts in which the bride's shoes are an integral part of the day.

This bride even designed her own shoes! From Style Me Pretty.

I know so many women who absolutely LOVE shoes. I am not one of those women. You can usually find me in flip-flops or my K-Swiss sneakers that I got in 2004. Most of my dress shoes are falling apart because I really can't stand shoe shopping. I know, crazy right? Of course, I do love looking at beautiful shoes, but I don't love shopping for them for myself. This is because 1) I am cheap and don't want to spend a lot, 2) I am very picky about shoes and 3) I don't want heels over 3" tall. Not only can I not walk in sky-high heels to save my life, but I don't want to be taller or the same height as Eddie (he's about 4 inches taller)! However, I don't want to wear flats because there is definitely a noticeable difference in the way I carry myself and my posture when I wear heels. It's been a very difficult journey as I've tried to find shoes that suit my many criteria!

Here are a few of the shoes that I thought were pretty, but dismissed for various reasons.

(Slightly) too tall. But too expensive (even though these are knock-offs of the fab Louboutin Mount Street sandals):

Martinez Valero "Corrine" Sandal

Too expensive. WAY too tall:

Badgley Mischka "Caroline"

Gold (I don't like wearing gold shoes). Doesn't come in my size (7.5).

Nina "Ulexa"

I actually saw both pewter and blue versions (yay!) of this at DSW for under $50 (yay again!), but it is just WAY TOO TALL. I could barely stand up!

Nine West "Janika"

Too expensive. Too tall.

Badgley Mischka "Randall"

Too expensive:

J. Crew "Jillian" Strappy Kitten Heels

Too tall:

BP Platinum "Petal" Evening Sandal

I've also been thinking about buying relatively simple/plain shoes and dressing them up with shoe clips (like these), but I'm not really good at noticing super simple clothing items and accessories. My eye always gets drawn to the fun details, like the above shoes.

I'm really at a loss when it comes to this. If I can't find anything soon I'll probably just wear the shoes that I wore as a bridesmaid in my cousin's wedding. Do you have a go-to place for shoe shopping?

Commerce Flowers, Part II

2010-04-14T06:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Eddie and I had our second consultation at Commerce Flowers. Although a little scatterbrained and unorganized, they are so nice and accommodating! They made a sample of a bridesmaid bouquet and a centerpiece for us to look at and we went over the proposal and suggested changes.

Here's the centerpiece. Instead of buying expensive and rare blue mason jars, the florist dyed the water in the centerpiece blue, creating the same effect. Loved it!

I wasn't really thrilled with it because the yellow in some of the flowers made it look dingy, and it was too tight (not really the organic fresh-from-the-garden look that I had been hoping for). I also was disappointed that he had put roses in, because I had specifically stated that I didn't want roses. Eddie also didn't like the peachy color of the roses.

But the whole purpose of making the samples for us is so that we could see what the final product would look like and have changes made! So here's what the centerpiece looked like after he took the yellow flowers out and loosened the whole thing up. He also replaced the peach roses with pink ranunculus, but I don't have a picture. :(

Here's the bridesmaid bouquet.

After that we picked ribbon to tie around the bouquets and used pearl pins. I elected to have a "half wrap" with loose stems because I felt that it seemed more natural that way. Here I am modeling the bouquet (this also gives you an idea of the size). I like this size because it's not super heavy but it doesn't look really tiny.

Ugh, that is such a bad picture of me! I've been too busy to shower and put on makeup. ;)

And these are some of the orchids that will be used in corsages for my mom's aunts. We have kind of a hierarchy when it comes to corsages/boutonnieres: 1) Parents, 2) Grandparents, 3) Our Aunts and Uncles, and 4) My mom's aunts and uncles (I don't think my dad's or Eddie's parents' aunts and uncles will be there.

They remind me of cotton candy. =)

What are your favorite flowers?

Those Who Went Before Me...

2010-04-13T07:03:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Eddie and I attended the wedding of two friends from church. The wedding was held at a small ranch in the Inland Empire, and the reception was a mile or so away in the mother of the bride's insanely gorgeous backyard. It was definitely one of the most fun and beautiful weddings I've been to (and the food was delicious!). It got me thinking about the many weddings I've been to over the years. I've always gone to a lot of weddings because I have a pretty big family and I went to a big church. However, I didn't really start to think about specific details (more like "Where's the food?") until my roommate got married to her now-husband the summer after my junior year of college. At that point, Eddie and I had been together for almost two years, and that was the first friends' weddings I'd been to (as opposed to my parents' friends).

Us at said wedding (in 2006). I actually think we look pretty much the same.

It was at that point that I started to notice certain elements at the weddings I went to and wonder how I was going to do that when I got married. Since then, I've been to plenty of friends' weddings, and these are a few of the tips I've learned and cool details I've noticed*:

Charissa and G's wedding had so many simple, budget-friendly, and creative ideas (just like Charissa)! Theirs was the first in which I saw the (now trendy) idea of having bridesmaids wear their own black dresses. Charissa unified the look (since the dresses were different, and there were probably other girls in black dresses at the wedding) by making purple sashes for the bridesmaids to wear. Another neat idea from Charissa's wedding were their cake centerpieces. This was helpful in several ways. First of all, small cakes are usually cheaper than a large tiered cake. Secondly, you don't have to get flower centerpieces--those things take up a huge chunk of the flower budget. Lastly, the guests can eat cake whenever they want instead of waiting for people to serve it to them.
My cousin and her husband were able to take a ginormous guest list and still make the wedding feel personalized and fun. Her husband J actually serenaded Vir with "their song," Jack Johnson's "Better Together" (love that song!) and it's actually where Eddie got the idea to learn guitar for his (2.5 years later) proposal to me.
E + C's wedding was the first (and one of the only) wedding I've been to that had the ceremony and reception at the same place. It was so convenient not to have to drive anywhere between the ceremony and reception! That was one of the things that I was looking for when it came to venues, but alas, it was not meant to be. E + C also had a dessert buffet in lieu of a traditional cake, an idea that was super popular with the guests and that I'd be all over if it weren't for the fact that our menu comes with dessert (and a darn good one at that).
M + E's (see Eddie in one of the pictures as a groomsman!) wedding had satellite flower centerpieces, which are small centerpieces scattered around the table rather than one large centerpiece. Because M + E are such big fans of beer, they bought a keg of a delicious local brew.
B + E's wedding is the only one I've been to that didn't serve a meal (they had a reception with heavy hors d'oeuvres). And you know what? Everyone was totally fine with it and they paid only a fraction of the cost of a full meal!

*Note: Just because I didn't mention your wedding above doesn't mean that it was boring or uninspired. These are just the things that popped into my head first!
And here are some of the things that I've learned from weddings that haven't gone 100% smoothly (and trust me, none of them do). I'll keep these anonymous:

Toasts and speeches always, always need to be written out, even if you don't plan on reading from them. I've heard one too many rambly best man speeches.
Even on a hot summer day, outdoor weddings can get pretty windy, so no open flames or little pieces of paper lying out.
Don't spend too much on favors, because 50% of the guests will leave them behind when they leave.
If you're doing an iPod wedding, set the music to cross-fade so that there aren't awkward 5-second pauses in between songs for the dancing.

I'm going to a mind-boggling five weddings this year (not counting my own)! Of course I'll be noticing the details that the brides (and grooms!) invested so much time into, and I'll try to blog about them if I remember to bring my camera and get the couple's permission.

What were some of your favorite things about friends' weddings that you've been to?

Jetsetter

2010-04-12T07:42:00.000-07:00

I alluded to Jetsetter in my post about Gilt Groupe. As a Gilt member, you are automatically signed up for a Jetsetter membership. Like Gilt, Jetsetter is a sample sale site for luxury goods, in this case luxury hotels. Unlike Gilt, you cannot return your purchase for a refund. They have a pretty good mix of international and domestic hotels available.

We actually booked two nights at Le Montrose Hotel in West Hollywood (1.7 miles from our reception site) through Jetsetter for a great deal! We're getting an executive suite (which can fit up to 4 people) for the night before and the night of the wedding. The thought is that (some of) the bridesmaids (I figure whoever wants to, I don't really expect that everyone would) can stay there the night of and have a little sleepover! The downside of Le Montrose is that the parking is pretty expensive and I don't think you can park on the street, since it's West Hollywood, so I'm not totally sure if we will get ready there or just get ready at the church (which has a pretty huge bridal room, actually). Anyway, here are some pictures that I took from the hotel website:

Fun fact: While I was looking up images of the hotel on Google Images, I discovered that K. Fed and some of the Twilight actresses stayed at Le Montrose... Um. Yay?

Sales on Jetsetter last for about a week. Unlike Gilt, there is not really any danger of sales getting snapped up within 10 minutes. (Guess vacations aren't exactly an impulse buy like a pair of jeans might be!) Here are some of the current active sales:

Bryant Park Hotel - NYC
The Mayfair - Miami
The Surf Lodge - Montauk
Cottages at Persimmon Creek (Vineyard Estate) - Georgia
Six Senses Ninh Van Bay - Vietnam
Ka'ana Resort - Belize
Parrot Cay - Turks and Caicos

If you want an invite, you can use my personal invitation link here.

Have you ever used Jetsetter?

Finding a Photographer, Pt. III: Inspiration

2010-04-09T07:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this is technically after you've found your photographer...

I'm excited to say that Sarah K. Chen is shooting our wedding (and our e-pics on Sunday)! I have been a fan of hers for a long time now, but sadly had to shelve her information since I knew it'd be a while 'til we got engaged. Confession: I actually contacted her a few weeks before we got engaged (but we didn't actually sign the contract until a couple of months after the engagement)! I was a little nervous to meet with her, because she was such a beautiful bride (check her wedding out here), but she made us feel really comfortable and it was great to chat with her. (Yes. I get intimidated by beautiful people.)

We met with her in person and I thought it would be a good idea to bring in some photos to show her what we're looking for. We did bring in a few photos from other photographers, but we mostly brought in her photos. I feel like showing other photographers' images and asking someone to recreate them is a little like a photographer showing pictures of other clients and asking us to look like them. Anyway, these are a few of the images we showed her. It should give you an idea of her style as well.

I'm not really sure if this was helpful to Sarah when we met with her, mainly because we weren't really able to articulate why we liked certain pictures. ("Uhh... this one is.... nice....") I think it was helpful for us though!

Registry Choices

2010-04-06T06:20:00.000-07:00

We just started registering this past weekend! I actually really enjoy wedding registries. When I was little, my dad and I would go to the registry kiosk at Macy*s and see if anyone we knew was registered while my mom shopped. We also would check our own names and names of everyone else we knew to see if there was another Jessica {last name} getting married as well. I'll share a little bit about how we decided (and are still deciding!) on where to register.

These are a few of the things we were looking for:

A variety of price points
For brick-and-mortar stores, close proximity (within 30 mi) of every guest. This means locations in LA, the Bay Area, Spokane, and Phoenix.
Ability to register for non-home gear, such as board games.
A store that carries furniture is a plus as well.
Good return policy. I was very adamant about not wanting to register for anything we didn't actually want, but I know that often guests will forget to bring the registry print-out to the register to be scanned, or employees will forget to scan it in. There are also plenty of machine errors that can result in duplicates. For this reason, it was very important that we be able to return items easily.

Amazon

Pros: Free shipping on orders over $25, selection on non-wedding items, greater variety of products than in brick-and-mortar stores.

Cons: online only, making it a little difficult to return items.

Bed Bath and Beyond

Pros: Helpful and knowledgable staff, reasonable prices, nearly everyone can get their hands on those little 20% off coupons!, 10% off completion incentive, incentives for registering for certain products (I didn't think I'd really register for that much of one product though)

Cons: Hard to use web registry, atrocious gift-wrapping

Crate and Barrel

Pros: Can return gifts for cash, 10% completion discount (but must be used within 90 days of the wedding, and can only be used one time).

Cons: Don't usually have sales, coupon codes, or store coupons available.

Macy*s
Pros: People really seem to like purchasing gifts from there, things often go on sale and there are newspaper coupons, china selection, 10% completion discount (but must be used within 90 days of the wedding, I believe)

Cons: I've read some reviews about the online registry not working well, items sometimes go out of stock quickly

Target

Pros: Large selection on non-wedding items, most people are near a Target, pretty good price points

Cons: Return policy doesn't allow for returns without a receipt, flimsy packaging for shipped items

We decided to register at Amazon, because of the variety of options they have and the fact that most items are discounted. We'd register for most things there for this reason, but I realize that most people enjoy going into the store and picking something else (plus most of the older relatives are probably distrustful of online shopping). It was also easy to choose Bed Bath and Beyond. I really love that store and if one of my friends is registered there, I try to buy the gift from there (mainly so that I can use their coupons!). However, we also wanted to choose a third store to register for (casual) china, flatware, and bedding, since we didn't really like the options at Bed Bath and Beyond (and to have variety for the guests). We're still trying to decide between Crate and Barrel and Macy*s. When shopping for wedding gifts, which store do you prefer to shop in?

Where do you like to shop for wedding presents?

Fun Facts About Eddie

2010-04-05T07:04:00.000-07:00

I didn't really have time this weekend to write posts, so enjoy some fun facts about Eddie that I wrote up for our wedding website. Since a pretty good percentage of guests will have never met Eddie, I thought it was a good idea to write an "about the couple" section and some little blurbs about each of us. I decided to write some "fun facts" for Eddie. I wanted to do 5, but I thought of 6 and I couldn't bear to take one out!

1. Eddie spent the first five years of his life living in Anchorage, Alaska. Contrary to popular belief, he did not live in an igloo.
2. Eddie's middle name is "Ralph." He is named after Edward Ralph Kennison.
3. Eddie loves McDonald's Filet-o-Fish and even started a Facebook group called "FACT: Koreans love Filet-o-Fish!"
4. Eddie is left-handed.
5. Eddie was an extra in the independent film "Finishing the Game," about the attempt to finish the film "The Game of Death" after Bruce Lee's untimely death. Eddie played a Bruce Lee stand-in hopeful.
6. A young Eddie was once featured as a child model in an Egghead computer catalog.

And here's a photo of Eddie that we scanned last time we were in Spokane!

I couldn't think of any fun facts about myself, though. I don't really feel like I'm very interesting! Can you think of any (if you know me IRL)?

The Hidden Costs of Weddings

2010-04-02T06:50:00.000-07:00

The thing about weddings is that they're just so darn complicated! Like I said before, they're not just gigantic birthday parties because there are so many factors to consider. I was talking to my roommate, who's in a wedding next week, about the things that a lot of people forget to budget for.

The bride and groom's meals: When doing your guest counts, don't forget to count yourself!
Vendor meals: It is expected that you pay for the vendors' meals and give them a meal break. It only seems fair to feed them since they are often spending over 8 hours straight on their feet. After all, I'd want them to be alert when working the wedding. However, most catering companies and venues have vendor options, which are less fancy and expensive, that you can opt for for the vendors. I think that we'll probably just go with a nicer option though since the only vendors who will likely be present are the photographer and second shooter (and maybe a day-of-coordinator--haven't decided on that one yet).
Tax and gratuity: This is a big one. I actually seriously considered some OC vendors because their sales tax was so much less than LA County's (LA: 9.75%, OC: 8.25%). Well, I did end up hiring two OC vendors (photographer and hair & make-up artist), but it had more to do with their skills than the fact that they were from the OC! Since tax is nearly ten percent in LA County, a couple could conceivably be spending thousands of dollars on tax alone. Gratuity is also a commonly unbudgeted item. It's something that I knew about, but I hadn't thought about how much it was! For catering (which comprises over 50% of our budget!!), 18% is a standard. That is a HUGE amount of money!! There were a few caterers that I talked to who did not require gratuity, however. In all cases, it is appreciated, but it is not required for vendors who own their own businesses. Needless to say, I had to adjust my budget on that one.
Alterations and accessories: The price of a wedding dress can often double when it comes to expensive alterations. And nearly everyone needs to get their dress altered, unless you're model-height. Also, accessories, such as veils, shoes, jewelry, and that scary underwear (see Bridget Jones' Diary) that makes you look thinner all cost $$.
Set-up and delivery: Delivery and set-up can be hundreds of dollars for flowers, cake, and other rentals.

Were there any hidden costs that surprised you?

Eddie's Wedding Band

2010-04-01T07:39:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, Eddie's ring came in the mail! I documented the entire process. :) Sorry for the crappy quality of the photo, I was too excited to keep my hands still!

The box.

The ring IN the box.

And the ring on his finger! A little background: I'm not going to link to the exact ring, but it's a tungsten carbide ring. You can't really tell from the picture, but it's a 6mm ring with brushed metal in the center. Eddie picked it out himself-- there is a little video of the ring spinning 360 degrees on the website, and Eddie would watch it often to make sure he liked it. It's actually a bit darker than it looks on the website, and it's also a little loose (maybe a 1/2 or 1/4 size too big?), but Eddie really likes it and we still have time to return it if we wished to do so (it'd be a 10% restocking fee though).

We also went wedding band shopping last Saturday! I loved seeing all of the couples shopping for engagement rings. It made me happy to see couples about to get engaged. :) I'm not really sure what I want for myself, but I'll be sure to blog it when I do end up picking something!

Speaking of Paebaeks...

2010-03-31T07:35:00.000-07:00

Found this while scanning old pictures for a wedding slideshow!

Fall 1994 at Children's Fairyland in Oakland

These are the traditional Korean wedding outfits that Eddie and I will don on our wedding day! Little did my parents know when this picture was taken that I would marry a Korean-American man. Pretty funny coincidence, don't you think?

Venue Questions

2010-03-30T08:33:00.000-07:00

By now all of you know all about our struggle to find a venue. Here are a few questions that we asked potential venues on our search along the way. As I mentioned previously, these are just guidelines. There will be other questions that will be applicable to your situation, and some of these won't be applicable. It all depends on your wedding and the venues your communicating with! Obviously, you'll want to first ask if the venue is available on your date and if it can fit your guest count (many, many venues were eliminated on that basis). You'll also want to ask about rates. Make sure to find out about any hidden fees (I know of a venue that charges an ICE fee!)!

Religious Ceremony Venues:
Do you have any photography restrictions? If so, what are they?
Do you have any floral restrictions? If so, what are they?
Are we required to use the officiant provided by the church? Can we use our own officiant?

Ceremony and/or Reception Venues:
Do the rates vary depending on the day or the time? (You can often get a venue for half the price or more by having your wedding on a Friday, Sunday, or Saturday lunch! Basically, any time aside from Saturday evening is often cheaper.)
Do you provide a ceremony AND reception site? If so, is there an additional fee?
What rentals are included with the wedding package? (Some venues did not provide anything, including bathrooms, while with a few others, you don't need to bring anything in at all.)
How long is the venue available for? When can we come in to start setting up, and when do we have to leave?
Do you schedule other weddings on our date? Are they at the same time as our wedding?
How much parking is available? Is there free parking available (and how close is it)? If not, is there an option for us to host the parking for the guests? (This was very important to us, as we are not really fans of guests having to pay for parking at weddings.)

Reception Venues:
Are there "preferred caterers?" Is there a separate charge for bringing in outside caterers?
Can we bring in our own alcohol? Is there a corkage fee?
Are there music/sound restrictions? (How late/loud can we play music? Do you allow amplified music? etc.)
How many staff will be on hand for my event?
Do we need to bring in our own sound/AV equipment (projectors, amps, etc.)? If not, what is included with the wedding package?
Is the venue air-conditioned? (or heated, for winter weddings)

We Got Socks!

2010-03-29T06:56:00.000-07:00

Merona grey and teal socks, purchased on Saturday at the Target in the Glendale Galleria for $2.50 a pop (used a gift card). Pretty perfect, if I do say so myself.

Now we just have 323409239 more things to do for the wedding...

Friday Inspiration: Stripes

2010-03-26T07:09:00.000-07:00

I think I've mentioned before that I want our wedding to have a playful feel, since that is the nature of our relationship. And since our ceremony is in a fancy church and our reception is in a fancy restaurant, I feel like I want to counteract that, if you will, with some fun details. Something that has been catching my eye lately is stripes! I'm not really much for patterns when it comes to clothes, but striped elements seem so fun and clean!

Barbershop straws. Our venue provides plain black straws (see photo here), but wouldn't it be a fun touch to have striped barbershop straws? And they come in gray stripes and teal stripes!

Images: Flickr, OnceWed (bad crop by me)

Twine

Divine Twine, Style Me Pretty (last two images)

Doesn't that twine match our colors perfectly? And I love that invitation suite. Love the graphics, love the twine, love the address labels. Love that wedding, actually.

What I love about these elements is that although they are totally unnecessary, they're really cute and aren't *that* expensive in the long run but provide tons of visual impact. Looking at these pictures makes me feel happy!

Cultural Traditions: Paebaek

2010-03-25T06:51:00.000-07:00

Perhaps it's time for me to tell you a little bit about the cultural ceremonies. As I've mentioned before, we are planning on having a paebaek, or Korean ceremony, after the reception (it will be optional, and our guests can just leave beforehand or hang out in the dining room if they want to--it'll be in an adjacent room). Traditionally, the paebaek is held at the groom's parents house, but since that's not exactly practical (group caravan flight to Spokane, anyone?), I thought it'd be nice to have it at Lawry's after the reception, so that everyone can watch. It would also be nice to have some familiar faces around, in addition to Eddie's relatives from Korea, whom I've never met before. After all, I have never seen a paebaek (and neither has Eddie) and cultural wedding traditions are so beautiful and interesting!

I've done a lot of research (I probably know a lot more about paebaeks than Eddie does, actually), but I'm sure I've gotten some of this wrong, so any Koreans, please correct me on this if you see anything that looks wrong!

The Attire

Mrs. Martini, Weddingbee (photos by Cly Creation)

The bride and groom are both clad in elaborate hanboks, although nowadays the groom will often just wear a nice suit. Only royalty were allowed to wear colored hanboks, and weddings were the exception to the rule for commoners. My FMIL already bought my hanbok in Korea, but I need to rent the "gear" that goes over it in Koreatown. This gear consists of: a large robe worn over the hanbok, a hat (similar to the crown of a royal), a large hair pin/stick that goes through your updo with a sash that goes down on either side of your head, and a piece of cloth held over your hands (see below for what this is for). The groom's attire consists of a hanbok and a large black hat. I know that the groom's hanbok isn't really in style anymore, but I really want Eddie to wear one, because I just think it's weird if the non-Korean is clad in traditional Korean clothing while the Korean isn't!

Drinking Up

Paebaek--The Weddingbee Wiki

In many respects, the paebaek is quite similar to a tea ceremony. Here's a rundown of how it works. A table is laid out with lots of Korean appetizers and tea or soju (Korean rice wine). The purpose of this ceremony is to honor the groom's parents, who the bride and groom would go to live with traditionally. The bride and groom's helpers pour the soju into cups for them to drink (the bride only pretends to drink, as it would be unladylike to drink on her wedding day). Then the bride and groom offer soju to each of the honorees (close relatives) there. Each honoree will impart wisdom for the couple's future. They will also give the bride and groom cash gifts.

Bowing
The bride and groom bow in different ways. The bride brings the back of her hands to her forehead, and slowly kneels down with holding that position, until eventually her hands touch the floor. The groom slowly kneels, and places his hands on the floor, then lowers his body and head until they are touching the floor. There is lots of bowing in the paebaek ceremony to honor all of the relatives. The groom's father sits on the east side of the room, and the mother on the west. The bride bows to them four times, showing loyalty to the family. She then presents small gifts of food to the relatives. And since the bride's hanbok is so heavy, she usually requires two attendants to help her bow so that she does not topple over!

Dates and Chestnuts

Mrs. Martini, Weddingbee (photos by Cly Creation)

Each of the parents and grandparents take a turn trying to throw dates and chestnuts into the bride's embroidered cloth or skirt. As you may have already guessed, these symbolize the number of children the couple will have (dates being girls, and chestnuts, boys). Judging from their current unbridled desire for grandchildren, I think that Eddie's parents will be very zealous in their chestnut and date throwing!

Piggy-back Ride

Mrs. Gummi Bear, Weddingbee (photo by Ian Martin Photography)

At the end of paebaek, the groom gives his mother a piggyback ride around the table (or around the room, depending on how much of a production you want this to be and how strong the groom is), followed by his new wife. I suppose this is to symbolize his shift in responsibility of caring for his wife instead of his mother, but I think it might just be an entertaining photo op!

Sources: The Knot, Cal State LA, Wedding Details, Weddingbee Wiki, Eating Korean (Cecelia Hae-Jin Lee), Timeless Traditions (Lisl M. Spangenberg)

I hope that this was interesting to read about! I really want to make a program for the paebaek so that our guests won't be in the dark while it's happening. However, I don't really want to make two separate programs, one for the ceremony, and one for the paebaek, since that seems expensive and wasteful. Should I skip the ceremony program? Or put the paebaek info on the regular program and hope the guests don't lose it between the ceremony and reception?

Bridesmaid Dress Love #2: Jenny Yoo

2010-03-24T07:11:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know that I am drawing this out way more than I should and just show you the dang bridesmaid dresses, but I actually have a good reason for not posting the actual bridesmaid dresses here. We have settled on a bridesmaid dress together, but then I started to freak out and think, "Oh my gosh! What if it's nothing like how it looks in the picture? What if it's... GREEN?!?" (Not that green is ugly, but it just wouldn't match the color scheme.) So I am dragging this out and I will inspect the actual dresses sometime this week to give me some peace of mind. I am sure that the bridesmaids are waiting very patiently as well. ;)

Anyway, as I mentioned before, I started looking for bridesmaid dresses pretty early in the game. I wanted to make sure that it was something that everybody liked and felt comfortable wearing, and, if possible, something that could be worn again (although in many cases that is just a pipe dream). And as I mentioned earlier, I wanted different dresses in the same fabric since each girl is very different (style and body type). So I decided to look at designers that had a wide range of styles and a lot of fabric choices. While looking through the gallery on The Knot, I came across this beauty and immediately fell in love:

(Jenny Yoo Phoebe)

This particular dress (Phoebe) is a bit too low-cut (doesn't it look like it's about to fall off??), I think, but if you look at the Eastern Shantung dresses, every single one of them is totally stylish and adorable. The color (Casper Blue) was just what I wanted. And $300+. Wheeze.

Jenny Yoo's Eastern Shantung Dresses (click to see all of them!), from Style Me Pretty

My cousin (who is also a bridesmaid) is super generous and said that she would totally buy it, but I said, "You know what? I wouldn't." I just didn't feel comfortable with the price tag and I was pretty sure that at least some of the bridesmaids wouldn't be either.

So it was back to the drawing board!

Was there anything that was just perfect but didn't fit your budget at all?

V.I. K. = Very Important Kitchenware

2010-03-23T07:02:00.000-07:00

Normally, it is most practical to complete your registry 1-2 months before your first shower. However, we are probably going to register next month because registering is just too irresistible! (Eddie, like most men, is looking forward to playing with the scanner gun.)

Let me tell you, I have looked forward to registering for kitchenware for quite some time. It's no secret that I love to cook and bake. Making something delicious is the second most satisfying sensation I know (the first is eating it!). However, it can be a little frustrating when the process is not as streamlined as it could have been. I try to be resourceful but there are some projects that you just need the right tools for. I have attempted to roll out croissant dough for a good half hour without a rolling pin. I have "mashed" sweet potatoes with a fork for two hours. I also try to borrow pans and tools as much as I can.

Ever since we got engaged, I have been compiling a list of registry items and researching the best brands for them in a Google document. However, there are a few kitchen appliances that I absolutely LOVE, but have been waffling about for a while. They aren't things that I absolutely need. I could definitely make do without them, and/or find a more inexpensive brand. Besides, we do want to try to live simply. But some of this stuff is so awesome!

For me, the Holy Grail of kitchen appliances was--no, IS, the KitchenAid stand mixer.

From Macy*s

Seriously, I swoon every time I see it. It's just so... sexy. (Sorry.) But it's definitely expensive enough that I wouldn't just scoop it up at Bed Bath and Beyond, even with a 20% off coupon. And I feel a bit guilty about asking for it as well. I have talked about the KitchenAid Stand Mixer (said with such importance that you can tell I'm capitalizing) for a few years now. I thought about whether I should register for it for a while (before I was engaged), but I've decided not to. It wasn't really a decision to be honest. It was actually a stroke of luck. Two good friends of mine moved to Thailand last summer and had to put all of their stuff into storage. Knowing that they had a KitchenAid (theirs was actually the first I ever used... and it was glorious), I asked them a few leading questions ("So.... are you putting all your stuff into storage? What about your KitchenAid? Oh, I guess I could take it if you really want....") and I ended up keeping it at least for the next two years (the length of their commitment to their current jobs). Then, last month, my mom revealed that she had been saving up her Costco credits to purchase the KitchenAid for me. How sweet! Maybe I'll find something else to get. :)
(Sidenote: I actually know someone who has a compartment in their kitchen built especially for the KitchenAid stand mixer. It's so totally awesome.)

A dutch oven is commonly used to braise meat and make stew, and its best quality is the ability to go from stove to oven (baked pasta dishes anyone). My mom and I were in the Le Creuset outlet store the other day and they have these dutch ovens with special lids that make the steam "rain" onto the meat so you don't have to baste at all! And the most coveted line of dutch ovens is made by Le Creuset. A big complaint about them is that they are too heavy. That's why you'll often see them on Craigslist--someone has purchased them but they are too heavy to keep lifting from stove to oven to sink to cupboard. Honestly, if I had one, I'd make it work (I made the KitchenAid work in a tiny kitchen with minimal counter space, didn't I?). If anything, I could just sit and stare at it, my head propped onto my fists as I gaze in awe of its beauty.

(J.C. Penney)

It's just so. Dang. Pretty. But they're definitely expensive. I know people who have gotten them from Craigslist, garage sales, and Marshalls. I thought about suggesting that people could get it from those sources (because I just want one, any one, it doesn't have to be a shiny new one), but don't know how to do it in a way that doesn't sound a) greedy or b) result in me getting a ton of them.

(Zojirushi Rice Cooker)

Honestly, I don't think that our Asian guests would blink an eye at this one. But I think the idea of a fancy rice cooker is quite foreign to a lot of people. Heck, I think even Alton Brown is anti-rice cooker because he's so staunchly against unitaskers. The more sophisticated rice cookers can sense the difference between brown rice and white rice. My future mother-in-law can make that brown and white rice mixture, but when I try that in my rice cooker it's pretty gross. The best rice cookers also have "fuzzy logic," which help it to determine when the rice is perfectly cooked. Of course we're definitely registering for a rice cooker, but we may not register for a Zojirushi (and definitely not one of the top models). They're pretty great though.

(All-Clad D5 Pans)

Eddie and I saw the All-Clad D5 pans in a Williams-Sonoma catalog (Eddie and I purchased a wedding present from Williams-Sonoma a few months back so Eddie gets the catalog now) recently and couldn't stop staring at them. They're soooo cool! They feature three layers of stainless-steel and two layers of aluminum coated with nonstick. They're also oven safe. They are also over $1500 for a set... We definitely will not be registering for these. I tried to look for them on Craigslist but they are too new to be out in the "pre-owned" market just yet.

Another registry splurge may be for good knives. You do not want dull knives, because they are actually more dangerous than sharp ones, and good knives, when properly cared for, will last your whole life. You can shoot me an email if you want some recommendations, but in general you should look for knives with a full tang (the blade extends throughout the handle).

Do you have any "registry splurges?" What is your registering philosophy (more is more? good quality? inexpensive price points?)?

E-Pic Locations

2010-03-22T07:11:00.000-07:00

I am so very excited to say that we will be taking engagement pics on April 11th at Oxy! In a lot of ways, I have been looking forward to taking e-pics more than I have been looking forward to the actual wedding pictures. I think it's because we've been together for five and a half years and we don't really have any "good" photos of us. I kind of always wanted to take pro photos together but decided to wait until we were engaged to do so. Also, you can take engagement photos in a place that feels very "you" and wear your own clothes, which are usually more comfortable than a wedding dress and suit!

We decided to take photos at Oxy, since it's our alma mater. If it weren't for the food restrictions (you have to use their catering if you get married there, and while Oxy food is pretty good, we just thought we weren't far enough removed from student life to do that), I think we'd both have been excited to get married there for the sentimental value. So the next best thing was to take our e-pics there!

While I've seen tons of UCLA engagement photos out there in the wedding photography blogs, I haven't seen any at Oxy, so I'm excited to do that. Oxy is really a beautiful campus--it's really green with lovely Spanish architecture! And it's been featured in the films Clueless (as Beverly Hills High) and Orange County (as Stanford), among many others! However, it seems that so many couples take their e-pics at their alma mater, so I did think a lot about whether we should do it there or do something a bit more unique. In the end, I think that the sentimental value definitely won out, and we decided to take our pics at Oxy. We do hope to capture some more "urban"-looking shots as well, as I think that's more of who we are as people. However, if we weren't taking e-pics at Oxy, there are a few places that we probably would have gone to instead.

LACMA

I love this shoot by Amelia Lyon at LACMA with their famous lampposts. It's iconic LA but also very modern and interesting. If we can fit it into our schedule, though, we still may take wedding portraits there, because it's actually quite close to the wedding venue(s)!

Photographer's Choice

Photo by Amelia Lyon

I love when couples choose to take photos at the location of the photographer's choosing. Most photographers seem to have a place that they're just dying to shoot at, and all of the e-sessions I've seen where the photographer was given free rein to choose the location have always turned out amazingly. If you don't have your heart set on a particular location, you should really give this a try!

Downtown LA
There are lots of cool, urban and funky places to take pics in Downtown LA. At the top of the list would probably be Walt Disney Concert Hall, which is modern and striking.

However, it definitely falls into the category of "everyone takes photos there." It's definitely for good reason though!

Another interesting location is the Standard Hotel in Downtown LA. It's super mod and hip with bright colors. The rooftop pool and bar is amazing! When I worked downtown, some of my coworkers would go swim there during our lunch break. It's free!

Where did you take engagement photos?

Questions...

2010-03-17T06:01:00.000-07:00

I am certainly no wedding expert, so naturally I have had some confusion when it comes to wedding-planning. Here are some of my current head-scratchers. Please let me know if you have an answer or suggestion to any of them!

On hotels:

When arranging group rates for hotel rooms, how much would most people want to pay for a hotel room? Would people prefer to be close by to the venue(s), close to tourist attractions, or should we try to organize somewhere in Koreatown or close by for Eddie's relatives coming from Korea?

On housing:

How early should we start looking for housing? We are going to continue to live in an apartment for the next few years at least, and it would be good to move in as close to our wedding date as possible so that we don't have to pay rent on an empty apartment. Eddie's lease ends at the beginning of September, but I pay rent month-to-month, so there's some flexibility on my part.

On Timelines:

How much of a gap should there be between the ceremony and reception (that are about 3.5 mi apart). If we had a 10:30 am wedding, for example, when should the cocktail hour (which will be more like half an hour) be? How about the (lunch) reception? How long would the the reception last (no dancing, no bouquet/garter toss, 4-5 speeches/toasts, slideshow, 3 courses)? 1.5 hours? 2 hours?

On Tourism:

Eddie's dad wants all of the Korean relatives to take a tour of LA while they're here. For many of them, it is their first time visiting to the states, and they've been saving up for a few years now (imagine the pressure on us to get married, haha). Eddie's dad was hoping for a bus tour of LA, preferably in Korean. How should I go about finding something like that? Koreatown travel agencies? Truthfully, I have no idea what tourists visit when they come to LA, but I read that LA is the second most commonly visited city in the US, so I guess we're doing something right. It's just that the only things I can think of are hopelessly cheesy... Hollywood sign? Stars' homes? Walk of fame? Honestly, I think that the best thing about LA is our food, but I know that Koreans tend to be a little picky with food since Korena food has such a specific sensibility (which I do love). What do Korean tourists like to do when visiting LA?

:)

2010-03-16T07:38:00.000-07:00

Eddie and I have been playing a game of catch-up with The Office, seemingly endless, but we finally started watching the sixth (and current) season this week. Last night we got a chance to watch the **SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT PROCEED IF YOU PLAN TO WATCH THE SIXTH SEASON OF THE OFFICE AND HAVE NOT YET** wedding episode, "Niagra." I believe this episode aired shortly after Eddie and I got engaged, and I watched this video on YouTube, although I restrained myself from watching the actual episode. It actually made me tear up a little bit. I think it's so cute and sweet. Watching the full episode really explains a lot in this clip, too, like Andy's walker, Kevin's toupee and Kleenex boxes, and Jim's cut tie.

Do you have any favorite "wedding scenes" on TV?

Bridesmaid Dress Love #1: J. Crew

2010-03-15T08:07:00.000-07:00

I already mentioned the first thing that we purchased for the wedding, but I'll tell you the first thing that I did. I actually ordered fabric swatches for bridesmaid dresses from J. Crew (and did I mention that I had not asked a single bridesmaid yet?)! J. Crew is my favorite store and I so wanted the bridesmaids to wear dresses from there! One of the reasons that I wanted J. Crew dresses was because their clothes are well-made. Most bridesmaid dresses are made from polyester, but most of the J. Crew (bridesmaid) dresses are made from silk. I was interested in different dresses for the girls in the same color and fabric to create a unified look while letting each girl express her personal style. J. Crew dresses are pretty expensive, like everything else in the store, so I started doing some research into how to save money on J. Crew. Here are some suggestions:

eBay: As I mentioned before, I do own a few J. Crew pieces, but half of them I purchased off of eBay. You can find some pretty great deals on eBay, but you do have to be careful and try them on first in the store because it may not be what you expect and you usually can't return anything you bought on eBay.
Student/Teacher discounts: J. Crew doesn't advertise this, but you can get a 15% discount in the store if you're a student or teacher. The caveat is that you must purchase in the store (I don't know how this works for wedding stuff since that isn't usually sold in the store except at the flagships), and it must be a full-price item.
Sales: I am a "fan" of J. Crew on Facebook, so I get alerted to their sales. Once in a blue moon they do have 30 or 40% off sales that can be applicable to sale items. I got a $30 cardigan from the J. Crew website that way. We are waiting for one of these sales to purchase a suit for Eddie.

After about a month, it became clear that J. Crew was not going to send me the fabric swatches that I had requested. I was somewhat prepared for this since I had read in various online forums that they are very bad about things like that, so I decided to just take a shortcut route and purchase four bridesmaid dresses for my MOH to try on (which I would then return in the store). I picked my favorite dresses from the bunch: Juliet, Sophia, Cecelia (looooooove this dress!), and Erica. I wanted to see some different colors that might work with my color scheme, so I purchased dresses in pewter, graphite, tropical aqua and fresh mint.

These are the dresses available in light pewter, from one of Miss Scissors' (Weddingbee) posts. Miss Scissors is so good at Photoshop/Illustrator!

Here's where I ran into some problems. Tropical aqua and fresh mint look like they might work in pictures, but they were very, very green! I wanted blue! So that brought it down to grey dresses. My MOH thought that the light pewter would be too similar to my wedding gown since it was so light--I didn't necessarily see that as a problem, since I read somewhere the bridesmaids were originally dressed identically to the bride in order to confuse evil spirits who might want to consume the bride's soul. ;) But I did realize that the light pewter might not be very complementary on everyone's skin tone. So that led me to the graphite color. I own a skirt in this color, which I love (but I also own a cardigan in the light pewter color--I wore both on our engagement). Here are some lovely images of J. Crew bridesmaids in graphite that inspired me:

Image by Michele Waite, featured on Style Me Pretty

Image by Karen Wise, featured on Style Me Pretty

After discussing with my cousin a little bit, though, she thought that I should just try to find the blue (which is a teal or aqua color) that I wanted instead of compromising on grey. I do love grey dresses, but blue would "pop" more and probably be more complementary on all of the bridesmaids. SO the search continued...

Are you doing off-the-rack or traditional bridesmaid dresses? Or something else entirely?

Gilt's Wedding Weekend

2010-03-11T18:21:00.000-08:00

I joined Gilt Groupe, an online sample sale site, last year when I saw an invitation link in Real Simple. (It used to be invitation-only, but now I think anyone can join. But if you join using my invitation link and purchase something, I get $25!) For anyone who's never used Gilt before, it is an online designer sample sale site, which does most of its business in women's clothing. They have sales in labels such as 3.1 Phillip Lim, Vera Wang, Roberto Cavalli, and Proenza Schouler. However, there is also a Gilt Man, Gilt Fuse (more inexpensive clothes), Jetsetter (a luxury travel site--I may blog about this later) and sections for Home, Children, and Gifts.

Here's how Gilt Groupe works. Once you sign up, you get e-mails for the site daily, a few minutes before the sales start. For women's clothing (these sales and the Jetsetters ones are the only ones I look at), the sale begins at noon EST, or 9am PST. However, if you want to buy something, you need to put it in your cart right away. If you click onto the sale at 9:15 or even 9:10, 90% of the items will already be in members' carts.

Here's why I've never actually purchased anything from Gilt, though:

Even though everything is heavily discounted (at least 50% off, and often more), it is still more than I'm willing to spend. I'm not really into designer clothes or labels, although I do look at fashion blogs and runway shows online from time to time, so while I am willing to pay more for quality (one of the reasons I don't shop at H&M anymore), I don't want to pay that much more. To give you an idea of the prices on Gilt, I have rarely seen a dress for under $100, shoes for under $200, and jeans for under $80.
You need to make a decision to buy quickly. I am not an impulse shopper, especially with a large amount of money. But one thing with Gilt that I've heard of people doing is putting things in their cart right away and then keeping it in there for the next hour while they mull over their decision (Gilt removes it from your cart if you haven't made a decision yet).
Shipping is pricey. It's $12 for ground shipping on items over $50. I actually almost bought a pair of jeans on Gilt before, but when I added shipping it was just way more than I wanted to spend. Plus...
The sizes are for tall people! The aforementioned time that I tried to buy jeans I realized that they are sized for people who are around 5'10." I'd have to have them tailored, big-time. Not that I'm opposed to it, and it's not that expensive to have jeans tailored, it's just that I'm kind of lazy when it comes to things like that.

Ok, so now that I've finished telling you about Gilt, you may be wondering what this has to do with weddings. And, why am I posting this on my wedding blog when I just said that I don't even use the site! Well, this weekend, Gilt is having a "Wedding Weekend" sale in conjunction with Martha Stewart Weddings. They haven't shown what the sales are going to have (and they never do), but apparently there will be: gowns by Carolina Herrera, Vera Wang, and Temperley London, bridesmaid dresses by Amsale and Thread, the Blueprint Cleanse, Elle MacPherson Intimates, Stuart Weitzman shoes, etc. etc. etc. I'm still a little dubious about whether it'll really be a good price, but it's worth checking out, no?

Here's a sneak peek!

(from the Gilt blog)

Drumroll please...

2010-03-10T06:14:00.000-08:00

Ladies and gentlemen, we have our venues!

It has been a loooong process trying to decide on our venues: pro and con lists, mapping out distances, budgeting, re-budgeting, and lots of frustration in between. So I'm happy to report that we've come to a consensus. We will be having our reception at Lawry's (as many of you guessed). You can read a little bit about our process with Lawry's here. One of the things that really pushed Lawry's over the edge for us, though, was that Eddie was able to negotiate the prices down to the weekday pricing (which is $5 per person less than weekends)--this translated into big savings! We have already put down the deposit, and we'll be figuring out menu choices (very very excited about that) soon enough.

As for the ceremony venue, that too was a difficult choice. One of the reasons that it was so hard to decide on Lawry's is that we wanted to find a ceremony venue close by. Many of our guests will be coming from out-of-state and even out of the country (Eddie's aunts and uncles from Korea), so we didn't want it to be too difficult for them to find their way to the venues. We focused our energies on churches nearby because, did you know? PUBLIC parks (in the Westside, anyway) are crazy expensive. Like $4k and they don't even come with chairs or parking! For ceremony only! And you have to hire a park ranger!

Finding a church to have a ceremony in is no walk in the park, either. Many churches have very strict photography restrictions, which were an automatic "no" for us: the photographer had to stay in the back row, couldn't move, or was only allowed to take photos the first 15 minutes. Many also require you to use the pastor of the church and to go through pre-marital counseling with the pastor. And quite a few didn't have air-conditioning (practically a requirement for an August wedding)! I'm happy to report that the church that we ended up choosing is very relaxed about photography (as long as you're not up at the altar), flowers, and you can bring in any pastor. It is also $500 cheaper than most of the other churches in the area. There is also plenty of parking, air-conditioning, a wedding coordinator (who has been very helpful and involved lately), an organist, and plenty of "props"--candles, aisle runner, etc. etc. You can click below on the Picasa link to see some pictures from our visit.

Wilshire UMC

That sure is a load off our shoulders! Now on to the smaller details!

Floral Inspiration

2010-03-08T08:28:00.000-08:00

Eddie and I have a meeting with City of Commerce Flowers today. I've heard great things about them from other brides, wedding blogs, Yelp, etc. etc. so I doubt we're really going to shop around. When I made the appointment over the phone, I was asked to bring in some inspiration photos so that they could get an idea of what we were looking for. I am really making most of the decisions for the flowers though because Eddie is not too opinionated about flowers (except for boutonnieres)! As with many of the wedding-related choices, I have found it difficult to really describe specifically what I want. Instead, I have more of a "look" in my head. This much I know: I don't want the flowers to look too "done." I don't want the words "over-the-top" or "lavish" to be used. I want an organic look to the flowers--exposed stems on the bouquets, centerpieces in ball jars: fluffy, sweet, and romantic.

These are a few photos that caught my eye while looking for floral inspiration:

I just love the soft, pink loveliness of these flowers. I love this whole wedding actually. Check it out. (Featured on OnceWed, shot by Our Labor of Love.) These photos did two things: introduce me to anemones, which fit into our color scheme so well and are unique to boot (but I think not available in the summer, sadly), and made me completely enamored with putting flowers in ball jars. Blue mason jars would really create "the look" so perfectly, but they are vintage, so they're quite difficult to find. Eddie and I agree that it would be great to get them though!

Mrs. Mouse from Weddingbee's flower girl bouquets comprised of spray roses (shot by The Nichols). I think a big-girl version of this would be really cute for bridesmaid bouquets. I don't really like the sculptural qualities of regular roses, but spray, garden, and English roses would all be nice, I think.

I really liked all of the florals in this shoot featured on Grey Likes Weddings (anemones with soft pink again!). The design is by Floral Elements and shot by Connie M. Chung.

The following were images that I collected from the gallery on Project Wedding. I just love the freshly plucked from the garden looks to these.

When meeting with a florist, it is important to bring in your budget, and pictures of any inspiration that you may have. However, I read in Bridal Bargains that it is also good to bring in photos of the wedding dress, suit/tux, venues, bridesmaid dresses, and anything else that would need to coordinate with the flowers. I will report back after our appointment!

Getting Ready in Style

2010-03-05T07:22:00.000-08:00

I was going to post about bridesmaid dresses, but I'm tired and a little cranky so you'll have to wait for another time. Instead, I will post about... robes! I will say that I have rarely worn robes in my life, and when I do, they are more of the fluffy pink kind or the ginormous hotel ones. But when I was searching for inspiration, elegant, silk kimono-style robes really caught my eye. I know that it's an unnecessary item (I can just as easily get ready in a button-down shirt), but when I saw these pictures, I HAD. To. Have. One.

(Knottie pootiekins aka Sarah K. Chen, shot by Jose Villa-taken from "With This Ring")

(Mrs. Coconut, Weddingbee)

(From wedding Planner Angel Swanson, image by Travis Hoehne)

Unfortunately, when I started looking online for robes, I couldn't find anything! They were either not what I had in mind at all or really expensive. I read in Mrs. Coconut's post that her friend had purchased hers for her in Thailand, so when my friend who lives on the Thai border came to visit last month, I asked her if she could look for one for me. But last Sunday, I was wandering through Little Tokyo while waiting for a table at the best ramen restaurant, and I came across a store that sold them. I didn't want to inspect further just yet since we only had about ten minutes until our table would be ready, but I may try to go back soon to take another look and save my friend the trouble.

Was there anything unnecessary that you just had to have?

Accessorizing the Guys

2010-03-04T07:39:00.000-08:00

Since we want our groomsmen to wear suits rather than tuxes, we thought we'd also pick up some "accessories," if you will, to personalize their outfits a bit more and also function as part of their wedding party gift. We want their look to be unified so that people can tell that they're part of our wedding party, so here are some of our ideas:

Ties

I'm not sure if I've ever told anyone this before, but our first official wedding purchase (made a month before the actual engagement, haha), was a tie for Eddie, purchased on Etsy from seller rabbitstop (Tie One On). As our colors and look have evolved, we're not entirely sure if he'll wear it on the big day, but since he's worn it several times since then so we've definitely at least gotten our money's worth.

Here is the tie we purchased! Vivian from Tie One On is really nice, and she offered to customize our ties for our groomsmen based on our colors and what she could find at the fabric shop. The hand-made quality is really nice, and the ties, while not 99 cent store ties, are a pretty good price compared to ones you could find in a department store. Another popular Etsy tie shop is Cyberoptix Tie Lab, where Eddie got his groomsmen tie for a wedding he was in last year. They have some great graphic screen-printed designs.

This was Eddie's tie, the popular Oak Tree design (but his was in yellow).

Suspenders

It was important to us that the groomsmen looked unified without their jackets on, since it's going to be hot and we don't want them to have to wear their jackets after we're done with the ceremony and pictures. One solution is to have them rent matching vests, but most of the vests that you can rent just felt too prom-y for us (when we want a more informal look), so we thought that suspenders might do the trick!

Ok, I know what some of you might be thinking: "Suspenders? Like a clown?!?" While it's true that we were looking for suspenders we did come across a lot of atrocities like these, suspenders can look so cool! Let me convince you.

(OnceWed)

(Jose Villa)

(Green Wedding Shoes)

Jessica Claire, whose wedding I've already mentioned several times, had half of her groomsmen wear vests, and the other half, suspenders. From Style Me Pretty, shot by Jose Villa.

So far, the biggest challenge has been just trying to find grey X-back suspenders (not a fan of the Y-back ones)! Even at Macy*s, they only have two colors: taupe and black. But I've seen some different options online for under $20-I'm confident that we'll find something.

Socks

Socks are quite possibly one of the most popular groomsmen gifts, particularly fun argyle socks. It's probably because they contribute to lots of fun pictures! They are fairly easy to find in men's stores and even Target, but Eddie is picky about socks, so I'll let him get them for the guys.

(via Google Images)

(Jose Villa)

Tie Clips/Bars

After Eddie decided that he wanted the J. Crew Ludlow suit, I really fell in love with the look of the tie clip in the photo. I think that it really adds to the look. But the J. Crew tie clip is $75!! That was definitely more than I wanted to spend. So we started hunting around for tie clips (also sometimes referred to as tie bars). We found some great stuff on Amazon! Here are a few that we saved:

(Kenneth Cole Reaction, $19.99)

(Enrico Pardini, $17.95)

What are your favorite men's accessories (and is there a manlier way to describe such things)?

Loving the Look: Zooey Deschanel in (500) Days of Summer

2010-03-03T11:30:00.000-08:00

I saw (500) Days of Summer in the theaters last summer, and I. LOVED. IT. I bought the soundtrack too! It's just so real in its depiction of relationships: a perfect counterpoint to the idealism found in most romantic comedies. But one thing that REALLY stood out was the perfect costuming. I love the way that Summer (Zooey Deschanel) and Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) dress in the film. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's skinny ties and sweater vests are so indie chic. Joseph and Zooey are both so perfectly classy yet indie hipster.

When I learned that Zooey's wardrobe is mostly comprised of affordable pieces (Old Navy, Gap, BCBG, and vintage) to reflect the fact that her character is a receptionist and probably wouldn't be able to afford designer clothes, I was excited at the idea that maybe I could purchase some of her outfits. I was particularly interested (along with everyone else) in the blue dress that she wears in the wedding scene in the film.

I couldn't find a full-length picture online, but here's the top. (found via Google Images)

Unfortunately, I discovered that Zooey's beautiful dress was created by Western Costume Co. (see pics of this dress on their Facebook) so there really is only one copy. I found this information from this article that mentions that Zooey Deschanel is always wearing blue in the film (because of her blue eyes), and, more importantly, none of the other characters wear blue! I thought that that was really exciting, because I am somewhat known for always wearing blue! I do have a few outfits in my rotation that do not incorporate blue, but they are few and far between. And all of my favorite outfits have blue in them. :) (Another similarity: the film mention's Zooey's measurements-height, weight, shoe size, and they are very close to my own! We could totally share clothes if she's down for it. Haha!)

Here is some more style inspiration from the film (all found via Google Images):

What does this have to do with weddings? Well, wedding style is more than just about that white dress. You need outfits for A LOT of things (not saying they have to be NEW, though): your e-pics, bridal shower, rehearsal/rehearsal dinner, etc. etc. Plus I just found it too frivolous to post in my personal blog. ;)

Mother of the Bride Dresses: No Dowdiness Here...

2010-03-02T08:53:00.000-08:00

My mom's birthday was in December, and after thinking about what to get her, I realized that a nice present would be to buy her her Mother of the Bride dress! I know that some brides like to pick out what their mother wears, but my mom has a pretty similar style as me, so I wasn't too concerned about what she was going to wear. We both really dislike the boxy mother of the bride jacket and dress set (nothing wrong with this look, it's just that my mom is pretty youthful looking so it doesn't really work for her), and wanted her to just wear a nice, age-appropriate dress. I wanted to go to Nordstrom Rack, since when I was there in December (at the Spokane location), I saw a lot of great mother of the bride type dresses (NOT matronly dresses, just not super young-looking dresses), but we ended up at the Nordstrom and Macy*s at the Santa Anita mall. Here's what we looked at that day:

Nordstrom:

(Donna Ricco)

I couldn't find a pic of the exact dress my mom tried on, but this one is close. The only thing that's different is that the dress we looked at had cap sleeves instead of 3/4 sleeves. This dress was nice, but not super forgiving. Donna Ricco makes some age-appropriate dresses. I've actually seen Michelle Obama in one of her dresses.

(Maggy London)

I love Maggy London dresses! I wore one for my college graduation and I got lots of compliments on it! That said, this dress was beautiful in its color and (mostly) silhouette, but that weird fabric tumor (for lack of a better word) was really distracting.

(Adrianna Papell)

Adrianna Papell makes great dresses for mothers-of-the-bride! Most of her dresses feature this same style--what Adrianna Papell calls "shutter pleats." My mom really liked this dress at first (because it really defined her waist and was flattering), but hated the jacket that came with it. However, the actual dress is spaghetti strap and rather low-cut! When my mom saw the picture I took when we got home, she decided to take this dress out of the running.

I just have to note that the saleswoman in the Nordstrom Petites section at Santa Anita is incredibly pushy. She was all up in our business pretty much the whole time, either fawning over dresses we were looking at, pushing more dresses into our hands, or being generally pushy. Once we had determined that we were not going to buy any of those dresses (at least, not right away), we put the clothes back on the rack while she was busy helping another customer and then ran away. ;)

We didn't find much at Macy*s, because they didn't have a petite dresses section at all, so the dresses were too long for my mom or didn't fit right. But my mom was able to find a v-neck version of the shutter pleat dress, and she liked it much better. We would have purchased it, but they didn't have a petite version so it was a little long.

(Adrianna Papell)
I can't find this dress online at all except for in an ebay listing (which had already ended). Too bad! Isn't it a pretty color?

Which of these is your favorite dress?

Suit Up!

2010-03-01T07:38:00.000-08:00

(Yes, that was a reference to HIMYM...)

It's Fashion Week, y'all (yeah, I know that New York Fashion Week was a couple of weeks ago...)! I'm pretty backed up on blogging (meaning I have tons of posts I want to write, I just need to find the time to write them), but I have lots of posts to blog about attire choices this week!

I'll start off with Eddie's suit! We knew pretty early on that we wanted Eddie to wear a suit, not a tux. This is partly because we wanted to have a more informal feel, and partly because we wanted the groomsmen to wear suits. We're doing the whole "everyone just wear your own black suit" thing (which is becoming more and more of a trend these days... many of our friends have done this and it always turned out quite well) to make life easier for them and save them some $$, but it turns out that only one out of four groomsmen own black suits! :( Well, a black suit still might be something they'd like to have in their wardrobe anyway, or else it should be easy to borrow. But anyway, Eddie wanted to stand out from the groomsmen, so we decided that it'd be nice for him to wear a grey suit (since grey is one of our colors)!

Our first stop was Nino Ferretti in the Fashion District of Downtown LA. One of my friends is getting married in May and she let me know that she and her fiance got a great deal for black suits for the groomsmen there. So we headed over there and asked to see some grey suits. Here are some that Eddie tried.

Sorry, I don't know much about the suits pictured (price, designer, fabric, etc.)! Anyway, we weren't really in love with any of these since (although you can't tell in the pictures) there was kind of a weird gap in the chest area for the jackets, and the salesman said that that couldn't be tailored. But he advised to come back closer to our date, since their stock was always changing.

After Nino Ferretti, we headed over to Macy*s in downtown LA to kill some time. I should mention that Eddie has been doing quite a lot of research about suits. He has been watching this video:

...and reading this article about finding the right suit for your shape!

At Macy*s there really wasn't a ton of selection, although this Alfani Red suit was ok:

However, we resolved to keep looking...

Just a few days later, we were walking around The Grove when I suggested that we stop by J. Crew, since they have slim-cut suits. I have to say that I LOVE J. Crew clothes. I only have four pieces myself (all bought on sale or ebay), because the clothes are definitely a bit pricey, but I'd totally outfit myself in all J. Crew if I could! You can always find me wearing a cardigan, skirt and tights with flats. Basically, I was predetermined, on style alone, to be a librarian. Haha.

Sorry about the tangent. Moving on... anyway, we forgot to put the SD card into Eddie's camera when we went shopping this time, so there aren't any pictures of Eddie trying on the J. Crew suits, but he was definitely a lot happier trying these on. Eventually, he found what he believes, is the one, the worsted-wool "Ludlow" suit in "charcoal sharkskin:"

( find it here)

I have to say that I was kind of dubious about the color of the suit, since I was wanting a darker grey and this was a bit lighter. But in the photo the color is just what I had in mind! Just a note about J. Crew: I really really recommend that you check out their colors in person because they are AWFUL about correctly photographing the colors of their pieces. I ordered some potential bridesmaid dresses from them a couple months ago and they were not at all how they looked online. More about that later.

This suit's a bit pricey, since it's a limited-production wool, but Eddie really loves it, so we'll wait for J. Crew to have one of their 30% off everything sales (they have 30% off final sale right now in case you're interested). We'll probably check out Men's Wearhouse to see what they have first, although they seem to be appealing to an older customer base. And a church friend who is getting married in April (yes, A LOT of people are getting married this year--I know of SEVEN other couples getting married between now and my wedding!) just purchased his suit from the Hugo Boss outlet at Cabazon, so we may go outlet shopping soon. I do love Hugo Boss suits!

Which do you prefer: suits or tuxes?

Just a Heads Up

2010-02-25T00:23:00.000-08:00

...to say that I won't be posting here until next week! I had a really busy weekend and so I didn't get to write anything. Here's one of my blogging secrets: I write all of my posts on the weekend (when I have more free time) and schedule them to go up during the weekdays! I do have quite a few things that I want to post about, so I promise lots of bloggy goodness for you next week.

In the meantime, let me know if there's anything you would like me to post about!

Friday Inspiration: "Faux"-tobooth

2010-02-19T07:46:00.000-08:00

So I've already explained our love for photobooths, but also why we are more than likely not having one at our wedding (sadness). But we are doing a "faux"tobooth. This isn't a "booth" per se, so much as a station set up with a camera, a fun backdrop, and props, where you just let your guests have at it! You can have your photographer (or second shooter, if you're having one) or a friend man the booth. Possibly the most famous example of the "fauxtobooth" is The Image is Found's "crazybooth." Here's one of my favorite crazybooth pictures:

Source: The Image is Found

However, a huge disadvantage that this kind of set up has (versus the regular photobooth) is that you don't get your photos automatically. You can set up a website for the guests to go look at later, but it's definitely more fun when you can hold it in your hands. In November, we attended my second cousin's wedding (about a week before getting engaged), and they had some friends who are professional photographers who set up a photobooth for them. I looked them up and it turns out that this is a new set up for them. It was really great though--they had a touch screen and printed photos on the spot that were amazingly clear. I didn't have the opportunity to scan the photos that we took (about 5 or 6 because I kept messing up...), but they were really great and a huge hit with the guests!

From Snappy Joe

Anyway, after this wedding, Eddie begged and begged me to let him set up a photobooth. He said that this would be his DIY project. He has been researching software and photo printers. So I guess if you are getting married after August 14, and you want this set up, we can work something out (gotta put this stuffed to use somehow)! Anyway, here are some ideas that I've seen for our photobooth:

We could hang up a fun sheet as a background. There are plenty of options at Urban Outfitters or online. I also thought that we could have a curtain rod with different shower curtains or sheets hanging from it, so our guests could change the backdrop if they wanted (I got the idea from the sticker picture booths in the SGV that have that option).

Shot by the incomparable Jose Villa from Chelsea (of the delightful Oh my Deer! headpieces) and Tec Petaja's (really wonderful photographer) Tennessee wedding. Click to view all of the images--this wedding was just unbelievably gorgeous!

I already know that I am not going to do this, given how much time I assume it must have taken, but take a look at Weddingbee Mrs. Moonbeam's flower wall.

via Weddingbee, inspired by this Chanel photo shoot

For some reasons mustaches (on a stick) are super popular these days. I don't really think we'll do the mustaches thing, but here are some fun prop ideas: crazy hats, feather boas, huge glasses, wands, swords, eye patches. I am deathly afraid of wigs, so we are NOT doing that.

Image from Style Me Pretty

I saw this idea on Kiss the Groom and loved it! Sasha Souza covered a large piece of wood with wallpaper, cut out frame-sized holes, and covered them with picture frames. The best touch, I think, are the family wedding photos covering the walls-subtle but meaningful!

from Kiss the Groom (Elizabeth Messina)

Affirmations for Wedding-Planning

2010-02-18T08:43:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been extremely stressed out when it comes to wedding planning (and it doesn't help that I'm now in the last 1/3 of my quarter for school when things are heating up a lot), especially in regards to decision-making! I decided to write down these affirmations to remember when I'm starting to freak out and doubt. Hopefully they will help!

Our wedding does not need to be the most fun, beautiful, or unique wedding. Our wedding only needs to be about us finally getting married, and an expression of us.
Just because Person X is spending $X on X wedding-related thing does not mean that I need to (this could be more OR less).
I cannot allow myself to second-guess making any wedding decisions (dress, photographer, etc.). Doing so will accomplish nothing. I only need to stick to my choices (those I have made and those I will make).
I cannot please everyone when it comes to our wedding. If someone does not like the food or the location (or something else entirely), that is something that they need to deal with. Our guests should be coming to celebrate our marriage, not to cast approval/disapproval on certain decisions.
Honestly, the details are not as important as I make them out to be. I would get married to Eddie anywhere, even in the parking lot of a 7-11. I'm just happy to finally be getting married to him! :)

Do you have any affirmations that help during the wedding-planning process?

My Hanbok

2010-02-17T07:51:00.000-08:00

My future mother-in-law was in Korea for a couple of weeks attending one of Eddie's cousin's weddings, and while she was there, decided to get hanboks for me and herself. They are usually custom-made, so she brought along Eddie's cousin, who I'm told is a similar size as me. Here is Eddie's mother modeling the hanbok she ended up choosing for me (pictures by Eddie's sister L).

Another Contender?

2010-02-16T08:59:00.000-08:00

In December, I contacted the Center at Cathedral Plaza to inquire about their wedding rates. Our Lady of the Angels is the archdiocese of Los Angeles and one of the largest cathedrals in the United States. I had been there a few times for the Shakespeare Festival and thought it quite beautiful, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the rates for food were quite affordable (about $45+ per person). However, after contacting them, I was in for a shock to learn that that was the rate for food only. The price doubled after factoring in the labor costs. So I set that aside and didn't really think about it anymore as an option.

However, the Sales and Marketing Manager kept e-mailing me (and many of her e-mails said "Thank you for choosing the Center at Cathedral Plaza for your wedding!" Um... what the heck? Never did I say that I was putting my date on hold, or that we were for sure for the wedding). The e-mails all requested the deposit by February 5th, so I just ignored them. But a few days after the "deadline," the Sales manager e-mailed me asking me what my concerns were so she could address them. Figuring that I had nothing to lose, I told her that it was simply too expensive and that Lawry's was a much better deal. She e-mailed me back telling me that she would waive the $2.50 cake-cutting fee (which I requested) and that if I sent her Lawry's prices she would try to match them. So it was interesting to have that venue come back on the table!

They are having a viewing and tasting next Saturday. We may check it out to see if it's a viable option.

I found some photos in this blog post. Here's are a couple more photos of the outdoor plaza from their website (where we'd have the reception):

It's great that we have another option, but definitely confusing too!

Pros:

We can have a night-time wedding.
The location is definitely better than the others that we're currently considering (only a couple miles away from where we live now).
The setting is really lovely.

Cons:

We'd have to bring in our own lighting, which can get pretty pricey.
Although they said that they will attempt to match the amount of food that Lawry's provides, it will probably not be as good (I can't verify that--but I can't find reviews of the food online anywhere!)
They do multiple weddings at once.
There are no changing rooms for the bride and groom (have to use the bathroom).

Decisions are difficult!

Happy New Year & Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T11:57:00.000-08:00

Today is a big day! Not only is it Valentine's Day and Chinese (Lunar) New Year, it is also the six-month mark from our wedding date! Time sure is moving quickly!

With each holiday/milestone that approaches, I always think, "Ahh! It's my last single ____!" I was like that in my senior year of college as well! ("It's my last fall conference!" "My last midterm!" "My last Christmas large group meeting!") Although such celebrations are somewhat arbitrary (and I doubt we would really celebrate Valentine's Day any differently next year (we don't go out on the actual day before the prices get jacked up so much), this Chinese New Year will be the last one in which I can receive red envelopes! That's kind of sad, but I think I'm looking forward to giving them out next year. :)

Bridal Gowns from The Limited

2010-02-12T12:35:00.000-08:00

Just sighted on Lucky Magazine's blog (all images from this post)!

The Limited is debuting a two-piece collection of bridal gowns this summer, made in high-quality silk (according to Lucky Mag), and retailing for an incredible $298! Here are some photos of the dresses:

Ok, it kind of kills me that they couldn't at least steam the wrinkles out of that first dress for an important PHOTOSHOOT?!? But otherwise, love the pockets (of course).

This is a little octopus-y, but looks really soft and romantic

Of course, I have no idea what these dresses are like in real life, but they become available on The Limited's website starting June 3rd, so definitely consider it if that's enough lead-time for you!

Friday Inspiration: Balloons

2010-02-12T07:33:00.000-08:00

Done wrong, balloons can look straight out of a kid's birthday party. Done right, they can be effortlessly cool, chic, fun, and inexpensive!

Balloons make a great prop for engagement pictures! They're pretty and they give you something to do with your hands so that you don't stuff them in your pockets. Mrs. Apple Cider from Weddingbee even used them for her bridal portraits (and her engagement pics)! It seems like almost everyone uses balloons in e-pics now, but this one is one of my favorites, shot by Caroline Tran (who we considered as a wedding photographer!). I think this large single balloon actually makes a bigger impact than the multiple balloons.

via Caroline Tran

Instead of bouquets, these bridesmaids walked down the aisle carrying balloons. From the blog post, it seems like the bridal party was huge, so I'm sure the bride saved lots of money by doing this as well as creating some visual impact.

via photographer Michele Waite

As a substitution (or supplement) for the ubiquitous paper lanterns, how about hanging balloons instead? I love these playful sherbet colors!

via Martha Stewart Weddings

Or instead of oversize balloons, you could also use mini balloons as escort cards. I'd probably only do this for a small wedding, or you'd (or someone would) definitely run out of air blowing them up. Haha.

via OnceWed, images by Erin Hearts Court, tablescape by Courtney Keefe of Flush Designs

Balloons add a touch of whimsy, are oh-so-cute and don't break the bank!

"Our Song" (?)

2010-02-11T07:55:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, Eddie and I were eating Korean BBQ in KTown to celebrate a birthday when someone asked how Eddie proposed. After recounting the story, the person asked whether "I'm Yours" was "our song" since that's what Eddie sang to me when he proposed. The truth is that he picked that song because I liked it (like pretty much everyone else on the planet), and for some reason I thought that he didn't because he tended to complain and be kind of nitpicky about it whenever it came on the radio. He was originally planning to play "In My Life" by the Beatles because I love the Beatles, but when I started defending the song and asking him why he hated it (he didn't), he decided to switch to "I'm Yours."

Anyway, here's our actual song!

The egg song (sorry, I couldn't find a YouTube video that allowed embedding, but click the link)! We're really not the type of people to have a "song," but maybe four years ago, I discovered this song and fell in love with the cute animation and bubbly bouncing eggs (I'm a sucker for inanimate objects with faces). I showed it to Eddie and since we both liked it so much, we would sing it to each other and bounce around my dorm room like the eggs.

What do you think? Should we incorporate "i love egg" into our wedding? ;)

The One that Got Away

2010-02-10T08:17:00.000-08:00

Alternate Title: "Consider This Bullet Dodged."

We had just started the venue search when I learned about Ambassador Campus. Many of our guests live in the San Gabriel Valley, so the Pasadena location (not to mention its proximity to Old Town Pasadena) was ideal, and, while not a total steal, was significantly less expensive than other similar venues. This venue first caught my eye while I was blog surfing and came across Lena and Ulrich's wedding, featured on Snippet & Ink (which I have already featured here a few times)! It was just what I had envisioned for our wedding venue: simple and beautiful! Here are some photos from that wedding, taken by Andrew Lin.

The night before we were scheduled to visit Ambassador Campus, Eddie called me, telling me that he had read their Yelp reviews and discovered that they were no longer doing weddings after March 2010! The area that Ambassador Campus is located on, "Millionaire's Row" in Pasadena, is notorious for being quite fussy about noise issues, and their operations had been halted. All weddings that had been booked were cancelled (this was in November, so the poor couples who had weddings cancelled had 4 months to find a new venue!

photos via Yelp

The worst part of this is that they never told us about this development. We had scheduled a tour of the campus along with some other couples and we were never informed that they were no longer taking weddings. I have to say that the coordinator's emails were also rather unprofessional and not very polite or friendly. So in this case, we lucked out by having this happen to us, because I definitely wouldn't have felt comfortable booking a wedding with someone who tells couples that their site is cancelling their wedding via a mass email (see Yelp reviews)!

Did you have any venue- or wedding-related disappointments?

This Might Make you "Flip"

2010-02-09T11:18:00.000-08:00

If I had a dollar for every time someone has said, "Hey! I went to a wedding where there was a PHOTOBOOTH (or candy buffet)! You should do that!"...

I'd have ten dollars.

Here's the thing. I looooove photobooths. Eddie and I definitely enjoy them when we attend weddings that have them. And I want to take him back to take purikura in the SGV.

Exhibit A: We like photobooths. :)

But photobooths, while really fun and a sure-fire crowd-pleaser, are quite expensive. They start at about $1300 for a rental. While I do think that it can definitely be worth the splurge, given how much fun they are, we just don't have room in the budget for such an expense. But that doesn't mean that we're not having any photo fun at our wedding. Oh no no no. But I'll tell you about what we're planning later. :)

Given how much research I've been doing, it's pretty rare for me to see something that I've never heard of before. But while I've been corresponding with Liz, who reads this blog (Hi Liz!), she sent me a Google spreadsheet with her information on "flip book booths." I had never heard of this before!

Take a look:

Do you remember those flip books they used to carry at bookstores (remember those, too?). The ones that, when you flipped the pages quickly, showed a simple animation. Did you ever try to create your own? Or seen those documentaries about how they used to make animated films that way? (So many questions!)

Anyway, from what I can see, the flip book booth is an area set up at your event where staff records a seven-second video of guests, and makes it into one of these flip books! They are a little more expensive than your average photo booth by a couple hundred dollars, but might be worth it to you for the wow factor. We're not incorporating this into our wedding, but I just thought that I'd share.

Here are a few flip book companies:
A Little Scene
Now FLiP This
Go! Photo Events

Have you learned about any new wedding-related thing lately?

Our Colors!

2010-02-08T07:18:00.000-08:00

I was going to write about bridesmaid dresses but I realized that I needed to write about colors first so you can understand my process. But I didn't want to write about colors until we had cemented a venue, since some venues are very much done in certain colors, and maybe that would clash. But then I realized that it's not like every. single. thing. needs to be done in the same three colors, but if a few elements were tied together in that way, i.e. bridesmaid dresses, groomsmen ties, stationery, etc.) that will make the kind of impact that I want.

Seaglass and Storm

So the colors are white, silver, pewter grey, and seaglass (which is kind of a teal color). I have to say that I love it! I'm not really a color person (I remember my staff worker asking me what color the bridesmaid dress fabric she had bought was, and me saying, "Um.... purple?" I thought they were all purple, I didn't really know how to differentiate between all the different colors), so I kind of go by feel with colors. "I like it" vs. "I don't like it." What I love about this combination is that it feels very cooling which will be a nice counterpoint to the summer weather. I mentioned early on to a friend that these were my colors and she said, "Hmm. That sounds like an outfit you'd wear." And that is exactly why I love it. It's very me! I am always wearing blue and/or grey (and black!) because I love those colors (I'm kind of having a love affair with grey right now)! I think they're very chic and flattering and simple.

I have to say, if you haven't picked a color scheme or theme yet, you should really check out Snippet & Ink. I am just way too lazy to make an inspiration board of my own, and I love most of the ones that I see on there. Kathryn does a pretty good range of boards from elegant and ornate to soft and lush. Anyway, here are some colors that I considered but didn't really fit with a summer wedding.

Pink and Fig

I love this board but 1) it's a bit too pink (although if any man would be ok with pink as a wedding color, it would be Eddie), and 2) it just evokes autumn to me. These just don't seem like summer wedding colors.

Aubergine and Silver

These aren't the exact colors that I wanted (I didn't want lilac), and this isn't the board that originally inspired me (I can't find it anymore!), but you get the idea. I was pretty stuck on these colors for a long time (mainly because I REALLY wanted the Nine west Jiopa shoes which were on sale at one time for only $30, and I love the Adriana Papell dress in the above inspiration board as a bridesmaid dress), but I think that aubergine and silver are just too winter-y colors. Too bad!

I honestly don't think that it's necessary to have "wedding colors," but it's nice to have a guideline all the same!

*all images from Snippet & Ink, except the last one from Elizabeth Anne Designs

Friday Inspiration in the Stacks

2010-02-05T08:47:00.000-08:00

Library Inspiration!

I love this post already.

I saw this post on Snippet & Ink (love that blog! I got my tentative color scheme from it)!, and while it's a little busy, how could I ignore a library-themed inspiration board?

Via Snippet & Ink (ok, sidenote, I really hate that the original post is called "Shhh...." Librarians don't shush! It's a common misconception.)

My jaw dropped when I saw photographer Jessica Claire's invitations for her own wedding. She brought books from used book stores to match the guests' personality or relationship to her and her husband, hollowed them out, and included the invitations inside. This would be incredibly impractical (sending such a large package would be expensive, picking all the books and hollowing them out would be time-consuming), but wouldn't you be thrilled to get one of these in the mail? And it's so beautiful and stylish too!

Via Jessica Claire

Here's a free printable template for library cards and card pockets that you can make with perhaps a pretty-patterned paper! You could make escort cards, or save-the-dates, or little mini menu holders!

Via Creature Comforts

How about incorporating books as part of the centerpieces? That's what Weddingbee Mrs. Lovebug did. In fact, she even made her own book covers using inside jokes about the couple. This would definitely be a unique centerpiece idea!

via Weddingbee's Mrs. Lovebug

I was saving the best for last...

I made this using an online catalog generator. It's a library card save-the-date!

via this super-cool catalog card generator!

I showed it to Eddie, and he thought that I had designed it myself! Haha. I have the design skills of a five year old. This would be a super easy save-the-date option, since you just put in the information and it makes it for you. But the image ends up being really small, even for e-mailing out. I suppose I could attempt to DIY this, but in the meantime, I just think the generator is cool.

I also thought it'd be fun to use library cards for our "guestbook" and have the guests put them in a library card catalog drawer. Only thing is, those drawers are actually really expensive, so I'd have to go look for them in a thrift store or something. Plus, what would I do with it afterwards?

Yay libraries!

It's Not a VIDEO, it's cinematography!

2010-02-03T12:50:00.000-08:00

Not too long ago, just the words "wedding video" were enough to make you cringe. You would think of either a blurry, shaky home movie shot with a handheld video camera or a cheesy film with awkward special effects. No thanks.

But nowadays, the standard for videography has been rising. Not only that, but a lot of the wedding videography out there (in fact, these videographers refer to themselves as cinematographers...) are amazingly awe-inspiring works of art! Here are some of my faves...

If you're an avid wedding blog reader, StillMotion needs no introduction. But if not, you just need to know that they're based in Canada and pretty much pioneered this whole highly stylized, music video-esque videography style. That, and one more thing. This is a SAME DAY EDIT. As in, this was shot and edited in one day and played at the reception. Try to wrap your mind around that as you watch this. It's really un-freakin'-believable. This is (Weddingbee) Mrs. Milkshake's SDE. Love the Polaroids. How'd they do that?!

Cheryl + Andrew's SDE - Vancouver from stillmotion on Vimeo.

This documentary-style video is really beautiful and personal. William Gaff of Humanstory has more of a quiet simplicity than StillMotion, but I really love how he interviews the couple and their family and friends to get more of a background of how everyone was feeling that day or in the days leading up to it.

8 Families from William Gaff on Vimeo.

And now for a local option! Photographer Jessica Claire's wedding has been all over the blogosphere, and her wedding, shot by amazing photographer Jose Villa, was also documented by Elysium Productions. I really loved her wedding, and the videography is no exception. This video made me tear up a bit.

Jessica Claire & Jeff Norwood's Wine Country Wedding from Elysium Productions on Vimeo.

But if videography is so great (and grossly misjudged), why aren't we hiring a videographer? There are quite a few reasons. The first (as with most wedding-related decisions) is budget. Photography is the most important priority for us and we wanted to make sure that we could hire the best possible photographer. That means it's more important for us to hire one great photographer and no videographer than one mediocre photographer and one mediocre videographer. I think that with videography, I either wanted a fantasticpeeyourpantsit'ssoawesome videographer (like some of the ones above) or none at all. Also, I really do not like hearing my voice in videos. Eddie took video of the proposal, and although I actually do enjoy watching it, I really can't stand to show it to anyone because I really hate hearing my stupid giggle in it. So no videography it is.

Originally, I wasn't really planning on having any video AT ALL at our wedding. But since two of our closest friends live in Laos and won't be able to make it to our wedding, I think that I will just try to have a relative or friend do the camcorder thing. But I promise that I will never make anyone watch it. (I will, however, force people to look at our hundreds of proofs from the wedding.)

What are you doing for a wedding video (if you're having one at all)?

Lawry's Revisited

2010-02-02T08:53:00.000-08:00

Previously: Lawry's

On Saturday we headed back to Lawry's, this time to check it out when it was set up for a wedding. Our wedding, were we to have the reception at Lawry's, wouldn't look exactly like this wedding, because it's a lot smaller than ours would be (150 guests), and is slightly more low-budget (hence the big bowls of chips in the bar area in lieu of appetizers). Eddie took lots of photos this time around, and the Picasa album below should give you a pretty good idea of what we'd be working with.

Lawry's

I'm still a little iffy about the way it looks, but I have to admit that it's growing on me; I definitely liked it a lot more on this second trip! However, it is definitely Eddie's first choice.

What do you think?

The Nixon Library

2010-02-01T07:31:00.000-08:00

Because who doesn't love Nixon, right? C'mon, Watergate??

Just kidding. Although actually many of my relatives really do love Nixon, because he opened up trade to China!

The Nixon Library is the most-visited Presidential Library, probably because of Watergate, and in addition to its exhibits and collections, it is also a wedding venue! I had seen it in various place online (examples: here and here), and loved the idea of having a wedding at a library (since I'm in grad school for library science), but assumed that it was really expensive. I found out later on from my MOH (whose cousin is getting married here) that it's actually pretty affordable (depending on what time of day or time of year). Carrie, who is the Special Events Coordinator, is extremely responsive to e-mails and questions, so we asked if we could drop by when they were having a wedding there (you can get a much better idea of what the venue looks like when it's set up). Their closest wedding was last Saturday, so we came by to check it out!

Nixon Library

We ended up with over a hundred photos from our less than an hour trip to the Nixon Library, and I thought it'd be a huge pain to go through them or to make captions for all of them, so here's what you need to know: the ballroom area is where you would have a reception, and the grassy area is where ceremonies take place. The pictures later on in the set are of the bridal room (the one that looks kind of like a board room), and this neat Lego exhibit that was going on (sorry, NWR-and non-Nixon-related for that matter-just thought it was cool!). The East Room (the ballroom where receptions take place) is an exact replica of the East Room in the White House, which is still used for many events today.

Here are some of the pros and cons!

Pros:

lots of parking
Orange County venues and vendors have lower sales tax (8.25% compared to LA County's 9.75%!)
guests get free admission to all of the exhibits before 5PM (and it's a really minimal amount to keep them open past 5PM)--free entertainment!
comes with a dance floor, tables, and chairs, which they'll set up for you--really great for the price!
also functions as a ceremony space for ease of transportation and use, which is something I've always enjoyed as a wedding guest
only one wedding at a time takes place there
really unique venue--and a library at that!

Cons:

Orange County is definitely a bit of a drive, as we really wouldn't have many (if any) guests coming from there, and it might be more of a hassle for us to find vendors for rentals, catering, etc. given that we don't know the OC that well
They have a preferred caterers list, and it's a $40 per person charge to use outside catering (so basically, you really can't use outside catering).
The lawn area where we'd have the ceremony, while beautiful, is not shaded at all, so we'd have to rent umbrellas to shade the guests since we're planning on getting married in the daytime.
It's kind of ornate for my taste (since it is a Presidential ballroom, after all)!

We're often shocked by the prices of wedding vendors. Have you ever been pleasantly surprised? (Bonus question: what do you think of the Nixon Library?)

Friday Inspiration: Guestbooks!

2010-01-30T01:36:00.000-08:00

At a Chinese-American wedding, the guestbook is usually comprised of a large red "signing cloth" that is usually embroidered with a phoenix (for the bride), a dragon (for the groom) and the double happiness symbol.

Weddingbee Mrs. Toucan's signing cloth

My parents' signing cloth (along with those of my aunts') is tacked up on a cardboard box in the guest bedroom of my grandfather's house. It's true that you rarely see signing cloths hanging in people's houses anymore... maybe because shiny red cloths are not very "in?" My super-talented (and a new mommy!) cousin modernized the signing cloth by having photo mats that guests could sign. They put their wedding portraits into the photo mats, and they're hanging up in their house!

There are so many unique guestbook options, and most of them are easily implemented (even for a DIY-phobe like me)! I already showed you the awesome fingerprint guestbook in last week's inspiration post, but here are a few others that have caught my eye!

One popular guestbook option is the wish tree. For those not familiar with the idea, manzanita branches (or similar) are set up resembling a tree, and guests can write their well-wishes on little cards attached to strings and tie them to the branches. I definitely know that I'm not doing a wish tree. It's just way too much work (although I suppose I'll have more time in the summer...), and I feel like it'd look strange with more than 150 guests (like a "tree" covered in paper). But I did like Weddingbee Mrs. Hot Cocoa's idea of tying the wishes to her chuppah. That way, they got married under the well-wishes of the guests.

Guests attaching their wishes to Mrs. Hot Cocoa's chuppah (at left), and her cute and meaningful photo guestbook (at right). Photos by Leigh Miller.

Beautiful!

One cute (but oh-so-impractical) idea was a kissing guestbook! This couple provided lipstick and a mirror for guests to leave their lip prints our write their names in lipstick. You know, I'm not even a germophobe at all (I share ice cream cones with people!), but I wonder how sharing a lipstick between dozens of people would be...

Image by Sarah K. Chen

How about a mailbox of vintage postcards? You can customize this by using postcards from places meaningful to your relationship, or your honeymoon destination.

Eek! I can't remember where I got this image, and I just spent the last 15 minutes looking through my Google Reader trying to find it! Apologies to the source, and if anyone knows it, let me know so I can give credit where it's due!
Edit: Found it!

We were thinking that this might be a fun interactive guestbook (it's described as a game, but shouldn't a "game" take more than five seconds to participate in? It's a poster with various years on it, and guests can stick a pin (you provide pins with their names on them) in the year that they met you!

Image from Martha Stewart Weddings.

I don't want to have just a simple guest book that people sign their names in. It's not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just that at the weddings that I've really been to, only a few pages have gotten filled up (out of 40 or so!), and I just don't think I'd look at it. If we don't do any of the above options, we'll probably make an album out of our engagement photos and have guests sign it. It's a 2 for 1!

What are you doing for your guestbook (if you're having one at all)?

Finding a Photographer, Pt. II: Questions

2010-01-27T11:40:00.000-08:00

As promised, here are the photography questions that we asked when interviewing photographers! You might not want to ask all of these via email, since it's kind of a lot of questions, but maybe when you meet with your photographer in person (should you choose to do that). There are certain questions that I didn't ask, mainly about experience, because 1) I didn't really care whether they were published or anything like that, and 2) all of the ones I contacted had blogs, so I already knew a fair amount about them already. Just as there were certain questions that didn't really apply to me, there will be some here that you don't really need to ask. I'm just trying to give an example. I got some of these questions from searching "questions" and "photographer" and "wedding" in Google, and some from the book Bridal Bargains.

Will you be taking the photos at our wedding? (Ask this if your photographer is part of a larger photography studio; we didn't have to ask this since all of the photographers we inteviewed worked independently.)
Do you have an assistant/second shooter?
What styles do you specialize in (i.e. photojournalistic, fine art, etc.)
Do you bring back-up equipment (body, lenses)?
What is the back-up plan if you get sick or have a family emergency and cannot shoot my wedding?
What is your rate for overtime (if our event runs late)?
When can we expect to receive proofs (both digital/online and paper)?
How many proofs can we expect to see? (This really can range quite a bit! I've seen anywhere from 100 to 999!)
Are you willing to work with a shot list (this is a list of specific shots that you want the photographer to take--i.e. groom's family, groom's expression while bride is walking down the aisle, etc. Many photographers do not like them or work with them because it hampers their artistic freedom, so make sure to ask this question if it is important to you.)?
Will we receive full rights to the images for printing, etc.? (In my opinion, it is incredibly important to make sure that you have rights because it can really add up if you have to print through your photographer. A 4" x 6" would be $3-4!)
May I view a full wedding online? Try to see a wedding that is similar to yours (i.e. large wedding, small-budget, etc.) so you know that they can shoot more than just intimate fancy weddings. If you're meeting with the photographer in person, you can ask them to bring sample albums.
Will you guarantee these rates until our wedding? Will we be able to upgrade if we choose to at a later time (they usually won't let you downgrade)?
How do you decide what to photograph at a wedding? What is your favorite thing to shoot (i.e. details, portraits, expressions, etc.)?
Are there any additional charges not mentioned?

Is there anything I'm missing?

Engagement Party Mad Libs!

2010-01-26T15:14:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my engagement party post, our friends Amy and Arthur re-worked some mad libs that they found on the internet for some engagement party entertainment. It was really fun reading what they came up with! Here's the mad lib, if you're interested in doing it for an engagement party/shower/other wedding event type game. Thanks A&A!

1) groom-to-be's name

2) bride-to-be's name

3) number

4) adjective

5) location/place

6) body part (plural)

7) adjective

8) adjective

9) feeling/emotion (e.g. joy)

10) noun/thing

11) adjective

12) color

13) body part

14) present tense verb

15) adverb

16) feeling/emotion (eg, joy)

17) period of time (eg, week)

18) location/place

19) past tense verb

20) adjective

21) body part

22-a) verb

22-b) body part

23) adjective

24) eyebrow

25) noun/thing

26) noun/thing

27) nickname

28) number

29) period of time (eg. week)

30) adjective

31) season (eg. autumn)

32) time of day (eg. afternoon)

33-a) adjective

33-b) piece of jewelry

33-c) body part

34) body part

35) feeling/emotion (eg. joy)

36) exclamation (eg. Wow!)

37) location

38) adjective

39) body part (plural)

Here is the form (if you're doing this at home... ;) ) with blanks:

*note: this is actually the men's version, which is Eddie's version of the proposal story. I didn't type up both blank versions, but if you read both completed versions below, you'll see that they're a little bit different.

Pay attention and listen well as I tell you the story of (1) and (2). About (3) years ago, (1) came across a (4) girl named (2). He was at (the) (5) when suddenly his (6) were drawn to a(n) (7) creature, too (8) for mere words. He was overcome with (9) and was sure that he had found the woman he was destined to share his (10) with. She gazed at him with her (11) (12) eyes and his (13) began to (14) (15). Never before had he felt such (16) and he asked her to join him for (17) at (18). She agreed and he (19) her off her feet. She loved his (20) (21) and how he (22-a) his (22-b). (1) was equally excited by (2)'s (23) (24) and (25) (26). He didn't even mind when she called him (27). The couple dated for (28) (29). Them one (30) (31) (32), (1) bought a (33-a) (33-b), bowed his (33-c) to the ground and asked for (2)'s (34) in marriage. (2) was so (35), she responded immediately with (36)! (1) took this as an affirmative response and the couple are now preparing for their wedding day. After the wedding, they are off to (37) where they plan to spend a (38) honeymoon enjoying each other's (39). Now wouldn't you like to know what happens next?

We had the group divide up by gender to work on the mad lib's. Here is the women's version:

Pay attention and listen well as I tell you the love story of Jessica and Eddie. About 17.529 years ago, Jessica met a slimy boy named Eddie at the bathroom. She was piggy-backing when suddenly her toes were drawn to a haughty creature who was defecating his eggbeater. She felt constipated and asked him to pose to meet her chia pet. She gazed at him with her giddy florescent tan eyes and her ear lobe began to sneeze wearily. Never before had she felt such gassy relief and she wondered if he would ask her to join him for a plate at the bar. He did! She agreed and Eddie ran her off her feet. He loved her silky navel and how she initiated her nostril. Jessica was equally excited by Eddie's sloppy mudula oblongata and warm dog. She didn't even mind when he called her snuggle pumpkin. The couple dated for 3.14 pi eons. Then one prickly fall noon, Jessica thought they were going to a Special Olympics, but instead, she found Eddie chortling to her. He then asked for Jessica's duodenum in marriage. Jessica was so bitter, she responded immediately with B'Dow! Eddie took this as an affirmative response and the couple are now preparing for their wedding day. After the wedding, they are off to the meat locker where they plan to spend a Christmassy honeymoon enjoying each other's moles. Now wouldn't you like to know what happens next?

And here is the men's version:

*note: The men wrote a variation of our last names on the mad libs, which I removed for the sake of privacy, but if you know us in real life, just imagine Herlast-Hislast at the end of each "Eddie" and "Princess J."

Pay attention and listen well as I tell you the love story of Eddie and Princess J. About 1/2 a year ago, Eddie came across a crispy girl named Princess J. He was at the Dungeons and Dragons Lair when suddenly his cheeks were drawn to a(n) spicy creature, too constipated for mere words. He was overcome with elation and was sure that he had found the woman he was destined to share his big foot with. She gazed at him with her manly robin-egg blue eyes and his molars began to barf vividly. Never before had he felt such manliness and he asked her to join him for 40 days and 40 nights at the Donuts World. She agreed and her pooped her off her feet. She loved his explosive earlobe and how he manned up his knee-pit. Eddie was equally excited by Princess J.'s silky eyebrows and wrinkly book. He didn't even mind when she called him Ralph. The couple dated for 8 eternities. Then, one moist mainly butt-crack of dawn, Eddie bought a funky elbow ring, bowed his thyroid to the ground and asked for Princess J.'s tailbone in marriage. Princess J. was so exasperated, she responded immediately with "Man!" Eddie took this as an affirmative response and the couple are now preparing for their wedding day. After the wedding, they are off to the men's locker-room where they plan to spend a sweaty honeymoon enjoying each other's phalanges. Now wouldn't you like to know what happens next?