Inspirational Scenery

Sep 06, 2009

Totally unrelated to my wedding planning, this is where I did my last 3 postings ... from ClearLake CA, where we took a weekend trip to visit Ryan's coussie, Brandon, on Labor Day weekend.

Thats the chair where I sat to enjoy the sun and draws inspiration to my postings. What a view, and I just want to share this.

Plan the seating

Sep 02, 2009

One of the few things that couples forget to work on is the table planning, it usually comes as an after thought or on the eve of the wedding. I wanted to start early, 40 days to be exact.

In one of the wedding where I was the unofficial and unpaid planner, my fiends did not provide any table information until after the ceremony, and it caused us quite a panic as each table was 2 chairs short, and the tables were not able to accommodate the planned number. Lots of rework and rearranging the guests at the last minute. We also added 2 extra tables, which added another $1500 to the tab.
It was quite chaotic. Then and there I promised to do better, for my wedding at least.

So I downloaded Table Planner software, placed all the tables ... sweetheart, cake, bridal party, guests, kids, escort cake table ... after feeling pretty satisfied with my planning, I wanted to export to PDF or print, and the trial version of this software does not allow me to do either. Darn!!! It just wasted 2 hours of my time.

And now I need to find another software and try to recall my table placement. I am frustrated, but at least I have a mental picture of where things are supposed to be, hopefully.

Morale of the story ... avoid trial version when possible, they expired on you and you cannot retrieve your work. Use freeware or pen-and-paper for table planning.

Kids sit here

Sep 03, 2009

It is amazing how much discussion there are on the forum about kids in a wedding.
Is it that difficult to decide? Let me tell you, it is tough for simple reasons:

1. You want your wedding to be smooth and beautiful, no breakage, no screaming kids.
2. Kids cost almost as much as an adult guest depending on the venue
3. You have nieces and nephews, how can you exclude them from your big day. They are as excited as you are
4. what about the friends' kids that you play with you all the time. They want to be part of your party too

Anyways, it was not a hard call for us, we definitely want kids to be at our wedding, they are our family and will be in our bridal party. We are having a ring bearer, 2 flower girls and 2 page boys ... Johnny Jr, Kaitlyn, Tiffany, Jun Jie, Kenric ... representing family and friends from both of us. Thats a big party.

We also include other kids from close friends ... Sharon, Katherine, Alan, Zack, Shannon, Rhone, Katie, Summer. We want them to have a fun time too, they will be sitted together at the kids table, with the special linen that i bought from the flea market, and where they can mingle and play with the other kids. their parents will be sitted close by to watch them.

There will be kids activity book which i made ... coloring, maze, word puzzle ... making cranes, kids dancing. I think that will keep them occupied throughout the night and not ran around screaming. Fingers crossed!

Music to the ears

Aug 27, 2009

45 days to our wedding and we have not figured out our wedding songs :-o
Given that I am musically challenged, I cannot never remember the name of a song or the artist for that matter, I have to whip up my PM skills and get Ryan to own this. Ryan came from a family with tons of music talents, this is the one task he is happy to own, and finding the band of course.

The process is simple: Ryan has to select a few songs that he likes and what he thinks I will like and we will both make a selection together.

First up: You are wonderful tonight. NAYYYYYYY
Second up: a song by Enya. NAYYYYYYY
Third up: another Jack Johnson song. MAYBE NOT AGAIN

Then I asked: you don't suppose Mike can sing opera? I love Andrea Bocelli.
This is the turning point.

Turned out Mike CAN sing that one song that I absolutely love by Andrea Bocelli!!! Very amazing surprise! And he himself was excited to sing that song in our wedding, he thought the translated lyrics was absolutely beautiful for a wedding. Mike actually practised 13 times that day to confirm he will be ready. Blessed that soul.

Only 1 hurdle: we need a professional pianist. We want to count on Patrick, but the poor brother is not comfortable playing a complicated song without much practice.
I am leaving the boys to figure out the challenges, and they never fail me, I was so so pleased.
Ryan found our pianist through craiglists, he is a graduate student from SF Music Conservatory, and he just played that song last week and is willing to rehearse with Mike, plus his rates were reasonable, he is so hired!

The band called back too, I was worried we aint going to hear back from these busy bees ... we have a good deal of 6 person band + sound systems. Woo Hoo!

After 2 days of putting soul to music, we got music to the ears :-D

All the songs are confirmed, and Ryan was able to pull off another surprise music with Colleen and the pianist.
I am starting to visualize the wedding is going to be beautiful, i think i will be in happy tears no doubt.

Please Find Your Seat Here

August 05, 2009

An important role of decoration is to bring together the theme, colors and wedding elements from the invitation card, to the table settings, to the reception.

We used the same Patina paper from our invitation for the table numbers and the guests escort cards. Simple, chic and it has beautifully unify our wedding elements. Guests' name will be printed on glossy photo paper and cut to perfection by mua.

You may think the table numbers are created as a after-fact. You are misguided.

The actual truth is ... back when we were still clueless about our invitation design and colors, we laid eyes on this Patina silver-moss green handmade paper from Paper Source and I could not resist buying a couple despite Ryan's objection.

Since then it was slowly integrated into our wedding deco and green became one of our colors. How did that happen? Nonetheless, I am proud to have made that decision then.

Todate, we have used up 10 sheets of this lovely paper for our stationary.

Scapebooking your blessings

August 03, 2009

I can easily spend hours and hours in Michaels browsing and lottering around the scapebook collection, admiring the glitter and beautifully printed papers, wondering where and how I can use them in our wedding.

By the 2nd hour ... I suddenly ask about our guest book, what are we doing about it? what type of guest book is most suited for us? I remembered Becky was indifferent on the eve of her wedding becoz she was not able to pick a guest book, basically they ended up with notepad where guests can scribble their blessings, and they can use for scrape-booking later.

I have a better idea, how about our guests do our scapebook with their blessings during the cocktail hour?

that will be our guestbook to keep forever :-D I think our guests can be occupied and be creative, while we have wonderful memories. Perfect!

I was so proud of myself that I spend the next 2 hours, looking for beautiful scape papers, tons of stickers, labels, tags and embellishments. Of coz this is with Ryan's thumbs up. And I happily headed home to put together the guestbook.

This is the final product ... 2 of them.

The papers are beautiful, and I have our Save The Date card in the first page to encourage our guests to start scapebooking their blessings for us. there will be a photo booth and printer for guests to take their pictures and paste in here.

Guests, you better come prepared to be creative.

Gown Anxiety

August 09, 2009

Today is Singapore National Day, I missed the celebration, parade and fireworks. Of coz I have been busy ... making cranes. I am proud that I made slightly more than 100 cranes so far, and still going.
It might have derail my blogging progress a little heehee ... i need to get back on track.

Good news and not so good news ... my evening gown is ready, 4 weeks ahead of schedule, thats awesome. Maybe that also explained the not so good news, my sister don't think Val's workmanship is up to par, and she has been scrutinizing the gown with an eagle eye. While I, was really pleased to find my younger sister stepped up to her role and bargain with Val for her to fix several unsatisfactory areas.

Also today I received my evening gown, I am filled with curosity and nervousness, I want to see the gown but I am very worried about the fit and the unsatisafctory areas my sister mentioned.

With much anxiety, I tried it on .....

Phew!! the overall fit very nicely, not too tight, but the top is not done per my M Lhuillier's version. It keeps falling forward, somehow there needs to be a better way to secure the piece of lace. I listed 10 improvements and will be sending it back to Singapore. This is a costly and time-consuming process ... this time it will be until Sept before I can see the gown again. At least Yvette agrees it looks nice, money while worth.

Crane Chandelier Project

Jul 28, 2009



During the process of my research for the multiple ettiques and resources, I stumbled on this crane chandelier project originated from Toronto for the good cause of cancer research. Having lost family members to cancer and also been with cancer survivors, it really excites me that we could be part of this cause.

So what is this project about? The goal is to collect 10,000 origami cranes and make them into a chandlier for donating to a community as an art piece, and for each crane donated, 50 cents will be donated to cancer research by WeddingCo. These are no ordinary cranes, it must be signed by brides and grooms to be married before Jan 2010. The crane symbolizes peace from propserity and friendship, and there is no better time than a wedding where both are celebrated and most represented. I want in!

Read more about the project here ... http://www.theweddingco.com/events/index.php?event=5

Almost immediately I signed up for a crane to be signed by Ryan and myself, but I wanted to pledge more.
It is just too late to change our theme, so my ideal is to make as many cranes as I can in the next 70 days, and invite our guests to make them during the wedding. I am going to provide origami papers and instruction for my guests, especially the kids, to make cranes. At the end of the day, we will sign our names and mail to WeddingCo. I had emailed the organizer and got an agreement they will donate 50 cents for every crane we send in. Woo hoo.

My goal is to at least make 500 cranes, so if you like to help out, make the cranes and send to me or bring to our wedding if you are attending :-)

I am off to make my first crane ....

Fire up the grill

Jul 26, 2009



We made this appointment 8 weeks ago, to meet Chef Scott, our chef for our wedding reception, and to taste his cooking. The day finaly arrived, and we arrived promptly on time, hungry ... Yvette, Brandon, Ryan and myself.

We were seated by the window facing the beautiful lake, and treated to a declious 4-course lunch, with plentiful to go around. Unfortunately we were forgot to take pictures of the food, but here are yum yum:

3 appetizers - ahi tuna, chicken empanada, buttersquash in fried won ton, roasted artichokes with tomato and fontina. We were consensus with 2 of the selection. well done.

2 choices of salads - warm gorgonzola with souffle and figs (this is a winner), mixed greens with pears, field leeks and gorgonzola

4 entrees - grilled flank steak, tenderloin of beef with mushrooms and cognoc (this is so tender and juicy), grilled halibut with green olive compote (this is a little mexican), and portello mushrooms (just looks so colorful and delicious)

2 desserts - chocolate bread pudding with creme anglaise (everyone cleaned their plate on this), apple-almond tarts

We went home feeling satisified and well-fed, and I am contented to know my guests will also be well-fed on our wedding day too. This means a lot to us.

Pieces of the package

Jul 26, 2009

Most of my guests have received our invitation package, and I am proud to share pieces of my DIY wedding invitation. And we have been receiving compliments from many people. Pat on our backs :-)

Special stamps!

Jul 21, 2009

Its a big relief today, all the invitations are dropped off at the USPS today. Its a big stack of envelopes, and quite an achievement for a DIY project. I had a great time using craft work to de-stress, and indeed it is therapeutic. This just reminded me I had always been very good at crafts since a child, glad to know I do have some talent ;-)

Special stamps! There are 2 special stamps in my invitation.

1. The clerk at the USPS was kind enough to look for custom stamps to make my invitation more special ... a wedding cake for the main package and wedding rings for the rsvp envelopes. How sweet! I am giving a sneak peak of the invitation package, but I still want to keep it a surprise for my guests.

2. The Double Xi stamp I used to create my red insert. This is a special incorporation of my Chinese tradition.

And the final package looks really smart, I am pleased, and the biggest task checked off my to-do list.

Invitation 3/4 done!

July 16, 2009

The printer messed up the few remaining red sheets, and we ran out of red paper again today.

I will just make do with remaining paper, I did all the cutting and embossing the chinese insert, I break a little smile as each character comes to live with the blowing. I cannot wait to complete the packets, maybe it is therapeutic, I jumped into assembling all the cards into our hand-made pocket holders and our metallic pearl envelopes by myself. With the wedding cake and wedding rings stamps, it just makes the packet look real handsome, from simple to elegant chic ;-)

The invitation packet is looking great. I wish I could post some pictures here, but I want it to be a surprise for our guests. Maybe a week later. Ryan did not have time to help, as he was too busy with his projects. I must let him do something ... so I left the closing of the envelopes to him tomorrow :-)

Fun or not, this is back-breaking assembling work and my wrists are totally sore at end of night, this just shows my character ... I love craft work and I am very goal oriented.

Till tomorrow, just a few more packets left, time to zzzzz ...

Labels and Chinese Customs Card

July 14, 2009

My 2nd replacement printer finally arrives. I cannot wait to get it setup and starting printing the labels, the chinese customs card etc. however I have to finish my work, and get Ryan to the hospital to be x-rayed. His right knee looked 10 degrees off to the side, I was worried. Good news, nothing is broken and he will be up and running in a week or so.

Back to my printer, I wasted 3 hours installing my printer in a gruelling 90 degrees heat in my room. What was I thinking? I was determined to get it fixed so that I can print. urrgghhhh.
Turned out my brain was overheated ... I was connecting the printer to my computer with a network cable while asking the computer to check for USB connection. No wonder it cannot find the printer. Oh technical details.

Finally the labels were printed, it looked beautiful on the strathmore wove envelopes. Loved it!
The chinese insert was too small, I have to make it bigger. Oh well, it will be tomorrow's to-do.
But I couldn't wait to experiment the embossing ... it came out looking real smart! I think my mom will be proud of me. Ryan was impressed too, until he heard of his new tasks ... to blow dry all the stamping tomorrow :-o

let's hope the weather will be cooler tomorrow when we continue our tasks. Of coz we don't have enough red paper, I need to make a trip to Papyrus tomorrow...

Evening gown

July 13, 2009

I had been torned with having an evening gown to change or not.
Some said my white gown is too beautiful and should be worn longer, while others said I should change to a more casual gown to feel relax during the dancing. The chinese custom says the bride changes 3 gowns on the day of her wedding. I am having a hard time choosing one :-(

In the past 8 months, I have not been able to find one gown that I truely like, except for Enzoani Love Collection A28. Too bad it cost too much for a dress to be worn only once. And the tailor that TC recommended said she has to charge more than the chinese tailor from China, she is presumptous about Enzoani using a chinese manufacturer, or maybe it is true. Who cares.

After tons of online shopping for gowns, thats how I got my wrist tendonistis btw, I was able to find another one that I like ... a East-meet-West version by Val Lee from Singaore.
She is a tailor I found randomly online, I love the wonders of internet, and she is super reasonable and helpful with my choices of fabrics. This is the gown I was torn about ...
http://blessedbrides.wordpress.com/bridal-bridesmaid-prom-gowns/manderin/
But will I be able to wear the gown on another occasion? I kinda of like the mandarin collar, but I felt it choking me already.

Finally I was reading someone's blog, and stumbled upon this wedding dress in Monqiue Lhuillier's Fall 2009 collection. It will be my evening gown with a different color, and custom made by Val Lee. I just loved it. I think I can wear for another occasion sometime ...

My gown will be using a blue satin and lace. I had spent several hours picturing this, almost tempted to use photoshop to recreate it, oh photoshop license expired, nonetheless I am excited. I think the most difficult part is taking my own measurements so that Val can make my dress to fit perfectly, afterwards it is the waiting. It will take 2 months to make ... running close to my family's departure date. Cross my fingers it will be nicely ... or alternations will be needed. I am a risk-taker and have faith in Val :-)

I love my sisters, they are going to pay for this gown :-D yippee

Farewell to Alex

July 12, 2009

Had dinner at Frank's house as farewell to Alex Ou. Dinner was awesome, with lobster and tons of dishes. I bought cupcakes from Kara's cupcakes, they are unbelieveably good.

So it looks like there will be more friends coming to our wedding in Singapore ... Frank & Amy & Katherine, Liz and Lynn, Tony & Jolin maybe. Alex might make it from Shanghai too, we were thrilled.

Tomorrow I will need to start contacting vendors and researching for Singapore wedding.

Art and Craft weekend

July 11, 2009

This weekend is art and craft weekend, we were planning to finish our invitations and have them mail out by next week. Of coz, we came up with a few more ideas which takes time to make and a printer. Our old printer refused to feed the paper and the new printer could not be configured :-(

On Friday night, I had alone time at home while Ryan enjoyed baseball at AT&T park with JP. The boys had an awesome time, they just watched the historic game of no-hitter from the Giants. The Giants are doing great this season, Padres worst. Oh I disgressed, I spent my night addressing guests on the pearlascent envelopes we bought. I was not able to write as neatly as I thought 1) my wrist still hurts from tendonitis 2) the embossed envelopes sways my writing. Guess we have to deal with whats done.

Back to my new ideas:
1. create a pocket holder using the same hand-made paper (silver-green patina from papersource) to hold the invitation and inserts.

2. create a red insert card to describe the chinese customs and the front of the card needs a hand-made silver-emboss chinese double-happiness character. this is work.

To do these, we need papers and lots of time. Saturday morning we head to papersource, bought the remaining 6 sheets of patina paper and a pack of red papers, perfect for the 2 projects. I was happy the paper was 60% off and I snatched another $10 discount for the rest of the items.

We came home and I begin cutting the sheets with my quilting rotary cutter while Ryan works on his flash projects. I was excited to see the blocks of pocket holder forming shapes after 1.5 hours of cutting and another hour to glue and shape the pocket top. I ended up with 6 green sticky fingers, but 70 fine-looking pocket holders. I am pleased with myself.

Next, the red insert card, I created the template in MS Word, it describes my chinese customs:
The double happiness, the red envelope and the tea ceremony. This is less tacky then asking for red packet for the non-chinese guests. Unfortunately I have to print it on the red sheets before cutting them and embossing the character. Oh well, they have to wait until tomorrow.

Something bad happened on Sunday, Ryan rode his bike to Panera but he hit the curb and twisted his right knee. oh oh. Some guy helped him up and almost called 911. But Ryan was fine, he sat down, rested a bit and finally called me to pick him up. We went to emergency room at Kaiser. Turned out he did not break any bones or tendons, he just needed vicodine and clutches. Now he is back home working on his children's animation. If only he heed my advice to stay home or let me drop him off at Panera. Oh well man. And now he can't help with any invitation work.

I am off to cook some dinner.

Beginning of my blog

July 10, 2009

Midway through my wedding process, I suddenly realized how unique our wedding or weddings will be. The idea of blogging down my preparation process begins to creep into my mind and starting to form ideas. I want to be able to share our process with our families, and friends, as we embarked into 2 weddings 2 countries in 2 months.

Our first wedding: October 10 09 in Oakland California.
Our second wedding: December 27 09 in Sentosa Singapore.

Why 2 weddings in 2 countries in 2 months?
US wedding is for Ryan's family & friends, and my friends in the past 9 years.
SG wedding is for my mom & family, and my oldest and great friends in most part of my life
Why 2 months ... why not? December is the most beautiful time in Singapore and i have more vacation time too :-)

I realized I have to back track the 288 days of preparation process :-o is that even possible?
I will try, by indicating the date at beginning of each posting and think back about the event.

I am loving this blog. I hope I have time to jog down my thoughts amidst these craziness.