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.