We went to the Dominican Republic for our honeymoon and splurged to get the VIP treatment at the all-inclusive resort we stayed at. We had been there before, which is why we chose it. It was a safe choice and we totally love it there!
This was our hard-earned do-nothing vacation, so we spent our two weeks doing nothing but wake up, eat, slather on sunblock, sit on the beach, eat and drink some more. My hubby had a hard time disconnecting and never fully did that. I wanted a total disconnect from anything non-vacation, meaning I didn't want to read the news, hear about the news, check email, surf the web or check my voicemail. My hubby couldn't do all that and I did get annoyed with him when he read something in the news and tried to talk to me about it. He got the picture after I complained and he limited his conversations to news articles that were mostly fluff.
There's not much else to say about our honeymoon. We had a good time, relaxed and slept our fill every day. Our days on the beach consisted of us ordering drinks, eating hors d'oeuvres, watching the waves, reading and knitting. Every so often, we'd take a walk along the beach, play in the water and pet the "beach dog." I call him that because he hangs out on the beach on most days and is super friendly and sweet! He has soft fur and loves being petted. People also tried to feed him, but I think he mostly hangs out at the beach because it's a nice place to hang out and lots of people pet him. I'm not sure if he belongs to anybody as there never seems to be an owner around.
At the end of two weeks, we were actually quite ready to come back to NYC. Not that we didn't have a wonderful time or anything. We had a great time! It's just that we can only do nothing for so long before we start feeling a little restless. Also, the daily routine of slathering on tons of sunblock was getting on our nerves. That is one part I don't think I'll ever miss! When we landed in NY, I realized that there were definitely things I missed!
For one thing, I really missed the food! The resort's food was pretty excellent. Not only was the food delicious, there was a lot of variety. Most all-inclusives aren't as good on the food front. However, there's no beating the quality and variety of foods available in NYC! We also missed hanging out and chatting with our friends and family. Most of all, we missed our cat! I will say that the one thing I didn't miss was the daily commute. Oh well, the honeymoon is now over. Time to get back to the daily grind!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Side note on wedding drama
It seems that no wedding planning process is complete without at least a little drama. In my earlier post, I wrote that we were lucky that there were no other hands in the wedding planning process but our own, which made things much, much easier. What I didn't mention was the difficulty in dealing with certain family members while we were planning our wedding. Although they didn't ruin the wedding or make a scene, I do feel that our relationship with these people have been permanently altered.
At first, we thought it might be a jealousy thing. Some people just don't react well to happy news when they're miserable. Some people get downright nasty when they're jealous. During the wedding planning process, my hubby and I have had our fair share of damaging interactions with unhappy people. As much as we would like to sympathize, forgive and help them, we have come to the conclusion that in some cases, you can't help them unless they help themselves and it's best to protect ourselves in the meanwhile. In truth, there is lingering anger, frustration and lots of hurt feelings still, but now that the wedding's over, the pressure to try and get them to behave nicely is off. Despite the hurtful behavior from these people, my hubby and I strove to give them every chance to "get over it" and start acting gracious. In the end, they still behaved like petty people, more focused on their own misery than trying to at least not be rude to us on our wedding day. I feel like they were almost angry that they couldn't ruin it for anybody without embarrassing themselves in front of everyone.
In any case, I won't go into details, but the ongoing and the on again, off again drama plagued our planning process. It took up not only an emotional and mental toll, but sucked up time because with every incident, there had to be some tears, venting, analyzing and then discussion on how to move forward. So you can say that these incidents weren't minor to us. Perhaps these people always had tendencies towards being petty, jealous and mean, but certainly they had never acted to such an extreme degree until we were engaged. Much of the process was tinged with the "what do we do about these people?" question. In the end, we chose to try to be gracious towards these people. However, we also had to shield them from some other guests that they were... unfriendly with. That meant that the mean people could not be given places of honor normally accorded to people in their positions.
Despite the unpleasantries, and we did experience a little at the wedding, they were unable to ruin it for us. That's partly because there were just too many people that were having a good time and really wanted to wish us well. It's also partly because the wedding was about us, not them, and as much as they'd like to pretend it's all about them, I'm sure it was a difficult fantasy to keep up. Thank goodness for that!
At first, we thought it might be a jealousy thing. Some people just don't react well to happy news when they're miserable. Some people get downright nasty when they're jealous. During the wedding planning process, my hubby and I have had our fair share of damaging interactions with unhappy people. As much as we would like to sympathize, forgive and help them, we have come to the conclusion that in some cases, you can't help them unless they help themselves and it's best to protect ourselves in the meanwhile. In truth, there is lingering anger, frustration and lots of hurt feelings still, but now that the wedding's over, the pressure to try and get them to behave nicely is off. Despite the hurtful behavior from these people, my hubby and I strove to give them every chance to "get over it" and start acting gracious. In the end, they still behaved like petty people, more focused on their own misery than trying to at least not be rude to us on our wedding day. I feel like they were almost angry that they couldn't ruin it for anybody without embarrassing themselves in front of everyone.
In any case, I won't go into details, but the ongoing and the on again, off again drama plagued our planning process. It took up not only an emotional and mental toll, but sucked up time because with every incident, there had to be some tears, venting, analyzing and then discussion on how to move forward. So you can say that these incidents weren't minor to us. Perhaps these people always had tendencies towards being petty, jealous and mean, but certainly they had never acted to such an extreme degree until we were engaged. Much of the process was tinged with the "what do we do about these people?" question. In the end, we chose to try to be gracious towards these people. However, we also had to shield them from some other guests that they were... unfriendly with. That meant that the mean people could not be given places of honor normally accorded to people in their positions.
Despite the unpleasantries, and we did experience a little at the wedding, they were unable to ruin it for us. That's partly because there were just too many people that were having a good time and really wanted to wish us well. It's also partly because the wedding was about us, not them, and as much as they'd like to pretend it's all about them, I'm sure it was a difficult fantasy to keep up. Thank goodness for that!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Wedding after-thoughts
I did the best I could to plan a big, expensive event. The truth is, I've never done this sort of thing before and I can't say I really knew what I was doing. However, I knew what I wanted in general and figured that I'll do what I can towards my goals and let the chips fall where they may on the wedding day. So basically, I had no concrete idea what would stand out to my guests and what touches they would find attractive or amusing.
So here is a list of things my guests have specially told me that they appreciated:
- Music from Tetris for the prelude music. As guests were getting seated for the ceremony, the DJ played a mix of Tetris music. Anybody who played Tetris growing up instantly appreciated this!
- Using Love Me Do by the Beatles for the Bride's Entrance music. People were clapping to the music as I approached and I must say, it was one of most gratifying sites I've ever seen!
- Using Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom End Credits for the recessional music. Some guests didn't get this, but others thought it was totally awesome.
- A few of my guests thought the ceremony that the Rabbi created with me and my hubby had our personalities stamped all over it. It was very important to us that both of us were represented in the ceremony and both backgrounds were given equal attention. The result was a nicely balanced ceremony.
- The MC and DJ. I can't take credit for their work, of course. I can't even claim I found them myself. A good friend of mine hired them for her wedding and recommended them to us. We hired them because we liked the MC, who was also our sales rep, and their company also handled our photography. I figured the fewer vendors we had to deal with, the better, as long as the few vendors we choose were good. They were an awesome choice! Our guests actually got up and danced and I owe it to them!
- Rocky the raccoon. Our stuffed animal raccoon was a huge hit! The significance of raccoons was explained in the ceremony, so when people saw him at the reception, they understood why he was there. What I didn't expect was for people to dance with him on the dance floor, pose with him for pictures and try to feed him glasses of champagne!
- Guest book tree. We ordered a tree poster from Etsy that came with leaf stickers. Guests could write their name on the leaves and stick them on the tree. Everyone really loved it, but it was a real b*tch getting the sticker backing off. Afterwards, hubby thought maybe it would have been better if we had pre-stuck the leaves and all guests had to do was sign it. However, sticking stickers on something was part of the fun! Oh well.
- My many dresses. I wore a total of four different dresses that night. The white wedding dress, the aubergine evening dress, the red wedding qipao and the low backed lavender dress with navy blue sash. I sewed the last dress myself. Guests seemed to really like this particular tradition in Chinese weddings and I love wearing fancy dresses!
- Cake toppers. We used bride and groom rubber duckies we bought at City Hall when we got our marriage license. People commented that they had never seen such cake toppers before and thought they were adorable. Hubby and I just thought they were cute when we got them. I originally didn't plan on having cake toppers at all, but hubby really liked them. Turns out he wasn't alone!
I do have a couple of regrets. One is that there were none of my hand-wired butterflies on the cake. I spent an entire evening hand-wiring 60 butterflies, carefully stuffing them into a big envelope and sent it to the venue's baker. My fingers were quite sore by the end of that evening. I made the effort to confirm that the baker had received the butterflies along with an example photo and general instructions. I also emailed the sales rep and banquet manager about them and they acknowledged everything should be in order. None if made any difference and there were no butterflies on my cake. The other regret, which is not nearly as big, is that I didn't get around to making centerpieces. The venue provided votives for the tables, which is great because they looked pretty, didn't block anyone's view of anything, and I didn't have to bring a big box of centerpieces for them to set up. It turned out fine and I didn't have to drive myself crazy making centerpieces, but there's a part of me that thinks it would have been a great craft project to undertake!
Other personal touches included our hand-made ketubah, which didn't make as big a splash with the guests, but seemed to impress the Rabbi and Maitre'd. It was made by me. Lol! It's actually a rather small ketubah, but I was constrained by the size of the artsy papers I had to work with. The ketubah was made in layers. I bought a black bordered cardstock frame with cardstock backing and built it up from the backing. I also bought this green paper with some stylized plantlife on it. I pasted that onto the center of the backing. I then cut out individual blades of grass out of darker green, plain paper and pasted it onto the bottom border of the stylized paper. I left the upper parts of the blades unglued so that they curled a bit and stuck out. The ketubah text was printed onto a sheet of plain vellum paper and that was the paper we signed. Once that was signed, the vellum sheet was placed, right adjusted, under the curled tips of grass. The black bordered frame, which was prepped before the wedding, had a tree cut out from brown paper pasted on the left border, and the bottom border also had blades of grass glued to it. Instead of leaves, I tore off blossoms from my leftover fake hydrangea flowers and hot-glued them to the top of the tree, which became the top border. At the signing, I placed the vellum sheet onto the backing, then took a clear plastic sheet and placed it under the blades of grass over the vellum sheet, and then placed the modified frame border on top. Everything was taped in place temporarily so that it can be displayed. Once home, I glued the vellum sheet down and then tried to glue the plastic sheet down in way to minimize the paper's exposure to air, then I glued down the frame. It was a lot of work, but I think it was worth it! Actually, I had a different design in mind when I was designing it in my head, but once I started working on it, the project sort of just resulted in what I described above. Lol! I'm planning to mount the whole thing onto sturdier backing to prevent warping in the future.
All in all, I think I was a decently crafty bride. Here is a list of my completed projects:
- 6 bouquets
- 2 corsages
- 5 bouts
- hubby's crocheted yarmulke
- 3 memorial candles (just cylinders of printed vellum paper)
- ketubah
- invitations
- 3 metal-framed fabric purses (special gifts for some special people)
- hair flower clip
- Bridal Suite sign
- Reserved seating signs
- my last dress
- table number signs and stands
- veil
- garter
The above list was a LOT of work. There was research, a couple of failed attempts for a few items, and a lot of effort. For a few items, I ended up causing more trouble for myself than I had to. For instance, the table numbers, reserved seating signs and the bridal suite sign were printed on plain white paper that was cut and then mounted onto cardstock. What would have saved me a lot of time would have been to print the signs directly onto cardstock. The invitations took way too much effort because it had so many parts, and so it had many steps just to complete one. There was no need for the invitations to be as complicated as I made them out to be.
My advice for other DIY brides is to keep things simple and don't sweat the small stuff. Do the practical stuff first and then the fluff stuff. When I say fluff stuff, that includes things that are usually present in weddings, but aren't necessary to make the wedding happen or make the wedding run smooth, like a veil or centerpieces. Make sure you have plenty of time to do your DIY projects and always have a backup plan in case the project fails. That means that if your veil came out funny and unusable, be prepared to buy one. If you find you've bitten off more than you can chew, find ways to scale back.
There are also lots of ways to save money without DIYing from scratch. Blank invitations and escort cards can be bought at stationery stores and printed out at home. Pretty table number templates can be downloaded and printed onto sturdy cardstock. Our table number stands were just cones of cardstock paper with a slit cut into the tip. The table number card was slipped into the slit and voila! The table number is standing up! Also take advantage of certain wedding websites or other event-planning websites if they offer RSVP functionality. Make sure the RSVP functionality fits your needs. The great thing about online RSVPing is that if someone forgot to RSVP, you can IM, text or email them and they can take care of it right away, rather than waiting for snail mail to come through. You'll also save on paper and postage. You should also take advantage of what the venue has to offer you. I didn't realize that I didn't need to bring a card box. They had a beautifully decorated mailbox and wheelbarrow setup for cards and gifts. The venue also provided the ceremony wine, a beautiful tea service set and tray for the tea ceremony, the cake cutting and serving utensils, champagne glasses for the toasts and votives for the tables. It's nice that we choose a venue that did the baking, catering and hosting. It was nice because they did a good job. It would have been horrible if they did a bad job. So choose your vendors wisely.
My last bit of advice for future brides is this: don't let the best be the enemy of good enough. Probably not an exact quote, but it says what I mean. Searching for "the best" causes immense amounts of stress because "better" things are always on the horizon. Remember why you're having a wedding when you feel sucked in by the wedding industrial complex. You're having a wedding because you want your friends and family to witness you getting married, and because afterwards you want to party with them to celebrate! At its heart, that's all a wedding is. If you keep this in mind, that desperation you may have been feeling trying to order the "perfect" shade of rose petals to line your aisle may start to melt away, the grief you may have been feeling when you realized the veil is not EXACTLY the way you imagined it may lift, and the frustration you may have been experiencing when things aren't going according to your plan may begin to smooth over.
Granted, I had it very easy during the planning process in some regards. I am not one of those brides that dreamed of getting married since girlhood, so I was not pursuing efforts to make my fantasy a reality. My family and friends are well aware of my record for being headstrong, stubborn and opinionated and refrained from trying to control any aspects of the wedding. My hubby's family stayed out of the planning completely as they are a very carefree, hands-off kind of family. Neither of us had a large guest list, so not much arguing there, and we had plenty of moral support whenever drama did occur.
We also did a lot of things that made the process much easier for us. We choose to limit our wedding party to just us, 2 groomsmen and 4 bridesmaids. The less people we have to organize, the easier on us. We didn't choose their outfits. We gave them guidelines like, wear a dark suit or navy blue dress and accessorize as you like. That way, no time was spent shopping and the bridal party can take care of themselves. We also limited the number of vendors we had to deal with. That also meant we had to choose our vendors carefully. I spent more time weeding out vendors that didn't meet my basic criteria before arranging to meet them. That meant we only had to meet a handful of vendors before choosing the one we liked best out of the bunch. I also spent lots of time researching reviews for these vendors. Keep in mind that many wedding websites will take down bad reviews at the vendor's request without notifying the reviewer, so make sure your research is as extensive as possible. If there is little reviewer information on a vendor, make sure you get a good amount of time with the vendor in person to get a feel of their personality, style and professionalism. Be clear about what you want and see if they can deliver evidence of being able to handle such requests. We also kept from making too many specific requests. We really wanted to just give the vendors an idea of what we'd like to achieve and then let them use their best judgment. Lastly, the thing that really made my wedding planning process smooth was keeping to a well-thought out schedule and keeping to a strict budget. Basically, staying organized and keeping the number of parts involved to a minimum. Fewer moving cogs means less things to track and less opportunities for the machine to break down. The tradeoff is that if one of your few cogs does break down, the machine is more likely to roll to a halt because it's mostly likely a pretty critical cog.
If my planning timeline had been less thought-out or less organized, I would not have had as much free time during the last month before the wedding. That is not to say I wasn't busy, but nothing took on an air of frantic desperation. I firmly believe that proper prior planning prevents piss poor performance. However, some things that go wrong are beyond your control. If that happens, roll with it and move on. Don't let anything spoil your day because nobody and nothing should be given that much power over your wedding experience!
So here is a list of things my guests have specially told me that they appreciated:
- Music from Tetris for the prelude music. As guests were getting seated for the ceremony, the DJ played a mix of Tetris music. Anybody who played Tetris growing up instantly appreciated this!
- Using Love Me Do by the Beatles for the Bride's Entrance music. People were clapping to the music as I approached and I must say, it was one of most gratifying sites I've ever seen!
- Using Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom End Credits for the recessional music. Some guests didn't get this, but others thought it was totally awesome.
- A few of my guests thought the ceremony that the Rabbi created with me and my hubby had our personalities stamped all over it. It was very important to us that both of us were represented in the ceremony and both backgrounds were given equal attention. The result was a nicely balanced ceremony.
- The MC and DJ. I can't take credit for their work, of course. I can't even claim I found them myself. A good friend of mine hired them for her wedding and recommended them to us. We hired them because we liked the MC, who was also our sales rep, and their company also handled our photography. I figured the fewer vendors we had to deal with, the better, as long as the few vendors we choose were good. They were an awesome choice! Our guests actually got up and danced and I owe it to them!
- Rocky the raccoon. Our stuffed animal raccoon was a huge hit! The significance of raccoons was explained in the ceremony, so when people saw him at the reception, they understood why he was there. What I didn't expect was for people to dance with him on the dance floor, pose with him for pictures and try to feed him glasses of champagne!
- Guest book tree. We ordered a tree poster from Etsy that came with leaf stickers. Guests could write their name on the leaves and stick them on the tree. Everyone really loved it, but it was a real b*tch getting the sticker backing off. Afterwards, hubby thought maybe it would have been better if we had pre-stuck the leaves and all guests had to do was sign it. However, sticking stickers on something was part of the fun! Oh well.
- My many dresses. I wore a total of four different dresses that night. The white wedding dress, the aubergine evening dress, the red wedding qipao and the low backed lavender dress with navy blue sash. I sewed the last dress myself. Guests seemed to really like this particular tradition in Chinese weddings and I love wearing fancy dresses!
- Cake toppers. We used bride and groom rubber duckies we bought at City Hall when we got our marriage license. People commented that they had never seen such cake toppers before and thought they were adorable. Hubby and I just thought they were cute when we got them. I originally didn't plan on having cake toppers at all, but hubby really liked them. Turns out he wasn't alone!
I do have a couple of regrets. One is that there were none of my hand-wired butterflies on the cake. I spent an entire evening hand-wiring 60 butterflies, carefully stuffing them into a big envelope and sent it to the venue's baker. My fingers were quite sore by the end of that evening. I made the effort to confirm that the baker had received the butterflies along with an example photo and general instructions. I also emailed the sales rep and banquet manager about them and they acknowledged everything should be in order. None if made any difference and there were no butterflies on my cake. The other regret, which is not nearly as big, is that I didn't get around to making centerpieces. The venue provided votives for the tables, which is great because they looked pretty, didn't block anyone's view of anything, and I didn't have to bring a big box of centerpieces for them to set up. It turned out fine and I didn't have to drive myself crazy making centerpieces, but there's a part of me that thinks it would have been a great craft project to undertake!
Other personal touches included our hand-made ketubah, which didn't make as big a splash with the guests, but seemed to impress the Rabbi and Maitre'd. It was made by me. Lol! It's actually a rather small ketubah, but I was constrained by the size of the artsy papers I had to work with. The ketubah was made in layers. I bought a black bordered cardstock frame with cardstock backing and built it up from the backing. I also bought this green paper with some stylized plantlife on it. I pasted that onto the center of the backing. I then cut out individual blades of grass out of darker green, plain paper and pasted it onto the bottom border of the stylized paper. I left the upper parts of the blades unglued so that they curled a bit and stuck out. The ketubah text was printed onto a sheet of plain vellum paper and that was the paper we signed. Once that was signed, the vellum sheet was placed, right adjusted, under the curled tips of grass. The black bordered frame, which was prepped before the wedding, had a tree cut out from brown paper pasted on the left border, and the bottom border also had blades of grass glued to it. Instead of leaves, I tore off blossoms from my leftover fake hydrangea flowers and hot-glued them to the top of the tree, which became the top border. At the signing, I placed the vellum sheet onto the backing, then took a clear plastic sheet and placed it under the blades of grass over the vellum sheet, and then placed the modified frame border on top. Everything was taped in place temporarily so that it can be displayed. Once home, I glued the vellum sheet down and then tried to glue the plastic sheet down in way to minimize the paper's exposure to air, then I glued down the frame. It was a lot of work, but I think it was worth it! Actually, I had a different design in mind when I was designing it in my head, but once I started working on it, the project sort of just resulted in what I described above. Lol! I'm planning to mount the whole thing onto sturdier backing to prevent warping in the future.
All in all, I think I was a decently crafty bride. Here is a list of my completed projects:
- 6 bouquets
- 2 corsages
- 5 bouts
- hubby's crocheted yarmulke
- 3 memorial candles (just cylinders of printed vellum paper)
- ketubah
- invitations
- 3 metal-framed fabric purses (special gifts for some special people)
- hair flower clip
- Bridal Suite sign
- Reserved seating signs
- my last dress
- table number signs and stands
- veil
- garter
The above list was a LOT of work. There was research, a couple of failed attempts for a few items, and a lot of effort. For a few items, I ended up causing more trouble for myself than I had to. For instance, the table numbers, reserved seating signs and the bridal suite sign were printed on plain white paper that was cut and then mounted onto cardstock. What would have saved me a lot of time would have been to print the signs directly onto cardstock. The invitations took way too much effort because it had so many parts, and so it had many steps just to complete one. There was no need for the invitations to be as complicated as I made them out to be.
My advice for other DIY brides is to keep things simple and don't sweat the small stuff. Do the practical stuff first and then the fluff stuff. When I say fluff stuff, that includes things that are usually present in weddings, but aren't necessary to make the wedding happen or make the wedding run smooth, like a veil or centerpieces. Make sure you have plenty of time to do your DIY projects and always have a backup plan in case the project fails. That means that if your veil came out funny and unusable, be prepared to buy one. If you find you've bitten off more than you can chew, find ways to scale back.
There are also lots of ways to save money without DIYing from scratch. Blank invitations and escort cards can be bought at stationery stores and printed out at home. Pretty table number templates can be downloaded and printed onto sturdy cardstock. Our table number stands were just cones of cardstock paper with a slit cut into the tip. The table number card was slipped into the slit and voila! The table number is standing up! Also take advantage of certain wedding websites or other event-planning websites if they offer RSVP functionality. Make sure the RSVP functionality fits your needs. The great thing about online RSVPing is that if someone forgot to RSVP, you can IM, text or email them and they can take care of it right away, rather than waiting for snail mail to come through. You'll also save on paper and postage. You should also take advantage of what the venue has to offer you. I didn't realize that I didn't need to bring a card box. They had a beautifully decorated mailbox and wheelbarrow setup for cards and gifts. The venue also provided the ceremony wine, a beautiful tea service set and tray for the tea ceremony, the cake cutting and serving utensils, champagne glasses for the toasts and votives for the tables. It's nice that we choose a venue that did the baking, catering and hosting. It was nice because they did a good job. It would have been horrible if they did a bad job. So choose your vendors wisely.
My last bit of advice for future brides is this: don't let the best be the enemy of good enough. Probably not an exact quote, but it says what I mean. Searching for "the best" causes immense amounts of stress because "better" things are always on the horizon. Remember why you're having a wedding when you feel sucked in by the wedding industrial complex. You're having a wedding because you want your friends and family to witness you getting married, and because afterwards you want to party with them to celebrate! At its heart, that's all a wedding is. If you keep this in mind, that desperation you may have been feeling trying to order the "perfect" shade of rose petals to line your aisle may start to melt away, the grief you may have been feeling when you realized the veil is not EXACTLY the way you imagined it may lift, and the frustration you may have been experiencing when things aren't going according to your plan may begin to smooth over.
Granted, I had it very easy during the planning process in some regards. I am not one of those brides that dreamed of getting married since girlhood, so I was not pursuing efforts to make my fantasy a reality. My family and friends are well aware of my record for being headstrong, stubborn and opinionated and refrained from trying to control any aspects of the wedding. My hubby's family stayed out of the planning completely as they are a very carefree, hands-off kind of family. Neither of us had a large guest list, so not much arguing there, and we had plenty of moral support whenever drama did occur.
We also did a lot of things that made the process much easier for us. We choose to limit our wedding party to just us, 2 groomsmen and 4 bridesmaids. The less people we have to organize, the easier on us. We didn't choose their outfits. We gave them guidelines like, wear a dark suit or navy blue dress and accessorize as you like. That way, no time was spent shopping and the bridal party can take care of themselves. We also limited the number of vendors we had to deal with. That also meant we had to choose our vendors carefully. I spent more time weeding out vendors that didn't meet my basic criteria before arranging to meet them. That meant we only had to meet a handful of vendors before choosing the one we liked best out of the bunch. I also spent lots of time researching reviews for these vendors. Keep in mind that many wedding websites will take down bad reviews at the vendor's request without notifying the reviewer, so make sure your research is as extensive as possible. If there is little reviewer information on a vendor, make sure you get a good amount of time with the vendor in person to get a feel of their personality, style and professionalism. Be clear about what you want and see if they can deliver evidence of being able to handle such requests. We also kept from making too many specific requests. We really wanted to just give the vendors an idea of what we'd like to achieve and then let them use their best judgment. Lastly, the thing that really made my wedding planning process smooth was keeping to a well-thought out schedule and keeping to a strict budget. Basically, staying organized and keeping the number of parts involved to a minimum. Fewer moving cogs means less things to track and less opportunities for the machine to break down. The tradeoff is that if one of your few cogs does break down, the machine is more likely to roll to a halt because it's mostly likely a pretty critical cog.
If my planning timeline had been less thought-out or less organized, I would not have had as much free time during the last month before the wedding. That is not to say I wasn't busy, but nothing took on an air of frantic desperation. I firmly believe that proper prior planning prevents piss poor performance. However, some things that go wrong are beyond your control. If that happens, roll with it and move on. Don't let anything spoil your day because nobody and nothing should be given that much power over your wedding experience!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Whew! I survived wedding planning!
Yes folks, I was able to fly over the hump and get married! I know, it's been over a month since my last post, but the last few weeks leading up to the wedding was busy. Not hectic, but busy - both at work and at home. Thus, I had little time or energy to blog. After the wedding, we went off to our honeymoon and spent 2 weeks on a nice, beautiful beach! Whoo hoo! Boy did I need that vacation!
Anyways, to recap some of the events leading up to the wedding, I had my bachelorette party the Friday night before the wedding, completed the Ketubah, ironed my white dress, finished sewing my last dress, printed out escort cards, sewed the garter, and left explicit instructions with instructional photos and the day-of timeline with our vendors. I thought I might come off as a little control-freakish and paranoid when I handed the photos and instructions to the vendor, along with a very detailed timeline, but the vendors all looked at them and said, "This is perfect!" My hubby got the impression that most vendors tend to play more guessing games with other brides, or sometimes brides didn't put as much thought into their timelines and/or instructions. I did a lot of research, paid attention to details and allowed the vendors to use their best judgment as well. My attitude towards the vendors was for them to tell me what they need from me in terms of general direction and for me to let them do their jobs and show off their skills.
Most of my wedding stuff was pretty straight-forward, standard wedding stuff. That minimized any confusion that the vendors might have with anything weird. Special instructions that had to be done included putting a rose on a reserved chair in the front row for my hubby's father, who passed away a few years ago, memorial pillar "candles" for his father, his grandmother and my grandfather, and placing our raccoon, Rocky, around our guest sign-in tree to look like he's signing the tree. I also wanted the baker to put butterflies that I had hand-wired into the cake, but apparently the baker forgot. Not having the butterflies was a disappointment, but overall, the day went great! I must hand it to the Maitre'D for keeping me on schedule and making sure that my hubby and I were properly fed. He and the waitstaff kept bringing us food, which was really helpful! I think we would have eaten much less if they hadn't done that. So thanks to them, we actually got to eat at our own wedding!
Basically, the day went like this:
Spent the night before in my parents' house, as per Chinese tradition, and woke up early to get my hair and makeup done. As I was getting made up, my hubby made the traditional journey to my parents' house to pick up his bride. We didn't do the bride price thing or the games, so when I was all made up, he and I left for the venue around 9am. We arrive at the venue at around 10:40AM, which was ahead of schedule.
I go to change into my white dress and when the photographer and his assistant arrived, we did an hour of formal photos with just me and my hubby. Once the bridal party and family arrived and we did an hour of formal photos with them. Then I changed into my purple dress and we signed the ketubah and marriage license, and headed outside for the tea ceremony.
My mother brought her own tea and pillows for me and my hubby to kneel on, and the venue provided the china and the setup. One of my bridesmaids handed us the tea to serve to our parents, who would take a sip and then give us a red envelope. Once the tea ceremony was done, I headed back to change back into the white dress for the marriage ceremony.
Once I was properly gussied up, I headed down to where we were lining up. The Maitre'D was waiting and was directing everything, which made everything so smooth and easy! The processional was led by my hubby's mom and stepdad, who looked so sweet as they walked down the aisle. Both my mom and my dad escorted me and it was really awesome to see my guests clapping to my entrance music, which was Love Me Do by the Beatles. The ceremony ran a bit longer than I'd like, but that's partially my fault as I okayed it with the Rabbi and with my hubby. My feet were killing me in last few minutes! The shoes I wore are actually very comfortable, but apparently, not so fun to stand still in for 30 minutes. There were a couple of memorable moments that stood out for me. One was when I sipped from the Kiddish cup, I said, "Mmmm, that's good!" So when the rabbi heard that, she said, "Yeah? Okay, then have another sip!" So both my hubby and I had a second sip. Lol! Another memorable moment was when hubby's mom was doing her reading, she teared up and almost made me tear up too! I also had to fake some of the hebrew parts because I didn't know/memorize the words and the Rabbi commented how on well I faked it. Hahaha! Once we were pronounced man and wife, we left the ceremony to do a few more family photos and then on to cocktail hour! On the way to the bar area, I dropped off my bouquet and picked up the toss bouquet.
So that's when the real mingling began. At the end of cocktail hour, we did the bouquet and garter toss. Hubby wanted to use his teeth to take off my garter and the MC asked about hubby using his teeth, but I loudly proclaimed this was a PG show and there will be no teeth! Lol! Hubby's sister caught the bouquet and one of his groomsmen caught the garter. The whole affair was entertaining, but not out of the ordinary.
Once everyone was being directed into the reception area, I changed into my red qipao. Hubby was waiting outside the reception entrance and when I arrived, we were introduced and did our first dance. Others were invited to dance once we had a few moments on the dance floor to ourselves and I honestly thought this was going to be a pretty shy crowd, but people really did get up and dance! It was great! I don't remember the exact sequence after that, but I do remember the Maitre'D and wait staff making sure we got food to eat and time to eat. I remember the parent dances, which was done to Sunrise, Sunset from Fiddler on the Roof, and I remember lots of hugs and dancing! After the cake cutting, I changed into my last dress, which I sewed myself. That's about the time when everyone started to say their goodbyes, which was fine with me and my hubby because we had been up since at least 5AM that day!
Once we had everything packed up, we walked to the building over, where we had a complimentary night in one of their rooms. Yes, the venue we picked also had a hotel on their grounds, which made them a very full-service venue! We spent that evening reading cards, opening gifts, cleaning up, decompressing and then sleeping. All in all, it was a good day!
Anyways, to recap some of the events leading up to the wedding, I had my bachelorette party the Friday night before the wedding, completed the Ketubah, ironed my white dress, finished sewing my last dress, printed out escort cards, sewed the garter, and left explicit instructions with instructional photos and the day-of timeline with our vendors. I thought I might come off as a little control-freakish and paranoid when I handed the photos and instructions to the vendor, along with a very detailed timeline, but the vendors all looked at them and said, "This is perfect!" My hubby got the impression that most vendors tend to play more guessing games with other brides, or sometimes brides didn't put as much thought into their timelines and/or instructions. I did a lot of research, paid attention to details and allowed the vendors to use their best judgment as well. My attitude towards the vendors was for them to tell me what they need from me in terms of general direction and for me to let them do their jobs and show off their skills.
Most of my wedding stuff was pretty straight-forward, standard wedding stuff. That minimized any confusion that the vendors might have with anything weird. Special instructions that had to be done included putting a rose on a reserved chair in the front row for my hubby's father, who passed away a few years ago, memorial pillar "candles" for his father, his grandmother and my grandfather, and placing our raccoon, Rocky, around our guest sign-in tree to look like he's signing the tree. I also wanted the baker to put butterflies that I had hand-wired into the cake, but apparently the baker forgot. Not having the butterflies was a disappointment, but overall, the day went great! I must hand it to the Maitre'D for keeping me on schedule and making sure that my hubby and I were properly fed. He and the waitstaff kept bringing us food, which was really helpful! I think we would have eaten much less if they hadn't done that. So thanks to them, we actually got to eat at our own wedding!
Basically, the day went like this:
Spent the night before in my parents' house, as per Chinese tradition, and woke up early to get my hair and makeup done. As I was getting made up, my hubby made the traditional journey to my parents' house to pick up his bride. We didn't do the bride price thing or the games, so when I was all made up, he and I left for the venue around 9am. We arrive at the venue at around 10:40AM, which was ahead of schedule.
I go to change into my white dress and when the photographer and his assistant arrived, we did an hour of formal photos with just me and my hubby. Once the bridal party and family arrived and we did an hour of formal photos with them. Then I changed into my purple dress and we signed the ketubah and marriage license, and headed outside for the tea ceremony.
My mother brought her own tea and pillows for me and my hubby to kneel on, and the venue provided the china and the setup. One of my bridesmaids handed us the tea to serve to our parents, who would take a sip and then give us a red envelope. Once the tea ceremony was done, I headed back to change back into the white dress for the marriage ceremony.
Once I was properly gussied up, I headed down to where we were lining up. The Maitre'D was waiting and was directing everything, which made everything so smooth and easy! The processional was led by my hubby's mom and stepdad, who looked so sweet as they walked down the aisle. Both my mom and my dad escorted me and it was really awesome to see my guests clapping to my entrance music, which was Love Me Do by the Beatles. The ceremony ran a bit longer than I'd like, but that's partially my fault as I okayed it with the Rabbi and with my hubby. My feet were killing me in last few minutes! The shoes I wore are actually very comfortable, but apparently, not so fun to stand still in for 30 minutes. There were a couple of memorable moments that stood out for me. One was when I sipped from the Kiddish cup, I said, "Mmmm, that's good!" So when the rabbi heard that, she said, "Yeah? Okay, then have another sip!" So both my hubby and I had a second sip. Lol! Another memorable moment was when hubby's mom was doing her reading, she teared up and almost made me tear up too! I also had to fake some of the hebrew parts because I didn't know/memorize the words and the Rabbi commented how on well I faked it. Hahaha! Once we were pronounced man and wife, we left the ceremony to do a few more family photos and then on to cocktail hour! On the way to the bar area, I dropped off my bouquet and picked up the toss bouquet.
So that's when the real mingling began. At the end of cocktail hour, we did the bouquet and garter toss. Hubby wanted to use his teeth to take off my garter and the MC asked about hubby using his teeth, but I loudly proclaimed this was a PG show and there will be no teeth! Lol! Hubby's sister caught the bouquet and one of his groomsmen caught the garter. The whole affair was entertaining, but not out of the ordinary.
Once everyone was being directed into the reception area, I changed into my red qipao. Hubby was waiting outside the reception entrance and when I arrived, we were introduced and did our first dance. Others were invited to dance once we had a few moments on the dance floor to ourselves and I honestly thought this was going to be a pretty shy crowd, but people really did get up and dance! It was great! I don't remember the exact sequence after that, but I do remember the Maitre'D and wait staff making sure we got food to eat and time to eat. I remember the parent dances, which was done to Sunrise, Sunset from Fiddler on the Roof, and I remember lots of hugs and dancing! After the cake cutting, I changed into my last dress, which I sewed myself. That's about the time when everyone started to say their goodbyes, which was fine with me and my hubby because we had been up since at least 5AM that day!
Once we had everything packed up, we walked to the building over, where we had a complimentary night in one of their rooms. Yes, the venue we picked also had a hotel on their grounds, which made them a very full-service venue! We spent that evening reading cards, opening gifts, cleaning up, decompressing and then sleeping. All in all, it was a good day!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Obtaining the wedding license
I think most people would agree that in the city, dealing with government offices can be an unpleasant experience. The lines are long, the wait is long and people are unabashedly cranky. Sometimes you get the feeling that the city worker is so miserable that they are nasty to you to make you miserable too. I always try to be pleasant, but sometimes that just seems to make them more nasty.
So I was surprised to see that going to the Marriage Bureau in the City Clerk's office was actually a pretty pleasant experience! We wanted to get there early to avoid any lines, so we arrived about 10 minutes before the office opened. There were already about 3 or 4 couples waiting in front of us. As we waited in line, more couples arrived and some arrived with a few family members. Once we were let in, a huge hallway opened up in front of us, with big, bright windows on the right and large, towering columns on the left. We were asked to have our IDs out, which were checked as we came in. The man at the desk asked us what we were here for and then directed us to the back with a number. We sat on a couch as we waited for our number to be called. We didn't wait very long and the lady at the window that handled our case was very nice and sweet. She greeted us with a happy "good morning" and sent us off with a cheery "congratulations." Certainly not the experience I would get at the DMV! The actual process was very fast, aided by the fact that we had already started the application online. So basically all we had to do was give the lady our SSNs, confirm the information they have is correct, sign a form, pay the fee and voila! A marriage license was printed out for us to take home! So from arrival to departure, the whole thing took about 30 minutes.
Some of the things we saw there was really cool, fun and amusing. There is a Chapel Clerk there that can marry you that day if you wanted. The city store had fresh flowers already bundled into little wedding bouquets and boutonnieres. They also had folders, cases and frames for your marriage certificate if you were marrying that day, as well as silver and gold wedding rings, and even fake diamond ones! I thought about buying the flowers because I kind of wanted to mark the occasion with something pretty, but we ended up buying a bride and groom set of rubber duckies that we will use on our wedding cake. It's silly, I know, but they are really cute! The marriage bureau is definitely a business, with everything you need for a makeshift wedding. Lol! They even have this little photo nook that has a backdrop of city hall! Hahaha!
So I have to say that it was actually kind of fun! Of course, we went really early so I can't attest to a good experience later in the day. Still, I'm sure it is a better experience, even when it's busier, than trying to obtain a passport or driver's license. :-)
So I was surprised to see that going to the Marriage Bureau in the City Clerk's office was actually a pretty pleasant experience! We wanted to get there early to avoid any lines, so we arrived about 10 minutes before the office opened. There were already about 3 or 4 couples waiting in front of us. As we waited in line, more couples arrived and some arrived with a few family members. Once we were let in, a huge hallway opened up in front of us, with big, bright windows on the right and large, towering columns on the left. We were asked to have our IDs out, which were checked as we came in. The man at the desk asked us what we were here for and then directed us to the back with a number. We sat on a couch as we waited for our number to be called. We didn't wait very long and the lady at the window that handled our case was very nice and sweet. She greeted us with a happy "good morning" and sent us off with a cheery "congratulations." Certainly not the experience I would get at the DMV! The actual process was very fast, aided by the fact that we had already started the application online. So basically all we had to do was give the lady our SSNs, confirm the information they have is correct, sign a form, pay the fee and voila! A marriage license was printed out for us to take home! So from arrival to departure, the whole thing took about 30 minutes.
Some of the things we saw there was really cool, fun and amusing. There is a Chapel Clerk there that can marry you that day if you wanted. The city store had fresh flowers already bundled into little wedding bouquets and boutonnieres. They also had folders, cases and frames for your marriage certificate if you were marrying that day, as well as silver and gold wedding rings, and even fake diamond ones! I thought about buying the flowers because I kind of wanted to mark the occasion with something pretty, but we ended up buying a bride and groom set of rubber duckies that we will use on our wedding cake. It's silly, I know, but they are really cute! The marriage bureau is definitely a business, with everything you need for a makeshift wedding. Lol! They even have this little photo nook that has a backdrop of city hall! Hahaha!
So I have to say that it was actually kind of fun! Of course, we went really early so I can't attest to a good experience later in the day. Still, I'm sure it is a better experience, even when it's busier, than trying to obtain a passport or driver's license. :-)
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Our cardbox
While I was wandering around the Michael's wedding section, I noticed they had a card box for 35 bux. I decided then that I didn't want to spend that much money on a receptacle of cards that I'm most likely going to use once. So I went home, searched for cheap card boxes and found one on Amazon.com for 15 bux! It's not as sturdy as the $35 one, but I think it's prettier and it suits my purposes quite nicely.
Last night, I finally assembled the thing. I had to use tape in some places to reinforce certain parts, but I didn't need any extra cardboard to make it stiffer. Granted, it does seem flimsy without extra cardboard supports, but I think it will be just fine. I'm not planning on doing anything with it except put it on a table and leave it there. I doubt dropping cards into the box's slot is going to threaten its integrity much. Lol!
Anyways, below is a picture of our card box. Our raccoon, Rocky, was hanging out in the background. He'll be at the wedding next to our guest book tree. It's funny when I tell people we're having a raccoon at the wedding. They give me this look and then hesitantly ask if he will be leashed. LOL! Rocky is a well-behaved stuffed animal. He has promised to be on his bestest behavior so no need for a leash! :-)
Last night, I finally assembled the thing. I had to use tape in some places to reinforce certain parts, but I didn't need any extra cardboard to make it stiffer. Granted, it does seem flimsy without extra cardboard supports, but I think it will be just fine. I'm not planning on doing anything with it except put it on a table and leave it there. I doubt dropping cards into the box's slot is going to threaten its integrity much. Lol!
Anyways, below is a picture of our card box. Our raccoon, Rocky, was hanging out in the background. He'll be at the wedding next to our guest book tree. It's funny when I tell people we're having a raccoon at the wedding. They give me this look and then hesitantly ask if he will be leashed. LOL! Rocky is a well-behaved stuffed animal. He has promised to be on his bestest behavior so no need for a leash! :-)
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
My first manicure, pedicure and facial
I've only recently decided that I like getting massages and I've only had 3 or 4 massages so far. I guess you can probably say that I'm not much of a spa goer. A few months ago, my friend convince me to buy a groupon to La Peau Day Spa for their Diamond Facial treatment with mani pedi combo. It was a pretty good deal since the treatments without discounts are $205, but the groupon was only like 65. Since we were still expected to pay tax and 20 percent gratuity on the full amount rather than the discounted price, that brought the total cost up to about $106. So in the end, it wasn't cheap, but it didn't hurt that much because we paid the 65 up front for the groupon and then the rest when we got the treatment.
The staff was pretty friendly and nice though I'm not sure I appreciate all the Chinese being spoken around me. It's not that I don't understand it, I just think it's rude. I've always thought it was rude to be speaking another language around someone who doesn't understand it. Even if you're not talking about the person who doesn't understand, it's not okay because it makes the person left out feel awkward and uncomfortable. As hosts, meaning the staff, you should not be doing that to your guests, meaning the clients. This is something I think a LOT of asians don't get. Anyways, back to the spa.
So we do the facial first. The lady tells me that I will notice a visible difference in my skin after the facial is done. She preps my face with some creams and rubs and then wipes it off before starting on the diamond facial. So I'm guessing it's the "diamond" is machine that she used to scrape a few layers of skin off my face. It didn't hurt and it wasn't uncomfortable. After that, some more creams were slathered on my face and some more massaging. Then she puts on a mask and leaves me in the room for about 25 minutes. This is the part that I really didn't enjoy. I was so incredibly BORED! I wasn't tired enough to fall asleep and there was nothing to do but lie there with the mask on and a wet towel over my eyes. I tried to do some meditating, but I kept feeling the urge to sit up to do it. For some reason, I felt it really difficult to meditate in that room in the position I was in. Anyways, eventually, I took off the wet towel over my eyes and looked around. I started to suspect that every time they wipe my face, they've used a plain, wet paper towel. Anyways, so at the end, she came back and wiped the mask off, put some lotion on and sent me to the mani pedi room.
I went to the bathroom before going to the next treatment and checked out my face. Did it look noticeably better than before? Not really. Looking closer, I don't think the texture got any smoother and I didn't think my scars and other discolorations got any lighter. However, I thought I'd take another look when I get home and see how I feel then.
So on to the mani pedi! First, let me say I am not impressed with their idea of sanitary conditions. The foot bath has rust on the metal parts and I know for sure they don't clean the bath between clients. On top of that the service I got, though friendly, was not the most professional. Part of that is because of all the talking in another language, know there were people who didn't understand, and part of that was feeling like they were paying more attention to chitchatting than actually making sure they didn't get nail polish on my skin. It's not terrible, but I just feel like they could have done a better job. I really didn't feel more relaxed or pampered after the mani-pedi.
So in conclusion, I'd say the experience was not an impressive one. Lol! I might get another facial some day because I think it feels nice when my face is massaged, but I can't say I see any reason to get a manicure or pedicure. Of course, maybe it just wasn't a great experience at this facility. There might be other places that do a better job. I suppose I can give it another shot some other time and see how I feel then. At least, now I can say I've done it!
The staff was pretty friendly and nice though I'm not sure I appreciate all the Chinese being spoken around me. It's not that I don't understand it, I just think it's rude. I've always thought it was rude to be speaking another language around someone who doesn't understand it. Even if you're not talking about the person who doesn't understand, it's not okay because it makes the person left out feel awkward and uncomfortable. As hosts, meaning the staff, you should not be doing that to your guests, meaning the clients. This is something I think a LOT of asians don't get. Anyways, back to the spa.
So we do the facial first. The lady tells me that I will notice a visible difference in my skin after the facial is done. She preps my face with some creams and rubs and then wipes it off before starting on the diamond facial. So I'm guessing it's the "diamond" is machine that she used to scrape a few layers of skin off my face. It didn't hurt and it wasn't uncomfortable. After that, some more creams were slathered on my face and some more massaging. Then she puts on a mask and leaves me in the room for about 25 minutes. This is the part that I really didn't enjoy. I was so incredibly BORED! I wasn't tired enough to fall asleep and there was nothing to do but lie there with the mask on and a wet towel over my eyes. I tried to do some meditating, but I kept feeling the urge to sit up to do it. For some reason, I felt it really difficult to meditate in that room in the position I was in. Anyways, eventually, I took off the wet towel over my eyes and looked around. I started to suspect that every time they wipe my face, they've used a plain, wet paper towel. Anyways, so at the end, she came back and wiped the mask off, put some lotion on and sent me to the mani pedi room.
I went to the bathroom before going to the next treatment and checked out my face. Did it look noticeably better than before? Not really. Looking closer, I don't think the texture got any smoother and I didn't think my scars and other discolorations got any lighter. However, I thought I'd take another look when I get home and see how I feel then.
So on to the mani pedi! First, let me say I am not impressed with their idea of sanitary conditions. The foot bath has rust on the metal parts and I know for sure they don't clean the bath between clients. On top of that the service I got, though friendly, was not the most professional. Part of that is because of all the talking in another language, know there were people who didn't understand, and part of that was feeling like they were paying more attention to chitchatting than actually making sure they didn't get nail polish on my skin. It's not terrible, but I just feel like they could have done a better job. I really didn't feel more relaxed or pampered after the mani-pedi.
So in conclusion, I'd say the experience was not an impressive one. Lol! I might get another facial some day because I think it feels nice when my face is massaged, but I can't say I see any reason to get a manicure or pedicure. Of course, maybe it just wasn't a great experience at this facility. There might be other places that do a better job. I suppose I can give it another shot some other time and see how I feel then. At least, now I can say I've done it!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Memorials at the wedding
Sadly, my fiance lost his grandmother and I lost my grandfather very soon after we found each other and decided to spend the rest of our lives together. Also, the passing of my fiance's father weighs upon my sweetie as we move forward with this happy occasion. They will be missed at the wedding.
So in honor of their place in our hearts, we've decided to reserve a seat in the first couple of rows for my fiance's father and place a single rose upon it. In the reception area, we're planning to have some memorial "candles." I don't like unattended fires, so instead of real candles, we're using battery-operated ones. I downloaded a lace pattern from Martha Stewart Weddings website and printed the pattern on vellum paper. Then the paper ends were taped together to make a cylinder. I trimmed some of the white space off from the top and bottom and attached them together to make a smaller cylinder. The smaller cylinder is a base or platform for the battery-operated tealight. Then the larger cylinder is placed over the tealight.
Here's what it looks like:
So in honor of their place in our hearts, we've decided to reserve a seat in the first couple of rows for my fiance's father and place a single rose upon it. In the reception area, we're planning to have some memorial "candles." I don't like unattended fires, so instead of real candles, we're using battery-operated ones. I downloaded a lace pattern from Martha Stewart Weddings website and printed the pattern on vellum paper. Then the paper ends were taped together to make a cylinder. I trimmed some of the white space off from the top and bottom and attached them together to make a smaller cylinder. The smaller cylinder is a base or platform for the battery-operated tealight. Then the larger cylinder is placed over the tealight.
Here's what it looks like:
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Crocheting a yarmulke
My fiance has a bag of yarmulkes he has collected over the years, some of which he inherited from his father's collection. Certainly, he could just wear one of those for the wedding ceremony, but we thought it would be cooler if I crocheted one. It's a fast project and very simple to do.
On the way to starting the project, we hit a few snags. I don't know what my fiance imagined a crocheted yarmulke would look like, but the pictures I showed him of crocheted yarmulkes made his facial expression say something like, "Ugh!" I was a little taken aback by this since I had already bought the yarn and was ready to start the project. I didn't want to start it after his reaction because I felt like what was the point if he didn't like it? I mean, what did he think it was going to look like? That's just the texture of crocheted items. His sister crochets. Doesn't he know what it will probably look like when I offered to crochet one? I can always just sew a fabric one, which is probably a much faster project, but I hate it when things are sprung upon me unexpectedly.
Anyways, when I saw him balk at crocheted yarmulkes, I unhappily offered to sew him one instead and at the time, he insisted that I stick to my plan of crocheting one and he promises to wear it. This didn't make me feel better about the project. Now I know how he really feels about it and it doesn't make me feel like this is going to be a much loved item. However, his not-so-soothing words means that I can continue with my original plans, which I suppose was some comfort.
Still, as I started on the project, I wasn't happy about it. I just didn't feel like he would appreciate the finished product. So finally, I confronted him about it and he said to send him pictures of the crocheted yarmulkes again. Since I already started on the yarmulke, I told him if he didn't like it, he can wear one from his collection and I'll just finish off what I have and have our raccoon, Rocky, wear it at the wedding. (Rocky is not a real raccoon. He is a stuffed animal and will participate in the wedding because raccoons have special significance in our relationship.) In the end, he again reiterated that it's fine and that he'll wear it if I make it.
In any case, crocheted yarmulkes are really easy to make. I chose a navy blue yarn to keep it in line with our wedding palette of navy blue and lavender. Most tutorials will tell you to chain 4 and the slip stitch the chain closed to make a circle. This will result in a tiny hole at the top, which reminds me of an oculus. Instead, I opted to use the magic circle (at least that's what I think it's called). It's basically a slip knot where the thread you pull to tighten the circle is the tail and you work with the other piece of yarn.
Pattern:
To begin: Make a magic circle.
Row 1: 1 sc into the circle, then tighten the circle by pulling on the tail.
Row 2: 2 sc into each stitch
Row 3: *1 sc crochet into stitch, then 2 sc into next stitch.* Repeat from * to * till end
Row 4: *1 sc crochet into the next 2 stitches, then 2 sc into the next stitch.* Repeat from * to * till end
Row 5: *1 sc crochet into the next 3 stitches, then 2 sc into the next stitch.* Repeat from * to * till end
Row 6: *1 sc crochet into the next 4 stitches, then 2 sc into the next stitch.* Repeat from * to * till end
Keep going with this pattern until you reach the desired size and finish off. Do not chain and turn. Crochet in the round. You may use a stitch marker if you like to mark the first stitch in each round.
Remember to block the yarmulke. You can block it on the back of a bowl or other domed surface. It won't look like a yarmulke until you block it.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Favors
I love getting favors at weddings and I love giving out favors. However, I can't stomach the idea of spending thousands of dollars on favors for one event. The truth is, favors aren't necessary. A friend of mine chose to forgo favors and nobody missed them. Still, it would be nice if we could give our guests a little something extra. I thought about chocolates, but having lots of chocolate delivered during such a hot summer.. well, they might arrive half melted. Eventually, I got sick of thinking about favors that people would like, but wouldn't break the bank. So I had every intention of skipping favors. That is, I had every intention of skipping them until I ate at the Mermaid Inn.
At the Mermaid Inn, you get something called a Fortune Fish after your meal. It's a thin piece of red plastic shaped like a fish that you place in your hand. You wait for it to curl and then read on the packaging what it means, depending on how the fish curled. My fiance and I always have fun playing with the fish, and we often bring it home to play it with again later. So one day, we had dinner at the Mermaid Inn and wondered how much one of those cost.
As it turned out, they don't cost much at all! So then we thought, "Wouldn't it be cool to give these to our guests?" Thus, the idea of using these as our favors was born. It's actually quite appropriate. It's red, which is a symbol of happiness and fortune. It's also a fish, which is a symbol of plentiful food. In Chinese, there is a saying that goes something like, "Every year there will be fish," which means that you will always have food and never starve. That is why a fish dish is traditionally present at weddings and other festive banquets.
Another item is now off my list! If you're curious, I ordered them online from here:
http://www.fortunetellerfish.com/?gclid=CMCrtciMj6MCFZdL5QodETkodQ
At the Mermaid Inn, you get something called a Fortune Fish after your meal. It's a thin piece of red plastic shaped like a fish that you place in your hand. You wait for it to curl and then read on the packaging what it means, depending on how the fish curled. My fiance and I always have fun playing with the fish, and we often bring it home to play it with again later. So one day, we had dinner at the Mermaid Inn and wondered how much one of those cost.
As it turned out, they don't cost much at all! So then we thought, "Wouldn't it be cool to give these to our guests?" Thus, the idea of using these as our favors was born. It's actually quite appropriate. It's red, which is a symbol of happiness and fortune. It's also a fish, which is a symbol of plentiful food. In Chinese, there is a saying that goes something like, "Every year there will be fish," which means that you will always have food and never starve. That is why a fish dish is traditionally present at weddings and other festive banquets.
Another item is now off my list! If you're curious, I ordered them online from here:
http://www.fortunetellerfish.com/?gclid=CMCrtciMj6MCFZdL5QodETkodQ
The guest book
I'm not the biggest fan of signing guest books, mostly because I never know what to write. I'll usually stick to the generic stuff like, "Best wishes" and "Congrats." It's hard to think of something clever and meaningful on the spot. On top of that, just because someone wrote something really sweet in your guest book doesn't mean you'll be friends forever. If we'll be friends forever, we'll be friends forever and no amount of yearbook and guest book signing or not signing will alter the course of our friendship.
Still, having a guest book of some sort isn't a bad thing. There are many versions of the wedding guest book that I've seen. Some asian weddings will have a red silk cloth for people to sign. I'm not sure what happens to this cloth afterward. Many brides opt for a pretty book with blank pages as their guest book. I can certainly go this route but I can guarantee that I won't be touching the book very much after the wedding. So it may very well end up as another object around the house to gather dust, eventually being tossed because it holds no meaning for anybody but me and my sweetie. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It's not like I go and read my yearbook very often, but I did get one and I did get people to sign it, and I have no plans to throw it out anytime soon. However, a conventional guest book just doesn't tickle my fancy. So I went searching for something extraordinary online and on Etsy.com.
Some of the things I found were really creative and very pretty. One bride gave each guest a tag with a ribbon attached and when the guests finished signing the tag, they hung the tag on the branches of a tree. On Etsy, I see a lot of hand-bound books and thumbprint trees. The thumbprint tree is basically a poster of a tree drawn or created by an artist and guests use green ink to place their thumbprint on the tree to make it look like leaves. It's a very creative idea, but I don't really want my guests walking around with green thumbs and my fiance doesn't like the idea of fingerprinting all our guests. Eventually, I found an artisan on Etsy that made tree posters, but instead of thumbprints, she printed out leaves for guests to sign. The leaves are stickers and guests, after signing their name, can stick the leaves onto the tree. It fits in perfectly with what we were looking for. It's unique, fun and pretty enough to frame and display somewhere.
If you'd like to see if this something you'd like for yourself, you can check out the Etsy store here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/DesignbyMadison
Still, having a guest book of some sort isn't a bad thing. There are many versions of the wedding guest book that I've seen. Some asian weddings will have a red silk cloth for people to sign. I'm not sure what happens to this cloth afterward. Many brides opt for a pretty book with blank pages as their guest book. I can certainly go this route but I can guarantee that I won't be touching the book very much after the wedding. So it may very well end up as another object around the house to gather dust, eventually being tossed because it holds no meaning for anybody but me and my sweetie. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It's not like I go and read my yearbook very often, but I did get one and I did get people to sign it, and I have no plans to throw it out anytime soon. However, a conventional guest book just doesn't tickle my fancy. So I went searching for something extraordinary online and on Etsy.com.
Some of the things I found were really creative and very pretty. One bride gave each guest a tag with a ribbon attached and when the guests finished signing the tag, they hung the tag on the branches of a tree. On Etsy, I see a lot of hand-bound books and thumbprint trees. The thumbprint tree is basically a poster of a tree drawn or created by an artist and guests use green ink to place their thumbprint on the tree to make it look like leaves. It's a very creative idea, but I don't really want my guests walking around with green thumbs and my fiance doesn't like the idea of fingerprinting all our guests. Eventually, I found an artisan on Etsy that made tree posters, but instead of thumbprints, she printed out leaves for guests to sign. The leaves are stickers and guests, after signing their name, can stick the leaves onto the tree. It fits in perfectly with what we were looking for. It's unique, fun and pretty enough to frame and display somewhere.
If you'd like to see if this something you'd like for yourself, you can check out the Etsy store here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/DesignbyMadison
Monday, July 26, 2010
The Qipao
I happen to love qipaos, which is a traditional chinese dress. You know, the one with a mandarin collar and slits up the sides. There are several reasons why I love this dress. First, it's a dress that is very specific to my culture and heritage. Second, it looks really good on asian women! Third, I feel really sexy in it!
The issue with the qipao is that so many touristy, westernized establishments dress their hostesses in qipaos to increase the exotic allure towards westerners that nowadays, you can't wear one without someone trying to order food or some kind of service from you. Horrible, isn't it? I mean, if an Indian woman can wear a sari and a Scottish man can wear a kilt, why can't I wear a qipao without looking like I'm trying to provide a "service?" It is our own fault, as a group, because we have been marketing our services in qipao wrappings. So now, the one time a woman can proudly wear a qipao is at a wedding.
Wedding qipaos are very special. They are usually handmade to the person's measurements. A really good qipao simply cannot be mass produced because it must fit the person perfectly. It is a very form-fitting dress and it takes a bit of skill to make a dress look good on certain figures - like mine! Lol! Unfortunately, nice handmade qipaos can cost from $600 to thousands, depending on how intricate you want it. It's usually made from silk, with bias binding and/or very fine piping along the edges and intricate handmade buttons. A friend of mine was lucky enough to have her mother bring her measurements to a shop in Hong Kong to have it made there and then her mother brought it to the U.S. The qipaos are cheaper if you can get it made in Asia. I am not lucky enough to have an opportunity like my friend's.
As much as I desperately want a qipao for my wedding, I blew most of my dress budget on the white wedding dress last year. So I had to settle for either renting one or making my own. I hate the thought of renting a dress, popular as it is, so I decided to make my own. I had the basic paper pattern cut out, the fabric bought and was just about to embark on another sewing adventure when one day, I decided to visit my mom, who had a great surprise for me!
Apparently, she was recommended a store that sold custom-made qipaos for really cheap. They take your mesaurements at the store and send 5 or more orders at a time to China, where the dress will be made. Then the finished dress is shipped to the U.S. and any last minute alterations will be made here. That's why it's so cheap. It's because they've outsourced the labor. Anyways, when I visited my parents, my mom dragged me out to the store to look at their selection. It wasn't much, but what they had was better than anything my novice skills could have made. I tried on a few different styles and was amazed that even in my current, fattened state, I still looked pretty good. Lol! My mom really wanted the red and gold one they had hanging on the wall. I didn't really like it. I didn't think it was my style at all, but my mom insisted that I try it on. My favorite was actually a black and sparkly purple one, but it's not wedding appropriate. As a bride, I have to be wearing red. So I tried on my mother's choice for me and lo and behold it was perfect! I mean it fit me perfectly as is! Plus I loved how I looked in it! So I bought the qipao right then and there and since it was a stock dress, I didn't have to pay extra for having custom-made. My wedding qipao turned out to be cheaper than if I had rented! Way to go mom! Thanks!
So that's another project I don't have to slave over and another item off my list! Now the thing I'm worried about is if I lose weight. I probably don't have to worry about it since I haven't been able to lose much in the last couple of months, but I am aiming to lose a bit more. There's not that much time left and I didn't have that much to lose to begin with so it may not happen. Still, I'd like to at least have some muscle tone show up before the end. We'll see, I guess.
The issue with the qipao is that so many touristy, westernized establishments dress their hostesses in qipaos to increase the exotic allure towards westerners that nowadays, you can't wear one without someone trying to order food or some kind of service from you. Horrible, isn't it? I mean, if an Indian woman can wear a sari and a Scottish man can wear a kilt, why can't I wear a qipao without looking like I'm trying to provide a "service?" It is our own fault, as a group, because we have been marketing our services in qipao wrappings. So now, the one time a woman can proudly wear a qipao is at a wedding.
Wedding qipaos are very special. They are usually handmade to the person's measurements. A really good qipao simply cannot be mass produced because it must fit the person perfectly. It is a very form-fitting dress and it takes a bit of skill to make a dress look good on certain figures - like mine! Lol! Unfortunately, nice handmade qipaos can cost from $600 to thousands, depending on how intricate you want it. It's usually made from silk, with bias binding and/or very fine piping along the edges and intricate handmade buttons. A friend of mine was lucky enough to have her mother bring her measurements to a shop in Hong Kong to have it made there and then her mother brought it to the U.S. The qipaos are cheaper if you can get it made in Asia. I am not lucky enough to have an opportunity like my friend's.
As much as I desperately want a qipao for my wedding, I blew most of my dress budget on the white wedding dress last year. So I had to settle for either renting one or making my own. I hate the thought of renting a dress, popular as it is, so I decided to make my own. I had the basic paper pattern cut out, the fabric bought and was just about to embark on another sewing adventure when one day, I decided to visit my mom, who had a great surprise for me!
Apparently, she was recommended a store that sold custom-made qipaos for really cheap. They take your mesaurements at the store and send 5 or more orders at a time to China, where the dress will be made. Then the finished dress is shipped to the U.S. and any last minute alterations will be made here. That's why it's so cheap. It's because they've outsourced the labor. Anyways, when I visited my parents, my mom dragged me out to the store to look at their selection. It wasn't much, but what they had was better than anything my novice skills could have made. I tried on a few different styles and was amazed that even in my current, fattened state, I still looked pretty good. Lol! My mom really wanted the red and gold one they had hanging on the wall. I didn't really like it. I didn't think it was my style at all, but my mom insisted that I try it on. My favorite was actually a black and sparkly purple one, but it's not wedding appropriate. As a bride, I have to be wearing red. So I tried on my mother's choice for me and lo and behold it was perfect! I mean it fit me perfectly as is! Plus I loved how I looked in it! So I bought the qipao right then and there and since it was a stock dress, I didn't have to pay extra for having custom-made. My wedding qipao turned out to be cheaper than if I had rented! Way to go mom! Thanks!
So that's another project I don't have to slave over and another item off my list! Now the thing I'm worried about is if I lose weight. I probably don't have to worry about it since I haven't been able to lose much in the last couple of months, but I am aiming to lose a bit more. There's not that much time left and I didn't have that much to lose to begin with so it may not happen. Still, I'd like to at least have some muscle tone show up before the end. We'll see, I guess.
Final thoughts on bouquets, bouts and corsages
So here's a breakdown of my bouquets, bouts and corsages.
- 6 real touch lavender lotuses ($12 each)
- 9 big hydrangea balls ($2 each)
- 1 bag of Marabou feathers ($1.60)
- 50 yards of ivory ribbon ($11)
- 13 cream gerbera daisies ($0.65 each)
- 1 set of mini lotus blossoms ($5)
- bouquet of daisies with 72 heads ($7)
- 20 lavender roses ($0.50)
- 1 reel of navy blue ribbon ($6)
- 1 package of 380 pieces of 20 gauge floral wire ($9)
- floral tape, package of 3 ($3)
- corsage pins for the bouts ($3)
This totals up to about $154.05 without shipping. I'm not sure how much I paid for tax and shipping since my orders usually had other items in it. I estimate that the shipping was about $50 to $60 total. It's a lot, so if buying flowers online, be mindful that tax and shipping can jack up the cost by a third of the price.
Another reason why the shipping and tax was so much is because I bought the flowers from separate places, so I had to pay shipping twice. Putting everything into one shipment is ideal. Try to finagle it so that your stuff comes just under the next cost bracket. If you end up with extra flowers, you can always use it as hair ornaments and/or decorations.
Considering the cost of wedding flowers in NYC can be about a thousand dollars, I'd say spending just over 200 bux on flowers that I can keep for a really long time is a pretty good deal! On top of that, I get exactly the bouquet I want how I want it, and I get to have it done way ahead of time. No worrying about flowers being delivered on time or wilting for me! :-)
As you may be able to virtually hear, I have been and still am patting myself on the back very happily! :-)
- 6 real touch lavender lotuses ($12 each)
- 9 big hydrangea balls ($2 each)
- 1 bag of Marabou feathers ($1.60)
- 50 yards of ivory ribbon ($11)
- 13 cream gerbera daisies ($0.65 each)
- 1 set of mini lotus blossoms ($5)
- bouquet of daisies with 72 heads ($7)
- 20 lavender roses ($0.50)
- 1 reel of navy blue ribbon ($6)
- 1 package of 380 pieces of 20 gauge floral wire ($9)
- floral tape, package of 3 ($3)
- corsage pins for the bouts ($3)
This totals up to about $154.05 without shipping. I'm not sure how much I paid for tax and shipping since my orders usually had other items in it. I estimate that the shipping was about $50 to $60 total. It's a lot, so if buying flowers online, be mindful that tax and shipping can jack up the cost by a third of the price.
Another reason why the shipping and tax was so much is because I bought the flowers from separate places, so I had to pay shipping twice. Putting everything into one shipment is ideal. Try to finagle it so that your stuff comes just under the next cost bracket. If you end up with extra flowers, you can always use it as hair ornaments and/or decorations.
Considering the cost of wedding flowers in NYC can be about a thousand dollars, I'd say spending just over 200 bux on flowers that I can keep for a really long time is a pretty good deal! On top of that, I get exactly the bouquet I want how I want it, and I get to have it done way ahead of time. No worrying about flowers being delivered on time or wilting for me! :-)
As you may be able to virtually hear, I have been and still am patting myself on the back very happily! :-)
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Hair flower
I also made myself a hair flower. It's quite easy, actually. Just take a flower and snip the stem as close to the blossom as possible. Using a hot glue gun, add a dab of glue to keep the petals from coming off the stem and then add any leaves, feathers or other adornments to the back. Using a stray leaf or piece of felt or fabric, glue that to the back and then glue a clip to the backing.
Brides bouquet, bouts and corsages
So here are the rest of the photos of the bride's bouquet, bouts and corsages.
Bride's bouquet
Groom's bout
Fathers' bouts
Mothers' corsages
Groomsmen's bouts
The toss bouquet
Bride's bouquet
Groom's bout
Fathers' bouts
Mothers' corsages
Groomsmen's bouts
The toss bouquet
Photos of bridesmaids' bouquets
Okay! So here are the promised photos of the bouquets and bouts!
Step one: Gather all the flowers.
Step 2: Remove the leaves and attach to floral wire.
Step 3: Cut off the lower set of leaves from the roses.
Step 4: Cut stems to desired length.
Step 5: Compose bouquet and wrap stems in floral tape.
Step 6: Fold down a corner of the ivory ribbon and wrap stems. Tape to keep in place.
Step 7: Voila! Finished!
Step one: Gather all the flowers.
Step 2: Remove the leaves and attach to floral wire.
Step 3: Cut off the lower set of leaves from the roses.
Step 4: Cut stems to desired length.
Step 5: Compose bouquet and wrap stems in floral tape.
Step 6: Fold down a corner of the ivory ribbon and wrap stems. Tape to keep in place.
Step 7: Voila! Finished!
Friday, July 23, 2010
The veil
A couple of weeks ago, I finished making my veil. While trying it on in front of the mirror, I realized that I didn't like it. It was too poofy! I went online and bought some more tulle to make another veil, thinking this is going to suck because it's more work!
Then, the seamstress came to do my second fitting. I tried my veil on with it and the seamstress thought the amount of poof fits nicely with the shape of the dress. So then I felt better. Lol! Well, I admit that I welcomed her saying that cause it means I don't have to make another one! I am my own worst critic sometimes.
Again, I promise pictures of the veil will be posted soon. Actually, I'm hoping to post all the promised photos this weekend.
Then, the seamstress came to do my second fitting. I tried my veil on with it and the seamstress thought the amount of poof fits nicely with the shape of the dress. So then I felt better. Lol! Well, I admit that I welcomed her saying that cause it means I don't have to make another one! I am my own worst critic sometimes.
Again, I promise pictures of the veil will be posted soon. Actually, I'm hoping to post all the promised photos this weekend.
Finished with the flowers... mostly.
I didn't have much to do so last night work ended earlier than the previous night's. I made two corsages and one bout. It was tricky figuring out how to do the corsages because I didn't really like how the stems stuck out. I tried to finagle it so the ribbon would cover the stems, but then the flowers were a bit off kilter when tied onto the wrist.
In the end, I resorted to my trusty hot glue gun! After attaching all the daisy blossoms to floral wire and then taping them together, I pulled the lavender rose head off its stem and hot glued it to the V in the daisy stems. The lavender rose head was big enough to cover the daisy stems and I didn't need any additional hydrangea blossoms to cover up any big gaps between the flowers.
The next step was finding a way to attach the flowers to the 2 inches wide navy blue ribbon. I supposed I could have used elastic or one of those snazzy beaded corsage bracelets, but I had ribbon, which is cheap, low-tech and just as pretty. Lol! So since my hot glue gun was still pretty heated up, I just hot glued the flowers to the ribbon. I know it creates a hard spot in the ribbon, but after trying it on, it wasn't noticeable and was still pretty comfortable. I thought about pulling the wire out of the ribbon, as it was a wired ribbon, but the wire was so thin and fine, I didn't find it uncomfortable and so therefore, that extra step was unnecessary.
Now the last thing I have to do is to make a toss bouquet. I don't have anymore lotuses for the toss bouquet, so I'm thinking of just making a bigger bridesmaid bouquet. I suppose I can add in the remaining wired feathers to differentiate the bridesmaid bouquet from the toss bouquet. I haven't fully decided yet. I'm still trying to coast on the fact that I'm mostly done now. Lol!
In the end, I resorted to my trusty hot glue gun! After attaching all the daisy blossoms to floral wire and then taping them together, I pulled the lavender rose head off its stem and hot glued it to the V in the daisy stems. The lavender rose head was big enough to cover the daisy stems and I didn't need any additional hydrangea blossoms to cover up any big gaps between the flowers.
The next step was finding a way to attach the flowers to the 2 inches wide navy blue ribbon. I supposed I could have used elastic or one of those snazzy beaded corsage bracelets, but I had ribbon, which is cheap, low-tech and just as pretty. Lol! So since my hot glue gun was still pretty heated up, I just hot glued the flowers to the ribbon. I know it creates a hard spot in the ribbon, but after trying it on, it wasn't noticeable and was still pretty comfortable. I thought about pulling the wire out of the ribbon, as it was a wired ribbon, but the wire was so thin and fine, I didn't find it uncomfortable and so therefore, that extra step was unnecessary.
Now the last thing I have to do is to make a toss bouquet. I don't have anymore lotuses for the toss bouquet, so I'm thinking of just making a bigger bridesmaid bouquet. I suppose I can add in the remaining wired feathers to differentiate the bridesmaid bouquet from the toss bouquet. I haven't fully decided yet. I'm still trying to coast on the fact that I'm mostly done now. Lol!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Almost done with the flowers!
So I had all the flowers and other floral supplies ready in the apartment, just waiting to be put together. I waited and waited, first playing with this combination and then that combination. Eventually, I decided I just had to get them done already! So I did a bunch last night.
The absolute hardest part was cutting the stems. I had a wire cutter, but it was difficult to use on the really thick wired stems. I had to draft the help of my fiance in the end, but I did most of them myself. All in all, I think they turned out very nicely. I finished the bridesmaids' bouquets, my bouquet, the groom's bout, the groomsmen's bouts and my father's bout. I still have to do one more bout and the corsages for our moms. So I'm mostly done with the flowers. I thought about also doing corsages and bouts for our siblings, but my fingers and hands are bruised right now and the thought of doing another 3 corsages and 1 bout is just too much work right now. Anyways, I'll be posting photos as soon as I get them off my camera.
So for the bridesmaids' bouquest, I used:
- 3 cream gerbera daisies
- one bit hydrangea ball that came with three big leaves
- 4 lavender roses
- floral tape
- floral wire
- ivory ribbon
The first thing I did was pull the leaves off the hydrangea stem and using floral tape, attached them to floral wire. The lavender roses came with two sets of leaves, so I snipped off the ones that were lower on the stem. Those will be used for the bouts. I composed the bouquet and decided to cut the stems about two to three hands' width down from the flower heads. Once the stems are cut, I placed the gerbera daisies into the hydrangea ball and stuck one lavender rose in the middle of the bouquet. With the remaining lavender roses, I bent the heads until they were almost a 90 degree angle, then fitted them to the outside of the bouquet, where there were gaps. They generally ended up against the gerbera daisies. Once that's put together, I wrapped the stems tightly using floral tape. You can tape each stem, one by one, which I did for one of the bouquets, but it takes more time and effort. Once that's nicely wrapped, I fitted the leaves to surround the bouquet and then attached them using floral tape. The last thing to do was wrap the sticky floral tape part in ivory ribbon. I folded the tip down to make a triangle at the end and wrapped the stems going up. Once at the top, I folded the ribbon down again at an angle and wrapped the stems going down. Then I taped the end. I tried to use a corasage pin, but it was too hard to insert.
For my own bouquet, I used:
- 3 hydrangea balls
- 6 lavender lotuses
- and marabou feathers attached to floral wire using floral tape.
I used the same process as the bridesmaids' bouquets. I particularly like the effect of the feathers in the bouquet.
For the bouts, I had to wire the individual blossoms onto floral wire. The groomsmen got one small daisy blossom and two hydrangea blossoms. I used the rose leaves I cut off from before as the backdrop for the flowers. I ended up attaching the blossoms one by one with floral tape. The groom's bout has one larger mini lotus blossom and one smaller mini lotus blossom, 3 hydrangea blossoms and a set of rose leaves. My father's bout is one lavender rose and one set of rose leaves. I have to make another lavender rose bout for my fiance's stepfather.
For the corsages, I'm thinking a lavender rose and two small daisy blossoms with hydrangea blossoms as filler flowers, if needed. I'll need three of these. I'm planning to attach them to navy blue ribbon that they can tie onto their wrists.
Once all this is finished, I'll have some flowers leftover. I'm thinking I can use them in the centerpieces. I'm not sure I'll get around to making centerpieces, but if I have the time, at least I already have some of the supplies. :-)
The absolute hardest part was cutting the stems. I had a wire cutter, but it was difficult to use on the really thick wired stems. I had to draft the help of my fiance in the end, but I did most of them myself. All in all, I think they turned out very nicely. I finished the bridesmaids' bouquets, my bouquet, the groom's bout, the groomsmen's bouts and my father's bout. I still have to do one more bout and the corsages for our moms. So I'm mostly done with the flowers. I thought about also doing corsages and bouts for our siblings, but my fingers and hands are bruised right now and the thought of doing another 3 corsages and 1 bout is just too much work right now. Anyways, I'll be posting photos as soon as I get them off my camera.
So for the bridesmaids' bouquest, I used:
- 3 cream gerbera daisies
- one bit hydrangea ball that came with three big leaves
- 4 lavender roses
- floral tape
- floral wire
- ivory ribbon
The first thing I did was pull the leaves off the hydrangea stem and using floral tape, attached them to floral wire. The lavender roses came with two sets of leaves, so I snipped off the ones that were lower on the stem. Those will be used for the bouts. I composed the bouquet and decided to cut the stems about two to three hands' width down from the flower heads. Once the stems are cut, I placed the gerbera daisies into the hydrangea ball and stuck one lavender rose in the middle of the bouquet. With the remaining lavender roses, I bent the heads until they were almost a 90 degree angle, then fitted them to the outside of the bouquet, where there were gaps. They generally ended up against the gerbera daisies. Once that's put together, I wrapped the stems tightly using floral tape. You can tape each stem, one by one, which I did for one of the bouquets, but it takes more time and effort. Once that's nicely wrapped, I fitted the leaves to surround the bouquet and then attached them using floral tape. The last thing to do was wrap the sticky floral tape part in ivory ribbon. I folded the tip down to make a triangle at the end and wrapped the stems going up. Once at the top, I folded the ribbon down again at an angle and wrapped the stems going down. Then I taped the end. I tried to use a corasage pin, but it was too hard to insert.
For my own bouquet, I used:
- 3 hydrangea balls
- 6 lavender lotuses
- and marabou feathers attached to floral wire using floral tape.
I used the same process as the bridesmaids' bouquets. I particularly like the effect of the feathers in the bouquet.
For the bouts, I had to wire the individual blossoms onto floral wire. The groomsmen got one small daisy blossom and two hydrangea blossoms. I used the rose leaves I cut off from before as the backdrop for the flowers. I ended up attaching the blossoms one by one with floral tape. The groom's bout has one larger mini lotus blossom and one smaller mini lotus blossom, 3 hydrangea blossoms and a set of rose leaves. My father's bout is one lavender rose and one set of rose leaves. I have to make another lavender rose bout for my fiance's stepfather.
For the corsages, I'm thinking a lavender rose and two small daisy blossoms with hydrangea blossoms as filler flowers, if needed. I'll need three of these. I'm planning to attach them to navy blue ribbon that they can tie onto their wrists.
Once all this is finished, I'll have some flowers leftover. I'm thinking I can use them in the centerpieces. I'm not sure I'll get around to making centerpieces, but if I have the time, at least I already have some of the supplies. :-)
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