with this ring..

While browsing through one of those secret-members-only-online sales (I think it was Hautelook, but I'm old and can't remember things too well.. Oh and send me an email if you're not a member and I'll send you a link!) I came across this cute little sterling silver ring. (See I'm so old that I can't even remember who the designer is!)

Anysenile, I thought it'd make a nice gift for my bridesmaids. I considered saving it until next year as part of their bridesmaids' gifts before the wedding, but I'm not good at keeping secrets so I decided it'd be fun to give to them for Christmas this year. It's really a pre-thank you for putting up with me for the next year!

They don't have to wear it during the wedding or anything but I just really liked how simple and sweet it was. So much so that I bought one for myself too. Isn't that shameful?

I should be thinking of others but really I'm constantly thinking of myself.

At least I admit the selfishness, right? Isn't that half the battle?

one down

Golly! This wedding planning thing is a total snap!

Last week I said I was going to wait until these Pradas got to 60% off before I would buy them. Well lo and behold, Barneys must have heard my cries because they just got marked down!

Luckily, they had one last pair in my size. And I still had $60 leftover from a gift card!

Now my problem is deciding whether or not I can hold out a year without wearing these beauties. On the one hand, I should probably break them in. On the other hand, I don't want to ruin them at all.

My MOH made a good point though. She said if I wore these for the next 11 months, they'd not only be broken in but they could also be my "something old". You really can't fight with logic like that.

I wonder when the Oscar de la Rentas will go on sale... I'm just sayin'...

potential

I'm starting really look for shoes for the wedding. I'm leaning towards getting shoes that are fun and don't necessarily match my dress in style or color. I want to be able to wear them again.

To be honest, this whole wedding thing is really just an excuse for me to buy more shoes!

I like the idea of sticking with our yellow and grey color scheme. Right now, I have my eye on these Prada peep toes. They're on sale at Barney's but I'm going to hold out and see if they get marked down further.

They're not so high that I can't walk in them and I know I'll wear them again.

I also really like these Oscar de la Renta d'orsay heels in yellow (not coral!) at Nordstrom. They're not on sale yet so I'm just biding my time. Don't you think a little pop of yellow would be so adorable in our wedding photos? A little bit unexpected and a lotta bit fun!

Would it be so bad of I got both pairs? I mean, since I am planning to have a couple changes of clothes, shouldn't that include shoes too?

best song ever

Initially, I thought Hunny Bunny wouldn't want to have a First Dance because he just not that kinda guy so I wasn't really thinking about it. But as it turns out, HB actually doesn't mind and said we should have a first dance. I've been keeping a mental list of the songs I might want.

After attending the NKOTB concert this weekend, I have the perfect song at the top of my list.


HB was a tad reluctant about my song choice but he has since relented. YAY!

I'm sure you can guess which song it is. If not, email me and I'll tell you.

Go ahead, laugh all you want. I <3 NKOTB!

make me beautiful

I know my wedding package at the W Hotel includes a makeup artist by Smashbox to do my makeup on the day of my wedding. But honestly, who knows how good that person will be? And obviously, I need to be the star of the day!

So my mom's friend's daughter Stace does hair and makeup and I've heard that she's really talented - she freelances for MAC and also does her own thing. She did the hair and makeup for the model in the photo. Gorg, right?

I get to do a trial run with the Smashbox artist several months prior to my wedding so I'm going to see how good she is. If I don't like what she does, I'll give the freebie to one of my bridesmaids and hire Stace for myself.

At the very least, I'll have her do my hair. She already promised me a "homey discount" and said she could bring and assistant to help with all my bridesmaids' hair.

All I know is that I want my skin to be glowy and completely flawless. And I want all my bridesmaids to have similar ethereal looks nothing too dramatic or vampy - just simple and clean. One of my BMs tends to wear pretty dramatic makeup so hopefully she won't kill me for requesting that all the girls look similar. *wink

games we play

My maid of honor is starting to collect ideas for activities during my bridal shower. Indeed, I can already tell that it's going to be a classy event.

more clothes!

My aunt stopped by the other day and dropped of the Chinese kwa that she wore in her wedding nearly 20 years ago. In the meantime, another one of my aunts also wore it during her wedding and a family friend borrowed it too! I think it's a good sign since all of these women have been happily married since.

(Now the dress that's displayed isn't the exact dress that I plan to wear during the tea ceremony - I still want that to be a surprise for HB, but it kinda gives you an idea of what it looks like.)

The quality of my aunt's dress is soooo much nicer than what's available out there today. It's mostly handmade and rather than sequins and beading all over, the dragon/phoenix symbols are embroidered in a silver thread.

Sadly, it's a tad snug around my shoulders. I can zip it up just fine but I can barely lift my arms. I guess this will give me incentive to lose some weight! So maybe it's actually a good thing.

Have you noticed that most of my wedding accomplishments have revolved around clothing? I have my priorities, you know.

i can breathe now

After thinking long and hard, my dad decided that instead of an intimate dinner for six (HB's parents, my parents and us) for the first meeting, it would be less pressure to have a dinner party with my dad's side of the family in conjunction with his 60th birthday. (That sentence seems awkward! Sorry!) More people around gabbing = less awkward silences.

Anyway, we ended up choosing Zen Garden Chinese Restaurant in Mill Creek as the location because they could accomodate twenty people easily and affordably. Food was delicious. And with all the conversations going around, no one felt the need to fill the space with idle chatter. It was a huge load off my shoulders - especially since HB was grumpy, dumpy. Phooey.

Mommy sat by Mommy and made small talk. My poor dad confessed to me later that he didn't want talk to them too much because he was afraid he wouldn't be able to hear their responses! (He's gone deaf in one ear. Boo.)

Thinking it was finally over, and forgetting how gracious HB's parents' can be, they insisted on inviting my parents out for dinner the next night! Yes, you read that right. Another dinner. I suppose it's better than them fighting for the bill that night! I remember this one time where my mom and some guy ripped the receipt in half after struggling for several minutes. Crazy.

For the next meal, we went to Tamarind Tree for Vietnamese food. Not my favorite place at all, but HB's parents didn't want us to go to some scuzzy hole in the wall, even if the food is better!

I can understand. Good first impressions right?

This time they invited their side of the family and it turned out to be a good thing because HB and I haven't seen anyone since we got engaged!

And then I went for a massage the next day. I needed it.

Peace at last!

nice to meet you

As organized and on-top-of-things I may seem to be, the one task I've been dreading the most is having Hunny Bunny's and my parents meet for the very first time.

And now I've been informed that they will be coming for a visit next weekend. (They live about a 5-hour drive away.) I know, we've been together for nearly 5 years and they still haven't met each other!

I guess it just never came up. Speaking of coming up though, I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.

Honestly, I've probably only seen his parents maybe 10 times total. HB on the other has gone on vacation with me and my family. Lucky him.

Now I'm scrambling to think of a place where everyone will be comfortable for dinner.
It needs to be a little bit loud, not too intimate - so that there will be less uncomfortable silences. (Notice I said less!)

HB's not much help when it comes to conversation either. He rarely helps the conversation along because he's not into participating and he's not really good about including other people in the conversation, especially when it requires translations. I guess I'll just start yammering away about the planning so far and hope that that's enough.

I also don't really know what they like to eat because when we visit them, HB's mom usually cooks Vietnamese food. I do know that they like the Olive Garden, but I don't want to take them somewhere where they can eat at home... Fortunately, HB's parents and my parents aren't prentetious eaters (like me!) so I'm sure they'll be happy and gracious with where ever we choose.

Anyway, what do you think? Any suggestions? I don't want to take them anywhere they might not get i.e. some place that serves small food that's stacked up pretty. Maybe Asian food, but that seems too casual. I don't want to choose a place where we have to wait an hour for a table because they don't take reservations. How tacky would I look if that were to happen?

I'm probably just adding undue pressure on myself because I want it to be perfect and I want them to like each other. Oh whatever. I just want everyone to like me!

And what am I going to wear?! Now that's a task that I don't mind concentrating on.

On the brightside, maybe we'll be able to hammer out the details of some of the traditional things both cultures may want to include during the festivities. At the very least, I can get HB's mom's guest list.

tbc...

efficiency!

So I had a momentary lapse the other day and randomly ordered the J. Crew Matilda dress for my bridesmaids. Having never seen it in person, I just crossed my fingers and clicked away.. (It looks nicer on the model than it does on the mannequin.)

A daring move since the dresses were a final sale - it's always dangerous buying sight unseen but I had faith.

Luckily, the dress turned out to be very cute, if not a tad conservative. The color is a mustard-y color and when I showed them to HB, he was thrilled because apparently it was the exact color he was envisioning when I declared yellow and grey as our colors.

Did I mention that the dresses were only $40 each?

Now I need to find a florist so I can figure out how I want my flowers! I'm thinking white flowers wrapped in a delicious grey ribbon.

suit up

HB and I decided a while ago that our wedding (he totally gets annoyed when I said my wedding, so I'm making a conscious effort to say our!) would not be a black-tie affair. Not our style. Well, maybe a little of mine, but I can understand where he's coming from!

Since HB has been traveling back and forth to Chicago for work, he's been doing a little recon for a new suit at the neighborhood Neiman Marcus.

Beaming that he's taking this quite seriously and not waiting until the last minute to pull on some lame monkey suit - especially since it didn't require any prodding from me. Loves it.

So far he likes the fit of this one by Theory. HB is super slim and most suits aren't meant for his lean shape (or lack of shape, whatever you want...)

I tend to think that Miu Miu and Prada suits fit him best - think Jude Law in Alfie.

Mmmm... Jude Law in Alfie....

*ahem*

presidential debate

My darling gramma is hilarious. She's already purchased the Chinese dress that she'll be wearing to our wedding in November - next November. Yes, during our recent trip to San Francisco, she made sure to stop in Chinatown and chose a very tasteful and elegant cheong-sam.

Love her! (Even though she's been giving me crap about why we're not just getting married this November!) I wish everyone was that easy..

If you know my dad, you'll know he abhors wearing anything dressy and don't even get him started about ties. He'd rather not go than wear a tie!

But because I'm daddy's little girl, of course he'll go against all his usual rules and wear a suit. For me. But no tuxedo. Hell no. So that got my mom thinking about what my dad should wear..

Mommy has decided that we need to find something that fits like a glove. Better than a glove. Second skin. She wants him to dress like Barack Obama because she thinks he always looks so stylish without being stuffy.

I have to agree. He is rather dashing.

And we must, at all costs, keep dad from looking like Bill Clinton. Mommy loved Bill Clinton as a president but always hated his ill-fitting suits.



"He looks like a little kid wearing his dad's suit. It just doesn't fit right."

Poor Bill.

i don't

Hunny Bunny was having a hard time figuring out who to be his 3rd and final groomsman. I guess he always envisioned his childhood bestie to be one, but HB hasn't talked to the guy in over a year! Hello? We've been engaged for over a month now and his "bestie" still doesn't know!

My opinion was that he should ask one of the guys that he actually hangs out with and sees on a regular basis. Was I wrong?

Anywishywashy, HB made the right choice and decided to take my advice. So the other night, while he was at the driving range with the boys HB asked, "Alright, which one of you wants to be in the wedding?"

T-Bone quickly said, "I DON'T! It's too much work."

Hahaha. Some friend.

The Doc kindly said he would do it.

Oooh. I guess I've never talked about my bridesmaids! I officially have four... I know, it's supposed to be even but one of them is my will-be-14-years-old-by-then niece and I don't really think it'll be appropriate for her to be walking arm-in-arm with a 30-something year old!

The other three, well first there's my bestie Han from forever and ever as my MOH. I was her MOH a few years ago. The other two are my cousins: Mango and Veen. Family makes it easier than having to decide between all my friends! Besides, I'm really close to these two and know that I can count on them.

Ugh. Am I getting mushy?

now for the fun

And by fun, I mean shoes!

Of course, I totally don't plan on buying any of these shoes until they go on sale! I may be crazy, but I'm practical too. When I explained to my niece why buying things on sale was better than buying it at regular price I said "If it's on sale, you'll have enough money to buy more than one thing, if you buy it at regular price, you can only buy one." Words to live by.


Anyshoe, I'm kinda drooling over these gold and silver Valentinos.

Or maybe I should get all vampy and try these Diors. You know.. Just for fun.


I'm totally allowed to get fancy shoes right? Especially since I saved so much on the dress...

Or maybe in sticking with my color scheme, I should just get a pair of
gray Uggs. It is a winter wedding, ya know.

My bridesmaids threatened to get those and I said go ahead! How cute would they be traipsing down the aisle in cozy boots? *laughs* Or not.

I need to remind myself that I still have more than a year to make all these decisions...

done, done and done

Date: November 7, 2009 - Check.
Venue: W Hotel Seattle - Check.
Dress: White-ish - Check.

All this accomplished in the last 24 hours! Ok.. So we haven't actually signed the contract yet and I haven't actually ordered the dress yet but we're this close!

Let me start with the dress. One of my bridesmaids and I went dress shopping at I Do Bridal. I was expecting yet another disappointing day with dresses that I hate but as soon as I got there, I found out that a girl I went to elementary school with was going to be my salesperson! We used to ride the bus together!

She made the experience so easy and she really listened to what I was looking for in a dress - I didn't feel any pressure at all. I ended up falling for a Mori Lee dress that was very similar to the Lea Ann Belter dress that I mentioned previously, which was nearly $4000! The one I like is under $1000! Whew.

Initially, I wanted to get a dress that was more sheath but after trying on several different shapes, I found the modified A-line style to be really flattering - rather than hide, it accentuates my shape.

I'm sure the Lea Ann Belter one is far superior in craftsmanship by the finest tailor this side of the Mississipi, while the Mori Lee one is probably made in some sweatshop by a four-year-old indentured servant. I joke, I joke! But with my mummy insisting that I need to have multiple changes of clothes (I have to wear a traditional Chinese wedding dress and now she wants me to change into some sort of evening dress), I really don't want to spend all my money on a dress I'll be wearing for a few hours. Besides, I want to be able to afford some fabulous shoes too! Priorities, ya know?

Finally, HB and I visited the W today and I think we both loved it. I know a lot of you have softspots for the W and come to think of it, so do I. When we first started dating, that was one of our spots. We went there for drinks all the time. (Oh and did I ever mention the time I had lunch with Tim Gunn? Ok. It wasn't really with him with him but he was at the next table with Angela "Crazy Rosettes Lady" Keslar exclaiming how "gorgeous" the soup was... Sigh..)

When we showed up to meet the catering manager, she even had a little gift for me. How did she know the way to my heart was free stuff and presents? Sold!

Ahem.

The space was perfect and she's putting the contract together now. Eep! It's happening!

w-w-w

It feels like we've looked at every venue in the area. And still we haven't found the perfect place. Hunny Bunny and I went to Pan Pacific the other day and annoyingly, they're not big enough to hold all our guests. Hello? Wasn't my first question, "Can you hold at least 200 people?"

It was a complete waste of time because they can barely fit 150 people. Did they think I would fall in love with the place and just not invite 50 people?

And then there was Herban Feast. I loved the space and I loved that we could buy/bring our own alcohol to be served by their bartenders - you know everyone's going to trashed! But of course, there was one fatal flaw. They don't have dressing rooms available for the bride and groom!

The only option, really wasn't an option at all. We could rent the space next door for a couple hours (at $300 an hour!) prior to the ceremony and use that as the dressing area - completely undesirable because we would have to walk about 20-30 feet outside in November in Seattle. I do not want me or my bridesmaids getting muddy and rained on just before walking down the aisle.

We visited a couple other places that I wasn't crazy about... Ugh. This is hard work!
We're going to check out the W hotel on Monday. I'm really hoping that this will be the place! Word on the street is that they had the carpeting redone so it's no longer striped, but rather a chocolate brown.

The perks for having my wedding there sound perfect, though I don't want to get myself too excited yet. Because we're planning a winter wedding, they're offering to waive both the ceremony fee and the room rental fee - a total of $3000 in savings! Included is one night in a corner room with an option to be upgraded to a suite.

Also included is makeup application for the bride, mother of the bride and maid of honor by a Smashbox makeup artist. And depending on how much I spend, they'll even fly celebrity makeup artist Hank Hoffman in from LA to personally primp me!

Their menu sounds wonderful too. If their food is anything like the food in their main restaurant Earth/Ocean, I'm sold. One of the dinner options, while a tad more pricey than the regular plated dinner is where the guests' entree order will be taken tableside. Basically, HB and I would choose four options beforehand and instead of asking guests to respond to the invititation with their dinner choice - they would choose for themselves that night.

Of course I'm totally getting ahead of myself. I just want to scratch this off my list of things to do!

always a bridesmaid

As I said before, I'm looking for cute cocktail dresses as bridesmaid dresses. I really don't want to get one of those dresses that scream bridesmaid!

I'm hoping that they'll be able to wear the dresses again. Doesn't everyone say that? I really mean it though.

I also don't want to spend a ton of money on the dress because I'm planning to pay for them. The girls are in charge of their own shoes, but I personally don't think it's right to expect them to have to fork over a wad of cash in order to participate in my day.

I liked the tiered Ella Moss Black Label dress and was just about to order it when I decided that while it's cute, it's a tad skimpy for my buxom BMs and I want them to feel comfortable wearing it.

I also like this gray Sunner dress. It's very simple and I think it'll look really sweet and romantic with bright yellow flowers. But the price tag ($315 at ShopBop) is a bit of a downer. Maybe if it goes on sale!


I really was looking for a gray dress but I walked by Anthropologie and saw this adorable yellow dress. I can picture it with white flowers wrapped in luscious gray ribbon. It would definitely be unexpected, but not out of place, during a winter wedding. And the price is right!

Now if only looking for wedding dresses was this easy and fun!

out in the cold

So I've visited a couple venues including the Arctic Club Hotel, as I mentioned before. I was really hoping that that would be place because I love the photos.

Anyway, I love the venue but it won't work. They don't have the space for me to do both my ceremony and reception without there being a 2 hour gap between the two (I can't even hold the cocktail reception during that time!) I was pretty disappointed, but what can you do? I suppose I could have the ceremony at a different location, but it's not really practical for us since neither of us are religious (no church) and it'll be too cold to have an outdoor ceremony some where.

We still have the Pan Pacific Hotel coming up next week.

We're also visiting Herban Feast this week too. It's basically a warehouse that has been converted into a reception venue. I think it looks promising although my fuddy-duddy family might not get it, if you know what I mean.

They already think I'm crazy for wanting a winter wedding! They'll probably think I'd want to get married at any old Costco.

We still have several other places to visit, but I really hope to have a venue chosen by the end of October, if not sooner!

i heart stress

I've hardly had time to bask in the glow of engagement-dom and I'm already feeling like this all needs to be over! I did a little bit of wedding gown shopping over the weekend with my bestie/MOH and I swear I nearly got hives from the anxiety!

As soon as the salesgal put the first dress on me, I thought I was going to suffocate (though that may have been due to the bustier I was wearing.) When she added the veil. Oh lord. I was minutes away from wretching all over the store. Hahaha. The other bride-to-be in the store seemed to be prancing around like she was having the time of her life! She probably was!

I couldn't wait to get the damn thing off! I don't think I like this whole center-of-attention thing. I know, I know. This is just the beginning and I'll start enjoying it soon, right? RIGHT?!!?!

I suppose it didn't help that all the bridal shops we visited had mainly those vile, princess-bride gowns covered in sequins, beads and lace.

Barf-o-rama.

My dream dress is really simple - flowy, empire-waist, nothing fussy. I adore this Carolina Herrera.

I must admit though, I found a lacy number by Lea Ann Belter that was far more fancy than I envisioned but it was so flattering. Unfortunately, it's way out of my price range. (I'm not going to post a photo of it because I don't want HB to see it, in case I end up getting it! But ask me via comment/email and I'll tell you.)

Anyway, I'm hoping that the other bridal shops will have a better selection. I've given myself a deadline of February to find the dress and get it ordered. I'll probably check in San Francisco when I go next month!

Ugh. I need to look for a Chinese wedding outfit while I'm there too. But that's a whole other story.

Are we there yet?

shotgun

LRB: Guess what, Auntie Q?

(flash the ring)

Auntie Q: Ohh! Did you get married?

LRB: No... We're engaged!

AQ: Ohh! That's great! Are you pregnant?

LRB: Noooo!!!

AQ: ...Because if you are, that's okay too! It's completely acceptable! I won't judge you.

LRB: Umm. Thanks for understanding.. I think.

AQ: Do you want some braised pork? I just made it.

in his element

Ugh. I hate to admit that I've been a total brat for probably at least a year because I was antsy for HB to finally pop the question. (I suppose he still hasn't really asked, but who cares! It's just a minor technicality. Besides, I have the one ring to rule them all, Precious.) I was so blinded by my, errr, rage that I really didn't see how good he's actually been!

So imagine my surprise to realize how much HB actually cares! I know, right?!

I assumed that after we were engaged, he'd be back to being hands-off with everything and I would just take over and plan everything. Well, once again I'm wrong. Not only is he totally into visiting sites with me, but he's pretty much enthused about the entire process!

As I mentioned before, HB will be designing the invitations. He just sent me the color palette samples along with some sample fonts. I told him that I didn't want the blue as an accent color and would prefer white instead and that the yellow was too gold. Then I asked for a more swirly, curly, girly font, but he said no. Phooey.

He did promise that he'd put some swirly, curly, girly elements on the invitation but that he had to put his foot down when it came to the font. He really likes the clean/simple look.

FINE. *pout pout*

Ugh. I hate to admit that he's been wonderful and I'm still a brat.

work with me

Hunny Bunny has finally agreed to the colors that I want - yellow and grey. He's a graphic designer so he's planning on doing all the invitations and he wasn't sure how much he liked the combo. Good thing I'm good at convincing him that my way is the best. MUAHHAHAHAHA.

Anyway, I think it's cute. His fave color is black but with it being a Winter wedding, I didn't want to have it that dark so grey was my compromise.

I haven't really decided on the shade of grey yet, but I'm leaning towards a darker, steel color. I guess it might depend on what color I can find for the bridesmaid dresses too! I think I want to avoid getting a true bridesmaid dress and try to look for some that are just off the rack.

Ugh. And what are the groomsmen going to wear? Would it be weird if they wore grey too? Or should they wear black?

Now I need to figure out what yellow flowers are in season in November! Daisies might be fun, with the yellow center.. Yellow roses would be pretty too..

decisions, decisions

I've always wanted a Winter wedding and while I'd like to get married sooner, the idea of having it cold and rainy is much more appealing than the lovely summers of Seattle. (Am I weird? Maybe.)

Hunny Bunny and I decided that we're going to tie the knot during November 2009. We're still flexible on the date so we're going to start looking at venues shortly. I'm sorta leaning towards the Arctic Club Hotel if only because no one else has had their wedding there!



We're planning to look at a few other places, of course.

There's the Pan Pacific Hotel, which has a lovely view of Lake Union and the Space Needle.

I'm not sure if this place is big enough to accommodate my humongous family!


And then there's the Westin in Bellevue.

I know the facilities are top notch, but it's right across the street from the mall and I don't know how I feel about that. I might not show up at my own wedding if there's a sale going on!

These are just a few of the places that I'm going to visit in the upcoming weeks. I hope to get a place lined up soon so I can focus on the fun stuff!

he's not that romantic

And honestly, neither am I. But as unromantic as both of us can be, Hunny Bunny and I decided to get engaged!

Last Saturday, while I was working at my parents' jewelry shop, HB came and took me to lunch. After lunch, he came into the shop for a visit and said we should look at rings. I showed him the one I liked though I didn't actually think he was serious but my hilarious mom made him fill out an invoice! Ha! Good little mommy!

And then he left. Did that just happen?

Later that night, as we were heading to our neighborhood drugstore, I had to ask. "Uhhh.. Are we engaged?"

"Sure."

That's so us.

I didn't want to really tell anyone until I had the ring so I'd been keeping mum all week. Let me tell you, I felt like barfing the whole time! I've been totally anxious and unable to sleep! Basically a nervous wreck.

Then yesterday after work, we went to pick up the ring!!

This is where it gets even less romantic (if that was possible!)... He handed me the box as we left the shop. (He was rushing me because he was parked illegally!)

I jokingly said "Aren't you going to put the ring on my finger?"

"No. You know that's not my style."

And then he dropped me off to have dinner with my girlfrieds. That took all of 30 minutes.

Dum dum da dum...