A little bit more about us via our save the dates:





Getting Ready





wearing that tube dress made it really easy to change into my gown.















Seeing the boy









































the details


we had 6 of these "tall" vases (with ceremony flowers we transferred on top of the vase) and the rest were low centerpieces.






table assignments in mini lemmon poppyseed muffins. i have no idea who this person is, though! the other ones have the assigned table number on the bottom.


my maid of honor hand stitched all the menus









we had a christian ceremony and sang hymns. it was beautiful.


bellagio gourmet chocolate for non-wedding party help.


random pomanders everywhere!


our initials at the entrance (though not how i was expecting to look)



those lanterns had tall candles inside and were placed around the grounds



pre-ceremony

man, i look like such a prissy princess in here. i don't remember my bridesmaid fanning me. meanwhile, i think my sisters are enjoying the bar.







ceremony


my violinist sister hired some of her musician friends to play






oh my gosh!


at the last minute, my stubborn dad refused to wear the vest and tie so he wore one of his ugly ties- in RED! ughhh... i actually didn't even notice it on the day of, but even if i did, there was no dissuading him.


notice the hanging pomanders and hanging votives in the trees. unfortunately, i didn't get any good pictures of these.







my super adorable cousin.




we had about 220 guests and it still felt very intimate.


our friend sang a special song, "make me whole" by amel larrieux and her husband accompanied her on the keyboard.




notice the guy in the middle cracking up.


honoring the parental units. notice that our mothers are wearing the SAME DRESSES! it was a total accident. they came down the aisle together holding hands and everyone thought it was planned. they looked great!






tearing up as husband reads his vows


flowergirl getting bored. she was supposed to sit down after walking down the aisle, but after several people motioned for her to sit down with her parents, she refused. she loved the attention.


SexyBacks



this is after our pastor totally disses our kiss. he made us do it again. i was nervous.



my cousin stood on that chair throughout the entire ceremony.


exit maid of honor and best man

group shots


husband's extended fam.



husband's family (he has an adopted sister from korea)


my humungo family (can only see like half of us)


with my family.


sisters.



that asian guy is not a midget. everyone else is at least 6-2.



the bridal party.


the kids. the youngest flowergirl did not make it to the pictures and took her dress off asap.





laughing about the backless dresses i made them wear. they all had to go out and get special padded bras because these dresses made them look super flat.


"i'm serious! feel these suckers". notice girl on right feeling herself.


and so i did. (uhh, i hope everyone else was getting tipsy during cocktail hour)


last bridesmaid, "noooo...i'm not wearing anything!!"


everyone is astonished at her womanly talents, especially as an asian. one bridesmaid exclaimed, "wait, are you a B?! damn girl!"



the aftermath. we proceeded to laugh in major pain. i think my sister literally fell to the ground.

the reception


it's hard to see but i got champagne satin overlays. looked really nice in person

.
the best man and maid of honor flanked by our emcees. they are just about the most extroverted, LOUD people you will ever meet and this was evident in their speeches.


enjoying the speeches.











we all really did feel like we were whisked away to tuscany.

wedding traditions.


despite our lopsided cake, it was super delicious. a lot of guests said it was the best wedding cake they've had.


instead of a bouquet and garter toss, we had a "teddy bear toss" where we tossed a bunch of bears to the kids (but a lot of kids had left by then, unfortunately)



it was a big hit- especially amongst all the single men and women who didn't have to be publicly reminded of their singleness.


the kids loved it, too.



here's my 3rd flowergirl who was very intrigued by the game.


but she didn't like the little bride and groom teddy bears.


we danced to ray lamontagne's "hold you in my arms"


we did the father-daughter and mother-son dances simultaneously. we both hate being in the center of attention like that.


in the middle of the song, we asked all other couples to join in. i think this is the first time my grandparents have danced with each other. notice how he's holding her wrist. he's almost 90!



but i think she liked it anyway.





getting down with the hubby.


he hates dancing but he was such a good sport.


he clearly doesn't like dancing, either.


my surgeon uncle getting drunk and down.




stealing a moment to ourselves under the pomanders and hanging votives.








i put rainbow colored tootsie rolls wrapped with rainbow tissue paper.



made the labels with the awesome xyron machine. i used the same labels for the favors and the programs.



picture of flowergirl in her dress.



drinks during the summer ceremony in glass footed bowls.



close-up of the placecard- in a mini lemonpoppy seed muffin.


for our table numbers, we used pictures of us during our corresponding ages (so table 5 had a picture of both of us when we were 5 years old). everyone got a kick out of comparing us at our respective ages. tables 22 to 26 had pictures of us during our dating years. it was a great alternative to a slideshow.


checking out the huge lanterns with candles flickering inside.


our funny and fobby Emcees.


friends cocktail houring it up in the library


invitations (except in mango and avocado) with our return address embossed on the envelope




my friends went all out for the bridal shower. it was really all of our martha stewart fantasies come to life and people pooled in their talents and connections: an invitation maker, a part-time caterer, a coordinator with patina (free nice linens!), a designer, etc etc. the shower was such a special time for me b/c it allowed me to celebrate with 30 of my girlfriends sans wedding stress.

.


fresh edamame hummus


watermelon mint gazpacho with garlic yogurt sauce
miso-dijon rolls stuffed with sauteed spinach


italian-chinese crab rangoons stuffed with crab, marscapone, peas, and mint
white tea roasted shrimp and green tea citrus soba salad


dessert and drink bar:
ginger-carrot mini cupcakes with cream cheese frosting
green tea tiramisu (i am a green tea fanatic)
nutella banana eggrolls
macademia biscotti dipped in green tea white chocolate
trio of creme brulees: green tea, thai tea, chai chocolate
hand sewn menus with favors (green tea sugar and biscotti)






banana nutella eggrolls and mango martini drinks


close-up of the favors. notice anything interesting about the green tea sugar label? hehe. my maid of honor made three of these surprise favors. hehehe. you can also see how she hand sew each of the biscottis!



we went to vegas for the bahelorette party and to my huge surprise- my friends handmade a ginormous penis pinata. it took several days of hard labor and they are now considering going pro (jk).


parading around the victorville walmart like a fool. we were there to buy a male-hating bat.



we wanted to go to the white trashiest restaurant in victorville and found a happy pizza buffet. there are several pizza buffets in victorville (?!?!) i think the pizza buffet lady liked my prize.



and out came all the sexy prizes (can i have any more lubricant, geeez).



we took our engagement pictures in autumn in new york. :)
























I'm going to be as honest as possible in these reviews and tell you what you need to hear. Rather than giving everyone an A++++++ (what does that mean, anyway?), I've separated my reviews into 3 categories:

The Good



Votives- Walmart
I did my research and walmart has the absolute cheapest votives- a 24 pack for only $4.99. The wick is right under the rim of the glass, which meets most fire hazard standards.

Cocktail Hour food and alcohol- Koreatown & Costco
I actually had Korean food during my cocktail hour in order to appease the Korean guests. I had dduk (ricecakes), fried shrimp, little veggie wrap things, potstickers, mini chicken things, a fancy fruit platter, and some other items. My mom did extensive research to find the best appetizers that would not be too crazy Korean and visually appealing. My caterer allowed outside food since it was “ethnic”. I saved a lot of money doing this, considering that SAG charges 2 bucks per potsticker!! I also purchased all the alcohol at Costco. This saved SOOOO much money!

Engagement Pictures- Leah Mccormick and Cynthia Manchester
My husband and I both love autumn and kind of spontaneously decided to visit New York and used engagement pictures to justify our trip out there. Getting multiple locations is more complicated in New York so we just hired Leah for Central Park pictures. But then I posted a “looking for photography student” ad in New York’s Craigslist and Cynthia, who was starting her business, responded, and shot us awesome pictures on the Brooklyn Bridge. They’re both great!

Guestbook- Mypublisher.
We used a 50% off coupon and ordered the “deluxe” book. My husband actually designed it and did a great job! The quality is really great (but not great enough for a wedding album, in my opinion).

Invitation Envelopes- Envelopemall.com
Definitely the most affordable place to get any kind of envelope you want. They also mail you free samples.

Embosser- Paper Source
We embossed our return address on our invitation envelopes. Gorgeous!


The Bad

Florist- Sierra Pyron @ Gracie’s Garden
I hated my flowers with a passion. Where do I start? Sigh. One of my friends had hired Sierra and was really happy with her so I didn’t give it much thought, especially since Sierra was much cheaper than most florists. I think Sierra infused too much of her own vision into the design. I even sent her a lot of pictures, basically saying “just do this”, but the final product was totally different. She recently relocated to Tacoma, Washington and actually flew down for the wedding. I was really grateful for that and she was a total sweetie, but I was really displeased with the flowers. She made me a sample centerpiece a few days before the wedding and it was in a Styrofoam container- she thought it looked “rustic” and matched the site. No. So at the last minute, I had to add glass vases, something I had assumed was included in the price. I could drone on and on about this but I’ll just stop here.

Alterations- Lillian MacDonald and Claudine of Bridal Perfections
I had hired the famous and knottie-loved Claudine of Bridal Perfections to alter my gown. One day I received a call from her saying that she moved up north and that she had passed my dress onto her friend (even though she had promised me that she would finish the dress before the move). It turns out that Claudine hadn’t touched my dress and by the time it got to Lillian, but I still trusted Lillian’s work, judging from Claudine’s high praises. To make a long story short, I had to go to at least six fittings and she still couldn’t get the zipper right (you can see a picture of my MOH literally sewing the back of my dress shut before the ceremony). In addition, she had dogs and cats all over her house, and one day, there was dog feces everywhere and on another day, cat vomit everywhere. When I had approached her about the second incident (thinking it was dog feces), she just said, "It wasn't dog feces, it was cata vomit." OKAY! In retrospect, I wish I had just taken the dress elsewhere, even if it meant I would have lost the money and even though it was just weeks before the wedding. She was also the sweetest lady in the world so I didn’t have the guts to tell her.

Letterpresser (invitations)- Susan Park Ryoo
This was another knottie recommendation so I didn’t think I’d have problems. She was really nice and accommodating, since she’s a private contractor who usually works on corporate orders, but had trouble with my order. She messed up the first batch of invitations and had to do the entire thing over again (making them quite late). She also didn’t get the colors quite right and she gave me 50 less rsvp cards than I ordered, so that I had to drive to Orange to pick them up. Usually these things are not a big deal but when you are paying for letterpress, you want it to be perfect. The invitations are still gorgeous and I don’t regret working with Susan, but she just doesn’t receive a good recommendation from me.

The Ugly.

Kristie Lilje of Splendor Events (it’s probably a different name now) Pasadena

So I have the mother of all nightmare wedding stories. One day, I received a call from my officiant saying that someone had posed as me, creating a similar email address, and tried to CANCEL THE WEDDING! Who the crazy does that?! Apparently, this person had located my vendor information off my knot bio and contacted most of my vendors (via phone and email) to cancel the wedding. I don’t have any enemies and I had recently had a really bad interaction with Kristie, another florist, so a lot of evidence points to her.

I had found Kristie off of craigslist. She had just relocated to LA and was looking to do one wedding for free in order to build her up her clientele base. So I “hired” her and we met up to discuss flowers and sign the contract. After I met with her, I basically raved about her on the knot and she received several contacts from me. Soon after that, she emailed saying that she felt that she could not do my wedding since she already had her day job as a software engineer (and my wedding was quite large). This was after our first conversation where I insisted that I hire another vendor do all the centerpieces in order to alleviate her from the workload. After a few frustrated emails, that was that, leaving me to find someone else at the last minute- and all the “good” people were booked. I wrote about this situation on several wedding message boards, which I’m sure she saw. It looks like she may have retaliated by trying to stop the wedding? What a wacko! I wasn’t that upset though, I think I mostly felt kind of sorry for her. Geez, who does that kind of stuff?!




Hm. After this whole wedding ordeal, I feel like I have so much information to unload and pass onto future generations of brides (especially since nearly all my close friends are single- I need to get this down now). I'm going to try to group things by category.

Budget Issues
Sticking to a tight budget also includes the unavoidable pricetag of your own patience and sanity as you hunt for ways to cut costs. A lot of girls on the knot place a high priority on keeping to one's budget (and rightfully so), but I think it needs to be said that spending a lot of time searching for a better deal is a huge cost in itself. That being said, it is possible to pull off an affordable, yet beautiful, wedding in pricey places like Los Angeles. My advice is to put your money in your reception site and photography- the rest are just details that will fade over time (if anybody notices them in the first place, that is). I remember when I obsessed over having either real glass martini glasses or plastic cups during my cocktail hour, and you know what? Nobody cares! I want to kick myself now for even losing 10 minutes of my life to that. On the other hand, it will become much easier to compromise on things as it gets closer to the wedding as costs just become random numbers mushing together.

Buying your dress
Pictures tend to be unreliable, especially those you'll find in magazines. Higher end dress companies will have better photographs, which invariably make their dresses more beautiful. However, expensive dresses doesn't always mean "better", and conversely, buying a cheap dress doesn't mean it's a good deal. Different dresses complement different body types so I think it's good to try on a range of dresses, even in a style you would have never considered. When dress shopping, avoid buying your dress from posh stores b/c you will end up paying for their rental space and extra customer service. You can usually find a less expensive version of that dress online, in another store, etc. If going to a sample sale, go early and bring friends- the best dresses will always go first. And lastly, it's just a dress. In my opinion, I think it's the least important area to splurge on, but then again I'm no fashionista. Most people tend to think that "all wedding dresses look the same" (like me before I got engaged). But if it's your one obsession item (like me and letterpress), then go for it!

Photography
I love photography and I've done my research. As for the perennial digital vs. film debate, it should come down to whose images you prefer- it just depends on what you're drawn to. Our engagement photographer used film and our wedding photographer was digital. Since images straight out of a digital camera will always be subpar, the photographer should do a bit of post-production work on the photos- and you want to make sure that those edits are reflected in your digital high-res files. Digital images with good post-production work are often seen as superior to film because they have the ability to tinker with the image. But it really does just come down to shooting talent- some of the best wedding photographers still use film (like Jose Villa), but it's looking like photographers are going digital in hordes. Also, film is NOT more expensive than digital because digital photographers must spend hours upon hours post processing the photos. I've heard of digital wedding photographers doing no post-processing work- those people are a total sham. I've also heard (and met) with film photographers who criticize digital- those people are charlatans who do a major disservice to the wedding photography industry by confusing brides and disrespecting their colleagues.

You know how cheesy wedding photos in the 80s are so, well, cheesy? Well one day that will be us, my friends, because I really do think the current trend in oversaturating and washing out photos will be passe in a generation. I would recommend finding a true photojournalist, not someone who tries hard to be a fashion photographer. You want your wedding photos to document your day, and not reinterpreted through an artist's (however talented) eye. But that's just me.

Read photography blogs. That will give you a very good idea of what their "average" is rather than their "best", which is typically on their website. Also, don't be fooled by packages that have all sorts of bells and whistles. I've seen so many brides on the knot say things like, "I'm getting this many pictures, this and that, this and that for only this much!" But the photography sucks. If you had to choose between a great photographer plus an album versus an amazing photographer but no album, I'd go for the latter. But make sure to get your high-res files or negatives!!

To be continued...

Day-Of
Choosing your site
Things to remember...
blah blah blah.




glass carafes



20 glass carafes available. we used them for sangria and they are gorgeous on the table (says 1 litre on the bottle, looks very vintage). $5 each.


unused bridesmaids dresses


these were the first set of dresses i bought and decided i didn't want to go through the hassle of altering them. 1 is a size small (as worn) but the other 5 are all XL and XXL. they are 2 piece sets so it would have been easy to alter. i need to get these out of my closet asap, all six dresses for $140 or best offer.







we went to greece, turkey, and paris for a month. the above picture you see is of oludeniz, turkey possibly the most gorgeous beach we have ever seen in our lives (and we're big time travellers). honeymoon pictures will be posted...