| |
| | | ||
| My Community Bio | |||
| | | ||
| Knot Name: pb_bride | |||
| Wedding Role: Bride | |||
| Wedding Date: October 15, 2005 | |||
| Location: Dallas, Texas | |||
| Age: 32 | |||
| About our wedding: Best viewed at Full Screen Vendors Review at the Bottom of the Bio Please page me on the Dallas-Fort Worth board, or email me at yk_pb_05 (at) hotmail.com Professional Pictures (Sage Li Photography) Me Getting Ready My hair, with rose bobby pins Details of my dress Dress and bouquet Bouquets Our Invites DH Getting Ready "Double Happiness" cuff links I got for DH Seeing each other for the first time We're on Fire! Water to the Rescue! Caution! The Guys! Seventeen Seventeen Restaurant Wall of floating daisies Ceramic sign-in platter DIY Ceremony Programs Ready for Ceremony Ceremony Tea Ceremony Reception Apple escort cards Tall Centerpiece Low centerpiece Flower Arrangement Wedding cake Entrance Speeches and Toasts First Dance Dancing with my Dad Exit Walking back to the hotel Non-Professional Pictures Ceremony took place on the patio outside 1717 restaurant at the DMA String Quartet "Floating Flower" at the entrance to the restaurant Reception Table Room Set-up Tall Centerpiece My Dress Vendors: Ceremony & Reception: Seventeen Seventeen Restaurant at the Dallas Museum of Art Rehearsal Dinner: La Trattoria Lombardi in Uptown Officiant: Ken Byrd of LoveNotes String Quartet: String Music String Quartet Band: Ricki Derek and the Vegas Six Engagement Pictures: Triana Studios Photographer: Sage Li Flowers: Russell Glenn Design Studio 214-219-2016 Cake: Radford Cakery Hairstylist: Todd Little (my regular hairstylist) 214-679-8268 Makeup Artist: Amy Hollier 214-315-6770 Wedding gown (St. Patrick, style Candida): Lasting Impressions Bridesmaid Dresses (Jasmine Belsoie): Mockingbird Bridal Tuxedos: Men's Wearhouse Guest book (in the form of ceramic plate): Just Wright Designs Invitations H2 Cards Thank-you cards: Crane's Engagement Ring and Wedding Bands: Bachendorf's Dance Lessons: Dallas Crystal Ballroom Pre-wedding Pampering: Spa at Hotel Crescent Court (Indulgence Package) Wedding night hotel: Fairmont Dallas Guest Hotel Block: Fairmont Dallas Radisson Hotel Central Dallas Honeymoon: Venice, Italy Planning Decoration ideas We are having a red apple theme. Plastic apples for the reception table (in lieu of flowers). The apples and the wire basket were from Pier 1 imports, all 50% off! Smaller apples (potpourri) Red with gold edge table runner for the reception table. Hat Box which I will use as card box. I will use it "as is", instead of decorating it or making a slot. Guest sign in plate (instead of guest book). Ours will look like this one (wine color with wedding cake design) but in rectagular shape. Celebration Plates Ceremony & Reception: Seventeen Seventeen Restaurant inside the Dallas Museum of Art Entrance to the restaurant Restaurant interior, featuring windows by Frank Lloyd Wright Outdoor patio where ceremony will take place Cake: Bridesmaid Dresses: Jasmine Belsoie L3107 My Attire Shoes I bought for just $20 at a sale! They are "Day to Nite" by Kenneth Cole which normally retail for $160! My Dress (St. Patrick Candida) from Lasting Impressions Looks a lot better on the model: Bouquets: Centerpiece ideas (with use of red apples instead): Stationery DIY Save the Date postcard I bought a 100-pack cardstock from Michael's for $5. The address side, with hotel and flight information. Invitations by H2 Cards: Vendors Review Ceremony and Reception: Seventeen Seventeen Restaurant at the Dallas Museum of Art Pre-wedding: A+ Wedding day: A+ Both me and DH love arts and museums, so when we looked at the DMA, we knew that was the place for us. Events are catered by Wynnwood, and our contact person, Lacy McGough, is absolutely my favorite vendor. She is extremely nice and prompt, always returned phone calls or email within 24 hours. We met several times, and she is willing to cater to all our requests, as long as they are within the museum guidelines. We have eaten at 1717 a few times, and have always been pleased with the quality of the food and its presentation. The day before the wedding, I found out 2 guests wanted to bring their kids, so I frantically called Wynnwood. Lacy was away for the weekend, but her assistant Shelly calmed me down and was able to add 4 more people to the guest list without any problem. On wedding day, everything was perfect. I didn’t have to worry about anything at all. The place was set up the way I wanted it to be (with 1 minor exception, but it was my fault because I didn’t specify clearly). Everybody loved the venue and the excellent food! Our final bill came out very close to what the estimate was. Rehearsal Dinner: La Trattoria Lombardi in Uptown B We reserved a room for 30 people, and we were told we could arrive at 3pm to decorate the room. Basically, we only needed to bring several flower arrangements there. DH and his mom arrived around 3:30pm, and the place was still closed. DH went around to the back entrance, and finally found someone to open the doors for them. He was almost late to the Rehearsal (4pm) because of that. For dinner entrée, we had 2 choices. One of the choices came out rather cold. Officiant: Ken Byrd of LoveNotes Pre-wedding: A Wedding day: A I had originally planned on booking Marty, but because of my own fault, I lost Marty and he recommended Ken. We met once and we liked his personality a lot. He came out to the rehearsal, and everything on wedding day went extremely smoothly. Our guests really like him also. String Quartet (ceremony and cocktail hour): String Music String Quartet Pre-wedding: A Wedding day: A I had no problems with pre-wedding communications with them. All phone calls and emails were returned promptly. I made a mistake in the contract after I signed it with regards of their playing time, and they were willing to change it without any problems. I didn’t get to hear too much of their music during the wedding, as I was “hiding” in a room pre-ceremony. I did ask my guests and they thought they were wonderful. Band: Ricki Derek and the Vegas Six Pre-wedding: A Wedding day: A We met with Ricki once the week before the wedding to go over the evening’s events. He was very nice and laid back, and willing to accommodate our preferences. We originally had planned on them playing 3 sets and taking 2 breaks, but during the reception, the time frame switched some, so they just went ahead to play 2 long sets and take 1 break only. We plan on going to see them again at Sambuca where they play regularly. E-pics: Triana Studios A- We weren’t planning on getting E-pics, but I received a gift certificate for a free E-pic session and a free 8x10 portrait (total $150 value) and it seemed too good to waste it. We had a good time there and everyone who works there is very friendly. Of course, we ended up spending another $200+ for more portraits. We did our E-pics rather late in the process, but they assured us the portraits would be ready by our wedding day. We didn’t hear anything from them at all, so we finally called 3 days before the wedding, and it wasn’t quite ready until later that afternoon. The pictures came out very nice. Photographer: Sage Li I will hold off rating Sage until we received our wedding photos. Flowers: Russell Glenn Design Studio 214-219-2016 Pre-wedding: B- Wedding day: A++ Rusty is not a florist, but a event designer. When DH and I first went to 1717 to check the venue, there was a wedding that night. We saw the flower decors and were blown away! It was exactly what we had in mind for our flower decorations. Therefore, I didn’t even bother to look for any other florists and I knew Rusty would be able to deliver what we want. It was a bit difficult to get hold of him. There were multiple times I called and left my cellphone # for him to call back, and he would call back the next day on my home phone #. We met with him twice, and both times he was very nice face-to-face. His company mainly deals with high-profile clients and huge decors, so our wedding is like spare change to him, but he never made me feel that way. Because of his and my schedules, we didn’t get to sit down and discuss flowers and contract until 1 month before the wedding. It took him over 2 weeks to send me the proposal (even though he promised he would send it to me right away, and I had to call him to remind him I still haven’t received it). The final estimate was $500 more than what I told him my budget was. By then, it was only 2 weeks left before the wedding, and I just didn’t feel like arguing with him with the cost. This ended up being the most expensive item on the wedding (apart from the reception/food/alcohol etc). I thought it was ridiculous to spend so much money on something that only lasts several days, but the décor was the most commented on by our guests. They were amazed by all the flower arrangements (with a red apple theme). Cake: Radford Cakery Pre-wedding: A Wedding day: A Ron was very nice and gave us a cake exactly what we had in mind. The cakes were delicious! Hairstylist: Todd Little 214-679-8268 A Todd is my regular hair guy. I have short hair, so I was very amazed what he was able to do with my hair. I did 2 trials with him before hand, and the wedding day hair came out great! He also did 5 other people’s hair (2 bridesmaids, 2 mothers, and DH’s sister). He traveled out to our hotel suite. FYI, Todd usually runs a little late, which I know because I get my haircuts from him, so I wasn’t surprised when he showed up 30 minutes late. Make-up Artist: Amy Hollier 214-315-6770 A+ I heard about Amy from a fellow knottie (AmandaMunn). Amy is so great! She also traveled to the hotel suite to do our make-ups and she was 5 minutes early! She is very easygoing and did an excellent job. Wedding Gown: Lasting Impressions A- I really had no problems with the wedding gown process. I also had looked at LuLu’s, and honestly, I like LuLu’s customer service better. The place is nicer, and the dressing room larger. When I was at LuLu’s, the assistant helped me to get into and out of the gowns (I went alone most of the times), where as at Lasting Impressions, the dressing rooms are very cramped and no one ever bothers to help me to get dressed/undressed. I also bought my veil and petticoat from LI. The veil I received $50 off (from a coupon I got from Bridal Show), so the veil came out to just $10! Alterations: Lasting Impressions F I will be writing a letter to LI to complain about my experience with the alterations. I had ranted about it here before, but things got worse! I went for my first fitting in early August. At that time, the seamstress was an Asian lady. She said it would be ready by early Sept. I called early Sept, and was told it would be ready until mid-Sept. When I went back for my second fitting, it was a different seamstress. When I tried on the dress, the things that the initial seamstress promised to do weren’t finished – the dress wasn’t completely hemmed, the bustles were not done. So the new seamstress said she would take care of it. I went for my 3rd fitting early October, expecting everything to be ready. The bustle was still not completely done, so all she did was to hem the dress. Then I got into the zipper disaster – it quit working all of a sudden. The whole zipper had to be replaced (but that’s nobody’s fault). The 4th and last fitting was the week before the wedding. When we went over the bustle again (made of 6 pairs of ribbon ties – 12 ribbons in total), 2 of the ribbons fell off as soon as she pulled on them. She said she would re-sew them back, tighter this time, and everything will be ready for the wedding day. On the wedding day, when we were ready to tie the bustles, guess what? 2 ribbon ties were still missing! My MOH, MIL spent 20 minutes to improvise, and finally we were able to get the train hold up, but still looking somewhat lob-sided. I was so mad. This was absolutely the worst experience I had for the entire wedding! Bridesmaid Dresses: Mockingbird Bridal A- Apart from the attitude of the sales associates there, everything went smoothly. Actually, the woman who helped me, Debbie, was nice to work with. MB did not carry the dress I wanted, so I just asked them to go ahead to order them. Dresses arrived on schedule. Tuxedos: Men's Wearhouse(NW H-way and Skillman) B We had a rather complicated bridal party – all groomsmen and the best man are from out of town. So they had to be measured in their respective cities, and then had the tuxes shipped to the store here so that they can be picked up at the same time. Everything went relatively smoothly, except for DH’s tux. There was a stain on the dress shirt and the jacket didn’t fit well. Fortunately, he checked that on Thursday, the problems were resolved on Friday. Guest Book: Just Wright Designs A We saw these ceramic sign-in platters at the Bridal Show and thought this is a much nicer alternative to guest books. It was shipped to us on time and came out exactly what we wanted. Many of our guests had never seen this and thought it was a great idea. E-ring and Wedding Bands: Bachendorf's (at Preston Center) A We worked with Arnaud Le Cousin there. He was just so easy to work with. We probably could have gotten much cheaper rings elsewhere, but we figured this is something we wear everyday for the next many many years, so it’s worth the splurge. Dance Lessons: Dallas Crystal Ballroom A We took lessons the week before our wedding (last minute panic) in order to learn some dance steps for our first dance song. Chante was our instructor. We had a good time, and took a total of 2.5 hours of lessons from her. By the end of the lessons, we were able to dance reasonably well to our first dance song. [At the wedding, our band played a different version of our first dance song, so all our dancing lesson efforts were never materialized…] Pre-wedding Pampering: Spa at Hotel Crescent Court A I received a gift certificate for a ½ day spa at the Crescent. It included a 50-min massage, 50-min facial, 30-min manicure, and 1-hr pedicure, plus a lunch (gratuity included). It was perfect. For 4.5 hours, I was able to relax and take a break from all the wedding worries. Wedding Night Hotel: Fairmont Dallas A We had a suite in the hotel, which is a really huge room. I stayed there the night before by myself, and had the wedding party get ready there on wedding day (make-up, hair etc). No complaints, really wonderful hotel and excellent weekend rates. It would have been even better if the hotel had thrown in some wedding surprise for us (like chocolates or some flower), but I didn’t request any. Hotel Blocks: Fairmont: B I had some difficulty getting the sales person to return my phone calls and emails. When my guests call the 1800 number to make reservations, the phone representatives are quite clueless. They told my MIL that the suite is not really 2 rooms, but just one big room. That is so untrue! When my guests call the local reservation numbers, those representatives are much better and knowledgeable. Fairmont does offer a complimentary room upgrade if over 85% of rooms were taken up in the room block. We made the 85%, so I upgraded our room from a regular room to a suite. Radisson (75 & Mockingbird): B- I also had difficulty getting the sales person to return my phone calls. The hotel itself is fine, but it advertises a free hotel shuttle which takes guests within a 5-mile radius. When my guests tried to take it, they were told the shuttle does not go to downtown (which is within 5 miles). No one from the hotel told me that beforehand, and it wasn’t mentioned on the website. It made me very embarrassed, because I stressed to my family and friends that they could stay there and just take the shuttle to downtown! They ended up having to take cabs instead. Then on another occasion, a different driver did drive one of my guests to downtown. So, their “policy,” whatever it is, seems inconsistent. Invitations: H2 Cards A Lovely invitations. So many guests wrote back on the RSVP cards saying how much they love our inivitations. Honeymoon: Venice I planned the trip myself, so I am not going to give myself a grade! Miscellaneous STD cards – DIY project Ceremony programs – DIY project Videographer – my brother Get-away – instead of hiring a limousine or a horse carriage, we decided to walk back to the Fairmont, which is only 5 minutes away. It was such a beautiful night with full moon. 
 You are a Daisy. Which Kind of Flower Are You? brought to you by Quizilla
Knottie Bio Lookup ToolFeel free to steal this code and put it in your own bio. create your personalized map of europe or check out our Barcelona travel guide | |||
| The Knot Weight Loss Club Member: Goal: 0 lbs Progress: What is the Knot Weight Loss Club? | |||
