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Sorry for the wordy post. I want to capture the whole experience, so bear with me. I promise there will be many wonderful photos to come!
The week before the wedding, I was a mix of emotion. Part of me was excited the day had finally come, the other part of me was in total disbelief. We had a two year engagement and it was so surreal that after all of those hours of DIY projects, planning and vendor appointments….the wedding week was finally here!
I went back and forth on whether or not to take a full week off before the wedding, but ended up going to work on Monday to tie up loose strings. On Tuesday I finished packing everything up and organized it for our trip the following day. I ran last minute errands and purchased the last few gifts for our wedding party—I was on top of everything, but this ended up being left to the week before the wedding. After a day of running around, I was ready to get to Newport.
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If y’all are anything like me, you’ve been busy attending holiday parties, baking cupcakes and cookies, and wrapping presents. It’s just that time of year! The holiday season has got me thinking about presents. When I was little, I was that horrible child who climbed up into my parents’ closet (which they thought was a good hiding place) and shook each wrapped Christmas and Hanukkah present to try to guess what was inside. Well, apparently I’m no different with wedding presents. Yes, I’m aware that I’m an adult now.
Hive, I am guilty of registry stalking. You know, your online registry shows what you want and what you have. As guests start buying gifts, that little “fulfilled” column starts to fill up. Well, occasionally I like to check out that little fulfilled column to see what’s new.
The sad part is that we received our first registry gift before I acquired this stalking habit…and that surprise made the gift that much more special! We had just sent out our save the dates, so we were a little confused when we received a wedding gift in the mail 10 months before our wedding.
Confused Lions
We decided simple is best when it came to our card box label and “Just Married” garland—meaning we got scissors and cut out big letters from coloured cardboard…just like kindergartners. I think it worked.
The inspiration for our card box was a vintage suitcase dressed up like these:
My waiting to collect jars and vases for centerpieces did not last long at all. As I’ve said before, if I get a creative itch, I just have to scratch it. Besides raiding my own stash of vases, I also snagged a bunch from MOH Sweet Pea who has a large box full from her wedding that has been sitting in the attic. After that, I headed out on a shopping journey that included Goodwill, Savers, and Uncommon Objects (AKA The Dangerous Store).
Here are some of the pretties I acquired…
A family portrait
Featured on Weddingbee
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
“Make an elegant invitation statement without the fuss. Stylish invitation sets with matching envelopes, reception and response cards included.”
This photo has been residing in my full-to-the-brim inspiration folder. Although we were going to use it as sort of engagement-session inspiration, we forgot. That inspiration folder was so full that it got lost in the shuffle of “OMG ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS ARE HERE. LET’S GET PUMPED.”
(Source)
Like an employer looking for the right employee, we began our venue hunt with a wide range of candidates that slowly dwindled down to THE ONE through a process of elimination.
Community centers are great as wedding venues because everything is BYO, meaning you can start from a blank canvas and throw as lavish or as simple a party as you want. Plus, if you live in the community, chances are you are entitled to a special discount off the rental fee.
On the downside, because community centers are government owned and maintained, there are also a lot of restrictions, such as no hanging things from the ceiling, no open flames indoors, noise levels must be kept at a certain decibel so as to not disturb the neighbors, etc. So make sure to double check all the rules and regulations before you commit to a community center. That said, you also have the opportunity to let your imagination run wild and use whichever vendors you want. iPod wedding? Go for it. Potluck-style dining? Bring it on!
The Bay Area is very blessed to have some beautiful community centers available for rental, so Mr. French Toast and I were very keen on using a community center. Here are a few contenders which almost took the job home…
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
Continuing our series of Secret Santa ornament exchange posts, here’s part two! And in case you missed the first part, since 2008, the blogging bees have been participating in a Secret Santa
where we exchange ornaments or objects in our fellow bees’ likenesses, with a budget of $15 or less.
to 
One of the first things Mr. Pancakes and I decided early in the planning process was that we wanted to be as green as possible. The reality is, this is the most money we’ll have ever spent on anything, and we don’t want to spend it polluting the planet. To us this means we will only spend money on things that are really going to be meaningful or useful. For example, we won’t use tiny bags for favors that people will just throw away, when we could just use one reusable basket or just put them out on a table.
When thinking about our guestbook, we really wanted to think of something that we would get to appreciate for years to come. Personally, I like the idea of putting our engagement photos into a bound album and having guests sign it. I also like the idea of a photobooth with Polaroids that the guests can sign and add to a wishing tree or something. Enter Internet. There are SO many amazing alternatives to the traditional guestbook.
jennipuh is selling a bridal hair comb. She’s asking $50.
Have a wedding item for sale? Post it with pictures in the Weddingbee Classifieds, and you might see it featured on the blog!
Other great items for sale:
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A lot of bees are prolific DIY-ers. (Like…Poodle should probably have her own column in MSW.) I can hold my own with the crafts, but I’m better with words. SO, I’m going to try to post tips on creating non-material things for weddings.
First up, The Toast.
I know, I know. Most of you reading this are getting married yourselves and not giving a speech. However, I myself found the ’bee as a MOH looking for tips, so I wanted to pay it forward in case there are any others out there. Let me tell you, the “Wiki-how” entries are not exactly gold…”make it heartfelt, tell a joke.” Um, thanks.
I was too-nauseous-to-eat nervous about my MOH toast. At that point, I had only witnessed one other wedding toast. I have since seen many, many more—some laugh-out-loud, then dab-at-tears sweet and funny, and others…not so much. Here’s what I’ve learned:
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All photos courtesy of the amazing Angelica Glass, unless otherwise noted. Please note that the photos have only been color-corrected and not fully retouched.
Early on in our planning, we decided we wanted a photo booth but didn’t want to invest in a real photobooth. Lucky for us, our fantastic photographer, Angelica Glass, was able to set up a camera and the second shooter to capture photobooth-esque images. Thus, our faux-to booth was born! Our florist had set up tall and dramatic curtains to warm up a long hallway and we used that as a backdrop. We didn’t have the foresight to get props, but the results were pretty fun and candid!
Right before the photobooth was set up, I went upstairs to change into a traditional qipao that I had custom-made in Shanghai. We wanted to incorporate the gown in there somehow and share some of my culture with guests who were not at the tea ceremony. After I changed, Stacy, my wonderful hair stylist extraordinaire put my hair up in to a nice but dressy ponytail so I could dance and romp without worrying about messing up my hair.
The Brothers Canary and me in my qipao. The front has an gold embroidered phoenix motif.
And here are some our favorite photobooth images from the day:
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I’ve talked a little about what we’re thinking about Cinnamon Buns’s wedding ensemble, but I wanted to rewind a bit and talk about how we got there.
Soon after getting engaged, I started thinking about dresses, and Cinnamon Buns started thinking about suits. I asked him to start collecting pictures online, like I was, so I could see what he was thinking about. He started by sending me photos like this:
(source)
Maybe Tokyo isn’t my hometown, but it sure feels like it. Remember when I lived there? That was pretty weird. I’m actually homesick for Tokyo—the lights, the quirkiness, the energy. Japan has four seasons, and in the winter in Tokyo it gets so cold it snows just a bit. Tokyo is most beautiful during the cherry blossom season in late March through early April, or when the leaves change color during fall (known as “koyo“). Avoid summer as it is unbearably hot and humid, and September is the rainy season and prone to typhoons.
I apologize that this post is NOT about the TV show Family Ties.
I’ve mentioned before that my family is fairly drama-free. Well, that’s not the whole truth. The family members who are still in my life are drama-free. But there is a whole slew of family members to whom I haven’t spoken since I was 19.
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When we registered at Bed Bath and Beyond, they told us about their online tools. They host wedding websites, provide a budget, guest list manager, seating chart application, and a lot of other things.
Well, I’m one of those people who loves spreadsheets, but I love them so much that I have too many of them. I probably had three spreadsheets for our guest list alone in Google Docs until it was time to send our save the dates and get them organized. I actually ended up erasing them all and starting again. Figures.
Mr. B joking said to me, “You’re so organized, you’re unorganized!” Well, thanks. That’s no new news here. He’s right though, I am pretty unorganized, and as much as I appreciate all the tools out there that are supposed to help me get everything done, all that stuff is more harmful than helpful for a person like me.
When I got an email from our planner introducing us to the awesome wedding window organizer, I was so excited. This is it, I thought! I’ll finally get organized, ditch all my other spreadsheets and checklists, and just use this one. But, um, it didn’t quite go down like that. Now I have two of everything again.
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