Flowers and Fabric and Petals, Oh My!
October 2nd, 2007 @ 6:13 pm by Mrs. Emerald
Oh, how I miss my wedding! How I wish it wasn’t over and just a beautiful memory in my mind… just kidding, I love being married! But all the same, I miss the whole process, all the minutia, the DIY, the excitement and the anticipation…
But let me recap one of my favorite aspects of our wedding, one which we dedicated a lot of thought, effort and uhmm, dough, to getting *just right.* The decor!
Flowers - Fleur Couture
Fleur was one of my favorite vendors, and I really, really enjoyed working with the owner, Kelly Marie. Her work is so amazingly fantabulous… and reasonably priced to boot (ok, she’s not “cheap” by any means, but relative to her competitors, she’s definitely reasonable). She was so patient with my numerous emails and did her best to answer my questions in a timely manner. We met 3 times over the course of 9 months, and I always knew I was in good hands. (FYI, I decided to be crazy and provided ALL my own glassware, candles, votives, lanterns, everything right down to the river rocks!!)
Maid Of Honor Toast
October 1st, 2007 @ 12:31 pm by Mrs. Emerald
by Sister Emerald
[My sister’s paper, How to be Maid of Honor for Your Big Sister’s Wedding was a big hit, so as promised, here is her toast! She actually chose to write a poem instead of a traditional speech, and she was still writing it the morning of the wedding!]
To write a speech for two people so dear
And have it sound perfect, so very sincere.
You’d think it’d be easy to jot down the lines
But I’ve begun over and over a number of times.
And now you sit here on your special night
Listening to this poem that still isn’t quite right.
Dear favorite big sister, yes, I only have one
You’re beautiful, loving, and lots of fun.
You’re kind, caring, and thoughtful, too
And everyday I become more thankful for you.
And Borton, I’ve enjoyed the times we hung out
There’ll be more times for watching basketball and movies, no doubt
Charlene and Borton, you mean a lot to me
And I love that we’re all family!
The POST-Registry
September 28th, 2007 @ 4:43 pm by Mrs. Emerald
We have just completed Week Two of married life, and it sure is blissful! I love knowing that we are a Team for LIFE!! 
Anywhoo, our major task over last weekend was tackling our wedding presents. Strangely enough, our guests bought the majority of the “miscellaneous” items off our registry such as vases, crystal, candle holders, etc., instead of the “practical” items such as our dishes, pots and pans, knives, bedding, etc. As much as we appreciated their generosity and wanted to keep all the fun and pretty stuff, we decided to return some of those items in exchange for the necessities. I really don’t want to sound ungrateful, ‘cuz that’s not it at all, but we were really trying to be practical.
First of all, here are 2 important things we found out about our Crate & Barrel and Macy’s registries:
Crate & Barrel - you only have TWO chances to redeem your 10% off completion coupon, (once in-store and once online) within 3 months post-wedding. Also, if there are any additional items that you want to get the discount on, you have to actually add them onto your registry (even if your wedding has passed).
How To Be Maid Of Honor For Your Big Sister’s Wedding
September 27th, 2007 @ 3:32 pm by Mrs. Emerald
by Sister Emerald
[My sister, who is a Junior in high school recently had to write a "How To" paper for English class, and this is what she wrote. I don’t think she meant to be intentionally funny, but seeing how she translated her experiences from my own wedding, I found the whole thing to be super cute and rather tongue in cheek! Yes, it’s super long, feel free to skim, I italicized the amusing bits! And yes, I did get permission to post this! 
]
A wedding is an unforgettable milestone in one’s life. Some dream about it well in advance and have a perfect vision of their wedding day. My sister is one of those people. Having recently been maid of honor for my sister, I find it fitting to lend a few pieces of advice in supreme hopes that they will prepare you for your sister’s big day.
Our Reception #2
September 26th, 2007 @ 7:01 pm by Mrs. Emerald
I know I haven’t really gotten into all the meaty, nitty gritty details of our wedding day yet, but I’m going to jump ahead with a brief overview of our Chinese Banquet the next day.
That Sunday morning, we had brunch at my parents house with most of my extended out-of-town family. It was rushed but fun, and we were still exhilarated (and pooped) from our wedding the night before. Then I frantically went to Zazu Salon in Hinsdale and had my hair done by TJ, having never even met the stylist, let alone having done a trial with her! But I just crossed my fingers and figured it would be fine. I was right, A+ for TJ! I decided to go with a “low, messy, bun” (my exact descriptor words to her) since I had my hair half up/half down for my Saturday wedding. Actually, my first reaction when TJ finished was, “Hrmm, I think this updo makes me look OLD.” But then I realized it worked very nicely with my traditional Chinese chi pao.
Not the greatest picture, but this was taken right after we arrived at his parents’ house.
Teary Eyed Surprise
September 24th, 2007 @ 7:12 pm by Mrs. Emerald
It was no surprise I cried multiple times during our wedding day. I cry at everything… sad books, sad tv shows, sad movies, sad commercials…even HAPPY books, tv shows, movies and commercials. 
So I was prepared to be a teary mess on our big day and just hoped that I wouldn’t have the “ugly cry” face in half my pictures (thank goodness for waterproof mascara and a professional makeup artist!). But Mr. E is a different story. He is one of those guys who NEVER. EVER. cries. So the months leading up to the wedding, I always said to him, “I really hope you cry when you see me walk down that aisle.”
And he would say, “Why would you want me to cry?! Sorry, it’s not going to happen.”
Ok, it’s not like I wanted him to bawl like a baby or anything. But I just hoped that it would be one of those amazing moments that moved him so deeply, he would just be overwhelmed with emotion. But I figured since we were seeing each other before the ceremony to take pictures, my walk down the aisle wouldn’t have that same *BAM* effect on him. How wrong we were! See evidence below, Mr. E wipes away some tears as my parents lift up my veil.
He’s Sucha Tease!
September 21st, 2007 @ 11:25 am by Mrs. Emerald
I mean our photographer… Dennis sent over some pictures for us to potentially use on our thank-you cards. These were from our brief portrait session right before the ceremony. I am absolutely ITCHING to see MORREEEE!!!
Recovering..
September 18th, 2007 @ 12:34 pm by Mrs. Emerald
Miss Emerald is alive and kicking, and unfortunately, already back at work!! These past 2 weeks went absolutely way too fast, and I’m still trying to live on our wedding-day high. The weather was spectacular and everything went without a hitch. I have never shed so many happy tears, and Mr. E shed some too!!
I have tons of blogging to catch up on, but I’m still waiting for friends to upload more pictures to our site. Until I have more time, I leave you with a few candids from our best day ever!
What’s On The Menu?
August 28th, 2007 @ 3:30 pm by Mrs. Emerald
After many technical difficulties, I can finally post my menu designs!! I wanted to design something a little different than what’s normally been done for menu cards, so I decided to have them printed by the same online company that printed my invitations, OvernightPrints. This may sound a bit strange, considering that they are actually a commercial printing company (postcards. letterheads, envelopes, brochures, etc), but they will print whatever artwork you send them so long as it fits their size requirements. After receiving a sample of their postcards last winter, I knew this was how I wanted my invitations printed. Their 5.5″ x 8.5″ postcards are of AMAZING quality, with super thick, glossy, premium stock… no flimsy postcards here!!
Anywhoo, I planned to design the menus in Adobe Illustrator, save them as a PDF file, upload them on their website, and send them off to print! Was it that easy?! Of course not… for some reason, my files were HUGE (100 megs for the front and 150 megs for the back side), and OvernightPrints has a file maximum of 20 megs. Uhmmm, crap… I won’t bore you with all the snoringly exciting details of my trials and tribulations, but let me just say that I ended up sending OP a lower-res jpeg in order to fit their size requirements, and was NOT happy with the print quality. I contacted Customer Service and we worked out a re-print at 50% off, and I sent them my original 100+ meg files which they were able to reduce down to size for me. The final result was picture perfect!!
I’m A Sucker For Sissy Cocktails
August 24th, 2007 @ 5:23 pm by Mrs. Emerald
After mulling over the zillion drink options, I finally decided on our specialty cocktails! This could only mean… design time! I needed to come up with a drink menu to be displayed on the two bars. This time, I decided to K.I.S.S. (keep it simple, stupid), and went straight to Microsoft Word instead of messing with Illustrator.
Voila!
Mrs. Emerald, Chicago
Age and Occupation: 26, Hospitality Administration
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Paralegal
Engagement Date: October 8, 2006
Wedding Date: September 2007
Blogging Since: November 29, 2006
Venue: Hyatt Lodge, Oak Brook IL
About Me: I have been dreaming about my wedding forever, and flipping through bridal magazines since high school, so I am in my element! I am calling our theme "Vintage Inspired French/Asian Fusion." Mr. Emerald is very involved in the planning process, but of course he generally defers to me cuz I have a strong opinion of how I want everything to be :-).
