Weddingbee Blog

After our centerpiece mockup at Commerce Flowers, Mr. Jasmine and I rounded out our exhausting day with our tasting at the InterContinental Hotel. This was probably the appointment I was most nervous about because I had no idea what to expect. We never tried the food before we booked the venue and I was worried that we wouldn’t like it. Fortunately, the food was out of this world and the tasting went better than we could have imagined.

When initially thinking about the kind of food I wanted for the wedding, I gravitated towards an Indian buffet which is standard South Asian wedding fare. It definitely has its advantages– who doesn’t love comforting Indian food? But I decided I wanted a menu that was different and unique, but still paid homage to our culture and background. My coordinator Angel (whose name truly befits her) came up with some really amazing Indian-American fusion menu ideas and presented them to our chef. We were able to work with the chef to create a contemporary, delicious menu that honors our background and still introduces our guests to something new.
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After obtaining our marriage license (and stopping off for some fun shopping at the Beverly Center), Mr. Jasmine and I went to Commerce Flowers for our centerpiece mockup. I first heard about Commerce Flowers online– they have fabulous reviews on the Knot and Project Wedding. When my wonderful coordinator Angel Swanson told me she loved their work too, I was sold.

Eddie, the floral designer we’re working with at Commerce Flowers, has to be one of our nicest vendors. He has such a chilled-out attitude that you can’t help but feel relaxed and happy when you’re working with him. We spent an afternoon in his wonderful shop, ogling our centerpiece and the other amazing creations he was preparing for a wedding that weekend.

Our wedding colors are deep burgundy and shades of dark pink like magenta and fuschia. It’s sort of an unusual color combination and I wasn’t sure how to properly express it in a floral palette that was rich, luxurious, and feminine. And it didn’t help that I know absolutely nothing about flowers. But here is the stunning centerpiece that Eddie created for us:
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Mr. Jasmine and I are back from our mini-vacation to sunny Los Angeles– and yes, we can’t believe we missed an earthquake in IL while we were in CA. We had such a wonderful trip. Not only did we complete everything on our to-do list, but we also had a great time hanging out with family and friends. It was really rejuvenating to get some sunshine and spend time with loved ones.

On our first full day in Los Angeles, Mr. Jasmine and I set out to get our marriage license. The day before, I filled out the marriage license application online. Thank you to everyone who advised me to keep the “date of marriage” blank– I was so confused as to why it wouldn’t let me proceed unless our wedding date was 15 days away! We drove to the Beverly Hills Municipal Courthouse, which is a fantastic place to get your license. Not only was it virtually empty when we showed up, but the staff was friendly and efficient. We were out the door in less than ten minutes!

As you can see, we were very excited to have our license!

Next up: our centerpiece mockup!

Mr. Jasmine and I are heading to Los Angeles tomorrow for our “Whirlwind Wedding Prep Weekend”. It’s more like an extra-long weekend since we’ll be there Wednesday night through Sunday, but we have a lot to accomplish. Among the tasks we intend to cross off our “To-Do List” while in LA:

(1) Attend our tasting at the InterContinental Hotel: I’m a little nervous. What if we hate the food? It’s too late to do anything about it. I’m hoping everything turns out well and that we enjoy the dinner. We’ll be accompanied by our lovely coordinator Angel Swanson of Events of Love and Splendor. Angel will be doing a walk-through with us as it will probably be our last time at the venue until the big day.

(2) Get our marriage license: Ahhh!!! This is definitely the most exciting part of our weekend because it means the wedding is almost here (or at least within the next 90 days).

(3) Meet with our officiant: Mr. Jasmine and I will be married by Sheikh Yassir Fazaga. We first read about Sheikh Fazaga in a New York Times article last year and I also heard him on KROQ’s “Ask a Muslim” segment. I can’t wait to get to know him better and plan our ceremony.
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When I was sixteen, nothing made me feel more chic than spritzing my wrist with Estee Lauder’s Pleasures. The sweet, innocent scent became my trademark high school scent and a mere whiff transports me to winter formals, college applications, and driving around in my red Maxima.
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Joanna Schmidt of the fabulous Product Body (I blogged about their amazing Crush on You scrub last week) is offering a great coupon code especially for Weddingbee readers:

15% off with the code: wedding bee

Have fun and tell us what you buy! I’m going to stock up on Crush on You!

image courtesy of product body

Scrub, scrub, scrub. Who knew that scrubbing one’s skin practically raw could feel so good? Recently I waxed poetic about Laura Mercier’s divine Creme Brulee scrub, but lamented the painful cost. Well today’s your lucky day– I found a cheaper, and dare I say better, alternative!

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Last weekend Mr. Jasmine and I traveled to Michigan for our first dholki. A dholki is a pre-wedding celebration with dancing, music, and food. Most engaged couples will attend several dholkis in their honor before the wedding day — this was the first of three for us!

When we first arrived at the hotel, we were led to the ballroom where numerous members of Mr. Jasmine’s community were anxiously awaiting our arrival. We were led to a stage where the hosts of the dholki fed us delicious sweets (for a sweet marriage) and rubbed lotion on our hands and face (I don’t actually know the meaning behind that, but we’re well moisturized!).

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Today marks one year since Mr. Jasmine and I were engaged! Technically we had two engagements: a private one in Millenium Park and an engagement ceremony with family two weeks later. We consider the family one our “official” engagement. I can’t believe it’s already been one year– it’s really flown by! And in just a couple short months, I’ll be Mrs. Jasmine! So exciting

We plan to celebrate by revisiting the location of our private engagement: a walk through Millenium Park followed by dinner at Bandera. For those of you who were engaged over a year: did you celebrate your engagementversary?

What does the hive think of this idea?
This gorgeous white lantern set out with beautiful slips of lacy-edged gold and cream paper. An antique gold frame sits beside it directing guests to pen loving thoughts and wishes for Mr. and Mrs. Jasmine and leave them inside the vase. Later, I could scrapbook the slips of paper into a Kolo album and display the lantern in our apartment. Yay or nay?

image courtesy of room service home

I love a good wedding toast. I’m sensitive, super sentimental and schmaltzy, so wedding toasts always manage to plug my weak little heartstrings. So, as you can imagine, I’ve been anticipating the tears and laughter that might accompany our own wedding toasts for some time.
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One lazy Sunday afternoon, I sat in a cafe in Lincoln Park with a few recently married girlfriends. The topic of conversation turned to wedding stress and they all agreed that the few months prior to the wedding were ridiculously stressful. So stressful, in fact, that they could barely eat. All three women concluded that the overwhelming stress + loss of appetite made them very skinny on their wedding day and that I could expect the same. I smiled sweetly, but I knew better.
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“So, how’s wedding planning going?”

“Have you sent me the guest list/called the officiant/ordered the invitations?”

“Do you think John’s coming to your wedding? He is so cute– is he still single?”

“Have you called the photographer/sent photos to the florist/booked the suite?”

“Sooooo….how’s wedding planning going?”

Yadda, yadda, yadda. Is anyone else tired of talking about their wedding? I know it’s probably near blasphemous to admit this on the wedding blog, so don’t worry– I still have lots and lots of wedding talk left!
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Late last year, I blogged about my disappointing shoe-shopping experience at Neiman Marcus and failed attempts to locate a particular pair of gold Manolo Blahniks. I finally decided to give up on those shoes and I found a new pair I love just as much. It was meant to be!

Please meet my new crush, Stuart Weitzman’s “Submit”. Hellllo lover!

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“Do you need help with wedding stuff?”, asks a well-meaning, generous friend over the phone.”Oh no, that’s okay. I have it all under control!”, I reply chirpily, secretly sobbing amid an overwhelming pile of Paper Source bits and glitter. I reach for some gold vellum scraps to dry my tears.

Sound familiar? One of the most difficult parts of the wedding planning process has been learning to delegate. I’m a little bit of a control freak, “if I don’t do it, it won’t be right” kind of girl, so it’s been difficult to let go and let others help me. Add to it the guilt of asking friends to devote their precious free time and energy to my wedding tasks and I’d become anti-delegating altogether.

But I’ve realized that juggling a demanding full-time job with wedding planning is no easy feat and there’s no shame in letting friends, family, and wedding professionals help me out. I’m also learning not to micromanage and to trust those helping me. And if the projects don’t turn out the way I want, oh well. No lives lost!
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