Weddingbee Blog

Thanks to endless reruns of Law & Order: SVU, I have a date with Detective Olivia Benson every day of the week. I have a huge girl crush on actress Mariska Hargitay, the talented actress who plays Detective Benson. She just seems so charming, down-to-earth, and all-around adorable. Her soigne 2004 nuptials to actor Peter Hermann is my favorite celebrity wedding of all-time. Here are some photographs of the lovely day:

Mariska walking down the aisle with her father, bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay.
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Some of my fondest memories growing up are those of my relatives’ nuptials. When I was four, I was the flower girl in my uncle’s wedding. I performed my role beautifully until I got to the end of the aisle and refused to let go of my uncle’s leg. My mom eventually had to wrestle me away — ahh the beginnings of co-dependence
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For my beloved bee readers, here’s a sneak peak of my wedding outfit!

I wish I could show you more, but Mama Jasmine says no way– she’s a big believer in the big reveal

On a completely spontaneous trip to Saks last week (I had a doctor’s appointment and it was on the way and I had a few minutes to kill– you know how that goes!), I decided to pick up a few beauty items and take advantage of their Beauty Event Giveaway. After buying some wedding essentials (isn’t good mascara essential?), I was treated to a lovely terrycloth traincase filled with samples and a Laura Mercier giftbag.One of the samples was Laura Mercier’s Creme Brulee Sugar Scrub.
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Earlier this year, I posted about my desire to have a Bollywood dance performance at our wedding. I thought it would be the perfect way to introduce our friends to Indian culture and get the crowd in a festive, party spirit.

I’m happy to report that I found the perfect team: UC Irvine’s Sitaare! Sitaare is UC Irvine’s film dance team– they choreograph and perform dances set to popular Bollywood movie songs. Here is their latest performance from a national film dance competition, where they placed first in Hindi film dance:

(you can fast forward past the videotaped introduction: the dancing starts at 2:00)
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I’ve mentioned before that my obsession with paper has only grown ten-fold since the moment that ring slid on my finger. My tiny studio apartment is exploding with paper samples and I absolutely love sifting through the different colors and designs. Especially since I have a new paper project I’m about to begin!

I can’t afford to have my talented invitation designer Saima Khan create our ceremony and reception stationery as well (although I can only imagine how beautiful it would have been). So I decided to muster all my creative and crafy sensibilities (however few I have) and make the programs and menus myself!

Even though I’m creating my own stationery, I want it to have the same look and feel as my save the cards and invitations (to be unveiled shortly!). Fortunately, I was able to locate the exact paper Saima used for our save the date cards and our invitation envelopes: Eames India Pink paper. This paper is a perfectly vibrant shade of fuschia with a wonderfully luxurious woven feel. I also found the Curious Metallic Gold Cardstock that she used for our directions/accommodations card. I’m going to use these two papers along with some heavy ivory paper to create our ceremony programs and menus.

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Aloha my beloved bees! I’m sorry that I’ve been out of the loop lately. Work has been extremely busy. Has anyone else felt that the closer they got to their wedding, the busier work seems to get? Feels like a conspiracy to me!

Anyway, things are on the up and up since Mr. Jasmine and I just booked our honeymoon! We will be spending two sublime weeks of beach, sun, and sand in… Hawaii! I’ve never been to Hawaii, so I’m extremely excited to explore as much as I can (yes, I’m way too hyper to schedule in much relaxation time).

Our first stop will be Kauai where Mr. Jasmine’s parents have generously offered us a stay at their timeshare.
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I can’t believe how quickly the months are passing by! When I first got engaged, it felt like time was moving in slow-motion. It felt like our wedding was never going to happen. Now it’s mid February and our wedding is just a few months away. We have a really amazing summer ahead of us and it’s approaching at warp-speed. I’m so excited for what will be a few months of travel, romance, and quality time with family and friends.

First we have our mehndi the night before our wedding, which will be held at my parents’ home in Los Angeles. The mehndi is a pre-wedding celebration with food, music, and henna. We’ll probably have some fun games and it will be a great opportunity for the families to mix and mingle before the nuptials.

The next day, we’re getting married– yay!!! The next morning, we head off to Santa Barbara for our minimoon. I’m looking forward to a couple days of rest and relaxation. We’ll be in Santa Barbara for a few days before returning to Los Angeles to visit my parents. It’s traditional for the groom to take the bride back to her parents’ house a few days after the wedding so she can see them.

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Part One
Part Two

 
No one ever told me that registering would be such a major pain! I feel awful complaining about a process that is meant solely to yield us gifts, but it’s a lot of work. You have to make sure that not only are you registering for everything you need (which for us, is a ton of stuff), but you also have to keep the convenience and comfort of your guests at heart. Our family and friends are incredibly important to us and we’re so honored to have them at our wedding. So we wanted to make sure that our registry as as easy as possible for them. After realizing that our Bloomingdales registry wouldn’t be the most convenient for our guests, we decided to register at Macy’s as well. Read more…

Chicago ladies– we’re in luck. There are two upcoming bridal events, both of which sound so fun. I plan on going to both and I hope to see some of you there!

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“Is it bad?”, I asked, looking fearfully into his deep brown eyes.He grabbed my hands and nodded regretfully. “I’m afraid so.” I took a deep breath and wondered aloud if there was any cure, any way to rid myself of ORS, which I’d been plagued with all my life.

Mr. Jasmine smiled warmly and put his hands around my face. “Luckily, there is a cure……calm the eff down!” I burst out laughing and realized right away that I had to put a stop to my ORS, which I call Over-Researching Syndrome.

Yes bees, I have to confess that I’m an over-researcher. Google and I are soul mates. Yelp, Epinions, Cnet and Consumer Reports are my best friends. Every day, I lovingly put them to the test: Yelp, find me the best red velvet cupcakes in Lincoln Park! Google, find me the best hair salon near the UCLA campus. Cnet, find me the best laser printer under $300 (a thankless task that I’m still undertaking). I research everything, from what I might want to have for lunch that day, what stockings are most likely to run, whether that new movie out is really worth my $8.

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Part One

On Sunday, Mr. Jasmine and I set off on the second leg of our registry adventure: Crate & Barrel. We were originally set to go to Williams-Sonoma next, but that’s postponed until later (i.e. after Super Bowl Sunday).

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In my previous post about our wedding slideshow, I mentioned that we were still trying to figure out the song to play during the photos of Mr. Jasmine from childhood to present.

Well, we found it!

Ryan Adam’s "Gonna Make You Love Me", from the latest Cingular commercial and Sweet Home Alabama (yes, we aren’t terribly original people). We both love the song and I think it fits so well with our other two choices, KT Tunstall’s "Suddenly I See" and Queen’s "You’re My Best Friend". It amuses me to no end that our uber-Indian wedding will feature a slideshow set to a guitar-heavy, folksy, rocking soundtrack

Yay for wedding decision-making. What decisions have you made lately?

I don’t have bridesmaids or a maid of honor, but I was lucky enough that a close friend of mine from law school stepped up to plan my bachelorette party in Chicago. I can imagine how complicated it is to coordinate something like this, so I was really touched by her interest and initiative. I’m so excited for what promises to be a great weekend among close friends.

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Of all the fun little touches I’ve seen at the weddings I’ve attended, one of my favorites is personalized table names. I don’t know why I get such a kick out of it, but it’s a sweet, fun opportunity for the bride and groom to get creative and showcase their personality.

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