Weddingbee

I’m SOOO excited! I finally got to see my sari and veil/dupatta! I can barely contain my excitement and want to show everyone. Sadly, Grandma and Momma Marg have banned me from showing anyone my outfits or jewelry before the wedding. Sigh. I guess something about “evil eye” and an element of surprise. So, here’s a little snapshot of my sari and my veil.

Mr. Marg don’t you dare peak! Even if it’s just a little taste, you are banned from viewing this!
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My makeup/hair people called me yesterday and cancelled my appointment for our Mendhi night. UGH! I was definitely upset/mad and had a little breakdown, but I’m back to normal now. It was after business hours by the time I found out, so I’m gonna have to try my best to find another hair/makeup person in a little over a week. Any suggestions for Orange County hair/makeup people would be greatly appreciated!

After receiving that bit of news, I realized that I’d never shown the hive what my potential hair styles are going to be. I’ve been collecting lots of pictures of different hairstyles over the past few months. I want an up-do for my first outfit (ivory colored bridal sari) and a half-up look for my second outfit (red and copper colored lengha). The problem there is that I don’t have a lot of time to change my hair and makeup, so I’m hoping that I can find a style that easily transitions from all up to half down without looking messy.

I gathered these images so long ago that I’m not sure where I got them. If you know the sources, please let me know and I will credit them!
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We are officially less than 2 weeks away from the wedding day! We’ve been planning this sucker since last March and we’re SO tired! Our wedding planning process has been filled with emotional highs and lows. If you told me a year ago that I’d be crying and angry about the cost of flowers and cake, I wouldn’t have been able to believe it. I can’t tell you how many times this year I’ve uttered the phrase “I just can’t wait until this is over.” Yup, I can be a drama queen.

Growing up you are led to believe that a wedding is all about the couple getting married. Realistically for South Asian brides (and for many other cultures I’m sure) weddings are about families joining together. Every person has an opinion about what you should do. Not only do you have to consider your parents’ opinions, you oftentimes have to think about grandparents, aunties & uncles (the real and fake), brothers, sisters, and cousins. On top of that, you have to make sure that you are respecting your culture and religion. For me, that involves respecting both Sri Lankan and Indian culture as well as the Buddhist and Hindu traditions. I’m not for a second complaining about our rich cultures and religions or our wonderful and well-meaning families. I love that our wedding encompasses so much history, life and love. We are who we are because of our families, our religions and our cultures, and our wedding wouldn’t be “us” without it. It is just truly overwhelming sometimes to try and consider all of it when you are planning a wedding. How can you fit so much and please so many in just a few hours on one day?
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I’m sorry I’ve been MIA lately—I’m in a last minute scramble for wedding stuff and I will have many things (programs, favors, escort cards) to share in the near future. In the meantime, I’ll give you some visuals of fantastical wedding cakes that make me hungry every time I see them.

Choosing our wedding cake was quite the process. My Mom used to bake/decorate cakes in Sri Lanka so she is obsessed with having an elaborate cake for the wedding. I think she’d make it herself if she wasn’t doing a zillion other things before the wedding. Our inspiration cakes were all elaborate and sari-like:

I have no idea where this image came from- let me know if it’s yours!

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I just flew back to LA tonight to work on our wedding, which is coming up in less than 30 days! It’s freaking me out a little bit, but some deep breathing, Coffee Bean and So Cal sunshine should help.

I am going on a site visit/inspection tomorrow with our wedding coordinator, the fabulous Mary Sushinski from Occasions To Remember and a team of our vendors (DJ, caterer, elephant person (ha), photographer, videographer, etc). With this appointment coming up, I realized that I never told the hive about our wedding venue.

Our hunt for a venue was long and full of struggles. A lot of options were crossed off our list right away because we had certain restrictions:

1.) Had to hold at least 350 people
2.) Allowed outside catering (Mr. Marg insisted on Indian food)

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Thanks to everyone who gave me some great ideas/advice for my heel dilemma. Yesterday I went online shopping and bought foot petals, insolias and superfeet. I figure one or maybe some crazy combination of them all will ease the pain. Now I am praying for mojo and hunting for a pair of flats, wedges or flip flops to wear if I can no longer move in my dream heels.

Flip Flops?

Casual Reefs in bronze or gold?

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I love shoes. Maybe a little too much. So when it came to my wedding shoes, I was in all out shoe mania mode. Especially since photographers take some fabulous pictures of your wedding shoes as seen in the shoe style posts regularly featured on The Bride’s Cafe.

I had dreams of Louboutins, Giuseppe Zanottis and Manolos. Then I found her. Prada Silk Cristal Pumps! Gold and silver! Crystal Encrusted Heel! Swoon.

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My love for photography started in my high school photo class and has been with me ever since. So naturally when we started planning for the wedding, I went on a mad hunt to find a photographer that blew me away. Turns out there are some seriously fabulous photographers in the LA area, but for some seriously expensive prices. A lot of my cost issues were because I needed a photographer for about 14-16 hours. Brown ceremonies are long and we like to party. Or maybe that’s just my family.

I felt like Goldilocks during my photographer search - they were too expensive, too posed, or too typical. There were also times when I liked their work, but it just didn’t feel right for some reason. Then I found Dina Douglass of Andrena Photo. Ahhh just right (for me anyway). Her work featured vibrant colors, great perspective and she was very familiar with South Asian culture. Dina even offers photography packages for South Asian brides that factor in the long hours. Not to mention the fact that she writes long, witty emails.

Her mad skills grace the latest Grace Ormonde Wedding Style. The photos are from a breathtaking wedding she shot in Udaipur, India a few months ago.

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I’ve shown the hive my bridal party floral ideas, so next up is the ceremony and centerpieces. These are some of the pictures I brought along with me when I went to visit/interview florists. Just a bit of advice - it helps immensely to bring inspiration pictures when you visit a florist. They will get a good idea of the look/theme/vibe you are going for, and if your vision is all over the place like mine was, at least they can tell you that and help you narrow things down.

Ceremony:
I want to keep the ceremony mostly white/ivory with touches of orange and bring in the rich plum color for the reception.

My vision is to line the aisle with large copper or dark wood bowls with dahlias in them.

From dreamy R. Jack Balthazar

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That title has nothing to do with anything, but that song is stuck in my head. Now I bet I’ve successfully gotten in stuck in your head too (muhahaha <— that’s my satisfied evil laugh).

Although this post has nothing to do with candy, it does involve sweet flowers. I was pretty floored when I first started looking at flowers. I had no idea you could do such innovative and beautiful things. I ogled at Preston Bailey and Daniel Ost, but then quickly came back to reality.

Daniel Ost is a genius

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