Weddingbee Blog

I admit that I cared a lot about certain details, but others, not so much. Our wedding cake was one of the details that I didn’t care much about. Our venue, The Venetian, includes a wedding cake in the cost of everything so we were happy with that. We really didn’t have a budget to get anything nicer, and I didn’t mind too much, although I admit that I’ve drooled more than once over pictures of colorful fondant cakes with silk ribbons. Besides, I was surprising Mr. Martini with a groom’s cake of a snowboard boot, which I was hoping would more than make up for it.

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I knew that I wanted to include the Paebaek Ceremony in our wedding, and I was pretty much all set with a phone number I got from Mrs. Bee for her Paebaek folks, Rose Handicraft. I also knew a handful of friends who have used them and were happy with them. But my mom suggested I use an acquaintance of hers that owned a Paebaek business instead because she promised us a really good deal. I didn’t see any reason not to go with her, so I agreed.

Big mistake!

She never really gave us a discount. It would’ve cost the same, if not more than the Paebaek vendor that I wanted to use. And in my opinion, I thought Rose Handicraft had a better display. Also, the lady dressed me quickly and abrasively, as if we were in some kind of rush. She also jammed the headpiece through my hair, which really angered me. She even forgot to place the red stickers on my cheeks. I didn’t even realize it until the ceremony was half over because we were so rushed! But there really was no reason to rush - we did our Paebaek ceremony during cocktail hour, which we extended 15 minutes to make sure we had plenty of time to change in and out of our clothes and take our time to enjoy the ceremony. I never even got any shots of us getting ready for the ceremony, which was something I really wanted.
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Oh my gosh, I can’t believe how long it has been since my last post! Time flies way too fast. Over the past few months, we’ve had some good news, and bad news, and back to good news again. We heard news that my dad, who was battling neck cancer during our engagement and was still receiving chemo treatments on the day of our wedding, has received the green light from the doctor that there was no longer any sign of cancer. Just a few weeks later however, he was informed that his colon cancer (that he battled 10 years ago) had come back. To make a long story short, there was more stress and worry, but after a five hour surgery, he is now back home and recovering. I swear, my dad must have nine lives. We truly had a lot to be thankful for this year.

Mr. Martini and I were sitting around talking about our wonderful marriage so far, and how fast the year has gone by since our wedding in March, and all the good and bad things that have happened to our family and friends, and the hilarious things that happened at our wedding… and I suddenly realized that I never completed my recaps. So here I am back again, with pictures!

Below are some pictures of our ceremony:

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After our first moment, Cly Creation started us on our portraits. Let me just tell you - our photographers were able to capture such amazing pictures despite the lack of scenery. They really knew how to work with what they had! Our wedding was held in March, before spring was in full effect, and our venue was located in Garfield, NJ - which isn’t really known for compelling landscapes. Our venue was gorgeous and absolutely perfect, but since the trees were bare and there wasn’t much outdoor space, we were pretty limited. I assumed that we would stay indoors for our portraits, so I was a little surprised when we were ushered outside. The result? awesome pictures with Mr. Martini and the friends that are dearest to us. All pictures below were taken by Cly Creation, unless otherwise noted.

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To be honest, I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be. Mr Martini and I had already seen each other when I first got to the venue, so there weren’t any surprises or anything. But he had no idea what my dress looked like, so I was a little nervous and feeling self conscious about whether he would like the way I looked. Whenever I look at these pictures, I think about that long walk down the staircase, repeating to myself over and over again, ‘Don’t fall. Please don’t fall. Please don’t fall…,’ and the tension I felt as I was about to see my future husband all dappered up.

*All pictures below were captured by our wonderful photographers, Cly Creation*

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Some of you may have read Mrs. Bee’s post about the craziest vendor response ever. It was totally nuts indeed, but my post isn’t to talk about crazy customer service emails. I thought it would be fun to explain why we needed the punch in the first place.

My friend C needed help with making her escort cards. She had a great idea but she needed a few hands to pull it off. About four of us agreed to help out on a specific day. When weeks passed and the stamp was nowhere in site, C panicked at the thought that she was going to have four helpers at her apartment with nothing much to help with. The stamp was a huge part of the escort cards and with the wedding date so close, it would have been difficult to reschedule another meet up.

In the end everything worked out great, even though it wasn’t exactly what we were looking to achieve.

The original stamp C had ordered was this one:

[source]

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Ahh, the details. I hated planning the big things about the wedding, but when it came to bathroom baskets and scrapbooks and pretty menus, I wanted as many personal details as possible. Unfortunately, I really didn’t have the time (or the money) to do everything I wanted to do, but I was happy with the few things that we were able to fit in. Here are some of the details that Cly Creation captured for us. I was really excited when I saw these pictures, because to tell you the truth, I never asked them to pay attention to the details.

(all pictures taken by Cly Creation unless otherwise noted)

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After we all got our makeup done, we headed straight to our venue, The Venetian.

Mr. Martini and I decided to have our rehearsal on the day of the wedding because of scheduling conflicts with our parents and the fact that two of our groomsmen were from out of state. So, we felt this would be the most convenient for everyone. When I got there with my BMs, Mr. Martini ran up to me, gave me a quick kiss, and calmly told me that there was a minor issue with one of the groomsmen. Apparently, he was nowhere to be found! Everyone left countless messages on his cell phone, and because he was probably one of the most responsible out of the six groomsmen, they were convinced that he was dead in a gutter somewhere and were very worried for him.

Anyone familiar with How I Met Your Mother might remember the Miracles episode at the end of season three. Ladies and gentleman, the following story is a true miracle.

Miracle number 1: Mr. M. called one of his friends who lived nearby to ask him to stop by groomsman P’s apartment to check up on him. He managed to get in touch with a group of friends that were carpooling and had already left for the wedding. But, just a little while before Mr. Martini called them, one of them realized that he forgot his shoes and the car was already turned around and heading back home. What are the chances of that?
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March 22, 2009. I didn’t even check the weather once during the last few weeks of planning. I hardly check the weather on a regular basis, so why start now? I figured that nothing would change whether or not it rained. I would still wear the same dress, and the same shoes. The wedding would still go on, and they would serve the same food. I was very lucky though, because it ended up being such an amazing, gorgeous day.

The night before, I stayed at the hotel with one of my BMs. This BM is usually the logical one out of the group and rarely shows emotion, compared to me, who tends to overflow with too much emotion. She wrote me a very long and humbling card, which brought me to tears as I read it. We sat together hugging and crying. I think that is when it really hit me: I was really getting married! It was really happening!

Early the next morning all the ladies were to meet at Makeup Blush, located in Edgewater NJ, to get our makeup done. We decided to stay on location instead of having them travel to meet us at the hotel, simply because we thought it would be more convenient that way. They had chairs, mirrors, and all the tools needed to beautify us, and the location was just 20 minutes from the venue. I felt that it would probably do more harm then good to have Blush make over nine ladies in a cramped hotel room.

Jiyee starting on my makeup. As soon as she saw me when I walked in, she exclaimed, “Oh no, you cried last night didn’t you??” Apparently, my eyes were super puffy. 

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Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry for such a long hiatus! Rather than make excuses for my laziness, I will just say that I’m back in full blogging force. I finally received our wedding pictures from our photographers, Cly Creation, and all the pictures are just absolutely amazing. I’ll definitely post them soon, and I can’t wait to share them!

But first I wanted to finish up the post I’ve been meaning to finish - here are a few more last minute things that kept me busy just days before our wedding:

1. Petal Cones

I know that I wanted petal cones for our ceremony, but it was tough trying to figure out how, because the chairs in the ceremony room had rounded backs. It was something that bothered me at first because there would be no way to hang the petal cones on the chairs like this:

[source]

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“Last minute details” for any normal person probably refers to the little things that you were able to find time to do before the wedding, after all the important stuff was done with.

“Last minute details” for me included menus, place cards, programs, BRIDAL GIFTS, petal cones… oh my god… the list just went on and on. On top of all that, Mr. M and I wanted to host a low-key dinner at our apartment for our BMs and GMs, since we decided against having an official rehearsal dinner. We felt this was much more comfortable and laid back for us and our friends, and still a nice way to thank them for everything they’ve done for us throughout our engagement. Two days before the wedding, I was scrambling to finish everything I needed to finish, while Mr. Martini prepared dinner for 14 people. Needless to say, I really wasn’t expecting to get any sleep until the wedding day.

Since my BMs were about three hours away from coming over, I decided to start assembling their gifts first. A large part of their gift was that I would be paying for their hair and makeup for the wedding. But I still wanted to get them a little something for when they came over. Who knew this “little something” would stress me out? Let me just tell you that I’m horrible with gifts. I’d have much rather had them tell me what they wanted. I almost went the “get them what they need” route, because I didn’t want to buy them something totally wedding related and useless that they would end up throwing away not long after the wedding. But after speaking to a few people, including a couple of my BMs, I was vetoed. Apparently, BMs don’t want gifts that they NEED. So how would I get them something that they didn’t need but could still use? I’d been “collecting” random items for several weeks, but I hadn’t actually sat down to assemble everything until then.

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A few weeks before the wedding, my BMs took over Mr. M’s apartment to make it look as anti-male as humanly possible. Again, I was humbled by the BMs that took so much time to prepare for the shower, and also by the friends that came all the way to Astoria just for me. I really couldn’t have asked for more!

To be honest, I was a little bit nervous about the bridal shower, because although the bachelorette party was very intimate with friends only, the shower included my SIL and MIL! Although I love them dearly and I’m very comfortable with them, it was the first time that they would be in the same room with my friends. But my worries were not needed, because everyone had a fabulous time, and it was just the best shower ever. Of course, the glass of wine I had very early in the afternoon helped calm my nerves, as well.

(Most pictures courtesy of Mrs. Bee)

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It has been so long since my last update! I know I promised recaps, but I’ve been so busy lately. Mr. Martini and I agreed to stay at our current apartment for about 4-6 months so that we could take the time to get rid of some things and eventually move to a smaller place, but just a couple of weeks ago we found an awesome apartment and decided to take the plunge and move now. So, just shortly after unpacking my things, we’re suddenly re-packing everything for our move this coming weekend.

Because the last couple of months of wedding planning was so hectic, and because we haven’t gotten our professional photos from our photographers yet, I did want to catch up and post about a few things that happened before the wedding date in the meantime—especially the bridal shower and bachelorette party.

I truly have the most amazing friends.

That deserved its own line.

I never wanted a bachelorette party. I never wanted a shower. I hate being the center of attention, and I didn’t want to inconvenience anyone. But my MOHs refused to give me that option, so I wanted to make it as painless as possible, with minimal cost. I would’ve been happy with just a low-key dinner with close friends, or maybe even a slumber party with lots of alcohol.
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Hi everyone!

Wow, I can’t believe it’s been over a week since Mr. M and I got married! I’m actually a MRS! I know this may sound cheesy, but to us, the wedding was perfect. Our friends and family had a great time, and that was really all we ever wanted. I must have been floating on a super high cloud or something, because it seemed as if nothing could bother me on that day. Even when Mr. Martini broke the news to me about how he couldn’t find a missing groomsman for hours before finally discovering that he’d just overslept, I shrugged my shoulders. When the Maitre d’ came up to me holding one of the menus that we slaved over to tell me that one of the menu items was wrong, my response was, “Eh, nobody’s going to notice - it’s fine!”

There were so many memorable moments, and I’m happy to say that most were caught on camera! I’ll be sure to post some of the crazier pictures soon for the recaps. We’re talking crowd surfing and human pyramids!!

I did get to see a short teaser slide show of pictures from our awesome photographers, Cly Creation. I am so incredibly happy with them, and I seriously can’t wait to see and share the rest!

After the wedding, I was wiped out. I had been going on four hours of sleep a night, and I was super stressed. I didn’t get the chance to write about this before, but Mr. Martini and I also made the tough decision to postpone our honeymoon until the fall. With the economy the way it was, and our job security on thin ice, we thought it was the right thing to do. When I mentioned this to Mr. and Mrs. Bee, the first thing they said was, “You should still go on a minimoon!”

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I always knew I wanted to incorporate as much snowboarding into our wedding as possible. Snowboarding is the one great passion that Mr. Martini and I share, and it seemed like the perfect way to personalize our wedding. I always knew I wanted to name our tables after trails at Stratton Mountain in Vermont, which is the place we call our “home mountain”. We had a season pass last year and went, literally, every other weekend.

The issue was, I wasn’t sure how to display the names. My original thought was to take a picture in front of the signs and place them on each table. But there was a problem - the signs aren’t always standalone, and are actually grouped together, like this:

Then I thought maybe I’d take a close up picture of the sign, and display that. But I just didn’t think it would look nice. I was pretty stumped, until BM E suddenly suggested, “Why don’t we just MAKE the signs?”
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