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Weddingbee Blog
I have a confession. I’ve been very influenced by Weddingbee. I’m normally not easily persuaded but there’s something about people’s posts here that intrigue me. For example (how embarassing), Mrs. Bee’s post about her DS Lite brought me out of my 6 year video game hiatus. Hello, my name is Miss Hibiscus and I used to be a video game addict. Now, because of Mrs. Bee, I begged for a DS Lite for my birthday in September and I’ve since then received and purchased eight games. I spend my nights and weekends playing Phoenix Wright Justice for All (apparently it’s not out in the US yet–it’s the Japanese version with an English mode), Super Mario Brothers, Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, Brain Age, Elite Beat Agents, Cooking Mama and Trace Memory.
What’s even more concerning is that after showing my friends my DS Lite, FIVE of them have purchased one as well. Someone I’ve never met before posts about something and next thing I know, me and several friends (age range from 25-30’s) are whining to our husbands and fiances for a portable video game system. What’s even more strange is that Mrs. Bee’s post wasn’t an advertisement. She was just excited and sharing a piece of her life. Maybe that’s exactly it. It’s knowing someone is really excited about something and through their “recommendation” they do not get any sort of commission. I hope the tone of this doesn’t sound like I’m upset. I’m actually very thankful. (Thanks Mrs. Bee! I love my DS Lite! haha)
About a month ago, one of my bridesmaids told me she couldn’t be in my wedding anymore. She and her husband are planning a big trip (2 months +) around the world after we finish school and my wedding falls right in the middle of it. They can’t change their trip dates (even though it’s not booked yet :-P).
Right after we graduate we won’t have our licenses for 2 months which means we can’t work, so it’s perfect timing for them financially. When she comes back from her trip, she’ll be able to work. There are other factors but that’s actually not the point of this post. At first I was beyond devastated. Not only is she saying she can’t be my bridesmaid, I had to cope with the obvious fact she would not be able to attend my wedding period. I actually cried for 10 minutes straight after she told me. I was feeling vunerable at the time. It was right after I found out my fiance was relocating for his job. Well, my wedding is eight months away and I really wanted 6 bridesmaids. I know it doesn’t have to be equal….but I like when the wedding party numbers all match up. (Just a preference.)
Boudoir pictures are all the rage nowadays. If you’ve never heard of them before, Boudoir photos (or For His Eyes Only photos) are probably the best gift you can give to your husband/fiance. Haha. They’re sexy photos of you, preferably taken by a professional photographer, and then given to your fiance privately around the wedding day.
Now, they’re not necessarily nude photos. In fact, most of the time they’re not. The illusion of being nude is more often provocative than actually seeing someone naked. You can dress up in whatever you feel most comfortable in, or whatever your fiance would like to see you in. For example, I’ve seen girls wear a jersey of their fiance’s favorite sports team. Most opt for tasteful lingerie and most girls don’t take pictures they wouldn’t be able to show their friends. People often use their own bedroom to shoot in, rent a hotel room, wake up early to shoot on the beach or shoot in their photographer’s studio.
I can imagine what a lot of girls are thinking (probably because I’ve thought it too). But you definitely don’t have to be uber thin or have a Victoria’s Secret body to do this. It’s your photographer’s job to accentuate your best features and downplay your….not so best features. 
Plus, even if you don’t think you’re sexy, your fiance thinks you’re perfect just the way you are.
Many of you might know Trista from her famous knot bio. She’s known as amerasianchic in the knottie world. What a lot of you might not know is she is an up and coming wedding photographer. She started shooting weddings this year and her work is worth so much more than she charges. She takes gorgeous pictures, includes digital negatives and online proofing in all her packages. If you opt for a package that includes it, she does an amazing internet slideshow for you so you can share your photos with your friends and family and her albums are awesome as well! Best of all, her packages for 2007 start at only $2100. Trista is based out of Orange County but is available for travel anywhere with just the added cost of flight, hotel and car rental.
As a special Weddingbee promotion she’s willing to offer $200 off any wedding package or you can apply that $200 towards any album of your choice. Just contact her at tristaleritphoto@yahoo.com and mention you heard of her through Weddingbee! Oh and if you’re already married, she does wonderful children’s photography as well, which you can check out on her blog.
More slideshows for your viewing pleasure:
Wedding Slideshow 1
Wedding Slideshow 2
Some photos that speak for themselves:
Featured on Weddingbee
Unique Wedding Favors
“Add a memorable touch to your wedding with unique favors that match your theme.”
My groom is a big sports fanatic. He’s from Northern California so his big teams are the San Francisco 49ers, the Oakland A’s and the Sacramento Kings. I think he would totally flip if he saw one of these garters from All Sports Weddings on the wedding night. I seriously think this would get him more excited than any lingerie (Well…not really but pretty darn close).
If you missed my previous post about my awful dilemma of what to call my in-laws, I’ll sum it up for you. Well… I didn’t know what to call my in-laws (hahaha). I would just avoid saying their names and look them in the eye when talking to them. I let this go on for almost six years! I felt weird calling them Mom and Dad, calling them by their first names made me uncomfortable and calling them Mr. and Mrs Hibiscus made them uncomfortable. It was quite an uncomfortable situation for everyone.
I couldn’t believe the number of responses I got to my dilemma. I didn’t know so many people were going through the same exact situation. I guess I just assumed I was the only one. They should really have a universal name for “in-laws.” Future Sis-in-law and I were going to come up with something and put a patent on it.
I don’t have a solution for everyone but I can say if you’re comfortable enough you should talk to your ILs about it. Bringing it up with my future MIL helped me a lot. We sat there together and tried to figure out something we were both comfortable with. It was funny and some good bonding time.
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
I’m not sure how many people this post is relevant to but I’ll give it a shot here because I wish someone had done this for me. A beach wedding “on the sand” in the OC can be really complex because all the different cities have different regulations. I’ll break it down as best I can.
Note: There are also several parks within the cities with ocean views that you can get married in. The permit costs are the same and most everything I’m going to state for the beaches applies to the parks. Also, if you have your reception at one of the many gorgeous hotels on the beach, they usually can host a wedding ceremony on the beach for you as well. I know there are a ton of beach view sites I’m not going to mention. I wanted this post to focus on getting married on the beach/on the sand. You can check out Here Comes the Guide for more beach view locations and more locations period if you’re getting married in California.
Newport Beach:
You don’t need a permit. You can just set up shop on the sand. Bad news is no chair. (Although, I have seen pictures of weddings with chairs on the sand in Newport Beach.) It is risky though. I suppose you can just say you didn’t know–and what kind of heartless person would stop a wedding?!? BUT, you never know. I don’t think I would take that kind of risk.
It’s quite common in this day and age for brides to stray from the classic black tux. Now brides are opting for alternatives - from suits in every color imaginable to even linen pants and a white button down shirt in destination weddings.
Since we’re getting married on the beach, I looked at every source of inspiration I could find. When I told my fiance I wasn’t fond of a black tux on on the beach, he was actually excited to wear a tan suit. His dream: a light tan Hugo Boss suit retailing at $800. I didn’t want to rain on his parade, but that is a whole lotta money to spend on the groom’s attire. It just isn’t in our budget. I did however find that Jim’s Formal Wear rents out tan suits specifically targeting the growing Destination Bride population.
No really. How involved are your parents/in-laws with your wedding planning? Or rather–how controlling/demanding are they? I have two friends who are both getting married around the same time as I am. Their parents are contributing a large chunk to the wedding costs but the couples are pitching in as well. Let’s just call it 60/40 for argument’s sake (with the parents contributing in a little bit more). Now, I’m not sure how parents are normally. Mine are actually being pretty darn cool (surprisingly). But both my friends are going through loops to plan their weddings.
One of the girls had her Mother hand her a guest list of 50 “FRIENDS” whom she wanted to invite to the wedding. Yes, friends. (I’m not sure if I know 50 people period-haha) The bride was expecting a total head count of roughly 100 people. Her Mom is very adamant about her “list”. Also, the bride and groom met and went to college in San Diego, CA. That’s where they want their wedding. Her Mom and Dad want the wedding in Fresno, CA (central California) where the bride is from. Look it up if you don’t know where it is. Let’s just say San Diego is a much–nicer choice. The groom’s family is also from southern California and so are all their friends. Furthermore, the bride’s Mom doesn’t want the groomsmen and groom to wear black because it’s the color of funerals. She questions every vendor the bride has chosen and rejected the bride’s choice of donation favors, saying they should give guests something to take home or they’ll look cheap.
My other friend is a simple girl who wants a simple A-line wedding dress. Her father wants her to look like princess. So, he went dress shopping with her and her mother and rejected my friend’s choices. Her parents also dislike her favor choices, reception dinner choices and pretty much want to up the cost of everything. This sounds great–except the bride and groom are paying a large portion as well so their cost goes up and it just really isn’t their style. She’s pretty much given up on what she wants because she’s tired of fighting with her parents and then later defending her parents when it comes to her fiance.
So, now I ask you readers the question I started off with. How involved are your parents/in-laws with wedding planning? Also, how much say should parents have if they are contributing a large sum to the wedding costs?
Finding a bridesmaid dress is extremely difficult for the Tiffany Blue/Aqua bride. I should know. I am one! Luckily for you, I’ve done all the research on this topic and have come up with a list of all the bridesmaid dress designers that carry this color… or something pretty darn close to it.
Aria Dress –color Aqua
Watters and Watters –color Tiffany
Jim Hjelm — color Turquoise
Lazaro –color Aqua
Kathlin Argiro –color Tiffany Blue
Mackenzie Michaels –color Tiffany
Jordan Fashions –color Aqua
Forever Bridals– color Aqua
Saeyoung Vu Couture –color Tiffany
Other collections have similar colors but I feel they are either too blue or too green. I suppose finding the exact shade of Tiffany blue is impossible considering the color is “Trademarked.” Although, these designers carry dresses that are pretty darn close. Hopefully Tiffany & Co. doesn’t freak out! haha Good luck dress shopping!
Unfortunately in undergrad, I was one of the lucky girls who fell victim to the freshman fifteen - the dreaded 15 pound weight gain many women experience their first year in college. The sad part is, this is one of the few things I excelled at in my academic career. I gained a total of 30 pounds in college. It was… noticeable to say the least.
I’m not exactly super model height here. At a whopping 5 foot 2 inches, that was a significant chunk of my body weight. I’m not saying I didn’t deserve it. My diet was horrible. I ate a box of macaroni and cheese for dinner (by myself), burgers and fries for lunch and I drank about 5 regular sodas a day. The rest of my diet consisted of platefuls of rice and breadsticks from various pizza chains. Behold, the evidence of this.. (I can’t believe I’m posting this!!)
Mrs. Bee posted earlier last week asking “How often do you have sex?” Now I want pry a little more into your bedroom and ask what form of birth control you use or plan on using after marriage. The reason why I’m curious is I know a disproportionate amount of “almost doctors” who aren’t on “the pill.” These are educated women who are using no form of contraception (I won’t go into details). So, since the ice has been broken on this topic, let’s take the polls.
My fiance just got hired for his dream job with the state of California. It combines the two things he loves most (besides me of course ;)) - politics and real estate. It’s an incredible opportunity for us - he gets retirement, full healthcare, a huge raise in salary and did I mention retirement?
The only problem is it’s in Sacramento (near his hometown. We were supposed to move there together after the wedding) and I’m stuck in Orange County until I finish school (which is in 200 days, 2 hours and 45 minutes away to be exact… not that I’m counting). Normally, it takes over a year to get a job with the state. Lucky me, it only took my super talented fiance 5 months. Now, I’m alone in the condo with the cats. I didn’t think I’d be alone with cats until I was at least in my 80’s.
The decision for him to move was very difficult for both of us.
Him: I can’t leave you alone here.
Me: It’s your dream. You have to take it.
Him: It’s only a job. It’s a cubicle and a paycheck. You’re my dream.
Me: 
(sob) It’s once in a lifetime. I’ll always be here.
Him: There will be other jobs. I can’t leave you and the cats. You’re my life.
Me: (sob) It’s what’s best for our little family. Please take the job. I’ll be fine. I promise.
Although I ended up paying for a wedding website, Wedding Announcer has many of the features of other wedding websites you have to pay an arm and a leg for. You get your own domain, (http://brideandgroom’snames.weddingannouncer.com/), it’s simple to use, you have several different layouts to choose from and did I mention it’s free? It’s the best “free” website I’ve seen as far as features and aesthetics. I’ve recommended it to my friends who are also getting married and they’ve been really happy.
You can:
Inform guests about your wedding events
Include background info on how you met
Display Your Gift Registry Information
Share accomodations, restaurants & attractions
Include maps & driving directions
Personal guest book
Share wedding day pictures with your guests
Sound too good to be true? Well, it’s the real deal! Check it out!
You know in the movies where the guy brings his fiance home to his Mom and Dad and the girl says, “Hello Mr. and Mrs. (so and so)!” And even though they’ve never met before, the groom’s parents respond with, “Don’t be silly!! Call us Mom and Dad!!!”
Although, I would find it a little awkward calling my future in-laws “Mom” and “Dad,” I was kind of hoping for the same offer. I think I would try to call them another form of Mom and Dad if they made that offer. But I’ve been with my fiance six years and no such luck. Don’t get me wrong - my in-laws are the best in-laws I could ever ask for. They treat me like I’m their daughter and I love them to death. They include me and pay for me in all their family vacations, buy me gifts for every holiday imaginable and never leave me out of private family conversations.
But, I don’t know what to call them now. In fact, I don’t really call them anything. I avoid it like crazy. I just look at them when I talk to them and never address them. They’ve asked me to call them by their first names but being Filipino, that’s considered rude in my culture. I really feel uncomfortable addressing them by their first names - I just wasn’t raised that way. My Mom would have a heart attack if she found out I called them by their first names. My cousin’s wife called my Aunt by her first name and the whole family talked about it for weeks. “She doesn’t respect her!” “She’s rude!” I tried to defend her saying that wasn’t her culture but no one would listen. Sigh. Calling them Mr. and Mrs. “Hibiscus” is weird too.
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Mrs. Hibiscus, Orange County Age and Occupation in 06: 25, Eyebal Doc Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Commerical Underwriter Engagement Date: September 26, 2004 Wedding Date: July 7, 2007 Venue: Laguna Beach on the beach, reception on a yacht in Newport Beach About Me: I'm an eyeball doc. Normal is boring. I'm a hat person and a cat person. I'm in love (so very very in love). I'm a dreamer. I want to change the world. Superheroes are my friends. Kindness is contagious. Music is in my heart. Carpe diem.
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