Weddingbee

Hi everyone!

I gotta admit I haven’t been keeping up here as well as I’d thought I would — but that’s only ’cause I’ve been having so much fun hanging out with my new husband. It’s already been two months, and yet I feel like the wedding was only yesterday. I’ll have to share about our recent, second mini-honeymoon later this week after I upload all of my photos, but for now… here’s a little new something for all of you wanna-be scrapbookers who just don’t have the time (especially while planning your wedding ): Mixbook!

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I wasn’t planning for my first entry back into the hive after a mini-hiatus to be such a heavy sort of one, but, in the hopes of helping someone out there… here’s the Plumeria budget. I’ve also tried to link to most of the vendors I used throughout this breakdown — but if you’re interested in more information on anything, feel free to email me!

City: Berkeley, CA
Budget: $35,000
# of Guests: 400+

Ceremony Site Fees: $1,475. Yes, the church was an expensive one to get married at, but it was beautiful, and once we saw the lighting and colors inside it there was no going anywhere else. (Email me for name and contact info.)

Reception Site Fees: $0

Caterer/Food/Drink (per person if available): $20K — about $50 a head for ~400 people at the DoubleTree Hotel, Berkeley Marina. We had the entire Islands ballroom for our reception.

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Since we were heading to Disneyworld after Yosemite, our stay there was a relatively short one. Our third day at Yosemite was our last, but we made the best of it. On our way out of the park in the afternoon, we first went to Bridalveil Falls. We thought it most appropriate to take a picture in front of this one! The fall is so named because its water breaks apart as it plummets, turning the base of it into a wet, misty area.

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The next day, after the luxury of the night before, we woke up early and headed down to the dining room for breakfast, having heard it was to die for. It was! Mr. Plumeria is excited…

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A couple of days after the wedding found Mr. Plumeria and I headed happily three-and-a-half hours away towards Yosemite Valley, ready to enjoy the first half of our two-part honeymoon. Both of us had looked forward to this since we booked our room at the Ahwahnee, over a year beforehand (yes, this is necessary to guarantee a room, especially during the busy season).We arrived rather late, after running sundry errands beforehand and making a few detours along the way to take some photos of landmarks such as Yosemite Falls as we passed by…

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Helloooo!

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This is it. I’ve been engaged for what has seemed like such a long time; I can’t believe that in a short amount of time, Mr. Plumeria will be my husband. This past week has been a whirlwind of activity, and I’ve felt like I barely have time to breathe. But, in this rare moment of quiet (the calm before the storm? Hehe), I can only think of how blessed I am, for everything that this whole process has brought.

What I’m feeling right now:

- thankful, for Mr. Plumeria — for his kind heart, his humility and willingness to put others first, the example he sets for me in dealing with a myriad of different situations, his gentle chastisement when I’m cranky and unreasonable, his unwavering support of my career and goals, his million other qualities that make me want to be a better person and to strive to be a strong, supportive wife
- overwhelmed, by the love I feel from friends and family who have come to celebrate this joyful time with us,
- grateful, for the opportunity I’ve had to share all of this with you, the awesome weddingbee community
- amazed, that the whole planning process has pulled together and is really coming to pass,
- excited, that soon I will be a wife, and I will have a husband!!
- hopeful, that our day will be a beautiful memory to cherish for years to come, and that we will continue to support and bring out the best in each other as we take this huge step together…

Here we go!

I visited Debra of Dori Anne Veils again one day a while ago, not to buy another dress, but to pick out a veil from a selection she’d just gotten in. (I don’t mean to gush, but I really can’t recommend her enough — not many vendors will offer a great price on a gown, plus throw in a free veil of choice with purchase of certain dresses.) I went over to her store with a very specific idea of what I wanted.

On a budget from the beginning, I had already purchased a custom, waltz-length veil from VeilShop for less than $50, but was feeling unsure about the harshness of the line at the top, which I could see in some of our pre-wedding portraits. Since I’m not planning to wear a tiara or comb, which would hide that line, I thought it would be best to have something that blended into my hair a bit more subtly for the actual day.

So, when Debra offered a veil, I jumped at the chance to have a different, perhaps shorter, one to replace the first entirely, or to switch to after the ceremony. I wanted it to be like the first one, but perhaps shorter: single tier, very sheer, minimal gathering at the top for minimal poof, no decoration save some sort of light edge treatment if anything, attached to a metal comb.

Veilshop veil:

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Things are falling into place fast, thanks to a crew of great friends and family who pitched in (some on super last-minute notice!) to help put favors, etc. together this past weekend. I’ll shut up now and show the pics…I’m really happy with how these turned out!

The cover (names blurred for all pics, again) - vellum printed at the press with custom inks. Size is 4.25″x11″ folded down to 4.25″x5.5″. The vellum pages in the program were actually run at the same time as the invitations, to save money — with offset lithography, it’s always better to do any items that use the same color ink at the same time. Read more…

So, even as I race to complete everything on my to-do list, there have been tons of things I realize that I’ve missed. Among those forgotten tasks is choosing what to wear to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. And then, the realization that I don’t have anything that I really want to wear to those events slowly dawned. Did I really need to buy a dress for these? I decided that, necessary or not, I just wanted to.

And so I dragged myself out to the mall after work yesterday and poked around Macy’s for a little bit. I’m about as petite as you can get, and at this point I really needed something that would fit perfectly without any alterations. No such luck at the big department store. Where to next? I stepped into my favorite store (I must admit I shop the clearance rack more than the regularly-priced section ), Ann Taylor, and was not disappointed.

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