Weddingbee Blog

It’s been a little over a year since we’ve been engaged and I’m a really blessed girl. I’ve got a great fiance, great friends and my family is numero uno. In the beginning of wedding planning, I was OCD about everything - I must have this done now, I need to do that soon etc… I thought I had things under control but in reality I felt like I was falling apart.

I had some people complain to me about not being involved with the wedding and guilt tripping me… which I could handle at first. Then I had some people who wanted to invite their in laws to the wedding (whom I’ve never met) and I thought I was going nuts! I was so overwhelmed with people telling me what I should or shouldn’t be doing, or what people didn’t like about the location or whatever else…. I ended up getting really upset and fell apart and cried.

So I stopped writing on Weddingbee not because I didn’t want to share our wedding planning, but because I was really stressed and put most of the wedding planning aside. I wanted the focus to be off the details of the wedding and wanted to emphasize relationships. Instead of eagerly deciding what flowers or centerpieces I should have… I had our wedding party over for a wine tasting and it truly made me smile. Instead of racking my brain over the cost of the wedding, I had some friends come over for dinner and sure… we talked about the wedding but we just enjoyed each other’s company.

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I’ve been talking to my sister, who is also my maid of honour, about my bridal shower that’s coming up in a little over a month. We were debating themes since I don’t need things for the home because we had a housewarming party shortly after we moved in to our new apartment. Then while browsing a couple of themes online, we came across one called “Honeymoon at Home.”

We are throwing a bridal shower for a couple who has been living together for years. What to get them? They both work and won’t be able to take a honeymoon right away. We are going to ask the guests to bring something so that the couple can enjoy a honeymoon at home. Candles, bubble bath, wine, scented soaps, chocolates, classical Cd’s… anything to keep that fire blazing! Then to keep the theme going, the whole bridal party is pitching together to get them a hotel room with a whirlpool tub built for two. We’re going to decorate it and place small gifts in the room from each of us.”

This is especially perfect since I don’t want to have a registry (even though I know that’s the proper thing to do). I know that some of my guests at the bridal shower don’t have much money to spend, and I don’t want them to feel obligated to buy me something that I chose. This way creative ones will make me something (which I LOVE), and others that want to get me something from a store can.

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Now that it’s snowing like crazy in NYC, I wish that my wedding was during the winter rather than in the heat of July. It’s just so pretty, but then again I know I’d be freezing. Those of you having a winter wedding, take lots of pictures outside I’d love to see them.

On the theme of winter weddings, I found these adorable things that are perfect for winter weddings:

myweddingfavors

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Remember Mrs. Bee talked about those adorable Hershey’s Kiss stamps? Well little old me went over to the post office today and bought their remaining 6 sheets. I put them on our rsvp envelopes and they are so cute!

My invitations need 63 cent stamps, but I don’t know of any cute stamps that come in that amount. Should I just put two Hershey’s Kiss stamps instead? That is a waste of money, but they are SO CUTE!

I’ve also been researching placecard holders and I found such an adorable one:

from: myweddingfavors.com Read more…

As many of you know, I’m Korean with a dash of Japanese in me. Mr Poppy is Chinese-Hong Kongese? My in-laws are here from HK and when they came, they brought many gifts for their “daughter”… *ahem* that would be me.

All the gifts were wonderful and I loved them all. But my favourite was the jade necklace that Mr Poppy’s mother gave me. This is not just any jade necklace - this jade was passed down by her mother and her mother’s mother. I was so unbelievably honoured and I felt so special! She even had the yellow gold chain and the part that holds the jade replaced with white gold. Then she had the jade special made with diamonds on it because she wanted it so that “a young girl could easily wear it nowadays.”

I put it on and the whole family was smiling ear to ear. I felt truly loved, I felt like a daughter… I am their daughter. And when we have children - I too will pass down this jade to my little girl. The thought of this jade being passed down generation to generation makes me very proud. Especially since I am told that as you wear the jade more, the darker it gets. (It’s already beautiful but imagine it 5 girls down the road!)

Do you have something from your in-laws or parents that have been passed down from older generations? And if so, will you keep passing it down?

Even though they tell me I don’t have to wear it everyday…. I do. Not because I have to but because I love them.

The good news is that the invitations are all ready to go, and the only thing left before sending them is to include hotel information and a map of where it is along with the ceremony/reception location. I called up quite a few hotels inquiring about blocking rooms, and most of them make you sign a contract making us responsible for filling 80% of the rooms or paying for the unaccounted rooms. This freaks me out a little bit since I’m not even sure all of our out of town guests will stay in the hotel that we pick. What is the general rule as far as how many rooms you should block off?

I tried picking a location where it’s easily accessible for public transportation, and I’ve been trying to keep it near the theater district or Herald Square. The theater district for most of my guests since they are musicians and Herald Square since Koreatown is there, along with the world’s largest Macy’s. I haven’t had any luck as far as figuring out how to go about finding hotels, but all I can really do is call right?

I’d love to hear about how you ladies are going about finding a hotel for your guests. Will you have transportation to and from the wedding for your guests? We’re thinking about renting a shuttle bus so that it’s easy for our non-New York City guests and ensure they will be on time for our wedding.

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Mr. Poppy and I are doing a premarital counseling thing with our wonderful officiant/pastor since we’ve been engaged. The first thing that was recommended was a book entitled: The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment To Your Mate by Gary Chapman. I am not one that likes reading books that are along the self help line, but I have to say that this book changed my whole outlook on relationships.

The book talks about how there are five primary love languages and that each of us has our own “language.” It explains in depth about the five languages: words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service and physical touch. The interesting thing is that Chapman goes on to explain that sometimes we try to show our love in our primary love language and we wonder why our spouse doesn’t appreciate or feel loved. Unless your significant other speaks the same primary language, s/he’s not going to know.

I love how this book says that love is not a magical thing, it is a choice. You choose to love someone, you also choose to show that love. After reading this book I realize that my fiance and I do speak each other’s love language, and we feel more loved already. But this book actually really brought perspective in my other relationships with people, and made me realize that I wasn’t speaking the primary love language of some friends. While I was reading I was thinking in my head: “Oh Sarah’s love language isn’t ‘receiving gifts’ but it’s ‘words of affirmation!’” or “Oh, all this time I was spending ‘quality time’ with my mother when she really feels loved by ‘acts of service.’”

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Edit: Oops I mistook the rsvp price! It was only $12.95 for 32 cards and envelopes, so that comes out toe 31 cents a card! WOOT!

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I’ve been gone a while, yes I know. I apologise but I’ve been quite the little busy bee… flower. I do have updates though!

My invitations are in and it was fun putting them together with my Mother in Law and my sister. The kit came with the back card, ribbon, the actual invitation and envelopes. They provided glue dots to attach everything and although none of them are perfectly centered, know that we made them with love and lots of laughter! Oh I almost forgot - Mr. Poppy made some too!

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I met my in-laws last summer when they flew in from Hong Kong to New York. They are probably the world’s nicest in-laws. The only barrier that we really had was the language - they speak Cantonese and Mandarin and I speak: Korean, Italian, French, Spanish and Japanese (for my Grandmother’s side). Even though their English is not bad at all, there were still a few moments of: “Huh?” The Cantonese that I learned on cds helped, but not enough for me to converse with complete understanding.

After they left, I continued the Cantonese cds and talked with my Chinese friends whenever I could with them correcting me or praising me. I feel pretty comfortable with listening and basic conversation now - I can go to Chinatown and actually ask where things are, how much things cost and things of that sort.

But talking to my mother-in-law last night put the biggest grin on my face. She has been learning Korean online and tried out so many phrases on me, we giggled and laughed. At times she forgot what things meant and when I told her, I didn’t even realize I was explaining in Cantonese! We were both so happy to communicate in Canto-Korean. I couldn’t believe we were talking for over an hour, having so much fun and actually understanding one another.

I’ve been really fortunate and this Thanksgiving season there were many things I was thankful for. But this particular Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for having two moms. Twice the love, for one daughter.

This Saturday one of my bridesmaids and I went over to a wonderful makeup artist’s place so he could do our trials. I wish I could find my usb cord so that I could upload pics, but I don’t know where it went. After we moved I can’t find much, even though I’ve unpacked everything!

Juan totally redid my eyebrows, which sadly needed much help. The brows frame my face really well and balances everything out. I never knew how to take care of my brows and I don’t have very much eyebrow hair, so it was always difficult for me. Thanks to his help, I now have the best eyebrows I have EVER had! YAY!

While he was putting makeup on us he explained everything he was doing and why it looked natural the way he applied our makeup. Even though he put a whole bunch of makeup on us, you couldn’t tell with the foundation… He matches it perfectly!

If you would like to have a trial with him please feel free to contact him and tell him Miss Poppy (Annie) sent you!

Juan Santos
Make-Up Artist
(347) 806-8101
SantosJuan1@aol.com

Juan works for Estee Lauder and does makeup for their photo shoots! E-mail or call for more info.

Mr. Poppy and I have moved to New Jersey and now we’re literally a 7 min drive to Port Authority. After unpacking and arranging furniture and all that jazz, I’ve lost a good 10lbs. I don’t know where it went since my body looks exactly the same to me. But I tried on my wedding dress and I’m freaking out: it’s strapless and I can see my feet! Did that make sense? The boob area is too large now and I can see my stomach and my feet down through the dress. Before the boob area was too tight - I was pretty proud of my twins, but now I’m concerned.

I went to a bunch of alteration places/dry cleaners around my area and asked if they could alter it. They all said no and told me to buy another dress!!! ACK!!!! What am I to do? I bought my dress from David’s Bridal in Boston a long while ago. Does anyone know if they exchange for a different size despite how long it’s been since I bought the dress? If they don’t let me exchange it, I might have to sell it and rebuy it. I want to go to the city and get alterations there, but the problem is that I don’t have a car. *DOH*

I was telling Miss Kiwi (who I think is a complete cutie-patootie) that I feel so unprepared for the wedding. Watch me walk down and my dress just falls to my ankles. YIKES. But even though I feel like there is more I have to do for the wedding, even if it doesn’t go perfectly, I’ll be happy just to spend the day with people I love… especially Mr. Poppy.

But you can’t blame a girl for not wanting her dress fall off her body. hehe

PS: I know 10lbs sounds like a lot. But I’m still plump.

I’m currently looking at a few florists and was thinking that it might be a little more difficult with time right before the wedding. Planned on doing it myself but I really don’t think that will be possible. So I’m looking into a few places:

• A friend of a friend’s side floral business: I looked at her portfolio and it’s beautiful!
• Whole foods, Columbus circle: I’ve already met with Darlene a few times and the prices are hard to beat, but they don’t deliver. Ouch.
• Jerry Sibal: I haven’t met with Jerry yet but saw a CD of his work and it’s so beautiful. I will meet with him after we move into our condo.
• snow_blossom’s florist: I love how she did exactly what miss snow wanted! Just like stepping into a fairy tale. Yeah, I want that.

I’m excited to meet with Jerry and Snow_Blossoms florist. Cross your fingers, wish me luck…

I know that I have been MIA lately and it’s mostly due to being slightly busy with packing and having nothing really to update on the wedding scene. (as far as my wedding :))

We are in the process of closing on a condo, packing, figuring out subletting our current apartment and then moving from Queens to New Jersey. I’m so excited since we have a home that is ours, new construction, 2 bedroom, black granite, jacuzzi tub, brazillian cherry wood floor goodness! Once we move and have furniture and make the place a little pretty, I’m hoping we’ll have the weddingbee girls over :). That is if you girls are willing to come to New Jersey.

So I’m still here and I’m so tickled with the comments, emails I’ve been getting wondering where I am. I didn’t even think anyone would notice that I’ve been gone and you girls know how to make a girl feel loved! Thanks!!!

I hope your wedding plans are going well and I’ll be back once we move to Jersey. (End of the month)

xoxo

Here are some more products that help breast cancer research and they’re all lovely!

You can find all these and more at Sephora. Get something for your bridesmaids, yourself or your mom! And feel great that some of your money is going to cancer research. (fixed the link, thanks alessette!)

Quick update - m sent us a very helpful site: http://www.thebreastcancersite.com.
Every time you click on the link, it helps fund a mammogram. So go on girls… click away!

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Hello weddingbee-ers!

As many of you may know, October is breast cancer awareness month. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years back, and when we found out that there was no doubt, we were all emotional. My mother got an x-ray and the doctor told us there was nothing he could really do… it was too late. She got her surgery anyway, we prayed, we hoped and she made it out cancer free. The doctors were stunned and confused - didn’t quite know how a woman that was beyond the point of help made it out cancer free.

For a while she was just visiting the hospital and continuing her treatment. It was so hard on her… she was really upset but happy that she was alive. She was weak, losing about 50lbs and tired of taking meds. But she continued to eat healthy, exercise and be strong for not only herself but her family. We thought we would never have to deal with it again, but then she felt a lump and the cancer was back.

I literally fell apart when she told me. Normally my mom is the type that doesn’t like to share bad news with me because I’m pretty weak. (I’ve had many ulcers that resulted in hospitalization.) When I got that phone call from my mama and she was crying, I couldn’t understand a word she was saying until she told me in Korean that the cancer had come back and that she thought she might die.

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