Weddingbee

Miss Daisy wrote a great post on the diets that have worked for her, and kudos to her for the weight loss. Saying you want to lose weight is much easier than actually making the effort to shed those extra pounds.

I’ve struggled my entire life to be thin. The biggest problem wasn’t the weight - it was my mentality of wanting to be a certain size. If only I could be thinner, I could dress better, be more beautiful and ultimately be a happier person. So, I’ve always struggled with wanting to look better so that I could feel better. Despite all the positive support I may have, like Mr. Violet who thinks I am the most beautiful woman in the universe (even more gorgeous than his favorite actress, Angelina Jolie!), nothing matters as much as what goes on in my own head.

I forget when exactly, but a couple of years ago, I made a pact with myself to focus and lose weight - not so that I could be thinner and look better, but to be healthier and more agile. My goal was to be positive about my life rather than sulk over negative thoughts. I just wanted to flush all the negative out and create a better me. (Ok, I lie, it wouldn’t hurt to look good too! Ha..)

So this is what worked for me. I never dieted. I cringe whenever my sister tells me that she’s found another diet to try. I don’t like dieting, you know why? Dieting is restrictive - it restricts you from eating certain foods you want and I don’t want to spend any time of my life doing that. I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, but in moderation. This includes plenty of pasta (which I love to make), burgers, pizza, rice and dessert (especially chocolate).

My trick, however, was learning how to balance my daily food intake. For example, I started making my own salads for lunch at work. I saved money this way and I felt less guilty later that night when I dove into a huge bowl of spaghetti with meatballs, penne alla vodka or chicken marsala. I stayed away from fried foods or anything processed. I stuck to fresh fruits and veggies. I don’t believe in frozen (except for spinach & peas) even though they say it has the same nutritional value. I make 3-4 meals a week at home and I splurge a little on other nights.

Dieting alone will not get you far. Excercise, excercise, excercise. I used to go to the gym once a week, maybe even once a month! What a waste! When I finally started to focus, I was at the gym at least 4 days a week doing 30-45 minutes of cardio each day.

I’ve lost 15 lbs in the past year. I’m sure I could have lost more, if I stuck to a stricter diet, but I didn’t want to do it. Diets are not for me. Then again, my wedding is coming up, so I think I need to bump up my routine a bit. Although diets do work, it’s not the only method. The traditional route works too… Best of luck!

My first gift from my FSIL.

I was so touched by the gift that I decided to show her my thanks for a bracelet that she’s been eyeing in my store.

I haven’t read the book yet, but it contains a nice quote I thought I’d share:

Your love is a great mystery/ It is like an eternal lake/whose waters are always still and clear like glass./Looking into it you can see/the truth about your life./

It is like a deep well/whose waters are cool and pure/Drinking from it you can be reborn./

You do not have to stir the waters/or dig the well./Merely see yourself clearly/And drink deeply.

Written by Lao Tzu

What a day! I finally had dinner with my bridesmaids at “Why Curry?” tonight. It was Thai and the food was “ehh.” It was very interesting getting my girls together because they are all so very different from each other. It makes me wonder how I managed to gain 3 best friends that are so different? Not in a bad way, just different personalities that are pretty obvious - at least to me. But, the dinner went well and I’m happy they all met. I was told at dinner not to stress myself out, but these were some of the questions asked tonight..

What color do you want for the bridesmaid dresses?

What kind of bachelorette party do you want?

What kind of favors do you want to give out at the bachelorette party?

Are you sure you don’t want strippers (bachelorette party question)?

When are you going to take your wedding pictures on the day?

(The girls & I might be staying at a hotel the night before the wedding) so the question was, How are we getting to the hotel? How are we getting to the venue?

Are you wearing a qipao? (Chinese wedding gown)

What is your mom going to wear?

How could I not be stressed after this? I think I said “I don’t know” to most of these questions. Do you have BM’s that are very different in personalities, and has there ever been any conflict?

In my last post, I showed you “the dress.” Well, I must pay homage to another dress that I was uber close to buying.

Jessica McClintock (Style 52466)

This was the first dress I tried on and I fell in love with it immediately. It has a vintage feel to it, is very untraditional, and it looked great on me too. Not only that, it’s cheap - I almost bought it on the spot!

But, alas, I didn’t because I didn’t want to settle on it so I moved on. If I were writing for weddingbee at the time, I’m sure I would have had a poll on which dress to buy! So I asked my bridesmaids and my mother and these were their responses:

MOH - I like it, it’s different, but you have plenty of time… don’t settle.

BM #1 - I like it, but maybe it’s too different. You look like a princess in the David’s Bridal one. Also, this one looks like it could be a prom dress.

BM #2 - I like either one, whatever you choose is fine with me.

BM #3 - Go with the cheaper one.

I even asked Mr. Violet’s 2 sisters and they both agreed on the JM dress. My final opinion was from my mother who said, “I hate both dresses!” Argh, okay… thanks anyway! For those of you that thought she might have been kidding, she wasn’t. (Yeh, we don’t have the greatest relationship.)

In the end, I chose the David’s Bridal dress because I thought it was more elegant and I think if Mr. Violet had to choose, he’d choose the DB dress. I figured I’d tell you about this dress because I really do love it and at the price of $409, it’s a bargain.

Finding the perfect venue was the best decision we made as an engaged couple. Finding the perfect dress and ordering it was my best decision as a bride to be. I purchased my dress 15 months in advance (I’m sure some of you can relate to me) and without any buyer’s remorse. I also did not pay the retail price. Double yay!

I originally posted my dress in my personal blog. Many weekends ago, Mr. Violet and I returned home from some errands, and the first thing I did was scroll through my entries. Stupid me, Mr. Violet was standing right behind me when I accidentally scrolled past my dress! Yikes! (A huge pit immediately settled in my stomach - I swear I did not breathe for 5 seconds!)

He swore that he only saw white so I tried to let it go and forget that I made such a stupid mistake. 5 minutes later I had a plan. I made Mr. Violet sit down in front of the computer screen and I bombarded him with 40 or so wedding gowns from the knot.com. Call me crazy, but I figured that it was the only way to make sure he forgot what he saw earlier. He thought I was nuts, by the way, but that’s okay, we all know that already.

(David’s Bridal Style CT203)

Mr. Violet already knows the color is champagne because I want his vest or bow/tie to match. I totally LOVE this dress so much! The only issue I have is that it looks great on the model because she’s tall, and I’m not sure if my height (5′1″) will matter with the design of the bottom of the dress. I couldn’t really tell when I tried it on, but it looked perfect on me when I stood on the platform. I guess heels will do the trick (comfortable ones, I hope!)

Some of you may have shown your dress to your fiance and I think it’s totally cool. It was actually very hard, and still is tough for me not to go into some of the details with my mate because we talk about everything. But I really want to see his reaction when he sees me in my dress for the first time on our special day.

In my previous post, I revealed my plan for asking my best friends to be my bridesmaids. Thank you for your positive comments! Remembering those priceless memories inspired me to come up with another idea. If you have visited my etsy shop, you may have noticed my handmade 4×4 brag books. This weekend I spent some time creating these friendship brag books that you can fill with pictures of you and your friend. I have included some solid space in the book for you to hand write the question, “Will you be my bridesmaid?”

I love this quote. “My Friends Have Made the Story of My life” - Helen Keller

These nifty books would also make great additions to a bridal shower gift or to the happy couple.

Mention “weddingbee” and receive 10% off your first order.

The 2 days following our engagement was pure bliss. I was on Cloud 9. No one knew we were engaged yet. After the initial shock, my first thought was to tell my bridesmaids. First let me explain that I’m not one of those girls that have dreamt about my wedding day my entire life. In fact, I really had no clue as to how my wedding would turn out, but what I did know was the 4 girls that would share in my special day.

Because so many people have known us as a couple, everyone, especially my girls had been anticipating the big proposal for a while now. I didn’t want to just call them from Paris and I didn’t want to send a card. I really wanted to do something original. On the very last day of our trip I figured out my plan. We spent half a day shopping the street vendors for compact mirrors! It served two purposes. One, as a souvenir and second… I wrote “Will you be my BM/MOH?” on a piece of paper and placed it inside the mirror. Pretty orginal right?

Fast forward to the next weekend, I got each girl to meet us separately. Imagine my emotion at the time - I was extremely nervous and excited to tell them. In order of surprise:

BM #1 We had breakfast at Sarabeth’s. She opened the mirror and started looking at herself and admiring the necklace I made her for her birthday. She said “Look how nice your necklace looks on me.” (I was beyond nervous at this point… she did not see the freakin’ note!) I had to point it out to her and when she saw it, she cried! I swear tears were just rolling down her face for a good minute! Her boyfriend Mike and I were just sitting there waiting for her to stop. Hehe..

MOH - We had dinner on the same night at Le Zie (Italian place not worth mentioning - 2nd time here and it wasn’t that great). When she opened the mirror, the paper fell onto her lap and she didn’t even notice it. I had to pick it up and give it to her. Then she couldn’t read it because it was fairly dim in the restaurant, so it took her a minute (felt like an eternity to me) to finally get it. She then proceeded to scream and was completely surprised.

BM #2 We went over to her house. She was in the middle of feeding her baby. I gave her the mirror, and when she opened it she saw the note, but she sat there frozen for a minute or so and didn’t say anything. I think her response was “Is this for real?” Then she screamed and her husband hadn’t seen the note, so he had no idea why she was screaming.

BM #3 My sister. She actually knew before we left and I give her major props for not spilling the secret.

As you can see, although my idea was original, it didn’t happen as perfectly as I imagined it to be. Perhaps, that’s the charm of it all - that nothing is perfect, but if you can make it yours… it’s perfect anyway.

Source: Urban Couture Collection Pack (Basic Grey) twopeasinabucket

I first fell into arts and crafts thanks to paper. I’d walk into an art store and get emotional looking at all the different colors, textures and prints. Because of my love for paper, I started to find ways to justify paying .50 for a sheet of 12×12 paper! .50 isn’t much but when you start collecting stacks of it, the cost sure adds up. Luckily I’ve found many ways to use my beloved!

For those brides out there who are doing DIY invitations, here are some my tips:

Carl Paper Trimmer from Staples

Xyron 510 sticker maker

1. Buy bulk cardstock and cut it yourself with a paper trimmer (I bought mine for $35 and it’s been with me for the last 4 years in very good condition). Depending on the quantity of invites and the complexity of the card you’re making, perhaps it’s not worth the stress to cut each card out. (But for me, it’s really easy so why pay the extra money?) The Xyron machine above is basically a sticker making machine. You put your paper in and out comes a sticker. Pretty neat. The cartridges are expensive though and rarely go on sale. I usually wait for 50% coupons and buy it at Michaels.

2. Instead of buying pre-made RSVP cards, make your own. Using 8 1/2 by 11 cardstock, type up the RSVP and try to fit as many as you can on that page. I like using Microsoft Office Publisher for this purpose. Once it’s printed, I just use my paper trimmer to cut out each RSVP.

3. The same goes for place cards too.

4. For those that don’t have much experience with buying paper, don’t limit yourself to the invitation aisles. Check out the scrapbooking section. There’s so much out there nowadays. Fantastic colors, prints and good quality paper that’s acid free and lignin free (which means that your paper won’t turn yellow or disintegrate over time)

Source: Joann’s

5. My last tip is to make your own guest book. I plan on buying an archival scrapbook (see above) and randomly placing photos of us in there, leaving plenty of space for guests to write in their wishes and thoughts. I’m going to mat the photos onto decorative paper that I’m going to use throughout my wedding (ie. invitations & favors). I’m loving the new Basic Grey’s pictured above. Perfect for a garden themed wedding.

Hope this helps. If you are artistic, even a little, try doing your own invites. I’d love to receive a handmade card over a professionally made one any day.

The proposal happened in the beautiful city of Paris on May 13th. It was right after a horrible dinner at a tourist oriented French bistro. Mr. Violet suggested we take a stroll to Notre Dame. We spent some time inside and then Mr. Violet lured me towards the garden. Sadly for him, the “gated” garden was closed for the evening! He seemed very disappointed and at the time I didn’t understand why. (We came here on the first day of arrival.) We proceeded to loiter in front of Notre Dame for a good 15 minutes. At this time, I started to wonder if something fishy was going on.

After 7.5 years of being with him, I knew this day would come, but I really didn’t expect it to happen in Paris (then again, why not Paris?) so I was a bit delusional trying to figure out if he really was planning on proposing, or if I was just imagining things. It took Mr. Violet another 15 minutes to finally find a spot on a bridge behind the Notre Dame. Unfortunately, by the time he actually proposed, I was in a bit of a daze. He did go down on one knee, but I made him get up right away (I get embarrassed easily.) The last thing I saw was my rock, I eventually said “yes” and that was that. It was truly perfect.

In retrospect, he almost had to propose at the Eurostar rail station 2 days prior because he hid my ring in his back pack. The security guard thoroughly searched his bags and almost pulled out the ring (stored in a PSP plastic holder) while I was there standing next to him. So… although I had to wait for the proposal, I’m glad it didn’t happen at a rail station!

(images via larscapes & culturalgeneral)