I NEED Another Dress?
March 27th, 2008 @ 3:58 pm by Mrs. Toucan
Traditionally, the Chinese bride wears 3 (or 4) dresses on her wedding day. The first is the traditional white wedding dress which is worn during the ceremony. The second dress is the traditional Chinese wedding dress, or qipao, which is worn throughout banquet/reception, and the third dress is the going away dress (usually a ball gown), which is worn just before leaving the banquet. (When a bride wears 4 dresses, usually another dress (perhaps a kwa/cheongsam) is worn during the tea ceremony or for part of the banquet.
Originally, I thought I had all my outfits for our wedding planned. White wedding dress - Check! Qipao - Check! And, I thought that this would count as my third outfit:
Finally, Invitations: Part II
March 25th, 2008 @ 3:26 pm by Mrs. Toucan
Okay, I realize I wrote Invitations: Part I a looooooong time ago, but I’m finally ready to share Part II with you! I confess that I’ve actually had my invitations for MONTHS, but I’ve been holding them hostage until my guests have received them… Like I mentioned in Part I, we ordered our invitations from Joy Card in Hong Kong when we went during our Christmas holiday. We finalized our proof in late December, and by late January, a box from Hong Kong showed up at our door:
This box was deceivingly very heavy!
Shoe Story
March 24th, 2008 @ 8:25 am by Mrs. Toucan
Remember these shoes, I was lusting over last week?
I was so heartbroken because I was unable to find these beauties in my size ANYWHERE. Even with all the fabulous suggestions and shoe alternatives you all found me (and I’m SO thankful for), sometimes you find something it gets stuck in your head, and nothing else seems to give you that same feeling.
Read more…
The Easiest Part Of Wedding Planning Is…
March 21st, 2008 @ 2:15 pm by Mrs. Toucan
Planning our ceremony! Choosing are ceremony has been relatively painless compared to most of our other wedding decisions partly because the Catholic Church gives you this little book with the whole layout, and then says “insert any passage A1-A5 here.” It’s really like fill in the blanks. But mostly, it was easy for me because I made Mr. Toucan make the decisions…
Mr. Toucan with the “Together For Life” pamphlet
The Chinese Wedding Banquet Decision
March 20th, 2008 @ 4:30 pm by Mrs. Toucan
I’ve mentioned before that we’ll be having a traditional Chinese banquet for our reception, but I’ve never explained how we came to that decision. Nowadays, banquets (at least as the main reception) among American-born Asians seem to be increasingly less popular - and I can understand why.
- Most banquets are held in Chinese restaurants – with less-than-appealing décor
- 10 courses take up a lot of time – most guests eat and run, and what’s the fun in that
- Little to no dancing (In Chinese celebrations, it’s ALLLL about the food)
So, why are we having a Chinese banquet? Your first guess would probably be – “That’s what your parents want.”
Bad, Miss Toucan, Bad!
March 19th, 2008 @ 1:53 pm by Mrs. Toucan
I’ll admit it. I’m a bad, bad bird. I’m a stalker- a registry stalker. 
I have a good reason for registry stalking though (at least on the first offense)! We are registered at three stores: Macy’s, Crate and Barrel, and Bed Bath and Beyond. Originally, we had only registered at Macy’s and Crate and Barrel, but then I found out that some of my china was cheaper at Bed Bath and Beyond. Since our invitations went out last week (post on that coming soon, promise), I had to rush to add stuff and move stuff from our Macy’s registry to our new Bed Bath and Beyond registry… and that is when I found out a few of my place settings were already bought!
Miss Toucan’s Sweatshop
March 18th, 2008 @ 2:51 pm by Mrs. Toucan
Remember those favors I’ve been slaving over? Well, I finally decided to call in reinforcements. I sent out a little e-invitation inviting both Mr. Toucan’s and my families over for a “party.”
Miss Toucan, The Gambler
March 17th, 2008 @ 5:37 pm by Mrs. Toucan
I’ve been a little hesitant to write about our wedding reception venue for a few different reasons. I’ll admit I’m doing something that most brides wouldn’t do - I’m taking a bit of a gamble on my reception venue. After a trip to visit the venue again and finalizing our menu yesterday, I’m starting to get the feeling that my gamble will really pay off.
Let me start my story from the beginning - let’s rewind back to March 2007. While Chinese Banquets have become less popular among Chinese American brides (or used as a 2nd reception or rehearsal dinner), we had decided to have a Banquet as our only reception for cultural and cost reasons. The only thing that stood in our way was a place to hold it. Despite going the Banquet route, I still wanted a “pretty venue.” After visiting a few less-than-appealing restaurants in Boston’s Chinatown, Daddy Toucan suggested that we check out this grand palace looking Chinese restaurant on a hill - Jin Asian Cuisine Restaurant. All the decor was very Asian- almost too Chinese-y, borderline tacky. We loved it.
Mr. Toucan by the bridge and water feature
The Shoe Doesn’t Fit
March 13th, 2008 @ 5:31 pm by Mrs. Toucan
Attire For The Little Ones
March 12th, 2008 @ 10:26 am by Mrs. Toucan
After searching high and low, I finally have found dresses for our flower girls! Notice that I wrote flower girl - plural.
Let me step back for a moment, I have 6 flower girls! I know that you all probably think I’m crazy for having so many kids in my wedding party, but coming from a big family, how do you choose whose kids you want to participate?! I ended up asking all of my cousins’ kids who will be above the age of 4 at the time of our wedding to be a part of our day. When I asked all the kids (and their parents), they were nothing short of thrilled, and I could not be more excited. How cute is 6 little girls (and 1 boy) going to look coming down our long church aisle?!
Okay, back to the dresses. Having so many kids in the wedding party created a minor little problem. Actual “flower girl” dresses seemed to cost $150+ and with 6 little ones to outfit, it just didn’t fit into our budget (per Chinese tradition, we pay for all of our attendants’ attire). My original plan was to buy dresses off the rack (hello, Easter season!) to save some cost, but since the girls range in age from 4 to 9 and size 4 to 10, finding matching outfits is pretty close to impossible. So, it was back to actual “flower girl dresses.” Finally, I found this (modeled by my youngest attendant):
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Mrs. Toucan, Boston
Age and Occupation: 25, Full-time Research Assistant, Part-time Graduate Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Actuary
Engagement Date: February 18, 2007
Wedding Date: June 7, 2008
Blogging Since: November 07, 2007
Venue: St. Catherine of Genoa, Jin Asian Cuisine Restaurant
About Me: I’m a Gemini to the extreme. On one side, I’m a girly girl. I read countless bridal and fashion magazines, and have an obsession with keeping up with the latest Hollywood gossip. On the other side, I’m a sports fanatic. Despite being a full-time bride-to be, full-time research assistant, and part-time student, I’m also a full-time Red Sox fan from spring training to October, and a full-time Patriots fan from mini-camp to February. I devote almost as much time researching my for fantasy football team as researching for our wedding!
