Weddingbee Blog

The day before our wedding, Mr. Lace and I spent the day running errands, checking into hotels and getting ready for our rehearsal. I purposely woke up early that morning so that I’d be really tired at night and it would trump that nervous excitement that might keep me all night. After the rehearsal, Mr. Lace dropped Momma Lace and I off at our hotel and we parted ways.

And what did I do the night before the wedding? I took a shower and went to bed. Yup. That’s all. I was worried about getting tired midday and feeling sleepy on our wedding day. I think I crashed around 11 PM, but of course I woke up in the middle of the night, not because I couldn’t sleep, but because my mom was having some kind of dream where people were ordering her around and she yelled, “STOP!” really loud around 3 AM. I woke up with a start, but managed to fall asleep again pretty quickly.

The next morning, Momma Lace and I stopped at Starbucks to pick up some coffee before we met up with the bridesmaids to get ready. My fantastic hair and makeup artist, Kelly Zhang, was early and began working on the bridesmaids right away. We spent 4 hours getting ready, but the time zipped by super quickly. Before I knew it, my fabulous photographer, Hanssie Trainor, knocked on the door, stepped in and began snapping photos!

Before I share some photos from the morning of, here are a few things for those of you getting ready for your big day.
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Whilst planning our honeymoon to Disney World, I discovered that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter would have its grand opening two weeks before we were there. And have I ever mentioned to you that I love the Harry Potter series? If not, let it be known, I LOVE the Harry Potter series. For my sake, Mr. Lace has watched all the movies with me. However, as time passed, he started asking questions.

“Why does Snape hate Harry so much?”

“Does Hermione like Ron?”

“Why didn’t Harry die?”

He was looking for a short answer, but for any of you Harry Potter fans, you know, there are no short or easy explanations in Harry Potter. I wouldn’t say he loves Harry Potter, but I think he’ll admit that it’s a well-crafted story and is impressed with my in-depth knowledge on the topic (or so I’d like to think).

Anyway, when I mentioned going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios, Mr. Lace was all for it. However, we didn’t make any firm plans.
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The day after our wedding, Mr. Lace and I got up at 6 AM, got ready, went back to our place to drop off stuff and pick stuff up and headed out to the airport to catch our 10 AM flight to Florida. We left Orange County, and 2 sausage and egg McMuffins and 6 hours later, we landed in Orange County, Florida! We found the Disney Magical Express which would magically transport us over to Disney World.

Those magical sandwiches are our favorites. Unfortunately, we lacked the foresight to buy some extra food to bring on the plane.
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No one tells you how BUSY it is after you get married! Maybe it’s not the case for many of you out there, but for me, things are finally beginning to slow down. Well, sort of.

Summer vacation ends this week and I’m heading back to get my classroom ready for my next group of students. I’ve been busy doing all the moving I didn’t do before the wedding from my place to Mr. Lace’s… I mean, our place. I never really understood the whole nesting thing before getting married, but now I do. There’s a bird family that’s made their nest on a tall bush by our garage and Mr. Lace and I go out to check on them everyday to see what they’re up to. They’re pulling branches, twigs, leaves to make their nest a comfortable place to lay eggs and raise their babies. There are no babies in sight here, but I at least understand an innate desire to make our place homey and comfortable.
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Sorry, I wish there was a cool video to play along with the song, but I couldn’t find one. Anyway, my brother used to always play this song as he was getting ready for basketball games and I always associated it with preparing for something big and exciting. So, as I got ready to write this post, this is the first song that popped into my head and thus, the title was born. Can you imagine me playing this song on the morning of the wedding, jumping on the bed as everyone else in the room is getting ready?

Today is my last day as Miss Lace.
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No, not for your wedding, not for your first dance, or grand entrance. Find your soundtrack. Make your playlist. Find some music that calms and soothes you because you’re going to need it.

Previously, I wasn’t that stressed. I had worked so hard so that there’d be very little left to do during this last week of the wedding. I had maybe 5 things I needed to do this week - two meetings, write vows, pack for the honeymoon and get a manicure and pedicure. Since yesterday, five more things have popped up, all pressing and needing to be done NOW. So, today I worked on getting those 5 things done and now I still have my original five things to do and one less day to do them.

I tried my best to not be outwardly annoyed. I vented to some of my BMs and then turned on my soundtrack. Luckily, I randomly created this playlist a long time ago to play while I write and journal. It’s called “Mellow Out Miss Lace.” I turned this on as I prepared to do some packing and write vows (not at the same time, of course) and I instantly felt my shoulders un-bury themselves from my ears. Ahhhh… music. So soothing and healing to the soul!

What’s on my playlist?
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Any Saved By the Bell Fans here? Remember when Jesse Spano was taking caffeine pills because she was so stressed and had so much to do? Then at the end, she pretty much flipped out and sang, “I’m so excited! I’m so excited! I’m so scared!” I’m not flipping out, but I do understand the mix of feelings she had!

Last night, as I was lying in bed reflecting upon the day, I felt weird. Happy, yet nervous. Excited, yet scared. I couldn’t feel TRULY happy and excited because it was mingled with a ton of other emotions. I think a lot of people only emphasize the stress that brides feel the week of their wedding, maybe some of the giddy excitement of getting married too, but the main picture is of a frazzled bride who has more things to do than is humanly possible in the week leading up the wedding.

While I do feel a bit of stress (writing vows, last minute family requests, last minute additions from out of nowhere, changes to the schedule, etc.), Mr. Lace and I are in pretty good shape. But the other emotions I’m feeling are much stronger. Maybe you can relate (or you will when you get closer to the wedding).
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Why is it that 12 days out from our wedding…

• family tragedies and woes occur?
• I get the hiccups randomly throughout the day?
• I keep walking into things and become covered in bruises?
• I break out?
• I am getting tension headaches (okay, I guess I know the answer to this one)?

This is a tough case of Murphy’s Law! Let me count the ways!

1. My grandpa went into the hospital last week and two days later, passed away. His funeral will be the weekend before our wedding. Unfortunately, because of Chinese traditions, I’m not supposed to attend his funeral because it’s so close to my wedding. Instead, I’m supposed to wait 100 days after my wedding to make a visit to Northern California to pay my respects. My Dad’s entire side who will have to travel from Northern California to the wedding is in a planning frenzy as they prepare for the funeral.
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RSVPs can be a source of stress as many of the other bees have shared. On the one hand, you have your best friend who drove to your house as soon as she got her RSVP to give you her response and ask, “Am I the first person to RSVP?!” to the one who holds onto the card for what seems like years. When you ask them if they’re coming they say, “Oh. Is the RSVP card due already?” (Yes, it was due two months ago.) So I’ve compiled a list of reasons why the RSVP process sucks.

RSVP WOES

• the uninvited plus one
• the one without a name
• the late one
• the one who doesn’t mark their meal choice
• the very late one
• the yes, then no
• the no, then yes
• the very, very late one
• the one you have to tactfully call so that you don’t end up in an hour long conversation (you have planning to do after all!)

But, I’m on the other side now.
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As I sit here watching the Lakers/Celtics game, I am thinking about the anticipation as I followed the Lakers through the season, watching their hard work culminate in entering the NBA Finals. Putting all rivalries aside, these two teams must have been so happy to make it to the Finals and the days and hours leading up to each game must be so exciting.

So, why is it, when I’m in the final days leading up to the wedding, I am hardly excited? When people ask how many days it is before the wedding and I give them the countdown, a fresh wave of adrenaline and stress runs through my body. I am super excited about getting married and going to Disney World, but no one prepares you for the stress level that comes with the final weeks leading up to the wedding!

Think about it. All those things you thought, ‘oh, we can do that closer to the wedding. It’s too early to start that.’ Or, all those times you half finished a project. Or, those times you put off a decision because you didn’t feel like making it or felt indecisive. Well, it all comes back and bites you in the butt.
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With a few weeks left until the wedding, I was still crazy enough to tackle a DIY project. I didn’t want to have a traditional guestbook because I knew that I would never look at that again. I either want something sentimental, something that can be displayed or something that’s useful. There are tons of good ideas, but I really liked the idea of the address book box, and what better time to start one than when all your closest friends and family are gathered in one place?

On kraft paper, I printed the alphabet using our wedding stationery font and then used my handy dandy 1″ circle punch and punched them all out.
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Okay, so now that Open House is over and I at least opened up report cards and started inputting SOMETHING, the craziness at work is winding down and I can now catch you up on wedding planning.

But first… my bridal shower. Waaaaay back when, my MOH asked me to create a guest list and nail down some possible dates and that was pretty much the last I heard about my shower. May 22 rolled around and I knew to be at BM V’s house by 11 AM. I arrived and to my delight, I found myself in a DIY shower! How stinkin’ rad is that?!

So, first, and most importantly, we ate. I’m not entirely sure who made what, but we had Hawaiian food - Korean style ribs, cabbage salad, spam musubi, bacon fried rice and somen salad. I had to refrain from getting seconds (and thirds and fourths…).

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In high school and college, I used to be a pretty loud and outgoing girl. I wasn’t terribly shy. I was quick to make friends and enjoyed being in the spotlight. If you walked into a birthday party, I’d be the one talking loudly and laughing. I’d be the one loudly convincing everyone to do something. I’d be the one volunteering to get up in front of everyone to do something silly.

However, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more introverted, enjoying more time to myself. I’d rather go unnoticed. I don’t like having eyes on me. If you walked into a birthday party, I’d be sitting in the room on the side with my closest friends chit chatting. If I had to be in the main room, I’d be sitting on the side, listening and watching, letting someone else steal the spotlight.

I think the change has to do with insecurity issues and growing up. Being tired and stressed out might also play a role in it, but who knows. However, as Mr. Lace and I spend more time on what our wedding day is going to look like, I’m beginning to experience a bit of anxiety at the thought of having all eyes on me. I kept telling Mr. Lace that all eyes would be on us… you know, as a couple, where the attention would be split 50-50, but Mr. Lace reminded me that although people would look at him, the ratio would probably be more like 80% on me, 20% on him. Wait, wait, wait… so, you’re saying…
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With only 45 days till the wedding, we have a lot going on:

1. Mr. Lace started a new job.
2. I’m wrapping up the school year which means prepping for Open House, report cards and packing up my classroom.
3. I’m still waiting to hear about my pink slip and trying to figure out how we’re going pay the bills and for the house if I do end up getting laid off.

We’re in pretty good shape, but we still have a lot of things to take care of and it’s getting to the point where I have to just let go. I’m generally a pretty controlling person and when it comes to these DIY projects, I KNEW I could do them if I just had enough time. However, regardless of my DIY abilities, time is NOT on my side. I had a few more projects lined up that I would’ve loved to do. However, I had to drop a couple of DIYs that I realized that I wouldn’t have enough time or energy to complete…

… like these DIY straw flags… let go.

(source)

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Mr. Lace and I love going to Disneyland together. He only lives 15 minutes away so it’s an easy trip for us. Although we would’ve loved getting season passes (and we were tempted to a few times), we knew it wouldn’t be worth it for us. We opted for the Costco four-pack of tickets and went at least 10 times in the first two years that we dated.

Don’t laugh. That’s one of my highest scores!

Well, we got the itch. After going to Disneyland so many times in such a short amount of time, we started dreaming big.
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