Table Numbers!

I was first inspired by this image for the table numbers.  I always knew that I wanted lots of romantic candlelight as part of the tables so I just immediately thought how lovely it would be to have glittery numbers reflecting softly.  At first, I imagined them being hung from the rafters over the table but, logistically, it would have been a number.  Being practical meant having to find another way to achieve the same look (preferably without potentially breaking my neck).

While at The Paper Source, I found cute 3D kraft numbers.  However, they only had some of the numbers in the store and they were also missing the whole set online.  I spent a week searching for substitutes online before I came upon The Craft Pedlars.  I ordered the 8" Contempo set of numbers and loved how they looked.   (P.S. I know the website looks a little sketch but I received my order without a problem).

Step 1: Spray paint the numbers gold (or whatever you want the glitter to be).  You definitely need to spray paint a base on the numbers because glitter will fall off every single minute and you don't want people to see a brown number.  If you are putting the numbers on the bases, you might want to spray paint the bases gold also.

Side note: Doing this in the city while renting an apartment is a lot harder than you would think.  I thought about spray painting on the roof of our building but security does a pass through every 30 minutes and I doubt building management would approve of me up there with spray paint.  Then Brian said I couldn't do it on the sidewalk or the park (probably a good idea) so we ended up doing it in the alley behind his sister's apartment.  We thought it would be a nice private area but it's actually on the route of the Duck Tours and Trolley tours on their way to the Bunker Hill monument.  It also was a crazy windy day so we were running around trying to find anything that would hold down the plastic dropcloth.

Step 2: Once the spray paint has dried, use spray adhesive glue to spray all over your numbers.  Then quickly sprinkle your glitter over the the numbers.  We did this over a box so that we could reuse any glitter that fell off.  I used Martha Stewart's Glitter and used just over 1 bottle for 9 numbers.  

Step 3: Once everything has dried, glue the numbers to the bases.  I wish I had a better way of telling you to do this.  Ideally, I would have found a way to somehow stabilize my numbers by using a stake or something.  But I didn't have time to rig anything so I used small wood bases from Michael's and just superglued it.  However, I did this at 3 am the morning of the wedding in the hotel bathroom.  Glitter was everywhere and the superglue was really not that effective.  Somehow, number 7 worked perfectly and dried right away with only 1/4 of space to glue.  However, number 2 which should have been SO easy to glue and stand just would not glue correctly or stick.  So brides, sorry I can't tell you a better way of displaying your numbers easily.  I can just tell you NOT to do what I did if you want to keep your sanity.  However, the ending result was very pretty (if I do say so myself).  :)

*grrr, you number 2.  you had such a big base, why would't you stick?!

Videographers!

Getting a videographer was not something Brian and I had originally budgeted for but when Mama C mentioned that it was the one thing she really wanted for/from our wedding, we made it work. It's actually took a few weeks to find a videographer who's style we liked (ie didn't look like a home video) and was affordable. I was SO surprised and SO pleased to find David Bettencourt. His work was cinematic and he also offered Super 8 filming! And was within our budget even WITH the Super 8 film. Sold and sold and sold!

I LOVED working with David. He was laid back, professional, and just fun to be around the day of the wedding. Here's a sneak preview - I can't wait until the final product is done!

FYI: David Bettencourt is based out of RI but definitely will come to Boston.  :)


Lisa & Brian from David Bettencourt on Vimeo.

Getting Officiating With It

Getting an officiant was one of those things that Brian and I knew was pretty important but it was also one of those things that wasn't that important.....so of course it was the one thing we put off until about 2 months before the wedding.  Then we realized "holy guacamole, we're getting married!"  Luckily Brian's sister is pretty kick-ass awesome.

She and Brian have always had an extremely close relationship.  One of Brian's mom's favorite stories is how every morning, when Jenny was in 2nd grade, and Brian was in kindergarten, she would ask his teacher if Brian was doing ok and if he needed any supplies.  That's the kind of sister she was - always supporting him and we love her for that.

It was an extreme honor for us to have her perform the ceremony for us.  It was genuine and heartfelt and it meant so much to us to have the words coming from someone who means so much to us.

In Massachusetts, you can receive a one-day marriage designation to perform the ceremony.  It costs $25 and takes a few weeks to process.  You do not have to be resident of Massachusetts to either be the officiant or the couple getting married.  To download the form, click here.

Brian and I also filled out our Marriage Intention Form in Boston.  Sadly, no pics.  But if you've ever seen Boston City Hall, you'll know why it's perhaps better there are no pictures.  It takes 3 days to obtain the marriage license and $50.  Both people must be there in person.  City Hall in Boston is THE definition of bureaucracy.  We filled out our initial form, had to go to another window around the corner, but the people at both windows sit literally 5 feet from each other, get the form stamped so that we could pay at ANOTHER window to get a receipt, and returned to the first window to hand back the stamped paper with the receipt.  Gotta love local government.  :)

P.S. Boston City Hall looks like this.  The inside looks as depressing (if not more) as the outside.

 

Then and Now

I've posted some of these pictures before but I'm a little in awe.  It makes me realize why traditions start and why they matter so much.

Well...sometimes new traditions have to start also.  =P

Pretty Pretty Characters

I used to think I wanted to be a graphic designer when I was in college and spent loads of time playing around with Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro.  But after college, I stopped keeping up with all the new-fangled software and that's when Illustrator suddenly became the "it" tool.  I didn't really want to buy it since I knew I would only be using it for the wedding, so when my 30 day trial was over, I figured it was ok since I was having someone design my invitations for me.  However, I found a font, fell in love with the glyphs, but needed a way to access the glyphs without Illustrator.  I so loved the way my name looked with the glyphs, I had to do it myself to email to MaeMae Paperie since apparently I'm that anal particular to detail.  :)

So for people who are looking for a free program for vectors and illustrations - enter Inkscape.  Inkscape should really be used by the casual user as I find that it's interface is not as intuitive and smooth as illustrator.  With that said, it's a great alternative to paying for a program that someone would only use for a specific purpose (like a wedding!).

Glyphs are characters that are just a little different/fancier than the normal font set you would get if you used Word.  For example, below is an example of an address using the normal fonts and then using glyphs.  Big difference, right?!

Unfortunately, it's not the most intuitive thing to use glyphs in Inkscape but this is the approach I used.  I glyphed all the addresses for my guests and, while it was a very long and tedious process, it was cheaper than a calligrapher and it was definitely worth it for me.

Step 1: Select the text button

Step 2: Go to Edit --> Special Characters

Step 3: A new character box will then pop up.  Select the font you want and a complete character list will show up.   Click on the glyph character you want to use.  

Step 4: When you click on the character, you will see a new box that has the Unicode character.  You will need to use the 4 code character.  In this case, the unicode character for the glyphed "k" is e060.

Step 5: Press Control + u.  At the bottom toolbar, you will see the word "Unicode".

Step 6: Enter in the unicode from above (eo6o) and press enter.

Step 7: The new character will appear!

Tips: If there are certain characters you use a lot, you can add it to your favorites and then switch to your favorites screen so you don't have to scroll so much to search for the codes of characters you would use a lot.

Married!

So I've been married 3 weeks and I've just gotten around to writing the "I'm Married!" post.  But...I'm married!  :)

Marriage does not feel any different than being in love and unmarried with Brian.  It just means a little more bling for the both of us.  But there is something comforting and nice in knowing that we got to express what we mean to each other to our friends and family. 

I loved every single moment of my wedding day once the ceremony music started.  I ate, I drank, I danced, I laughed and laughed, I cried, I felt a LOT.  It honestly went by in the blink of an eye and at the end of the night, I couldn't feel my fourth toe on my right foot from all the dancing I did in my heels.  (By the way, feeling didn't come back for 3 days - it was pretty scary yet amazing to have a constant physical reminder of all the fun I had).

I have some minor regrets about the day - not getting a photo of just me and my brothers, not having a chance to try the hor d'eouvres, not making sure more people knew about the photobooth, and being so rushed setting things up that photos were extremely rushed.  If I could redo one decision, it would have been to hire a Day-Of-Coordinator.  Hands down, I would have hired one knowing what I know now.  But c'est la vie.  I'm mulling over starting a side project of being a coordinator since I love weddings so much but let's just relive my wedding for now.

I married my lovie.  My oh-so-wonderful lovie who quote Mr. Darcy to me during our vows.  My lovie who so patiently practiced his ballroom dancing skills.  The one who makes me feel so blessed every night and every morning.  The one who surprised me during our wedding weekend by dancing with abandon.  The one who loves me the same way.

Walking down the aisle was a blur of just overwhelming emotion.  I remember locking eyes with Brian and just focusing on him.  No nerves, no fears, just confidence that I was walking to the love of my life.


Lisa & Brian from David Bettencourt on Vimeo.

Finally ...The Dress!

Umm....sooo I've actually gotten married since my last post....so it just means you get full results!  No more hiding this post from Brian - not that he would have actually looked.

I don't have professional pictures yet but I'll post some guest photos of me in the wedding dress the day of after all the alterations!

I got this dress the day of my birthday.  Brian drove me, Alice, and my friend Jackie to a place called Camilla's in Arlington.  Please let me tell you, girls of Boston and surrounding areas, I adore Camilla's.  They were so warm and welcoming and the shop is so stinkin' cute!  Everytime I went back, they remembered my name, my exact dress and order, and they honestly felt like family by the time I got my dressed.  Sappy but true!  I heart Camilla's!  

I'll just show you the collection of dresses I tried on.  A majority of them were Mikaella dresses because I fell in love with one particular dress that Mrs. Expresso wore from Weddingbee.  Alas, that dress looked much more spectacular on her than I.  But that's ok because I got my own spectacular dress!  :)

I thought I just wanted a plain, simple dress but this was a little too plain for me.  I needed something with a little more bling.

This is a photo of the dress I initially thought I was totally going to get:

Totally gorgeous, right?  On me?  ....not so much....

Oh well, c'est la vie!  More dresses still to come!

I know this dress looks horrendous because of the saggy boob area but that's just because I couldn't fill it out.  Blame the girl, not the dress!  However, the back and train of the dress were dreamy!

Look at the buttons and the lace at the end of the train!  Imagine how wonderful that lace would look once the train was bustled.  ::swoon::

THE DRESS!  Yay!!!!!!!!  drumroll please!

"Brianna" by Maggie Sottero.  I wasn't going to initially try this dress on but the beading on the bodice caught my eye and it was the last dress I pulled off the rack to try on.  It was also the last dress I tried on because I was so certain I was going to love another dress.  But I was so wrong and I so loved this dress.  It was perfect for me. 

Here are some of the photos of me on my wedding day with the dress fitted.  I had a significant part of the train cut off because it was so long.  However, there was plenty of train left to make a beautiful bustle.  Violet, the seamstress at Camilla's, created a beautiful 8 point bustle.  

Frost Yourself!

Or rather, fake pearl yourself!  I've been on a jewelry kick lately trying to find jewelry to go with my gown.  The trouble is I'm horrific at visualization - I just make myself picture what I want to picture, not what actually is.  I was on Snippet and Ink (at exactly 9:05 am everyday), when I decided to check out the sale section they had and came across Orange and Blossom and they're jewelry section.

They freakin' got me.  I'm a sucker for Audrey Hepburn and Breakfast at Tiffany's (how gorgeous are Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard together?!?).  As soon as I saw her pic with the pears, my jaw dropped, my eyes glazed over, and I may have drooled a little.  So suffice it to say...this is the result:

 

Aannnd, there's more.  Later that night, I was on Etsy again like any self-respecting bride should be, and saw this:

Soooo pretty!  So blingy!  So pearly!  Must. Have. 

So I do.  I went from being a zero necklace bride to a 2 necklace bride in a matter of 12 hours. 

I would tell you if either necklace matched my dress or not but I'm still waiting for my dress to arrive.  *Dress, please come soon!  I'll treat you well, I promise!*  So it's very very highly possible these necklaces become gifts.  If that's the case, bridesmaids erase this entry from your memory!

I have a very regular hair schedule - grow it out, get tired of it, chop it off.  I've kept this pattern ever since I've been little. Well, actually, my mom kept me on this schedule because I was a lazy little girl and never brushed my hair.  When I was in fourth grade, she got tired of having to brush the snarls out, and one day while it was still in a ponytail...she cut it off.  Ever since then, I get a complex whenever my hair gets too long.  It starts to always get in the way and I never have enough time to style it when I run out the door.  

My hair grows pretty quickly also.  The first pic is right after I cut it and then went to Key West in March 2009.  The next pic* is March 2010 in Florida again.  It's grown a lot in a year! 

Usually at this point, I'd go get another haircut but I'm stuck until after the wedding.  I think it's the feeling of restriction that's been making me staring at scissors with visions of doing a self-cut.  However, until then I constantly feel like this:

Does anyone have any styling suggestions besides a regular ponytail which I've been sporting for 2 weeks straight?

*Please excuse the semi-budoir shot.  It really wasn't done on purpose.  Brian was trying to take a picture of our view from our hotel room and I blocked his view....apparently in the middle of changing because I'm ADD and can't complete a task without getting distracted.

When in Boston (Wedding Dresses II)

BRIAN.  STOP HERE.  Do not pass Go.  Do not collect $200.

Wedding dresses!  Wheeee!

Some warnings are worth repeating:

I'm going to warn everyone now that for whatever reason, everytime I went to try on wedding dresses, my hair was OOC (out of control) and so were my facial expressions.  I think it was because of this that my cousins decided to not include my face for half the pictures.  I think this is pretty much for everyone's benefit.

Nice Day for a White Wedding...Dress

I'm going to warn everyone now that for whatever reason, everytime I went to try on wedding dresses, my hair was OOC (out of control) and so were my facial expressions.  I think it was because of this that my cousins decided to not include my face for half the pictures.  I think this is pretty much for everyone's benefit.

BRIAN - GO AWAY.  Love you muchos butros golly!

The Dreaded "B" Word

Duh duh duh!  BUDGET!

Initially Brian and I had intended to stay within a $25K budget.  However, after visiting The Charles Hotel and a lot of the local venues in the city, we quickly realized that we would have to amend that budget.  I think if Brian and I were truly committed to staying within that budget, we could have made it work.  We toyed with having the wedding in the winter around the January - March timeframe but, alas, the life of an accountant would have made that impossible.  That would have been the busiest time at work for me where I'd be lucky to even have the Friday before the wedding off so that was quickly nixed.  We also could have had our wedding outside the city but that would totally not have been "me".

So we've since bumped up our budget to $35K and this is only for the Western part of the wedding.  Since we're also holding a Chinese reception and tea ceremony, we've also added about $5K for that.  Fortunately, my parents will be paying for that portion of it as a wedding present to Brian and myself.  However, we may be pitching in a bit here and there - such as my qi pao and cheongsam which I'll probably be getting made in China.

Here are the details of our budget that we created a few months ago.  Along the way since then, we've had to reallocate funds to accommodate unexpected expenses.  For example, I was under the impression that flowers would not be that important and we would be having the bare minimum in florals and have DIY centerpieces.  But then Brian seemed pretty sad that we wouldn't have real flowers and then I found Bumble Bee Landing and fell in love with her work and one thing led to another and then we had a florist.  And then Brian's mom had only request - to have a videographer.  And that's how we found David Bettencourt.  I was going to DIY the invitations with my gocco that I bought two years ago just so I could use for my wedding (no lie) but then I found MaeMae Paperie and fell in love again. I need to stop falling in love with wedding vendors.  It's an issue.  But all these things caused us to change our budget somewhat.  However, we've still stayed within our original plan....just allocated differently.  See the link to our actual Google Budget Spreadsheet.

Of course with all this talk of budgets and weddings, a part of me realizes that I'm being pretty blase with throwing all these figures.  I am very aware of the fact that this is a LOT of money...and I know it's just for one day.  There's no real reason except that I know how much fun weddings are and I know how much this one day can mean for not Brian and myself, but for my friends and family.  I'm the first child in my family to get married and my entire family is excited about it.  My grandmother giggles everytime we talk about Chinese traditions, my aunts get fired up about which are lucky days and unlucky days, and my cousins and I pore over wedding magazines together.  I hope for my friends that it's a night for friends who live thousands of miles apart to come together for one night and party like the old days.  But for me, I selfishly want this day so I can see Brian at the end of the altar.  I can almost feel the butterflies now as I imagine the look on his face as I walk towards him.  I don't need to spend a lot of money to get that moment but I would also pay anything to get that moment.

Chu-EEZE!

Right after we picked the venue, I knew the very next step was finding our photographer.  Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, this has been the hardest part of our wedding.  I am not joking when I say that I contacted at least 8 photographers who were all booked on our date.  I really shouldn't be surprised since September is so limited in dates.  The first Saturday is Labor Day and a lot of people don't want to take away from people's vacations during holiday weekends.  The second Saturday is September 11th....not a date you would really want associated with your wedding.  You get the point.

Let me preface by saying that even though I had to go through a lot of photographers to find her, I am SOOO glad that I did.  Jen Ing came recommended by several photographers and I was immediately drawn in by the emotions that she captures in her pictures.

I'm so excited about having Jen shoot our wedding!  Now if only Brian and I can decide on a location to shoot our engagement pictures...

Hey Mr. DJ!

For Brian and myself, picking the DJ seemed to be the most “iffy” vendor to choose. For example, you know how to judge photographers and videographers. You view their portfolio and you either like their work or you don’t. Done. But with DJ’s, how can you judge their work? It’s not like you can just take a setlist they’ve used at weddings because (hopefully) that set has been customized for the bride and groom specifically. Judging that setlist is NOT a reflection of the DJ’s work. With that dilemma in mind, we realized that the only way to get this vendor out of the way was to look at price and how well we “clicked” with that vendor.

Before meeting them, Brian and I set our base parameters.  Our budget was $2000. We needed them to be there at 5 PM for the ceremony to provide the microphones and speakers. Also, since the cocktail hour is gong to be held in the same courtyard as the ceremony, then some light music for the ceremony. Then our wedding reception is set to end at 11:30 so it would be roughly 6.5 hours of service that we would need the DJ for (minus setup/cleanup time). Also, we were possibly interested in having some lighting options just to provide more of an ambiance on the dance floor.

The first DJ we met with was DJ Raffi. I had heard great things about him and was really eager to meet him. Honestly, I really did like him. He was extremely professional and personable and had DJed for weddings at The Charles before. He had created a slideshow of the last wedding he had been there and was extremely helpful in answering all our questions. He seemed to be the most experienced DJ we met and seemed like he would be the most prepared for any catastrophe (should it occur). However, with experience comes the price for experience. There were extra charges to set up the sound system in the courtyard for the reception and cocktail hour as well as pretty high hourly rate charges to extend service beyond the 5 hour basic service. As a side pro, DJ Raffi did have very affordable lighting options that we liked. For people that have a slightly larger DJ budget, I would definitely recomend for them to meet with DJ Raffi.

On the same day, Brian and I also met with Tom Laquidara .  Of all the DJs we contacted, his prices were the most affordable.  I liked him and he seemed very passionate about his job and about serving the customer.  He had a more laid-back approach and seemed like someone who would not try and overtake the wedding.  However, I was really worried about getting people on the dance floor and about the lulls in the wedding where I would need the DJ to get people pumped up again and we decided to keep looking.

At this point, I felt like Goldilocks searching for the perfect porridge.  Luckily, we hit the mark with our third DJ - DJ Seth from BeatTrain.  Our main contact from BeatTrain was extremely professional and gave us reassurance that because they had multiple people in the company, there would always be a backup in case something happened to DJ Seth.  Then he disclosed that DJ Seth's wife is pregnant with their first child and is due to give birth sometime around our wedding.  This worried me for a quick sec but, honestly, it's not a huge dealbreaker for me.  I just appreciated their honesty from the beginning.  Also, their prices were juuuust right.  :)

My suggestions for DJ hunting:

• Set your budget
• Set the services you want and the length of time
• Know what kind of DJ style you want - someone more involved with the wedding, less involved, etc
• If you need them for the ceremony, ask what microphone/speaker systems they use 
• Ask what type of equipment you need to provide (i.e. tables, coverings, etc)

Inspiration, Inspiration, Another Inspiration, Baby!

I'm in the middle of finalizing an invitation designer and she asked me to put together some inspiration images.  Of course I couldn't just use my old inspiration board, could I?  Definitely not!  That's why I spent another 4 hours scouring the web to modify my original inspiration board and now I'm completely enamored with what I created.  I wish I had created this months earlier - it would have made a lot of decisions a lot easier.

To create your own mosaic, I used this website - it's so easy!

One of my favorite images is the far right image in the middle row.  I love the perspective of the image - it reminds me of Drew Barrymore in "Ever After" - like Cinderella about to step into the castle for the ball.  It's just soft and romantic - I love it!

I know this is a stretch but it also reminds me of a book called "From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler".  In the book, a girl and her brother run away and live in the Metropolitan Museum.  While there, they try and unravel a secret regarding Michaelangelo.  It was one of my favorite books growing up and now I wish I had made it a theme.  How amazing would it be to have that as your theme and hold your wedding at the Boston Public Library?!  That's it - I need to go change my venue now!

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