|
|
| December 2006 | |
|
Mirian Lee, 27, Ph.D. student at the Wedding date: June 2, 2007, in
Sept. 15-30 He said: While it's been hard motivating myself to actually
do some planning, I was fortunate this week to talk to a friend who is also
planning her wedding in In addition, I was referred to a good online source for various paper related projects for invitations and such. Mirian and I will be selecting something from the site to send out our "Save the Date" cards since we don't want to spend too much money on that. Speaking of invitations, my god they are expensive! Who the hell knew that you could actually spend more than a few hundred on some paper to tell people to RSVP? I think I'm in favor of the power of the Internet's wide distribution channel and would prefer sending out an evite. She said:
One of our groomsmen, Huy, and my wonderful maid of honor,
Alice, have referred some photographers.
Dave and I compared prices and styles and we think that we want to
schedule an appointment to meet with the photographer that We also got in touch with Dave’s cousin, an interior designer
who lives in
Oct. 1-13 She said: I haven’t had much time to do anything but school-related work lately. It has made me feel incredibly frustrated and stressed as I try mentally and emotionally to balance these two aspects [the wedding and school] of my life. I am trying to work out consistently, because I don’t feel much inspiration for dress shopping until I feel fit enough and time has been much of the essence for me. There is a lack of time to do all that I need and want to do. I am getting worried as every dress shop I visited in the summer insisted that a dress HAD to be ordered six months ahead, which means I need to decide on one by December. I don’t think that I will be satisfied with that timeline. Anywhere I go, I search for possible bridesmaid’s dresses, flower combinations and etc, but the final decision doesn’t get made. I have to admit that I recently started to have random thoughts, sparsely so far, of last minute wedding disasters. I keep dreaming that I am so busy with school that I have one week to make my decisions and finally walk down a sloppy aisle and feel numb to the whole experience. I feel
homesick and cannot wait until I go home for Thanksgiving to see my parents for
a few days, but I also feel the pressure to try to squeeze in any wedding
details that we could do while being in L.A.
That is another challenge…planning a wedding long distance. It feels
like it is impossible because we don’t know what sights or food is like until
we set a time to try them out and that limits choices for us. Dave has tried to call a real state agent
that our friend referred us to for the party location but some of these
realtors are really rude and arrogant.
Their attitude is intolerable and it makes the process very unpleasant
for both of us because we don’t have time to waste with people who don’t seem
willing to help us. On the other hand, Dave and I are considering hiring a
wedding consultant to help us with this because I don’t think that we can do much
from I must say
that despite all this craziness, we do have our moments of quality time. Last
weekend we went to visit a local chocolate factory in I think we will begin to make some calls and an agenda of the things and places that either one of us can do for December, once in L.A. (which I believe will be me because Dave will be heading to San Diego to visit his parents and be in Vancouver for Christmas with the rest of his family). This means: caterer (Korean food), flowers, decorations for church reception, bride’s dress, find a ‘Paebak’ renting place, find out price for hair and make up for the complete wedding party, photographer and finalize wedding invitation design/wording. Once January hits, I don’t think I can handle the rest because I will enter qualifying exam mode and I cannot do anything but study until the end of March. I am glad that I am going through all of this because remembering that I have a true, meaningful life event by next June provides me perspective within my crazy, intense graduate school life. It helps me remember my family and close friends are truly, what counts in life.
Oct. 14-27 He said: Wedding planner? Oh my god, I talked to a friend who is spending about 6K on theirs alone. 6K? I mean, we haven't even started talking about actually
tangible things for the wedding. However, I think I am convinced that we should
get one sooner or later. Luckily, a friend of mine from I personally think having a planner would hopefully put in an objective voice that could put people in their place if any future disagreements arise. She said: Since I felt guilty from the last entry, I realized that I really needed to be organized and focused with the wedding preparation. I bought myself a Franklin Covey, wedding planning agenda and began to settle a few more details for the wedding. This is a very useful tool to take around with me so I can jot down ideas and information when I need to. In
addition, Dave and I have been in touch with other friends to share wedding
preparation ideas and suggestions. It has been so incredibly helpful because
they have referred us to I’m curious to know what color she chose because I had an idea of having each respective family, wear a symbolic color to allow the guests to differentiate who’s related or connected to whom. Meaning, since the wedding colors are champagne/pink tones, I thought of having my dad and brother wear a goldish hue tie, my mom in the same dress tone (since my bridesmaids, I hope, will wear goldish, champagne tone dresses), thus the groomsmen would wear a boutonniere or tie in a pinkish, hue, etc. or vice versa. Does it make sense? But now, I’ll have to adjust this detail. I guess, we do it in the flower/corsage arrangements rather than the formal wear. December will be the big month of placing deposits and making more decisions: actually ordering and buying my wedding gown, reception/after party location, additional decorating details and the list goes on. Once the big decisions are made and on its way, I think I will begin to really engage my honorable and numerous bridesmaids to help me with other details and organizing, especially with invitations (because I think we’re putting them together). Even though I am realizing that organizing and task sharing amongst all of them is also an issue to balance so that no one gets their feelings hurt or feels overlooked. I really don’t want to become a bridezilla and I hope my girlfriends will be supportive and on top of things when I ask them for help. So far, they each have been great, very supportive and willing to provide their input. I’ve put them on the search for the bridesmaids dress and I am surprised as to how they all consistently ask for the dress to be something they can use again. However, to be honest I am not sure if that will be possible. I find it interesting how some of them request to be paired with a tall or particular groomsman, sincerely, yeah right! They really have no say in this detail. One has mentioned that it would be nice if I could throw the bouquet and garter before the party so they can be spotted as the single ones…ha-ha that really made me laugh because different ideas can cross one’s mind, even though it’s regarding one wedding event. I am excited that I have prepared a really special gift for my bridesmaids (I am not sure if I can share it in case any of them find this entry) but it was specially brought all the way from Brazil for each of them. I wanted to give them something special and rare…making them realize that I really appreciate their giving spirit. One my bridesmaids, Christine, recently visited me this weekend for her Nike Women’s marathon and we happened to walk into Tiffany’s to browse for fun. I did try on a few wedding bands to see what style would match my engagement ring and the woman at the counter was really honest and helpful. I think I found the right design, but now it’s a matter of affording and having Dave agree to it. Just in case, it’s a thin, platinum band with channel setting all around. (sigh)…very pretty and it made me realize how it completed the ring package. Even though I shared with Christine how big or great the ring is, it is really the last thing on my mind. It reminds me more of how special of a relationship I have been gifted with. I wear the ring everyday, thinking of how great and wonderful of a love we share and don’t even focus on the ring’s design or size anymore. What else…Dave and I will begin registry in December. We will buy our wedding bands.
Get our marriage license and etc….However, for now, we’re looking in to sending
out our ‘Save the Date’ cards soon since our wedding date (June 2) is very
close to Memorial Day weekend and most of our close friends live scattered
throughout the country and world. We were
referred to a great site, love it and will probably use their services for this
detail. The site is www.paper-source.com.
Also, since it’s a challenge for us to see certain locations for our after
party, my great future brother-in-law, Eric, who lives in |
We haven’t progressed as much with planning other
than deciding on a possible wedding invitation design. We saw a hand-made
sample at a local stationary store and loved the idea because it was simple yet
elegant in its own way and more importantly, it had a genius design that we
could incorporate both English and Korean in the same invitation, but without
being cumbersome for our guests. We also hope to send out the save-the-date
cards either in November (which I doubt) or most likely early March. I loved
the design (it’s a square envelopment with different layers of color and sizes)
and I am really happy that both Dave and I like the design.
Personally, there are times when I feel excited and I am
really looking forward to the wedding, but often it is easier to just not even
think about it. I think it’s because I’m in graduate school and this year has
started crazy and been extremely busy for me. I wish I could keep in touch more
often with all of my bridesmaids and family, but there just isn’t enough
time.
