1/10/2008 marked our 4 year anniversary, but he proposed on 12/30/2007 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. I sort of had an idea since we were going to have a nice dinner to celebrate our anniversary early, but I wasn't expecting him to propose at that spot.

We lucked out because it was such a beautiful and clear day in the city. We walked around and sat on a bench near the pond. He gave me his ipod because he wanted me to watch a video that he and his friends made (they often like to record funny short skits). The gist of the video was that everyone was trying to find Marlon, and some of his friends "captured" his sister to force her to reveal Marlon's whereabouts. When she broke free in the last scene of the video, she "calls" Marlon up and says, "Hey, your friends are looking for you. But I didn't tell them where you were at. Nope, I didn't tell them you're at the Palace of Fine Arts with a surprise for Kristen." Once the video ended, that's when he proposed!

 

Afterwards, we enjoyed a really nice dinner at Roys (Hawaiian fusion restaurant). And to top off the perfect evening, we watched 'Rocky'. I know I know, but can you believe that it was actually my idea? Mainly because I've never seen any of the Rocky movies except the most recent one (Rocky Balboa), and I was inspired because one of the guys in the video runs around the UCLA campus to the Rocky theme.

When: August 2009
Where: Sheraton Palo Alto
Colors: purple and yellow (I love purple and he loves the Lakers)
Theme: simple, modern, clean, Hawaiian

Inspirations

Haven't seen too much stuff out there for a tropical purple and yellow wedding, but I finally attempted to make an inspiration board!  I'm pretty much all over the place.

I also made one for my bridal shower (am I allowed to do that? haha)  It's a bit easier because I was thinking of a French wine themed one.

Here's a few of my favorite e-pics we took back in September 2008 at the Cerritos Library and Table Rock Beach (which is a bit south of Laguna Beach).  Marlon took me to this beach for my birthday the first year we were together.  It's nice little secluded beach.  His friends were the photographers, so all the credit goes towards them (http://artlightphoto.com).

My Dress

I actually got my dress from David's Bridal back last month...but I made a slight mistake.  I saw it in the store and really loved it, but they didn't have my size and apparently the only way I could ever really try it on would be to buy it.  So...I did.  Luckily DB is fairly cheap and the manager said if I didn't like it, I could exchange it for another one.  I would be stuck getting a dress there, but that's ok.  I am not a dress person and DB has decent dresses for budget brides.

But I ordered it in ivory because I thought it would look best on my Asian skin (hey, it looked really great on Margaret).  But I never saw the ivory in the store.  The one I saw was white.  I should've known better.  Who knew there was such a difference between ivory and white (...only a bride)?  When I got the dress, I still loved the style, but something was off.  I took it home and realized it was the ivory color.  It wasn't the same as the one in store, so I exchanged it and now I should be getting it in March.  *fingers crossed*

So this is a Galina dress I bought at DB.

Bridesmaid Dress

I sort of copied Margaret on this one.  It's the same dress as the one I wore for her wedding, but chose strapless instead of a halter top.  I had to act quick because JCrew was only offering the purple color (not the pink-ish one featured below) during the summer.  I mainly chose JCrew for convenience because my bridesmaids are spread out throughout the country, and (I'm going to say it) I felt that they really could wear this not-made-to-be-a-bridesmaid-dress dress outside of the wedding.  And if they don't want to, well at least I didn't make some of them pay too much because since it was seasonal, it went on sale towards the end of summer for $49.

I was also fortunate enough to go to Japan with my family a few months ago and I found these beautiful fans that the BMs can carry in lieu of a bouquet.  Our groomsmen are going to wear barongs (Filipino dress shirts), so I figured these fans can represent my Japanese culture in our ceremony.  The fan is actually a dark blue color, but I thought it's a nice enough contrast with the purple dress (which is actually a bit lighter in real life).  Don't want to be too matchy-matchy or else it'll get lost!

darn, Jeni has my before pictures...

But here's the afters!

(haha, I had to add the close up of the eyes because I have double eyelids!  I don't naturally have that, it's the false eyelashes)

With 7 girls, I had to be on a budget.  In addition to getting them manis/pedis, I copied the age old idea of putting items in a tote bag.  However, I tried to make it more meaningful by organizing those items into theme surrounding the wedding day.  I also had to take into account that half of them had to fly, so I wanted to make sure they had room in their luggage and TSA wouldn't get mad at them.

So I bought different colored tote bags from sacksandsuch.com for $5.  I wanted to give each girl a color that they would like, and my personal feeling is that I don't like carrying around a bag with my name or someone else's monogram, so I left it plain.  I made little luggage tags simply with shapes in Word and traced/cut them out onto construction paper.  Then I gave each girl 3 bags labeled "Before" "During" and "After"(all labels also made in Word and I just glued it on).  Inside the bags contained items they could use Before the wedding, During the wedding, and After the wedding.

BEFORE:
1 bottle of water
2 snack packs

total = $1.50
reasoning: made sure they have something to eat before the wedding

DURING:
gel foot pads
oil blotting tissues
lip balm
tissues
gum

total = $6.50
reasoning: heels are not comfortable, lip balm and oil blotting are for touch ups, tissues in case they cry, and gum for those impressionable moments

AFTER:
make up remover
nail polish remover
hand lotion
foot lotion
travel slippers
bar of daisy soap

total = $6
reasoning: at the end of the night after getting sweaty from all the dancing, you just want to clean up and feel good before getting into bed.

I have to highly recommend elf.com, the 99 cent section in Target, and Daiso, a Japanese discount store.  That's primarily the reason why I was able to give as much as I could for $19/bridesmaid.  My bridesmaids are obviously worth more than that, so I also paid for their manis/pedis and a lunch.  I just tried to be as practical and wallet-friendly as possible.

Ok, so this may be silly, but I wanted to document my very first wedding purchase! It's these Callaway champagne flutes from Crate and Barrel. I wasn't looking to purchase these, but I was at the store today and they really caught my eye. I really like their Adrienne glassware and I just assumed I would get flutes in that same style. But the Callaway ones felt very sturdy, it has a simple look (which I like), and I like the etched rim around the glass. Made it a little unique, I thought. So I figured, "What the hey, it's never too early, right?"

These are the cards I made to send out to my girls asking them to be my maids of honor or bridesmaids. Simple cardstock sheets that I cut, I made the crossword on Word, and it's all held together with a flower brad.

We finally booked a place and sent out the evite! It'll be at BJ's Brewery in SoCal. We mainly picked it for convenience.

Here's a mock up of the little favors I made. I know you don't normally have favors at engagement parties, but it was just lollipops and since our party was around Valentine's Day, I thought it would be cute. I got the small glass vases at a Japanese discount store (called Daiso, there are a few stores in the Bay Area) and bought M&Ms because it's cheaper than rocks.



Here are the different designs and signs that I made. They're all double sided - my mom's an avid scrapbooker/card maker, so I had plenty of supplies and tools (double heart cut out, heart shaped brads, stamps and embossing powder). I lucked out when I found a stamp that said 'From the Heart'. Thought it'd be perfect corniness with the heart shaped lollipops. And I just used meat skewers as the sign sticks and double sided tape to hold it all together.

So far:

- Got my dress, shoes (really slippers), and jewelry
- BMs have bought the dresses
- I've booked the venue (and the woman I'm working with will act as the coordinator)
- Got the photographer
- My aunt has designed the invites and save-the-dates
- My friend is designing our logos/monograms
- Settled on the favors (can't buy til it gets closer)
- Got all the songs (processional, first dance, etc.) picked out
- Got the centerpieces (I'm just dressing up the hotel's centerpieces)
- My neighbor (who has a cosmetology license) is doing my hair & make up
- My maid of honor's sister is doing a dessert buffet
- Got the DJ
- booked the florist
- I've set up the registries
- Mailed out the save the dates!
- bought crafts for the kid's activity table
- completed the BM's gifts (but can't say since some of them are on PW!)
- booked honeymoon
- booked the rehearsal dinner
- bought BP gifts

What else is left:

- get the officiant deputized
- assemble invites and favors (order cookies)
- set up master excel spreadsheet of guest info
- make agenda for day & assign duties so everyone is on the same page

...about 1 month left to go... 

This is the brownie recipe I cited in the forums awhile ago. Got it from the NY Times, and apparently they got it from "Baking: From My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan.

Time: 1 1/4 hours

12 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces, plus 1 tsp melted butter for brushing pan
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, in pieces
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup lightly toasted walnuts or hazelnuts (optional)

1. Place rack just below center of oven and preheat to 300 degrees. Line an 8-inch-square pan with foil and brush with melted butter.

2. In a bowl, whisk flour and salt together. In top of a double boiler set over barely simmering water, or on low power in a microwave (which I did), melt remaining butter and chocolate together. Stir often and remove from heat when a few lumps remain. Stir until smooth.

3. In a mixer, beat eggs and sugar together until thick and pale yellow. Add chocolate mixture and vanilla and mix at low speed until smooth. Add dry ingredients and mix 30 seconds, then finish mixing by hand, adding nuts if using. Pour into prepared pan and back 50-60 minutes, until top is dry. Let cool in pan, then lift out and cut into bars or wrap in foil.

Yield: 12-16 brownies (or, because they're dense, cut them small like I did and get 25)

Bon appetit!