Kristen's biography
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 one that just came out (Rocky Balboa), and I was inspired because one of the guys in a video runs around the UCLA campus to the Rocky theme.
Basics:
- time: August 2009
- colors: purple, gold (he loves the Lakers and I like purple) - tropical style though
- simple, modern, fun, luau style without the kitschy-ness (like what you see at Party America stores...but I'm in no way of putting them down because I happily used them to throw a bridal shower (pics below))
So far:
- BMs have bought the dresses (purple strapless dress from JCrew)
- I've booked the venue (and the woman I'm working with will act as the coordinator)
- Got the photographer (my high school friend is a wedding photog in CO! - Vivid Reflections)
- My aunt has designed the invites and save-the-dates
- My friend has designed our logos/monograms
- I've picked out the favors
- My mom's aunt will do the flowers
- Got all the songs (processional, first dance, etc.) picked out
- Got the centerpieces (using the hotel's and just adding some loose flowers)
- My neighbor (who has a cosmetology license) is doing my hair & make up
What else is left:
- my dress
- DJ
- book the honeymoon
- assemble all the above stuff, but that can wait until we get closer
...and there's still 13 months left to go! Am I insane or what?
Photo by: Paradise Designs, Cinderella Cakes
Photo by: Olio Designs, Water Lily Pond
Photo by: Kehoe Designs, Kathy Wilhelmy Flowers
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.
Some pictures of how we decorated the place
My Favors!
I bought clear take-out boxes from Target, a thank you card set which I cut up to make 'tags' (and it also had stickers that I conveniently put on the front), and filled them with Trident tropical fruit gum and candy I bought from Hilo Hattie. Also, because of my personalized fruit candy tins snafu (I never received them), I printed out labels to stick on the back of the 'thank you' tags. I'm selfishly proud of them!
Filling out the guestbook pages that I bought from guestbookstore.com
Games
Island Treasures Memory Game! I placed 17 Hawaiian-related items on a tray, gave everyone 1.5 minutes to study the tray, and then 1.5 minutes to remember everything on the tray. Each item is worth 1 point, and the person with the most points wins.
Pin-the-Coconut on the Tree! I bought a 6 ft. jointed cut out palm tree from Party America and cut out "coconuts" from construction paper. I wrote everyone's name on them so we would be able to tell apart who's coconut was whose, and I also added some slipper stickers on them. Here I am giving Margaret her "coconut."
The end result of the game
Hawaiian Pictionary! I came up with about 25 different Hawaii-related clues, split everyone into two teams, and each team had 2 minutes to draw and guess (but that proved to be too long! We ended up having people try to draw 2 clues in 1 minute). Here's Margaret drawing a canoe.
Cake!
Here's Margaret, her "jazz" hands, and the Mango cake my mom bought from Red Ribbon Bakery (it's a Filipino bakery). It was very light and yummy.
The present I bought Margaret
I got her a personalized garter online (for her 'something blue' and 'something new' - they also matched her invitations!) and 3 tropical scented shower gels from Hilo Hattie.
And finally, the bride-to-be with her bouquet of tissue paper and bows that will be used during her rehearsal.
With these shoes I got from Zappos! I tried walking around before to break them in, but it didn't help much. They weren't that comfortable, even when I bought some gel pads. =\
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!
