abattyref's biography
Warning! Begin shameless plug!
I'm a graphic artist and have almost a decade of experience with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. I am more than happy to help out any bride or groom with the design of invitations, STDs, maps, programs and other random signage. Aside from creating my own invitations and other paper products, I've helped out a few other brides with theirs. I have created a number of maps for fellow PWers (scroll WAY down to see them), and someday I'll get around to creating a graphic design website. In the mean time, feel free to email me with any questions or if you have need of my skills.
abattyref at yahoo dot com
Thank you!
End shameless plug...
Name: Alex
Wedding Date: October 6, 2007
City/State/Country you're getting married in (if different): Walnut Creek, CA
Your song/First Dance song: You're Nobody Til Somebody Loves You by Dean Martin
Wedding Colors: Burgundy, Red, Ivory, Black
Formality: Semi-formal, suits instead of tuxes
Theme: Chinese and American mixed traditions.
Number of guests: 160
How'd you meet your fiance?: We were both referees for the same soccer club.
How long have you been together?: ten years
My FI and I are planning a wedding for 160 people in Walnut Creek. Since, FI is Chinese and I'm white, we're doing a lot of Chinese traditions as well and American traditions.
We met, technically, when we were both soccer referees for our local soccer club. We became great friends as we began traveling to referee high level youth games and semi-pro adult games. I say "technically" because we went to the same high school two years apart and I knew who he was. He didn't know me specifically, but he knew my family through the soccer club. His translation is that I was stalking him. So not true.
We've been dating since 1998 and got engaged officially while on a mini-vacation in Las Vegas. He proposed by slipping the ring on my finger while I was still asleep. I woke up and, though it took me a minute to figure out what was going on, he popped the question. It was a proposal perfectly suited to us and very personal. I'm so lucky to have such a great guy.
Fi and I are both Bay Area born and raised, but we currently live in the Long Beach area; we moved a few years ago for FI's work, bought a house and am learning about all of the frusrations that come with home ownership. I'm a graphic artist and illustrator and FI is an IT Manager for a major airline. Both of our parents still live in the East Bay. Thanks to FI's flight benefits, we visit our families a couple times a month.
The ceremony will be at Shadelands Ranch Museum in Walnut Creek, CA.
These photos were takin in winter, the trees will have leaves on them in the summer... hopefully ;-)
Everything is much prettier when there are leaves on the trees.
After the ceremony we'll have a small reception with dim sum and beverages. We'll take photos while the guests mingle and we'll take a large group photo. FI and I are looking to have some Chinese lion dancers perform as a surprise. And we'll have the tea ceremony in this time too.
The banquet reception will be at Tin's Tea House Lounge in Walnut Creek. We're having a traditional ten-course Chinese banquet. We will actually have our tables look like this. Red tablecloths, ivory napkins, ivory plates with bright yellow chargers. I like how colorful it looks, but still sophisticated.
My gown:
$250 on sale from JCrew.com. It's incredibly comfortable and exactly the kind of gown I wanted. Simple, elegant and a little sexy.
My shoes. $64 from Nordstrom. I wasn't thrilled with most of the flats I found... and to be honest, I'm not thrilled with these. I dislike that they're patent leather and they make my size 10 feet look pretty darned long. But they're the most comfortable flats I had tried on. Being 5'9", I have to wear flats because I can't make my gown any longer. It totally sucks some of the really adorable flats I've seen since after my wedding.
I'll have my hair done similar to this with burgundy orchids here and there. My chapel length veil will be tucked under my hair. I've ordered it custom so it's not too poofy at the comb and very sheer.
Photo reference for my Chinese gown (cheongsam):
I wanted the burgundy gown on the left with the embroidery and buttons from the red gown on the right. East Store did was wonderful job and the gown was custom made to my curvy measurements. My only issue with the gown was my own darned fault... I didn't wear a slip and the static elecrticity made the gown stick to my legs. It kind of made me walk funny... thank goodness I didn't dance in this dress. ;-P
There's a long story about a beautiful gown that my MIL had made for me while she was in China... I ended up not wearing that gown and ordering this one two weeks before the wedding. It arrived in four days!
These are the flats I wore with this gown:
$50 from Zappos. I totally lucked out that they are a very close match to the gown's color. I had actually been thinking about buying dyables before I found these. They've quite comfy. A contrasting color would have looked awful and drawn way too much attention to my feet.
The guys will be wearing black suits. FI and I haven't been able to agree on shirt, tie and vest colors. I would like the classic white shirt with FI in a black striped tie and the GM in burgundy ties. (all the boutonnieres will be burgundy orchids) FI doesn't like wearing a white shirt, (he says it makes him feel like he's on a job interview), so he wants to wear a burgundy shirt and a black tie. I'm having a hard time picturing it... but, I've decided that I don't want to stress about it, so I've told him it's his decision. I'm going to just let him surprise me.
UPDATE: FI will wear a black striped tie at the ceremony with a white shirt. All the GM will wear burgundy ties and white shirts. At the reception, when I change into my Chinese gown, FI will change into a black dress shirt and a red tie with gold dragons on it. It's a little bit cheesy, but it will still be fun.
My attendants are my three best friends and my younger sister. They are all maids or matrons of honor instead of bridesmaids because I want them all on equal ground in the planning process. They all have busy schedules, so I didn't want the responsibility of the shower and bachelorette party to fall on one person. My girls will all be wearing black, tea-length dresses. I've left the style and cut of the dress up to them. They will be carrying 6" clutch style bouquets of black magic roses and burgundy gerbera daisies tied with a black satin ribbon.
I've purchased red reversible pashmina shawls for all of them from eBay seller rickierainbow.
They were only $14.99 plus shipping... so each ended up being around $18.
The RSVP card: Created in Illustrator and printed on ivory cardstock.
The map: Created in Illustrator and printed on ivory paper.
The finished product fits into a standard A6 sized envelope and only needs a $.58 stamp. Yay! The burgundy cardstock, ivory linen paper and A6 ivory linen envelopes were purchased from www.thepapermillstore.com. The patterned paper was created by me in Adobe Illustrator from scanning a piece of Chinese brocaded fabric. RSVP cards were printed on ivory cardstock that my mom pilfered from her work along with clear address labels that I used for our return address.
After hand delivering a few invitations to guests, I noticed that I totally created the invitations left-handed. Every person who opened it, opened it upside down! I even stuffed them into the envelopes backwards. My mind is subconsiously trying to make the right handed people in the world conform to my ways. (evil laugh)
I'm quite proud of the label I finished yesterday. This cheesyness will adorn our take-out boxes that will be filled with custom fortune cookies. I had originally planned to do the traditional take-out box art with the red pagoda and fake restaurant name. But I thought I was a little boring and lacked the goofiness that FI and I have. I then thought that cartoons of FI and I on the box would be funny. So I used the Itchy & Scratchy Catroon logo as inspiration and went to work. This is the finished product (photoshoped onto a photo. We haven't begun assembling them yet):
Here's the label up close:
All the invitations have gone out. We'll be taking e-pics this weekend and I'll order the guest book next week. Soon I'll design the centerpieces and programs. The next few weekends will be busy with finalizing music, finalizing the menu and alcohol, decorations, shopping for wedding bands, visiting the sites with the DJ and photographer and videographer, trial runs of my hair and makeup, getting my gowns altered, and much more that I can't think of.
I'm really excited to be getting married to the man I've spent the last ten years with, but I'd really like to get it over with now. I'm done being preoccupied with details and waking up in the morning thinking about what needs to be done. I'm also thankful that we are only having a ten month engagement. Those of you ladies engaged for more than a year, 2 years, I salute you.
Since both sets of parents hinted that they'd like some photos, we traipsed around Newark and Fremont last weekend snapping photos with my brother acting as photographer with my 7MP Canon PowerShot. While I love the photos I've seen of couples walking hand in hand down Baker Beach or at the Palace of Fine Arts, those locations aren't what brought FI and I together. We both wanted to choose locations that meant something to both of us.
So we ended up taking photos at our high school...even though we didn't know each other in high school. We went to Ohlone College where there are some areas gorgeous for taking photos. Next was the Central Park Sportsfield in Fremont where FI and I both played and refereed youth soccer. We also snapped photos at the playground at the Newark Community Center where we both attended preschool.
It wasn't formal and there are a lot of goofy shots.
At Newark Memorial High School:
At Ohlone College:
At Central Park:
FI was pretty tired at the end...I hope he can last through all the picture taking on our wedding day!
Our ring bearer is only 15 months old and will probably have to walk down the isle with his mom and dad. Which is fine since both are in the wedding party. Instead of having him hold a ring pillow that he probably won't hold, we just got him a ring bear at the Build-a-Bear Workshop. He loves stuffed animals and always walks around holding his very soft and plush bunny rabbit. So I grabbed the softest bear I could find and dressed him up in a tuxedo. We'll attach two fake rings to the bear's hand and have the little guy carry him down the isle instead of a ring pillow.
It'll be a surprise to everyone, including his parents.
We revisited our ceremony site over the weekend to see how the trees have grown in and to get an idea of how much shade we'll have.
This was taken around 1pm. By 3:30, the front of the gazeebo will be in the shade. Special thanks to the Walnut Creek Historical Society for placing that gazeebo in the right spot. ;-) We'll decorate the gazeebo minimally with some ribbons and a silk flower pomander hanging from the bottom of each of the railings. Then we'll place shepherd's hooks down the isle and hang smaller pomanders on them. Ribbons will be tied to the hooks too, kind of like this... but substitute the jar for a small pomander.
My brother, the videographer, testing his camera with the lighting and getting an idea of how everything will be layed out.
We'll conduct a somewhat traditional tea ceremony on this bench under this beautiful tree. We're still working on the logistics of this since we're planning to include our parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and married older cousins. We're looking at over 30 people. I still need to make cushions for the bench and talk to my family about the tea ceremony and how it works. We'll probably provide red envelopes for my family and ask them to put $1 or $2 in them for the gesture.
... I'll be walking down the isle.
I'm so friggin excited that I can't sleep. And when I do, I dream crazy wedding disaster dreams where terrorists try to take over the world starting with my wedding. (I was watching season 5 of 24 a few weeks ago. Save me, dreamy Jack Bauer!)
Our friends and family have been wonderful and I had an RSVP in hand or via email for 160 guests on or before the deadline. I know how rare that is.
Programs are done. Centerpieces are done. Escort cards are done. Guestbook is done. Timeline is done. Music is set. Everyone has their jobs. My highlights are done. My teeth are whitening. All that's left to do is to pamper myself with a mani, pedi and a massage... and hope that this stress-related acne will clear up in the next three days.
Everyone on this board has been so wonderful and I can't imagine how hellish wedding planning would have been without these message boards... or the internet for that matter.
Thanks!
I'm happy to report that our wedding was a success and we had a wonderful time! While there were definately some hiccups, DH and I have no regrets. The ceremony was wonderful and because DH knew I was worried that I would cry, he and his groomsmen put on matching aviator sunglasses as I began walking down the isle. So, instead of possible blubbering, I was cracking up as I walked down the isle. Our officiant barely keeping his voice from cracking and his hands from shaking only made me giggle more.
The banquet was a lot of fun and the food was amazing! I give a lot of thanks to our photographer who must have been struggling to keep up. As soon as the ceremony started 30 minutes late due to guests arriving late, the whole timeline was shot to hell. Nothing really followed it after that and I know it must have been frustrating for him. Thankfully, none of the guests were aware that the banquet was on the brink of chaos... just in my opinion.
My advise from the day's experience:
Pay attention to where you will be walking. Moments before I walked down the isle, Dad and I walked past a rose bush that plucked my veil right off my head. When my dad asked if I wanted to go back and get it, I replied, "We've gone too far..."
Make lots of lists! And most importantly, make sure someone (other than you) is responsible for this. I would have been incredibly preoccupied with all of these details if I didn't have a friend as my DOC. She did wonderfully and I just wouldn't have had a fun day without her.
Last planning bits:
Our DIY centerpieces
Because we did the Chinese banquet thing, we couldn't have an elaborate centerpiece. It had to be simple and informational. I was inspired by mavie's centerpieces and made these:
The other two panels were the table number and a short list of the guests seated at that table. The "kisses" panel was copied from another knottie, but I can't remember who. If someone knows, I'd appreciate the info so I can properly credit her.
It says:
"Kisses from the Bride and Groom. If you would like a public display of affection from this Bride and Groom, it will take more than just the clinking of a glass! For some display of 'love' to take place, your table will be required to sing a song with the word 'love' in it. The better the song, the better the kiss."
I also included Chinese characters for love, kiss, double happiness and my new last name.
These are our DIY Programs:
We used leftover cardstock and patterned paper from my invitations for the cover. The insides were printed on plain ivory paper thru Kinkos. The ribbon is just that really cheap 1/8" ribbon you can get at Michael's for $.50 a spool. Total cost for 100 programs was about $70.
The information inside the program included a list of all members of the wedding party and their relationship to DH and myself, the ceremony music and info, explanations of the Chinese tea ceremony, explanations of the symbolism in the banquet food, a couple of sudoku puzzles and a personalized crossword puzzle.
I was really happy with how they turned out and we received a lot of complements. In hindsight, I wish I didn't put the answers to the crossword puzzle in the program. It could have been a fun game to decipher during the banquet. Oh well.
I created a diagram for making our DIY pocketfold invitation. The text may be hard to read, so if you'd like the .pdf version, shoot me an email at abattyref at yahoo dot com and I can send it to you.
I also created a diagram for the centerpieces we created. The idea came from the lantern centerpieces that mavie used for her wedding. It uses two pieces of 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock.
We met with Krista on very chilly Sunday morning at the Newark Community Center for what we thought were going to be trash-the-dress photos. The dress wasn't trashed at all... even the grass I laid down on was dry. Anyway, I was happy with many of the pics we took, and most importantly, we had fun.
I'm not sure which of these I like best...
I got together with my friend Krista, of Krista Lucas Photography, and we trashed a gown that I purchased from David's Bridal from their $99 gown sale.
Round 1: among the redwoods at Memorial Park 
Having fun with the boots I was wearing... it was a bit muddy in the woods.
>
Not to bad for a $99 gown, eh?
Here are the rest of of our trash the dress pics.
Round 2: Pescadero State Beach and San Gregorio State Beach
Trying a couple of colors out.
It's hard to see, but the black and white photos really accentuate my freckles.
We had so much fun. And if the weather had been a bit warmer I would have gone in the water more than just to my knees. It was SO COLD! The gown got pretty dirty, but it's completely cleanable. I'll probably hang on to it for a while and maybe we can take more photos this summer. Maybe some swimming will be involved.
My Knottie Bio
In the planning process I, along with most newly engaged couples, was floored at how much the prices quickly added up when planning a wedding, even with tons of DIY projects. I found it a tremendous help to know how much everything cost before I began falling in love with a vendor. A few knotties began including pricing information in their bios and I followed suit. I've also included a breakdown of our budget. In a world where people tend to be a bit sensitive about money, I want to share how we were able to have a great wedding for less than $20k.
I've been lucky enough to be able help out a some fellow PWers with maps for their wedding invitations. Website URLs have been changed, obviously.
My technique is pretty straightforward. I trace over a Google map in Adobe Illustrator and then use colors and fonts that match the wedding invitation. Some maps require a second little map to make sure that all of the major freeways are acounted for. The way I do things is simple: I create the design, send you multiple drafts, make any changes you'd like, then send the final in a .pdf format. The printing, cutting and assembly is up to you.
This map had hotel information and a URL to the couple's wedding website on a separate card in their pocketfold invitations.
We also had a color version of this map:
It's also a good idea to include any parking information if it's not totally obvious where to park. This map needed to let guests know that they were going to have to sign in at the gate.
We subtly incorporated the monogram that the bride created here. This was printed on ivory paper to coordinate with the invitations.
This map was double-sided with a list of hotels on the back, along with the URL to their wedding website.
The map from my wedding:
We put hotel information and our website URL on the back.
If anyone would like help creating a map, feel free to PM me or send an email to abattyref at yahoo dot com.
I can also create invitation designs, programs, escort or place cards, signage and all sort of graphic design products.
Thanks!
A while back I posted a thread asking for advise on whether or not to attend the wedding of a friend of mine.
http://www.projectwedding.com/post/list/what-would-you-do-long-sorry
To summarize, we were BFFs since pre-school and drifted apart after high school. She severed all contact for no apparent reason a few years ago and then called me out of the blue to reconnect. She wanted to know if I could make it to her wedding, in a week. It was on a Thursday and 400 miles away. Needless to say, I had a tough time deciding whether to go.
A huge thank you goes out to everyone on here who gave me some fabulous advice. I did end up going to the wedding and I'm so glad that I did. It turned out that a mutual friend of ours was the photographer, so I brought my trusty camera and was happy to step in as her associate photographer (she was very pregnant and was happy for the help). Here are some photos that I took from the wedding:
I love doing close-ups of the rings. Plus, the groom's band was awesome! I wish I could get a band like that for me DH. I gotta ask the groom where he got it.
The bride and groom had their ceremony at a beautiful grove of redwood trees in Berkeley's Tilden Park Botanic Garden.
My view from where I was waiting for everyone to walk down the aisle. It was a really beautiful place, but made for VERY difficult lighting with our cameras.
Everyone getting ready to go!
The darn veil kept covering her face...
Yay!
The bride and her sister DIYed the flowers. The locket on the bouquet held a photo of the bride's mom who passed away about ten years ago. When we were taking close-up photos of the locket we were all saying, "hurry up, hurry up!" because all of us were getting teary eyeed thinking about how awesome her mom was. Credit for the photo on the right goes to the photographer, Krista Lucas Photography.
The reception was also in Tilden Park at The Brazilian Room.
They danced to Alicia Keys' No One. I have a new appreciation for that song now.
This photo totally cracked me up.
Thanks!
Here are modified instructions on how to make my pocketfold invitation. These just have one panel instead of two. The finished size is still A6. These directions can easily be modified to accommodate a variety of sized invitations.
As always, feel free to send me an email if you'd like the higher resolution .PDF file. abattyref at yahoo dot com.
Enjoy!
My younger brother is getting married August 1, 2009 and I'm having a great time helping them with their plans.
My brother, Michael, proposed to Sara at Snow White's Wishing Well at Disneyland. DH and I were lucky enough to be there snapping photos. We'll probably use a couple of the photos in their STD.
That's me holding the ring box while we talk about "making a wish..."
Yay!
They have booked the Purple Orchid Inn in Livermore for the whole weekend, including their 10 guest rooms. It's a beautiful bed & breakfast in the Livermore Wine Valley. It has its own oilve orchard with beautiful Tuscany-like views. I kinda wish I'd known about this place for my wedding...
The bride's favorite color is purple and she is leaning towards this Jim Hjelm gown for her 7 bridesmaids. I will be one of them along with my sister. Her younger sister with be MOH.
It comes in a dark purple that's surprisingly nice. It's not a loud royal purple, it's quite lovely. I wonder if I'll be able to use it as a normal cocktail dress after the wedding if I shorten it to knee length?
As the designer in the family, I'm working on designs for their STDs and invitations. Here are some works in progres
I'm looking forward to finishing the design with them and then moving on to invitations. :-D
