barbies85's biography
http://www.lafeteweddings.blogspot.com/
Hello, I'm new to PW but I love all the inspiration and help brides and bride-to-be gives. I am probably a little late in making this because we get married August 22, 2009. So just a little about us, we are both 27, or at least will be when we get married. We went to high school together but didn't really know eachother. I actually new his older sister first because she played basketball with my older sister when I was like 13. Anyway, we ran into eachother at mutual friends party 6 years out of high school and we have been together ever since.
He asked me on our 3 year anniversary, at a bonfire at the beach. Actually, I almost found the ring because he couldn't find the wine opener and he asked me to help him find it. I reach into a backpack that was next to me and I felt a box, not like a typical rounded ring box but more rectangular. I asked what it was and was about to pull it out when he quickly said that it was nothing and had a defensive excuse for what it was. I just let it go and believed him. I didn't want to get my hopes up because there were so many perfect times in the past that he could have asked but didn't. Anyway, after our dinner I started seeing some of my family come. First my cousins, then aunts, then sisters and even my parents. I was just getting over the shock of seeing them when he whispered some sweet words to me and then dropped to a knee in front of all my family. I started to cry and almost forgot to say 'Yes.'
So the box I felt was the ring. The reason it was a rectangle box and not a typical rounded ring box was because the jeweler knew he was asking me outdoors at night and gave him a box that had a light in it. The box was almost as surprising as the ring! Well, here it is. I love it. It is a cushion cut and it ended up almost being an eternity because my finger is kind of skinny!
So many things I want to post, I don't even know where to start. I'll start with the venue. We are both very avid hikers, rockclimbers and campers. We both didn't want a hotel type wedding. We wanted both the ceremony and reception outdoors. Our original idea was to have it a vineyard we love but they were a little out of our budget just for the site (not even including food) and they only serve their wine and no other alcohol was allowed to be served and my FH and inlaws thought it was bad taste to not provide an open bar.
So this is the Malibu Family Wines vineyard we wanted:
I fell in love with the lounge area and the chinese lantern. So instead we found Elings Park in Santa Barbara (but its like 2 hours for everyone to drive, but we loved it so we are hoping its not too far for people. Do you think its too long of a drive?)
Elings Park Godric Grove:
So our plan for the site is to have the ceremonies (I'll explain in just a bit) at the amphitheater and dinner on the beautiful wooden deck with the chinese lanterns as well. In front of the deck there is a big lawn area (the 2nd picture above) and we are having the dance floor there and we are renting lounge furniture from www.loungefurniturerental.com. We ordered 8 white leather benches and 8 small square tables and they will go around the dance floor.
My FH is Persian and I am Filipino. In traditional Persian weddings they have what is called a Sofreh Aghd. It looks something like this:
I got this from The Persian Mirror
So it is a layout of certain items with symbolic meaning. Like the mirror is to bring light and brightness into our future and candles to symbolize light and energy and so on. During the ceremony 2 married women of the family will rub 2 sugar cones over our heads (they say no actual sugar will drop into our hair, though) and showering the couple with sugar symbolizing sweetness and happiness.
So that ceremony will be first followed by the traditional ceremony and we are planning for both to be at the amphitheater.
Ok, so getting my dress was probably the most anxiety causing event that has ever happened to me. I tried on probably 20 dresses and didn't find "the one." I originally wanted something very plain with only pickups and my sister and mom hated them. Then my sister had me try on other fancier ones and wasnt feeling any of them. I tried on dresses by myself and the saleswoman had me try on a super super fancy dress. I decided to just give it a try. It was the Sabelle dress by Maggie Sottero.
It is a very "princessy" type of dress and I'm kind of a tomboy so I liked the feeling of being super girly. I bought it and the very next morning I woke up and was thinking "OH my god! I'm going to look like a cupcake!" I don't want to look like a cupcake at my wedding and my FH is a very simple type of guy and I don't think that was a dress he would ever expect to see me in. So I called and told them I made a mistake and didn't want that dress. I trust my sister's opinion and went with the one she liked the best.
It is a Pronovias Nepal dress
So I was going back and forth with my dress decision, again. After waiting 3 months to get, when I put it on, something just didn't feel right. It didn't feel like it was mine. Tried on a bunch of other dresses knowing that my wedding was going to be only less than 3 months away. I found one that I really liked, but it did not come in white (my mom's request/demand) and my sisters didn't think it looked "bridal" enough b/c it was a very tight, figure hugging dress. So I decided to keep my old dress but am having it altered just a bit so it is not as poufy. She took off about 1 foot in material on the right side of the dress and will be picking it up next week.
Here is my actual dress without the alterations:
Not my veil, just trying it on.
I have a total of 9 girls, I know its a lot but I have a big family. My 2 sisters are my matrons of honor, 3 close cousins, 2 close girlfriends, my FH's sister and his cousin. They will be wearing Jcrew dresses
It will be in the Aqua blue color on the right. Most of the girls are saying the dress fits but is baggy around the stomach area so I ordered some material in a similar color and will be making a sash for them to wear. My FH's favorite color is orange so they will be holding orange bouquets and i bought them chunky red/orange necklaces and bracelets:
I bought 2 orange/red hair flowers on Etsy from 5eizen, highly recommend her
I'm having them pick their own shoes, probably in silver.
My 2 nieces are my flower girls and will be wearing Pegeen dresses. I was thinking of adding some white polka dots on the skirt when it comes in, but I'm not sure yet. I also got them adorable feather hairbands for their hair. I know it doesn't really match but they were too cute to not buy.
In picking our colors, I first wanted to use our favorite colors because they happen to match. Mine is green and his is orange. But my sister used those colors in her wedding a couple of years agao and I didn't want her to think I was copying her. So I found this inspirational board and fell in love with it. I sacrificed my favorite color for aqua/turquoise blue
We made magnets for our save the dates and we worked so hard on them!! Our final product:
We lagged on deciding which invitations we would get and now we have to do a rush! Argh! That's so frustrating. I fell in love with Oslo Press wooden invitations but they were a bit expensive.
My FH found an online company called stampworldonline.com that also does wooden invites. So we ordered some samples and they sent us these:
And I hated it!!!!! Its so dark, the wood is kind of flimsy and overall it just looked cheap. So we still haven't ordered them but we are planning on using Oslo Press despite how expensive they are.
Our actual invitations. I love it!
We are avid rockclimbers so we are giving away engraved caribeeners/keychains. We are putting them in woven boxes from the philippines as a touch to my background. Also, we are planning on putting the place cards on top of them to double its duty.
On the day of the wedding:
I like either the loose, wavy up do but also like the half-up half0down look too since I always wear my hair down. I rarely wear it up but if I do I like these
I thought I saved the names of the girls that I got these from, but I guess I didn't. Sorry I can't give you the credit you deserve.
Marinbride:
And these for half-up half-down:
Mrs. GG
I am having a flower in my hair too, I bought it from Etsy and just waiting for it to come in.
Got this on Etsy from 5eizen. I highly recommend her. She is so patient and accomodating.
Some of the things I have been working on. I don't have the craftiest thumb so if you have any suggestions on changes, I would love to hear it.
My dog was super curious. I don't know if I like the flower wreath, it looks more like an "O" than a wreath so I don't know if I should use it. Feel like it looks like sorority letters or something. Alpha Omega Beta!! haha!
Our table decoration:
Our cardbox:
Flip flops for tired feet:
It was a co-ed shower and it was a blast especially b/c my uncles band played and everyone was dancing.
We had drinks and appetizers at my sisters house. The limo picked us up and we went to club Kress in Hollywood for sushi dinner and then partying up on the rooftop with bottle service. Just wanted to share some of the pictures, at least the tame ones ;)
The wedding was wonderful! Stress free like I wished, no. But everything somehow fell into place. Let me recap a bit. We got to Santa Barbara on
Friday for rehearsal and RD and the sky was beautiful and temperature was great. Saturday morning comes and sky is grey and drizzly and forecast now says Thunderstorms! Everyone tries to reassure me that rain on your wedding is supposed to be good
luck, but not when your ceremony AND reception is all out doors. It got so bad that our coordinator was looking to see if we would be willing to switch locations or rent a big big tent. It drizzled from the time I woke up to just when I was getting into
the limo to take pictures with DH and bridal party. Somehow, the drizzling stopped and never started again. By the time we start the ceremony at 3 pm, I saw a peek-a-boo of blue skies and when the ceremony ended, the sky was actually half clear.
Come dinner and dancing, it was completely clear. Unbelievable I tell you! One hectic part of the wedding was trying to take pictures with our families. Both of us have big families and they all want to take pictures with us. Our photog was getting
annoyed I could tell but my FIL was calling all the shots on who we were taking pictures with (and we couldn't say anything otherwise, kinda sucks). I didn't even get to take a picture with my sisters, their husbands and my nieces and nephews which I
really wanted, oh well. Dinner, toasts and cake went smoothly. Our DJ totally messed up the mother/son dance. He played the wrong song 3 times before he was able to find
the right song. DH is so pissed at the DJ because he also played the wrong song for the music right after our persian ceremony. Since the morning was pretty wet, our lawn area where we had our dance floor and lounge furniture was kinda moist so people really made use of the
flip flops we had out, but the bottom of my dress is no longer pretty because of it, hopefully a good dry cleaner can take care of that. All in all, it was a great day and I can't wait to see the professional pics. These are one of the groomsmen's girlfriend photos, a very good
amateur photog. Enjoy!!
The Sofreh (for the persian ceremony, each item has a symbolic meaning)
My excited and handsome groom.
DH's young cousin played for my march and recessional
Walking down the stairs with my mom and dad
Persian ceremony where sugar cones are subbed to bring sweetness into our marriage
GM's doing the wave. Silly boys.
Catholic ceremony following the Persian ceremony.
Sis tore her ACL at the beginning of the week so I gave her all my extra ribbon and told her to decorate her crutches and did she ever! I loved it!
Garter toss song was to Indiana Jones theme song (got the idea from Jaci, thank you!!) and got the hat and whip too.
Little kids totally surprised us with a choreographed "Ocho Ocho" dance, so cute!
