how to choose your wedding colors...

How bout checking out Paper Source's Colorscope? It gives descriptions of your personality type with the color.

Source: here

Rhubarb was a staple color we used in our wedding stationery. Here's how Paper Source describes rhubarb:

"Curious, enthusiastic and easily stimulated, you are a magnet for opportunity and every new idea. Be careful not to over stimulate yourself, but learn to focus."

I saw this first on the Charmed Events Blog and commented with this:

"very cool! rhubarb was a staple color in our wedding! and ya know what…it’s pretty accurate! we wanted to try and incorporate some new-ish (i.e. different) ideas, lending ppl to be curious about us, and showing our enthusiasm about the wedding, but not to overwhelm our wedding look with the color but instead make it a focus! =) thanks for posting!"

The colorscope not work out for you? Check out Colour Lovers...you can make your own colors (and descriptions) or use one that another member created.

I'm famous!!

Not really...but it was an awesome experience...having our wedding recognized by the peeps over at The Knot. I was the feature knottie for Episode 3. I got to speak with the cofounder and Editor in Chief of The Knot, Carley Roney. I felt like I was talking to a celebrity! Preston Bailey was a guest for the episode. They took a look at bridal bling, wedding cakes on a budget, hot reception trends, and of course, me & dee!

Those public speaking classes in college did not help. Sorry for all the ums and uhs. It's doesn't get easier even when you're not on a stage. But it was such a pleasure and so much fun talking about the wedding again. Too bad I only got 3 minutes to talk about it...

Special thanks to our awesome vendors, Jamie and Chris of { j a c }, Linda Ly of Grand Soirees, Steve Burdick (and his assistant) of SBE, Jasmine Corzo of Jazz Flowers, Liz Castellano of MakeupByLiz, and our awesome wedding party (my girls especially; i love you guys!!) with whom the day could not be what it was...the best day ever! And many thanks again to The Knot for thinking our wedding was pretty awesome too.


Missed the show? You can watch the replay here. I'm towards the end...

same day edits

hubby just sent this to me! looks like he's not over our wedding either. we wish we could have done so much more with our wedding! a same day edit would be like the final touch!

This is Wikipedia says about the Same Day Edit: (Also called a wedding day edit or wedding encore presentation) A short video produced from the footage of the wedding shot earlier in the day, usually only incorporating footage from pre-ceremony, ceremony and post ceremony, that is then showed at the reception as a recap of the wedding.

Joyce + Raymond || special edition SDE from Casey Warren | MIND CASTLE on Vimeo.

source: Irvine Housing Blog

The Flower Girl

We only knew one little girl, and her mom volunteered her for the job early in our engagement. So we took her. I was a bit afraid that she would steal my thunder though because she is sooooo adorable!

When it came to choosing a dress for her, all I knew was that I did not want her in a white dress. I think only the bride should be the one wearing white. How did it come about that the flower girl wears white too? Anyways, I was overwhelmed with the many styles available for flower girls...some of them are super fancy too...like a mini wedding dress. what the heck?!

Then I looked through this LA Knottie bio, and I was inspired! She was getting her flower girls tutus! How fun! I wanted it...but where to look. Why, Etsy, of course!

Ordered her dress from Etsy seller Sweet Plume. Here's the style I wanted:


Sweet Plume gives you the option of ultimate customization! You pick the colors and the flower on the belt. She makes suggestions on what could work, and you make all final decisions. And Flower Girl's mom loooved the idea! So we did it! I picked the colors to the best of my ability, and I sent Sweet Plume my inspiration board so that she could make it work!

I didn't get to see the dress until the rehearsal which was the day before the wedding. I was both excited and nervous...but it turned out great! Here's my flower girl dress!



And she was a big hit at the wedding...almost as popular as me, almost. =) I'm not into the whole too matchy-matchy look; I like coordinating rather. Look how well my flower girl coordinates with my bridesmaids. They are a beautiful bunch!

I'm green with envy

Okay, I have PTWS. I'm slowly unsubscribing to wedding blogs so as to not think about what more I could have done on my wedding day. *sigh* I still can't believe it's over.

I think every bride believes her wedding was the most beautiful thing ever, but damnit, I'm totally envious of this one. She's an LA knottie I know well as a frequent contributor (less now) to the LA knot board. Congrats Jessebel! You're wedding was freaking amazing girl!

wedding recap - rehearsal

The day before was probably the most stressful day of wedding planning. I was kicking myself in the rear for not sending out a formal notice of the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

Rehearsal was at the Hilton Irvine. I checked into my room. We were to go over the timeline there, then go over the ceremony outside in the patio area. People were late. People claimed they didn't know. People who weren't supposed to show up...showed up. I went bridezilla.

But with my coordinator, Linda of Grand Soirees, there...I was able to calm down. She planned for all this. There were timelines for everyone...specified to their role in the wedding. So we all went over the timeline, then we headed downstairs to the patio to practice the processional walk.

I did get emotional. I couldn't believe that we were getting married the very next day. It was really hard to keep the tears in, but I managed to.

my girls

with me and my flower girl

Then we all headed over to Newport Seafood for dinner...where you can bring your own alcohol...woot! I did not have any though.

me and my girls

the boys

had to stick this one in...i love my cousin (far left throwin up the gang sign)

And the night did not end there. Dee and I decided to meet up to go over our dance. It was getting me really nervous! I had to memorize 2 dances!!! TWO! The father-daughter dance was choreographed too...at which we did not have the chance to practice much that week...

And then I went back to my hotel room to meet up with some of my 'maids; it was about midnight. We stayed up until 3AM, finishing up last minute projects, not believing it was that day, reminiscing. And then I fell into the most excited sleep I've ever had.

the week before

was soooooooooooper busy!! I can't believe it went by so freakin fast. I feel like I hardly got anything done.

My cousin flew in from the Philippines on Saturday evening.

how gorgeous is she?? would you believe me if i told you she's the big 3-0...and she has 2 children?? crazy, right? yea...unbelievable!

We showed her around the OC...mostly where to shop. And then I had to drag her along to do my wedding chores which I had set out to finish before the week was over.

We went to Janet's to pick up my dress, but lo' and behold, I had lost some inches...and Janet needed to take in my dress one more time. Sprinkles cupcakes, grease, and late night Mexican food could not keep the pounds from falling off...i was staying up into the wee hours of the morning trying to straighten out our guest list...finalizing the seating chart...practicing our 1st dance, practicing the father-daughter dance...etc, etc, etc. Don't worry though...I believe I'm back to regular eating habits!

Okay...so while we were at Janet's, we also picked up my mom's dress:


How great does the color look? However...dilemma...my cousin got a dress custom-made for my mom in the Philippines...it was a lovely shade of plum...decorated with jewels in the front, rouched to be form fitting, accented with flutter sleeves, and it looked exactly like what a mother-of-the-bride should wear. I'll share those pictures when I get the pros back.

And after a second trip to Janet's...I got to pick her up and take her home!


Here she is...all done and ready to go...and perfect! Check out Darci's (With This Ring) post on my dress! She's got a great before and after shot of my gown. Janet added these final touches: added my mom's buttons (originally on the cuffs of her dress) to the back, sewed the flowers down on my top, and she also added delicate button loops. It truly was the gown of my dreams!

gifting the guys

Dee got the guys fedora hats (in natural) from American Eagle Outfitters (he got himself a black one), suspenders, and argyle socks in a variety of colors. We hoped these gifts would make for great pix during the wedding (pro pix to come soon...).

The girls had some fun with them too!

And hopefully, the guys appreciate Dee's gifts enough to use them after the wedding as well!

gifting my girls

Each of my girls got:

1. a canvas tote, which can also be used as a shopper bag

2. a purple jumper, to wear while getting ready for the wedding; just pull up and over, and then back down...to not disturb their hair and makeup

I got one for myself, of course.

3. flat sandals, to wear with the jumpers...some of the girls wore 'em during the reception for dancing

4. some purple heels...i like to call them slut shoes. i was searching for a pair of colorful shoes to contrast their dresses, but in the end, these looked a lil too trashy to me. but i already had them, and they were 6 pairs for $40 at Footsies. so i gifted them.

5. earrings made by yours truly..beaded tassels.

laid out in prettiness...

paper flowers

With the help of slaves (volunteer fiance, sister, mom, and friends), over 200 hundred beautiful paper flowers came to life!

this was when we started...

but it started out as just plain tissue paper. purchased from paper mart.

my fab coordinator customized martha stewart's directions to fit our needs. the tissue paper was cut down to size, folded, wired, and then made to bloom!

Step 1: Cut out 8 sheets of tissue paper 6 inches by 10 inches. Stack the tissue paper on top of each other and turn it so that the 6 inch side is parallel with your stomach. Accordion fold the paper into 3/4 inch wide folds, creasing at each fold.

Step 2: Fold a piece of 5 inch floral wire in half, and slip over the center of folded tissue; twist. Trip the ends of tissue with sharp scissors into a half circle shape.

Step 3: Separate the layers, pulling away from the center, one at a time. Your goal is only to make a half sphere, not a full sphere. This step is crucial, the more you fluff and pull away the layers, the better the flowers look. Your end result should be a dome.

The initial use was decor for the napkins, but a last minute change made these a great accessory to our favor. Not to mention that it really complimented the centerpiece!


The flowers definitely had multiple purposes! My girls wore them as corsages later on. I also heard that at one table, there was a 10-15 minute conversation on how our guests were trying to figure out if the paper flowers were real or not.


It was a lot of work...but worth it...just like Heather, of "we met in a bar," said in her post on these lovely paper beauties! Heather posts her own tutorial. Or, you can check out Martha Stewart's tutorial here.

Please share your pictures!

As requested by a reader...here is what we left out on our guest book table:

front side

back side

The images are from our engagment session! We used VistaPrint, and we used a business card format...and to be honest...our cards didn't say exactly what I'm presenting here. In our cards...I forgot to add "Thank you for being a part of our day!" It was like 3 in the morning, and VistaPrint makes you initial the proof..so it's hard to go back and change anything! So if you're gonna go the VistaPrint route, make sure you're awake and attentive!

And the cards actually turned out pretty cute...will try to get a real picture of them soon!