Wedding Photos - highlights

I have finally sorted through all the seven hundred plus photos and love every single one. If people's attention span could actually filter through all the images, I would have posted them for our family and friends but instead, I found all the favorites the represented our wedding day and uploaded them.

Calamigos Ranch in Malibu was the perfect place for our wedding but what made it more memorable were all the unique locations that we had as our playground for our photos: ferris wheel, red barn (interior and exterior), old bridge, old log cabin, big green field, the giant oak tree from the ceremony and of course, the yellow school bus that was the best rental we could have done. I love all the photos and looking back, it would have been pretty cool to have some cotton candy as a prop to use instead of the bouquet :)

Of all the wedding costs that we had to deal with, the most important for us was the photographer budget and am so happy that this was one area that we didn't hold back on. We loved working with Joy of Wildflowers Photos and her husband, Donny, they made us so comfortable in front of the camera although most of the time, we didn't even realize that they were there. The final photos are truly magical and memorable for us and having these to look back on definitely gives me the warm and fuzzies!

Details of our wedding (with a splash of uniqueness)

With eleven months of wedding planning, I scoured the wedding blogs to find inspiration. My Google reader was always full of new posts about some wedding out there in the world. At first, I found it exhilarating to learn more about what was out there and how to make our wedding fit us as a couple. I'm sure that I started to fall into the category of the "coordinating" bride where I had to consider what might be thematic like colors, flowers, decorations or whatever. But about a few months into our engagement, I realized that these themes were not who we are so we tossed any thematic idea out the window. Instead, we focused on making sure that we threw a party that was fun, exciting, different and most importantly, a place where our family and friends can just enjoy themselves.

The first step to ensure that most of our visual elements was fun was enlisting the help of a dear friend who designed all of our elements and made sure that nothing was conservative or boring. The final effect was that all of our visual elements was bright, colorful, fancy with a little hint of psychedelic-ness which is not the standard fare.

• our escort board with photos of our families and selves •

Besides making sure that all the visual, printed elements rocked, we added in some additional touches that would be unique. We wanted to include splashes of my Vietnamese heritage so my mom created these Vietnamese hats that she decorated throughout our ceremony and reception site. By the end of the evening, they were all snatched up because our guests loved them as souvenirs. My mom rocks.

Having a sugar rush (besides the free alcohol) is also important for guests of a wedding so we included a full candy bar and dessert bar. Unfortunately, the candy bar was demolished before dinner had even started! We never even had a chance to see what it looked like. I'm glad that some people took some photos so we could see what the end result was like. We also had a cupcake tower (with our cake topper as a Dutch delft ceramic couple kissing with tulips) and a full dessert table. I don't think that I even had a chance to see what the dessert table looked like but that was demolished too!

To wrap it all up, there was the wacky photo booth! Oh my goodness, we can't believe how wild and crazy our guests went over this! There was always a line and everyone made sure to wear the props that we provided. The best idea though was the album that we found for people to put their photos into. We got a Kolo photo album (best ever) and purchased a variety of colored markers and fun stickers and let the guests do the rest. The end result is a wonderful keepsake that is bright, unique, creative and just fantastic. Each page really showcases the level of fun that everyone had and each time we look through it, we are happy with ourselves that our wedding really did achieve our main goals: fun, exciting and different. Here are just some of the wackiness that went into our book...

• the wacky photo album •

• my parents •

• my in laws •

• dinosaurs made it into our book •

• zombies made it into our book •

• even crystal made an appearance from cape town •

• full page of fun-ness •

• love this photo of the little girl •

• even the reserved vietnamese let it all out for the camera •

Back to the real world?!

It's been awhile since I've had a moment to stop and write although there have been plenty of times in the past month where I have wanted to vent out all the stress and emotions that I was dealing with regarding the wedding planning but time just slipped through and looking back, the emotions and feelings were so fleeting that I'm glad I didn't have a chance to write them down. So now I am back in the grind which means that I can now finally write, update and post some photos although I don't even know where to start!

We highly enjoyed and loved every moment of the wedding stress madness. We dealt with every problem that came our way with laughs, giggles and a few tears but it made the journey memorable. We had family and friends fly in from all over the US and the Netherlands and we actually got to spend quality time with many of them. The best thing that we chose to do to spend time with our guests is instead of doing a rehearsal dinner, we opted to throw "Party in the Park" and we opened it to anyone who could come. We spent the day soaking in the LA sun at Lake Balboa, played games like Bocce Ball and Lawn Golf, ate food and drank beer. It was so relaxing and stress free that I think people should reconsider the Rehearsal Dinner concept. Who needs another layer of stress to throw a dinner in a small, crampy restaurant?

Anyway, we think (and have been told) that the wedding celebration was a great success and the photos and stories have only confirmed that. As the photos keep piling in and I have time to organize my thoughts and musings (apparently I should be working at the moment), I will delve into more of the fun, wedding stuff that we went through.

For now, here is one of the photos that we were able to get from our photographer. I think that this photo shows the level of craziness and fun that we wanted our celebration to have. We rented a big yellow school bus to take our out of town guests to and from the hotel and made sure to stock it with alcohol so guests could finally get a little tipsy in a school bus. Our photographers convinced us to go through the roof (I had to be lifted through the vent very carefully due to the dress and the top of the bus was so dirty) and stand on top. It was a little scary getting up there but in the end, so worth it for shots like this!

• courtesy of wildflowersphotos.com •

Winding into the Stress Season

There is so much to do in a short amount of time. I can't believe where the time has gone. We've had a long eleven month engagement which has helped to get a lot of the stuff done but still, we're less than six weeks away. I know that everything will work itself out, the celebrations will rock and we get to be in the company of all of our loved ones.

This weekend is the weekend where it all just sinks in with just how much still needs to be done. Here is just an idea of this weekend's itinerary and this is only for this weekend!

• Drive down to LA Thursday evening
• Check out LA Flower Market Friday morning by noon
• Head to courthouse to file for wedding license by two
• Head for dress fitting by six
-wind down time in the evening

• Wake up early for make-up trial by ten
• Meet with our husband-wife photographer team by one
• Bridal Shower - jewelry making theme for all the women by four
• Close friend's 30th Birthday celebration by eight
- wind down time in the evening

• Wake up early to meet with wedding venue by ten
• Meet with our DJ by one
• Drive back to Santa Clara

The weekend hasn't even started yet and I'm already tired. This is going to be a long and brutal weekend but we're coming into the home stretch so the excitement is starting to build.

Our eco-friendly invites have all been shipped and I am so happy with the final outcome of our invites. We found these invites that are 100% paper free and the exterior of the invites is made out of seeds so you get to plant our invite and watch it grow into flowers! We put together over 200 invites but it was a worthwhile task.

• the prep table •

We've also started putting together our Candy Bar and I never knew how expensive candy is! We're having a variety of Jelly Belly, Kisses, Starbursts, Skittles, M&M's, Red Vines and German Candy Eggs and you don't even want to know what that final cost was. For something that is so unhealthy and full of sugar, it sure is pricey! I even think that we might need to add a few more variety (e.g. lollipops) to make sure that we have enough for everyone. We now have to assemble our Chinese Take Out boxes and decorate them. Just another thing to do and this doesn't even include our Dessert Bar!

• the standard mess that lives upstairs •

It's funny because it doesn't seem like there is much more to do besides more DIY projects but as we get closer to each day, there is a little part inside of me that does a subtle freak out. It hasn't been external and to be honest, I have been nowhere close to be a crazy bride but it's just a lot of work for us to do. So I guess the whole working part time has actually been more of a blessing in disguise. It's helped give me a lot more time to put these little projects together while Marijn focuses more on his crazy work life.

Oh but I am looking forward to the relaxing part after! We're spending our honeymoon in the Dominican Republic. Six days doing absolutely nothing except sitting by the beach and swim up bar. Although knowing us, we're going to want to get away to do a little white water rafting and zip lining but knowing that we don't have to do anything makes me warm and fuzzy.

So instead of counting down to the "big day," I'm going to countdown to our adventure in the Caribbean instead!

• our hotel •

• the coast of the Dominican Republic •

Old Photos

It's already January and another year has passed! Don't worry, this isn't going to be one of those self-reflective blogs of where one looks back on the year past and then tries to figure out what this upcoming year is going to hold. No resolutions. No reflections. But more of a gasp that it's already January and there is only four months left for us to cross a bunch of stuff off our "wedding to-do list" which is about twenty pages long. Eek, where does the time go?!

One of the things that we're doing is asking our parents/grandparents for their wedding photos. Not sure what we are going to do with them but will figure out a way to incorporate them into evening. So far, I've received my grandparents wedding day photos and what a treat! They have been married for over 61 years which is amazing and even rare in the age that we live in. I was shocked when I only received about seven photos but according to them, they really didn't have a lot of photos. Back in 1946, you take the photos of the "key" events only and hope that the film comes out (unlike today's age where we are probably going to get a disc that contains 500+).

I wanted to share some of the photos of my grandparents wedding which is so simple and refreshing compared from the photos that I immerse myself in with all of this prep. Everything is so colorful, overwhelming with details that the average person isn't going to notice. I mean, do people really pay attention to what the linen colors really are or what specific "theme" you were going for?! I'm really glad that the girl gene skipped me and this wedding is going to be simple and fresh and hopefully, low maintenance!

So I had to share some of my latest inspiration, here are some photos from my grandparents wedding, aren't they cute?!

•walking down the aisle, august 1946•

•cutting the cake•

•the end of the night•

•the hotel bill. there isn't a single item in our wedding that is going to cost that•

•sixty years later with their kids on the alaskan cruise•

It's that time for family and some stress...

I am not a fan of the big Thanksgiving. I love the gathering of the family and friends but was never a fan of the food. Turkey? Boo on that. Cranberries? No thanks. Sweet potato yams? Marshmallows destroying yams delicious flavors. Pumpkin pie? The only good thing. Oh, and fresh biscuits. Since this is the first year that I am hosting Thanksgiving, I am putting my foot down and changing up the menu.

Fresh vegetable lasagna with homemade pasta sauce. Roasted green beans with toasted almonds. Homemade garlic bread. Garlic cloves baked in the oven to accompany the appetizer of fresh Dutch cheese and bread. Fresh Italian salad. Finish everything off with desserts of homemade apple pie and cheesecake brownies. Yup, that's my menu for this Thanksgiving and I can't wait to start cooking everything early Thursday morning.

Hosting the first Thanksgiving is a little stressful. I'm not stressed for the cooking part. I'm more stressed on the...gulp...two families meeting each other! Marijn's parents is flying in from the Netherlands for ten days. My parents are driving up from Los Angeles. My grandparents are driving up from Arizona. And my lovely sister is staying in Los Angeles, she knew that it was smarter to let me enjoy this all on my own.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm really excited about seeing my family and my (future) in-laws but it's natural to also feel a little stressed. The two set of parents are meeting each other the first time which is great, except for the small detail of the language barrier. The (future) mother-in-law's English is limited. My mother can also be shy on her English and will speak Vietnamese. Of course, my Dutch is super limited and my Vietnamese is pretty Americanized. So these three languages in my home will be a little overwhelming. I'm thinking of only speaking Spanish during Thanksgiving so then there will really be four languages floating throughout our home!

All in all, I'm really excited about this Thanksgiving, it meant a lot to Marijn and I to have our families meet each other before the wedding. It takes a huge load off the stress parts of the wedding. Although I'm not even feeling any of the "stress" or "bridezillaness" that comes with wedding planning (yet), especially since we've successfully crossed off a lot from our daunting to-do list.

We've booked our wedding location, we've found a wonderful husband and wife photography team, I found my dress (heehee, there is no way I'm linking to my dress!), my super talented Aunt is hand making my jewelry, the wedding party has been assembled, our website is almost ready for launching, our friend has offered his graphic design services for our printing needs, we've picked out the invites and another friend is taking the challenge of marrying us off!

So all the big items are off the list and it's now down to the little itty-bitty parts of the wedding. Like taking an evening floral arranging class so I can see if I can do my own flowers and seeing if I can actually bake enough cupcakes so we can have that be homemade (still not sure about that challenge, that's a lot of work just before the wedding but it just might be possible).

Anyway, it's going to be a wild ride for the next couple of days (and months to come) but it's something that excites me but with a sprinkle of stress. So on that note, whatever your adventures are for this Thanksgiving, have a good one!