Saturday, December 31, 2011

Into The New Year

today is the last day of 2011, Happy New Year everyone!!!!!

looking back, 2011 have been so busy and i'm kinda glad it's over. 2011 was all about planning for me (i'm sure you all know why ... haha) and one thing i've learn through all of my planning is that, no matter how well you plan, things changes, and you compromise and make adjustments. after spending all this past year on the wedding planning, i am amazed by the people who choose to be an event planner. it's hard work and it's stressful. you have to be resourceful and organized if you were a planner. on one hand, i'm glad that i had lots of time for me to get organized, on the other, it has been hard for me to make quick decision because i thought i could have more time to think things through. after a year of planning my wedding, my advise to other brides is, if you are planning a small wedding with approx 50 guests, unless you are like me that want to have everything DIY, plan your wedding in a short amount of time say 6 to 9 months and make quick decisions. listen to your guts and don't over think every little details, because no matter how well you plan, there will always be some last minute changes you'll need to make. and though you don't need to have ten different back up plans, always make sure you at least have one or two back up so you won't freak out when things isn't going as you thought. better yet, hire a planner and have them do all the work for you, and if you do make sure you communicate well with them and let them know what you think.

Friday, December 30, 2011

The Final Bridesmaid Dress

a while back i wrote on a post saying that i've picked out a dress for my sister on my wedding day. i was really excited when it became available to purchase and i didn't waste any time to buy the dresses. i loved that dress so much that i even order one for myself. now, here's the thing about online shopping, you'll never know for sure if the product is up to your expectation and would never know if it fits or not. i've had some good and bad experiences before with online shopping, but so far, with my luck, 95% of the time when i shop online, things come out that way i hoped if not better. but this time ... oh boy ... i don't even know how to put it into words of how disappointed i was with the dress. it wasn't even anywhere near the image they had online! i just HAVE to return it and i did.

so what happens now with my sisters bridesmaid dresses? panicking not knowing what to do, i kept my eyes out for anything that i could possibly use as bridesmaid dresses. though my last experience with online shopping was not pleasent, i didn't give up on that and just had to try one more time when i found this dress from j crew and it is even in the same colour tone of our theme. i ordered it in no time and because it was very close to christmas, i got it with a great deal (25% off with free shipping and no tax). when the dress came, it still appeared a bit darker then the picture on the website but i'm happy with it, and my sisters too, are very happy with it. and now we are all going to look nice on my wedding ... yeah!!!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Save The Date! Vancouver Edition

since both roy and i have lived in Vancouver for almost a decade, we thought it'd be nice to have a little celebration in Vancouver after our wedding in Hong Kong to share the special moment of our life with our dear friends in Vancouver so please save the date for our celebration! and we will keep you posted about this event (invitation to follow).

image credit to Jamie Delaine Photography

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Gift Tags

over this past year of "researching" on wedding blogs, i was inspired to have a DIY wedding with absolutely everything handmade by myself. hair piece, veil, decor, flowers, stationaries, everything were handmade. i started early, almost 10 months ago, i am almost done with all the bigger project - flowers and decor, and have recently moved onto smaller ones.

a couple of months ago, after spending over seven months of flower making, i decided it's time to take a break from the flowers and get started on other smaller projects - the favor gift tags. i like the idea of using vintage looking Manila tags and it certainly had been a hit in recent wedding trend. people use them for place cards, for their guest books, favor tags and such. i really like the idea, but i didn't want to be the same as everyone else - that is buying Manila tags, decorating them with Washi tapes, then stamp them with rubber stamp for your message. i want it to be personal, handwritten and unique. so i decided to make my very own Manila tags.

although i wanted my tag to be hand written, of cause i wasn't going to really hand write all of the tags myself. for one, i am pretty sure if i hand write them all, they will all look different, and two, i will probably mess up so much that i might need to write about a thousand of them to get a hundred.

few months before i started this project, i came a cross a blog by a girl name Elise Blaha that gave me some inspiration on to how to create these gift tags of mine. but i don't have a adobe photoshop at home and i woasn't going to spend hundreds of dollars for just one tiny little project so i came up with the idea of using a scanner, the adobe reader 9, the microsoft word, the PrtScn button and a basic photo editing software such as paint. some other supplies i also need are: cream color card stock, different sizes signiture marker, mt masking tapes, cutter, cutting mate, scissors and a hole punch.

first, like elise, i wrote my message randomly on the paper. then i scanned the image onto the computer as a pdf file and open it with adobe reader 9. then i highlight the images that i like, copy it and then paste it on to a new word doc. and finally play around with the arrangement and create my own design. after i figure out the how i would like me message to be, i zoomed in and made the image really big and click the PrtScn button to capture an image just like this then, paste the printed screen on to a simple photo editing software such as Paint and crop out the final image of the tag and paste it once again on a word doc. like thiscreate a table in the size of the tag that i like copy and paste the image of the tag onto all of the spaces, print it out onto a card stock paper, trim them, stick tape on them, and then hold punch them .... and there you go ... DIY Marina gift tags

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Color, color

found another very pretty inspiration board from Elizabeth Ann Designs. full of color that i love - tiffany and lemon. especially love the cake - just the way i wanted my cake to be - simple.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Accessories

i am not a big accessory person, never have been. every thing that i had or am wearing usually stay where they were until something new, something more meaningful come and replace them. on my left wrist, i've got a conversation starting bracelet, for the past 8 years i never took it off. it is a meaningful bracelet with a touching quote, it reminds me of my family in Idaho. the ring on my right middle finger was a promise, a promise that lead to the rock on my left ring finger and the happily ever after of my future. Necklace and earrings are probably the two things that i changed the most but still the necklace i have on now have been there for almost 2 years.
so when it comes to accessorizing myself for my wedding, it was really hard; cause i want to wear something that not only look nice, but also unique and meaningful to me. at first i had my heart set on a seal from Pyrrha but every time i go to look at that seal, something just doesn’t feel right. then as I was browsing through wedding blogs one day, i found this amazing custom handmade jewelry designer: Lisa Lenoard Design and found the right piece for me and my sisters. and of cause, they were customized by me ^^

Sunday, October 23, 2011

5 more to go!

this past couple of months have got to be the busiest months that have ever been in my entire life. in august I started a new job while took on extra shifts at my part time job to help coverage. september, school started again and yet i continued working in a total of 70 hours per week on top of school. now it's almost the end of october and here i am sitting in front of the computer at work trying to catch up with my wedding planning updates. i am so glad and blessed to have found this great part time job at which i get to do what ever i want when work is slow (like now) and still get paid! anyhow, i promise i will update more when i'm finally down with only one full time and one part time job and when it's break from school.

but now lets take a look at what kind of dress i've picked for my sisters for their bridesmaid dress - Crinkled Confection Dress from modcloth.com. i've been eyeing this dress since the summer and it was finally available for purchase on thanksgiving day. thank god for the email notification and i bought it right away, because just a couple of hours after my purchase, the sizes i needed were all gone and the next day they were all sold out.

before i decided to buy this dress, i weight out many option on bridesmaid dresses. at first i was determined to find dresses in the right shade of blue that matches my wedding color. proven that was impossible, i though i would let my sisters choose the dress style they like and then go buy the fabric and have someone custom made the dresses for me, but then that could cost me at least $300 per dress, so that's $600 at least, and so that's not going to happen either. Then after much research through the wedding blogs that i follow, i found the website modcloth.com and there i found lots of really nice dresses that are very affordable. so in the end, i found this simple and natural toned dress and used the money that i saved and got some jewelleries for myself and my sisters too. i'm will also handmade them each a blue flower, the same one i made for my own head piece but in a smaller scale, to accessorize the dress and to match the color theme of the wedding too! stay tune for the DIY post of this blue flower of mine ^^

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Save The Date!

gosh! i couldnt quite believe that it's already mid September! this past summer was so much busier than i had anticipated and before i knew it, it's almost to it's end. lots had happened this summer - 3 of my good friends left Vancouver, i changed jobs, worked like crazy with the wedding planning & crafting, and worked even crazier with my two part time jobs ... phew ... glad it's almost over. so sorry for not keeping up with the blog for an entire month, but don't you worry, i am still working on the planning and had not gave up any tiny bit of my DIYs for my wedding. just can't believe it's only a bit over 6 month left till we are forever man & wife - make sure you save the MOST important date in the year for US! (invitation to follow)

image credited to Jamie Delaine Photography.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Great Advice

read a real wedding story over at Green Wedding Shoes and at the end of the post the blogger asked what advice the new bride would give to those who are planning right now and i must say, it is one of the best advices i've seen/heard so far as i'm planning my wedding, and here it is:

Have fun, and remember to savor every single moment of the entire process! A wedding is not just one day. It starts with the proposal and spans over every second of planning, every moment of indecision over a detail, every victory over a project, and every minute of incredible joy up until you both collapse together at the end of the wedding day, exhausted and blissfully married. Up until that final day, focus on the things you have control over and learn to accept the things you don’t. On the wedding day itself, just dismiss all those what-if’s and could-have’s. Something is bound to go astray if not just a little; don’t let it bother you because in the end the only thing that matters is marrying the person you love. So relax, go with the flow, and celebrate every second. It really will be the best day of your life."

From Green Wedding Shoes a handmade michigan wedding by BreeAnn and Nik

Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Proposal

almost 2 years ago in late september 2009, roy surprised me by showing up and picked me up at work when he should have been back at UBC studying for his upcoming exam. we then went for grocery shopping and went back to his house for dinner. i usually kept my rings on my finger as i prepare for dinner (at that time i had two rings on each of my middle fingers, the one on my left hand is a custom ring with a seal that said "forget me not" and roy had the same seal as necklace, and the ring my right hand is a promise ring roy gave me after we got back together a year ago from that day), but because i had ground pork for one of my dish, i took both rings off and put them on the side table in roy's living room.

after about an hour of prepping and cooking, it was finally dinner time and not until half way through dinner i remembered that my rings were off and my hand suddenly felt naked! too tired to get up from my seat and walk over to the side table to get my rings so i asked roy to get them for me. at first he refused to get them for me but after a few minutes of whining roy gave in, but when he came back with my rings, they weren't the rings that i put down, it was a ring that i had been dreaming of for a long time - a diamond ring - the Tiffant Legacy from Tiffany & Co..

because roy could only fit a coffee table in his living/dinning room so we sat on the floor as we eat and so he was not on one knee as he said to me he had found the person who he would like to spend the rest of his life with and asked me if i would like to be that person. and to be honest, i think i must have sat there blanked for a good ten seconds or so after i saw the ring in his hand because all i had in my mind at the time was three words - OMG! but of cause i said yes in the end, otherwise we wouldn't have been planning this whole wedding today!

though it wasn't the most exciting proposal story, and it's probably wouldn't get much hoo and ahhh and awww's, and it was not how i had imagine it would have been. but it was the perfect little intimate proposal that's just perfect for us.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

8 more to go

8 more months and we will be husband and wife. just realized today that i only had 8 more months and there are still soooooooooooooooo much to do for the wedding! well so far I've got: the venues, photographers, my dress, my shoes, roy's wedding band, all my flower centerpieces/favors for Vancouver, my head piece and one of the dessert tried out.

and things that still needed to be done are: save-the-date, invitations, guest books, my veil, roy's outfit, cake order, all of the decor, flowers for the ceremony and the hkg part of the wedding, the bridesmaids' dress and accessories, jewleries and my wedding band, music play list and most importantly - booking a celebrant.

so much to do and so little time ...

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Engagement Photo Shoot Part 4 - Steveston Museum

I picked Steveston to be the location of our engagement photo shoot is because 1) it's kind of a place where is sentimental to us - six years ago, we "announced" our relationship by showing up hand-in-hand for the first time at a barbecue at Garry Point Park - which is just a few minutes walk from where we have the photo shoot; 2) it has the outdoor feel of Vancouver; 3) it has one of my favorite cafe - note here I am addicted to coffee and cannot function without it - Rocanini is modern and fun and unique which is kinda like us; and 4) Steveston has an old world charm with antique looking buildings and streets also another one of my love - Museum. I love going to museums, I could spend and had spend hours walking around in a museum. Walking around museums and looking at pictures and histories always make my wonder how would it be if we were living in the past. I dream as I walk, wonder as I read, fantasise as I am surrounded by antiques. I love going to museums, and so I picked this location. all images credited to Jamie Delain Photography

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Engagement Photo Shoot Part 3 - Dock Area 2

After a quick change of outfit in Starbucks, we were ready to take more photos. I must say this group of photos are my favorite out of the entire shoot - the sky, the dock, the shadow. How she had captured us so naturally and use natural light to create such amazing pictures, Jamie was truly amazing, don't you agree?

all images credited to Jamie Delaine Photography

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Engagement Photo Shoot Part 2 - Dock Area

we went out to the sun-setting afternoon after we finish shooting in the Rocanini (we must apologized here for we forgot to say thank you to Rocanini's staff who let us take pictures in their cafe) and Jamie continued snapping away with her Canon 5D. i was so glad that the afternoon turned out great because that morning was not promising at all. here are some of my favs of our outside shoot by the dock.




all imgaes credited to Jamie Delaine Photography

Monday, July 11, 2011

Engagement Photo Shoot Part 1 - Rocanini Coffee Roasters

we had this part of the photo shoot at a very unique coffee shop in the steveston area name "Rocanini Coffee Roasters". how did we end up at this location? well, one afternoon last month as i drove down to steveston to check out places where we can have our engagement, i drove past this coffee shop and as many of my friends know, i am completely addicted to coffee and how can one simply passes by such an cute coffee shop and not get a latte? so i went in, got a latte and two delicious cakes for afternoon tea (well i took the cakes with me to roy's office in richmond and shared with him, and so no, i did NOT eat two cakes on my own) and since i saw this place, i knew i had to have my engagement photos here and so on the day of the photo shoot, i asked Jamie to meet us there and there we were, taking some most gorgeous pictures i ever did see.


all images credit to Jamie Delaine Photography

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Inspiration Board 101

today as i was trying to make my own inspiration board for not really the first time, i came across this awesome blog post by a blogger herself teaching people how to create an inspiration board using a program name Picasa 3. unlike most other blogger who would ask you to buy a Adobe Photoshop software which would coast you at least a couple hundred dollars to begin with, Picasa 3 by google is free, yes! IT'S FREE! i am more that excited to have found this and so here it is how to make your own inspiration board by Petit Elefant, so those of you who would like to start a blog like me and who is planning a party, a wedding, renovating a home, or just simply designing and would like to have an inspiration board of your own, go CHECK IT OUT!

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

The Perfect Dress

having the perfect wedding dress is every girls dream and though i have never been dreaming for my wedding since 5 years old, since i got engaged it was hard not to start dreaming of the perfect dress. and i am telling you, finding the perfect dress was HARD! so much harder than i thought it would be and who knows i could be so indecisive?!? silhouette wise, i knew that i would take a ball gown if not, at least an A-line dress because what girl doesnt like poof. of cause the pouffier the better. but more pouf means more materials and in the end it means more $$$$$$$$. so after endless hours of searching for the perfect dress I managed to narrow down to less than a dozen gowns and here they are, some long, some short, some white, some colored. which one do you think i like the most and which one do you see me walking down the aisle in? how much do you think i spend on my wedding dress in the end? take a guess and we will see who'd got it right and let me know why do you think i would be in the dress you pick!
(p.s. the ones who already know and have seen me in my dress (yes folks, i've got my dress already!), please do give out the answer, coz you wouldnt want to ruin the surprise would you?)

Sweet Pea by Ivy and Aster $$ Beverly Wood By Dolly Couture $

LZ3063 by Lazaro $$$$$$ Fiesole by Melissa Sweet $$$

Candy by Monique Lhuillier $$$$$ Nazaret by Aire Barcelona $$$

8501 Justin Alexander $$ Where the boys are by Matthew Christopher $$$$

Amelie by Amsale $$$$ Galina Exclusive at David Bridal $

Carina by Amsale $$$$