Why He Loves Me

After the wedding, we took off for our honeymoon in Bali.  Our first stop was Jimbaran Bay, a beach resort area in the southwest of Bali.  The first night, we had the luxury of relaxing at the beachfront cafe/bar at our hotel in Jimbaran Bay, sipping a drink and watching the sunset.

In my post-wedding, jet-lagged state of amazement of actually being anywhere mentally and physically that didn't require planning a wedding, I found it necessary to comment on every little thing to fully revel in the ability to just think about and be in the present. 

Unfortunately the post-wedding brain had not yet caught up to normal functioning speed, and my chattiness had the unintended side consequence of demonstrating to Kevin serious gaps existing in my brain.

For example, I had the irrepressible urge to comment on the pretty lights shining from the north coast of Jimbaran Bay in the beautiful clear night.

sorry for blurriness--see lights in background

Me: Oh honey, look at how they light up those buildings, isn't that weird? It looks so nice!

Kevin: That's the airport.

I also found it imperative to comment on the little black birds that were playfully whizzing through the air by the trees near the cafe.

Me: Look at the birds! Aren't they cute? You don't see such happy birds in NYC.

Kevin: Um, those are bats.

Finally, after seeing such a glorious sunset of the west coast of Bali, I had a fantastic and romantic idea for the morning that I could just not stop myself from sharing with Kevin.

Me: Oooh, wouldn't it be so nice if we woke up really early and watched the sunrise from here?

[at this point, I think Kevin was feeling a little badly for his stupid wife]

Kevin: [pause] That would be a really nice idea honey. But, um...

Me: What, what? You don't like that idea? Why don't you like that idea? It's such a good idea.

Kevin: ...the sun rises in the east.

As in, you can't see the sun rise in the same place where you saw it set, stupid.

No matter. We all know he married me for my looks.

Any little brain oops you had around the wedding that you are conveniently blaming on wedding-brain as opposed to a general lack of IQ and common sense?

Wedding Day Timeline a la Pug

As I'm waiting to start my recaps, just wanted to share a few things... 

Chances are at some point you will create a day-of timeline for the wedding, which may expand into a larger timeline for the overall weekend, and include important information like important cellphone numbers that will be distributed to key people.

 

So not mine but isn't this pretty?  

But I'm talking about something more hardcore than the above, with minute timing and tons of details, like that of Mrs. Daffodil.

Her marvelous packet! 

While really honing the day of timeline information only becomes practicable as you get a few weeks out from the wedding, if you're like me, you'll be unreasonably  and prematurely excited and anxious about the timeline and create one months in advance. And have big blank spaces in it because you have no clue about the nitty gritty of the weekend.

Anyway, to create my timeline packet, I could not but help but use the attractive and uber-impressive masterpiece from Mrs. Daffodil as a template (although for my smaller wedding, the packet was only 4 pages, because Kevin would have bailed out of the wedding at anything longer).  For the actual timing of the events, I heavily relied on Mrs. Tomato because her reception, like mine, was non-dancing and ended at 10 p.m.

Here's the general outline of the deets I included in my packet.

Part I: Introduction

General hello, thank you, get your ass in gear

Part II: Weekend Overview

Summary timeline of wedding weekend, including: rehearsal, welcome event, portraits, ceremony, etc. 

Part III: Key Contact Numbers

Chart of cellphone numbers for key people, including: site coordinator, all vendors, bridal party, etc.

Part IV: Detailed Timeline

Oh, and here's where you overwhelm them with the mere smidgen of planning that goes into a wedding.  Here's the gist of what mine had. 

Friday, March 19

9:00 - 12:00 Pack car and drive to Half Moon Bay; drop off OOT bags

12:00 - 12:30 Lunch

1:00 - 1:30 Final walk-through with site coordinator

Note: I built in a lot of time to the beginning part of this day and it was a good thing I did because we were running a few hours late, and only got back on track for the rehearsal

3:30 - 4:30 Rehearsal

5:00 - 6:15 Hang out at spa (I invited all female guests to come join me at the hotel's spa to enjoy the whirlpools and chat)

6:15 Dress for welcome event

7:00 - 10:00 Welcome Event 

Saturday, March 20

9:00 Breakfast

9:30 - 2:30 Ladies hair and makeup (I provided specific start times for each person); pick up pre-ordered sandwiches for lunch somewhere in there

12:00 - 2:30 Kevin get ready; lunch

2:30 - 3:00 First Look

3:00 - 4:00 Family Portraits

4:00 - 4:45 Bride & Groom Portraits

4:45 Officiant and Groom sound check; family gathers for processional

5:00 - 5:30 Ceremony

5:30 - 5:50 Bride & Groom Post-Ceremony Portraits

5:30 - 6:30 Cocktail Hour

6:30 - 10:00 Reception

6:40 Welcome by emcee and Father of Bride toast

6:50 First course served; after everyone served, Brother of Groom toast

7:15 Second course served; after everyone served, Sister of Bride toast

7:45 Shoe Game

8:15 Third course served; after everyone served, Friend of Bride toast; open mic for guests' toasts

8:45 Cake cutting; mingling afterwards

9:15 Cake served

10:00 Reception concludes

10:00 - 12:00 Drinks in Bride & Groom suite

Sunday, March 21

10:00 - 1:00 Farewell Brunch

Did you or are you going to use a timeline packet for your wedding? Did you get really giddy creating it, or really stressed out?

There's No Getting Away From Me Now, Buster

We're married now.

Preview pic posted by our awesome photographer CK Hwang of 39 East Photography

And to give a little taste of what married life is like...

1.

Scene: Walking the dogs in Central Park


Me: So, does it feel any different being married now?
Mr. Pug: Hm. No.
Me: Yeah, me neither.
Mr. Pug: [putting his arm around me and smirking] Oh, honey, it feels *just* as not special as it did before.


The nerve.


2.
The wedding was lovely, the honeymoon was great, but coming back sucked big time, due in no small part to me catching a really bad cold (or H1N1, I really don't know but it was disgusting).


A few days later, Mr. Pug fell ill with the same bug. Ha, sucka! You stuck with me now! My fever, sweatiness, and paralyzing body aches are now yours as well! We'll share *everything* from now on!!!


You were a busy, busy hive while I was gone! Can't wait to catch up on all these posts and share with you all the good wedding stuff. I have a ton of work to catch up on and have to get my pro pics, but I should be back in a few weeks with some recaps.


In the meantime, did you miss me? Did you??

Hey Folks!

Just a quick note.

We're getting married today.  I think Mr. Pug is pretty great, and I'm kinda sure he feels the same about me.  I'm far from perfect and so is he, so it makes it all the more special we think the other is pretty great.  I'm very lucky, and so is he. Yes he is. Lucky bastard.

A big Thank You to all of you for your support, ideas, humor, and whatever other good qualities one truly appreciates with all her heart during wedding planning.

Can't wait to share with you all the last minute planning and wedding details!

Percentages

When I was considering venues and forming our initial guest list (wow that was a long long long time ago), I was always interested in any information regarding how many of the invited guests actually come to the wedding.  The numbers of course differ based on many factors, such as the size/location/time/etc. of the wedding, but I wanted to quickly share our numbers.

Our venue capacity is 60 people.  We invited about 65 people, 61 of whom could realistically make it (we were 99.99% sure that a few older relatives would not be able to make the cross-country/international trip).  About 17 invited guests are from the Bay Area (i.e. close to the venue), and the rest were from out of town, so we considered it a semi-destination wedding.

Of the 65, 48 have RSVP'd as "yes".  That is around 70%, or 75% of the 61 guests we felt could realistically make it.  This seems like a reasonable percentage to me.

To break it down further (again, I was always interested in this information), out of 17 guests that live within 2 hours of Half Moon Bay, we had a 100% "yes" rate (all 17 people).  Out of the the 48 guests that would have had to travel to Half Moon bay, we have a 64% " yes rate (31 people) (FYI, the 48 out of towners also includes the few older relatives we were fairly positive would not be able to make it).

Any other percentages people care to share? How many did you invite? How many came? Where was your wedding?

My Wedding MO

Having read countless posts from fellow bees regarding their amazing weddings and looking at photos from other weddings on the internet, I kinda feel like I could be putting more effort into my wedding, like DIY-ing more stuff and doing my own flowers.  But I can't complain, because to a certain extent, it's all my fault! And I own it! It's all due to my modus operandi: Laziness (and DIY inability).  Folks, I won't lie--excited as I have been about planning this wedding, I am a lazy ass. 

If I could do this for a living, I would:

I am so pretty.

There are several components from this wedding that I decided from the get-go not to include, or dropped along the way.

Changing My Last Name
(okay this isn't exactly a wedding detail but whatever, you consistency police)  I didn't even really enter a debate in my mind over whether to change my name.  I guess if I really thought about it I would say that I like my first and last name together, and I don't feel the need to change my last name.  But that would be a mask of the real reason, which is that it seems like an awful lot of effort to change my name on every official paper, account, credit card, and whatnot. Soooo not gonna do it. Too tired. Maybe later. Or not.

Bridal Party
As fun as it would be to have a bridal party, my sister and my college friend K (who will also be our officiant) have taken such a big role in the wedding, and that is more than plenty without actually calling them bridesmaids.  When they ask me what they should wear, I yawn and say whatever they want. I don't want to be responsible for someone's dress, shoes, jewelry, or whatever. I'm watching TV and can't be bothered.

 

 

 

Veil and Bouquet

Veils and bouquets are lovely. Of course they are. And if I wanted them, I would have to spend time, effort and money to get them.  So I decided that I didn't want them.

This is me after eating breakfast.

What kind of details have you foregone in order to save your energy and sanity?

Desire Reincarnated

As you may remember (okay, you don't) from my previous post about shopping for wedding dresses, my original vision and most of the dresses that captured my heart were non-strapless.  There were v-necks, cowl necks, bateau necklines, and so on (actually that's about it), like this:

Source

Source

After all that, I ended up with a strapless dress.  While I am going to have a halter strap added to the dress, I want a high neckline to appear somewhere in the wedding.  You know, as if this is the only time that people will see me dressed and if I miss this opportunity, oh boy! Won't they be disappointed!

I've decided that this very special opportunity for my guests will be the welcome event taking place the evening before the wedding.  I looked for a non-strapless dress, and found some options:

Source ($178--I love this color)

Source ($350--pretty, but yikes!!)

However, I was also feeling budget guilt, and decided (at least for the time-being), that I would wear a red dress already hanging in my closet.  Like it? $40 from Banana on clearance!

Here's my attempt at a Miss America wave

Which ended up looking more like the "Single Ladies" pose. Ironic, isn't it.

But then, I wandered into the BCBG store one weekend when they were having a massive sale. I found this dress--originally $178, got it for $56! And it fits! And it has a draped neckline!

Anyone else using their rehearsal dinner dress to get a second bite of the apple?