It has been a month since my last post and what has happened since then???

Oh boy! Wedding stuff first….

I was able to make those little cards that we will include in the invitations when we send them out. These little cards have the RSVP details in them, as well as the attire and the wedsite URL. They have been printed out, accented with those little silver things present on the corners of our invites (I cut them out from silver doilies, okay), and now all of those cards are ready. Now if I can only finished all the invitations already…

Next, the wedding dress. Somehow, I was able to complete the embroidery on the front of the bodice. I know, if it’s just for the sake of budget wedding, I’d keep it simple and simple. But the artist in me cannot resist to make it as a masterpiece…on a budget. I want the finished product to be something I can be super proud of, which will satisfy the fashion designer in me and wow the guests and all Facebook friends. So there.

Third, I was able to do all my bridesmaids’ wrist corsages. They are all in a clean shoe box now, standing by and waiting for the wedding. Ah, that’s the advantage of artificial flowers.

Fourth, the reception program is about 35% done. You might ask, why only 25%? My dear, be reminded that I am a fussy bridezilla. Therefore, the program is not the ordinary “Processional March – Invocation – Welcome Remarks – etc…” kind of a program. It is a program that starts with “Once upon a time…” and the whole script goes on, as if the MC is narrating a fairytale, instead of just announcing the next number of the program, blah, blah, blah. Instead of singers just singing any love song, they would be singing songs with messages that tell certain parts of out story. Something like how the songs are in plays, you know.

Fifth, the save-the-dates have been sent out. Many of our guests seemed to be amazed about this save-the-date thing. It’s not a popular trend in our culture, so many are really impressed that we emailed them our save-the-dates.

Sixth, the guest list has been updated.

Seventh, what else? I can’t think of anything else wedding related, so I’ll just go down to admission of one unfortunate event… I lost my job. It was just so crazy. This company I was working for seemed to be a big company, with lots of big time clients, etc. Then one day, three people just came into our office with all the documents, etc., proving that they are the new receivers of the company and that they’re now looking for people who’d like to buy the company because the financial status has gone bad and the owners are selling the company. Waaahhh!!! What was that?! After one week and two days, the receivers called a meeting and told us, one hour before the office’s closing time that day, that that very day is our last day of work. The company was losing money too quickly, so they had no choice but to close the company and start liquidating. Thank goodness, I’m aiming for a budget wedding. But still, I wish I had planned to elope instead of having a reception. Unfortunately, certain vendors have already been booked and down payment has been paid, and there’s no refund in case of cancellation. After thinking, thinking and thinking, we have come to a conclusion that it is better to go on with the plans (anyway, our savings can manage the expected expenses, without us going to debt) than say goodbye to the down payment without getting anything in return. We are thinking positive and hopeful that I’ll be back to work again very very soon (super hopefully!!!) so that things will be better. But still, I’m thinking of cutting down the guest list, maybe not invite my high school classmates and some friends from my previous workplace.

Well, that’s the summary of the past month that I have been missing in action here in my blog. Thanks for your patience with my procrastination, and hope to be posting a little more regularly after this.

Happy Mother’s Day!!! Mwah!

Yeah, this is what I had been up to.  Am I now an official Bridezilla? Or am I just trying to be an organized bride and trying to get things done?

Our original plan was to have a fairytale theme.  But along the way, it didn’t seem too “us” to have a 100% fairytale theme.  For instance, I do not want frog decorations no matter how handsome the frog prince turned out to be in the story.  And most certainly, we do not want “fairytale-movie-soundtracks-only” for our music on reception night.

We do not want to force castle silhouettes, pumpkin carriage card holders, frog prince cake toppers, fairy wings on flower girls, glass slippers on me, etc. just to follow the theme.  And though scroll invitations are very fairytale-ish, we do not want them because (a) they’re awkward to keep as you cannot just insert them in between scrapbook pages, and (b) they require extra postage than the regular because they have to be boxed.

Next, we also love Lord of the Rings.  I have read the books in my teens, way before the movies came out, so it’s a little more special to me.  We also like the Narnian stories, certain sports, artsy stuff, etc.  I love those fairytale movies in the recent decades, such as Princess Bride, Ella Enchanted, Ever After, etc.  However, it might seem confusing and crazy to combine all these themes together…. and, as many people in the fussy wedding world love to describe it, tacky.

But we do not want to be confusing.  We just want to be whimsical a bit, enjoy ourselves, and share our personalities and likes with our guests. Because of these, we have thought of putting a little bit of this and that and now our theme is no longer just fairytale.  It has not changed into LOTR, or Narnia.  It has finally become “us”… the whole little-bit-of-this-and-that has become a definition of our personalities and our interests. Yes, “us” is our theme!

I have learned that it is important that we shouldn’t get too carried away by themes and firmly enforce the theme, like a bridezilla and a groomzilla.  Why, is it the theme’s wedding day? Is the theme spending for all the expenses? Is it important for the theme to be happy? Of course not.  Therefore, if it does not really make us happy, I conclude that we should not become slaves to the theme, but that we lead and let the theme adjust to us, instead of the other way around.

It’s less than 7 and a half months to go! And how are my wedding preparations in general? Let’s review….

~ Compile names and addresses for the guest list – DONE
~ Prepare the gift registry – NA…have decided on cash gifts instead
~ Prepare attendants’ kits - terrible procrastinator! barely finished on one!
~ Make wedding scrapbook – A work in progress, at least!

My specific goals for this month are:

~ Finish gluing the ribbon on the background of all the invites
~ Finish printing the text on the blue vellum & silverize our names
~ Make the STDs and send them out by the 15th
~ Make the wedsite presentable enough for publicity to guests
~ Finish the bodice of the gown.

Good luck to me.

Finally! I have started making a more organized wedding file. Thanks to my surfing other brides’ blogs, thus, coming across Hellen’s wedding file at this post. I was really inspired by that, so I decided to work on organizing my file too. After all, I’ve read somewhere that the more organized and detailed you are, the better, so yeah, let’s organize the file and every teeny weeny detail in it. I haven’t taken photos of it yet, but here’s the table of contents that I typed last night on MS Word, printed out and inserted in my file.

Table of Contents

1 – Front Page
2 – Table of Contents
3 – Calendar / Checklist
4 – Reception Program & Sequence & script & where stuffs are needed
5 – Reception Package
6 – Floor Plan and layout and blowups
7 – Interior elevations of reception hall
8 – Seat arrangement
9 – “Seat Plan” board design and specifications
10 – General decors sketches, design & specifications
11 – Table decors design, details and specifications
12 – Wishing well design, details and specifications
13 – Music list and performers
14 – Reception Games, description, rules, props and prizes
15 – Guest list (A and B)
16 – STDs, Invitations, RSVP and website card, Thank you cards
17 – Bridal party, ushers, and other special participants
18 – Other vendors’ details
19 – Beauty pampering schedules
20 – Favors details
21 – Bridesmaids stuff (dresses, wrist corsages, kits, etc.)

Of course, I’ll just add more pages and topics to it, as they come to mind along the way. Any suggestions?