Whirlwind trip #2

Our last trip before the big day! I still have plenty of stuff to do when I go back a week before the wedding, but we took care of plenty of things this trip, too.


The California trip started with a trip to the County Clerk's office. We now have less than 90 days to get married! We applied for the license online, and it took all of 10 minutes to get the actual license.


We went to have lunch at our new banquet location, Great Harbor Seafood in Artesia, CA. The food was good (arguably better than the last place?) and the place was big enough but not too big. I think it'll be nice and cozy. It's a good thing that W speaks Mandarin because the woman in charge wouldn't speak to us in English. He was trying to get her to speak English but I told him to just speak to her in Mandarin. Luckily her brother came later and he spoke to us in English. I'm a little embarrassed by my handicap, but really, it just made me feel luckier to have W.


The next morning we tried cake- the banquet place provides cake from a Vietnamese bakery chain called Van's, but last time we tried Van's bakery it wasn't very impressive. We decided to just go with the Chinese bakery chain (Diamond Bakery) and got to taste three different cakes: yellow sponge cake with mango filling, yellow sponge cake with strawberry filling, and coffee cake with coffee cream filling. We decided to go with the safest option (strawberry filling). I'm not really particular about how the cake looks- you'll see when you see the cake at the banquet. It kinda matches my dress...I don't know if that's good or bad.


And then the bridal shower! Oh the bridal shower! I had no idea what to expect, but when I walked in there was a fantastic spread on the table, and a Scrubs theme! Complete with scrub pants, name badges, and music. I loved all the little details that went into it.


The girls had prepared make-your-own spring rolls, which was super yummy and nice cuz it was really interactive.

(my *other* teacher/lawyer/doctor combo- it's funny how I have one from youth group and one from WashU!)


And for dessert, the ever-so-famous Sprinkles cupcakes! They were SO good...W and I had one the next day and it was still really moist and yummy. Better than Magnolia!


No pictures of the gifts except for this one, which included four ribbons that I had to break. Apparently the number of ribbons you break is equivalent to how many kids you'll have. Sorry, W, I broke 5!




Thanks so much gals! I loved all the thought that went into the bridal shower, but I especially loved seeing everyone. I didn't realize how much I missed everyone until I saw them. It made me that much more excited for the wedding day!!!! I feel so loved!

Anticipation

I'm in California with W and his sister right now, and I'm getting so antsy! We got our marriage license yesterday (which was really quick thanks to the online form!) and checked out the new banquet site (which we like...we think the food might be better than the last place). We're going cake tasting in a couple minutes at a Chinese bakery since we didn't really like the Vietnamese bakery. Things are moving along.

I think I'm antsy cuz I have no idea what's going on tonight! My bridesmaids are all in town and they're throwing me a bridal shower. My request was to have something low-key and not your typical bridal shower (sitting around, playing games, opening presents). Not that there's anything wrong with typical bridal showers, but they're not very "me." I know whatever it is will be fun, but I hate now knowing what's going on! It's okay...I trust my bridesmaids. The most I've heard is that I have some very "creative" bridesmaids, and it "should be fun" so I'm expecting something crazy. And there will be more than 10 people there. And I may or may not be sleeping over somewhere. I feel like the Friends episode ("The one where they're going to party") when Chandler and Ross have to be prepared for anything and everything when they go party with their friend Gandolf cuz you never know what will happen when you're with him. Better go get a snake-bite kit.

lazy or smart?

Man...back in the day I was so ambitious about wedding stuff. If I had kept that momentum I would probably have a preposterous wedding (including a candy bar, a photo booth, and an In-n-out truck.) Memorable, but over-the-top.

I have to constantly remind myself that we don't have to go into debt to entertain our guests. Truth be told, most of our guests are adults who are capable of finding things to do. I wanted to plan lots of get-togethers, bonfires, bowling nights, Angels games...anything to maximize Southern California resources and my time with my friends. But I've realized that my friends have other friends, too (gasp!) and might not want to spend all that time with me since I'll be so frazzled anyway.

We have less than three months till the wedding, and that means less time to order extra things or give people notice about wedding events. We're frantically working on getting invitations out (did I mention that I'm now gonna make 30 invitations for W's relatives in Taiwan? By hand?) and getting ready for our trip to California this coming week. Man, May flew by! I was thinking "oh, it's fine, we have plenty of time!" but NO. It's our last trip out before I fly out the week before the wedding, so if things can get done, they're going to get done. And if they don't, we might just skip them all together.

Lazy? or smart? I'm thinking lazy now, but maybe not having so many details to worry about will help make that day a little less stressful. Thank goodness for my wedding coordinator...she doesn't want me to think/stress about ANYTHING that day, so I am trying my best to get every detail down so she can take charge. Relinquishing control...that's so not me!
***
In the meantime, it finally hit me the other day that my life is gonna change a lot after we get married. That sounds stupid, but it was all I could think about the other day. I was climbing into bed and then it hit me that soon I'm going to be sharing a bed with someone. And not just anyone, but my husband. And I'm gonna be cooking for him, cleaning OUR house, living with him...none of these are bad things, but it was just a huge reality check. It finally hit me that I'm getting married. It'll be W&T forever! Suddenly I won't just have my time- it'll be OUR time. I have to be selfless ALL the time, even on days where I don't like him or he's made me upset. I didn't get cold feet, but everything just started to set in more. I'm sure premarital counseling will contribute to this as well. Maybe it was just eerie because it seems like it's happening really soon.

I think another part of it was just overall sadness because so many things will be changing this summer. I've been physically preparing for things (like with bridal showers and farewell parties) but it hadn't hit me emotionally and mentally. It feels like graduation, when you know you won't see people anymore cuz everyone's going to do their own thing...except now it's marriage and school and other things that separate us.
***
I had a thought the other day...when we get married, does that bind me to the East Coast? Do I lose my privileges as a West Coaster?

a helpful dream

I know most wedding dreams are usually nightmares, but I had a really helpful dream last night. Bear with me:

For some reason we're getting married at a retreat center and having the dinner catered by a Chinese restaurant in the dining hall (this is my second wedding dream that happened in a retreat center in the woods...what does that mean?) Anyway, I'm all dressed to go but I realize:
1) My ex somehow made his way to our wedding. I see him in the hall when I'm on my way to the restroom to get ready and I'm upset. We don't interact, but I'm just mad that he had the gall to show up.
2) I forgot my earrings- luckily my wedding coordinator has an extra pair, but I only put on one of the earrings.

I walk down the aisle, and then all of a sudden I have an out-of-body experience! Instead of experiencing the wedding from the altar, I'm watching my wedding from the back corner. Memorable moments include: my dad leading worship, my dad having a scroll of our genealogy that's shaped like a bowling pin, our "thank you" to the parents being very sterile (like, we just bow, we don't hug them or anything), W's parents suddenly being Korean, and people crying during the wedding.

Anyway, after the wedding I talked to my coordinator and she says we can do it over, which makes sense to me because we never had a rehearsal. She gives me a list of things to remember, like:
1) Making sure I'm hydrated
2) Having folding chairs up front for the flower girls
3) Bringing my earrings
4) Brushing my teeth and mouth beforehand so my breath isn't gross

We try to coordinate when we can have the "actual wedding" and it has to be later that day or even the next day cuz we have to coordinate it around the banquet. But just as we're ending it starts raining and rain starts pouring into the sanctuary we were using. W and I make our way to the dining hall for the banquet and he tells me that my ex talked to him, they're on good terms, and he just happened to be in town for something else...he wasn't there to crash.

So random! I just had to write that down before I forgot all the details. Time to go to work.

crunch time

I can't believe we have three months to go. Sometimes that feels like a long time, but most of the time it feels like it's too short. We just figured out that we have to make some kind of invitation in Chinese so W's relatives from Taiwan can apply for visas, and we finalized the new banquet location. I think. I left that up to my mom, so I should probably follow up on it sometime. We have to finalize the wording for our English invitations, too.

I got to see my bridesmaid dresses! My brother was in town so he brought Olivia's dress...it's WAY too big for her (trust me, Liv, it's gonna need some major alterations), but the color is exactly what we wanted. It looks really dark, but you can tell it's navy blue. I don't know what the rest of you girls think, but I think they look fine. I hope they're comfortable, too.

We'll be in California May 21-25, and while we're there we have to meet with my pastor, meet with our wedding coordinator, get fitted for my qipao, get our marriage license, go to my bridal shower, get my makeup trial done...goodness. I need to start prepping and make a huge list of things so we don't forget any important things.

On a less serious and frantic note, there's gonna be a rate change right when we send out our invitations. 42 cents! It's not that big of a deal, but the 42 cent stamps are not wedding appropriate!

Okay, the Minnesota one isn't bad, but we're not from Minnesota. SO WEIRD. Why couldn't they make pretty stamps like the flowers or doves or whatever? I could always get the old ones and add 1 cent stamps, but that's too much work. I think my laziness is starting to make a lot of decisions for me.

the truth

Are people still willing to tell me the truth?

I feel like when it comes to weddings everyone knows not to mess with the bride. If the bride says something, DO IT. Do not argue with her, do not try and make things difficult for her, just do it.

But what if what I'm asking for is unbelievably unreasonable? What if it'll cost three times as much to do it that way as opposed to what was originally planned? What if it's a really bad idea?

W is good about being honest with me (he's shot down several ideas for the reception, which in retrospect weren't fantastic ideas to begin with) and several other friends have as well. I'm hoping that this is the trend so far- that yes, I'm a crazy bride, but I'm also a reasonable one. And I'd rather hear the truth than have something sugar-coated for me. You all can spread that rumor.

I'm not sure if that applies for the day of the wedding though...maybe that's the one time where I'm okay not knowing the whole truth. =) I'm kidding. Or, well, we'll see.