Sunday, September 14, 2008

standstill

since i started preparing for this new school year a month ago, wedding plans have come to a standstill. i spent most of the summer researching the internet for ideas and resources, and definitely came up with some really creative ways to make our wedding special. now that things have gotten busier for me, i haven't accomplished as much as i would have hoped to have accomplished at this point in the whole process.

luckily, i have the help of a wedding planner and friend, good ol' francia. during her visit to the bay, we were able to spend almost one whole day driving around sf on wedding-related errands. we took a visit to the reception venue and scoped out the area for decoration ideas and logistics. i actually started to visualize what it may look like on that day! we also went to the church and realized that the parking situation may present some problems -- mainly, there is no parking lot next to the church. my guests will have to park at the garage on the corner (unless by some miracle a metered spot opens up) and walk across to the church. it's not a far walk at all, and the church is visible if you're at the parking lot. i just hope people don't get confused. because if i was a guest coming to my wedding, i think i would get lost. then again, i get lost driving home from work sometimes.

after visiting the church and reception venues, we ran around searching for paper for my invites. we come up with an invitation suite and its color scheme! and, fabulous francia even put together a mock invite and sent it to me a few days ago. seeing our names on that paper was sort of a trip. anyway, we have a general idea now of how the invitations are going to look.

here's my list of to-do's for the next month or so...
  • create and put together our STD's
  • finalize our videographer
  • contact our band (we're in negotiations right now. not even sure we'll have them.)
  • find a DJ
  • ask a few more close friends to be a part of our ceremony
  • contact our new catering manager at the hotel to introduce myself and ask more questions(we're really sad about this! :( our previous catering manager was moved to the long beach hyatt. and she was one of the reasons we chose that hotel!)
  • decide whether or not we will be using a florist
  • make plans to order barongs
  • look for bridesmaids dresses
  • find a dress

the last one i'm not so excited about. in fact, i'm not really looking forward to it. i've been to two dress shops so far and have had pretty good experiences. why so hesitent now, you may ask? i think it's because i'm not comfortable with the way i physically look in any wedding dress at this time. i'm planning on losing weight before the big day, and people keep telling me just to try on dresses and just have them take it in later. that's probably what i'm going to end up doing. however, i just feel as though i dislike every dress i try on because of my body size. oh well, we'll just have to see.

by the way, is it too soon to be thinking about the bachelorette party? my girlfriends keep asking me what i want to do and i get so excited thinking about it! vegas, anyone?!

a couple weeks ago at happy hour with the faculty at my school, one of my coworkers asked me what i'm most looking forward when it comes or our wedding and our married life. to the first question my answer was our ceremony. as much as i am looking forward to having a smashing reception, nothing excites me more than thinking about saying our vows before God and our family and friends. as for what i'm looking forward to most about married life, it is definitely having a family. i simply cannot wait!

oh, photographer update: we've booked with the very talented caroline tran! she's the one that took the pics in my previous post. david and i met with her last month when they were here shooting a wedding in napa. see, she's located in socal so we'll have to fly her up for our wedding day. but, we're taking engagement photos in socal. we got such a good vibe from her and could tell right away that we would get along. she is also a uci alumnus and so we know so many people in common! how cool is that?

and the best news of all...i asked father pat to celebrate our wedding and he said...MAYBE! :D he didn't say "no", he said "MAYBE"! i was 99% expected him to say no right off the bat, but everyone was encouraging us to just ask him and see what happens. i'm so glad i did.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

awwwwwwwww!!!! i hope i hope i hope FATHER PAT gets to do your wedding!!! michael and i were soooo blessed that he was able to do ours because it made it that much more special. i know he's retired now, but i'll cross my fingers for you that he'll be able to do yours too! i know how special he is to all of us! :)

dee said...

thanks, noreen! we really hope he'll be able to, too! he said he might be in vietnam but if he's not and if he's feeling well he said he'll make the trip. :)