When the Fat Lady Sings

I've been dreading writing this post. You can probably tell from my sporadic blogging, I'm trying desperately to hold on, but it's time to let go. About two years ago, when I began planning my wedding, I typed these fateful words into my Google search bar -- "wedding blog." I was hoping to get a few ideas here and there, some inspiration and nab a few great wedding vendors.  Little did I know, clicking on that catchy title "Weddingbee" would spark a nearly two year obsession.  I applied to be a Bee not really thinking I'd be accepted.  I think that's how most Bee bloggers feel when they submit their application to Weddingbee. Who'd want to read MY writing? What great ideas do I have? But Weddingbee is about much more than just getting good ideas. It's a community. 

Oh hive, you listened to me gripe, worry, stress and celebrate. My DIY projects, my indecision, my (not-so-helpful) tips. How can I leave you?! If you read my last post, you know that I'm still addicted to the wedding world and I don't want to let go, but every season must end before a new one begins. 

I'll drop in here and there to say hello and see what you're all up to, but it's time for me to move onto a new season of my life. I'm a teacher facing layoff, a budding entrepreneur, a wife making a home with her husband. If you care to keep in touch, you can be following me at www.when-love-happens.blogspot.com.

Thank you for walking alongside me in my wedding planning journey. I'll miss you!

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Wedding Withdrawal

It's been just short of 9 months since the wedding and I have a bad case of wedding withdrawal. I reluctantly began selling all of my wedding stuff on Weddingbee classifieds, but I refused to unsubscribe from my wedding blogs and still shamelessly read them even though I am no longer planning a wedding.    I still often look through my wedding photos, album and engagement photos so I can remember my wedding day.

It's funny - the rollercoaster of emotions that come from wedding planning. At first you are ridiculously excited, then completely overwhelmed, then determined to finish all your planning, then resigned to the fact that you may not finish every DIY project you wanted to do, then nervous as the day approaches, then stressed the week of as you hammer out the last details, then unbelievably happy on the day of the wedding, then relieved as you close the books on that big wedding day you've been planning for x amount of months (or years).

You go on your honeymoon and think, "Phew! I'm so glad I'm done wedding planning!"Then, if you're at all like me, you slowly....incredulously...begin...to miss wedding planning! Yes, it's true! I miss wedding planning and getting every detail JUST right.  I miss drowning in piles of paper and ribbon as I complete DIY projects. I miss looking through my day of schedule to make sure EVERYTHING is accounted for...okay, no I don't miss that part.

So, I find myself in wedding withdrawal and I kind of can't believe I feel this way because I was SO glad the wedding was done with 9 months ago. Any brides out there anxious to finish wedding planning? Any married brides out there that are so glad the wedding planning is over? Any (somewhate crazy) married brides like me that want to plan another wedding? :)

Missed something?

• We go to the happiest place on Earth.
• I get all dolled up.
• Mr. Lace and I get a peep of each other.
• We had awesome music.
• We took photos.
• We get married!
• We write. We fight. We say our vows.
• Big surprise...I cry.
• We are photo crazed. 
• Say cheese!
• I'm obsessed with details.
• Feeling toasty?
• Traditional surprises?
• Dress change REMIX!
• Photobooths are fun!
• Some advice from the other side

Laced with Love: Lessons from a Bride on the Other Side

I hope that you enjoyed the photos from the wedding. The day went by so fast. Before I knew it, the party was ending and it was time to go home! I'll be honest and tell you that I miss my wedding. I miss the flowers, being drowned in wedding details, researching vendors and spreadsheets galore.  I was so happy with how things went and if there WERE any problems, I was completely oblivious because my fantastic vendors and coordinators handled everything. It seemed like it went off without a hitch. 

So, now that the wedding (and the recaps) are over, here are my lessons for your day of from the other side. I tend to be the kind of person that is far too prepared for things...probably annoyingly so to others around me.  Here are a random assortment of things I was so glad I overprepared for!

1. Bridal Kit - My makeup artist gave me a touch up kit, but I packed my makeup bag with EVERYTHING in it just in case. I also made these for the bridesmaids and myself:

I used about 20 Q-tips on my wedding day, mainly for cleaning up makeup.  I think I used all 10 of mine and stole more from my bridesmaids.  I also used a lot more tissue than I thought I would. I had a small travel pack of tissue, but between crying and touching up makeup, my pack was gone before the ceremony had started! Mr. Lace had extra tissue in his pocket for me which totally helped. I had rolled some tissue up and hid it in my bouquet, but when your eyes are watering and your bouquet is mainly white, it is sometimes hard to spot exactly where you hid your 5 rolled up tissues! 

2. Toothbrush and toothpaste! My day started around 7 am and ended at 1 am so it was a good thing I threw in my toothbrush and toothpaste into my bag. I brushed my teeth right before the ceremony, then once again when I took a quick bathroom break after dinner.  I HATE the feeling of dirty teeth and I am super conscious of it so it was nice I didn't have to brush my teeth with my finger. :) The gum I packed helped too!

3. We didn't have a TON of downtime, but I in the small moments I did, I found myself feeling hungry. I had coffee and a croissant in the morning, but I was too excited to really eat lunch. I ate a quarter of a sandwich because I was in the middle of getting my hair and makeup done. Then it was off to photos. Good thing I made baskets of snacks for the groomsmen and their dressing room and for the bridesmaids and myself. Not that they were healthy snacks, but the sugar helped me power through the day. 

4. Even though I had a fabulous photographer, a camera came in handy at the very end of the night, when we were outside the venue getting ready to leave. Trusty BM M ALWAYS has a camera on hand and snapped a few photos before we got ready to leave. Our helpers and family had just finished cleaning everything up and we were all getting ready to get into our cars when my BM's whipped out a camera and snapped these.

Anything you dare not forget on your wedding day?

Missed something?

• We go to the happiest place on Earth.
• I get all dolled up.
• Mr. Lace and I get a peep of each other.
• We had awesome music.
• We took photos.
• We get married!
• We write. We fight. We say our vows.
• Big surprise...I cry.
• We are photo crazed. 
• Say cheese!
• I'm obsessed with details.
• Feeling toasty?
• Traditional surprises?
• Dress change REMIX!
• Photobooths are fun!

Laced with Love: I Should Tell Your Momma

I only titled this post "I Should Tell Your Momma" because when we got a disc of photobooth photos from Snappy Joe, I saw my friends and family do things I've never seen them do before.  Since some of these friends and family follow my blog, facebook and Etsy sites which are all linked together, I decided I shouldn't post them lest I embarrass them. However, I had a mom wear a bandana around her head like Tupac, people kissing and touching of body parts that would prompt you to shout out "stranger danger!"

Anyway, here are a few highlights courtesy of Snappy Joe Photography! 

I SHOULD tell your mommas...

a la Michael Jackson

Our flowergirls gettin' down.

This family dressed up as KISS for Halloween.

In college, a few of my friends called this the ultimate test of friendship. If you were willing to stick your finger in your friend's nose, you were a true friend. Marriage should be enough, but just in case, we had to do the test.

I bought and wore this bee hat just for you Hive!

We made sure we set aside money for a photobooth in our budget because we knew it'd be entertaining for our guests and for us when we got to see all the photos afterwards.  Even though most of my guests have been to many weddings with photobooths, they still go back again and again to take photos.  We had no doubt we wanted to have one at our wedding. Are you pro- or anti-photobooths?

Missed something?

• We go to the happiest place on Earth.
• I get all dolled up.
• Mr. Lace and I get a peep of each other.
• We had awesome music.
• We took photos.
• We get married!
• We write. We fight. We say our vows.
• Big surprise...I cry.
• We are photo crazed. 
• Say cheese!
• I'm obsessed with details.
• Feeling toasty?
• Traditional surprises?
• Dress change REMIX!

Laced with Love: The Dress Change Remixed

In many Chinese-American weddings, many brides change into a traditional Chinese dress called a qi pao (pronounced chi-pow).  First off, it's a beautiful, but unforgiving dress.  Here are a few images I found on the web:

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In my mind, it's most traditionally worn in red with gold shoes, both colors associated with good luck. Well, I've never been much of a traditionalist so I didn't want to wear a qi pao. After all, my wedding dress was the most expensive dress I'd ever bought and I did love it ever so much, why would I change out of it?! Nevertheless, being a good daughter, I asked my Mom if she wanted me to partake in this tradition.  She said no, I didn't need to do it if I didn't want to.  Just to be sure, a couple months later, I asked her again because it would take a couple months to have a qi pao made for me.  She said no again.  Since I had asked twice, I decided she was sure.  

Two weeks before the wedding, we were out shopping for accessories for her outfit for the wedding and as we were walking through the mall she says, "So, don't you think you should do a dress change?"  *insert record scratch here*  It's two weeks before the wedding, I had checked twice and NOW she was asking for a dress change?!  We both agreed that there'd be no time to get a qi pao made so she suggested a "normal" special occasion dress as my change.  I agreed and we began looking.  As we walked through the mall, I tried on various dresses in ivory, white and green, our wedding colors, but couldn't find anything I liked. The next day, I said that if I couldn't find a dress, we'd forget the whole idea.  We headed to another mall and I tried on every white, ivory and green dress I could lay my hands on.  I decided another color wouldn't really match.  But then, with an armful of dresses, I found a reddish pink dress and fell in love!  I took it along with me to the dressing room and saved it for last.  Every dress was a no until I changed into the little red number.  Through the dressing room door, I said, "Mom, it's not the right color. If they only had it in white or something, I think I'd buy this dress!"  I opened the door and she said, "it's perfect! It's RED! You can wear this red dress instead of a red qi pao!"  It turned out to be perfect compromise for my Mom and I.  Red for my Mom and gorgeous for me! :)

So, here it is, my red dress change remixed -- 

All photos courtesy of Hanssie Trainor.

Are you planning on changing into something else during your reception?

Missed something?

• We go to the happiest place on Earth.
• I get all dolled up.
• Mr. Lace and I get a peep of each other.
• We had awesome music.
• We took photos.
• We get married!
• We write. We fight. We say our vows.
• Big surprise...I cry.
• We are photo crazed. 
• Say cheese!
• I'm obsessed with details.
• Feeling toasty?
• Traditional surprises?

Laced with Love: Two Traditional Surprises

My title is a bit of an oxymoron, I know. How can something be a surprise, yet a regular tradition? Well, let me explain.

Surprise #1: Mr. Lace's family always does a family dance for the bride and groom.  We've done 80's songs, 90's songs and more recently "Grease!" So, Mr. Lace and I knew they'd plan a dance for us, but we just didn't know what songs they'd be dancing to. We were so lucky because we've had the longest, most complicated dance thus far! All photos courtesy of Hanssie Trainor.

Put your hands up!

If you liked then you shoulda put a ring on it, if you liked then you shoulda put a ring on it...

Cotton candy, sweet and low, let me see that tootsie roll!

Surprise #2:  My friends always do a little entertaining skit or speech for whoever is getting married.  So, my friends put together this little video for Mr. Lace and I.  First, photos of our reactions (complete with ugly face -- you know, when you laugh too hard and your face gets all screwed up?) and then the video!

A few things I should preface before you see this video:
1. When my friends first met Mr. Lace they thought he was kind of a tough guy.
2. I've always been a "nice" girl.
3. Mr. Lace and I really like Popeye's chicken.

Okay...action!

Do your family or friends have any wedding traditions or surprises in store for your wedding day?

Missed something?

• We go to the happiest place on Earth.
• I get all dolled up.
• Mr. Lace and I get a peep of each other.
• We had awesome music.
• We took photos.
• We get married!
• We write. We fight. We say our vows.
• Big surprise...I cry.
• We are photo crazed. 
• Say cheese!
• I'm obsessed with details.
• Feeling toasty?