in some ways i felt this wedding was something to look forward to. considering the artistic background of the couple, i’ve almost expected some really nice details. as they had only 3 months to prepare, they didn’t have too many details but they have the nice details. note: the theme of the wedding, i assume, is based on the current season (spring festival)

1. invitations
it was only after the wedding that i saw it but it was simple and unique. it was round, single page double sided with a design in the front that celebrated the season.

2. center pieces
pardon my bad photo but i forgot to take it till the end of the night after my co-host duties were over. anyways, i love how the cotton flowers and baby tangerines were used. i think the colours were tied together nicely too!

3. music
there were different things achieved with the music. usually, i hear too many cheesy top 40s being played. that’s ok if it’s your theme otherwise…
so firstly, the music for the bride’s march in was absolutely whimsical. playful with a hint of naivete. i don’t know the name of the song but i’ll post it if i remember to after asking the bride. then the rest of the evening they played shanghai jazz which suited the (yes, again) the season and the food. luke is in charge of our play list; i hope ours will flow well too.

the night in general seem to have went by pretty quickly. this couple has come a long way and i’m honoured to have witnessed their journey. I’m also glad to have been asked to be part of their special day.

i always knew after reading loads of greek mythology that i wanted my wedding to have the feeling that we are all lazing around on a late afternoon eating grapes and frolicking in the water. however it completely slipped my mind that toga dresses aren’t very my style and certainly not one i want to try on the day i will be judged for my biggest fashion choice. however one can always count on vera to give you some direction and ideas. plus we can still go with a romantic and ethereal gown that will go with the theme. after looking at some options, my favourite line was vera’s fall 2006 collection. the flowy and soft fabrics and the floral embellishments are exactly what appeals to me. light and carefree; that’s the way i want to feel when making the 2nd biggest decision in my life. however a vera is too expensive and i can’t possibly spend almost half of our wedding fund on a dress!

when luke bought me my first bridal magazine after spotting a dress that would suit our theme, i fell in like with this dress from amsale. it’s lovely! i like how there are these huge flowers on the top and how the rest of the dress just flares out. i think one will look almost like a young fairy in that dress. however, i had fears that people will think i’m trying to hide a pregnancy with that dress. therefore, that design was out of the window.

at the end of the day i just thought i shouldn’t get a wedding dress in north america as it is way too expensive and i can get a bootleg when i move to the motherland. that was a thought until i remembered many people’s custom-made-prom-nightmares. so one lazy and restless sunday afternoon in july when my aunt suggested that we go dress-trying… i jumped at the chance. the first few places had nothing i wanted but we thought what the heek, let’s just try on one big poofy princess dress since everyone on reality tv seem to like the style so much. after trying it on, i finally understood why so many brides choose this generic style. if you ever feel fat and un-curvacous, the poofy princess look will make you feel like you have a pagent worthy waistline! so now i judge you less if you wear it for your wedding. anyways, we’ve been trying dresses and they been a bust so i’m feeling better about possibly custom making a dress until we stepped into the last shop. for some reason, i decided that i needed to try a mermaid cut dress. i looked through the rack and saw this dress that had some flowers attached to it and thought “ok, flowers. maybe i should try it”. uh-oh, i came out and i realized this might be it, i looked very curvacous and it’s no poofy dress! if there is one time i want to look sexy and desirable it’ll be on my wedding day. of course, there’s no way i can buy a dress on the day i’m just trying. so off home we went.

fast forward, we went shopping at another bridal district with luke in tow. that day lace was the theme. while i found my dream dress, i was most touched when i saw luke’s expression when he saw me in a gown for the first time. his jaw dropped and a second later turned into a huge smile. so the dream dress looks a little like this with a more interesting lace pattern. we didn’t buy the dress though cause it was way over budget (a vera would have been triple way over budget compared to this one).

in the end, after much or shall i say little deliberation, luke and i took the plunge and bought…

the mermaid dress!

the (flattened) flowers on the dress

it’s simple with no lace but i love the way it hugs my body and how it  just flows. thus ends our very short dress search.

while i’ve shed the life i led in high school, i kept a number of significant friends who in turn kept a number of significant friends. thus weddings and birthdays often create awkward meetings with some people that you’ve long erased together with the life you no longer lead. it’s great to catch up but sometimes when you’ve gone so far ahead it’s hard to explain how many turns you’ve taken to be where you are right this moment. you see a lot of confuse looks as you try to explain because they can’t reconcile the you now and the memory they have of you then. as i waddled through many conversations, none was as appalling as one i had with the guys. one of them asked if my fiance is someone from high school. i find it incredulous that that should even be considered. if i did, it should be a surprise, not a given. firstly, i didn’t date anyone ever from high school, i moved 7000 miles after graduation, and now reside 2000 miles away. the probability of dating someone from high school is, in another words, slim. nonetheless, when i said i wasn’t, he said why not?

if he could ask such a question 6 years after graduation, can you imagine the egos i had to battle with then?

this stingy display of what the wedding industry is capable of has earned this movie only 2 out of 5 tcbys. luke is going to be so gloaty. singing i told you so songs. humph!

HOWEVER, it has definitely made me feel that my wedding will at least look more exciting and less stuffy than the ones portraited in the movie.

the last 3 months, luke and i have also moved to our motherland. it has been a roller coaster ride. we love the people but not the crowds. we love the availability of food but not the cuisine. we love that it operates beyond 10pm but not the transit situation after 10pm. we love the fashion but not the copies. the love the cheap real CDs and DVDs but not the (well no condradiction here).  the list goes on but one thing we refuse to be are whiners. we refuse to be the foreigners who go to a place and gather with other foreigners to hold a whine fest contesting to see who had a more incredulous culture clash moment. safe to say, most of our friends are the locals. me thinks if one is so unhappy with a place they’re living in (as an expatraite) one should leave and should never complain within earshot of a local (ok this can be moderated by how patroitic the local is but still…). what would miss manners say!

nonetheless, i have my own share of frustrations. mostly due to how luke and i look. as we are ethically the same, we get scolded for being so ignorant of the motherland and our heritage. i am peeved everytime someone judge me for not knowing exactly which town, county and village my ancestors hail from. is it that important?

today i was trying to put my battery back and was fiddling with the battery knob when suddenly the knob came off! it’s official sirius is falling apart. so i panicked a little and decided it’s time to call the service centre. after phone calls that got redirected to india, i got a number to a local service centre. 15 minutes after our initial conversation, the lady kindly informed me that the small knob was not a replaceable part. to fix the problem they would have to replace the whole battery unit. the cost of part and labor comes for a low fee is $400 before taxes. i told her it was fine, my sirius can afford not to take the $400 makeover as he cries over a lost 1 inch diameter part. after replacing the receiver, i thought there has to be another way. so i took a coin and pushed the knob back in and viola! it fitted back in. now i just have to put tape over it to make sure it doesn’t fall out.

nothing like an obscene price tag to get the DIY process started.

yesterday, i went to the ATM and saw that my balance was higher than i expected (always a joy!) but i decided to investigate using my newly set up internet banking. when i got to the secondary login page there was an icon flashing before my eyes. apparently the “key chain” contained my secondary PIN!!! major crap! i tossed out some fancy banking secure PIN device. it’s probably in some land fill this moment as i type.

so this morning, i called the bank and told them that my device has been “misplaced” more like trashed but they didn’t have to know the gory details. a replacement device would cost me $20+GST… ouch! next time, i’m throwing out no key chain especially gimmicky looking things from the bank!

it is almost too much of a pleasant surprise for me to hear how well everything went. however, i have to believe it’s true cause in a few days i’m off to see luke courtesy of Mr. Gilmore!

i think the fact that both my brother and i have returned home this summer with a significant weight gain has eluded my parents. everyday i open the refrigerator to find a copious amount of food. copious as in after days of eating leftovers for lunch, we miraculously find more food lurking behind snacks that have recently found its way into the refrigerator. of course, given the terrible humidity, we also have a bigger freezer to freeze seasonal hot ticket items like durians which would have otherwise be hard to get at this time of the year.

oh my dear parents are definitely dashing our weight loss dreams. nonetheless they find it within themselves to remind us a couple times a week that we need to eat moderately.