The Wedding, December 20th, 2014: Getting Ready and Balboa Park Photoshoot

It's finally spring break, which means I can get down to blogging about my wedding day from last year! Been meaning to do this much sooner so that I don't forget all the events that happened that day, but got caught up in school and kept pushing this to back of my mind.

So, where should I start? I guess I'll start with the night before the wedding.

Despite my careful planning, there were still a couple of loose ends that needed to be tied the night before the wedding. I booked a suite at the Sheraton in Mission Valley for me and my bridesmaids to spend the night together. I know a lot of people say that the night before the wedding should be a chill night, but I was anxious about how everything will turn out the next day and spent an hour and a half running down the next day's schedule (and all the necessary contacts) with the entire bridal party who looked like they were already half asleep after the heavy rehearsal dinner. Although we needed to get up at around 7:30 AM the day of the wedding, John, the girls and I were still busy writing out place cards for our guests at 1:30 AM.

Even after the place cards were done and we were all ready to get to bed, I don't think I fell asleep till 3:00 AM. I guess most people will say that they were too excited to sleep, but in my case I felt like I was more paranoid than excited. I am a mild insomniac. Tell me I need to wake up at a certain time the next day without fail and I will pretty much not be able to sleep at all. I'm not sure if I actually slept all that much, but I do recall being rested for the most part of the night.

Woke up before the alarm rang (around 7:00 AM) and started to get ready. To cut cost, I decided to DIY the bridal party's makeup with Ruth. She's a makeup artist but still, having to makeup 6 faces (including mom) can be quite a challenge.

Here I am putting on the finishing touches to my lips. I was so torn between a neutral or bold look for the wedding. Everyone says that neutral is the best way to go since it's timeless, natural, and "safe". I love my "neutral" look and think I look my best in it, but I also feel that it was my signature go-to makeup and thus, not special enough for the occasion. Ruth suggested a red lip look since I've never done it before, and my wedding colors were red, gold and white. I've never tried red lips because I feel like my lips are so fat and shapeless, why emphasize it even more? What if I looked like I have fish lips? What if I regret it afterwards? What if I look too mature like an aunty? I was very hesitant, even on the day of the wedding itself, but went with it anyway. Can't be so wishy washy at the last minute, right? Still, part of the reasoning behind my decision was motivated by an article a bride wrote about her wedding experience, and how she wished she made more bold decisions instead of sticking to conventional ones because weddings are NEVER timeless anyway. Moreover, so many other "ex-brides" agreed with her in the comments. Now that my wedding is over, I agree with her as well and am very glad I went against the "safe" choice!

My oyster-colored satin wedding dress that weighs at least 10 lbs. I love the subtle beading under the bust and on the hip where the dress' folds gather. I feel it adds just a touch of bling to enhance the dress' plain/simple design.

I went with a dress top that had a ruched design because gives of the illusion of a slimmer/trimmer belly. I knew I was gonna eat a lot that night (Phil's BBQ ribs we're talking about here!) so I can't go wrong with this pattern.

The most comfortable heel's I've ever worn. Not the prettiest, but for the price, comfort and practicality, I'd happily give it 9.5/10. The special thing about these shoes is that they are silver and gold at the same time! Depending on where the light hits, it will sparkle a different color every time.

These flowers came as a total surprise from the Law sisters. I thought it was so sweet even though I'm not a flowers type of girl. It made me feel super special to receive a gift from friends who are in Malaysia! I didn't think anyone would care cuz I chose to get married in some foreign land, and here they are sending me flowers to beautify my suite and be a part of my big day. *Touched*

My hairstyle for the day is an updo with curls. I went with a hairdresser even though it cost $$ because I really didn't like the look of having hair down for a wedding, unless it's a summer or spring wedding that is outdoors. Also really glad I went with this look since it suited the church ceremony very well. Hair accessory from ICING by Claire's for $14. Lol. 

This photo is just to show how beautiful the view from the suite was. Natural lighting is essential for makeup! Yes, the hotel did cost a pretty penny but I loved it so much! Did I mention that the king size bed is HUMONGOUS? Like, it can comfortably fit three of me and I'm a pretty big-sized girl. And if you pay close attention, yes, I am wearing sweat pants in this shot. Ooops!

Mom fastening the corset back of my dress and my makeup artist friend, Ruth, holding out the mirror to make sure my dress was centered. Pictures are so deceiving because it looks like everything was going well, but my mom was actually so anxious that day the she forgot how to tie the corset. My mom was screaming and yelling at everyone all morning about everything little thing that did not seem to go according to plan, and I was able to be unusually calm throughout the whole ordeal. Even my hairdresser said that she has never met a bride as calm as I was. However, my calmness didn't assuage her anxiety and she fumbled with the dress for a long time. I was beginning to feel hopeless about the situation. Like, am I really going to have a dress malfunction right now when everything else had gone so smoothly? I was on a roll! If I couldn't get the dress figured out, I'd have to push my whole schedule back (major stress) and the limo was already waiting for us. And then, the amazing happened when my photographer suddenly put her camera down and said, "Here, let me help you. I've seen this done so many times I'm sure I can do it." And it was done.

Time to put on the veil! Lashes look so long and thick because I actually stacked two sets of lashes! Hehehe. Hey, if brides that already have naturally long lashes still need the help of fake lashes during their wedding day, don't we Asians, who are typically not that blessed in the lash department, need two pairs to make up the difference? XD

The watch I gave John as a wedding gift. A good man always keeps good time. He has an obsession with being punctual all the time, and I have an obsession with watches--the perfect gift.

Groom looking sharp and ready to go. Another behind the pictures/wardrobe malfunction #2 story:

I told the men they didn't have to get up till around 10:00 AM on the big day (lucky men) since I figured men didn't take long to get ready. Just wash your face, brush your teeth, gel your hair, put on your tux and you're done. Plenty of time since the photoshoot doesn't start till 12:10 PM. Turns out John left his vest and tie back at my home, which is at least 20 minutes away from the hotel! Just running back and forth would take about 45 minutes to an hour (if there's bad traffic or if he couldn't remember where he left it in the house), he didn't realize they were missing until 11:00 AM. One of his groomsmen was able to miraculously retrieve the vest in record time. Then the groomsmen ran into another problem, they had no idea how to pin on the boutonniere! I swear that I have the BEST photographer ever, because she also happens to know how to pin on boutonnieres and began helping all the men. What a life saver!

Look at how happy they are. Saved by the photographer and gonna make it in time to the limo!

The hummer limo! Big enough to fit 12 people or 10 if you have a big dress. ;) I feel so blessed to have this experience. I remember the first time I saw a limo, I thought to myself how cool it would be to sit in a limo? My chance to ride in limo came during prom of my senior year of high school. I had classmates asking if I wanted to carpool in a limo, but after learning how expensive they were (and my parents nor I had a job at the time) I had to turn the opportunity down. Later on, I learned about hummer limos from John when we were talking about big cars, and thought they were even cooler than regular limos (I have a love for big cars) since they are also less common! I jokingly said, "Well, some day when I get married I should ride in a hummer limo then." But I also learned that they were even more expensive than regular limos and so I never thought that it would happen. 

Fast forward 3 and a half years, who would've thought I'd actually get to ride in a hummer limo at my wedding? If you read my previous post on "Wedding Planning", you'd already know that the limo was never a part of the plan due to the budget constraint. I feel so blessed to have this experience. It's such a small secret desire/wish that really doesn't make any difference in my overall life whether I experience it or not. But it's like God knew and made it possible! When I was busy worrying about how to transport the entire party to the different venues the last week before the wedding, someone gave us the funds to make it happen. God is truly mysterious. We know he's all about the good news, and that he will never fail us in our times of great need. But he also provides us these little joys in life. *happy*

Moments before John had to be blindfolded for the rest of the drive to Balboa Park for our first look. We could have done the first look at the hotel lobby so he could enjoy the limo ride in full, but he insisted that we should have the first look done at a prettier place for photo's sake. John's expression looks like he's thinking, "What's taking the girls so long? Weren't they up at 7:30?" We were running late because of the corset incident. 

Alright! Everyone is in the limo and ready to go! Lol, look at John being blindfolded in the back. 

The limo experience was fun but very short-lived. Although we booked it for 3 hours, we only used it twice--to get from the hotel to the park, and then from the park to the ceremony venue. I had no idea that limos had sound systems in them for you to blast music so I didn't prepare any playlists. The only two people who had their phones on them only had ghetto music. So we basically spent our precious two trips listening to really loud bass/club music. XD

All's good because we had fun. Look at John and Diane. And why does Jae have sunglasses with him? *shrugs*

The first look! John's expression is so adorable here. And my goodness, he looks so sharp in that custom-fitted tux that I almost fainted because I found out it costs $700! You can't tell from the pictures but he is wearing height-increasing heels to make up for the difference in height from my heels, lol.

The moment before the first look. Didn't post this on Facebook because my face looks so derpy here. In fact, I look so derpy in a lot of the pictures that I should have worn a tiara and a sash with the words "Queen Derp". 

I've seen many people cry in their first look photos but that didn't happen to either one of us. I'm not sure if it was a cry worthy moment? Maybe it's because I'm already always so pretty so John wasn't surprised by my look that day lol (and vice versa for John) *conceited*. But seriously though, with the photographer and the entire bridal party behind John pointing cameras at us, I'm not sure how it could possibly be heartwarming.

Here he is checking the dress out.

And more importantly, he loves it! Keeping the dress a secret from John was so hard because I wanted to consult him about it when I was in the process of choosing one. I know brides traditionally keep the dress a secret until the big reveal, but what if he doesn't like the dress? We have very different tastes in clothes. Wouldn't it be better if I just chose a dress he'd like from the start? I AM paying a large sum of money for it after all, what's so bad about him seeing it as long as he doesn't know what the final look (with the hair, makeup, veil, accessories etc.) would be like? He was very insistent that I kept it a secret from him, however. Throughout the planning process, I've come to realize that John is more traditional that I am about weddings even though he's a guy (I didn't believe in a proposal either, but we did it anyway because he insisted it was the traditional thing to do). Oh the agony I went through to not let any information or detail about the dress slip whenever we had to talk about how to accommodate rides or plans to the dress's size.

*Happiness! My groom and husband-to-be!*

Hahaha! Mike cleaning lipstick off John's lips. I have no idea what I was saying or doing.

Now that the first look's out the way, it's picture time! Just looking at this picture makes me so happy for two reasons: 1) I am so glad I went with the red lips because it helped me stand out as the bride, plus it totally matches my bridesmaids dresses, and 2) my bridesmaids are so gorgeous!!! Call me bias but I think they look flawless. So many things about the wedding turned out better than I had anticipated. I gave my bridesmaids the freedom to choose whatever look and hairstyle they wanted, knowing full well it could turn out as a disaster if they all picked different things or chose not to do anything about it at all, yet I felt that was the most reasonable thing to do if I wasn't able to cover any of their beauty expenses (I could barely cover mine), and I didn't want to be a bridezilla. I was nervous about how our looks would pull together, especially since some of them put off deciding how they wanted to look until the week of the wedding itself. But look how well everything turned out!

Two with long soft curls, and two with short hair. I also like how both Hannah and Diane chose to color their hair. If only one of them had done it, there wouldn't be a symmetry. And I'm the only one with the updo (also totally by chance)! I am so grateful for the bunch that I had for my bridesmaids. Even though Hannah and Ruth love red lips, they both suggested that I'd take the "spotlight" of being the red lips girl. And despite me not dictating their every look (and even "stealing" their favorite/signature red-lip look), they still put in all their effort to look so beautiful. They are amazing and I could stare at this picture all day!

 My maid of honor

The only female best friend, who isn't my sister, that I've found since coming to the States. I don't think I get along very well with women here in general because of a different culture, but this girl is crazy enough to accept that I'm different. To be fair, she is also quite crazy and different than regular women. I could never get a hold of her during the planning process because she was travelling all around the globe. -_- But she really pulled through on the day itself and helped me tremendously in making sure that my makeup stayed put all day, if my veil was put in correctly, and if my hair was in place for photos. Her energy that day was ridiculously high and kept us all going even though there was so much that was going on since 7 AM. 

And now to give the groomsmen some photo love:

I also think that the groomsmen looked really sharp that day. What is it about men in suits and tux that make them look so good? I'm really glad John chose such a nice red for the groosmen. It suits their skin tone really well and it made his color stand out as well! Props to Michael, the best man, who is super classy and knows how to do obscure things like folding pocket squares. All these men outperformed themselves as well. And I think they looked so cute and handsome! My husband being the cutest, of course.(*^▽^*) Couldn't have asked for a better group!

Why are they so handsome? Kyaaa~ I know I'm married but good-looking people always make me so happy.

I know I've gone on and on about how my mom made my bridal bouquet and John's boutonniere on Facebook (the bridesmaids and groomsmen got fake flowers. Can't really tell from the pics until I said so, eh?) but I don't think people understand or are aware how ridiculously expensive wedding bouquets are. Sure, I didn't have the prettiest or grandest bouquet, but I think she did a splendid job for her first time, and that it really suited the theme of simple but classic! I also really like how it was a personal touch. Carrying around a bouquet made by mom is really special. To top it off, she saved me hundreds of dollars, which meant a lot to me! I am one happy bride.

No picture of rings because when the photographer wanted to do a shot we didn't have all the rings in one place. So this pic is the closest shot to make up for it. This ring is actually the wedding ring and not the proposal ring. The engagement ring is the one with the ruby heart (as seen in the bouquet photo). Sneaky John read my old archives and found my post about how much I love rubies and wanted a pretty heart-shaped ruby ring as the center stone as opposed to other gem stones. I think it's obvious by now that we love the color red haha. But in order to keep with "tradition", a family member hooked us up with this beautiful ring for the wedding. 

And now, some photos that I like but didn't make it to my Facebook album:

I really like how my train was more wide and round than long. Also, I'm glad I chose the cathedral veil because it enhances the bridal look a little more, since my dress was more on the plain side. I know I'm spouting about how much I love my dress but it's not because I'm trying to boast about my tastes. Rather, I didn't really have any particular style in mind and chose this because of the SUPER discounted price. In my mind, discount = save money = more money for food = yumm... > looks. But looking at the pictures now, I don't think it was a bad purchase after all, even if I didn't take into account the price!

And then some of my fave photos out of the lot of photos at Balboa Park:

We were told to fake chat and laugh here. Hannah and Diane are so good at this. This is the second time Rena looks kinda off (we did a similar pose during my bridal shower), and Ruth just ignored the whole thing and looked at the camera instead lol.

My dad really loved this picture of the giant tree. He said something about the tree symbolizing the love of married couples growing stronger and bigger as time goes on if we nourish it properly.

This photo looks so surreal. The clouds look gorgeous and the colors just work so well together. Would you believe it's winter season? Balboa Park is so pretty. I'm glad we chose to go with Balboa Park as our photoshoot venue rather than the beach or downtown San Diego. 

This last one is my personal favorite out of the lot because it's the only one where we were free to do whatever we wanted, and this was the result. Ruth was ahead of the game and brought BUBBLES for the photoshoot! I didn't prepare any props or thought much about what kind of shots I wanted to do since I'm not really experienced in posing for photos and am quite camera shy *shock* (it's because I'm not photogenic lol). Right at the end of our photoshoot, Ruth just pulled out tubes of bubbles and said, "Hey! I got these from work, let's blow some bubbles for the photo!" 

Like whaaaat? My whole family are super stick-in-the-mud type people, so I thought our photoshoot would just turn out like some period drama poster shots. But thanks to Ruth and the others for being so down to try anything, it turned out really fun! The only issue is that Rena looks so awkward here. In fact, she actually looks really awkward in other photos (not posted) as well. Maybe should she be crowned Queen Derp instead. Poor girl is so pretty but the photographer just keep getting awkward shots of her. LOL.

Just looking at these photos makes me happy. The day went by SO FAST that I honestly don't even remember being in half of these shots (and there's still way more)! Again, I am going to say that I feel so blessed to have an amazing all-day photographer--the pictures are beautiful and she was super for fixing our wardrobes malfunctions, remember?--for a very affordable price. People say that you'll never forget your wedding day but I struggle to remember what actually happened because so much was happening. There really wasn't anytime to take a break. I was constantly thinking about the time and what everyone else was doing, if they were bored, stressed, or confused. I just didn't want any of the guests or wedding party to feel the least bit stressed or uncomfortable over a wedding that's not even theirs, and got too preoccupied with my thoughts most of the day to actually feel anything. And we all know that I don't even connect with my feelings very well on a regular mundane day, much less a busy, event-packed day. 

I initially wanted another photographer whose photos looked so surreal, almost like a fantasy world magazine shot but her starting rate was $3000 for only 4 hours of her time. In the end, we went with Melanie, my photographer, by faith that she would do as good as a job for a lower price and longer hours than previously mentioned photographer. Even though so many people say weddings are "the most important day of our lives" and investing in an expensive photographer is necessary, we chose to stick to budget than to get carried away by the wave of commercialization of weddings. We just kept reminding ourselves that a wedding is a declaration of our commitment with one another with loved ones and God. Nothing more. A photographer serves to document the day and there really isn't a need to take superstar quality photos to show-off (even though I *love* gorgeous photos), so we went with the most reasonable choice of 10-hour photo coverage. In the end, not only did Melanie arrive early on the day of, she also graciously stayed late past the 10-hour mark since her arrival to capture our ENTIRE day! And to top it off, she had a wonderful personality. So easy-going and friendly, yet very professional about her job, really putting our nerves at ease.

Anyway, this post sums up all the events that happened prior to getting to our ceremony venue. Will follow up with another post on that! I'm being very thorough because we didn't hire a videographer, so I want to write down as much as possible about the day's events for my own keepsake to look back on when times are rough.