1 month and counting

Man, it's been a while since the last update and there's so much that's gotten done. But at the same time, there's so much more that still needs to be done. I'm at the point where people ask if everything is done (which it's not), so I feel rushed and like I'm not as far along as I should be. This serves as a list of things that are done, so I feel accomplished; but also as a list of my to-dos.

Things that are done:

1. Limo has been booked
2. Hotel rooms reserved
3. Rehearsal date has been set
4. Rehearsal dinner has been set
5. Original MC can't make it to our wedding, so we asked Aaron's uncle
6. Centerpiece flowers/arrangement design decided on
7. Decided to have same day edit for our videography :)
8. Music for ceremony has been decided
9. Ordered my garter
10. Ordered flower hair clip for myself
11. Custom Converse shoes for groom and groomsmen has been ordered
12. Hair & make-up person booked
13. Projector & screen reserved
14. Card box purchased and spruced up
15. Favors and favor boxes decided on
16. Centerpiece vases purchased
17. Cake person reserved
18. Seating charts done (This was surprisingly easy. I was expecting this to be a nightmare since everyone kept telling me it was one of the most difficult parts. But it went really fast, so I'm hoping I did it correctly)

Things that are being completed/coming in/still deciding:

1. Finalizing ceremony and reception program (ongoing)
2. Writing our own vows
3. Waiting for my dress to arrive
4. Waiting for bridesmaids' dresses to arrive
5. Jewelry being made by a friend
6. Waiting for favor boxes to be cut by Creations By You
7. Working on centerpiece mirrors and candle holders
8. Deciding on music for various parts of reception (entry for parents, bridal party, bride & groom, garter retrieval, garter toss, bouquet toss, cake cutting, background music)
9. Pupus for cocktail hour
10. Menu for rehearsal dinner
11. Need to find someone for invocation
12. Need to find people to man our reception table
13. Need to decide on napkin design
14. Need to decide on table numbering and design them

Honeymoon Registry

We finally have our honeymoon registry up and running :D


Since we already live together, we have most of the items that newlyweds need at the beginning. We thought we could use more help with our honeymoon planning, thus the honeymoon registry.


We will be traveling to Northern California during the first 2 weeks of October (we needed a breather between wedding planning and honeymoon planning). So we won't be doing the honeymoon right after the wedding. But I think it'll still be awesome!

Visit our honeyfund at Honeyfund.com, the free honeymoon registry

Wedding shoes. To splurge, or not to splurge

Ever since I decided which wedding gown I'm wearing, I've been on a search for either teal heels or ivory lace heels. I found no teal heels, so I bought a pair of $45 heels from Calista (Thanks for the tip, Allysa & Lynette!) which at the time, I really liked. There's no return policy, so I have to keep them no matter what. They are a champagne glittery color with many rhinestones on the front part that goes over my toes. I thought I was all set on my shoes, until I went shoe shopping at Nordstrom with a couple of my girls.

I came across a to-die-for pair of teal Badgley Mischkas. Now I'm not a shoe-lover, nor am I swayed by fancy brand names. This shoe is beautiful in it's own right. The only issue is that it's about $150 with my bridesmaid's bf's discount. I went on Zappos to see if they were offered, which they are, at retail price. Then I saw a taller pair of a similar shoe that was also offered and I love that one too! Haha, now I'm not going to get both pairs of Badgley Mischkas, but I'm just trying to decide if it's worth it to get even one of them. I plan to wear them again after the wedding as teal is quickly becoming one of my favorite colors. However, I've never spent over $20 for shoes. I'm a frugal girl when it comes to clothes and shoes and it's greatly conflicting me to spend SO much on shoes.

Oh, and before my teal lovelies were discovered, I'd really been eyeing out this pair of lace Chinese Laundry heels from Zappos too. (sigh) such difficult decisions. :P

Slow progress

We have chosen a few more vendors:

• ShutterBooth Hawaii for our photobooth (Jamie and Pat are awesome!)--info about this registry soon
• SuMoCa for our cranes (Morris is really friendly and is good about following up with me. I really look forward to working with him.)

My gracious and hard-working bridesmaids have put in their orders for their dresses at the end of last month. I'm so excited to see them in their selections!! Now I need to figure out jewelry for them. (And for me, too) See my board on pinterest for my accessory ideas.

I'm really dragging my feet on make-up and hair for the day of. Trials can be really expensive. And what if you don't like it, then you have to go and try with another person. Once you choose someone you like, then you still have to pay them for the day-of. And that fee is only to get them for the initial getting ready part. If I have to fix anything later on, it's gonna be me doing it! (sigh) I was really leaning towards just doing it myself. But I have a trial set-up for next weekend and I'll see how that goes. My hair & make up pinterest board.

A couple months ago, we met with some cake vendors to hash out our ideas of having a one-tier cake for cutting (white fondant, black damask design, teal ribbon around base, possible white anemone flowers; vanilla cake with chocolate filling) and mini cupcakes (multiple flavors) to fill up the cake display but not be overwhelmed with sweets since we'll be having a dessert bar with the buffet. It's coming together :) My cake/cupcake pinterest board.

Aaron and I received our wedding rings a couple weeks ago. He picked his out from this artist on Etsy, and mine is the matching band to my engagement ring from The Wedding Ring Shop.

I'm currently finalizing our invitations so that we can print, assemble, and mail out by the end of this month. (crosses fingers)

We are waiting to hear back from our first choice linen vendor to see if they can still do our event.

The honeymoon is not planned as of yet. We're not going to do it directly following the wedding as that's the first week of school for Aaron. We're going to wait until late September/early October to take advantage of Aaron's fall break. We were leaning towards Japan for the honeymoon, but we haven't been getting the greatest help from the travel agencies we've been to, so Aaron is thinking maybe it's not meant to be. Our second option is staying on the West Coast of the mainland to do some wine tasting and other fun stuff. Man, I wish it wasn't necessary to plan a honeymoon at the same time as a wedding >:|

Getting back into the wedding groove

Man, it's been a long time since my last post! Things had gotten crazy busy! Planning 2 baby showers, taking over for co-workers on vacation/maternity leave, and then the holidays! There was just no room for wedding planning the past couple of months.

Aaron and I are finally getting back into the swing of things. We put our deposit down for 3660 (reception), found our photographer and videographer Ambiance, and met with a potential vendor for lighting. We have a few more meetings coming up for flowers, photobooth, and cocktail hour entertainment.

During the holidays, one pair of friends got engaged on Christmas, and the another pair of friends got engaged on New Year's Day! Plus a third pair of friends had their first baby early. Man, we're all growing up!

Welcome to our wedding blog

Hi there!

Thanks for taking the time to come see our wedding blog. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to do one of those official wedding websites. If we do, I'll be sure to provide a link.

Aaron and I have been engaged since April 23, 2011. He proposed the day before his birthday. Good thing I said, "yes," right? Otherwise he would have a pretty crappy birthday. haha.

I don't know of what interest this will hold for everyone else, but I thought it might be nice to attempt to keep a record of our journey from getting engaged to getting married. I don't know how often we'll be able to post, but we'll try. (i know it doesn't always work out the way you think)

The date is set!

The date has been officially set for our wedding: Saturday, August 4, 2012!

I'm so happy that part has been taken care of. Big relief. As I'm sure all engaged/married couples know, that's the first question everyone asks you after they find out you're engaged. It's nice to have an answer now.

Unfortunately, since we're having it at the Bishop Memorial Chapel (Kamehameha campus), there is no reception venue on site. Aaron and I need to finalize the reception part, then we can really get cracking on the rest of the planning. We've been penciled in at 3660 for the same date, so that's our tentative reception site.

However, after attending The Wedding Café's Wednesday Night Workshop on venues, we're reconsidering having it at another location instead. Don't get us wrong, we LOVE the food and people at 3660. We just don't love the smaller size space, ceiling height, and room layout (L-shape). It's really a trade-off since nicer space=costs more. (sigh)

Side note: I have chosen my wedding gown (Casablanca design), from The Bridal Boutique. I got it for 40% off at their semi-annual sale. Aaron asked to see it. While I'm not an especially superstitious person, I still don't want him to see it, lest it ruin the "wow" factor on the day of.