On Living and Loving

Jordan's Sweet 16 - I threw ANOTHER huge party!

2011-02-18T08:32:00.001-08:00

So as if planning a wedding for 190 guests at a huge venue with lots of different vendors and aspects to deal with wasn't enough...I decided to throw a mini version of a wedding just 9 months later!

This past February 9th my daughter, Little Miss turned 16. And just like getting married, turning 16 is a *BIG* deal...so of course we wanted to do something spectacular for her. Alas, I came up with an idea to throw her a surprise Sweet 16 party with dinner, desserts, a DJ/dancing and a mock faux-to booth to entertain her. It was quite a feat that took over two months of planning, shopping and conniving since we had to enlist a lot of help to pull off the surprise. And of course, just like with a wedding, it wasn't easy either! :( We ended up having a few hiccups that seriously stressed me out.

Here is the deets and the photos and video to show all that happened:

1) Come up with the guest list. I enlisted 5 of her best friends to create a guest list which ended up with 100 people on it: 17 family members and 83 friends. Funny thing was, with 15/16 year old girls, the guest list ended up with over twice as many girls as boys. In the end, we had about 55 people actually able to make it.

Here are some of her friends from the night of the party:

The theme colors were black and white with touches of silver.

That crazy lady on the right is me with some of my daughter's besties who helped me pull off the surprise by coming up with a guest list and passing out invitations.

Some of the food we had set out. We kept it to easy finger foods for teens.

2) Pick a date. I wanted to throw the party the weekend before her actual birthday (which fell on Wednesday) so that she wouldn't be expecting anything. I picked Friday the 4th because it turned out that was a minimum day and the last day of finals for the semester. What a great way to celebrate ending your finals - a big party! Unfortunately, I didn't think about the fact that several of her best friends are cheerleaders and athletes and Friday nights mean games for high school students. So we probably would have had closer to 70 or 80 people show up if we would have held the party on Saturday. :( Oh well, live and learn.

3) Pick a venue. I called tons of recreation centers, club houses, even hotels to find a location big enough to hold a DJ, food, tables and about 70 people. Most of them were either thousands of dollars (way out of our budget which was about $1500) or they had hugely ridiculous limitations due to the fact that it was a 'teen' party. For example, one place told us we had to pay an extra $200 in security for the teenagers and we could only rent the place from 6 to 10 pm which included set up AND clean up time! That's just silly.

We thought we had the perfect place when we found a clubhouse that was the perfect set up in a reasonably close neighboring town for only $100! We had a friend who lived in the area and could rent the club house for us. Due to stupid miscommunication on the part of the clubhouse representatives, the day we went down to reserve the room, they told me they had just rented it to someone else! I was livid. And desparate. Then suddenly Mr Fix It suggested I look into the YMCA.

We ended up booking a room they had there which was going to cost $540 for the night. It had some downside: 1) every single guest would need to bring a signed waiver from their parents (or self) to get into the party 2) we had to have all of the food outside on a lawn/patio area instead of in the acutal room because it was an exercise/fitness room that they didn't allow food in.

It wasn't perfect, but it was somewhat close and it was somewhat affordable and it was better than all of the other options.

I booked it mid-December. Cut to February 1st...3 days before the party. I received a phone call from the YMCA profusely apologizing that they couldn't allow us to have the party there that night because they received a notice from the electric company that their power was being shut off that evening to have repairs done.

Needless to say, I spent a huge amount of time on the phone with the YMCA and the electric company trying to think of other options but it was pointless. I called Mr Fix It crying since we had mailed out 100 of these little pretty invitations designed by my sister:

Note they all have the YMCA address on them. UGH!

But suddenly it came to me...I had a friend who lived in an apartment complex that had a clubhouse. I called the apartment complex and by the grace of God they had an opening for Friday so I called my friend and asked her if she would reserve it for me and she met me there the next day. In the end, it all worked out even better than we hoped because the location we ended up at gave us a cheaper rate, longer usage time, a mini bar area for the food - inside, better furniture, a patio area, a location for the photobooth and a great big room to dance and eat in!

So we took this place which was located like 5 minutes from the kid's school:

With this room we rented:

And turned it into this:

Video first, then pics:

Cupcake table

My sister made all those little cupcake toppers (she sells them on Etsy by the way)

This picture doesn't do the toppers justice because they are actually super bright and colorful in real life.

The DJ set up right in front of the fireplace. You can see the pink and black tablecloths and little balloon and decor centerpieces we used on the right.

My sis made the signs that read Happy Birthday Jordan and Sweet Sixteen.

There was plenty of room for us to move furniture around and all the tables, chairs, and sofas were included in the rental fee. We just rearranged them the way we needed to make a dance floor.

I bought bunches of decorations from a web site called Windy City Novelties...great stuff!

Highly recommend.

We put silver fedoras and metallic pink beaded necklaces all around the tables for the kids to take home as favors and wear around. Again, from Windy City...super inexpensive!

Here you ca see the set up of the tables, cupcake table and mini-bar food area.

The invitations came in an envelope with this graphic on the front...it had the guest's name in pink across the top left corner area. Loved it!

The back of the invitation envelope had more graphics like this one that let the guests know there'd be a DJ, dancing and food!

And of course, we pulled off the super fun surprise part:

Did you notice on the left side of the video those flashing balloons? Yeah, how cool are those?!? Here's a clip of them in the room. We had them all over:

Again, I got these from Windy City Novelties and rented a helium tank from a local party supply store. They were a huge hit. If you choose to try them, I suggest getting an extra pack or so from how many you'll need as there were a couple that were defective or didn't work :(

Mr Fix It ran around all night with a camera taking photos and helping run the photobooth area. Here's some of the great shots he got:

My sis acting all gangsta...or tryin' to

Kids in the photobooth

Hangin' with guests

Little Miss as she walks in for the big SURPRISE!!!

Being silly with 2 of the only 7 boys that were there that night :)

Girls gettin' groovy on the dance floor!

Mr Fix It acting like he doesn't enjoy himself hangin' with Little Miss' friends. We truly love her group of girlfriends...they are really good girls and so fun to be around!

Every teen likes to get a piggy back ride!

The back patio area of the clubhouse...it overlooked the pool and the kids could hang out there and get some fresh air after tearin' it up on the dance floor.

And shawty got low, low, low, low....

I love this one because I have no idea what I am doing and Little Miss has that typical 'You're an idiot' teen look on her face. :)

Such a great shot of her being surprised.

And even more dancing! My little one is just like me...she could dance all night regardless of what everyone else is doing. I love it.

Ok, this one is kinda scary...those are 2 of her best girlfriends in the background.

Little Miss and her dad with the photobooth props.

You can't tell from this photo but those dreadlocks actually light up and flash!

The pretty birthday girl

Toasting with cupcakes

This was a cute shot of my daughter with her dad's whole side of the family that was there.

So all in all, we had a great time. She was totally surprised, we ate good food, danced all night, got silly and after cleaning up, I collapsed in bed exhausted!

Share Time: Did we do a good job?

Wed Recap: The little ones

2010-08-16T15:56:00.000-07:00

One thing we knew for sure was that there would be lots of kids at our wedding. Out of a guest list of about 190 people in attendance, at least 15 to 20 of those were kids ranging from 6 months to 16 years in age.

Our 2 little nephew ring bearers hanging out pre-ceremony

By Grant Sharp

Now everyone knows how hard it is to keep kids entertained at a wedding, at least during the ceremony portion. So I had lots of ideas to keep them busy and active. And it had to start with our four ring bearers (3 of which were Mr Fix It's nephews and 1 was my nephew) and our flower girl (my little cousin).

Our Junior Groomsmen (nephew) keeping some of the ring bearers entertained

Besides the favor boxes that were specific to the younger aged children that I blogged about here, and the little kids corner area that we set up with portable DVD players, lollipops, craft kits, coloring books and two paid babysitters, we had a few things that I didn't share previously. Oh, and that kids corner with the babysitters? Yeah, there were at least a couple kids in that room the entire night! So it was definitely a good idea and money well spent!

Of course, the kids had fun with the ribbon wands that we left on the ceremony chairs for all the guests to wave as we walked back down the aisle:

By Kathleen Wolsfeld

And they loved the flashing sunglasses and mouthguards that we gave them for the reception (though the flashing didn't really show up well in these pictures)

By Kathleen Wolsfeld

By Chad Beever

A big hit were the table top bowling pin sets. And the older ones danced the night away.

You can imagine how many fun shots the younger ones took in the photobooth (there were at least SIXTY photo strips of my flower girl, junior groomsmen and younger cousins alone in the booth!).

They adored the chocolate fountain...Yum!

By Heather Hughes

And these two would not stop bothering our magician...he was so great with them!

My sister said my little 3 year old nephew is still playing with his favor box toys even today four months later! But probably the best investment I made for the ring bearers was for the ceremony portion of our day. When they made their way to the end of the aisle as seen here:

A little bribery goes a long way:

I told their mothers that they could just gather them in the front row to sit down so they didn't have to stand on the altar for a good 45 minutes to an hour. And waiting on their chairs in the front row, I had these little goodies:

Silent and yummy and entertaining!

I got these little mini travel sized magna doodles at Target for like $10 each and they kept the boys busy during the ceremony. And you can't go wrong with a sucker! Especially the ones that last for hours.

By Grant Sharp

But for some reason, my sister's in-laws felt the need to also have a bag of Reese's Pieces waiting for my little nephew. That was something we had not planned on and right at the beginning of the ceremony he dropped the bag and the little candies spilled everywhere in the front and into the aisle. Now I did not see them as they tried to quickly pick them up but apparently several of the wedding party and family members at the front of the altar saw all this go down and started laughing thinking it was just hilarious. Good thing I had the sucker there for him so that he wasn't in tears about losing all of his candies!

And for added convenience for the guests with the youngest kids...these precious babies:

I even had our rental company swap out 4 of the chivari chairs for highchairs....which my family profusely thanked us for! And as a special treat for these super young ones who can't really play with toys, we gifted them these fun little personalized bibs:

By Heather Hughes

By Chad Beever

Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Robert Mullins Photography
All raw video footage provided courtesty Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

It's not fair...

2010-08-12T07:59:00.000-07:00

...that weddings typically only last 4 to 6 hours! Truly not enough time for a bride and groom to spend time with their 190 guests (in our case).

Briefly trying to mingle with *everyone* at the cocktail hour

My friend Shelley who I basically only got to say good bye to at the end of the night :(

...that even the best laid plans and attention to detail end up somehow falling apart when you are all caught up in the moment of everything going on around you.

...that the animals didn't come out while we were down by their cages to take pictures with us in front of them.

Although my cousin snapped this one while she was walking around before the wedding

By Amber Marquez

...that we (or I should say our photographer) totally forgot to go get pics by the fish pond, llamas, orange orchard, old antique car, barn silo, zebras, fountains, fountain pool, bridges and bird cages...oh, and didn't get any twilight or night time shots with pretty soft lights glowing**

...that I was too wrapped up in everything going on to feel relaxed enough to have some different shots with Mr Fix It like sexy, romantic, laughing type shots.

...that I felt like I barely got to see or spend much time laughing with my bridesmaids before the wedding.

Yeah, that's me in the back getting ready while they are all hanging out

Photo by Amber Marquez

...that I barely had enough time to get into the photobooth and when I did I couldn't think straight to come up with crazier, funnier poses!

Cheesy Photobooths

...that I totally forgot about the chocolate fountain until the end of the night when almost all the guests were gone and I stood there by myself scarfing down strawberries and blue chocolate.

...that I never really felt like I was 'in the moment' throughout any part of the day.

...that I was feeling like I was going to pass out through half of the ceremony because my dress was strangling me...and that I didn't feel like wearing my dress through more of the reception because it was too damn heavy!

By Amber Marquez

...that I barely danced with any of our guests...though when I did, it was sure fun!

...that I didn't even get to see the escort cards, the gift table, the memorial table and half the other little details that were set up before all the guests arrived.

...that either the caterer forgot the right linen for our memorial table or someone messed up and didn't read the design layout correctly so it was in a lame cream linen cloth instead of a cranberry satin cloth (I know that's trivial, but it still bothered me).

...that Mr Fix It and I (nor our photographer - blech!) thought to put our wedding rings on for all of our photos before the ceremony so they are not in the pictures we have of us.

Notice - no rings on either of our hands!!!

...that my officiant didn't show up until almost an hour into our rehearsal so we didn't get to plan out and walk through a lot of things that I would have done differently had I been able to see them in the rehearsal. Like I wouldn't have staggered our bridal party on the stairs of the altar and I would have realized that me and my girls basically sprinted down the aisle! :(

I wasn't feeling this staggered look at all! You can't even see my sister who had to stand

behind the tulip arrangement and pillar on the top of the stairs.

...that after it is all said and done, I totally want to do it all again! :) Can you say '5 year anniversary vow renewal' anyone?

** Though we did get a lot of shots at these locations in our post wedding shoot this week! :)

Unless otherwise indicated, all photos by Robert Mullins Photography

Wed Recap: Some twists on the garter and bouquet toss

2010-08-10T22:14:00.001-07:00

I have honestly despised the moments when the DJ calls all the 'single ladies and gents' out onto the dance floor to have the bride and groom toss the bouquet and garter away to see who will 'get married' next. Yeah, right? Does it really ever happen that the people who catch these things get married next? Doubtful.

However, I knew I wanted to somehow have a toss and of course, it had to be unexpected. Originally, I had the fabulous idea that I would surprise the girls I tossed my bouquet* to by having the bouquet break up into 4 smaller bouquets so that more than one girl gets to catch it. :) But as I evaluated our guest list, I realized there weren't as many single ladies as I had expected there to be.

Instead, I had read on some blogs about how some brides were choosing to 'hand' their bouquet off to someone specific rather than just toss it away. I loved this idea and here is how I incorporated this into our own wedding for a very special lady in my life:

As for Mr Fix It and the garter toss, he wanted to do this for sure. But mostly just because he is a perv who wanted to get up my dress. He decided he wanted to be 'covert' about it and worked with the DJ to surprise me with the song selection that would play while he slithered across the dance floor to remove my garter. Here are some great pics and video of his little display:

As you can see, Mr Fix It tricked the guys they called on to the dance floor by acting like he was going to toss the garter, but then he decided to intentionally place it into the hands of one of his groomsmen that he calls a 'playa who needs to settle down finally.' :) I love how the DJ made the comment "If that isn't someone saying 'tag you're it' I don't know what is!"

Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Robert Mullins Photography
Raw video footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

Wed Recap: Why teenagers are annoying

2010-08-09T07:45:00.001-07:00

I have mentioned many times how I have a 15 year old daughter from a previous relationship. Well, today, she is taking her driver's permit test! Pray for me!

She and Mr Fix It have been a part of each other's lives since she was 9 years old. It's kind of crazy...but they love each other and get along great. Too great...in fact, they sometimes annoy me. And since Mr Fix It is truly still a big kid himself, the two of them together usually causes me grief.

That said, we definitely wanted to include Little Miss in our wedding ceremony and our vows.

As you may remember in this post, Mr Fix It made a vow to be a patient and caring step-father to Little Miss. Well, we wanted her to take some responsibility in our newly formed family as well.

And so we created a special little part of the ceremony in which she stepped forward and the pastor asked her a brief question about whether she will love and support the two of us in our marriage. She then was to respond with "I will" after which, Mr Fix It was to place a ring on her finger as well...sort of a little promise ring uniting our entire family.

Of course, we didn't run through this at the rehearsal and so no one knew what the heck was going on. It's kind of silly and we laughed our way through most of it. Little Miss wasn't sure where to stand or how to walk around me to join us. In addition, as you'll see, she totally held true to herself as me and Mr Fix It did with her little 'unplanned' response. Check it:

I could have killed her! Little twerp. Teenagers are so cocky and annoying...they just can't hold to traditions and rules of any type. Oh well...everyone laughed, and I did, too at the time, but afterwards I told her she was a pain!

Unless otherwise indicated, all photos by Robert Mullins Photography
Raw video footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

We're in a magazine!!!

2010-08-06T09:05:00.000-07:00

I officially got started as a wedding bride blogger (actually a Featured Bride Blogger) over on the site http://www.getmarried.com/. I found the site by watching the Get Married television show which is on Saturday mornings on WE network.

Through the relationship I've formed over at Get Married's Blogger Brides, I was given the opportunity to be the fourth bride featured in their Magazine edition of the Get Married media hype known as the Lucky 7.

Basically, their quarterly magazine features one bride from their blogger bride community to share 7 of her favorite items from her own wedding or wedding research with fellow brides. Of the 7 items that are listed on the Fall feature of the magazine, every single one was an item I actually used at my wedding. However, 2 of them (the garter and the jewelry rolls) show versions different from the ones I actually ended up purchasing for our wedding.

And here it is:

The cool thing was that one of my girlfriends who is an amateur photographer was able to get the photo credit in the magazine since they used pictures we took from our engagement session with her (Kristin Jepson). So I was excited to be the first one to be able to help her get published. :)

Wed Recap: You may now claim your bride with a kiss!

2010-08-05T06:59:00.001-07:00

This ceremony recap speaks for itself. There's not much I need to write to go along with these photos and video other than to tell you that like with everything else surrounding our wedding, I did not want the traditional verbage used to end our ceremony.

As our pastor made everyone aware in this post, I wrote out our ceremony script for him with key bible verses, vows, and ideas to share during his message. Near the end of the wedding planning process, I told him that he didn't need to stick to the script verbatim...except for where I highlighted certain words and portions of the script that were absolutely imperative to have Pastor Lyle say exactly as I wrote them out. One of those few things that I insisted be performed exactly as I wanted was the final comment of the ceremony where the officiant typically says "You may now kiss your bride!"

I wanted this to be a bit untraditional, so as you'll see in the video, I came up with a bit of a unique way for Pastor L to direct Mr Fix It for the kiss:

And ladies, let me tell you yet again why I absolutely implore you to have some type of video at your wedding....the day after the wedding, I could not remember one thing about our first kiss!!! Nothing! I didn't even really remember kissing my groom at all at the end of the ceremony. But thankfully there was video to prove we did in fact kiss. And though the photos are great, they just can't seem to convey the length, type and memory of the kiss the way the video can. :)

Here's a few more pics I love of our first kiss as husband and wife:

Share time: Was there anything that may have seemed insignificant or normal during your ceremony or reception that you wanted to slightly tweak to make it different from a traditional wedding event?

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP: Be sure to practice the recessional during your rehearsal as well as the processional. We didn't really practice this at our rehearsal like we should have and so the wedding party didn't realize that they were supposed to wait until me and my groom got to the very end of the aisle before they started walking down. Then each of the couples immediately started following each other back down the aisle rather quickly which didn't allow the photographer a chance to get a good shot of each couple walking down. It's better to have a mark (the middle of the aisle, end of the aisle, etc) that you direct each couple to start their walk at once the couple in front of them hits that mark.

Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Robert Mullins Photography
Raw video footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

Wed Recap: Oh, let me just do that for you!

2010-08-04T10:41:00.000-07:00

Mr Fix It and I are control freaks. Shocking, I know, right? I mean what would ever make you think that I think I can do it all? As my sister, MOH J so brilliantly put it in her toast at our reception, neither Mr Fix It nor I are perfect...and that *is* in fact hard for both of us to hear.

We are both perfectionists and though I am a little more humble in realizing that I don't 'know it all,' Mr Fix It believes he is a contractor, electrician, plumber, lawyer, doctor, mechanic, teacher, gardener, etc. Now granted, he does in fact know a lot about a lot of those things, but he definitely can't do it all. Though he'd like to think he could.

Anyway, our personalities once again flared up during our ceremony when it came time to partake in the Unity Cross. I wanted to incorporate something that we could keep as a memorable item to display in our home from our ceremony. A lot of people will participate in the lighting of a unity candle or in a sand pouring ceremony and then keep the vase in their home. I wasn't super excited about either of those ideas. So I was super thrilled when I found the Unity Cross on the GetMarried.com web site.

It's not cheap at $99 but my small group of girls that I lead in a bible study asked if there was anything special they could all pitch in to get me for my shower and I instantly thought of this cross. So it not only was a great keepsake from our ceremony, but it also was a special gift from some very important friends in my life.

Basically, the cross is put together by the bride and groom during the ceremony to represent the uniting of the two different beings (man and woman) on the foundation of our faith.

I loved the symbolism of this. Although I wish the pastor would have spent a little more time and thought on how he explained this to our guests as part of the ceremony. It comes with a great little story about how the man's cross is strong and sturdy and yet somewhat empty inside. And the woman's cross is intricate, beautiful and perfectly suited to fill the man's cross. But instead he described the woman's cross as 'curvy'. Really? Whatever, Pastor Lyle is awesome at rolling with it and I love how he made everyone laugh with his comment about me breaking a nail. It was still a cool idea. However, when it came time to put together the cross, well, let's just say that I commented to Mr Fix It that we probably should have practiced putting it together before the actual ceremony which we in fact, did *NOT* do as you'll see in the clip:

Did you listen carefully to how Mr Fix It and I make a perverted comment about 'finding the hole?' Yeah, not one of my finer moments...I was obviously nervous. :)

Starts off great working together.

Mr Fix It is having some problems.

And I try to take over...unsuccessfully.

Share time: Did you have any little mishaps that occurred during your wedding?

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP: While it's not necessary to practice every single thing that you will be doing at your ceremony or reception, it is a good idea to at least talk about how you'll do certain things. We should have definitely practiced putting together the cross before the ceremony. And though you can't do that with a sand pouring, you can at least remind each other that you want to pour the sand slowly so it mixes together well. My sister and her hubby didn't do this and she poured her sand into the vase super fast while her groom took his time. It didn't merge quite as well as they wanted though it was a funny story. Remember to try on your rings before the big day to make sure they fit okay.

Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Robert Mullins Photography
Raw video footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

Wed Recap: The planner and the wing-it guy

2010-08-03T08:47:00.001-07:00

I'm still following up with ceremony recaps - but there's only a few more to go. However, today is again, one that is sort of a favorite...because it is the only time during our ceremony that I actually got choked up (though briefly).

In my post last week about our pastor talking about both me and Mr Fix It and why he 'likes us,' he mentioned that I am a planner and that Mr Fix It is a surfer. Well, in today's post, I am sharing with you our personally written messages to each other.

And as you'll see in the video, Mr Fix It just 'wings it' and didn't have anything specific prepared or written down. This is exactly why I didn't involve him in the writing of the traditional vows I shared last week, because he really just waits until he is in the moment to make decisions and share thoughts. :)

The funny thing is, me being the planner, I knew one day Mr Fix It and I would get married. And so early on in our six year relationship, I started keeping a journal that every once in a very great while, I would write a note or reminder about something he did or said or something I thought about him. Basically, as soon as we got engaged, I went back through those old journal entries to gain inspiration and then wrote out this letter to Mr Fix It. It was written probably a good 9 to 12 months before our wedding and I didn't look at it again until it was time to print it out when we were going over the ceremony with our pastor. So yes, it was well planned in advance - at least mine was.

So here it is, the video of our messages to each other.

I just absolutely love how our pastor knew how to put us at ease and lighten a mood with a simple statement like when he tells Mr Fix It 'he's not going to top' my message. :)

Share Time: Did/Will you include a personally written note or message to each other in addition to the vows you recite? Or will you maybe write your vows as the written notes to one another? How much time did you put into writing them out? Did you wait until the last minute or have them prepared very early on?

Raw video footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills
Unless otherwise indicated, photos by Robert Mullins

Wed Recap: War wounds at our wedding (the ring exchange)

2010-08-02T08:32:00.001-07:00

This is not your boring old ring exchange part of the ceremony recap. Oh no, I let my pride get the best of me during our ring exchange and ended up with the war wound to prove how stupid I was for being so vain and worried about how something would look to our guests in the middle of our ceremony.

See, it starts off all normal. Pastor Lyle is taking the rings from Best Man K...

Mr Fix It begins to place the ring on my hand.

This is kind of pretty, isn't it?

But what's this? Why is the bride pushing the ring on her finger herself? Isn't that the groom's job?

Oh, this is a FANTASTIC shot of the bride during the ring exchange. Don't you just love it? I mean, seriously, what the heck was I doing? It is obvious this ring does *not* want to get on my finger!

But alas, here's another horrible shot of me with my eyes closed where I am showing the guests that in fact, I was going to *MAKE* this ring fit even if it cost me a little blood! Which by the way, it did!

You see, there's a little something special about my ring. It was a pain in the butt to get sized! We bought it at the LA jewelry market and I didn't have it sized for a very long time. Oh yeah, nevermind that it was too big for me. I mean it didn't fall off or anything but it was not secure by any means. We didn't want to have it sized down because the setting was such that the 28 princess cut diamonds in their invisible setting along side the center stone could have been ruined or fallen out by altering the shape of the ring. So we just left it.

But I knew that wouldn't last, so I eventually found a friend's jeweler who said we could 'add' a round bump arch type of thing on the inside of my ring on the bottom to make it fit better. And when we added that extra white gold to the ring, it did in fact fit better. In fact, too good...it was now too tight. I had him shave off some of the extra gold we added and it seemed to be okay. I have large knuckles and they kept insisting that if they made it any bigger it would slip around on my finger once it got past my knuckle. So he told me if I needed to, just use some extra cold water and dish soap to slide the ring on and off. Hey, that idea worked great! I did this every morning and evening when I would take my ring on and off.

So come wedding day I had a plan. I told my coordinator and pastor that I needed either a glass of ice water or a little bottle of dish soap or hand sanitizer at the table where we would take communion just before our ring exchange. This way I could easily place some of the soap on my finger right after we took communion before we went back to our places on the altar. Well, instead, my coordinator decided to just give the bottle of soap to my pastor to keep in his pocket so he could hand it to me if I needed it. Great idea. But I didn't want to put the stuff on my finger in front of all of our guests...I was trying to be covert about it. So when it wasn't there at the communion table and we went back to do the ring exchange, well, I'll let you watch the video to see what happened next.

Can you believe that? I was totally bleeding from trying to shove and force the ring over my knuckle! Mr Fix It's ring went on just fine. But mine, not so much. The rest of the ceremony Mr Fix It kept trying to hold my hands and I just remember that I kept pulling my left hand away from him trying not to get blood on my dress, or the ribbon on my flowers or on Mr Fix It. As you can see in the video, at one point, I even turned my back to the guests and tried to suck the blood off of my finger! Disgusting...but you do what you gotta do. Nobody at the wedding, not one person noticed what the heck had happened or that I had totally cut myself on my ring finger and was then wearing one of our little pink Hugs and Kisses from the New Mr & Mrs band-aids that I had gifted our wedding party. Guess they came in handy after all :)

The part in the video where you see my back turned to the guests and I'm talking to my sister? Well, I held my hand out to show her the bloody mess on my knuckles. She must have been out of it, too because she looked at my hand and said "Yeah, pretty." Like she thought I was trying to show her the ring! Then I glanced at my knuckle in an effort to tell her to look again and she saw the blood and her eyes got all wide with this "What am I supposed to do look?" So silly.

Here's a couple pics of when I put Mr Fix It's ring on him:

But now, thanks to the little fiasco of me not being able to get my ring on, Mr Fix It makes a face wondering if we will have the same problem and *HIS* ring won't fit either!

And here's a shot of me with my best friend from high school immediately after our ceremony when I first came up for cocktails. She was the only person the entire night who asked to look at my ring. Very strange I thought but whatever.

By the time I changed for our grand entrance, I was able to take the band aid off. But as you can see in this lovely photo from our first dance, I did have some minor cuts and scrapes :)

All photos by Robert Mullins Photography
All raw video footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

Wed Recap: Not your typical vows

2010-07-31T08:01:00.001-07:00

As you will see in tomorrow's post, I had a big part in writing out our ceremony and especially our vows. I truly wanted our vows to blend the traditional with the unique. Instead of writing our own vows, we wrote personal messages to each other which were read at a different point in the ceremony. But I still tweaked the 'traditional' wedding vows you hear at ceremonies to make them a little unique and unexpected (the mantra of our wedding day).

I also loved the idea I had found on another bride's blog to invite your guests to renew their vows along with you so I wrote in a little bit about having married couples hold hands and just give a little squeeze to affirm their commitment to their vows along with ours. So here is the video of us saying our vows to one another:

Again, true to ourselves, Mr Fix It couldn't help but interrupt me during my vows when he thought I made a mistake. I love my response to him and the guests laughs. :)

To make it a little faster and ensure we didn't really mess up much trying to repeat after the pastor, I wrote the vows out on a computer, printed them out and created these little 'vow cards' that our pastor handed us when it was our time to say them. Each card had our name on it (Stacey's Vows, John's Vows) because they were slightly different since Mr Fix It's vows included a promise involving my daughter.

Funny thing was, Mr Fix It did not read or know anything about these vows until the moment Lyle handed him the card to read. In my defense, he didn't ask to see them before the ceremony and didn't ask what we were going to say as vows. As things went on during the planning process, I began to realize that it was easier to not involve Mr Fix It in anything unless he specifically asked about it or wanted to be included in the decisions. :)

Did any of you find that there were aspects of the wedding that you either didn't want your fiance involved in or he didn't care to inquire about?

Photos by Robert Mullins Photography
Raw video footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

Wed Recap: I like these people!

2010-07-29T06:59:00.000-07:00

This has been a busy week. Which is strange since I've been rather lonely the past several weeks. Have I mentioned that Mr Fix It went up north for 3 weeks to work on his parent's home? He left his newlywed wife all alone in a new house. Turns out, my daughter, Little Miss has also been gone spending a lot of time with her dad since he had some time off and she had practices going on down at his house. Easier commute.

But since I was surprised at 4 am yesterday morning by my sweet husband kissing me and coming home 2 days earlier than expected, I plan on keeping today's post a little short so I don't have to be at the computer too long. I did put together this little video clip which was one of my very favorite parts of our ceremony (Do I say that a lot? Are they all my favorites?).

Anyway, this was a little tidbit that our pastor shared about how he knows us and it gives you some great insight into who we are as individuals. I absolutely had no idea he was going to share the little detail he did near the end of the clip about my 'planning skills.' Enjoy!

Raw video footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

Wed Recap: I feel like I'm suffocating!

2010-07-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

If you don't remember, I shared before about my fear pre-wedding that I would pass out on my wedding day or even worse, at the altar! Then I did a recap of what the morning of the wedding was like for me and how whenever there was 'down time' during the day of the wedding where I was just sitting with nothing to do, I would truly feel nauseous and like I was going to pass out.

Please understand, this was not a feeling of being anxious or nervous. No, I think what was really causing me to feel this way was that I was lacking oxygen!

I truly did love this gorgeous little number:

(The one above is my FAVORITE photo of me in my dress that day because it is just fanned out so perfectly. If only my bouquet wasn't so high and huge blocking this beautiful bustline below.)

The more I look at the pictures and video from our wedding, the more I fall in love with it.

Yes, Maggie Sottero made a great gown when she came up with the SaBelle. And one of the main reasons I chose this dress was because it had a corset back:

I have always been pretty thin my whole life but once in a great while my weight fluctuates up or down. I didn't want to take the chance of a strapless gown falling off of me if I lost weight right before the wedding so I wanted a corset that could be adjusted to allow some freedom for my body. And I really loved the style and embellishments around it, too.

Unfortunately, the problem with a corset is that they are extremely constricting. Remember that scene in Titanic where Kate Winslet's character is having her corset dress tied up by her mother and she pulls the thing so tight she can barely breathe? Well, that's what a corset does, DUH! I don't know why women ever used to put themselves through the torture back in the day!

Being that I don't boast much of a chest, I needed the gown to be pretty tight because there was nothing else to hold it up. Add that in with a gown that my seamstress referred to as 'the heaviest wedding dress I've ever worked on' and you have a pretty bad combination for a bride who is prone to passing out.

Thus, I give you one of my favorite video clips of the raw footage from my wedding. Since my friend, Charlie is singing at the time me and Mr Fix It are having this little conversation, I added in some captions to assist with what we are saying to one another, but you may want to turn the volume up pretty loud to hear our conversations. (I also love this because we are having full on random conversations during this moment of the ceremony and in addition Mr Fix It felt the need to point out that my false eyelash was coming off.)

Basically, what it comes down to is that I was so freaking glad that I had planned on changing into a second dress to dance in. Originally, I wanted to wear my ball gown through the cocktail hour, grand entrance, toasts, and dinner. Then I was going to change into my second dress when they reintroduced us for our first dance. But after the cocktail hour I was done! So I went in and changed into my second dress just before our Grand Entrance. As we were standing behind the fireplace hiding from our guests until it was our turn to be introduced, I asked Mr Fix It what he thought of my new dress I had just put on. He looked me up and down and said one word: "Hot."

These are some of the best shots I found of me in the reception dress. It would have looked a hell of a lot sexier had I worn the gold heels I bought to go with it, but by this point of the day (like 7 hours after having been in my gown and other heels) I was too tired and had sore feet that were thanking me for grabbing a pair of the flip flop favors out of the basket you see right behind our cake table.

Look at the leg that this dress shows off!

And here's that stupid frown/smile again - UGH!

I absolutely loved the one sided strap and the bust of the dress.

Courtesy of Yan Freedline

Unless otherwise indicated, all photos by Robert Mullins
Raw video footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

Wed Recap: What are we really here for?

2010-07-27T11:50:00.001-07:00

Okay, okay. So the flowers were amazing (post to follow).

The favors were all a huge hit with the guests. The video made everyone laugh and was executed just as I had hoped for.

Photo by Yan Freedline

The food was good. The guests kept the dance floor alive and we heard nothing but compliments and thank you's for how amazing the wedding was and how much fun everyone had. But what was the real reason we were supposed to be there all about? Wasn't this whole day, this whole event really about the 30 minutes that we spent standing on an altar holding hands with our closest family and friends flanked on either side of us or lovingly gazing upon us with their approval?

Ah yes, the ceremony is indeed what this day was about. For it was Mr Fix It's desire to make me his wife and love me forever that brought us to this point. It was the holy desire of our Creator that we live together under an eternal vow of monogamy and respect and hard work and commitment that brought us to this mutual decision to become husband and wife.

Photo by Yan Freedline

And so the next several recaps I give you will be all about our ceremony. I promise they won't be mundane...because our ceremony was pretty funny at some points. I already shared about our ring bearer carrying the sign that said "Run, John, Run" last week. And when I finally made it to the top of the stairs on the altar I was anything but timid and shy and 'proper.' I interrupted our officiant, my old high school pastor, Lyle right before he could really even say anything.

And Lyle did a wonderful job of making our ceremony very personal and unique to us. Unfortunately, I did not remember any of it! I swear! The next days and weeks on our honeymoon were a blur to me when I tried to remember what was said and done at our ceremony. So thank goodness we have the video! Because as fabulous as the photos are to look at, they don't remind you of what your first kiss was really like or how long it lasted. They don't remind you of how you threatened the guests who RSVP'd and then didn't show up on the wedding day like I did :) They certainly won't help translate how you tried to show your groom how to put together your unity cross when he couldn't make it work. Oh yes, our ceremony was definitely us to a tee. Right down to the random conversations we had with each other while the soloist was singing and the way we interacted as we walked out of the ceremony into our private room.

So stay tuned because I have some of my favorite little posts this week filled with strange and fun videos and photos. For today, I'll share the very beginning of our ceremony with a few pieced together clips of our first words to each other at the end of the aisle and our pastor's introduction:

Yes, I wanted to take it all in for sure. So I tried to turn around and look out at everyone who was there...even if for just a brief moment. I mean, all of my bridesmaids and family and friends had been mingling together before the ceremony began. I was the only one who didn't get to greet them or say hi. So I tried to scan their faces. You can see here that I waved at a few of them. I specifically remember my friend, Kristin waving back at me.

And I have to admit, I really didn't like how the bridesmaids were staggered on the altar stairs...I wish I would have looked at that better during our rehearsal and told my coordinator I wanted them in a straight line as I had originally intended. But I just wasn't thinking straight. I really was not myself for my own wedding day as you'll see. You'll notice in this little video clip during our getting ready time that I had truly 'checked out' at different points during the day:

But oh well. It is what it is. And what it was, was a wonderful day and a great ceremony thanks to my hubby and our pastor, Lyle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all photos by Robert Mullins Photography
Raw video footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

Wed Recap: The party's over

2010-07-23T10:07:00.001-07:00

We didn't get a grand exit.** There were no sparklers waving, no bubbles being blown, no leis being placed around our neck or loud cheers and clapping as we made our way out of the room and out into a cool car to speed away in. In fact, there was no car there to be decorated or anything. But we knew this was going to be the case. I had told Mr Fix It all along that if I was spending all this money and I was planning all these things, that there was no way I was going to miss out on anything. I wanted to party with my guests until the last one left the building. And that's just what we did.

It was just about midnight and the only people left in the reception room were me, my mom, my sister, my daughter and my now husband, Mr Fix It. The coordinators and catering company were scampering around trying to pack things up. The tables were almost bare and the DJ was packing up so no music was playing.

We went ahead and headed over to the bridal cottage area and started packing up my gown, bouquet and all the other little things I had brought with me. Mr Fix It and I had each arrived at different times during the day. I got to the venue at 8 am and was there until midnight that night. I had to drive my own car because I had my gown, gifts and lots of other little things to bring with me. Mr Fix It arrived around 2 pm by himself (all his family and groomsmen had to be there an hour earlier for pictures). So we had each come in our own cars. And we didn't want to spend the money to rent a getaway car because we knew it would not really be driven at all...our hotel was literally 5 minutes from the venue.

So after we packed everything into my car, we stood there just confirming what time everyone was going to be at our house the next day for the lunch. I hugged my mom and sister and daughter good-bye, told them I'd see them in the morning, and jumped in my car. Mr Fix It jumped in his car and we followed each other out of the venue past the tigers and onto the street until we reached the hotel.

We checked in (Mr Fix It was supposed to do this on his way to the venue but of course it didn't get done). It was after midnight and the lady at the counter was so sweet. We got into a full on conversation with her about marriage and our wedding and our faith and turns out she was a Christian who just wanted to chat it up with us. She was really nice but we were so exhausted.

We got into our room and jumped out of our clothes. We were both so tired but Mr Fix It said there was no way we were going to sleep on our wedding night without gettin' busy briefly :)

When we woke up in the morning we headed down to the hotel restaurant for our buffet breakfast. Several of our wedding guests (actually our neighbors who had rented rooms because they didn't want to make the 30 minute drive home drunk) were checking out and said hello. Some friends who had come to the wedding from San Jose stopped to say goodbye on their way out. And then we ran into one of Mr Fix It's oldest friends and his girlfriend. They were getting breakfast, too so we invited them to sit with us. We sat there for a good two hours just chatting with them and having so much fun talking about lots of stuff. His friend even offered to stay at our place while we were on our honeymoon so our dog would not have to be by himself. And then we said our goodbyes and headed home to a house full of people and food!

It was a great day before, a wonderful night and a fabulous breakfast with friends. But it seriously did just go by way too stinkin' fast! :(

Our videographer ends his wedding videos with a message from the bride and groom to their guests...we didn't really know about this so when he pulled us aside, I just gave the mic to Mr Fix It. So here is our final goodbye from the end of our reception:

** I told you I was going to jump around and just blog about whatever video clips I came across or whatever was fresh in my memory during my recaps. So don't think just because this post is about the very end of the night that the recaps are over...far from it. There's still a lot more to come :)

Wed Recap: It takes an army

2010-07-21T06:17:00.000-07:00

I totally realized that I hadn't scheduled a post about my team of wonderful ladies who helped beautify and dress me on the day of the wedding. I can't believe I forgot this normal recap because even though I was irritated by all the photos our photographer didn't get, the 'getting ready' shots are truly some of the most beautiful and my favorite shots of the day. But before you check out the photos, here's a couple minutes of several pieced together videos of my friends and family getting me dressed :)

This is Natalie Buketov. Natalie did my hair and makeup as well as hair and makeup for four of my bridemaids and my mom. She showed up at 7:30 in the morning and left just after our first look when we were about to start pictures which was probably at about 2 pm. My girls looked GORGEOUS!

Yes, I have false eyelashes on here for sure

Getting ready some more. I was the second to last one to get styled.

Mom was the last one while my girls were getting me into my gown, shoes, jewelry, etc.

I don't know why, but I love this shot:

And so it begins. It took an army of mostly my sister and my cousin A who handled the dress part and then my cousin E, bestie L and friend D handled putting on my garter, shoes and jewelry.

Took a while to get that corset laced up but it sure was pretty.

Bridesmaids L & D help me get my bracelet and necklace on. BM L gave me the earrings I wore that day as my gift when I served as the Maid of Honor in her wedding about 9 years earlier.

Ok, funny story. I had my designer Jeanette make my bracelet out of a clip on earring I bought at a vintage swap meet. So you know what a clip on earring looks like on the back? She added a ring that slipped over the little 'clip' part. But there was kind of this big space between the two sides of the pearls where the earring was attached. So Mr Fix It had a great idea to use fishing line to tie together the two rings next to the pearls to pull them under the earring. He's so resourceful, that man!

This is what my cousin A calls her 'happy clap.' I'd be happy too if I was almost done trying to get me in this monstrous dress with it's ridculous corset.

Cousin E holds up my gown while friend D places my garter on.

Photo by Yan Freedline

Once we were all dressed, they asked me to spin around a couple times in my gown. But I was in the middle of a not so big room with all 6 of my BM's around me. Wasn't easy but I still love this shot with my reflection in the mirror behind me.

Photo by Yan Freedline

The girls are tending to my hair and placing my veil in just before our ceremony is about to begin.

And once we were all finished, these are the results we got of some bride shots while walking around the grounds at the venue. I love this one because of the colors and the sun and shade coming through the trellis.

This one is kind of cool because it shows the cafe in the background. That deck to the right is where the cocktail hour was held and I am standing down in the back of the ceremony area.

Um, hello bright green trees!

Photo by Yan Freedline

This next pic was one of those ones I was telling you about that I was pissed about from our photog. I remember telling him I wanted a shot like this on this blue bench and we posed for it but he didn't deliver it to me at all. Then my videographer sent me the photos that his wife took and I got this one!

Thank goodness because I absolutely love it.

Photo by Yan Freedline

As a matter of fact, here's 2 more favorites I got only from our videographer's wife, Yan

Photo by Yan Freedline

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP: I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Be sure to have your bridesmaid or mom or whoever is going to be assisting you with getting into your dress and jewelry practice at least once before the wedding. It's best for them to go with you to your fittings to practice there but at the very least to give you an idea of how long it's going to take you to get fully dressed so you can plan your wedding day schedule accordingly and not be running late!

Wed Recap: Surprises for the groom and the guests

2010-07-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

I really wanted our wedding to be full of surprises for our guests and especially my groom - as much as he would let me surprise him. :) I wanted the guests to feel like they were at a sentimental and emotional wedding but also a really fun and entertaining one unlike your typical 'processed' weddings where it's the same expected thing after the same expected thing.

Some of the ways I tried to infuse this uniqueness and creative surprises were with little extra elements that didn't cost much at all and yet added something fun or different to the event. So here they are:

I'm going to start off with the video today because believe me, you just have to see this first little surprise for my groom *LIVE* :) Then after you can read about each thing and see the pics :)

1) Of course, you all know about the one main thing I did at our ceremony that truly set our processional apart from anything else the guests had seen. I incorporated a spoof of the E! THS as a video to precede my walk down the aisle. I loved playing it at the ceremony instead of the reception as most montages are now played because it kept the guests all looking in the same place and gave them something to laugh at during what is typically a traditional and sometimes mundane part of the wedding celebration.

2) There was a great surprise for Mr Fix It during the processional as well. I have eluded to the $14 sign I had created in our wedding colors from VistaPrint.com in the past. Well, I saw a version of this idea on a blog while browsing for parasols for my bridesmaids and just had to do it! We had our eldest ring bearer carry this fabulous little sign down the aisle.

By Robert Mullins

By Jeff Ezell

By Kristin Jepson

Unfortunately, the two ring bearers in front of him didn't walk quite as fast so he ended up getting real close to them to where it took a minute for Mr Fix It to truly be able to see what the sign said. But once he and all the other guests got a glimpse of it, they had some great laughs as seen in these photos:

By Robert Mullins

Check out Mr Fix It's face when he sees the sign his nephew is carrying:

Photo courtesy Janet Campbell

I love all the guests laughing in this one :)

By Tanya Beever

By Robert Mullins

3) For our recessional, I loved the photos I have seen of guests tossing flower petals at the bride and groom. The shots are just gorgeous. But I really wanted *ALL* of our guests to get in on the action and so when I saw this idea of 'ribbon wands' on another web site, I just had to incorporate it. It was sort of inexpensive to make the wands. I think it was $70 for about 100 of them. I made one for every other guest and we placed them on the chairs at the ceremony. Here you can see the guests holding them and playing with them pre-ceremony.

By Robert Mullins

This little one was so in love with them that she collected a bunch during the cocktail hour and made them into pom poms :) (By Kathleen Wolsfeld)

I was kind of bummed about how this was executed. I wish I would have made enough for every single guest to have one. And I should have actually attached a little tag on them letting them know when and how they should wave them because most of the guests either didn't wave them very high or out the aisle at us or they only waived them for a brief moment. Therefore, we didn't get the great shot I was anticipating of us kissing at the end of the aisle with all these little ribbons flying over the guests heads :( This was a fail type of idea...but had I done it better (listed it in the program or used tags), I think the guests would have gotten into it more. Instead, here are the shots we got of a few of them waving around (as you can see, the video footage looked way better than these photos):

By Robert Mullins

By Roseanne Rivoli

By Robert Mullins

At least somebody had fun with them :) Mr Fix It's little niece

By Robert Mullins

4) And my favorite surprise for Mr Fix It and the guests at the reception was definitely the chocolate fountain. When we first contacted our caterer, he let us know that they included a chocolate fountain with dippers like strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, pretzels, etc during your reception after dinner. Well of course, I was not happy with just your typical chocolate fountain. So I found a site online called http://fondue4you.com/ This place lets you buy different colored chocolate for your fountains. And they had a wonderful Tiffany Blue color to match our wedding colors!

I mentioned to our caterer that I found the site and asked him to check and see if the cost of their chocolate was comparable to what he normally paid. He said he would handle it no problem and didn't end up charging us anything extra. Steve from La Finestra catering was very accommodating throughout the process and we loved working with him. And look at all he put out (there's actually a lot more on the other side of the fountain)

Though when Mr Fix It heard me confirm the 'blue chocolate' order, he flipped out! He was pissed that I had yet another 'stupid little detail' that was probably extra money and thought I was going way over on the wedding details. Plus he kept insisting that colored chocolate was going to taste *horrible*! Well, come wedding day when that chocolate fountain was all set up, he was eating his words...and the chocolate! It was the most yummy-licious freaking chocolate I have ever tried before! I didn't notice it was set up until the very end of the night and as soon as I made my way over there I was all over that thing...as were all the guests. They raved about it! I highly encourage you to order this stuff...soooo good!

Photos by Robert Mullins

We made sure all the guests knew about it by including it on the little place card notes we tucked into each guests' napkins. We also had our DJ announce it after our first dance to let everyone know to go check it out. It was set up right on the other side of the fire place in the alcove just off the dance floor so lots of people made there way over there.

All in all, these little extra details which didn't really cost much extra truly gave our guests some memorable things to be entertained by that they didn't see at just every other wedding. Oh, and of course there were the other things like the magician, photobooth, and flip flops that they loved as well. Lots of fun surprises.

H-moon Recap: An open letter to the women who massaged us

2010-07-16T07:16:00.001-07:00

Mr Fix It and I are huge fans of massages. I even have my own personal aesthetician who does facials and massages and waxings for me on a regular basis - she was even at my wedding :) One way Mr Fix It coaxed me into going to Bali was by raving about how you can get these cheap massages on the beach for like less than $5 for an hour! Sign me up!

Unfortunately, the women who offer these massages on the shoreline or on the cliffs are typically really old ladies who are not the cleanest people in the world and while I love immersing myself in the culture and truly do like interacting with the locals, they hound you about a massage even when you don't want one which becomes quite annoying. Most of my time on the beach was spent faking that I was asleep :)

Before we left the land of Oz, we decided to get a massage in a place we passed at the local shopping mall we visited. Below are a few letters to let these people know what we thought of our experiences:

To the Asian guy who gave me a massage in Australia:

I just wanted to thank you for the wonderful full body massage you gave me while I was visting the Gold Coast on my honeymoon in April. $60 for a 60 min massage is pretty typical of the price we pay in the states and you did great considering it was a 'walk in' joint.

I do, however, want to apologize for my husband. I guess having 'rooms' that are really only a bed with curtains between them might not be the greatest idea when you have customers who don't appreciate your services. At first I didn't think anything of it when I heard him say a couple times that his girl was pushing too hard on him. That is really unusual considering he usually likes deep tissue massages. And maybe she didn't realize that he had just pulled his back surfing the day before which was why he was trying to get the muscles worked out. Instead, he felt like she was reinjuring him instead of helping.

I felt really bad for her once he finally sat up in the middle of the massage and told her that he was done and wanted her to stop. He tried to maintain his patience and be polite. But when your manager came in to see what all the fuss was about, he couldn't keep it in anymore and just had to say that 'she didn't know what she was doing' and she shouldn't be giving massages. You really didn't need to keep apologizing for her. I felt bad that I think he almost made her cry. It wasn't your fault and you did a fabulous job on me so no worries.

Thankfully, I found my hubby shopping down the mall and just let him vent for a few minutes about what a sucky job she did on him. Next time, I'll just come by myself :)

To the two young ladies who work at the Balinese massage parlor we stopped in on our first night in Bali:

How can we ever thank you for the fabulous job you did when we stopped in for a massage during our honeymoon? My husband had a horrible experience in Australia the day before and after a six hour plane ride, we were so excited to stroll past your shop just around the corner from our hotel. Though your massage was about $25 for an hour, which was definitely more than the lovely old woman on the beach was offering, it was way worth it!

I would say you both had magic hands. I must admit that I wasn't totally excited about *every* part of the 'Balinese' massage though. I am not a fan of having the balls of my feet slammed against with your fist. And the slapping sound I heard as you smacked my back at that one point was not anything I'd ever heard before whilst getting a massage. It was also interesting to see you try to stretch my legs in ways that made me believe you thought I was a Gumby doll. Unfortunately, I'm just not that flexible.

But regardless, I still felt great afterwards and my husband was feeling totally restored and repaired at this point. It was a great end to our first night in Bali.

Kind of a bummer that we came back a couple nights later and you both weren't working :( We ended up with a guy and girl that didn't quite meet up to the standard you had set. By that point, I was truly over the whole massage experience in this part of the world. Mr Fix It was not impressing me with these massages he raved about. Oh well. At least we had *one* good experience abroad...so thanks for that!

Source

To the old woman who wouldn't leave me alone while I was sunbathing at Bingin's beach:

I appreciate that you make your living by preying upon all the people who frequent the little eatery up there on the cliff top. It was nice to have a place to grab some grub and lounge around for a few hours while my husband was out surfing in the water. It was not so nice however to have you continually 'pinch' me in an effort to entice me into employing your services for a 'may-sauge'. Really? Pinching my arm up and down while I am trying to listen to my ipod and lay on a mat is not my idea of relaxation. Maybe that's your idea of a massage but definitely nothing I've ever experienced before.

I should have just given you $5 to get you to leave me alone and go away, but I was trying to be polite. Thankfully, Mr Fix It did not make me go back there again the next day when he went to surf. Lounging by my resort infinity pool was way more enjoyable than being attacked by the likes of sand crabs who think they are masseuses.

Personal Photo

I like doing this (above) as opposed to this (below)

Kuta Beach Massages Source

At our final resort at the Blue Point Bay Villas, we scheduled a couples massage at what was truly a resort type spa...while not the greatest full body massage I've ever received, it was at least decent. However, I felt the 2 ladies who were running their hands all over me and Mr Fix It's body were maybe just a little too friendly. The woman who was massaging me gave me my first ever experience of a breast massage...something that most masseuses I've worked with have never done before. When I mentioned it to Mr Fix It as we left the spa, he indicated that his lady also got a little touchy feely and came very close to his manhood at least one or two times to where he tightened up a bit wondering if he was going to be offered a 'happy ending'?

Source

This (above) was not as relaxing to me as this (below)

Source: Blue Point Bay Villas

We ended our honeymoon with one final attempt at the Bali massage experience by getting a 30 minute head, neck and foot massage in the airport in Denpasar. That was actually not that bad and you can't complain about getting a massage while stuck in an airport :)
TODAY'S TIP: Don't think that one culture's idea of relaxation will translate well into another culture!

Wed recap: The one where the bride doesn't know what the first dance song is

2010-07-15T13:55:00.000-07:00

So if you didn't know about it, our first dance was one of those things that fell by the wayside during our planning process. Originally, we fully intended to pay for dance lessons and have a choreographed swing dance. But the day of our first lesson (which was supposed to take place at Dancing with the Stars' Cheryl Burke's studio), we cancelled our appointment because we were afraid we would have to put our dog to sleep that day. Thankfully, he made it many more months but the dancing lessons became more of a stress than something we were excited about.

There was just too much going on with all the other wedding plans, work issues, family related issues and the uncertainty of what was going on with our doggie. It was a pretty emotional time. So we finally just agreed that we didn't have the time, money or motivation to perfect a choreographed routine.

Since we didn't really have 'a song' that was just 'ours,' I had no idea what we were going to dance to. But Mr Fix It had mentioned several times in the year that he had a special song that he wanted to dedicate to me at some point during our wedding day. I asked him to coordinate with our DJ if they thought it would be sufficient for us to dance our first dance to. They both said it was a little 'fast' but if we wanted to bop or bounce to it, it would be fine. The only condition was that Mr Fix It did not want me hearing it until our wedding day. I was actually okay with this. Though I was nervous about it (and with good reason as you'll see in a moment), it was kind of cool to know that there was something I would actually have to look forward to as a surprise for *me* since I had planned so many things for my guests and even my groom. And I loved the idea of waiting to hear the song that reminded Mr Fix It of me on our wedding day.

So without further ado, here is the video of our first dance...I warn you that the video is shaky and the videographer walked around a bit so it's not edited video, but it will give you a look at our special moment.

Raw footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

It was in fact so special because even though it was awkward to dance to a 'fast' song and even though Mr Fix It is not the greatest dancer :) and we looked really out of sync and such together, it was still our moment. As the song began, it was hard for me to hear the words, so Mr Fix It decided to sing them to me in my ear. We just swayed close together and I listened to these words and then it was seriously over before I knew it.

I was completely oblivious to all the people standing around probably bored out of their mind and wondering why we didn't break into a choreographed dance - my family and friends know this is totally my style and I know they were expecting it - but everyone else wasn't in the room at that moment. And honestly, as you see us talking in the video, I have no freaking idea what the heck we were saying to each other in those moments :)

And just for fun, here are the lyrics to the song which I had to later listen to again on my ipod during our honeymoon to truly appreciate them. It was really special because Mr Fix It always jokes with me that I was the first person he ever loved or had sex with which is so obviously not true considering he's been married and divorced and has left a plethora of women in his wake. So it was kind of romantic to think that he truly thinks of me as his 'first' and his 'last.' :)

Barry White - My First, My Last, My Everything

The first, the last, my everything

And the answer to all my dreams

You're my sun, my moon, my guiding star

My kind of wonderful, that's what you are

I know there's only, only one like you

There's no way they could have made two

You're all I'm living for

Your love I'll keep for evermore

You're the first, you're the last, my everything

And with you I've found so many things

A love so new only you could bring

Can't you see it's you

You make me feel this way

You're like a fresh morning dew on a brand new day

I see so many ways that I

Can love you till the day I die

You're my reality, yet I'm lost in a-a-a a dream

You're the first, the last, my everything

All photos by Robert Mullins Photography

H-moon Recap: Me, Tarzan...You, Jane!

2010-07-14T08:23:00.001-07:00

One of the very coolest things we did on our honeymoon was a tree top walk in Lamington National Rainforest in Australia. This little 'hike' was part of O'Reilly's Retreat where we stayed for only one day.

I loved O'Reilly's because it reminded me of those summer or science type camps you would visit out in the middle of the woods in nature. We had a great time hiking through the rainforest which I'll share in a future recap...but for today, I just wanted to share a few pieced together personal video clips of this little walk through the trees.

You walk along a boardwalk through the woods...we did this the morning that we left O'Reilly's and the sun was out and the birds were chirping and it was so nice out weather-wise. Just off the boardwalk is a little set of chained together bridges that take you 'up' into the trees. Most of the 9 suspension bridges that you walk through the trees are about 55 feet above the ground. Though it's weird because you don't feel like you are really off the ground at all...that is, until you get to the two observation decks. These are actually 110 feet off the ground and are only accessible by a metal ladder which is surrounded by a protective wire cage. You'll see all this in the video. So take a look...

It was actually somewhat scary climbing those ladders. As I have mentioned before, my tough guy, Mr Fix It is afraid of heights. So I spared him the embarassment of the video that shows where he started to panic a little climbing to the lower observation deck. He didn't make it up to the second one like I did but I was so proud of him for pushing himself and climbing up with me.

This was by far one of my favorite activities on our honeymoon. What was your fave thing you did on your h-moon? Or if you haven't gone yet, what are you most looking forward to on your h-moon or what was a fave activity on a previous vacation?

TODAY'S HONEYMOON TIP: We found out about this little hiking adventure through the resort we stayed at. So be sure to check with resorts and hotels you are visiting to ask them about referrals and suggestions on local activities and entertainment.

Wed recap: Embarassing the hell out of the bride and groom

2010-07-07T08:19:00.001-07:00

That's really what toasts should be referred to...because most of them (at least the ones the guys give) are usually pretty embarassing. In our case, our best man, Mr Fix It's brother started off his toast with a total perverted comment. Watch my lovely reaction to this...and remember that I was very active in my church and that all of our guests know that I am a passionate Christian who tries to uphold and lead by example with some conservative and traditional values and morals. :)

Best Man's Toast

In the end, it was very sweet what he said...short and sweet. Probably a good thing. But man, really?!?

Up next was my sister. Of course the girls always talk a lot longer. And though it may seem like a long time, her speech flew by! She was really nervous about it...she does not like speaking in front of crowds. At one point, she even said she was just going to write a poem and recite it...which I would have loved because she writes amazing poems. But I am so happy about the wonderful speech she shared...it was heartfelt, full of old memories and actually really funny, too! She did great...and when you watch this, you'll get a great glimpse of insight into who both me and my sister are and our pasts as well :)

Matron of Honor's Toast

And finally, I just had to give a thank you speech.

Bride's Thank You Toast

Mr Fix It is also not good in front of an audience. It's funny because he is so loud and boisterous and extraverted in general but when it comes to gettin' up in front of a large room of people, he freezes. Since I do not and I actually sometimes love speaking in front of crowds, I went ahead and handled our speech. I wrote it out months before the wedding and read through it a couple times. But never really memorized it. On the day of, I just spoke from the heart and what I could remember of what I had written out and I loved it. Though I have to admit, this would be the very last thing I'd have to do on the wedding day as far as speaking in front of everyone and I was a tad bit nervous and so glad to get this thing done.

And those were the three lovely speeches that were shared at our wedding reception. What do you think?

Do you have any memorable stories from speeches you have seen, received or given at weddings?

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP: I don't know if you did/plan on doing this at your wedding, but I highly encourage either the bride, groom or both to just share a few words. Doesn't need to be quite as long as mine, but just to say an overall thank you to those you love for celebrating with you.

All video clips courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

Wed Recap: Traditions and Crazies

2010-07-06T06:46:00.001-07:00

Today's video recap is one of my faves. Mostly because it just shows me and the girls being ourselves and being silly while getting me ready and taking some photos. I warn you that the video is shaky in some parts and may seem incoherent since it is a few pieced together clips. :) But I have to thank Gary Freedline of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills for the wonderful footage. I love seeing the raw footage because it truly does take me right back to the moments of the day.

So, this post is all about the traditions...the something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. I'll let you watch the video then I'll share some pics and a brief recap of the different items and their meaning to me:

Something Old

All of my jewelry became my something old for the day. My earrings were a gift from my bridesmaid Lauren when I served as the Maid of Honor at her wedding 9 years earlier. They were one of my favorite pairs of earrings and I loved being able to wear them on my special day as a reminder of the special place we've both held in each other's lives (I introduced her to her husband through mutual friends).

Photo courtesy Yan Freedline (Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills)

My necklace and bracelet were custom designed by a jewelry maker, Jeanette Readinger here in Orange County. I told her I wanted a brooch for a necklace and something smaller for a bracelet. She sent me off to a local vintage swap meet where I found a brooch and a pair of clip on earrings. I showed her some inspiration pictures of necklaces and bracelets I found on Etsy and she created a 'new' necklace and bracelet from the old vintage brooch and one of the clip on earrings. I LOVED them and though I had doubts that the necklace would be too much with my extravagant gown, I absolutely loved how it all came together on the big day. So many people complimented my necklace that I have decided to keep it to share with future ladies in our family so they can use it as their something old or borrowed. Jeanette even said it was the prettiest bridal necklace she's ever made! :)

Something New

My Sabelle gown by Maggie Sottero and fabulous Jeanette red shoes by Me Too were my somethings new. No need to say more...they were gorgeous and I loved them!

Photo courtesy Yan Freedline (Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills)

Something Borrowed

I did not want to wear a veil on my big day. Mostly because I didn't want to pay for one (they are ridiculously expensive) and because I knew that I did not want them in most of my pictures. Unlike a lot of brides, I didn't plan on wearing a veil throughout the entire day and into the reception. Not my thing. But I did love the look of them in some photos and I also had my sister tell me that she regretted not wearing a veil at her wedding because it truly does make you feel like a bride.

So I came up with a wonderful idea...two of my girlfriends had gotten married in the 2 years before our engagement. They were from the bible study that I lead and hold a special place in my heart. I asked both of them if either would have any problem with me borrowing their veil for our ceremony and to serve as my 'something borrowed.' One of them said she had unfortunately packed hers away and had it preserved, but the other one still had access to hers and was honored to share it with me. And it was so perfect because it totally matched my gown with it's color and simple beading along the edges and it was the perfect length. God has a funny way of working things out like that.

Photo courtesy Yan Freedline (Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills)

Since I only wore the veil for the ceremony, there was another super special item that I incorporated as an additional something borrowed. This was passed on to me by my grandmother who just passed away this past Friday :( It belonged to her sister, my great Aunt Geraldine. It is a gold bracelet that was worn by my sister at her wedding and my cousin at her wedding. When my Aunt asked me if I wanted to wear it as my something borrowed, I told her of course! Then she mentioned that it was gold and didn't sound like it would go with my attire since everything was kind of silvery or white and sparkly. But I remembered that the dress I switched into for the reception was ivory with gold embellishments! Perfect match! I wore the bracelet at the reception as seen here in our first dance and while giving my toast :)

And just for fun, here's a pic of it on my sister at her wedding almost 4 years ago courtesy of Eric Cotter of Jim Kennedy Photography:

Something Blue

This was the most special of all the things to me on our day. Most girls go for the traditional garter as their something blue or perhaps a hanky with blue trim or a tag that can be sewn into your gown with your name(s) and/or wedding date in blue thread. These are all great ideas and perfect ways to incorporate the 'blue' item. But I didn't like the commonly done things. So when Mr Fix It pulled out a bunch of his mother's old costume jewelry and asked me if I wanted to keep any of it, I was thrilled when I saw this pretty little blue brooch. Mr Fix It's mother passed away when she was 49 and of course was not there on our day with us. But I knew I wanted to find a way to honor her memory. I had my florist, Allison of Flower Allie place the brooch on my bouquet and it was the perfect accent for the flowers and also went along with our decor and theme since our colors were a turquoise/aqua blue and cranberry red :) I loved it!

Share time: Did you follow this tradition? And what were your 'somethings'?

Unlise otherwise indicated, all photos by Robert Mullins Photography

Wed Recap: I see you! (The first look that almost wasn't...)

2010-07-01T06:30:00.001-07:00

There are many things debated by brides (and mothers...and grooms) when planning a wedding. Perhaps one of the most hotly debated topics is whether or not to do a 'First Look' between the bride and groom *before* the ceremony and that infamous walk down the aisle. I shared our reasoning behind our decision back here. And I am very glad that we did this.

Like most things at our wedding, I had a vision in my head of how this was going to play out. The difference between our first look and most other brides is that I did not want to deprive our family (and especially our mothers) of being a part of the moment when we first lay eyes on each other all decked out in wedding attire. And thankfully, our venue provided a wonderful way for us to still have some sort of intimate moment but still have our family and wedding party members participate.

The maids (with family behind them) hanging on the patio waiting for our first look...

Of course, nothing goes according to plan and like other things on that day, this moment was almost ruined...by none other than Mr Fix It himself. You will see in today's video that as I come out to begin taking photos with my bridesmaids, I am directing somebody to find our coordinator and the groomsmen and be sure they keep Mr Fix It held back when he arrives until I can hide out of sight. The grounds were huge and there were many ways to get around the different areas. But mainly, there is a little parking lot that we had parked in that takes you straight by the reception room and down towards the ceremony and dressing areas. So I was pretty confident he would get held up there. WRONG!

Mr Fix It decides to park upstairs and come down through the zoo into the ceremony area bypassing the reception room where all of the coordinators were working and the cocktail area where the guys had gathered. So instead, while this shot was being taken:

I suddenly hear somebody say "There's John!" To which I reply "No, it isn't...where?" Sure enough, I caught a brief glimpse of Mr Fix It carrying his tux marching down a walkway straight to our ceremony area where I was standing all by my lonesome smack dab in the center of the chairs! I start screaming at him to turn around and go back the other way and then all my bridesmaids start screaming at him to go back and smartly they all run over and surround me like a pack of protective wolves while I drop down into crouch mode on the ground in the center of the ladies.

Mr Fix It is totally confused and has no idea what or why everyone is yelling at him but he must have suddenly got it because he did go back the other way finally. The next shot in the video is me chiding the groomsmen for not handling like the only real duty they had on the wedding day - keeping track of Mr Fix It!!! Unfortunately, no one - not the photographer or videographer - got any shots of footage of this little mishap as it unfolded. It would have been funny.

Anyway, so as you'll see, I had our family all wait on the patio just outside the bridal cottage at the end of the bridge that leads to the ceremony. Mr Fix It stood in the center of all the ceremony chairs/aisle with his back to me. I made my way across the bridge and snuck up on him.

Also, note that in the world of wedding videography, some things are not always totally 'real.' As you'll see in this video, we had our first look (which felt a little awkward sometimes) and then the videographers had us go back and do a second take so they could shoot us from different angles. The second look is actually the one they used on our video trailer and we felt much more relaxed I think. Kind of silly but I loved it :)

This video was created with raw footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

I love the look on Mr Fix It's face and how he looks like he is afraid to touch me in my gown. He just looked petrified. :) I love how our family was cheering in the background and how they screamed things like "Pinch his butt!" and "Save it for the honeymoon!"

And now for the pictures that captured the real moment of our first look:

This was the view from our family's vantage point taken by my cousin Bridesmaid A:

This is the first of many photos and video which include what I call my 'Frile' or 'smown.' It is this horrible version of a smile and a frown which has some sort of emotion behind it. It made it's first appearance on this blog in the Moments Before video recap last week and was obvious in yesterday's video interview as well. :)

He is asking me if I am 'getting close' and says he can hear me

I think somebody said to 'Pinch his butt' which made me laugh!

The REAL first look!

Followed by our first kiss of the day! Wowza!

I love this shot taken by my cousin BM A

He just kept stepping back and staring at me

I did in fact pinch his butt when I met him the first time :)

Our first look was not tearful as I had thought it might be. Mr Fix It didn't even really smile the entire time. The moment was just calm and collected and a little funny. We got to hug, kiss and tell each other how wonderful we looked without having to stick to the script of a ceremony. Mr Fix It got to be himself as was made obvious when he looks down my chest trying to see how it's possible that I have more cleavage than normal :) And then he made his stupid, perverted comments which made the videographers laugh. I couldn't get upset though because that is totally the man I married. I just had to laugh.

The one thing I do remember which is not really seen or heard anywhere on the video is that in those moments he stepped back and looked at me and said "You look very, very, very, very, very, very, very pretty." It was so funny...he said the word 'very' like 8 or 9 times. It totally stuck out in my head and I have not forgotten it. It was nothing like I expected it to be, but so totally perfectly us...nerves and all.

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP: If you want to do a first look, do it! Regardless of when you see each other on the wedding day, nothing takes away from what you feel the moment you walk down that aisle. After our first look, during our ceremony, as I walked across the bridge, I glanced at the altar to see Mr Fix It, but then my gaze went straight ahead...all I could see were the guests and I smiled at them. As I turned the corner to the main 'aisle,' I stopped for a moment holding my dad back. I know I had a huge smile on my face and wasn't sure if I was fighting back tears or not. But one thing I fully remember very powerfully was how breathless I felt...so much so, that I raised my shoulders and chest and took a huge breath of air - almost like a heavy sigh. Then I made the march the rest of the way down the aisle. From that moment on, my eyes were solidly fixed on Mr Fix It.

Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Robert Mullins Photography

Wed Recap: The only tears shed on our wedding day...

2010-06-30T07:01:00.001-07:00

...at least that I know of, came when I was basically all alone in the bridal cottage. Well, it was just me...and my videographer. Silly, I know. There were a few brief moments that I got choked up:

* When I turned the corner during my walk down the aisle and saw Mr Fix It
* At the very end of the letter I read to him during our ceremony
* And at one point during my speech/toast at the reception

But other than that, there was no time during our wedding day that I actually shed any tears (except for what I'm about to show you). And if you know me, you know that is *SO* unlike me! I am a bawler...anything that touches a heart string, scares me, saddens me, even makes me laugh hard will bring on the waterfall of tears. So I was anticipating lots of them on my wedding day. But nope...as you'll see in this video, this was the only time that I actually started crying.

Our videographer includes a little thing he calls the 'He Said, She Said' interview in his wedding interviews. He basically takes a few moments on the wedding day to pull the bride and groom each aside individually away from everyone else, and asks them some basic questions about how they met, how he proposed, what they love about each other and what they want to say to each other on their wedding day. Here's our little interview:

At first, when I saw samples of this on our videographer's web site, I thought it was cheesy. But now, I love this because it totally shows our different versions of the key moments of our lives together :) I love how Mr Fix It thinks he proposed on Christmas Eve (when we spent the whole night with my extended family) when it was actually Christmas morning with just my mom and daughter. I love that the thing he shares about me that he likes is my OCD behavior which he constantly kids me about and complains about.

As for the rest of the tears on our wedding day, I asked my mom if she cried and she said she didn't but only because she just felt so relaxed and 'present' in the moment. She said she was truly able to enjoy everything because she knew I had it all covered. I wish I could have said the same...I think if I had been 'present' myself, I probably would have actually been crying a lot more!

We did catch mom wiping a tear at this moment :)

Photo by Robert Mullins Photography

I asked my sister if she cried and she said she 'almost' cried when I was walking down the aisle, but she felt like it was mostly because of the words to the song I had playing. That song was played on my ipod while I was driving for the entire year before our wedding and it made me cry every single time I'd listen to it before the wedding!

I did notice (and shared with you) that my sister-in-law and mother-in-law were crying when I walked down the aisle. So sweet! I expected that Mr Fix It might cry at some point during the day, but he held it together, too.

It was funny, because when we let all the girls back into the bridal cottage after the interview, they all walked in and saw me crying. My mom said to the videographer, Gary, "What did you do to her?!?" I laughed and my makeup artist quickly touched up my eyes. And that was it.

So did any of you ladies cry on your big day? Or if you are a bride-to-be, do you expect you will cry at some point?

Tomorrow is one of my favorite video recaps: our first look!

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP: BLOT, don't wipe your tears if you cry. Just dab at the corners of your eyes :) And false eyelashes do wonders as well because if you do start crying, you can buy the black ones and don't even need to wear mascara!

Wedding Recap: Uh oh...it's magic!

2010-06-29T07:07:00.000-07:00

There was one thing that Mr Fix It did not fight me on when I told him that I wanted something extra special to entertain the guests during our cocktail hour: a magician! If you read my post back here, you can check out the story of how we came to find the amazing Jeff Ezell.

Jeff did not disappoint on any level! He showed up before our ceremony started and we quickly greeted him while we passed him taking photos. He sat in the very back of the ceremony by the bridge and even provided over 30 photos on his iphone for me on Facebook! And then as soon as the ceremony was over and he and the guests made their way upstairs poolside for cocktails, he went to work!

He wandered around the guests, amazing and bewildering them with card tricks, rubberband tricks and even a trick with Mr Fix It's wedding band! I'll just let the video speak for itself and then share a few pics with you as well...you *HAVE* to see this! And tell me if you see his slight of hand moves.

Today's video footage (courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills) is a bit longer than my previous recaps...but only because you have to see Jeff's amazing talents...and try to figure out how the heck he does this!!!

The amazing magician, himself

The kids were definitely loving him!

He gave us a deck of cards signed with his name and our wedding date...it was a keepsake that

had a few cards in it that guests had written their names on as you saw in the video.

But I think Mr Fix It was most impressed with him. As a matter of fact, he kept pulling him aside to do tricks for his own family and friends! So much so, that by the end of the night, my mom, sister and some friends said they never even saw him! But oh no, Mr Fix It made sure he made his way to *ALL* of *HIS* friends and family! Twerp!

I love Mr Fix It's reaction in these next few shots!

All above pictures by Robert Mullins Photography

Jeff did such an amazing job, that we asked him to stay during dinner and walk the tables while guests were waiting to be released for the buffet as well. He did this for a very minimal extra fee. We were so thankful!

He was more than accommodating and a wonderful vendor to work with - probably our favorite!

All above pictures provided by Roseanne Rivoli

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP: Find a way to do something different during your cocktail hour if you can. It can be playing a montage video of photos of the bride and groom or having a photobooth or a game table set up. You can hire live musicians to walk around serenading guests or even those live moving tables to serve your appetizers on. I knew I wanted our guests to be entertained throughout the event. I wanted them to be kept busy and eating and having fun. Those who saw the strolling magician raved about him and it was definitely a highlight and hit of our event that I was so excited about.

Wed Video Recap: Make 'em laugh!

2010-06-28T06:35:00.001-07:00

Preface: The end of the video in this post contains a few brief moments of the very beginning of our ceremony...be sure to watch it through to the end. It is one of my favorite moments of our ceremony because it just shows our personality and how we interact with our pastor so perfectly.

As you saw in the posts last week, moments before I was to walk down the aisle, I had a little somethin' somethin' for entertaining our guests at the ceremony. They had just arrived, maybe they walked around the zoo or picked up a drink at the bar. They said some hellos to friends and family. And now they had been seated. They watched the wedding party make their entrances and arrive at the altar. So all that was left, what normally comes next, is the bride's big entrance, right? Nope...not at the Beever wedding. I wanted to start off our night purely entertaining the guests and letting them know what this whole event was really all about....laughing and having FUN! And so I had the video. You can click that link to refresh your memory and view it again...it was my piece de resistance of the night. It was my baby that I had worked on for over six months leading up to the wedding. And it was the big ta-da right before I entered to meet my almost husband.

So how did it go? Well, here's some pics and video of the guests watching our E! True Hollywood spoof detailing the events of our life and our journey to each other as man and wife.

Disclaimer: This video was created using raw footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills.

It was created by me strictly for recap purposes and therefore will not necessarily be great quality.

There will be things you probably shouldn't hear and shaky footage in certain places.

Thank you for your understanding.

We had two 50" flat screen Panasonic high def tv's in our ceremony area. One was off to the left off the guests (that's the one these guests are turning to watch) and the other was up to the right of the altar (so the bridal party and people up front could watch easily, too).

Look at what a great time they're all having. Their laughter helped keep me sort of calmer as you saw in last week's recap video :)

These are my future in-laws watching it. My sister-in-law Jackie (on the right) got a sneak peek of the video a few weeks before the wedding when it was almost finished.

Friends from both me and Mr Fix It's lives are sitting together watching.

Here you can see the tv that was off to the left behind the guests.

Some old friends in the back have a great view of both tv sets.

And as you saw at the end of the video today, I wanted our ceremony to be anything but formal and stuffy. I loved how our pastor made great jokes and comments about us personally and how we (I) just reacted to them instead of feeling like I had to sit there until it was my turn to talk. :)

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP: If you are going to have a montage or video played at any point in your wedding event, be sure to do a test of the actual equipment before the event. I mailed the DVD to the video equipment rental company a few weeks before our wedding to have him play it in his DVD and test it...I don't know if you know, but homemade DVD's are not compatible with every type of DVD player.

* All photos by Robert Mullins Photography

Wed Video Recap: Processional - do whatever the heck you want!!!

2010-06-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

So today's recap is all about our processional. Ya know? That part where your wedding party gets to the altar and then you make that famous walk down the aisle to your honey? Well, I had a clear cut vision of how I wanted our processional to play out. I wanted it to be a perfect blend of tradition (a nod to the classical music normally played at this part of the ceremony), but also reflect a modern twist and an upbeat fun tone that would be a great kick off to the evening and event.

If you remember, my processional included the video montage/spoof that would play at our ceremony just after the wedding party arrived at the altar and just before I walked down the aisle. If you don't remember, here's the blog post showing the video :)

No one thought the video would work or be a good idea. It would be too long. It would be boring. It would make it hard for the bridal party to stand through for 20 minutes. It didn't make sense that it would end and the song playing at the end would be the one I would be walking down the aisle to. They just didn't get it like I saw it in my head.

The song may have been faster than what most brides walk to, and it may not have been sung or played by live musicians as many brides do, but it was the perfect thing for me. So here is my recap of our processional:

The song the parents and bridesmaids walked down the aisle to was Phil Collins' "Groovy Kind of Love" but performed in a classical version by the Royal Philharmonic Symphony. I got the idea from the episode of Friends where Monica and Chandler married.

The guys made their way up to the altar and looking back at the video I realize that they entered from the wrong spot and also came in after the song started playing. They were supposed to come in BEFORE the song played because I had timed it perfectly for the parents and bridesmaids only. These mistakes were all a result of the 'rehearsal that wasn't.' :)

Mom & Pops Beever

My mom and brother-in-law

After watching the raw footage of the ceremony, some of the bridesmaids sprinted down the aisle as you'll see and some walked slower...in the end, the song actually finished perfectly with all the ringbearers and flower girl making it to the end just as it was ending. :)

My nephew (one of our 4 ring bearers) walked with his mom (my sister, the MOH) because he just wasn't doin' it alone.

The eldest made it down fine (you'll see him in a future recap). And these two youngin's (our nephews) helped each other:

The girls were smart. I had told the wedding party to sit on the steps during the video so they wouldn't be standing for so long and I made sure our audio/video rental guy set up one of the tv's so the wedding party could see it from the altar. The girls sat, the boys didn't for whatever reason.

I was tucked away in my bridal cottage just outside of the bridge that you walk across to the ceremony area. I pulled a chair up right next to the door with it propped open and peeked out so that I could watch/listen to the guests as they watched the video. It was so great...and I am so glad that I didn't have to be totally alone somewhere out of range of this because I would have been an even *worse* nervous wreck! :)

I told you yesterday about the moments leading up to the ceremony...well, when the video was almost done and the song began that was for my walk, my dad and coordinator came over to have me get ready. I told them that it still needed to get halfway through the song before it was my turn to get up and walk down the aisle. So I wanted to sit as long as possible since I knew I'd be standing in that monstrous dress for a while and I was already feeling suffocated, strangled and like I was going to pass out!

Just as it got to the moment before the break in the song for my entrance, I stood up and began to walk to the bridge with my dad...and then we were off!

Disclaimer: This video was created using raw footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills.

It was created by me strictly for recap purposes and therefore will not necessarily be great quality.

There will be things you probably shouldn't hear and shaky footage in certain places.

Thank you for your understanding.

I love the conversation in the beginning of the video between Mr Fix It and our pastor, Lyle as they make their way to the altar. Even then they were in doubt of the video being played.

As my coordinator, Amanda fluffed out my train at the very last moment, I remember her saying:

"Ok, Stacey - Flowers low, smile BIG and walk SLOW! This is your moment, soak it all in!"

I just said 'Yep' right then, but when I replay that line in my head, it totally makes me cry now! How I wish I would have remembered everything she said and put it into action...but I totally didn't!

As a matter of fact, at the time, I totally didn't even hear the song as I was walking down the aisle. I listened to it right up until the moment when I knew I needed to take my first step and then it was all about seeing my guests, hanging on to Dad's arm and looking up the aisle at Mr. Beever as I made the turn to walk towards him. I remember right as I got to that turn that I paused very briefly...my other coordinator tried to quickly fluff my train again and I remember one thing, clear as day in my mind: In that brief moment, I took the biggest, deepest breath of my life and had a huge smile on my face. I was fighting back the tears and totally contained them because as soon as I started walking, I just tried to keep my eyes on my groom. And then we got to the end of the aisle...

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP: After the ceremony, my officiant told me he had 'a lot of doubt' about the video when I was describing it to him. But he said that it was totally perfect and worked so great for how I wanted it to be introduced. I definitely listen to people when they raise valid points about issues or concerns with plans I want to enact...but in the end, if you have a vision and you know it will work out, then don't let anyone deter you from the plan! My processional was anything but traditional and I loved it!!! And so did the guests as you'll see soon in the next video recap :)

Unless otherwise indicated, all photos by Robert Mullins Photography

Wed Video recap: Moments before...

2010-06-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

So it was just moments before 5:00 pm when the ceremony was supposed to start. I knew the guests had been arriving (heck, we even passed some of them an hour earlier while we were wandering the grounds taking photos!). But for some reason, the guests apparently hadn't been sat yet because my mom and the best man came in asking me what was going on. I told them to bring me my coordinator.

I didn't feel like we saw our coordinators much during the day. Even when they were there helping at the ceremony, I don't remember them being around other than my main girl, Amanda. She came in and I told her to have the aisle opened and the groomsmen start seating guests and she took off. My mom and sister said every time they needed her they couldn't find her but I know her and her team were super busy setting up all the cocktail and reception area and handling other things.

Again, since we didn't really get to practice at our rehearsal, our ushers had no idea what was going on. Plus, because of the zoo path, we had some guests coming in through the back of the ceremony area instead of across the bridge so they were not getting programs or getting seated by ushers.

I had forgot to tell the groomsmen and coordinators that some of my family/friends would have to sit on the grooms' side since I had twice as many guests as Mr Fix It. But apparently my mom told a bunch of our family where to sit so that helped. However, it's funny...we reserved the first 5 rows on each side for family and then half of them ended up standing in the back of the ceremony area with their kids walking around during the ceremony so the front rows were totally empty and the back rows were packed!!! :)

My mom insisted my coordinator was not around to tell everyone what to do and when to walk down the aisle and such but then my BM's told me that my coordinator was there telling them to 'walk fast' because the song was ending before they had enough time to get down the aisle. So I don't know what the deal was but since I was tucked away, I didn't have a clue what was happening and it all worked out.

After the processional, the video started. One of the videographers, Jamie, came in to talk to me while this was going on. After Jamie walked out, it was just me in that room alone. I was getting anxious, nervous, faint...whatever. I was glad to be able to listen to the video and guests because it sort of took my mind off of what was about to happen. Thankfully, I had my dad there.

He would walk in and out trying to watch the video while talking to me at the same time. He knelt down and asked me how I was doing and I told him I was worried about passing out. He just looked at me and said "Just breathe. Calm down. It's going to be great." I remember he took my hand and that was so comforting. Funny because my dad lives in Houston and we really don't have much of a relationship anymore...but time and distance and the life that keeps people separated cannot break the love and bond of family.

Just as it was time for me to stand up and walk down the aisle I stood in the door way. For whatever reason, I looked behind me. Remember how I told you back here about the spots on my dress? Well, what I saw when I looked down just 60 seconds before I was supposed to walk down the aisle should have sent me reeling! There were HUGE black streaks down my gown! I have absolutely no idea where they came from...before the processional started, my sister and cousin A had taken me outside and inspected the gown and dabbed and removed all the dirt and spots they could find. I had only been sitting in a chair during the processional and video and the chair wasn't dirty so who knows what happened?

Amanda was standing just outside the door next to my dad and I calmly said "Amanda. Amanda! I need you to grab those paper towels and that bottle of water and start getting those stains off of my gown."

As I walked out of the room, she carried my train blotting and wiping as we were walking. No matter what, I was getting down that aisle whether my dress was ripped, stained or falling off of me! I wish the videographer had filmed this...he shot me standing up and noticing it and calling her over, but then shut off the camera until right before I took my dad's arm.

Disclaimer: This video was created using raw footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills.

It was created by me strictly for recap purposes and therefore will not necessarily be great quality.

There will be things you probably shouldn't hear and shaky footage in certain places.

Thank you for your understanding.

Looking back, I can't believe how calm I stayed. Apparently, the streaks/stains must have still been visible because in the raw video footage at the very end of the ceremony as me and Mr Fix It were walking across the bridge I heard him telling me that my sister didn't handle my gown right because the back of my dress was totally dirty. It wasn't her fault, she didn't even know about it. And you can't see it in any pictures or video...so it must have been an up close and personal thing. Oh well...such is life at a wedding...and all that mattered was I was dying to see my groom on that altar!

Unless otherwise indicated, all photos by Robert Mullins Photography

H-moon Recap: Video of SCARY Bali!

2010-06-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

If you've never been outside of the US, you may not know that most of the world drives on the left side of the road...or as I like to call it: The *wrong* side of the road!

Thankfully, Mr Fix It is an international traveler and is used to this. So when we arrived in Australia and picked up our rental car, he was able to easily adapt and became the official driver of the trip. The main thing I learned in Australia is that it's basically like home, but they have a lot of different signs and lots of turnabouts. If you don't know what those are, they are basically round intersections where no one ever has to stop. They look like this:

And you're warned about them with this sign:

I really loved the signs in Oz...here's a few that are a little different from what we have back here in the States:

Cross walk

Instead of a sign showing a rest stop/area ahead, they tell you this:

Instead of 'Exit' signs, the airport directed us with this:

It made me feel like they were trying to tell me to get the hell out and FAST!

And instead of a passing lane sign, they call it:

Anyway, as far as the roundabouts, we don't really have these anywhere at home. On about day 4 of our stay in Oz, we finally figured out the program and learned that you have to stay to the inside of the circle if you are going through to the 3rd or 4th exit...otherwise, you are forced to exit on the first or second street you come up to.

Mr Fix It was scared that I would be a total stress case because we both argue with each other over who is the worse driver. He likes to sight see while driving which freaks the heck out of me since you should typically have your eyes on the road while your hands are on the steering wheel, but I guess that isn't the case in his world. I stayed pretty calm for the entire trip...even during the one or two times he drove down the *wrong* side of the road in Australia!

But driving in Bali was entirely different. Nothing could have prepared me for the carnage that they provide by means of motor vehicle transportation.

First off, we had to rent a car that was basically an ancient mini van to store Mr Fix It's surfboards in it because you're not supposed to drive with anything on the roof or a rack. After spending an hour at the airport trying to negotiate the terms of a week long rental, we finally jumped into a little van and headed off to find a hotel...only to notice after pulling out of the airport and into the city that the rental car company gave us a car on EMPTY!!! WTH?!? We hadn't even exchanged our money yet so we had no rhupia and no way of finding a gas station in this little 3rd world country.

We proceeded to try to yell out to passers by "Petrol?!?" asking where a gas station was...they pointed and repeated petrol but we never found one from their directions. Thank the Lord we finally came across one and filled up. And thankfully, we only had to fill the tank once the entire week. No problem...except the next day while pulling out early to find our first beach spot, the car suddenly jerked forward and we found that there were no lower gears in the manual transmission...Mr Fix It was left at an intersection with only 2nd and 4th gear. Again, thankfully, we hadn't driven too far so we headed back to the airport and made the guy get us a new vehicle and we were finally on our way.

As we pulled out onto the streets and into the culture and city, I found myself pretty amazed by how different life was here than in my beautiful Orange County in So Cal. There were motorbikes everywhere!!! And horrible roads and traffic no matter what time of the day. I can't even begin to describe it, so I will let this video give you a firsthand experience...enjoy me and Mr Fix It's commentary of a few days of brief video I shot while we were about and about:

Reflections on Marriage: Protection

2010-06-21T06:54:00.001-07:00

So we're walking across the street in a sidewalk on Main St in Seal Beach on Friday night on our way to dinner at Whalt's Wharf. Mr Fix It says to me "You know when we're crossing the street like this, you always need to walk on the inside left side of me." I looked at him and he said "You know why?" I responded, "So I don't get hit by a car?" He answered "So if a car is going to hit one of us, I can be the one to get hit and hopefully prevent you from getting injured."

Nothing makes a woman feel more loved than a man who wants to protect her. (swooning)

Afterthought: At dinner, two ladies at the table next to us kept staring and smiling at Mr Fix It. As they got up to leave, one of them walked by him and said "You were great in your last movie." Mr Fix It just smiled and nodded. I laughed and said "Why didn't you ask her who she thinks you are?!?" He said he didn't want to disappoint her. :) If you remember, Mr Fix It is sometimes told he looks like Matt Damon or Kevin Bacon. :)

Photos courtesy of Yan Freedline (VideoKeepsakes of Beverly Hills)

H-moon Recap: Thievery all over the world - Part 2

2010-06-18T08:55:00.000-07:00

So I wish I could say our only experience with crooks abroad was the stolen sunglasses on our last day in Australia, but unfortunately, we had a few run ins one evening while in Bali as well.

Mr Fix It had warned me that he doesn't like to pay for anything with credit cards in Indonesia because they are known for stealing your information and using the cards after you visit their stores and whatever. So he took a few thousand dollars cash. (We did however pay for our hotels with our credit card because they're a bit more trustworthy and we were getting credits for travel rewards points by using the credit card.)

Of course, when you're in a foreign country, you need to exchange your money for the local currency...in Indo's case, it's called Rhupia. And the exchange rate is silly...it was like 9,000 Rhupia to one US Dollar. Mr Fix It only liked to change in about $100 (maybe $200) at a time. Partly because it's not easy to count out over a million rhupia to verify what you're getting back. And Mr. Fix It was pretty adamant that we would be double counting everything that we exchanged. He had an experience where they tried to short change him once on a previous visit. And partly because that way you don't end up with a bunch of rhupia leftover that you have to try to change back into USD which is not going to be as good exchange rate wise.

I didn't think much of it. And our first couple nights in Kuta, we didn't have too hard a time finding some decent money changers to honestly exchange our hundred bucks. All you needed to do was look for these signs outside any of the shops on the street:

Source

And they are everywhere! Like every 10 to 20 yards there was another money changer. But we would walk around trying to find the ones who had a higher exchange rate. Some offered 9300 rhupia to the USD.

And therein lies the problem...about the 3rd night of our trip. We needed to exchange some money for dinner and shopping. Well, just about every money changer that you walk up to looks like this:

Source

See that super high desk you have to walk up to? It is how the crooks protect themselves! First of all, you have to offer them smaller currency. We always gave them $100 bills and they would inspect them thinking they were fake first of all. Then a few of them even told us that if they weren't 'newer' bills, they'd offer us a lower exchange rate. We would ask them if we were getting the 9300 rate and they would say yes. Then they'd count out the money. They'd pull out a calculator to show you the amount you should get and suddenly they'd punch in a rate of only 8900 or something. So Mr Fix It would call them out saying "Hey, it says 9300 out there on the sign!" And they would say, "Oh, there's an 8% commission." Or they'd say "Oh, this bill is dated in 2003 so it's not new enough...lower rate." THIEVES!

But that isn't totally thievery...however, on this particular night, we saw some of the best magicians we'd ever encountered. Even better than the one who had amazing slight of hand at our own wedding!

See, they'd count out 900,000.00 rhupia on the counter. And they lay it out in piles of like 100,000 each or whatever. I would pick up each pile and count it. Then they'd tell you to put it back down. Or they would just take it back from you after it was all counted and act like they were wrapping it all up together. They'd hand it back, and I would count it yet again! Only this time, it would be missing money. Anywhere from 100,000 to 750,000 at one changer we went to!

I would say "Um, where's the other 250,000?" To which they would pull all the money back from me, give us back our $100 bill and then respond, "You need to go to another changer. We aren't doing business with you." And Mr Fix It would say "Why? Because we know you are a thief and we aren't stupid enough for you to trick us?" One time he told the guy "You guys are really good magicians...we are totally watching your hands and we can't see how your dropping the money behind the counter."

This went on in literally like 8 to 10 places we visited in less than an hour. I was seriously getting pissed at this point and Mr Fix It knew I was frustrated and hungry. As we walked by this one shop, the guy stopped Mr Fix It and asked him to buy a watch. Mr Fix It did in fact want to buy a watch but told him he didn't have any rhupia because he couldn't find an honest money changer!

This nice sales guy walked us around the corner to an official bank that was open at like 8:30 pm at night and there we found the honest place to exchange our money. It was nice to have a reputable place to be able to do business, however, they only offered us 8900 per USD. That's how the thieves lure you into their places.

So we just used the banks from that point on. I have to say, you can also exchange money at most hotels as they are also honest, but again, a lower exchange rate. And we did in fact have a couple money changers that didn't try to pull a fast one on us and gave us a good rate....but not many.

What about all you ladies? Did you have any unfortunate experiences while visiting foreign countries? Be sure if you are going abroad for honeymoons and trips that you do some internet research and check to see what you should look out for and be concerned about. The US Government sites also give you some good warnings to consider when traveling....as well as entry and exit information and requirements. We had to pay like $50 to get visas in Bali where it was only about $18 each for Australia. But Australia didn't charge us when we left their country whereas Indonesia does charge you another fee for an exit visa!

H-moon Recap: Thievery all over the world!

2010-06-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

This post will not include any photos...because how do you take photos of total crooks?!?

Our honeymoon was a great experience...except for two specific things/incidents.

After spending a glorious 7 days relaxing and basically doing nothing in Australia, we packed up all of our belongings into the rental car, said goodbye to the amazing husband and wife managers of the apartments we had been staying at and headed off for the airport. We needed to re-fuel the rental car so we pulled into the gas station right next door to the apartments. Mr Fix It ran in to pay for the gas, buy some Rockstar energy drinks (bleck!) and then pumped the gas and jumped in the car. As soon as we pulled out of the gas station, he reached for the sunglasses he had placed on top of his head since the sun was out...only to realize they weren't there. He frantically began looking through the car and then suddenly said "Oh man! I think I set them down on the counter when I was paying for the gas."

Now why he would take them off of his head to set them down I don't know, but whatever. We made a quick u-turn and headed back into the gas station. Only when Mr Fix It jumped out and ran in to retrieve them, the man behind the counter informed him that the gentlemen who was in line behind him had picked them up and carried them off. What a total thief!!! I swear, we weren't even gone three minutes before we came back and some loser in Oz had to ruin the last moments we had in the country by stealing something from us!

Mr Fix It was not happy but what are you gonna do? He ended up buying a cheap pair of $4 sunglasses in Bali to get him through the next week til we returned home. Which leads me to my next story...stay tuned tomorrow!

Wed recap: Red is so not my color...

2010-06-15T09:58:00.000-07:00

...but for some reason, I totally wanted it all over my wedding. So not like me. It has never been a favorite color of mine at all. In fact, I don't think I even own one solid red piece of clothing really other than maybe a t-shirt or two. Actually, I do have a pair of super cute red velvety type pants. I only wear them at Christmas though.

Whenever I saw red at weddings I've been to in the past, I would totally think "Um, very original. Really? The best you could come up with was the color of love and Valentine's day? Wow, lots of thought went into this one." Isn't that horrible to be so judgmental? But I was.

So what made me suddenly decide to incorporate red in my own wedding so much so that it is seen in everything from the flowers to the bridesmaid dresses to the favor boxes to the groomsmen vests to the favors to the votives and the linens? I guess because it really is a deep, rich, romantic color. That and the fact that it is always ~~cheaper~~ easy to find flowers in that color.

I tried to offset this 'red' infusion by leaning towards more of a cranberry/burgundy red and not a bright traditional red. I think I did a good job. I loved the color. I guess some colors are just classic and cannot lead you wrong. Anyway, the reason I share all of this is to preface all these pics from my photog, Robert Mullins of the red details, touches, attire and decor of our wedding. Here ya go!

Our sweetheart table. We needed to keep it simple because we had them 'tear it down' as soon as we were finished eating to make room on the dance floor.

One of the tall centerpieces. I loved these. They were inspired by a much more simple version of white tulips sprayed out of a tall vase and we added more green to bring in more of the spring appeal.

A table with the low version of the centerpieces before the tables were completely set up. I like this shot because it focuses on all the touches of cranberry red - the satin linen napkins, the votive candles, the chinese takeout favor boxes and the circus box kid's favor boxes as well as the burgundy colored dahlias sitting in the tiny little votive vases.

A closer up shot of the low centerpiece which displays all of the elements above

after the guests had invaded the tables!

I took a wicker basket from Michael's that was on sale for 40% off and bought some red silk fabric. My mom wrapped it around the wicker basket and sewed it up to create our flip flop basket. We now use the basket for laundry after the wedding :)

Of course, I *had* to incorporate the red throughout the stationery and favor items. These were the little tissue packs we created as an afterthought after seeing them on several blog sites.

We were even able to have the photobooth company incorporate red as the backdrop for our pictures (favors) for the guests and guestbook!

Though not completely assembled yet, this picture shows the red elements at the ceremony area: Tulips submerged in the vase that the larger sprays sat on top of, the red boxes that the floral arrangements sat on and the red gerbera daisies at the end of each aisle.

Again, I incorporated the red on the stationery items...like these signs we put at the end of the first five rows saving the seats for family members. (Courtesy of Serendipity Designs)

Here's a shot of the ceremony area once the guests were seated showing the aisle adorned with deep red petals and the cranberry linen cloth on the communion and unity cross table.

Of course there were my fabulous red shoes that I so adore!!!

And the beautiful bouquet from Allison of Flower Allie that was filled with different shades of deep reds.

I was totally in love with the bridesmaid dresses (Jasmine B2) and their bouquets.

Here's the entire wedding party showing the red ties/vests, gowns and florals all together.

Just love it in this setting at the venue!

I even custom designed (with the help of my wonderful jewelery designer/maker, Jeanette Readinger) gifts for my bridesmaids that were necklaces incorporating the colors of the cranberry red and turquoise gems.

So let's hear it, ladies? Was there something you just fell in love with regarding your wedding that you never thought you would want or use or incorporate or maybe wasn't part of your normal style?

PS: I will go into more detail about the florals and other items I mentioned here in future recaps more specific to those items :)

Wed recap: Raise your hand if you're sure!!!

2010-06-14T09:09:00.001-07:00

I was definitely sure on April 16th that Mr Fix It was the man for me

and that I was truly Born to be Mrs. Beever!

I wish I could say the entire day felt like this for me...but as I have said before and will continue to share, the day went by in such a blur. I have no recollection at all of what was going on at this moment for me to be raising a fist above my head like that. I am due to get my raw footage from our wedding DVD back on Wednesday this week (that means hopefully tomorrow). I am hoping maybe there is some video footage of this moment that will help me remember. :)

Anyone want to have some fun today and write a caption for this photo?!? Come on, make me laugh!!!

We interrupt the wed/h-moon recaps for...

2010-06-12T07:52:00.001-07:00

...a little fun from our family life on Thursday night...stick it out til the end for a funny joke :)

Get ready for this...Little Miss's uncle's partner (whew!) is trying to break into photography as an art form and so he had his first official exhibit in a small gallery in their building in Los Angeles Thursday night. Since we are pretty close with Little Miss's family on her father's side and all attend each other's events (sports games, birthday parties, weddings, etc), my mom, sister, Little Miss and I all decided to brave the traffic from the OC into LA.

They live right near Staples Center and so we were thrilled when we remembered that the playoff Lakers game was being held in Boston that night (bummed though that the Lakers lost) :( So we really didn't hit any traffic at all on the 405.

We got to the exhibit about 6:30 pm and browsed around our friend's photos and got to hear the stories behind the shots...like the beautiful photo he snapped of the steps at Mansanar (a Japanese internment camp that is now pretty much torn down due to embarassment I am sure). And then there was the photo titled Cabin Fever which was of a broken-down-busted-out-window-falling apart cabin in the middle of Joshua Tree desert. Little Miss's grandmother proceeded to tell us how it belongs to her relatives and they used to go there 25 years ago for little weekend trips. Very interesting.

Unfortunately, I didn't snap any pics of the photos out of respect for our friend's artform and not wanting to 'plagiarize' his stuff, though he probably wouldn't have minded. However, I did snap this little pic of my sister:

Yeah, that's Brad Wollack and Ross Matthews (comedians from the Chelsea Lately show). We got to chat with them for a bit since Little Miss's uncle and aunt are friends with Chelsea and several of her staff attended the event. It was pretty cool. Very down to earth fun guys. Since I was following the Laker game on my cell, they asked me about my new Droid phone and if I liked it? Then they told me that even though they both have the iPhone, they don't like the service AT&T provides. Which then led to a fun little joke they wrote up for a future comedy act about how they 'forgive' AT&T because even though it's not great, they get service that 'goes down on them about 6 or 7 times.' Silly boys!

The thing after the rehearsal that wasn't...

2010-06-11T07:11:00.000-07:00

I didn't really thing our rehearsal was a rehearsal at all since all we did was line everyone up and show them how to walk down the aisle and where to stand at the end of the aisle. We didn't rehearse anything and somehow the one thing we did rehearse (timing the walking down the aisle to the music for the processional) ended up getting screwed up on the day of the wedding. When I watched my wedding video I noticed that the bridemsaids were practically *running* down the aisle! I asked my daughter why the heck everyone was sprinting and she said because the coordinators told them to go fast because the song wasn't long enough. First of all, this wasn't true at all..so either the DJ started too early or the coordinators did not tell people when they were supposed to start their walk. But whatever...and don't worry, I'm in the process of figuring out how to convert the raw footage I received from my videographer to use on my PC so I fully intend to show you the 'sprint' down the aisle :)

At the end of our practice walk, my coordinator says "That's the fastest rehearsal I've ever done!" Yeah, well, that's because it *wasn't* a rehearsal, silly girl!

I then handed out the pre-printed directions I brought for the wedding party from our venue to the restaurant which was about 30 minutes away and we piled into cars and took off. We arrived at the Spaghetti Factory in Newport Beach and had a great little banquet room upstairs all to ourselves. They had tables lined up and the first thing Mr Fix It says to me when we are all looking for where we should sit is "Babe, would you be upset if I sit at a table with all the guys?" I gave him this look like "Are you serious right now?" This is our rehearsal dinner and you don't even want to sit with me?!? What the heck? But since once again, I was just trying to go with it and not throw a fit about anything, and since he said with his puppy dog eyes "If it will upset you, then I won't but I just would love to be able to hang with my brothers." (Several of them live out of the area and flew/drove in for the day so how could I possibly deny him?) I told him fine and went to sit with my family.

My daughter, Little Miss made the rounds at the tables and snapped bunches of shots of everyone...

Me and Mr Fix It (of course he has to stick his tongue out - moron!)

My mom, bridesmaid D, and Little Miss (daughter)

My dad and his wife, J

Mr Fix It's Dad, Mom, sis-in-law J and niece M

Mr Fit It's brother (Groomsman C), Mr Fix It, Mr Fix It's best friend (Groomsman T) and best friend's wife

My sis and her hubby

My bestie, Bridesmaid L (who flew in from Idaho but just moved back to our area today!!!)

My flower girl (cousin T) and her mom (Bridesmaid cousin E)

Mr Fix It's Aunt & Uncle (who flew in from MN)

Mr Fix It's brother (Best Man K) and friend (Groomsman J) and our Jr Groosman (nephew J)

Mr Fix It's sister C and sis-in-law T with their kids (2 of our ring bearers)

Mr Fix It's bro-in-law with another one of our ring bearers

My cousin Bridesmaid A with her hubby and son

So after dinner, it was time to give out our bridal party gifts. I asked Mr Fix It to help me pass them out. You can read about them here. I then thanked everyone for coming and told them how grateful we were for each one of them. Then I told the bridesmaids and groomsmen that they were supposed to wear whatever was in their gift box on the day of the wedding. This was referring to the red argyle socks that I had wanted to get a super cool pic of all the guys showing off on wedding day. However, we didn't even end up getting pictures of this because I forgot to mention it to my photographer...again, another reason why you should make a list of must have shots! I had forgotten that one of the things I also put in their gift boxes were these cute little tins with bandaids in them that read "Hugs and Kisses from the new Mr. & Mrs." These were for potential accidents on wedding day and believe me, in a future recap I will share why it was a good thing I had them! Well, one of Mr Fix It's brothers (Chad or Keith?) then joked about putting on all of the bandaids for the wedding since I said they were supposed to wear what was in the boxes.

After they opened their gifts, I finished off my speech by reminding them of when and where they were supposed to be for photos. I then proceeded to tell them that if they wanted to stress me out or upset me on my wedding day, all they had to do was be late. So "You better not be late!" Luckily, Little Miss snapped this shot of me reiterating this :)

(Don't you love my cousin's face in the right side of the pic? He knows I mean business!)

And that was it, our wedding rehearsal was over and Mr Fix It didn't even sit with me...silly boy! I told you 2 days ago in my post that boys are stupid...just another reason why :)

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP: (Or rather rehearsal tip) Remember to bring the things most often forgotten for your rehearsal:

* A boom box to practice the music you will be walking down the aisle to (both ways) - or have the live musicians there to practice and be sure their songs run a good length. If it's too short, ask them how they'll lengthen it...and if it's too long, tell them to fade it out early.

* Directions for your party members from the venue to the dinner.

* A few copies of your script with the key elements of the ceremony so you can run through the walks, hand offs (of bride, flowers, rings, etc), readings, etc.

* The readings, poems, and other elements for communion, unity ceremonies, etc. Typically, you can bring these items to the rehearsal to leave overnight at your venue or hand off to your officiant, coordinator or another trusted party member to bring on the day of the wedding.

H-moon Recap: Random run ins all over the world

2010-06-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, I don't have much in the way of pics to include in this post, but it's one that I love and want to journal about because it deals with meeting new friends (and running into acquaintances) halfway across the world!

Australia didn't provide much in the way of random run ins...however, once we got to Bali, it was a different story. For one day, while Mr Fix It was out surfing in the ocean, he came in and mentioned that some guy walking by was named John as well (that's Mr Fix It's real name if you didn't know). I asked, "How do you know that?" He said, "Because he works in Huntington Beach about 10 minutes from us and he is friends with Pat." Pat is a friend of ours who attended our wedding with his wife, Shelley. I've known Pat and Shelley for over 10 years as their daughter grew up playing softball in the same league as Little Miss. We have been on teams together, coached together and Shelley and I served as board members on the softball board for a couple years together. How random that somehow Mr Fix It runs into a guy and strikes up a conversation with him about where he lives, works, etc and somehow it gets around to a mutual friend that doesn't often come up in our conversations. Very strange...

Then one day in Bali we headed down to a place called Bingins Beach where Mr Fix It likes to surf when he is in Indo. He told me about these little huts that people own and use for restaurants and to offer massages to surfers and others who come down to the beach. He took me to this one hut and when we walked up, the ladies there all came up and greeted "Mr. John." (I shared some pics and a post about the food here.) They remembered him from his last trip there which was four years ago! Mr Fix It had told me that they will remember you once you visit and won't forget your name, but I was totally surprised at how well they remembered him. So much so, that one of the elderly ladies asked him 'where his lady friend was.' He didn't really respond and she said, "You had a girl friend with you that I gave a massage to...where is she?" Mr Fix It laughed and said "Watch it...I'm here with my wife now!" I asked about this girl and found out it was a spanish girl that Mr Fix It had met on his last solo trip to Indo and he hung out with her for a bit. Though they 'hooked up' he swears he wasn't intimate with her and I laughed...turns out that it was during the year that Mr Fix It and I had taken a break from our dating relationship so what did I care. We all thought it was funny how the woman 'threw him under the bus' in front of his wife.

At our resort in Bali, Mr Fix It befriended a couple who was celebrating their honeymoon on their one year wedding anniversary. They lived in South Africa and though Mr Fix It had run into the guy several times and had a few surf conversations with him, it wasn't til the very last morning that we were leaving that I met his wife. They invited us to sit with them at breakfast as we were both leaving the resort that day. We literally sat for probably 3 or 4 hours just getting to know them and sharing stories about our lives and countries and such. We talked about politics and our election system and religion (found out we are both Christians and they have served in mission trips)...it was great. By the time we left, we had gotten their names and e-mail address and they had extended an invitation for us to visit them in Durban, South Africa for a surf trip. Mr Fix It *insists* that we will absolutely be connecting with them and trying to meet up some time in the next few years for a South Africa trip. :)

While hanging with the couple from South Africa, he told us a story about how he almost got into a fight with another surfer out in the water one day. The other guy had been cutting him off catching waves and what not. He then proceeded to tell us how convicted he felt about telling the guy off and threatening him and so he went back over to him a little later and apologized and had a short conversation with him. We kind of laughed about it. Later that afternoon, we headed off to the airport and began our plane trips back to LAX. Once we arrived in LAX (like 21 hours later), we were waiting for our luggage and then in the customs line. Mr Fix It made friends with a guy who was standing near us and had just returned from Bali as well. They began talking about how much they love Indo and surfing and what they do for a living. Then randomly, the guy mentions this altercation he got into with another South African while surfing in Indo one day. Turns out, we had run into the same guy that our South African friend had told us about! So random.

We totally laughed about it and told him how we had become friends with that guy. Isn't funny how in this huge world, somehow, we are able to make it all seem so small by the friendships and encounters that we build along the path of our life?

Have you ever had any random run ins while far away from home?

Wed recap: Why boys are stupid (the cake cutting)

2010-06-08T17:08:00.000-07:00

Today's wedding recap comes from a big moment during your wedding day: the cake cutting.

All I will say is that the cake has been the one thing I was least excited about throughout the planning process. This was mostly because Mr Fix It and I debated on the cupcake tower vs. traditional cake decision and I lost out having to go with a normal cake...well, sort of normal. Because then the cake designs we found and asked our caterer and others to make ended up coming back with outrageous quotes on pricing. So we reconsidered all our options and in the end we went with just letting a family friend making a cake for us. It wasn't what I had dreamed of, but it was simple and it was ours and most importantly - it was DEEE-LICIOUS!

Anyway, as does any good bride and groom, eventually you will have the "Will we or won't we?" discussion on your cake cutting. Mr Fix It and I had talked about whether or not we thought it was a good idea to 'smash' the cake in each other's faces while feeding each other the first bites. I did not like this idea but before I voiced my opinion, Mr Fix It said he would never do that because you have all your hair and makeup paid for and done up in this gorgeous dress (and tux or suit) so why would you mess all that up for a food fight? I was totally thrilled and totally on board with this and so we both agreed (on several occasions) that the nice simple placing a fork gently in each other's mouths at the same time was the way to go for us.

But I didn't count on one thing...peer pressure! I'll let the video speak for me:

Yes, boys are stupid. We girls have known it all along, but it's little things like this that just confirm our already known opinions. Boys give in to peer pressure and other boys egg the one boy on. It's how so many things go wrong in our society. If it hadn't been for Mr Fix It's brothers and best friends standing there chanting "In the face! In the face!" then we would have stuck to our planned nice cake cutting and feeding.

Alas, it wasn't meant to be. And so I ended up with red velvet cake under my nicely manicured and long acrylic nails for most of the rest of the night. So stupid!

However, I got him back...you see, while I was smearing cake all over his gorgeous little face, one of those long nails accidentally scratched him right above the eyebrow. You can't see it in the video, but a few minutes later, I told him he was bleeding. I didn't mean to do that, but it's a consequence of your stupid actions so he deserved it. Besides, it was only a little scratch. And this was definitely not the only war wound we had on our wedding day (more to come).

To finish, here's the pro pics courtesy of Robert Mullins of the cake cutting and ensuing smearing...

Cutting into the bottom layer of red velvet and cream cheese frosting:

Mr Fix It letting me know he's not going to 'stick to the plan'

Me telling the boys they better watch what they're saying while chanting!

Me pointing at the troublemakers

Threatening that the boys will be the ones getting the cake 'In the face!'

Mr Fix It just before he smashes it up my nose!

Me deciding that I should try for the plate in the face

Since the plate didn't really work...he was able to deflect it...

...I decided to go the easy route and just smear it all over. It's more effective anyway :)

And of course, we have to kiss and make up :)

'What are you gonna do?'

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP: Have the "Will we or won't we?" discussing on smashing the cake in each other's face. And then, have it again...like 5 more times. And then after you've had it several times, decide what the consequences will be if one of you chooses to break the pact! :)

Wed recaps: My one bridezilla moment

2010-06-04T05:00:00.000-07:00

Today is June 4th...it's a special day. Know why? Because today, both my mother *AND* my sister celebrate their birthday. That's right, baby sis (MOH J) was born on my momma's 20th birthday :) Kinda cool I think. To celebrate, we are renting a little electric boat to ride around in Newport Beach harbor...we're bringing some pizzas and wine and sodas and hanging with my sister's hubby and my little niece and nephew, my mom, me, Mr Fix It and Little Miss. Good times.

So today, on the birthday of my sweet MOH baby sis J, I want to share with you the one bridezilla moment I had on wedding day. And I am so *NOT* proud of it! I wish I could have a do over!

This is me and my baby sis MOH J:

Isn't she gorgeous?

She worked her little behind off that day...she showed up around 9 am I think and was helping my mom with unloading cars full of food, gowns, accessories, and so on. She did things that the photographer and coordinators asked her to help with and followed me around all day carrying my train and straightening my gown. It really started with her picking up this bad girl and getting her ready for entry when it came time for me to get dressed:

Then there was the following me around like a shadow as the train keeper:

And the train straightener...for both pre-ceremony photos:

And during the ceremony:

She looked adorable as she walked her son, Ring Bearer PJ down the aisle...look at the sun shining on her like she's an angel!

And made me laugh during the great toast she gave at our reception (more in a future recap):

But for some reason, it didn't seem like she was around me that much on the actual day of the wedding. Looking at these pics, it's obvious she was doing her duties well. And let me tell you, she really wanted to give a toast at the reception but she is deathly afraid of public speaking so this was a truly stressful thing she was thinking (and worrying) about all day. She rocked it though...can't wait to share with you from the video!

The unfortunate thing was that we did all of our photos before the ceremony...right during her son and daughter's nap time. And my little nephew really needs his naps. So I was truly disappointed that he is not in ANY of our shots taken before the wedding...not in the one shot I got with me and the other 3 ring bearers and flower girl and not in the shots we took with our immediate family :(

When he finally did show up on the day of the wedding, he was apparently still tired and hubby was having a hard time getting him into his tux. So my sis had to run off to handle him...she wasn't real happy about that hoping Daddy could have handled it along with his mother (Grandma Kiki) because she was busy enough as the Matron of Honor.

Then earlier when we were wandering the grounds for photos I had another maid come along to carry my bouquet and train because my sis was nowhere to be found. Apparently the coordinators or someone asked her for some help. I didn't know that at the time.

Later, when it was time for our first look, I was standing by myself getting ready to walk. And none of my maids were around me...I learned a little trick where I would pick my train up over my arm and then spin around in a big circle...as I was spinning, I would throw (release) the train of my gown and it would fly out around behind me and land perfectly unfolded and flat and laid out behind me. Pretty neat, huh? The videographer even asked me to do it again at one point to try to catch it on film.

But at some point during this little trick I happened to say the following:

"Yeah, I had to figure out how to handle all this myself since I have the worst Matron of Honor ever! Here's a hint, don't ever ask someone with kids to be a bridesmaid!"

There were a few family members and vendors around when I said it...and my sis was there, too :( She looked at me and I know she said something back to snap at me. I felt really bad after the words came out of my mouth. I tried to eat the words back up saying "Well, I just mean you have other things to tend to and worry about." But it was too late...the bridezilla in me got out for that brief moment and it was a truly horrible thing to say. I really didn't even mean it...I mean, she went above and beyond. So I profusely apologized that day and on the day after the wedding and a few times after we got back from our honeymoon.

So that was it...the one thing that I did that I was not proud of. Thankfully, my loving sister is full of mercy and forgiveness and doesn't let those things linger once we've made amends and moved on. :)

I didn't need to say it like that, but as much as I hate to admit it, my wedding tip for today does come from a bit of truth in my mean girl comment:

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP: Truly consider the roles and responsibilities you expect of each of your maids when you ask them to be a member of your wedding party. Every single one of my maids had children, jobs and other commitments that made it very difficult to get them together or to have them help with wedding related appointments, to-do's and tasks. If the people you want to stand up with you and assist you in your planning process have children, very involved work schedules or other responsibilities or relationships that may prevent them from giving you every bit of time and attention you'd like, you may want to consider whether or not to ask them to be in the wedding. Or if you do, then remember not to have high expectations.

I have to say, I would have had no other woman next to me on that day and my sister went so far above and beyond through all of the planning process with helping me design stationery, assemble favors, go shopping, and attend to all of my needs on the wedding day. I was very blessed with the amazing and thoughtful shower and bachelorette party she threw me and all the time she found outside of her wifely and motherly duties to make me feel very special...and for that, I want to wish my baby sis, J the most amazing birthday ever today! (And of course a huge birthday shout out to Mom, too!)

Here's the only shot I have of me and Mom on our wedding day thanks to my wonderful cousin, Bridesmaid A!

On Living and Loving

Jordan's Sweet 16 - I threw ANOTHER huge party!

Wed Recap: The little ones

It's not fair...

Wed Recap: Some twists on the garter and bouquet toss

Wed Recap: Why teenagers are annoying

We're in a magazine!!!

Wed Recap: You may now claim your bride with a kiss!

Wed Recap: Oh, let me just do that for you!

Wed Recap: The planner and the wing-it guy

Wed Recap: War wounds at our wedding (the ring exchange)

Wed Recap: Not your typical vows

Wed Recap: I like these people!

Wed Recap: I feel like I'm suffocating!

Wed Recap: What are we really here for?

Wed Recap: The party's over

Wed Recap: It takes an army

Wed Recap: Surprises for the groom and the guests

H-moon Recap: An open letter to the women who massaged us

Wed recap: The one where the bride doesn't know what the first dance song is

H-moon Recap: Me, Tarzan...You, Jane!

Wed recap: Embarassing the hell out of the bride and groom

Wed Recap: Traditions and Crazies

Wed Recap: I see you! (The first look that almost wasn't...)

Wed Recap: The only tears shed on our wedding day...

Wedding Recap: Uh oh...it's magic!

Wed Video Recap: Make 'em laugh!

Wed Video Recap: Processional - do whatever the heck you want!!!

Wed Video recap: Moments before...

H-moon Recap: Video of SCARY Bali!

Reflections on Marriage: Protection

H-moon Recap: Thievery all over the world - Part 2

H-moon Recap: Thievery all over the world!

Wed recap: Red is so *not* my color...

Wed recap: Raise your hand if you're sure!!!

We interrupt the wed/h-moon recaps for...

The thing after the rehearsal that wasn't...

H-moon Recap: Random run ins all over the world

Wed recap: Why boys are stupid (the cake cutting)

Wed recaps: My one bridezilla moment

Wed recap: Red is so not my color...