Sponsored Post: CSN Stores

I think I must have done most of my wedding shopping online. With so many venues and vendors to visit, the Web really helped cut down on travel time. Everything is at your fingertips. One online store was a great go-to site for wedding party gifts: CSN Stores. And now, I'm checking out their stuff to fill the nest!

When an opportunity to review one of their products came several months ago, I jumped at the chance. We were looking for a cool gift for one of our ceremony readers...let's call him Jake. Jake has expensive taste, and well, we didn't have the budget for expensive.

But looking over the products at CSN Stores, many of them were surprisingly affordable. Products range from furniture, home decor, to fun stuff, like games and poker sets...almost anything you can think of that would make a great gift for you or someone you know. The gift we picked out for our traveling, high-end ceremony reader? Knowing that Jake is also a practical kind of guy, we went with leather toiletry traveling case. The selling price was $25, but we were very pleased with the quality (the fiance was tempted to keep it for himself!)

Let's just have the photos speak for themselves, shall we?

Yup, it had the genuine leather smell.

Thank you CSN Stores! Now what do we decorate our bedroom with?

Wedding Recap: Cranes end their journey north

Our cranes head  more than 2000 miles north to Toronto, CA

Don't use masking tape if you're going to ship through the post office...we found out the hard way. (personal photo)

After nearly three months of folding and watching our flock of little white paper cranes grow to 1000 birdies strong, and another several months figuring out what to do with them, we packed them on their way for their final flight north to their new home in Toronto, Canada.

For awhile before our wedding, I had this crazy vision of folding 1,000 paper cranes. Cranes are symbols of great fortune across Asia and according to Japanese tradition, the couple who folds 1,000 paper cranes is granted a long and happy life together. Since my husband is half Chinese, and cranes are auspicious birds in Chinese folklore as well, I thought this would be a great project for our wedding. But with neither one of us knowing how to fold a crane, the thought of folding 1,000 of them was daunting. For a few weeks, I kept talking myself out of the idea, thinking folding 1,000 paper cranes on top of everything else we had to do was just crazy talk!

Then I heard about the Crane Chandelier Project by the Wedding Co. in Toronto, Canada. In celebration of turning 10 years old, the wedding planning support organization is collecting paper cranes from newlyweds around the world, which they plan to display in a massive chandelier at their 10-year bash in 2011. For each crane they receive, the Wedding Co. is committed to donating 50 cents to cancer research. Since we decided to make a donation in lieu of traditional wedding favors, we thought this would be a great cause to donate our efforts to.

Personal Photo

So we started with our first paper crane. With my laptop propped on the coffee table, we followed a youtube clip on how to make a paper crane. Slowly but surely, we began our huge task. As we began to get the hang of it, we made it a goal to fold 100 cranes a week. Each week, we put 100 cranes in plastic bags to keep track of our numbers.  It took many movie nights on the couch/crane folding to get to that goal. Finally, more than two months later and watching our upteenth rented movie, we folded our 1,000th paper crane! We almost couldn't believe that we had finished 1,000 little birds that we recounted our bags to make sure that we really did have 10 bags, each containing 100 paper cranes. Sure enough, they were all there!

Ironically, folding 1,000 paper cranes wasn't the hardest part. It was figuring out what we were going to do with them that really stumped us. We knew we wanted to display them at our wedding, to show our guests the fruits of our labor. But with limited set-up time at our reception venue, we had to think of a quick and easy way of hanging 1,000 paper cranes. After scouring the Web for ideas, I decided that we would make 10 chandeliers, each containing 100 cranes.

Making our DIY Paper Crane Chandeliers
Using jewelry beads, a needle, and some sturdy, translucent jewelry string (all purchased at Michaels), I followed this DIY crane-hanging tutorial to help me make my first chandelier. I started out by stringing 25 paper cranes on one strand, taking my needle (with string attached) through the top of each crane to the bottom until there were 25 cranes strung up on one strand. I made sure that I left a little slack on top, and attached a bead to the very top of the crane so they don't slide off. I attached another bead to the bottom crane as well so all 25 cranes stayed in one place. I made four strands each containing 25 cranes and tied them all together about five inches from the very top crane. Voila! I made my first chandelier!

Photo by the Wedding Co.

What I didn't account for was how time-consuming making one chandelier would be! We unwisely put off making our chandeliers until the week before the wedding (yikes!) With a bunch of other wedding-related stuff demanding our attention, there was no way we could add making 10 chandeliers to our list. So I enlisted the help of my MOH who thankfully helped us make half of the chandeliers. Seriously, give yourself at least a couple weeks if you want to  make chandeliers out of 1000 paper cranes!

When we finished, we handed our birds to our reception venue staff. All they needed to do by set up time was hang each chandelier to the overhead beams in the dining hall.

Photo by Don Le of  Bliss Imagery

Photo by Don Le of Bliss Imagery

 Photo by Regina Bunye

When I saw them all hanging at the reception for the first time, I was amazed at how gorgeous they all turned out! The cranes became the focal point of the room, adding something truly unique to the look and ambiance of our wedding. Each of our guests received a card at their table telling them about the cultural meaning of the cranes and our donation to the Wedding Co. We constantly heard compliments about the cranes from our guests -- how much they adored them and how many of them appreciated the donation we made for them. Even weeks after our wedding, we still hear the compliments!

Photo by Don Le of Bliss Imagery

Cards explaining the cultural significance of cranes and the donation to the Wedding Co. were placed at each seat. (Photo by Regina Bunye)

But alas, we had to say goodbye to our little friends. We packed them up in boxes and shipped them to Toronto. As a side note, if you plan to ship the cranes, you'll have to find a box large enough to hold them...and the bigger the box, the bigger the shipping cost is. Add in international and postage fees, shipping 1000 cranes can be pretty expensive (it cost us more than $100 to ship from LA). Also, make sure you know about packaging protocol...don't use masking tape (like in the above photo). You need clear packaging tape...yup, that was us pulling off the our original masking tape and repackaging five huge boxes at the post office!

Our boxes arrived beat up and weathered, but our cranes made it just fine to Canada!
Photo by the Wedding Co.

But really, it was all worth it in the end. One thousand paper cranes will bring in a nice donation going toward cancer research! Luckily, the cranes all arrived safely in their new home in Toronto. Catherine from the Wedding Co. blogged about our donation! They're moving closer to their goal of 10,000 cranes by January 2011 and need just over 1300  more to reach their goal!

A huge thanks goes to the Wedding Co. for putting on this awesome, worldwide effort! Over the months of planning we've come to see our cranes as symbolic of the time, effort, energy and patience we put into planning our wedding. It was a long, sometimes tedious, a little stressful, but overall fulfilling and fun journey. I'm happy to see our cranes' journey end someplace where they'll continue to hold a special meaning and purpose long after our wedding!

Wedding Recap: The Rococo Room

 Photo by Don Le of Bliss Imagery

Sure, I've shared my disgruntled opinion about a couple of vendors who turned out to be duds (Hello, MIA hairstylist and unorganized, shady hotel staff) but there were, thankfully, amazing people who seriously went beyond expectations.

One of these star vendors is the staff  at the Rococo Room.

We had our daytime reception at their intimate banquet room in downtown Pasadena, and it was perfect for us. Why?

1) They were extremely organized and super generous from beginning to end.
When we first met with Keith, the venue coordinator, he was very thorough of what he could offer us and how much everything would cost. He was very patient and willing to work within our budget. He even threw in some amazing freebies, like extra appetizers for our guests, or a very minimal room setup fee. Normally, parties have two hours to set up before the event, but Keith gave us extra time on Friday night to get the room prepared. Their staff knew exactly what was going on -- from set up, to the schedule of events, to clean up. The wait staff was professional in demeanor and attire, and the service was simply excellent.

2) Our guests loved their food. One of the things we did not want to compromise on when first planning our wedding was the food. I've had my share of dry, rubbery chicken at wedding receptions, and we did not want to go that route. Even it meant sacrificing a giant guest list, or the grand hotel ballroom, or even thousands of dollars of flowers--we did not want to go cheap on the food. Unfortunately, even if more than half of our budget was dedicated to catering and the venue, the menus in our price range were...disappointing.  Luckily, the Rococo Room offered Zagat rated food that was D-lish.

 Photo by Don Le of Bliss Imagery

Guests were well-fed with plenty of appetizers, salad, a main course and the OMG cake. No, that not what it's called (chocolate mouse cake, really) but the looks and tastes of this cake had you saying that over and over. It's what our photographer deemed the best wedding cake EVER!

 The OMG cake. Photo by Don Le of Bliss Imagery

3) Location. Nestled in the trendy and historic downtown Pasadena district, The Rococo Room is a rare combination of prime location and affordability. The room was the right size for our intimate gathering of 100 people. The outside doesn't look like much, but the room has a rustic charm to it. With Chivari chairs, elegant linens and silverware, there isn't much you need to add to decorate this place. All we had were our orchid centerpieces, the lovely ceremony arrangements a family friend made for us, a few orchid flowers strewn about and some candles.

 Photo by Regina Bunye

Photo by Don Le of Bliss Imagery

4) We could afford it. With two appetizers, salad, plated meal, cake, open bar, champagne and apple cider toast, set-up and cleanup, labor, audio and tech equipment, taxes and gratuity all for 101 people, we paid about $5300 out-the-door. Not. Bad.

Wedding Recap: Unveiling my surprise

 Our dancers perform a Tahitian Dance

For those who didn't know, I planned to surprise my half-Samoan husband with the Taualuga, a traditional Samoan dance at our reception. The last I told you about the Taualuga, I was stressing about the dance moves. I seriously only had 2 hours to really learn and practice the whole thing...not the ideal situation for a rhythmically challenged gal like me.

Performing a Tongan dance

For those who don't know, the Taualuga is a traditional Samoan dance which traditionally was reserved for the daughter of the chief, or someone of high importance. Nowadays, it's performed at Samoan gatherings, a grand finale where everyone gets up, dances around the dancer and throws money at her. Since we didn't have the usual money dance planned (nope, no time or patience to slow dance with folks for money), I thought this would be a fun alternative.

After our toasts, and the cutting of the cake, the Polynesian dancers came out and performed a few dances--one Tahitian dance, a Tongan dance and a Samoan dance. During their last number, I snuck out to the hallway (told the hubby I needed the ladies room) where I waited to make my entrance for my number.

While waiting, I was kinda nervous because the crowd was a little reserved. During a lot of Polynesian gatherings, the crowd usually makes noises and gets really into the performances. But our curious crowd was just politely watching, and not so much as a "Woo" from them. Turns out, most of my hubby's Samoan extended family couldn't make it to the wedding, and our guests were mostly non-Samoans except for my Father-in-law, my hubby's sisters and brother and of course, my husband. While our Polynesian dancers did an awesome job, our guests just didn't know they were supposed to be loud. Great, I thought. No one's gonna know what they're supposed to do during my dance!

While trying to recall all the moves I learned just the day before in my head, our wedding coordinator asked me if I had the CD with the song I'm dancing to.

I looked at her blankly. Uhhh, sure, let me pull it out from my dress....No, of course I don't have the CD! She told me that our DJ didn't have the song!

At this point, I started to panic. What do you mean he doesn't have it? I uploaded it to his public server. I even sent him the file by email. Turns out all the music files I sent him by email were dead files and he didn't see the song on his server.

What am I going to do???

Our coordinator headed back to the DJ to have him check his server again and I watched nervously as they talk. After a minute, and just when the dancers wrap up their final routine, our coordinator flashed me a thumbs up.

We're good to go.

Our MC, a good friend from college with a fun and boisterous attitude, introduced my number as a very special performance where everyone needs to get involved. And by involved, he meant get your bills ready!

The music started and I heard my cue. I bounded out and I did a little Samoan bow toward our families.

That's when I heard the cheers and the clapping, and I just smiled and let go.

 Me performing the Taualuga.

I don't think I got the routine exactly right, but I recall my instructor telling me, when you lose track of where you are, just smile and wing it. That's really all you have to do. Well, I'm sure there are people who do it much better, but I did my best.

People came up and out of their seats and joined me. First, my SIL, then my FIL who seemed to be really enjoying it. Then a whole crowd of people surround me. The money was flying in all directions. I saw the smiles and laughter, and man, I was really enjoying myself!

 

 Working hard for the money!

I kinda forgot what I was doing at one point, and that's when the DH came to join me. There's a part in the Taualuga where someone (usually a male) jumps onto the floor in front of the female dancer. I recall my instructor telling me if that happens, to step my foot lightly on that person and continue to dance gracefully. I don't know the exact meaning of that portion of the dance (apparently to signify the high status of the person dancing), but the hubby does exactly that and I do exactly as I was taught. People loved it!

 

The hubby joins me in the Taualuga.

When the music wrapped up and I took my final bow, people cheered and clapped. My MOH, my FSIL, our coordinator and even one of my flower girls took part in gathering all the cash which turned out to be more than I've ever earned in an entire day's work...much more in three minutes!

Money, money, money!

In the end, I'm so happy to have shared that performance with our guests. People still tell me that the dance was their favorite part of the reception! Most of all, I think my hubby and his family really appreciated and enjoyed it. It was a gift, my husband told me later, that he will never forget. 

And neither will I.

*All photos courtesy of Don Le from Bliss Imagery.

Wedding Recap: Our First Dance

Photo by our coordinator, Regina Bunye

We never practiced our first dance. We still were as stiff as two awkward junior high kids. But I dunno, I still look back and think what magical moment it was for us.

We decided to do our first dance number right after our introduction as Mr. and Mrs. T. We danced to Etta James' "At Last," a number I gather from wedding blogs and forums is considered quite overplayed, but we chose it because we both liked the song, and it was, thankfully, short and sweet. To add a little personal feel, my sister took to the mic and did a wonderful rendition of the number as we swayed the best we could to the track.

Sure, it wasn't a meticulously choreographed number. No funny dance moves. Nothing that would garner thousands of Youtube views. But I remember every moment. I remember how it felt being there with my new husband and everyone's eyes on us. I remember seeing our old high school and college friends' start to tear up. I remember what it felt to look into the eyes of my new husband. And to me, that's all that really mattered.

Wedding Lessong #6: Let Go

Me actually dancing at the reception! Photo by Don Le of Bliss Imagery

People used to always tell us that the wedding day would go so fast we would never remember it. But what I loved about the wedding day is that I did remember everything. I had time to actually enjoy everything, soak everything in.
Not that I didn't have anything to worry about (oh, yes, there were more bombs thrown at us through the day, but none half as bad as the MIA hair and makeup stylist!), but once the ceremony started there was always at least one person I could hand over the reigns to, giving me time to just...enjoy!

Earlier in my blog, I pondered whether or not hiring a wedding coordinator or a Day of Coordinator was necessary. From my own experience, I would have to say, no you don't need to hire a day of coordinator... but you do need someone who will be the point person and who will coordinate the day. Someone you can had over the reigns and say, "here, it's all yours!" It may be a family member or a friend. But keep in mind, someone who's involved in the festivities and also wants to enjoy in the day, might not be as attentive (read, might not do as good of a job) as someone whose main purpose and job is to make sure things are running smoothly...not how Aunt so-and-so is doing cuz you haven't seen her in so long!

We had a wonderful DOC and she came to us like a blessing. We knew we couldn't afford to hire a DOC, but she offered her services to us for free. My MOH just happened to have a friend who was looking to break into the wedding coordinating industry and wanted to take on our wedding to build her portfolio and references. And she was wonderful to work with, very organized and on top of things! She grabbed all of our reception items and set up the room (saving us money on the room setup fee). When we arrived at the venue 15 minutes late from taking photos after the ceremony, she brought our schedule back on time. When the Samoan dancers arrived, she welcomed them and showed them where to get ready.

The whole time, my fiance and I could chat with our guests, we can laugh, we can enjoy our yummy food (oh yeah, the food deserves a post of its own!) and we could dance...and dance we did!

mmmhmmm, that's my new hubby gettin down!!! photo by Don Le of Bliss Imagery

Wedding Recap: Gifts for our groomsmen

 

photo by Don Le of Bliss Imagery

So what do you get these crazy guys?

Groomsmen gifts are always hard. It's hard enough finding gifts for guys, so what kind of wedding momentos can guys really appreciate? Let's face it...not every guy wants a wedding-y gift. But we still want to give them something to show our appreciation for their friendship and support. We decided to give something different to each of our four guys, something that fit each one's taste and personality--even if it wasn't a traditional flask or money clip.

For the Best Man:

Source

A New Zealand Kid Leather Wallet from the Office of Minor Details. With our Best Man being a grilling type of guy, we also gave him a $20 GC to Omaha Steaks.

For Groomsman #2:

Source

We gave our groomsman a custom engraved mug from Picture It Creations, only his mug featured the logo of his favorite team, the San Francisco Giants.

For Groomsman #3

Source

A $20 GC to Sunglass Warehouse

For Groomsman #4

 

Personal Photo

Yes, we got him a moneyclip, but for the Lakers fanatic, it had to be purple and gold! We got this one at the Lakers' official team store at the Staples Center.

How much did all of our groomsmen's gifts cost us? Many, many thanks to my blog sponsors and the blog giveaways I won, our groomsmen's gifts cost us no more than $10. Enter giveaways. Start a blog.

Seriously.

Wedding Recap: Our Bridesmaids' gifts

We had a pretty big wedding party--Four bridesmaids, four groomsmen, four flower girls, a ring bearer, our parents and, according to Filipino tradition, six sponsors. We decided we wanted to give everyone thank you gifts for their participation and help. This also included gifts to our ceremony readers, wedding shower hostess gifts and thank you gifts to people who helped us out for free (our MC, the family friend who made our gorgeous ceremony flowers, etc).  That's 29 gifts! Even if we spent $20 a gift (which hardly buys anything these days) it would have really killed our budget.

But thanks to connections at work, blogging, online discounts, bargain hunting and giveaways, I was able to score some really awesome gifts for everyone on our gift list for under $300! First up, our bridesmaids' gifts. My bridesmaids really helped us out, whether with planning, performing tasks, hooking us up with great vendors or giving us a generous amount of money for the wedding. So obviously I wanted to spoil them with nice goodies! Instead of going for one expensive gift (which I couldn't afford) I decided to go with a grab bag full of smaller awesome gifts. Sure, I may have gone overboard with the gifts...but I really wanted to show them how much I appreciated them!

Each bridesmaid got a small clasp clutch purse from brands such as Lena Lime Studio, Amanda Pearl (thank you Merci New York!) and Stila Cosmetics.

Personal photo

Lena Lime clutch purse for my MOH

Source

Amanda Pearl clutch for my Matron of Honor (her's was actually pink)

I purchased two Stila makeup clutches from Beautycrunch.com for my 2 bridesmaids (both for less than $22 each)

I filled each purse with makeup from Stila, Urban Decay, Loreal, Senna, Sephora and Clinique.

 I also scored some beauty products from Moroccan Oil, Loreal and Morning's Mist Country Store through connections at work and sponsors of my blog.

 

 

They also received handmade soap from Morning's Mist Country Store and Sweet Sally Soaps (thank goodness for blog giveaways!).

 

Source

 On top of all that, they received handmade Hawaiian jewelry from Kreations by Kawai: and this Hawaiian jeweler on etsy

Source

The blue Tahitian shell pearl necklace I gave to bridesmaid #2

 

Source

The Lotus Flower Necklace for my Matron of Honor

 

Source

The Opihi shell necklace I gave to bridesmaid #1

 

Source

The Opihi shell necklace I bought for my MOH

And, wait, there's more!  They each received genuine pearl earrings:

Source

Guy and Eva mother of pearl earrings for my MOH

Source

 Mother of Pearl earrings from House of Peltier for my Matron of Honor

Source

 Freshwater pearl earrings from Dazzling Jewelry and Pearls for Bridesmaid #1

Source

 and Freshwater Pearl Earrings from Bellalu and Me for Bridesmaid #2

I put their gifts in cute lauhala bags I ordered from Ailana Kai, an online shop based out of Honolulu. Each tote was only $2.50 each!

Personal Photo

So, for four grab bag of goodies for each of my bridesmaids (including tax and shipping), I spent a total of $120! A huge thank you to my blog sponsors and blog giveaways!!!!

I also gave my MOH and Matron of Honor extra gifts for being so helpful and hosting our wedding shower. I gave my MOH a bangle bracelet from Guy and Eva:

Source

And my Matron of Honor received a handstamped mother of pearl necklace with each of her three daughters' names from The Vintage Pearl

Source
And since my mom helped my ladies put on a nice party, we gave her a gift certificate for a free massage at a nearby spa. Total for all 3 hostess gifts? $30. For realz. Enter those giveaways!!!

Coming up: Our groomsmen's gifts

Wedding Recap: My Surprise

(Source)

The Taualuga, a traditional Samoan money dance

For a few months before the wedding, I had been planning a surprise for my future husband and his family. As I blogged before, my husband is half Chinese and half Samoan. In honor of his Samoan roots, we booked a Samoan dance group to perform at our reception.The dance group was actually the daughters of my MOH's friend. We were really excited because professional Samoan dance groups run up to $1000 per performance. My MOH's friend agreed to have his daughters perform for a minimal fee as a favor to my MOH. On top of their performance, his daughters offered to teach me the Taualuga, a traditional money dance which Samoan brides usually perform at the end of the program. The dancer comes out and a group of people throw money at her and dance really raucously around her. Here's a Youtube example of the fun!

Now this was a really big deal for me because...well, everyone knows I don't dance. I'm not a dancer and I hate having the spotlight on me. At first I was hesitant, because of 1) my limited dance skills, and 2) the Taualuga is a very big traditional Samoan dance. Oh, and me not being Samoan, I would hate to really screw it up. The last thing I would want is for my rhythmically-challenged Filipino feet to mess up the Taualuga.  But my MOH's friend insisted. It would be a surprise, a gift to my FH and his family. I thought, sure, why not? I thought they would really appreciate it and it would be a huge honor for me to perform it. Besides, usual money dances at other weddings tend to be long and boring. Why not put a little Samoan spin on it?

But a week before the wedding and before I had a chance to learn the dance, the dancers were hit with a family crisis. Their mom was diagnosed with cancer and needed emergency surgery in San Francisco the weekend of the wedding. My MOH's friend was so sorry they couldn't be there at the wedding (no money had been exchanged yet). Sure, I was disappointed...OK, I was bummed... not to be able to perform the Taualuga, but I told him to take care of his family first. His wife's health was much more important than a dance.

I had all but given up on the Taualuga at that point. How would we find another Samoan dance group in our budget a week before the wedding??? Then something amazing happened...

My MOH told me an old college friend (who also happened to be Samoan) contacted her out of the blue on Facebook just to say hi. My MOH messaged her and asked her if she by any chance knew anyone who could teach me the Taualuga. And wouldn't you know...she did! Her mom teaches Samoan dance and offered to give me a brief lesson. She also had cousins who could perform a few dances for us well within our budget!

What luck!!! So the Thursday morning before the wedding, I had a Taualuga 101 lesson. It was so much fun, but a little stressful. How was I going to find time to practice in 2 days among a zillion other things I had to do? After the Flower Mart venture on Friday morning, I snuck off to my sister's apartment where she let me practice for a couple of hours. By then, I was really stressing out thinking about how I didn't have a whole lot of time to practice. I just hoped I wouldn't look ridiculous, or worse, No One would get up and dance with me. Just a bunch of blank, bored eyes staring back at me!

I was getting a major headache running around trying to figure out my dance and do a bunch of last minute details before the wedding. This was not good because I still had our bouquets and flowers to worry about.

Coming up: A migraine forces me to give up on our flowers and our DJ loses the song for the Taualuga!!!