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 Lesson #5: You're not Martha Stewart

As you know, I'm all for DIY, or even better -- DIT (Do-it-Together). But as we got closer to the wedding date, I started to get real with all of my crafty, DIY ambitions. As I've said before, I'm a crafting wannabe, a complete novice. I've had some successes that actually turned out pretty nicely, and then some fails. Ummm, the flower girl baskets I was determined to make? Ultimate fail!!!  If you're not the crafty type, don't take on projects you know you don't have the skills or time to accomplish. Be real with what you can do amd you'll save yourself a headache.

One area I knew we had to be real with ourselves were our centerpieces. I met with different florists, but I was pretty unsatisfied with what our budget could buy us: a few flowers in a vase and a ribbon. yippee. Forget about orchids. They were too expensive. Needless to say, we skipped the florist. But with our wedding in the morning, we knew we had to come up with centerpieces that didn't require a whole lot of time, work, and of course, money.

Then we saw our inspiration while walking through the Asian Mall in Westminster, CA: a display full of tall, potted purple orchids. They were gorgeous, made a great impression, and yet so simple! We loved the idea of a potted centerpiece instead of cut flowers. These were centerpieces we knew our guests would want to take home with them, and they would last long after the wedding. Put them in nice pot, top the soil with moss, and they're good to go!

Potted orchids can be kind of pricey depending on where you buy them. We decided to order our orchids, moss and pots wholesale from the LA Flower Mart. We wanted double stem orchids as they looked more lush than single stems. We went through a vendor who offered us $13 for each orchid and we ordered our pots from another vendor for $4.50 each.  We purchased all 12 of our centerpieces for less than $20 each.

The Friday night before the wedding, we were in a time crunch and with me fighting through a migraine, the last thing I wanted to think about were centerpieces. Luckily our centerpieces were so easy my husband-to-be put them together.

And I must say, they turned out nicely.

 

 

All photos by our coordinator, Regina Bunye

Table "Places" Revisited

Remember a ways back when I found the inspiration for our table numbers? Yup, these very cute table "places" postcards from My Modern Vintage Wedding!

So the inspiration becomes reality when a friend of ours designed our table "places" postcards, each named after a city or place in the countries of our families' cultural heritage -- China, Philippines and Samoa. Here's a few of them. Enjoy!

Pretty parasols and more!

We visited Chinatown in LA and scored some pretty parasols for our bridesmaids and myself! Check them out!

These were sold for 3 for $10 and we purchased 5

We also bought these cute little parasols for our flower girls for just 4 for $10

We also purchase 20 purple and gold paper lanterns for $30

 

We also found this ready-made manzanita branch centerpiece for $18 in the nearby Flower Mart!

I'm decorating the branches with purple orchids where I'll also hang photos of our parents and grandparents -- our very own family tree to display at the reception!

Affordable Centerpiece Alternatives

Nowadays, it seems like "affordable" and "centerpieces" just don't fit in the same sentence anymore. That's what it felt like early in our planning, when it seemed like the only worthy centerpieces were $100 or more. Try $300 each for the manzanita arrangement one florist quoted me at. When I asked for something cheaper, the florist showed me what $25 a centerpiece would get me...four daisies in a tiny glass vase wrapped with a ribbon. Really? I can make that for just under $10! But after doing some research and scouring the Net, I saw that with a few items, and relatively less dent to your wallet, you can make "Wow" centerpieces for your wedding!

It's amazing what candles can do. 
I was really inspired by this Wedding Bee post. With glass votives from IKEA and Molokai plumerias from Hawaii, one bride created this gorgeous look for just $25 a piece!

Via Wedding Bee

Go au naturale
Sometimes less is more! A minimilist, simple look can create that modern chic vibe.

Rocks

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I heart cymbidium orchids!

Sea Shells
Some sand, sea shells, a candle and a glass vase creates this beach themed centerpiece.

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Potted plants
For the bride who lacks time for arranging (morning brides out there?) or the budget for a florist, potted plants can be the answer. And really, some plants don't need a whole lot of dressing up. We're ordering a bulk of potted orchids from the LA Flower Mart, and with a bamboo vase and some extra moss and flowers to cover the base, we're done! Easy Peasy!

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Fruit
Why not dress up those few daisies with fruit. They add a vibrant, colorful and surprising touch to your centerpieces!

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 Get Bookish

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I've always loved the idea of books being the centerpiece, especially old, weathered vintage books. You can purchase these from any used bookstore or even scope them out at thrift stores where you can buy them for a steal! And if you're a true bookworm like me, you've just added a few classic treasures to your library!

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Lanterns create the mood
I love lanterns, and they work best for evening outdoor weddings or venues where the lights are set down low. What a romantic ambiance!

Moroccan lanterns
You can actually order these for a few dollars each, and with a few clustered together, they look very classy and wordly.

Via Style Me Pretty

Paper Luminaries

Maybe not for dining table centerpieces, but great accessories for say a walkway or guestbook table. And they're pretty cheap and easy to make!

Photo Frame Lanterns
Give your lanterns a personalized feel. Very easy to DIY, too!

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Any other affordable centerpiece ideas? Please, share!

20 down, 980 to go!

I was actually serious when I said we were going to attempt to fold 1000 paper cranes in 6 months. Never mind that I had never folded one in my life before. I can't even fold a paper plane without messing up. But I love the symbol of paper cranes. They're auspicious birds in a lot of Asian cultures, including China and Japan. Legend says if a couple folds 1000 paper cranes, they can look forward to lucky marriage.

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And when I heard you can actually donate your efforts toward cancer research, I knew this was a done deal. Instead of putting our time, money and effort into a DIY favor that no one will take home, we wanted to do something meaningful and hopefully make an impact. What better way than making a donation to a charity?

Everything is illuminated

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I have another unnecessary obsession, this time it's paper lanterns. Why, oh why, would I need lanterns, given that our reception will be in broad daylight? I don't know why. Just look at them! They're so pretty! Picture them, round globes hanging in the air like some whimsical celestial setting. Bunched together or hanging at different lengths, how can you not look at them and just *sigh*. And, they would add a great Asian-inspired detail to our intercultural wedding. I can just envision them hanging from the rafters of our venue. Check 'em out! 

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So how much would this cost me considering our decoration budget is quite meager? A brief online search brought me to two sites. You can get a plain, 10" lantern for as little as $1 each here.

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Looking for more colors? Try Luna Bazaar.

I found these plum colored 14" lanterns for $5.20.

I'm sure the lighting to go with this will be the tricky/expensive part, although I'm thinking considering the time of our reception, I might not need it. I'm also not sure how many lanterns I'll need, or the best way to hang them. Are you hanging lanterns at your wedding? Anyone have any suggestions/advice?

It's...just...cake

So we're cutting back on a few things, but cake is not one of them. Although it may look like we are from the looks of our single-tier 10 inch round wedding cake we ordered. No, everyone is getting cake -- a pretty good-sized portion and mighty delicious. But it ain't coming from the cake the fiance and I are cutting. That's just for show cuz, well, we're dropping $45 just so we can have a mound of flour and sugar to cut into. Our restaurant offers a dessert option meaning everyone will already have chocolate mousse cake with their meal.

mmmmm

But you might recall my moment of insecurity when the future in-laws griped at our decision to order a tiny cake, the cake they coined "Mickey Mouse." Never mind that everyone will be served cake. Never mind that dessert is already added to our catering expense. According to our in-laws, we must have the tall, gigantic wedding cake for the photos and for display. Who cares that no one will have room to eat it. Who cares that it will cost us another $300 (at least). They even offered to pay for it. Now some folks won't mind the offer and gladly accept. But I would rather put that extra cash somewhere else. It just seems such a waste for a prop.

But it will be so embarrassing. Who wants to look at that tiny little cake? You don't want a mediocre wedding!

Yes, those were their words. Mediocre? But...it's...just...CAKE!

As a foodie, I love cake. I love anything that will satisfy my obsessive sweet tooth. But I think our chocolate mousse cake will be far better than any three-tier confection we can afford to buy. I don't feel like purchasing a huge cake just because, OMG, what will people say???

So I think our 10-incher will suffice. It's from Ninong's Pastries in Granada Hills, a Filipino bakery that also serves some yummy Filipino-style breakfast (ahhh, longanisa and eggs!). We had a cake tasting at their shop and even though we thought chocolate was the winner, we went with vanilla. It will be a nice contrast to the Chocolate Mousse cake we're serving to everyone.

So, it will be a vanilla and buttercream cake, and they even offered to add strawberries to the filling for free. It serves about 30-40 people and we figure the wedding party can have dibs on it if they chose to eat it. With a bridal expo coupon, we purchased the cake for about $42.

Can a single tier wedding cake look classy? I figure we'll place it atop a tall cake stand. Our baker will wrap the base with a ribbon. We'll also top it with some fresh flowers.

Here are some inspirational photos to make me believe that yes, it can be done!

Here's something closer to our color scheme. I like the pearls and swags.

I like the simplicity. Don't think we'll be going with the bride and groom cake topper. It seems a little dated to me.

Pretty. Simple.

Oh, but how are we going to decorate the cake table with such an itty bitty cake? I thought I'd place some flowers at the base, like below. Champagne glasses...no...maybe some candles.

So, am I just being delusional, blinded by my need to cut corners? Or can this really work?

Grow your love

As we have been plannng our wedding I've thought about messages or themes we wanted to convey. Yes, it's a party, and yes, we want aesthetically pleasing images, but we wanted it all to mean something in the end, rather than wedding-porn-worthy photos. That's when I became fixated on the theme of growth. Marriage is not the pinnacle of love -- it moves forward, it progresses, it evolves from the day vows are exchanged.
Yes, I am guilty of looking at hundreds upon hundreds of wedding photos in the blogosphere and I've coveted countless dresses, centerpieces, decorations and photography angles. But I noticed something when I drew up a preliminary timeline for our ceremony and reception. All of this will last five hours -- just five. All these months of planning and daydreaming culminates in five hours. When put in that perspective, you start to realize that letting you life revolve around five hours is pathetic. The abundant, lush centerpieces you see in that photo will all wither and die in a matter of days, hours even! That $1000 you paid that florist was used for a whole 5 hours, and only remembered by you. Sure, your photographer may have captured lovely shots of your bouquet, but who else besides yourself and a few family members are going to look at it again?
Nothing material will ever really take the place of two people's love and their commitment to nurture that love. But thinking about it, all these shortlived, materialistic things that we spend on does nothing to really convey what our love is about.
 So how do I balance the practical side of me -- the one that's screaming at me to forget all these materialistic things and high-tail it the altar in my jeans, with the girly side of me-- the one who likes things chic, stylish and a bit more refined?
There's no easy compromise, but I think I found one area that both sides can agree on--the centerpieces. Walking around the Asian Mall in Westminster, CA, my fiance and I noticed gorgeous potted orchid plants. They were in stylish bamboo pots and were only $12 each. They were simple and minimal, but our eyes were instantly attracted to them.
If I were a guest, I would rather take home flowers that will last longer than a day. Guests can keep it, plant it or water it at home. The orchids would be long-lasting tokens from our wedding that would only need nurturing care. My fiance and I loved the idea of potted orchids as our centerpieces --especially since they're beautiful, eco-friendly, affordable and they fit nicely with our theme--growth.
Here are some potted orchid centerpiece examples. We thought of dressing up the base with extra flowers and candles.

Not bad, huh?

Let Love Grow

Here's another great favor/place-card-in-one idea. When a co-worker told me about paper you can actually plant I had to take a look. Plantable paper is embedded with seeds so you can actually plant the paper and grow wildflowers! It's a unique and very eco-friendly way to treat your guests!

I found these place-cards online and yes, the creative wheels are turning again!

Images from Hotref

You can purchase place cards from sites such as Hotref  or Asian Ideas, from prices ranging from $8.39 per pack (sets of 12) to $16 each set. They include instructions and the very cute phrase "Please be Seeded." There are also sites that offer invitations and other stationery you might need on this very cool paper.

Or....

You can DIY it.  Check out sites that sell individual sheets of seed paper such as Botanical Paperworks or Plantable Papers.

And if you think you can rival Martha Stewart in the crafty department, you can even try making your own plantable paper. Wow, major DIY goddess!