Grr..there’s been talk for a few months as to whether or not postage stamps are going to go up in price.  Why have I been following this?  Because the potential price hike has been rumored to happen in the May timeframe, which would be around the time RSVP cards would be getting mailed back…so what stamp amount do I put on the RSVP envelope?  Yes, these are the crazy little things I’m worry about right now.  I’m most likely in the clear for when I mail the actual invites out–so it’s just a question of the RSVP envelopes.  What a pain it would be to make wedding guests go out and get, say, a 2-cent stamp just to rsvp.  In any case, I’m hoping that USPS makes an announcement soon so I can plan accordingly (wow, how bridezilla-like that comment sounds–haha)

Categories: Misc Planning
No Comments »

Over the weekend, Matt and I finally decided on our honeymoon…..and it’s Tahiti!  We’ll be spending 5 nights in Bora Bora:

 

   Then we head over to Moorea….      We can’t wait—it’ll be total relaxation and lots of opportunities to go snorkeling, scuba diving and island exploring!

Categories: Honeymoon
No Comments »

Yay!  The 168 Chinese frog buttons that I ordered last week are finally here!

What am I using these for you say?  Call me a little crazy but I’m planning on using them to “close” the pocketfolds on the outside.  It’s hard to explain until you see it…but after the invitations are ordered and processed (should take about one more month), I’m going to sit down and glue these lil’ babies onto each pocketfold as a subtle reflection of my culture.  Chinese frog buttons are the same buttons used to close up traditional Chinese cheongsams, which I will be wearing at the reception.  I’m just excited to have found such a great deal.  Typically, at a fabric store, each button costs about $2.50.  Since I’m getting these in bulk, I got them for $0.45/each!  Great deal.

Categories: Uncategorized
1 Comment »

Today, we dropped by Newcastle for a very lovely Valentine’s Day lunch in the form of our menu tasting–yum!  Boy, I’m stuffed now since we tried at least two of everything.  So we have our reception dinner menu now and I’m very excited about it–it’ll be delicious!

 

TRAY PASSED HORS D’OEUVRES
Chicken Satay
Blue Cheese Stuffed Cremini Mushrooms
Miniature Dungeness Crab Cakes
œ
SALAD
Mango & Avocado
Mache, Ancho Chili Vinaigrette
œ
INTERMEZZO
Strawberry-Champagne Sorbet
œ
ENTRÉE
Choice of…
Herb Crusted Chilean Sea Bass
Minted Lemon Butter Sauce, Braised Pea vines,
Five Rice Blend 

Char Grilled Tenderloin of Beef
Mustard Sauce, Yukon Gold Potato Hash

Vegetable Lasagna

Categories: Reception
1 Comment »

We went over to Macy’s today to officially start a registry and boy, was it exhausting!  I think we spent nearly 4 hours there!  Who ever knew that it would take so long to decide on kitchenware…thing is, we don’t know our bone china from our porcelain or the difference between hard-anodized aluminum and hand-brushed aluminum-alloy so it was just an overwhelming experience!  We first walked in and sat down with a lady who gave us the whole run-down of how to use the scanner and how many place settings we should get.  We also got our free Victorinox tote bag (who knew that you could score free stuff by registering?).  First thing we tackled–china.  We wandered around and looked at Kate Spade, Vera Wang, Waterford, Lennox, Ralph Lauren, Wedgewood…so much to choose from.  Surprisingly, we settled on a design that we both liked pretty quickly and, with the quick zap of the scanner, we had our china set.  Next came flatware then glassware and cutlery—we didn’t get very far with cutlery as we didn’t know a Wusthoff from Henckels and only put some steak knives for now.  We need to research more.  We then went a bit crazy with kitchen electrics as we scanned griddles, food processors, blenders and mixers.  After that, we went to pots & pans and got the tour of Le Creuset, Calphalon and All-Clad….and we totally fell in love with the classic All-Clads.  Our last stop was in bedding and we debated about colors forever.  We called it quits knowing that we’d be registering at Crate & Barrel and likely Bed, Bath & Beyond too…and probably will find other things.  After going to those places, we’ll probably do a lot of adjusting online of the registries as we’ll have a good comparison of the 3.  I’ve already had to do a bit of online adjusting on today’s registry—unbeknownst to us, Macy’s sneaks in a bunch of “extras” based on what you scan.  For example, by scanning some basic flatware, they added the matching serving pieces.  By scanning some saute pans, they add some matching bakeware.  On one hand, it’s convenient but also freaking annoying to get more on the registry than we had scanned.  1 down. 2 more to go…

Categories: Misc Planning
No Comments »

Quite productive this last weekend.  Saturday, we headed over to meet with Bonnie of New Renaissance Cakes to finalize the design and flavors of the cake.  We went over a few inspiration designs and finally settled on this one with a few tweaks:

We’ve picked 2 flavors for the time being: Fine Dark Belgian Chocolate (triple chocolate with chocolate ganache and Belgian chocolate mousse) and Bananas Foster (banana cake with smooth caramel and dark run-caramel mousse).  I may switch out the Bananas Foster to a lighter flavor, such as Citron (white satin cake with English-style lemon curd, homemade with fresh eggs, sweet cream-butter, lemon zest and filled with lemon mousse) or Raspberry White Satin (white cake soaked in homemade raspberry liqueur topped with white chocolate raspberry mousse).  So hard to decide!  Let me know what you think!

We also finalized the invitations after several rounds with Jonathan and Whitney from Brown Sugar Designs.  I don’t have any pictures of the final mockups but I’ll post them soon–they’re a simple pocketfold design with inserts and I’m planning on buying a bunch of ivory-colored Chinese frog buttons to use as the closure on the outside of the pocketfold.  Next–need to buy a calligraphy pen and attempt to learn a bit of calligraphy for addressing the invitations.

This month, we need to get started on the registry!  Definitely Macy’s and Crate & Barrel..hopefully we’ll get around to it this weekend.

Been also narrowing down the honeymoon choices.  Right now, it’s between Belize and Tahiti.  They’re both equi-distant from Seattle and only 2 timezones away each.  Belize has beautiful, white, sandy beaches, superb diving (the 2nd largest barrier reef in the world next to Australia), lots of “huts on stilts” sort of accommodations, excellent food, pretty affordable.  Tahiti is a honeymooner’s paradise with a ton of over-the-water bungalows, clear waters, home of the large manta ray, luxury accommodations and July is the month-long celebration of Tahitian culture.  So hard to decide!

Categories: Honeymoon, Reception, Vendors
No Comments »