Something is missing

I use to say I felt naked without earrings. But since I got engaged and now married I feel naked without my rings. I had forgotten all about something I wanted as a gift until I saw Mrs Snowpea post last week http://www.weddingbee.com/2007/12/12/were-married-again/ about her new wedding ring. And I love her new ring! I remembered that I had wanted a right hand ring! Something dainty and but still with some personality. I love sparkle so I am pretty sure I want some stones and not just a plain band. I don’t want it to take a way from my wedding and engagement rings that I wear on my left hand. But I just feel so unbalanced. I see other women and friends that have a nice right hand ring and now I think I want to try it out and see if I like it. Here is what I was thinking of, what do you think?
Of course I love Snowpeas ring

Here are two more that I like the general style of picture courtesy of Tiffany.com


And here is what my wedding ring and engagement rings looks like. The wedding band is channel set diamonds and sapphires and the engagement ring is a round solitaire.


Also I will be on Beetv tomorrow night starting at 7pm Pacific time or 10pm eastern time.

Only by 5 months!

I was just looking on msn.com and they had a story about the Hottest Cougars in Hollywood. Now I have never dated anyone young enough to be able to classify myself as a "cougar" but, I am younger the Mr Butterscotch. Ever since April Mr Butterscotch has been teasing me to "enjoying my last year in my 20's". I am older than him only by 5 months! Age has never really bothered me that much, but his constant teasing does get under my skin once and a while. Since we are so close in age I can say we have a lot of common memories of growing up. And while the rumor is that men are less mature than women I can say Mr Butterscotch and I are just about at the same level when it comes to maturity But I wondered how some couples who do have a big gap in age make it work? And how do you ladies that are older feel about being the older one in the relationship?

My new name

So about two weeks after we got married I changed my last name. I was happy to do so. Choosing to change or not to change your name is totally personal. Mr butterscotch didn't care one way or the other so it was all my choice. When I made the change officially at work it was a big to do. All my co-workers were confused by my email and who was this new person or my nickname (which was based on a combination of my first and last name) didn't flow as nicely anymore. So now I have been Mrs X for a little over 3 months. About a month ago I started a new job. Nobody at my new job knows my maiden name so there was no confusion for them. I was introduced to everyone as Leah X. In fact the first few days I was sick of hearing my name being said over and over again as I met everyone. And today my new business cards arrived. And there it was in black ink, I was Mrs X. Oh. Wow. I am officially Mrs X to everyone. The name that I have been known by for 29 years is gone.
Sure I still accidentally sign my maiden name on occasion but I just giggle and cross it out and write my married name. I love my new name but it is such a funny thing to have a name one day and a new one the next.
Are you or did you change your name? How long did it take for you to get totally use to it?

Macy's Friends and Family

I just love it when I can save a little money! With so many gift exchanges right around the corner this coupon from Macy's will come in handy! It is good starting tomorrow! Let me know what great deals you find! I plan on getting a few gifts from there and maybe even my holiday party outfit!

Thankful

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I'm taking a moment to reflect on how much everything has changed since last year and all that I am thankful for. This time last year we were newly engaged, not living together and we barely had started to plan our wedding. Now we are happily married, living together in our first house we bought :), and the wedding is all but a memory. Sure we did have a few bumps in our road this year but, I am so thankfully for everything we have. we have wonderful family and friends that are all in good health, I have a new fabulous job that I am loving. Best of all each night I get to curl up next to Mr Butterscotch and wake up next to him each morning. How about you what are you thankful for this Thanksgiving eve?

Can I get a re-do

Last week I talked about what I would not change. But there were a few thing that I would have loved to have a do-over on.
1. Guest pictures. I really wish I would have had our photographer take photos of each table at the reception. I can remember most people that were there but, a handful of people I cannot for sure remember.
2. People in my dressing suite. I really wish I would have set better boundaries for who I had coming into my bridal room. It was chaos at some points. Finally I had one of my bridesmaids ask everyone to leave. If I could do it over again it would have been just me and my bridal party.
3. Make up touch up. I don’t know how this slipped past me but I wish I would have remembered to reapply my lipstick before I started my formal pictures. I was wearing a long lasting lip color but the color was much more vibrant in pre-ceremony pictures. Have one of your BM carry your lipstick with them. Trust me you will be too excited and you will forget to reapply.
4. Rethink inviting “crazy” relatives. While I am not saying I wouldn’t invite them. What I am saying is that I would have had better “just in case” plans set up. If you have a family member or a friend that you really want to be included in your special day have a plan for anything that may come up with them.
5. Plan for the gifts. I knew we want to take the gifts home with us, I just didn't plan for so many or for the larger packages. If I would have thought about it we would have either cleared out the car better or had my family take them home and we would have just gotten them the next day.
6. OK this one isn't really a wedding day lesson learned but a pre-wedding redo. Go dress shopping the first time alone. WHAT?!?! I know this sounds crazy! But I took friends the first 2 times. Then after that I went alone. It allowed me to really figure out what I liked. Friends and family will ohhhh and ahhhh at many of the dress you try on or they may just tell you how much that dress sucks. Either way you cannot listen to your inner voice with everyone else putting in their two cents. Now all that said, I still wouldn't change getting my "most
important" family and friends to help me narrow down my choices to my final pick.
7. Practice dancing. Sure I jumped up and down, twirl led and swayed in my dress. But I didn't practice dancing in it. So before the big day just try a few of your moves out in your dress just to be sure you can move the way you want on your dance floor.
8. The night before I think I got 4 or 5 hours of sleep. Luckily I was so excited on the wedding day that I wasn't dragging around the next day. But I know it can really put some brides in a bad mood. I didn't sleep in my normal bed that night so between the excitement and unfamiliar surroundings I was wide awake. Figure out what you should do just in case you cannot sleep the night before. I wouldn't suggest sleep pills but maybe some soothing tea, a warm bath or bring a book. DON'T DO MORE WEDDING PROJECTS. The idea is to get some sleep not keep going.
9. Have a place for the kids. The kids in my bridal party were next door to my dressing room. Overall it was fine. Until they reached the 1 hour mark. I think I would have had a few other locations (away from me) for them to run wild and free.
10. Don't sweat the small stuff. Overall I didn't worry about anything all day. But when I did it was normally silly. Please relax, enjoy the day and enjoy the moments. You can fully relax on your honeymoon!

What suggestions would some of you offer to brides to be.

What I would do again

The longer we have been married the more I have had a chance to look back on the day. It all really happened so fast, but I think we really made the most of it. If I had to do it again here is what I would not change and I would recommend for other brides. What would you recommoned to a bride to be?

1. Take a moment after the ceremony and before the reception to talk with your new husband. Mr Butterscotch and I actually had two moments. First as we exited we waited for our guest to go outside we were in a stairwell waiting. We had this short time of about 3 minutes all alone to just take in each other and the amazing thing we had just experience. Then we took a few pictures and we walked to our reception venue. Again we were alone together and we talked about the day so far and what we had each done the night before and that morning. As we walked passing cars honked and yelled congratulations. We both couldn’t stop smiling at each other. I think all couples should take a few moments together to just reflect about the ceremony and enjoy a quite moment before the reception.
Us right before we hid away in the stairwell.


2. Day of coordinator. When my friend got married last year she had Amanda as her wedding coordinator, after the wedding I heard the bride say many times that Amanda was irreplaceable. I was so lucky that Amanda was available to be my day of wedding coordinator. She was amazing! She went to our reception venue and supervised as the vendors arrived. She is an interior designer by day, but is available for day of coordinator or she can help plan from start to finish. Amanda has a refreshing passion for weddings. With her at the venue it really kept my mind at easy while I was at the church getting ready to walk down the aisle. When Amanda was done she made it to the church to give me the thumbs up, so I knew the guests would be walking into a room that was perfect!
This was one of the best thing that I did because it kept me calm and my mind off of what was going on down at the club. Unfortunately she doesn’t have a web site yet (she is working on it) amandatrinb@yahoo.com
3. Plan early. I was made fun of for planning right after we set a date but for me that was so helpful. Everything was done well in advance and I never felt rushed.
4. Eat breakfast. I like most brides was so excited I was up an hour before I needed to be. So I sat down with my dad and ate breakfast. Thank goodness I did because I didn’t eat again for hours.
5. Give yourself a deadline on projects. I set a date for myself and if it wasn’t done by the week before the wedding well then it wasn’t getting done. I had the whole weekend before the wedding to relax and really enjoy what was to come.
6. Realize it’s about a marriage not a wedding. Sometimes it is hard to remember that as the day gets closer. Weddings are exciting and it really easy to have moments that you and your family forget what the day is really about. Really keep reminding yourself that this is just a moment and the really important thing is a good foundation for a happy marriage.
7. Let it go. About two weeks before the wedding I started to let go of things. If the questions that were being asked were not going to have a lasting effect on our marriage (notice it wasn’t about the wedding at that point) my response was “I don’t care”. We just had so much going on with buying our house, getting married going on a honeymoon I just didn’t care about what color nail polish was going on people toes.
8. Video tape the ceremony. We didn’t have a budget for a professional video, instead we had our friend tape our ceremony and other key parts of the day. I was so happy he did! The next morning we watched the video and I cried all over again! Sure it may not be fancy but it is well worth it if you know someone with a camera.
9. Savor each moment! From the moment you get up to the time you drive away with your new husband. Savor the all moments that occur that day.
10. Thank the key people personally. Although I thanked my dad throughout the planning, the first thing I did as we came into the reception was thank him. Last week I gave him his birthday gift it was a http://www.weddingbee.com/2007/10/11/wedding-picture-gifts/ picture of us at the wedding. He loved it! He is currently thinking of where to hang it in the living room for it. Whether you plan on giving your family or bridesmaids and groomsmen a gift or not be sure to just thank them for taking time to be with you during the day. They really do appreciate it.

Spoiled little brat

That is what Mr Butterscotch will say to me, in a loving way of course. You see I am somewhat spoiled. I blame my dad. HA I am kidding! My dad raised with the help of my grandma, I was the only child in the house growing up. The person I am today is because of them. My dad is so supportive in every way, he was more than happy to make sure we had the wedding that we really wanted.
So here is my dilemma. My dad birthday is coming up. I asked myself this question, what do I get the man that never asks for more than new socks? Originally I didn't want to give our wedding pictures as gifts. I know you can do a million things photos these day! You can put them on cards, blankets, purses or even a puzzle!
But I think I have the perfect gift.


I have blown this photo up to 8x10 in metallic printing process. I was going to do a nice frame with it also. This was taken at right after we came into our reception and I was thanking my dad for well...Everything! So far I have managed to give my dad the run around on my pictures, thank goodness his birthday is next week, I don't think I can keep coming up with excuses! The gift is simple but I know he will love it. What do you think, good gift?
Are you planning on doing something unique with your pictures after your wedding?

Today Throws a Martha Stewart Wedding

Yesterday Miss Jasmine asked us the question "Would you ever let your parents choose your wedding gown for you?" http://www.weddingbee.com/2007/10/04/father-and-mother-know-best/
I don't know some of you were apprehensive about that. So would any of you be up for letting complete strangers plan you wedding if the total cost of the wedding to you were free?
Today was the day on Today :)! If any of you have been watching the Today show this summer you may have been following the story of Martha Stewart throwing a wedding for one lucky couple. This morning Jessica and Cody finally got to have have their dream wedding! It was amazing! For those of you who haven't been following, the audience gets to help plan the wedding by voting on key aspects of the wedding. Here are some highlights for today. Images from nbc.com

My vendor cliff notes

Photography- Tor Clausen Grade= A+
Tor was wonderful! My pictures are so pretty!
http://www.torstudios.com/


Bridal Dress- La Belle Elaine Grade= A+ by Private Label by G
My dress came on time and the staff was very nice. I also had my alteration done there and they customized the back of my dress. They did an excellent job!
http://www.labelleelaines.com/




Bridesmaids- Moms Maids and More Grade= A
All of our bridesmaids dress came in early and the staff was great. They do not do alterations so that is why they didn't get an A+
http://www.momsmaidsandmore.com/


Tuxes- Mens Wearhouse-Tukwila Grade= C-
I know mistakes can occur but rudeness just isn't what I wanted to deal with. This is the only vendor I would not recommend.

Flowers- Loves Me Flowers by Kendra Yaple Grade= A+
She gave me ideas that I wouldn't have even thought of!
http://www.lovesmeflowers.com/


Church- Mount Baker Park Presbyterian Grade= A+
They were the best! Our pastor, church coordinator and organist made our whole day superb!
http://www.mtbakerchurch.org/


Reception- Mount Baker Club Grade= A
Great location and well kept.
http://www.mountbaker.org/index.php


DJ-Emerald City Productions Grade= A+
Kept the party going and had online requests for us and our guests.
http://emeraldcityproductions.net


Catering- Seasoned in Seattle Grade= A+
The food was so great and the staff was wonderful.


Cake- Despi Delite Bakery Grade= A
Our cake turned our not only pretty to look at but it was so good!


Hair- Gene Juarez in Bellevue Grade= A+
Bridal hair by Tim
Tim is the updo king! He did an amazing job!




I have better pictures in my trial post.
http://www.weddingbee.com/2007/07/24/butterscotch-hair-trial/

Cold hard cash

In some cultures it is a tradition to have a money dance. I love the money dance, and it is culturally expected in Mr Butterscotch family. But we decided early on were not planning on doing a money dance. Personally I felt our guests had "spent" more than enough on us. Just having them at the wedding was really the best gift we could have asked for. But we ended up having one, and I am so glad we did!
As we finished up our first dance one of our groomsmen and his wife (who happens to be from the same culture as Mr Butterscotch) made an announcement that the money dance was next. At that point we were up for anything so it sounded like fun!
Check out the money in my dress!

I started to fun out of place to put the money so I got my sister to hold it while I danced some more.

Whoa!!! One at a time please!



I loved having a money dance because of a few reasons.
1. I got to chat with some guests that I may not have gotten a chance to.
2. Mr B is totally shy so it was so funny seeing him dance with everyone.
3. We both laughed so hard because it was so unexpected.
4. Okay I cannot lie the extra cash was nice to have!


So this is one of those things that I was originally opposed too but ended up doing and I was so happy we did. What is/was there you are/were opposed to doing that is tradition for your culture or family?

I would like to thank the academy...

OK maybe I don't have an academy to thank, but I did have some really great reception vendors that made our wedding day superb!
Emerald City Productions grade= A+
As you can see in my earlier post http://www.weddingbee.com/2007/09/26/rock-yo-hips/ our guests had a good time. The music was great all night! Emerald City is two brother business, we originally met with Dan to go over the type of reception we planned on having. He wasn't sure at the time if he or his brother Bryan would be doing our wedding. About two weeks before the wedding I got a nice call from Bryan introducing himself since he would for sure be doing the wedding. He assured me he would be there about and hour and a half prior to guests arriving. And he was! Both of the brothers were very nice and were always able to answer any questions or concerns I had. Since we knew that we were having a younger crowed it was important that our DJ had a laid back personality. Emerald city not only has a great DJ service they also have lighting. We chose to just have the music, since our venue already had great natural lighting. My favorite part about this service was they had an online request site for us. We had our own site and another one for our guests to request music. On our site we were able to review what guest had requested and I was able to add anything to the "Do not play" list.
http://emeraldcityproductions.net/

Reception: Mount Baker Club Grade A
Location, location, location. We chose this venue because it was in the location we needed and was the perfect size for the amount of guests we we having. The club is amazing well kept. The staff was helpful and very knowledgeable. They were able to give recommendations for rental places along with some pictures and typical floor plans. Since we are members of the community we received 50% off the tab! The only thing I really didn't love about the venue was the lack of accessibility on the day of. Since we were renting chairs and needed to set up tables and linens it would be nice if we had access a little sooner. We did pay extra to have access earlier but only two hours. I decided I didn't want to eat up my whole 50% savings on set up time. They also were very slow to cash our deposit check, it took them almost a month. That was annoying! But they made up for it when they sent back our cleaning deposit within a few weeks of the wedding. It held our 150 guest with no problem and we had a big dance floor. http://www.mountbaker.org/index.php

Catering- Seasoned in Seattle Grade= A+
The food was so yummy! We found them at the wedding show. Their prices were reasonable enough that I wanted to check them out. I liked them because they were local to the area that everything was being held at and of course the food was really good! They had a really great package that included all the buffet linens, plates and utensils. Some nice touches were, as we were entering the hall the lead waiter came to greet us. I thought that was very nice. We had a plate of our already passed hor`derves waiting for us at the head table also.



At the end of the night they even boxed up all of the left overs for us! We had at least three households that took some home and didn't have to cook for a few days!

Rock Yo Hips!

Once the ceremony was over it was time to party! Our church was only three blocks away from our reception hall so Mr Butterscotch and I were able to privately walk together to our reception. It was the best thing we did! We hadn't seen each other prior in the day so it was excited chit chat about what we had each been doing that morning.
Here we are walking into our reception. *check out the DIY banner I made!

One more kiss before we get introduced.

We walked in to Bonnie and Clyde by Jay Z and Beyonce. Funny story, Mr Butterscotch friend Steve said that we were like Bonnie and Clyde (I wont say why :)) but we both thought it was so funny we wanted to walk into that song.


So many people had flown in, we really wanted to make sure they all had a great time! My only request to my dj was no electric slide! Or any other dance that had our guest in a line flowing directions. Here are some of the silly highlights of our guest having fun!













When Lip Gloss by Little Mama came one my BM Kori ran and got 5 glosses for all of us girls to put on during the song, ha ha ha!

Whoa! By the end of the night I had really worked up a sweat! But it was worth it!
photos by Tor Clausen

I love sweets!

I love things that are sweet to the taste buds. So a good tasting cake was important to me, more so than the design of the cake. I hate cakes that are too dry or frosting that are too sweet, ugh, nothing is worse than a unappetizing cake. Luckily I was able to find a baker that not only made delicious cakes but also very pretty cakes. Despi Delite Bakery on Beacon hill in Seattle made our wedding cake a hit! I met with the baker Christian a few months prior to the wedding date. I showed him the design I wanted. http://www.weddingbee.com/2007/07/10/butterscotch-my-cake-version-10
Funny thing actually happened when I went in. As we were talking he asked what middle school I went to, turns out we went to school together same class and everything (small world). Anyways, Christian assured me he could come up with the cake of my dreams, he gave us some great suggestions. We had a layers of white and chocolate. Here is what our cake looked like. I wish you could have tasted it!

If I may toot my own horn for a moment, check out my DIY cake topper. I had a lot of love for that damn thing, and it turned out exactly how I wanted it.

These pictures are so funny, I didn't see the kids doing this until I got my proofs back...



Bad kids! :)