This Just In...

If you love Laura Hooper Calligraphy like I do, then you will love to know that she now has her own blog! A Lucky Orchid Wedding is full of her gorgeous work and much more!

Laura is absolutely one of my wedding heros, her work is that exquisite.

J'adore D'Orsay!

Way, way back, I mean like a year ago way back, I unexpectedly stumbled across a pair of shoes whilst looking for wedding inspiration. They were a lovely pair of d'orsay pumps in a gorgeous, dusty pale pink. Even though they were posed and fuzzy in the background of the picture, I was in love.

'You should buy these,' said my impulsive self. 'Go ahead, get it out of the way.'

'Wait a minute there, girly,' chimed in the more rational side. ' The wedding is over a year away. You haven't even looked for a dress. You don't know what other shoes might be out there. Wait a month or two. Look around. If you still love them, then buy them."

In Paris they say you should dress from the shoes up and I wish that I had heard that adage before a few nights ago because what did I do? I waited. I looked. And I saw nothing that inspired the same warm fuzzies as these shoes. Unfortunately by this time, InStyle weddings had featured them in their magazine and inspired warm fuzzies in many brides. It was too late. My shoes were sold out.

Here they are, the shoes that got away, exactly the way I first saw them and how I will always remember them.

{Nina Ettora Shoes in Powder Sand from knottie ihearttim}

*Sigh* I wish I could say that I'm over it, but I'm not. I still google them every once in while, hoping a random and forgotten pair in my size will turn up somehow somewhere. Reluctantly I've begun searching for other options.

{Christian Louboutin at Neiman Marcus}

{Christian Louboutin at Saks}


{Coavilla at Bluefly}

Snap out of it, little dreamer! I so can't afford these shoes. But they are very very drool worthy.

These are far more realistic options:

Shoe No. 1

{Flash by Touch Ups}

Shoe No. 2

{Hello? Manolo much? These are Onyx Silk by Dyeables}

Shoe No. 3

{ Erica, also by Dyeables. Oh, so close to the Nina shoes in styling...}

Shoe No. 4

{ Jojus by Nine West, Piperlime}

Don't get me wrong. These are all nice shoes, they just aren't THE shoes. First off, obviously none of them are my beloved pink. Sure, I could dye shoes 1,2, and 3, except I'm not really that fond of dyed shoes. Their shelf life is so small, what with the shoe being all but ruined with the slightest drop of water. Forget about getting caught in a sudden downpour. Of all of these shoes, I think that I like number 4 the best. Silver was my first color of choice until I saw the Nina shoes. They just need a little... je ne sais quoi. Oh, wait! Yes, I do! SPARKLES!

{ Audrey }

{ Grace }

{ Hope }

Shoe jewels, all from Absolutely Audrey. So what do you think? Do I have a winner, or do I need to keep looking?

The Cake Artist

A couple from our Marriage Preparation class last fall were married this past December in Manila Bay, The Philippines. The Boy and I had lunch with the happy couple this past Sunday and got to see pictures of their beautiful wedding. We were instantly in awe of her very unique cake - a gorgeous 5 layer pillow design from The Cake Artist Judy Uson in Manila.

And those are fake flowers! Judy prefers to use her incredible sugar flowers. These mini masterpieces are so breathtakingly life like, I'm considering taking this next picture to my florist for bridal bouquet inspiration.

{Peony, parrot tulip, hydrangea, and lily of the valley flowers}

One of my favorite cakes is her Gourmet Cake. Part of this beauty is brilliantly composed of individually wrapped cakes, each one topped with its own sugar flower. What a great way to send guests home with something sweet!

Here are some more of Judy's beautiful cakes:

{all photos via Judy Uson: The Cake Artist}

Judy makes her cakes in one of two ways. The first way is the traditional all cake cake. The other way is with "dummy" or styrofoam layers, with just one or two layers being actual cake, all seamlessly decorated to make one amazing cake. This is a great option for the bride who isn't all that crazy about cake or the bride on a budget who still wants a big, beautiful masterpiece. Her cakes run P9,000 - P16,000. In case you're wondering, that's $225 - $400 US. And, yes, she's open to traveling internationally.

Found Around Singapore

This past Sunday The Boy and I volunteered to serve breakfast to the latest batch of Pre Cana couples here in Singapore. We took the excellent 6 week class last fall and wanted to help out. We had to pass a community center to get to the school where the classes are held and just as we were walking by, a fung fu class was beginning.


Random, surreal, and, oh, so cool!

Books

Whenever I visit someone's home for the first time, I always take a moment to peruse their bookshelves. I believe that you can tell a lot about a person from the books they read. Where they've been, where they would like to go, what they believe, what they are passionate about - it's all there on display, waiting to be discovered, a window into someone's life.

The Boy and I love books. It's one of the things we accumulate. If you were to look on our bookshelves you'd be able to tell all the countries we've visited. There is a Lonely Planet for each and every one. I love to cook. The Boy is a Russian scholar and as well as a lawyer. I am a classical singer. We're both history buffs. We both dig The Dalai Lama. We're very big fans of classic literature and children's books. And that's just from the books we have with us. We each still have quite a collection in the US that we have yet to merge.

Sadly, we've not always had enough space to display all of our tomes and so they've been placed under beds or in closets to wait for the day when they can all be displayed in their full educational and entertaining glory. That day has yet to arrive, but this idea is so creative and stunning I had to share...

{ from Apartment Therapy }

In case you're a little confused by what you're looking at (I know I was), it's a book/staircase. Pretty amazing, no?

Let Them Eat Cake...And Brownies

Mmmm, cake. I have to say that I have a serious soft spot for really good wedding cake. Sadly, there has not been nor shall there be a cake tasting for us. We've had to go on reputation and word of mouth to find our cake baker and the fabulous Edna of Edna's Cake Creations and Confections comes highly recommended. Our wedding cake will be a simple 3 or 4 tiers based on these designs:

{both pics above from Knottie Hunnerl}

{from Angels Cake & Confections}

I think that these two little cranes will look very pretty

nestled in the flowers on the top tier. Sorry about the subpar pic.

I'm still thinking about flavors. If it's just 3 tiers, I'm seriously considering simple French Vanilla cake with old fashioned buttercream frosting. I think it's a flavor that most people will like and I might kick it up a notch with optional fresh strawberries served on the side. If it works out that we need 4 tiers, I might alternate French Vanilla and Red Velvet cake with a yummy cream cheese frosting filling.

The Boy is not so crazy about cake. He's much more of a brownie guy. Instead of a groom's cake, he's asked me to make his favorite brownies. I'd been trying to think of a way to display the "cake" until I stumbled across this pic from the latest issue of Martha Stewart Weddings.

Pretty + Yummy = PERFECT!

With This Ring...

The Boy and I have been deciding on rings this week or, to be more accurate, HE has been trying to decided on a ring. I know what I want:

The 3mm platinum Lucida band from Tiffany & Co.

I love that it's simple and traditional and engravable. In a perfect world where settings didn't become loose and stones didn't fall out and I am a size 2 forever, I might have gone with something more sparkly. OK, maybe not, but I would like to add an anniversary band one day. This one would do.

3mm diamond and platinum band from Tiffany & Co.

Anywho, this isn't about me. This is about The Boy, who has somehow morphed into The Girl with this whole choosing a wedding band thing. At first he wanted something with a design that was reflective of our love of the Endless Knot. After a little searching, I found this and he fell in love with it.

7mm gold knot band from Seaware

And then I had to explain to him the drawbacks of this particular ring, which is that it can't be resized. Ever. Trying would distort the design. If he were to gain or loose a significant amount of weight, we'd have to order a completely different ring. Neither one of us was really crazy about that idea. So he asked me how I would feel if he got a simple gold band, since it wouldn't match my band. I told him that I was totally OK with that - my parents' bands don't match, so I've never really thought of it was strange. But then HE started thinking about it and decided that he would rather match my band. (How sweet!) So we went and looked at platinum bands. Then one day I happened to mention how I don't like to mix metal. It's just a little of my own personal weirdness, nothing to do with anyone else in the world, but that got him thinking again. He wears his college ring on his right hand and it's gold. Would a gold ring on one hand and a platinum ring on the other look weird? He decided it might and now we're back to gold. For now.

6mm Lucida gold band from Tiffany & Co.

I think that it's really very sweet how important it is to him to get his wedding band right on the first try. And it has been cute watching him change his mind.

1001 Cranes

{Stacie Tamaki Cranes}

Since the first knot we tied was in Japan during the cherry blossom festival, we're incorporating some elements of that day into our celebration. I have to admit, my first vision was way over board. While The Boy and I enjoyed our time in Japan and think we have a really cool story to tell the grandkids, the way the planning was going really wasn't very reflective of who we are as individuals or as a couple. We are keeping a few elements, though, one of them being 1,001 origami cranes.

According to Japanese lore, folding 1,000 origami cranes is truly a labor of love. (Ain't that the truth.) Tradition holds that the bride who finishes this task before her wedding day will be rewarded with a good and happy marriage. (The groom folds the one. One!?! What the - ?) The crane also mates for life and is said to live for one thousand years, ensuring the couple's good fortune. The crane will also grant one wish.

For us, the crane is doubly special. My sophomore year in high school, our theater department did a one act called 1,000 CRANES, which is the story of Sadako Sasaki. My very first memory of The Boy is of him on the stage crew. 'Cause I keep EVERYTHING, I'm pretty sure that somewhere I still have a crane from that show.

I'm up to about 700. At first I wanted just muted pastels, like the ones above from Staci Tamaki, but I'm pretty picky and finding the right color paper was pretty difficult. Eventually I decided to revise my crane color scheme and just go with pastels. Life's too short and this project is too time consuming already. It's all about endurance at this point. All the charm faded long ago and now it's stubborness keeping me going. That and the vision I have in my head of how awesome they'll look.

Here's a picture of about 500 of them all piled up on the bed.

These babies will be everywhere, but mostly they will be hanging up around the boarder of our dance floor. I'm also going to use them in the centerpieces and the alter and pew arrangements and anywhere else I can think to put them. Here's some hanging inspiration...

{from Destination Wedding Style}

{from In Any Event, NYC}

So, dear readers where ever you maybe, do you have any fabulous ideas for my cranes?

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Wishing you prosperity in the Year of the Rat!

Finding the Dress Part II: Singapore

I knew pretty much from the beginning that shopping for a dress was gonna be tricky for me. After all, a bride needs that person or that group of people who will tell her, straight up, that that dress she loves so much in the magazine "just looks, well, horrible on you." I wasn't going to have that. All of my people were on another continent. I'd send my mom and my sister pictures of dresses I liked and in return I would receive a noncommittal "It's pretty, but I'd have to see it on you." Good point. I needed to get up close and personal with these dresses. I needed to try them on. But try googleing Monique Lhuillier and you'll discover that she isn't sold here in Singapore.

Melissa Sweet? Nope.

Amsale? Christos? Lazaro? Oscar? Nada.

What about Vera? Someone's got to be selling Vera. OK, there is one shop here that sells Vera and Reem Arca, and I think one more that sells Jim Hjelm. Other than that, Singapore doesn't have a single shop that sells any of the designers found on The Knot. Tricky was becoming trickier. What was a bride in Singapore to do?

Quite a lot, as it turns out. Weddings are big business here and wedding boutiques have taken that business to new and creative heights. It's my understanding that most Singaporean brides often opt for up to four dresses - the traditional "white dress", a cheongsam, a dress for the Registry of Marriage, and sometimes an evening dress for the reception. These dresses can be made to measure or off the rack and can be either rented or bought. There are quite a few very talented designers here that will work with a bride to create the dress of her dreams. More than that, many boutiques offer "bridal packages" which include things like designing gowns for all the girls (moms, flower girls, and bridesmaids), made to measure suits for the boys, hair and makeup, photography, videography, and flowers. Not only was I relieved, I was impressed.

I began to formulate a plan. Plan A, my personal preference, would involve having that "This Is The Dress" moment with my mom and sister over Christmas. This plan had a few obvious drawbacks. I would have two, maybe three days tops to devote to dress shopping. I knew I had something very specific in mind and the chances that I was going to find it in that amount of time were pretty slim. I also knew that time was not on my side. Ordering a dress in the United States, 5 months out from the date was cutting it pretty close. Or so I've been told. And if I didn't find a dress then at least I would know what looked good on me and what didn't and I could use that information in...

Plan B, which involved finding a designer here in Singapore to work with and design my dress. Easy enough. Everyone I contacted was super friendly and helpful, but it didn't take me very long to choose a designer. Michelle HuiMin's designs are clean ,classic, elegant and beautifully tailored. She with works with each bride to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative so that the dress flatters the bride in every possible way. She uses real Swarovski crystals on some of her dresses for a really stunning effect. Plus, she is super nice.

All photos are Michelle HuiMin Designs for Bridal Veil

And the two that really sold me...

Her right hand man, Colin, explained that if I chose to work with Bridal Veil, that I'd meet with Michelle in February to begin the design process. A few weeks later we'd meet again to go over the design she'd come up with, followed by a mock up in muslin before construction began on the actual gown. Time frame wise he said that they like to take 2 - 3 months to construct a dress, cutting it as close to the wedding date as possible, but that they'd made dresses in as little time as two weeks before.

So, either I was going to find my dress in the US, in which case it would be coming in right about the time I was coming home, or I was going to have it designed here, which meant that I would be delaying my return to the States by about a month. That was the plan. All that I had to do was wait.