Are there any fellow stamp addict readers out there? I thought I'd share a little stamping tool that made my life tons easier while I was hand stamping the cover of my wedding programs. It's called a Stamp-a-ma-jig and you can get it for about $10 on Amazon. Basically, it's a rubber stamp positioner that will help you to perfectly align your stamp before you commit your ink to paper.

For my programs, I ordered a custom stamp from Impress Rubber Stamps to decorate the cover.

Unfortunately, the rubber image was glued onto the wood block crookedly. The right side was higher than the left which made it very difficult to stamp straight. That's where the Stamp-a-mah-jig came in.

Step 1: I inked my stamp in pink and stamped the corner of the clear imaging sheet by lining up the edges of the stamp exactly with the corner of the imaging sheet. I'd suggest using a darker ink than I did because the light pink was difficult to see.

Step 2: Next, I aligned the imaging sheet to exactly where I wanted the stamp to set on my destination paper.

Step 3: I aligned the plastic "foot" of the Stamp-a-ma-jig exactly with the corner of the imaging sheet so that the corner was squared against it. Then I carefully removed the imaging sheet while securely holding the pastic Stamp-a-ma-jig in place.

Step 4: Then I inked and stamped the image, lining up the corner of the stamp exactly with the corner of the plastic "foot."

Step 5: Since the program covers were a dark chocolate brown, I had to emboss the image for it to be visible.

Step 6: I removed the excess powder.

Step 7: Then I melted the powder with an embossing gun and voila! A perfectly centered stamp.

Weddings have many moving pieces. With all the contracts, details, and communication, there is a high chance for something to go wrong. Mr. Eggplant and I were incredibly selective with our vendors, choosing only the ones we knew would provide superior customer service. I made a point to confirm our vendor contracts in the week before the wedding. Even so, some things simply fell through the cracks. Perhaps my error was confirming everything via email, where communication mistakes easily occur. During the wedding, I definitely let go of all the mishaps. But once we returned from our honeymoon, we began addressing the open issues.

With one vendor, we did not receive many of the items that were paid for in our contract. The company was (and still is) extremely reputable, receiving only the highest praise from people that have worked with them in the past. I enjoyed communicating with them during the planning process because they were always responsive and professional. I believe that our case was a one-off situation and might even recommend this vendor to others, pending resolution of our open issues. Reputable service-oriented companies will usually be more than willing to address any problems that a customer has with their products or services. Hopefully this will be the case with us! 

I thought it might be helpful to anyone else dealing with post-wedding vendor issues to share an example of the letter that Mr. Eggplant sent to our vendor (yes, I make him do all the dirty work. ). Mr. Eggplant always aims to create a win-win situation for everyone, so as you will read, the tone of his letter was fairly friendly even though he was addressing some things that were not fulfilled from our contract:

Hi [Vendor Name],

I hope things are going well over there.  I heard you are now parents from Mrs. Eggplant. Congratulations! 

I just wanted to follow up on the voicemail I left.  We are back from our honeymoon and we're now trying to address some open issues. I mentioned some  in the vmail, but I do want to say that our event looked good; the _____ was great and people really enjoyed the _____. 

However, and hard as it is to say, there were quite a few issues that we wanted to make sure are addressed (all issues are based off of our 10/11 contract and email correspondence):

1. The most important issue is the missing _____.  A picture of what I am addressing is attached.  We received the _____, however the contract notes we ordered three and we only received two,.  We had told our [other vendor] to forgo the _____, expecting that you would supply it, since it was included as part of the contract. Because this didn't happen, we missed the opportunity to _____, something we expected and paid for in the package.  I spoke to, [vendor representative], on our wedding day and he admitted that it was on the list but forgotten.  His client service was also lacking, but I'll go into that later.
2. The head table was missing a _____.  We noticed this during the event right away, but we couldn't address it because a consultant was not around.  However, we do have many pictures that also show the lack of _____.  Attached are some examples. Fortunately, we were too busy to notice much, however this was in our contract and we were charged for it.
3. At least four additional _____ were also missing. I talked to [vendor representative] about this when he came back to pick up the supplies.  He said the explanation was because the tables were moved. I asked the reception coordinators and they said this was not the case.  Also, I was in the ballroom while everyone was setting up and I finalized the floorplan with the coordinators right before I left (2:30pm). There shouldn't have been a reason to move the tables, which had already been arranged by noon.
4. I know this was expressed verbally, but I had it in my 9/28 notes that we ordered the following: [web link to vendor site]. We chose to go with you to get the nice _____ because the free ones that the hotel provided were not-so-beautiful-looking.  However, the ones that were brought in by your team were, indeed, the same ones that the hotel provided. We had the opportunity to get these from the hotel for free.
5. Service - We absolutely know, without a doubt, that you did not intend for these issues to happen. We loved and chose your company for a reason: We were very, very picky with our vendors because we want to have a worry-free wedding day.  Also, given your big life events and running a business, we understand that family should always come first, which is why we understand that sending a representative for a small, intimate wedding is okay.  However, we were under the impression from our meetings and correspondence, that you, or someone with more experience, would be at our event.  I wouldn't say that the persons did not do their job, but their service and professionalism was lacking.  I try to be very fair, but given that we worked with so many vendors, this may have been the most disappointing.  I also do not want [vendor representative], or that day's team, to feel like they failed or are completely at fault.  It seemed like [vendor representative] was uncomfortable talking to me, the groom, and wasn't ready to answer the questions I had, which meant he probably wasn't prepared.  He may have been put on the project last-minute, so I do empathize with his situation and give him the benefit of the doubt.  He has much room to grow and improve upon if he wants a more client-facing role.

We want to recommend all of our vendors with an open conscience and positive attitude.  We're big fans of positive and constructive feedback and are heavily involved in the online review community. That said, we just want to make sure this was a one-time situation.  Mrs. Eggplant and I both loved working with you in the planning stages; you accommodated our schedule and budget extremely well. But when it came to our event, a lot of the expectations from the contract did not get fulfilled and we somehow still feel like we were misled.

Overall, our wedding was fantastic.  We're still on the wedding high and reflect every night about how beautiful and loving everything felt. Only Mrs. Eggpant, several of our friends big on photography, and I noticed the mistakes, including the missing _____.  I have to say, the _____, at the very least, was superb. Our photographers gave us some preliminary pictures which really made that day seem even more awesome.

So, I don't want you to think it had a tremendously negative effect on our wedding.  We just felt it could've been better and that we should be compensated for the services we paid for.  I'm not sure how to reconcile this issue, since any future credit to your company wouldn't be relevant (we won't get married again). 

I would love to hear from you personally, preferably by phone.  I want to resolve this issue soon, so as not to prolong this for either of us. 

Please give me a call by next week, if possible. 

Thanks!
Mr. Eggplant

I'll be sure to let you know how everything turns out!

I just thought I'd share one of my last minute wedding projects that I crammed in during the week of the wedding (two days before our nuptials, yikes!). With the help of Mr. Eggplant and few of my bridesmaids, we created this quick, cheap, and easy wedding favor :

When I first told the event manager at our hotel that we were planning on having a candy buffet, she mentioned that in past weddings that she had coordinated, candy buffets often were often overlooked and untouched. This was mainly due to the fact that our reception room was shaped in the form of an "L," so a display that was visible to one side of the room would not be visible to the other. Well, I definitely didn't want to end up with 120lbs of uneaten jelly beans, so I created a favor that would let our guests know we had a mountain of sweet treats for them.

Supplies:
200 Clear Flat Polypropylene Bags - $4.32 from Papermart
200 Ferro Rocher Candies - approximately $40 from Costco
200 Fold-Over White Place Cards - $8 for 50 cards from Paper Source
A Stapler (or two)

Cost: Approximately $0.45 per favor

First, I designed a simple favor tag. Each tag had a thank you message on the front with a candy buffet reminder on the bag. They were printed on individual 3.5"x5" place cards purchased from Paper Source because I did not have time to cut up the paper myself. If you have time, I'd suggest buying cover stock and cutting it yourself, which would make this project even cheaper.

Each plastic bag was filled with one Ferrero Rocher chocolate. The folded place cards were attached to the bags with a single staple.

And here's the back. I think the favors could've stood on their own without a candy buffet also. Too bad I didn't think of them earlier!

I didn't have time to color-coordinate, but I think this project would look cuter with colored candies to match your wedding hues. How cute would it be to have sacks filled with pink gummy hearts for a pink-themed wedding?  The bonus? Our candy buffet was devoured by all of our guests. No more gummy bears for dinner, yay!

Happy crafting!

Truth be told, I don’t like attention. On the morning of my wedding, I was trying to convince my bridesmaids to link arms with me so that we could walk down the aisle together… and I was dead serious! Why? I am a complete klutz. I mentioned that I tripped and fell on my behind during the wedding rehearsal, right? Well, you can just imagine how terrified I was about my “first dance” with Mr. Eggplant. I had nightmares of wobbling around in four-inch heels, tripping over my dress, and landing flat on my face.

To combat my fear, I had planned to take dance lessons with Mr. Eggplant. But as the last month before our wedding approached, we just couldn’t fit it into our schedule. I needed to come up with a way to divert the “first dance” attention away from me, and fast! When I read Mrs. Hibiscus' entry about her first dance song, I thought it was the perfect way to shift the focus away from my two left feet. I played off of Mrs. Hibiscus' idea and decided to tell the story of how Mr. Eggplant and I met.

To continue the grand entrance from my last media post, once our emcee had played our music video and asked everyone to stand up, he announced us as newlyweds as we danced into the reception room with funky intros. Next, our emcee asked the guests to move to the dance floor and make a great big "circle of love" around the bride and groom as we commenced our first dance to the following recording ("Hold You in My Arms," by Ray Lamontange with voiceovers by Mr. and Mrs. Eggplant):

It was the perfect first dance. Everyone was listening to the narration, so for those four minutes, Mr. Eggplant and I were the only two people in the room. Our guests LOVED the recording because it was an unexpected personal touch to a typically traditional event.

This project was so quick and easy. In fact, using Garageband and a MacBook, Mr. Eggplant started it just two days before our wedding. The song turned out better since we waited until the last minute, because we recorded it conversation-style rather than rehearsing a script.

Of course, there's another "first dance" involved in weddings, and that's the father-daughter dance. My dad's hobby is playing and collecting guitars. For our father-daughter dance, Papa Eggplant made a recording of himself playing his favorite song, "Moon River":

The song was short, sweet, and personal so our guests weren't bored. And to divert the attention away from me, Mr. Eggplant and his mom joined us on the floor one minute into the song.

Not everyone has a dad that plays the guitar. But if you have an Apple computer or know someone who does, recording a voice over to your dance song is a simple way to add a very personal touch to your wedding. Your guests will love it and you'll have something to keep for years to come! I still smile when I listen to our song.

Part I

I'm not ashamed to admit that my husband is much funnier and wittier than me. I really should ask him to apply for a weddingbee blogger position, shouldn't I?  Well, here are the rest of our teaser wedding pictures through Mr. Eggplant's eyes (check Apertura's blog to view the images in full size):

More Wedded Bliss (As Told by Mr. Eggplant)

Many of you may have already checked out the remaining pictures on our photographer's blog, but I thought I'd finish off the set and let you know what really went on.  People rarely hear words from the groom, but that's usually because we're still recovering from the honeymoon food comatose and the "Newlywed Nineteen"-- the amount of weight you gain immediately after you get married.  Word to the future grooms: Make sure you're in your best shape before the wedding because that's the thinnest you'll ever be.  And one would think I'd be lighter with all that cash leaving my pocket. 

"Pure Joy" or "Team of Endearment"
I like that song with the lyrics that go, "the look of love is in your eyes..." because that's what this picture reminds me of.  The look on Mrs Eggplant's face is so endearing that I smile every time I look at her.  She seems so happy to marry me.  Wow, a man can get used to this.  One more oldies reference for the road... how great it is to be loved by you.

"Reading of the Vows" or "The Sum of All Tears"
People asked if I cried during the ceremony. I didn't. Yes, I am a super masculine, chest-bumping manchild. Actually, the real reason I didn't cry was because I teared a little right before the ceremony started. I think there's an unsaid Crying Game that happens during weddings.  Here's how it works: Members of the wedding party MUST cry first, but the correct sequence is where the game is won or lost, my friend. If the bride or groom cries first, it's going to be a sap-fest all the way through the ceremony, and all you'll remember is how salty your face was.  (We know how brides absolutely hate ruining their makeup.)  Not good-- and we all hate those moments you hiccup your way through heartfelt words. If one of the groomsmen cries first, he loses. It's because he couldn't hold back his man-tears before all of the bridesmaids, who are supposedly the weeping catalysts. Of those guests sitting in the pews, only those who can clearly see the bride and her father are allowed cry, but not until members of the bridal party do it first, which shouldn't be a problem because they typically have the best view.  And that brings us to the usual winners: The first domino, the super-supporting, BFF4Ever bridesmaids. They let everyone know when it's okay to cry and channel emotion to the bride, who after 30 mins of pent-up joy, releases it all like Hawaiian rainfall during her vow-- the perfect moment to cry.  Game.  Set.  Match.

"Sleeping Beauties" or "Can They Kiss Yet?"
Mrs Eggplant's little cousins are really adorable. I rarely use that word on anyone except on my wife, but those two little precious (another word I rarely use) girls are super-obedient, respectful, and camera-friendly. I'm so glad our photographers captured this moment because it goes to show that I need to work on my public speaking. My vows must have been booooring. I really need to avoid WWII analogies when speaking to young audiences.

"Cozy on Campus" or "Forever Old Spice"
The lighting was superb that weekend, so the bridal session reflects that.  Our photographers LOVE shadows.  Whenever we go to a location with great shadows and lighting, one of them goes, "Love the shadows.  Beautiful, beautiful.  Love it.  Love it."  I also get that way whenever I see baseball box scores or fantasy sports.  This shot reminds me of those Axe deodorant commercials, except I'm not Abercrombie-looking and the girls aren't as hot as my wife. (I can say that now and not feel guilty... fun.)

"Unveiling Love" or "Makeout Session"
We heard that the Stanfurd campus quad is a haven for bridal portraits and meandering students, but we didn't see any on our day.  I think it was midterm season.  Either that, or there's a special tour event at the linear accelerator.  Hee hee *snort* *nerd laugh*  I am a little embarrased to admit that one of my favorite class field trips was, in fact, the linear accelerator. 

"Love's Shadow is Time" or " Pretty in Pink"
Another shot at the campus.  I particular like this shot because you can clearly see Mrs Eggplant's profile and yet, the flowers in focus still pop.  On a side note, the bride's bouquet is HEAVY.  Mrs. Eggplant made me carry it around for a while and it was like lugging around a five pound dumbbell.  Oddly enough, she now has to lug around a 165 lb. dumbbell.

"Picture Perfect" or "I'm Going to be Paparazzi!"
We had a cocktail hour before our reception, so we tried to keep the guests entertained until we got back from our bridal portraits.  Here is one of the flower girls snapping up a shot of some unsuspecting family member.  Her mom is explaining to her the concept of film and how it will one day be used as toilet paper and household insulation.

"First Dance" or "Dancing with a Star Princess"
One of my favorite moments was our first dance.  I think it was because we didn't worry about others.  For those four minutes, time stood still, as they say.  I am reminded of the great poets Lifehouse, who once wrote "... 'cause it's you and me... and all other people..."  It felt that way. 

"More Dancing" or "Dance Dance Revolution: From Another Angle"
This is another angle from our first dance.  I think it's cool how it's all a blur around us.



"Baker's Delight" or "Flour Flower Power"
There's the expression, "you can't have your cake and eat it too."  Well, the story with this little piece of work hopefully refutes that claim.  When we originally budgeted our wedding, we did not factor in the budget money for chairs.  Truth be told, who would?  Well, as my first lesson in husbandry, Mrs. Eggplant convinced me to move the dollars allocated for our cake to the lovely (yet flimsy) chiavari chairs that you see in the picture's background.  We initially decided that dropping the cake was fine because we already set our sights on a chocolate fountain, which would serve as a dessert.  Well, as the wedding approached, we (although "we" all know what I mean) decided to still have a cake.  So we went to a cheaper baker and ordered a small cake.  It was pretty and a cake, so Mrs. Eggplant was happy.  It was very affordable and edible, so I was happy.  And Mrs. Eggplant was happy, so I was even happier.  That's how we had our cake and ate it too.



"Guy Love" or "Should I Leave You Two Alone?"
Mrs. Eggplant's reaction says it all.  My best man gave a touching and hilarious speech and at the end, he decided to sing me a song with an original video playing on our projectors.  He sang "Guy Love" from Scrubs, a very appropriate song for us... I guess?  I chimed in for the chorus, simply because I couldn't bear to hear only his voice any longer.  If you know my best man, you can see why he's been my friend throughout all these years... It's guy love.

"Shadow Dancing" or "Chinese-Irish Jig"
This is another one of our photographers' "shadow" shots.  I like how it captures the innocent dancing of the night.

"Flash Dance" or "C'mon Ride this (Wedding Dress) Train, C'mon Ride It"
Speaking of innocent girls dancing, here is how the night ended: With a packed dance floor.  Although we (I speak only for myself and a handful of our aunts and uncles) aren't the most uncoordinated bunch, we make up for it in passion and intensity.  Unfortunately passion and intensity look horrible in photos, so here you have joy and rhythm.

And that's our wedding story in a nutshell.

Of all the adjectives that our guests used to describe our wedding, "personal" was the one we heard most. With 180 people, our reception food expense was huge. Mr. Eggplant and I were forced to find creative ways to maximize our remaining budget to create a memorable event. Mr. Eggplant is a huge fan of everything media, so when we began planning, he had his mind set on having a full-on multimedia event. As it turned out, utilizing media gave us the most bang for our buck in the personalization department. Everyone really enjoyed the little things we did to make our wedding unique. I will be writing a short series to share how the Eggplants used media to personalize our wedding.

People often say that setting the tone for an event is very important. How does someone do this? Well, Mr. Eggplant came up with the neat idea of creating a music video that would be played for our guests prior to our bride-and-groom entrance. The video took a quick few hours to shoot and the final product was completed by one of our friends who is currently studying film editing.

The progression of events went something like this: After cocktail hour had ended, our MC ushered everyone into the reception room and asked them to take their seats. Next, he requested that everyone to turn their attention to our 8-foot movie screens where our video was played. Once the video had ended, the MC announced our bridal party who danced in to upbeat hip hop music. Finally, he asked all guests to stand as the bride and groom were announced for the very first time. It was all very dramatic and grand, and it definitely set the tone for the entire night!

For those of you who have the time and resources, I highly recommend utilizing media as a cost-effective way to personalize your day. Now, here is the video:

*Special props to Wong Fu Productions, to whom we credit this music video idea! Wong Fu is Mr. Eggplant's inspiration for all things media.

Let me begin this entry by saying that I LOVE great wedding videographers. I adore the finished product of well filmed and edited wedding videos that can capture the magic of a wedding, like the video Mrs. Emerald posted from Still Motion. A talented, professional videographer can immortalize a wedding day into a treasured keepsake for years to come.

Unfortunately, the Eggplants hired the OPPOSITE of a good wedding videographer.

In my last post I mentioned how important wedding photography was to me. We budgeted beacoup bucks to hire the best photographers. All of my wedding-related decisions revolved around the question, "Would this look good in our pictures?" Well, you can imagine my horror when I started receiving the non-pro pics from my friends after the wedding, only to find that our wedding videographer had found his way into a fourth of the photographs!

See the evidence below from pictures taken by various friends:

Exhibit A shows our videographer's first offense: Don't wear white if you're a videographer/photographer!

When I opened the hotel room door to welcome our videographer on the morning of my wedding, I was horrified as he took off his dark coat to reveal a gleaming starch-white shirt. At that moment, I knew that he was not a skilled or experienced videographer. We've all learned in second grade science class that black absorbs light and white reflects it. All professional videographers and photographers will show up to your wedding wearing dark colors so that they are less obtrusive and do not reflect light. Obviously, if you are going to hold a camera, carry a HUGE lamp and be near the bride and groom all day... Don't wear white!

 
Exhibit B shows our videographer's second offense: Don't stand a the altar if you're not part of the bridal party!

What the heck is our videographer doing?? I understand the need to get the shot, but he's standing in the bridal party lineup like one of the girls! I should have lent him a pink dress and heels. At least he would've blended in better. The above picture is also a good example of "Don't Wear White." If our videographer was wearing black, you would've barely noticed him.

Exhibit C shows our videographer's third offense: Don't film key wedding moments from obvious places!

When Mr. Eggplant showed me this photograph, I was at the Honolulu airport, waiting to board the plane to Kauai. My initial shock turned to distress, and then crying. Yes, bridezilla came out after the wedding was over. I am embarrassed to admit that I bawled at gate 37 of HNL international. All I could imagine were visions of our videographer's round little head appearing in all of our wedding photographs. I was so upset until Mr. Eggplant gently reminded me that our wedding photographers were very skilled and they would not let an obtrustive videographer ruin our wedding pictures.

Exhibit D is just another photograph that shows the sum of all offenses.

And lastly, here is the difference between two professionals and an amateur. Notice how Ray and Erwin are wearing black. Notice how Ray is standing and Erwin his kneeling so that they are out of each others' line of sight. Now, notice our videographer on the side wearing his lovely WHITE shirt in all it's glory. Bleh!

Other offenses from our videographer included:

1. Getting up front and in the faces of everyone making speeches and toasts at the reception. It was very distracting, especially with his blaring white light shining in the eyes of all our speakers. He was so obtrusive, walking circles around everyone. And from what I saw, he wasn't even holding the camera steady.
2. Standing in the way of our Apertura while they were shooting. Erwin actually came up to me at the wedding to ask me if he could get in front of the videographer to take his shots. I gladly said yes.
3. Once again, WEARING WHITE. I can't repeat that enough.

Originally, Mr. Eggplant and I were not going have a videographer at our wedding at all. This guy happened to be our photographer for our Chinese banquet on Sunday (we didn't need pro pics for the second day and he was had documented many of Mr. Eggplant's family functions, from weddings to 80th birthdays), and he offered to film our Saturday wedding also. I never met the guy before my wedding day, but I heard that he had been shooting weddings for 30 years, so I assumed that he had some experience. Both jobs were a mere $1500 total. Had I known that he would've been a hinderance, I would have gone completely without a videographer rather than hire one who was so obtrusive. My experience is a shining example of the motto, "you get what you pay for."

Now let me just say, I have not received the video footage back yet. Perhaps when I do, I will change my mind about having this guy film our wedding. However, Mr. Eggplant and I have received the Chinese banquet pictures back and we're both convinced we both could've done a better job with our eyes closed.

Well, I hope that my experience has revealed the benefits of hiring a professional videographer. As you can see, an amateur one can actually do more harm than good. So if you're in the market for a videographer, by all means, please hire a good one, even if it costs some extra money.

Of all the many wedding decisions a bride has to make, the one most important to me was wedding photography. I love admiring great photography. From the beginning, I knew I wanted more than documentation of my wedding; I really wanted art. I was even willing to go so far as to sacrifice my cake in exchange for a bigger photography budget and select our wedding date based on the availability of my favorite photographers. I wanted pictures that would reveal a completely different perspective of the wedding than what I would experience, and shots that would capture and evoke emotion. With all of this in mind, Mr. Eggplant and I selected Apertura as our photographers. We discovered Ray and Erwin through our friends who had them document their wedding last year, and everyone was so impressed with their work that they have been deemed the unofficial wedding photographers of our social circle ever since.

I mentioned that a few things didn't go as planned during my wedding. Of those things, many could have potentially affected the opportunity for good pictures. But I can happily say that we had two extraordinarily talented wedding photographers who were able to capture breathtaking pictures in unexpected situations. Ray and Erwin are no joke when it comes to photography. They are unobtrusive, professional, and simply fun to be around. Our wedding was probably smaller in budget compared to the extravagant events that I've seen on their blog, but from the teasers that they shared with us, they still managed to make our day look like a million bucks.

Mr. Eggplant is blessed with more vernacular skills than me, so I'll let him share the first half of the teaser pictures from a groom's point of view, with a few of my captions added here and there:

Wedded. (as told by Mr. Eggplant)

A couple weekends back, I got meself a wife.  She was the most beautiful bride ever.  My jaw literally dropped when I saw her for the first time in her Jimmy Choos and Ines Di Santo dress (although she hates it when I brand-drop).  Our photographers, Apertura, put up the fabulous pictures on their blog.

Here is the first half of the first set of pictures by Apertura... and yes, captions are provided.


"Circle of Trust" or "Part Ring of Fire"
We took this picture in the nerdy, Engineering wing of the Stanfurd campus.  People were staring at us while we were running around campus.  No, it wasn't because we were overdressed for a weekend study session, it was because nerds rarely see a beautiful girl in real life, holding hands with another nerd.

(Mrs. Eggplant: Don't mind the intentional spelling error by Mr. Eggplant. He's a Cal grad who likes to poke fun at his alma mater's archnemesis. )

 
"Living Art" or "Free Face Painting at the Carnival"
I never got to see Mrs. Eggplant get ready, so these pictures are very exciting for me.  I always say that watching a woman put her face on is watching wild horses graze the open plains.

"The Look of Love" or "Getting Bubblegum Out of Hair"
Some people have said our engagement session portraits looked like a Korean soap opera.  Well, this picture would fit right in.  So seductive... so cute.

"Helping Hands" or "Pin the Tail on the Bride"
This dress was the topic of many "friendly" conversations between my wife and me.  And when I finally saw it on her, it was worth every penny.

(Mrs. Eggplant: Mr. Eggplant was completely opposed to the price that I paid for my gown. But when he saw me for the first time, his mouth dropped and he said, "Wow..." He was staring at me for a good few seconds before his best man joked, "Hey, it's rude to check out your wife!" Now he tells me that it was all worth the $$. )

 
"Meet Jimmy Choo" or "Feed a Village for a Week"
Okay, these shoes are also worth every penny.  My only question is, why do photographers always take pictures of the bride's shoe?  I think shoes or anything relating to feet are pretty nasty.  At least these are brand new.

(Mrs. Eggplant: Obviously, the guy does not understand the art of a Jimmy Choo sandal.  You have much to learn, my young Padawan. )

"Crafty Bride" or "Multi-tasker Extraordinaire"
I only heard about this moment from others, so when I finally saw this picture, it was just as I imagined.  This is one reason why I admire Mrs. Eggplant so much.  She is so good at everything relating to crafts, fashion, and everyday tasks.  Here, she is sewing one of her bridesmaid's dresses, minutes before our ceremony.  I will never go hungry or have rug burn holes in my pants again.

(Mrs. Eggplant: This is a great shot of one of the things that "didn't go as planned." My cousin's zipper fell off of the track. I was the only one of my gals who knew how to sew so I took 30 minutes to sew the dress onto my cousin while my MOH was holding the garment together. This was the second time the zipper fell off the track, after I had already brought her dress to the shop to once get it fixed for the same problem. My other bridesmaid's zipper also broke during the week of the wedding. I had so many last minute problems with the dress quality, it was unbelievable. So, about the dress shop that I posted about formerly... Don't go there. Strangely enough, after the whole zipper fiasco was over, I was actually relaxed and happy. Sewing my cousin's dress really eased my nerves and helped me get over my anxiousness of walking down the aisle.)

 
"A Little Breather" or "My Boo-a-Peeks"
And when she isn't sewing or looking like a #1 stunna, she is peeking through a door, wondering when she gets to spend the rest her life with her man.  And what was on my mind at this time?  "I wonder if my DS can fit in my coat pocket."

(Mrs. Eggplant: This picture was taken right after my cousin's dress broke and before the sewing session began. My girls were in the bathroom trying to pry the zipper back onto the track. I remember being quite tense and taking slow, deep breaths. I took a minute to look over the balcony to collect myself. How Erwin managed to capture a relaxed shot of me, I have no idea. The man must have skills, because I was so anxious, I was trembling.)

"Keeping Loose" or "You Handsome Devil, You"
The groomsmen and I got dressed in a separate room.  We also had our own mini-adventure-- the sound system from the laptop didn't work, so two of my right hand men went out to get cables.  They got back just in time.  In this picture, one of the groomsmen is trying to do the arm wave or robot.  Either that, or his interpretation of "I'm a Little Teapot" is off.

 
"Shoe Shine" or "Do They Make Velcro Tuxedo Shoes?"
Big ups to the Crocs and the rest of the Crocs Clan.  Where you at?  Woo woo!  Each of my groomsmen got a pair of Crocs, so yes, I did my part to contribute more hideousness to society.  But they feel like clouds!

 
"Goodfellas" or "We are Fly"
If JLo joined our crew, would we be the Fly Guys?  We took this picture in the lobby of our hotel.  Somehow, I just knew this picture would turn out so cool.  No, it wasn't because of the pink vests, or the ambient lighting, or even the natural posing-- it was because the guys are all so awesome.  We are like the Goo Wak Jai ("Young and Dangerous") gang... except without the mass murders and mob affiliations.

(Mrs. Eggplant:This picture actually makes me a little bit sad. The one thing that the zipper mishap took away from me was stealing time away from the bridal portrait session with my girls. I had allocated an hour to bridal party pictures, but the guys ended up doing those alone. After the ceremony, we had a short photo session with everyone. I hope those turn out ok.)

 
"Prayer"
This one is a bit too serious to joke about.  This was a very special moment before the ceremony.  Thanks guys.

(Mrs. Eggplant: Mr Eggplant didn't shed a tear during the ceremony because he cried it all out with his guys as they prayed for him right before walking out! No tears left for me.)

 
"Admiration" or "How to Be a Princess 101"
I think Mrs. Eggplant's little cousin wants to be just like Mrs. Eggplant.  I don't blame her.  I do think her little cousin prefers to not to marry someone as funny-looking as me.  But maybe she'll grow out of it, just like Mrs. Eggplant did.

(Mrs. Eggplant: On an unglamorous note, my cousin is removing a piece of fabric hair that got stuck in my lip gloss as my adorable flower girl looks on. I love this picture because it gives me a perspective of the events through my flower girl's eyes.)

 
"Love Spectrum" or "Heavenly Colors"
One of my favorite pictures from this initial set.  The colors are amazing.  But stop staring at my wife's assets.  Jesus is watching.

... that's all of the captions for now.  If you're really curious to see the full-sized versions or see what the remaining pictures look like, visit Apertura's blog and leave a comment for them!  They are awesome!

And lastly, I love wife.

Mrs. Eggplant: There are more teaser pictures to share, but Mr. Eggplant hasn't written his commentary yet so I'll update with those later, since he is much more entertaining than I am.

People often ask me how my wedding day went. I tell them that it was honestly, the best day of my life. And if I could wish for one superpower, it would be to go back in time and do it all again. I was filled with sheer joy throughout the day; I was so excited to marry Mr. Eggplant, I felt so much love from my friends and family, and most of all, I felt radiant. That's the best word I can think of to describe the feeling. After the ceremony was over, everyone had so much fun. The DJ/MC came up to us after to the event to ask us where we found such a rowdy group of Asian folks who danced their socks off until the very last song. So many friends and family approached me throughout the night to tell me
how happy they were and how much fun they were having. I didn’t want to leave the reception for a second, even to go to the bathroom. In fact, I didn’t use the restroom until the event was over! This was not intentional; I was just so busy having fun that I forgot to drink or eat.

I have to admit, I'm a bit reluctant to share my wedding with the mass public. By nature, I'm an introverted person and typically reserved with things that I hold most precious to me, my wedding day being one of them. I still rehash my favorite moments in my mind before I go to sleep at night. I feel as though no matter how hard I try, it will be a futile effort to try and capture in writing the delight that I experienced throughout the entire day, yet words are the only medium at my fingertips. And I will be the first to tell you that the LAST things on my mind were any of the DIY projects that I slaved over. While the DIY details made our wedding very personal, none of it contributed to the joy I experienced at the wedding.

There were many things that did not go as I had planned. I will blog about those soon, so brides out there can benefit from my mishaps. But throughout the wedding, I did not give a second thought about any of it. If there’s one big thing that I did do right, it was forgetting about EVERYTHING except relishing in each moment. Once the event was over and Mr. Eggplant and I were celebrating in Hawaii, I’ll admit that I shed a few tears over some of the things that went wrong. I know there’s no use crying over spilled milk, but at least I saved it until good few days after the wedding. I also can’t wait to share some of our last minute wedding projects with you guys. The Eggplants are currently internet-deprived at our new residence, so I haven’t been able to blog about anything lately.

For now, I will end with one of my favorite memories of the wedding: The moment before I was to walk down the aisle, I slowly approached the church doors with my bouquet in hand to meet my dad for the first time that day. He looked towards me and exclaimed, "Wow, you look gorgeous!" Later in his father-of-the-bride toast, he said, "Whatever this wedding cost, it was worth it." My parents are pretty frugal, so the idea of contributing a decent sized sum to pay for one day's event was not easy for them to swallow. Papa Eggplant even loved my wedding dress, though it was a major point of contention between my mother and me because of the price I had paid. I was just so happy to know that in the end, my dad approved. I guess I'll always be Daddy's little girl.

And before the pro pics are rolled out, here are a few shots of the ceremony from one of our photographer friends, Sammy, whose fabulous pictures satiated our appetite for wedding shots during our honeymoon.

Me and Papa Eggplant walking down the aisle. On the right are my two friends from Vancouver who had a fabulous 7-7-07 wedding. Jerry, on the far right, is intently watching Mr. Eggplant at the altar to see if he will shed a tear.

First kiss as husband and wife. Or was it second? We smooched a few times up there. And those beautiful blooms I'm holding were quite a load. I remember approaching the front of the altar and whispering to Mr. Eggplant, "The flowers are heavy!" How I held them for 45 minutes is beyond me.

I don't remember why I'm laughing here, but I hope he didn't grab my butt!

Below are a few ceremony shots from our talented friend Lou who is also quite skilled with his camera:

Left, together. Right, together... It's a bridesmaid parade!

Aww, my baby cuz is shedding a tear in the bridesmaid lineup. And my two flower little girls stole the show. They were so flippin' adorable.

It's vow time! I loved Mr. Eggplant's vows to me. Our pastor was a hit also. It was his first wedding and I was worried that our ceremony would be too "churchy" for some since my relatives are not religious, but after the ceremony my aunts and cousins came up to me at the reception to share their raves about Pastor A. He made everything very personal, sharing his wisdom and stories with us.

Another "first kiss" shot from Lou's perspective. You can't see clearly in this tiny picture, but I grin everytime I see the huge smile on my MOH's face. She was soooo happy for us and she took care of me behind the scenes the entire day.

Here, we're carefully stepping down the stairs to give our parents some appreciation flowers. During the wedding rehearsal, I wore shoes too big for me and tripped down the stairs, landing smack on my bottom. Every member of the bridal party let out a shocked gasp. It wasn't too embarrassing since I was with close friends and family, but I was terrified that I'd fall on my wedding day also. If you look really closely, you can see Mr. Eggplant hanging onto me for dear life.

Man and wife! Here, you can see the relief on my face that I made it through the ceremony without falling on my behind.

More to come soon!

Hi folks! I've been MIA for weeks, but...

I'M FINALLY MARRIED!

October, 20th, 2007 was truly the "Sweetest Day" of my life (I also engraved this on the inside of my husband's ring... it's so weird to call Mr. Eggplant that now!)

Can't wait to write about it! But right now I'm going to enjoy my honeymoon in Kauai.

Until next time, here's a picture.