Making it Legal

We went down to apply for our marriage license today.  I don't know why, but I had pictured the licensing office as being a lot more glamorous than it is.  I guess wedding are filled with such elegance and grandeur that I was a little surprised when we got to the marriage license office and it looked like this...

Very unassuming and to the point.  We sat down in the cramped office as the woman across the desk took the form we filled out and typed it into the computer (I couldn't help but think that this office could use some serious LEAN improvements to increase efficiency...those darn business school classes!).  After a quick glance at our ID's, collecting our $60 (cash only!), and making us raise our right hands and swear under oath that all the information we provided was true, that was it!  We walked out with marriage license in hand...we're one step closer to making it legal!

Bustle Blues

I started writing this post, but it turned into a long rambling complaining about my experience with the David's Bridal alterations department.  I'm trying to keep it short and sweet (or not so sweet), so I'll get to the point:

- Alterations manager (AM) had my dress to do a hem and bustle for over a month, then tried to push back my appointment twice because it was not ready.

- AM left me a message to call her back the next day at 12:00 noon.  I was in the area and decided to stop in the store -- she was not even working that day.

- When AM was showing me how to bustle the dress, it took her over half an hour and multiple tries to figure out how to do it.

- The bustle was not done as we had discussed and left a lot of the dress dragging on the floor.  It did not look like a small train...it looked like pieces were falling out.

- When I asked her to make it shorter so it was not dragging on the ground, she made the back of the dress so high you could see my heels, but left the sides and the front long and sweeping the ground.

-When I asked her to make it so that it was even all around, she was unable to do it claiming that the style of my dress was too difficult.

- After over an hour, we finally got it to a point where it looked decent.  She told me to come back in two days to pick it up.  As I was getting undressed, she came to me with another bill!  I had to pay for more points that needed to be added to fix what she did wrong in the first place!

- Two days later, I came to pick up the dress and she was not even working that day.  Her assistant tried to show me how to bustle the dress but could not figure it out.  I stood there holding the back of my dress up for half an hour while the alterations lady, my maid of honor, and the sales girl all sat on the floor behind me trying to figure out this puzzle.  Apparently no one in the store had ever dealt with an under-bustle before.


- My maid of honor (who has never seen a bustle in her life) finally figured it out and did some workarounds to make it work.  The points were placed without taking the 1/2" loop into consideration, so the dress was still dragging on the ground.  We decided to just have my maid of honor tie the bustle above the loop so that we wouldn't have to leave the dress to be altered one more time.

Okay, so I still managed to ramble and complain a lot.  In short, I was really disappointed with my alterations experience at David's Bridal.  I thought it was expensive (about $200 for a hem and bustle), but I thought I would go with them for convenience and because they specialize in wedding dresses.  Perhaps the fact that it is a new store means that the alterations department doesn't necessarily have a lot of experience with wedding dresses yet.  I wish I had taken the time to shop around a little more.

Cranes

According to Japanese lore, folding 1,000 Origami Cranes is truly a labor of love. Tradition holds that the bride who finishes this task, called 'sembazuru', before her wedding day will be richly rewarded with a good and happy marriage. Paying homage to the magestic crane, which mates for life and is said to live one thousand years, the bride ensures her own good fortune.

In Hawaii, many brides will fold 1,001 Origami Cranes (1 for good luck) and mount the cranes to create a piece of art that can be displayed in their homes.  

Mr. Pug and I originally wanted to have the crane design be his family mon (crest), but we were unable to find it.  We talked about a few other ideas and ultimately decided on a circle (representing eternity), bamboo (representing strength), and the kotobuki character (representing good fortune, celebration, and longevity).  We turned over our idea to the extremely talented Cathy Lancaster of Classic Cranes, and she worked her magic.  We handed over 1001 origami cranes in ziploc bags, and 1-1/2 months later, this is what we got...

I couldn't be happier with the results...it is absolutely amazing!  Cathy was great and I highly recommend her.  Her price is also reasonable, as you pay for the framing separately.  Crane mounting cost $425.  The framing options we chose from Pictures Plus came out to an additional $395.

Hair and Makeup Trial - Third Time's a Charm!

After my first hair and makeup trial where I felt like I didn't really look like myself and my DIY trial at home, I was nervous about my second professional trial.  I had spent more time looking for inspiration online and came to the conclusion that I am really darn picky about my hair!  I didn't think I was, but almost every picture I looked at had something that I didn't quite like for myself and the style I was going for.  It was either too big, too structured, too plain, or just wasn't "me."  I finally stumbled across these pictures of Carrie Underwood that looked promising:

It was loose and romantic, elegant and chic, not too messy and not too structured.  This style could be it!  I printed a copy of it and took it in to my trial.  The stylist thought it would work for me and quickly got to work.  Here is the result (ignore my un-made up face please):

I'm thinking I'd like a little more defined curls, but other than that, I was quite happy with the results.  Next we moved on to makeup.  We kept it pretty natural by going with airbrushed foundation, a neutral colored eye, and a light lip color.  We kicked it up a bit by adding fake lashes.  This was my first time using the small lash clusters rather than the strip that goes across the whole eye.  It looks a lot easier to apply, and I love the look.  Here is my finished product:

 

Admiring myself a bit...

Oooh-la-lashes!

 

With the Veil

It's been about five hours since my trial was done and my makeup is pretty much the same minus the lipstick (Mr. Pug and I went to a yummy dinner).  Granted, I have been sitting in air conditioning and haven't been very active, but it seems to be holding up well.  A few tendrils of hair have come loose in the back.  This style is pretty forgiving, but I'll make sure to mention it for the real thing so that the hair stays in place a little better.

I went ahead and booked this stylist for my wedding day.  She took a few pictures that she will upload on her site for me as well.  What do you think?  Is there anything I should change??

New Icon

The good news: someone found my blog, read it, and commented on it!

The bad news: it was someone from weddingbee.com asking me not to use their icon.

Okay, I understand, but it was just so darn cute!  I hope it is still okay to use the name Ms. Pug.  Anyways, without further adieu, here is the new Ms. Pug icon (and I know it's not copyrighted because it's my own adorable little furbaby!)...

RSVP Regrets

Overall, I am very happy with my DIY invitations.  The one area I wish I had spent a little more time planning was the RSVP card.  My RSVP card was very simple...no frills.  A quick reminder:

If I could do it all over again, however, there are a few things I would change.

1) Instead of "will attend"/"will not attend," I would say "number attending"/"number not attending."  I had actually planned on doing this, but was in such a rush to get these printed that I forgot.  I was more worried about the "respond by" date.

2) Instead of the "M____________," I would use "Name(s) of Guests Attending."  Most people knew how to fill in the blank, but there were a few instances where the responder only wrote in their own name and didn't name the guest or other attendees.

3) Since we are having a seated dinner, I would include a place where guests could specify if they preferred a vegetarian option or kid's meal.  Our venue only allows for one meal option, so I did not include meal options on the RSVP.  However, I learned that they do provide vegetarian or kids meals upon request in addition to our chosen entree.  Since it is not on the response card, I am asking people individually if I think it will affect them (if they have kids or I know they don't eat meat), but there may be some guests who prefer no meat that I didn't know about.

Other than those small items, RSVPs have gone smoothly.  They've slowed down a bit, and I am anxious to get them all in so that I can get a final count and start on the table arrangements.  I've only gotten about half of the RSVP cards in, and they are due in less than a week.  Looks like I'll be making some phone calls next week...

Hair and Makeup DIY - Eh...

After a disappointing hair and makeup trial, I decided to see what I could do myself.

Haha, just kidding.  Well, sort of.  I had one of those hair pieces that I bought at a mall kiosk and used that for my DIY hair.  It is a hair comb with two bendable wires with hair attached to it.  The idea is to make a bun with your hair, insert the comb above the bun, then wrap the hair wires around the bun to make a quick and easy up-do.  I actually used one of these when I did my cousin's hair and makeup for her wedding.  It turned out so well that I bought one for myself.  The results are not too bad considering how darn easy it is (seriously can be done in less than a minute).

My make-up looked okay, but it was really nothing that different from how I normally do it.  I'd like to kick it up a notch for the wedding day, but I am just too stuck in my ways.

 

I wasn't thrilled about my last trial because I didn't think I looked like myself.  I'm not that thrilled with this trial because I look exactly like my everyday self.   I scheduled another trial with another stylist/artist later this week.  Hopefully I can find a happy medium.