Both my wedding gown and wedding album have shipped today. =)
Well it's been a while since my last post so I suppose I should give a small update. No update about my preserved gown. All I know at this point is that the dress has been received and I've been billed for additional repairs. I did get my pro photos from Dana on July 7th. Why did I wait so long to blog about my photos? Well, I'm actually a bit disappointed with them. Not in the quality of the photos or the way Dana edited the raw photos but there was a lack of posed photographs in my Chinese outfits. I really can't blame Dana since I never mentioned that I really wanted posed photos in my Chinese outfits and honestly, in the midst of the reception craziness, I just forgot to ask Dana. Dana did such an amazing job with documenting all the details of the wedding until the reception. It just seemed that everybody was too busy stuffing their faces and I was too busy running around changing, toasting, cake cutting, etc. I even thought of doing a small post-wedding shoot of just my Chinese outfits because I'll never have the opportunity to wear those dresses again, especially my mother's red outfit. It just seemed a huge missed opportunity if these outfits weren't documented as well as my wedding gown was. Since then I've come to terms with the lack of Chinese outfit photos. I used Adoramapix to create our wedding album and it should arrive around 04Aug11. I received a call during the work day from Affordable Preservation to approve the repair costs for my gown. Seems like things are moving along just fine with the preservation process. I wish I asked the representative to clarify which repairs and where they were located on the gown (brain fart moment). I sent an email back to customer service so hopefully I'll get an answer soon. Well I haven't received the confirmation email from Affordable Preservation that they received my dress but I did get an email receipt for the additional payment I had sent with my dress since I decided to get my shoes preserved as well. Hmmmm. Edit: Wedding dress confirmation email from Affordable Preservation has been received! I should get my wedding dress back within 2-10 weeks but considering that we're at the height of the wedding season, I'm betting it'll be the I received an email from Dana today saying that my photo DVD should be in the mail by the end of this week! I did see that she posted a few pictures on her facebook page and I am so excited to see the rest of her work. UPS also picked up my gown so it's just a waiting game at this point. I'm supposed to get an email confirmation when AffordablePreservation receives my dress. We shall see when I get that. Now that the wedding has come and gone, it's time for me to legally change my name. Between credit cards, account updates, tax papers and forms of IDs, it's quite the daunting task! I managed to change my last name with the credit card company and various accounts (Renters Insurance, Gas/Electricty, cell phone, waste management) with a phone call. No documentation was necessary. Documentation is necessary to change the bank accounts and update tax papers for work so the first step was to obtain my marriage certificate. Marriage Certificate I contacted Summit Office of Vital Statistics and completed their application (http://ci.summit.nj.us/pdflibrary/vitalrecordappforms.pdf) to receive my marriage certificate. Summit is one of the few townships that will mail your certificate to you. I requested 3 certified copies (these have the raised seal) so I can keep one at the house, one at the bank and one as an additional back up just in case one original gets lost through the mail. The turn around was very quick. I received my certified copies within a week of mailing my application in. I was able to change my last name on my bank accounts with this. Some banks may require the certified copy when adding your spouse to the account. Drivers License I brought my 6 points of ID in addition to my marriage certificate to the DMV just in case they required more than just the marriage certificate. It turns out this was an unnecessary precaution but I wanted to be safe than sorry when it comes to the long waiting lines of the DMV. Social Security Card I completed the online application (http://www.ssa.gov/online/ss-5.pdf) and mailed it to the nearest social security office with one of my certified copies of the marriage certificate. Within the same week, the social security office had sent me back my certified copy along with a letter stating that my application has been received, here's the included documentation and you should get your new card within 2 weeks. I thought the letter was a pretty spiffy thing to do and it also gave me some comfort that the process was under way. I received my new card within 1.5 weeks of mailing out my application. So with my new drivers license and social security card, I was able to complete new W-4 and I-9 forms for work. A quick call to HR allowed me to change my name in the system. I also had to re-record my voice mail as well as change my email signature. And in the middle of all of this legal name change, I took the time to practice my new signature before signing any official documents as going from a 4 letter last name to a 10 letter last name is quite a jump. After many sheets of scrap paper and working through hysterical laughter, hand cramps and illegible scribbles, I finally have my new signature. I can't wait to initialing work documents =) It's time for me to clean and preserve my gown! Aside from the normal dirty build up around the hem line, I noticed that some of the beads were starting to fall off. There wasn't any other damage sustained to the gown other than the beading on the chiffon layer coming undone. After my horrible experience with the New Brunswick branch of David's Bridal, I decided to get my gown repaired and preserved elsewhere. A quick web search landed me at Affordable Preservation (http://www.affordablepreservation.com/). After a few searches on the NJ Knotties board and seeing quite a few brides also had their gown preserved with Affordable Preservation with satisfactory results, I decided to take a chance and purchase their preservation kit.. They are a reputable company that makes their preservation process pretty easy for their customers. A kit gets sent to your residence, you mail the dress and any other accessories back out (shipping and pick up is prepaid) and you receive your dress within a few weeks. It's time that I finish writting my thank you cards. My mom had wanted to include a printed photo from the wedding but seeing as how my photos won't be ready until the end of June, I decided to go ahead and send the thank you cards now and complete a second mailing for the photos. Huzzah for another checkmark! What a week it's been! Our wedding has come and gone and I need to write down my thoughts before anymore time passes. My bridesmaids and I got up at the crack of dawn to ensure we had enough time to shower, eat, pack up and drive to my mother's house for the remainder of wedding prep without being hasseled too much. We had lots of laughs, giggles and all around fun while getting our hair styled, make up applied and changed into our dresses. Our limo driver from Santos (Marla) arrived on time and started helping getting things packed into the trunk and whatnot. My mother made sure we had brought our golf umbrellas because we had a 50% chance of rain during the ceremony and the time alloted afterwards for family photos. I remember telling myself that a cloudy day was fine just as long as I was able to get some pictures outside. After all, the photos was the whole point of getting married in the Arboretum. I actually saw fiance and his family walk to the house for our first glance photos while the limo was pulling into the Arboretum gate. Thank goodness those windows were tinted because I didn't have the dexterity to duck out of sight haha! After waiting a few minutes for fiance and his family to settle into the house and to give my mother an opportunity to hand a few items from the limo to my Uncle Gene, I began to make my way to the house to meet my soon to be husband. Dana was a doll in making sure the first glance photos went without a hitch. My soon to be husband was a bit anxious as he kept fidgeting out on the lawn waiting for Dana to signal me to attack him from behind. I'm really glad we did the first glance photos because I just wouldn't have been able to keep my composure and maintain a graceful walk down the aisle if we hadn't otherwise. Dana had the graciousness to retreat and leave us alone for a few minutes to soak up the experience however I wish I could say the same about my mother and others wedding party members that were constantly coming in and out of the house asking us questions. So much for taking 5 minutes to ourselves and appreciating what we're going through. At this time, I noticed that our guests had started to arrive so the entire wedding party retreated into the house for more candids and relaxing before the processional. And all of a sudden, it's time for the ceremony to being. Rev Venezio came back to the house and started the processional after she went down into the Azalea garden to make sure people were seated and ready for the big moment. Mother nature decided to bless our union by sending us a quick shower as soon as I got to the altar. Thank goodness we had planned for a tent! The remainder of the ceremony went without any problems with the exception of the sand/unity candle ceremony. In my rush, I had not made it clear to my Aunt that Bryan and I were the only ones to be pouring the granulated wax into the vase. When I got to the ceremony table, I noticed the vase was half filled with white granulated wax and fiance and I only had the pink wax to pour! Smegg but what's done is done. A quick smile between the two of us was all the indication (I hope) that we gave to our guests that something was amiss. The weather was very humid at this point so the granulated wax really didn't pour well. I remember Rev. Venezio making light of the situation by remarking that "Love takes time" which caused our guests to chuckle. And then it came time to light the candles. I had purposely not practiced this part of the ceremony during the rehearsal because we were going to present our MILs with a presentation rose and wanted to keep this moment a surprise. I could see both mothers were very touched but they were too emotional to be able to light the candles. The groom and bride ultimately had to help their moms light the candle. What's a wedding without a few small problems? =) Luckily, the rain held off enough so that we could get the family photos and remaining candid shots between my husband and I after the ceremony. Score! I actually had allotted too much time for photos after the ceremony so everybody decided to head over to the restaurant nearly an hour early. I'm actually quite happy that we had extra time before so that we could take the time and actually speak with our guests before the reception craziness started. My Aunts and Mom took care of setting up our greeting table so that I was able to relax. The only thing I remember regretting about the reception was that my outfit changes took way too long which caused me to miss a great deal of the food (this was expected to some extent) and I accidentally threw the tossing boquet into the ceiling instead of into the waiting crowd of single ladies. Oops! All in all, it was a very fun experience, I felt beautiful, blessed and I'm very much ready to start this new chapter in our lives. A few last minute things were complete this morning. I picked up the Mango Mouse cake for dessert from La Bonbonniere at 7 am this morning, quickly ran to David's Bridal to purchase 3 shawls because I was scared the weather would be too cold for my bridesmaids to be wearing strapless dresses, setting up the utensils/plates for the rehearsal dinner, packing the items for my Mom and Aunt to take home for easy faciliation after everybody is done stuffing themselves, a quick vacuum and mop of the house and I'm off to Boca Salons for my Honey Body Polish. Fiance left for his parents house so that I could pick him up after I was done with my mani/pedi appointment and we'll head straight to the Arboretum for the rehearsal. A quick description about the Honey Body Polish from Boca's website: Based on ancient beauty rituals, this natural cleanser and exfoliate with pure honey, almonds and fresh buttermilk is massaged into the skin helping to purify and slough off dead skin cells. Wrapped in a thermal blanket you will relax to enjoy the full benefits of this exhilarating treatment. After a warm shower, a luxurious seaweed cream is massaged into the body leaving the skin touchable and silky smooth.' Wow is all I have to say from my experience with this scrub. The warm blend of honey and almonds were just the right temperature to make me relax. The technician then started to massage and rub this blend using a small massage pad and her hands, proceeded to give me a massage of my face, scalp and neck (delightful!) and allowed me to soak in a warm heated bed for some time. After rinsing off, she applied the seaweed cream and proceeded to give me an extra 10 minutes of a full body massage for free! This was beyond belief and I was on cloud 9 when I left the salon. This is a treatment that I'd love to get again. Unfortunately, that 10 extra minutes of body massage made me late in picking up my Mom and MOH from my house so that we can head over to Sunny for our mani/pedis! So much for being relaxed haha! However, thanks to my mad driving, we made it to Sunny in time, met up with my MIL and SIL/BM and we proceeded with our pampering for the day. I'm quite in love with how my nails look with the French manicure. I'll have to figure out how to do this on my own or I'll come back to Sunny at a later date. I had a wonderful experience with their technicians and wouldn't hesitate to come back when my schedule is not so hectic. After picking up fiance from his parents, we drove to the Arboretum to run through the rehearsal. I think seeing everybody at the rehearsal dinner really started to make things sink into my head. I had a group of my brothers, cousin, uncle and aunt help decorate the arch while I was busy describing how the ceremony would run and what would need to happen when to the rest of the guests. After walking everybody through the gardens, house and tent, we proceeded to practice the processional several times to make sure everybody was comfortable with the path and flow of the ceremony. The rehearsal really ran longer than I expected it to but I was happy that we did what we did. The less unknown items at this time would make it easier for everybody tomorrow. I had to do a quick dash back to the house because some of our guests have a lead foot and I wanted to be the first one back at the house to greet them. My fiance, MOH and I came up with a plan of attack on the drive back to ensure the food stuffs would start getting heated immediately, the salad were cut and prepped and the folding chairs were out and ready to receive some hungry people. After everything was said and done, I was so glad that everything ran smoothly and people were eatting to their hearts delight. After saying goodnight to the majority of the guests, my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Gene stayed behind so I can run through all of the items with them to point out what was what. I'm really glad they were able to rent a mini van because boy did I have a lot of stuff! After packing up the ceremony things in my Aunts car and the reception things in my mothers car I started having a mild panic attack. Up until now, I had control of all of my wedding items and it was a very surreal feeling to let all of that planning, stress and joy go and depend on others to set it up for me. Aren't I a control freak? My bridesmaids and I really didn't spend a whole lot of time after the dinner to chill because we were really tired, it was late, and we all needed to get up super early the next morning. We agreed that we'll have to come back and have another girl party for DDR and nooshing since it wasn't accomplished tonight. By this time tomorrow, I'll be married to my best friend and we can start a new chapter in our lives. =) | AuthorHello. My name is Mrs. FU. I am a craft addict ArchivesJuly 2011 CategoriesAll |