Wedding is well over now. I am back to work this week... crap! while john still has one more week of vacation. crap crap! we sent my sister and her hubby home last sat. the house is almost back to normal... almost (my parents are still here). at least we get our room back. furniture is re-arranged back to it's original place. everything seems pretty normal except the office is now my parent's bedroom. at least for another month and a half.
I must say it is nice to have my parents here living with us. my mom is helping with all the house chores. it is nice to have lunch and dinner ready when i get back form work. i've been coming home everyday at lunch ever since i started working with this new company (it is only about 5-10 min drive). the best part is, i have different dishes for lunch and dinner. yes, no same ol' leftover food from dinner last night or 2 nights ago. even better, i have soup to go with my meals.... almost every meal, soup is served. yep, i know ... i am that lucky, but this is only temporary :( but who cares. i'll enjoy it as long as i can. :) However, on the flip side ... it is a little weird having them around after so many years of living abroad. It was more awkward for john since he is alone at home with my parents this whole week without knowing how to communicate with them. so today he finally went out bought a book on how to sign, which he got yelled at by me for wasting money.
some posting about the wedding... it was very successful i must say. Many people complimented on how great the wedding was... and some even said it was the best wedding they have ever been to. :) surprisingly, i was able to have great fun at my own wedding. i was very calm and not stressed at all. i was stressed the week before the wedding, i must admit. 2 days before the wedding, i had "stress hives"!!! listen up people, stress hive. what the hell is that? I have never heard of it before either. I woke up on thurs (wedding is on sat) with my arms and legs covered with red spots. I showed it to my co-worker, they told me it's stress hive. There is no other explanation for that. It slowly went away and when saturday come, it was all gone. Till now, I still have no clue how I got it and what causes it. Whatever it is, I would like to think it's stress hive. Sounds cooler ;)
On rehearsal night, I felt horrible. I was not able to enjoy the rehearsal dinner which john's parents were so kind to take us all to a very nice restaurant by the lake, Boccaccio's. The setting was beautiful, the atmosphere was warm. Unfortunately, all I could think about that night was how awkward the situation was, with my bridesmaids, john's groomsmen, my family and johns family together in a room having dinner. It was going to be the 1st time our parents met too. I was nervous as hell. i was exhausted too from the many sleepless nights and nightmares i've been having ... so needless to say, i didn't enjoy it at all, all i wanted was for the night to end as quickly as possible. My new-brother in law was busy snapping away pictures.
ahhh.... beautiful westlake village inn
the aisle
the bridal party lining up for the rehearsal. haha i still remembered this part. i walked down with my dad, and when we reached john, my dad is supposed to shake Johns hand and give my hand to john. John took my hand over from my dad and shook my hand. lol... ann marie said we were doing it right except for the shaking hand part. She said just remembered not to shake her hand on the wedding day. :P well... what can i say? we were inexperienced..
our wrap-around patio
my sister posing in the room, yes that room is that big :D a small living area with warm fireplace
our comfy bed
i forced the smile in this one :)
our dinner menu for the night, which I didn't enjoy much. but according to the guests, the food was great. jocelyn took johann there the day after the wedding... so it was that good!
All pictures credit brother-in-law.
After the dreadful evening, john and I headed back to our deluxe suite at the Inn while the rest of my family went home. We were able to get a restful night and the next day, I was all ready for my big day. I seriously had a great time. I did't think I would, but I did and it felt so good. We took many many pictures... I am still waiting to see the professional pictures taken by Sir Harrison. Patiently waiting... :) I feel like a celebrity that day... chased by a bunch of papparazis. haha.. people said it felt like a celebrity wedding... is that a compliment or insult, go figure!
Ahh.... I was so lucky that my photographer brought along a videographer to shoot my wedding.... for FREE. I didn't have a budget for a videographer therefore we didn't hire one. I still remember john and I went back and forth whether it's worth hiring one. At the end we decided not to hire one and have a very good friend of mine shoot it for us instead. We are so fortunate that the day before the wedding, our photographer told us he will bring a professional videographer with him. So we have a professional video.... for free!! I wonder how it turned out.... I didn't expect much from it, as long as it documented the wedding day, I am grateful enough. I learned that, you missed a lot a lot of things that are going on around you on your wedding day. I didn't get to see my reception room before everyone entered. This is really important to me since I put a lot of thought into decorating table settings. Too bad I missed it.... because I was busy taking pictures. I missed how cute Jasmine was walking down the aisle with her flower basket forgot to throw petals until she reached where John stands, before she started throwing a handful of petals up the air. I also missed how cute Jacob was running down the aisle towards his mother. I missed alot. That day, I was just busy taking photos everywhere. I don't remember much about the wedding, I don't know why. I was so into the moment that I am not alert at my surroundings. I remembered at one point we were taking pictures, I got a call from Ann Marie (my day-of coordinator) asking for my wedding cake vendor's contact because the cake wasn't here yet. I panicked a little but since I was taking pictures I didn't have their contact to give Ann Marie. The ever-so-kind Ann Marie said she would look it up and take care of it. As soon as I was done with pictures, we went back to our room to rest and touch up before we walk. I grabbed my purse, found the business card, started calling her myself. To my horror, she told me that the cake had a fatal accident during the commute, and got damaged. However, they had quickly made a replacement and it was fast on it's way. She was very apologetic and kept re-assuring me that the cake will be there in no time. I don't know if anyone would believe me, but I WAS NOT mad at all. I told her it's ok because I know we won't be cutting the cake until after 9pm. We have plenty of time. Well, Ann Marie had found out before me and told John about it and warned him not to break this unfortunate news to me. The very honest John, who never keeps anything from me (if he does, i am not aware- and he will be in trouble) thinks that I needed to be told the truth, came into the room and told me. I just shrugged it off and told him that I found out minutes before. The only regret I have is wonder how the cake would look like if it was decorated by my florist. Since it arrived late, the florist had left, ann marie did the best she could with the flowers that the florist left for her to decorate.
if i am going to complain about this cake, then woe is me.
So all I can say is, I really did enjoy my wedding and I can't wait to see the pictures of all the details that I have put a lot of thoughts into it. The video! I want to see what happened around me that I have missed. That day was amazing.... the tables settings were beautiful with many candle lights, flower petals.. and oh did I mention that my florist did a wonderful job? The centerpieces were exactly what I have envisioned and my bouquet... oh my beautiful bouquet! Exactly what I wanted. I was so worried about how the flowers will turn out since I don't get to see a mock up before the wedding. I am not willing to pay extra $ to see a sample of centerpiece or a sample of my bouquet. That would be too anal. haha... So I trusted her, trusted her expertise and judgment.... but I am so glad that I took the risk and booked with her. She is awesome! I love you Kim!
Oh, did i mention that I was pissed at John before we took pictures? The girls were all ready, and it was time for our first meeting... but where are the guys?? They were nowhere to be found. They were not in the hotel lobby waiting like they said they would. All of us went to the lobby, and i had to hide in the salon until someone finally was able to get hold of John. I was mad but it was my wedding day. I didn't want to ruin the pictures. I do as what Sir told me to do... forget about the whole thing. I can yell at him later. :)
walking towards the stadium, you can see the huge crowd of people.
and more...
i had john took a picture for us, unfortunately it doesn't show how good our seats were. We had what they call it the field box seats.
Finally a picture to go with the title of the post.
who's this big guy? :)
really really cute model of a circus
we were all bored..... 
so we can play ring a duck.... :)
