This is manishd's Yellow Wedding!

I brought back about 250 of these from my trip to India. . Yellow and silver are going to be the main colours at the reception, with small touches of aqua\turquoise so I got these in 2 colours. They have mirrored designs on them.

We found them in t one of the many small alleys in Delhi, at Chandni Chowk. These were super cheap. The shopkeeper let me and my mom go into his stockroom and pick whatever we liked. They had thousands of sizes and shapes of these containers.

These have about a 2" diametre each. We will be filling them with either a single large candy or mini mints combined with candied fennel seeds.

We are going to put them at each place setting and unfortuntely I don't think we can really tag or label these. But thats a little less work for us so its okay.

So along with the photo booth, these take care of our favours for the reception.

We found a great deal on "linens" at Ikea for lunch tables after our ceremony.
They are actually twin size off white flat sheets with even sized hemming on all four sides.
The fabric has the light airy feel that I wanted for the lunch that will be served mainly outdoors.

My Mom, who is very creative with a paint brush, is going to paint a motif on the one side of each tablecloth, we haven't decided on whether we are going to paint birds or flourishes or our monograms. The design will hang over the edge on the end of each set of two tables.

*The lady in the lineup behind me was buying one of the same sheets,( i bought 28,) and she called her husband over,very loudly, saying "look how many sheets this girl is getting! can you believe it??" So of course the entire line-up starts bobbing their heads trying to see. I just found it funny because I was just so happy to not have to pay retail for rentals!*

These are the invites I found on the third last day of my trip in India and they made and delivered them to my door 3 days later (the day I was leaving for home) They had approx. 8 graphic designers on staff to make the changes you want on the spot. Within half an hour I had selected the cards and edited and worded the invites with the graphic designer, and paid the deposit. They are made of a heavy weight cardstock, partially recycled, and the envelope and inserts are in Gold, with the main invite in royal blue. There was a large swarovski crystal on the card in the centre of the flourish but I had it removed and put the date in there. They do not mach the rest of our colour scheme but they keep with the formal feel of the event. Interestingly enough, when we actually went into the showroom I was ready to throw in the towel after almost a whole frustrating day of searching. But my Dad insisted we go in there and actually it was the first showroom he had wanted to go in to! Anyhow I am glad I listened!

I love flowers but I really don't like the idea of corsages too much or the female boutonniere which I have seen at every wedding since 1997 for sure. Plus I really don't want anything to compete with the fabulous outifits that my Mom and Sisters are going to be wearing. So my plan is to get them all sandalwood fans, hanging from wide silk ribbon finished with a large single bloom like a peony. So they can wear them dangling form their wrists and still can easily be identified as a member of the family. Plus they can use them to cool down in the June heat!

CONTEXT: Last summer we went over to Vancouver Island to visit his parents and family. Thunder (his blog name) suggested we go up to Tofino and kayak around Clayoquot Sound for part of the weekend especially since his brother left all his brand new camping equipment for us to use (convienently) Plus he really wanted to go to Long Beach. I am not a camper, neither is he, but he so wanted to try it, I agreed. Especially since he somehow secured an awesome site right on the waterfront. Unfortunately it turned out to be a soggy cold weekend, but since it was summer I had only packed mainly just my DriFit gear for kayaking. I was freezing the entire time and to top it off, at night after a great BBQ, we realized we hadn't brought an air mattress. I attempted to sleep with just the sleeping bags and Thunder for comfort but at about 4 in the morning, we both woke up and slept in the car. The next morning was still freezing and I was so cold (and super grumpy) and stiff I suggest we cancel the scheduled kayaking and go visit his Grandma instead in her nice warm cozy house in the next town. But Thunder insisted we go, and so we did. Although, it was freezing the Sound was so beautiful and peaceful that I was able to ignore the cold. And something about being surrounded by the water and rowing tandem with Thunder always calms me right down. Its our greatest shared passion, and so I put up with the pellting rain while we were out in the ocean. But as soon as we rowed ashore I insisted that we head to his grandmother's straight away. Of course, at this point Thunder decides that he wants to stop off at Long Beach on the way to which I object to because I was soaking wet, and cold and hadn't showered in 2 days!! But he has been talking about it all weekend so I said yes. We walked around the beach for a bit when we got there and then we decided to climb the Whale Rock and check out the view.

SO HERE IT IS: He got really quiet when we were up there and I thought that was odd. When I turned to look at him he gave me this "look." And all I thought was "Oh God here it comes," and for some reason I quickly turned my back to him to not make eye contact because I knew if I looked at him everything I was feeling was going to spill over and I was going to start to cry. But he just walked around me until he was facing me and said "I had a reason for bringing you here today." And then I could feel the tears in my eyes and the knot in my throat. He pulled out the ring box, got down on one knee, opened the box, and asked me if I would be his wife? And that was the point where my vision blurred and my throat seized up. Tears were falling but I wouldn't open my mouth because I didn't want to start sobbing. I started mumbling with my lips tight together "are you sure?" (because I am in idiot) which of course made no sense to him and he starts panicking because i'm not saying yes and he says "I don't know what you're saying?" Which finally triggered my brain to start working together with my lips and I finally opened my mouth and said "YES" and then I just started sobbing. He put the ring on, and hugged me until I calmed down and then we both laughed like crazy. Now everytime I look at my "rock" I think of the Whale Rock where the best part of my life started.

This is a pic of FH's Outfit for the ceremony. Traditionally Grooms wear lighter colours but he wanted something that was a little bit sophisticated and I wanted him to wear something that was modern. His "aachken" as it is called, has a jacket that ends a couple of inches above the knee and comes with some beautiful straight cut dress pants. tradionally they are longer with tighter bottoms, and heavier in embrodery (like the ones in the background)
I had a double vent designed into the back of the jacket to accomodate FH's booty and to accomodate the "getting up and down" motions of the ceremony. I also had the back designed with 3 panels. The pants are a flat front without pockets, and are a co-ordianting silk. The fabric for the jacket is self-printed with a very masculine paisley print, difficult to see in the pic. The embroidery is silver and metallic thread with slight beading
I had it designed at Studio Janak in Delhi, where the salespeople and the master tailor were well versed with "North American" fit. And thanks to my background in made-to-measure, it is a perfect fit for FH, no touchups required!!! (we just need to find shoes now)

We have been fumbling around with the menu for quite some time now trying to get the right mix of western and eastern foods. We are so short on time and I am starting to panic. I mentioned it to our venue's co-ordinator and she reccomended getting 2 caterers, and said that it happens often at our venue. I instantly thought this was a great idea but I don't know how that would work? Should I get one caterer to do appies and dessert and the other to do dinner? Or should I get them both to contribute to every course? And what would the logisitcs be... Our current working menu is as follows:

Appy options
1.Mediterrannean Platter (toasted pitas, hummous, tzatziki and brushetta).
2.Chicken Tikka Skewers (chutney, yogourt and hot dipping sauces).
3.Smoked Salmon (served on mini toasts, pea shoots and lemon caper vinaigrette).
4.Mini Brandade (salt cod and potato cakes with dill creme fraiche).

Salads
1.Mixed Summer Greens (grainy Dijon vinaigrette).
2.Spinach Salad (mushrooms, bacon and honey sherry vinaigrette).
3.Butter Leaf Salad (chèvre, toasted walnuts, red wine vinaigrette).
4.Tabouleh Salad (couscous with mint citrus vinaigrette).
5.Baby Potato and Green Onion Salad (creamy Dijon vinaigrette).
6.Penne Salad (pesto and sun dried tomato balsamic vinaigrette).
7.Shaved Fennel and Citrus Salad (citrus vinaigrette).

Vegetarian Dishes (We have a lot of West Coast Vegetarians coming)
1.Vegetarian Lasagna
2.Baked White Bean and Tomato Cassoulet
3.Caramelized Onion and Black Olive Pissaladiere
4.Tomato, Chevre and fresh Basil Tart

Entrees
1.Mediterrannean style Tomato Braised Chicken with Olives and Feta
2.Whole Baked Side of Salmon Loaded with fresh Herbs
3.Thyme Marinated Gilled Flank Steak BBQ Style
4.Curry Thai Beef

Starches
1.Basmati or Jamine Rice Pilaf Style
2.Thyme and Rosemary Roasted New Potatoes
3.Potato Gratin

For dessert we are thinking of an ice cream bar with toppings the guests can add themselves and then having a live chef making hot Thai- style tempura bananas to go with the mango and green tea ice cream. For our midnight snack we are having mini burgers and fries from our fave take out place delivered!!!

Its not a bad menu so far but the prob is that the Asian dishes are not "authentic" enough for me and I know our mostly indian guests will be particular about that.. And our caterer is struggling with the banana thing. I am thinking that a second Asian caterer could do the desserts and probably do some great appies too. Input anyone...?

Well I made it back from India without an scratches and with a tonne of shopping done. Seriously!! And I saved so much money!!! I am going to post pics later but I was able to get the following there:

1. My wedding dress
2. Reception dress
3. Grooms ceremony outfit
4. Groomsmens suits
5. Bridesmaids outfits
6. Jewelry
7. Invitations

Hmmmm....my dress is being shipped out so I am a little nervous about it, since the whole thing is being custom made and all i have to go by is the conceptual drawing from the designer and some sample pieces of embroidery and fabric. I will post pics as soon as i can!

I am leaving this Saturday for three weeks of wedding shopping in Asia. And I am panicking!!! I had all these grand ideas of things I was going to buy and have custom made. Custom tablecloths and napkins! Custom made bridal shoes and purses! Silk fans for wedding guests to use during the ceremony. "Tears of joy" envelopes for the close female guests. But I haven't even finished getting all the bridal parties measurements!!! And I am working every day, and now that clients know I am gone for the rest of the month, my inbox is full, I don't even have time to blog here!! To top it off my parents are both coming along and they totally think we can do everything in a week and a half and then spend the rest of the time hanging out on the beaches of Goa. I don't want to disapoint them but I know that is not going to happen, our shopping list is way too big. Anyhow hopefully I will get some Steals that I can post and share. On a happier note, my colour scheme has finalised itself: I will where papaya, FH will wear Charcoal, Groomsmen in silver, bridesmaids in yellow, and orange will be our accent color. I've posted some pics that show the limited scope of my vision to date.

I am just wondering how many other brides have come across the dilemma of having to determine the importance of the wedding day. I have always thought every penny would be worth it because it was THE DAY. Lately though I catch myself thinking its only ONE DAY, do I really want to spend that much!!!

We had a budget that we had determined and were well on our way to sticking to it. But as we get closer to the date, there have been unexpected demands on our budget. Its not like we don`t have a substantial budget; We are spending around the $60K mark. And we are hosting only 200 people at the reception. However we are also purchasing our first house and paying for the wedding within months of each other, and I would really love to have money to decorate the house with!

I feel like its the most important day of my life ( to date ) and I think that it should be worth every penny we spend, but then another part of me seriously wants to just take off to some resort and have a small destination wedding for a fraction of the cost!! Please tell me I am not alone!!!