Thank You Sew Much

We've reached the end! Thanks for following along! As you all know, the chaos that is my post wedding blog is over here! Would love to keep in touch!

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Wow, Hive. Finally full circle, it's been a year since my debut as a Blogging Bee. Happy New Year indeed!

2010 proved a most excellent year for us, and I will always remember you all for being such a huge part of my life. You know, in that honest, sentimental-yet-still-slightly-creepy fashion of virtual friendship. You welcomed me in, solved all my problems, sent me off, and welcomed married-me back again. You even shared your love with Mr. Sew, though the silly man remained too chicken to stop lurking and create an account. And know that I hold you responsible for giving him the biggest ego ever, seriously.

But now that the wedding is over and re-capped, it's time for us Sews to go back to the underground we came from. Who knows what's in store for us next, but God willing, we'll be hand-in-hand to explore, tackle, chew on, and sew together whatever-it-may-be.

Before I go - I wanted to share my very favorite wedding picture of the day. Which, oddly, is most definitely not Mr. Sew's favorite picture.

(Photo by Terra Photography)

If you need us odd-balls for anything, you can find our post-wedding blog here at Sakacon.com. We love friends, new or old!

Hive, thank you for all the support, advice, commiserating, ideas, and love you have shown both of us this past year. I wish you all the best joy and blessings in your own marriages!


Our wedding, recapped:

• We took care of some last minute DIY details, and officialized everything.
• We vacationed with our out-of-towners, and threw a yummy welcome beach brunch.
• Mr. Sew saluted an angry dragon during our wedding rehearsal, and we sniffed at our dinner.
• Wal-Mart crashed my bachelorette.
• The women magically transformed, and Mr. Sew tied me into our dress.
• There was a windy photoshoot on the beach, and then we hung out at the chapel in flat shoes.
• We marched to the altar and got married.
• Everyone was camera-happy.
• Reception time! A bustle for our first dance, and then it was time to eat.
• I wore a kimono, and then fed some lions.
• We tried a bouquet pull, which didn't go as planned. Coincidentally, neither did our cake feeding.
• Everyone yelled banzai before Rick-rolling on the dance floor.
• Details: ceremony and reception
• Our wedding movie!
• Honeymoon in Japan: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4
• Back at home! Reception Part 1 & 2

Sewn Together: At-Home Reception Part 2

Round Two! Go, go, power reception!

Once everyone was finished stuffing themselves for dinner, desserts were brought out. Isn't it amazing how there's always room for dessert?

China Stix's mango flan is simply amazing with it's delicious pureed mango on the top, and I ate two cups.
The dessert table was also a huge hit, mostly thanks to Penga-Aunt's fantastic homemade cookies.

They went so fast I didn't get to try them all, so she made me a special batch of everything this Christmas. The jam thumbprints are probably my favorite. So delicious!

Cookie line!

Penga-Aunt restocking her delectable sweets.

We had all our favorites, actually. From mini princess cakes...

IKEA sells them in a box, how awesome is that?

to tres leches cake!

Stocked up on sugar, my sister then helped break out the bingo. Deemed too "unclassy" by Sak for the actual wedding, it was fair game for this party. And even better, there happened to be like 20 children under the age of 12 in attendance, so bingo was a solid kid-friendly activity.

I bought pre-cut bingo cards from Daiso, which made for an easy and dot blotter-less way to play. And inside about a dozen or so leftover chair cover bags, Penga-Mom put random (and I do mean random) small prizes.

Someone gave Penga-Sis the microphone, and I'm only sorry no one videotaped her hammed-up performance.

"Tweeeellllveee. Seven plus five is Twellllveee."

Maybe because she was surrounded (by the most part) by people she knew well, she really went wild with the theatrics. She had the crowd, most of whom were itching at that point from lack-of-world-series watching, in complete stitches.

Prizes ranged from (much coveted) Pokemon figurines, to Japanese toilet deodorizing drops (they work like magic, I tell you). It was pretty hilarious.

Let's see...A frog planter, Star Wars puzzle, stuffed turkey,  coffee and mug, and My Little Pony!

Once all the prize bags had been claimed, emcee Penga-bro called everyone's attention to the photobooth and our four boxes of props. It's evident that we made the backdrop width much too short, but all the crazy photos split my sides regardless.

Mario...and pink Luigi?

"I know what you did last summer!"

Wand ear-swabs.

Mom?!

Honestly I have no idea where half the props even came from.

Operator? Operator?

Twinsies!

A photobooth also doubles as a talent show.

Domo? Wait, I think that's some Pretzels in disguise!

"Bring on the Mushmom!"

Banana?

Nevermind Mothma, Godzilla fights his cousin!

What?

What?!

Oh, photobooth.  You are the best wedding trend since big fat wedding cakes. I hope you stay around forever, because you make me laugh and smile so much.

We had a wonderful second reception, as unpolished and mish-mashed as it was.  So for those of you planning your own - no, it won't be the same as your wedding, but it can be something equally awesome in it's own special way.   Food and laughter is really all you need. And you might even get away with laughter alone if your friends and family aren't voracious carnivores like mine.

(All photos by family members)

Our wedding in review:

• We took care of some last minute DIY details, and officialized everything.
• We vacationed with our out-of-towners, and threw a yummy welcome beach brunch.
• Sak saluted an angry dragon during our wedding rehearsal, and we sniffed at our dinner.
• Wal-Mart crashed my bachelorette.
• The women magically transformed, and Sak tied me into our dress.
• There was a windy photoshoot on the beach, and then we hung out at the chapel in flat shoes.
• We marched to the altar and got married.
• Everyone was camera-happy.
• Reception time! A bustle for our first dance, and then it was time to eat.
• I wore a kimono, and then fed some lions.
• We tried a bouquet pull, which didn't go as planned. Coincidentally, neither did our cake feeding.
• Everyone yelled banzai before Rick-rolling on the dance floor.
• Details: ceremony and reception
• Our wedding movie!
• Honeymoon in Japan: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4
• Back at home! Reception Part 1

Sewn Together: At-Home Reception Part 1

I never found a real guideline for how to plan a second reception (though Mrs. Pretzel helped me figure it out, retrospectively). I guess it's more a regular party than an expected set of traditions like it's more formal cousin, the wedding reception. And I think that's what our at-home reception was - a chaotic party (revolving mostly around food).

It was raining buckets, Saturday October the 22nd in Santa Clara. We arrived at China Stix with an hour of set-up time, only to find some of our guests were already there. Clearly not everyone was running on "Asian-time" as I had hoped. The early guests apparently wanted to help setup though, so they pestered me on what to do as I tried to wrap my head around the situation. I had brought loose seating charts with me, but had no prior knowledge to how the room would be laid out, so it was a challenge.

Penga-Sis: DOC.

My brother and cousins set up our photobooth while my aunts, grandmother and mom worked their magic on the dessert table.

I laid out a tea tray for guests to sign in silver Sharpie. Also on the table were some photo albums from the wedding for guests to look at.

The tea tray about half-way signed. It's quite pretty in all it's silvery glory now!

And the tables were minimally set with favors, buttons (this time professionally printed and with less wedding and more Zelda, Ewoks and Mario Boo's) and double happiness tealight holders with table names taped to the back. We went with Japanese cities, and each held a picture of us at the respective place.

My sister greeted people at the front door, handing out Pocky escort cards.

Checking out the favors!

Then my uncle prayed over the food, and we ate.

And ate.

And ate.

And ate. (Our wedding pictures and movie played in the background.)

That's curry, in a pumpkin! Definitely one of the favorites of the night.

And we cut up the lechon gifted to us by family friends, to eat some more.

There was so much food (about 11 dishes in all!), the servers didn't even bring out rice or tea or water (unless the table asked for it) because there was no room. I didn't even make it to the last two dishes for feeling stuffed!

We drank fantastic blood-orange soda and sparkling apple cider.

Some tables drank a whole lot of the blood-orange soda, actually.

You can find it at some Costcos. We checked about 10 of them for the stuff.

It was delicious. And the leftovers were so very tasty over the next few days. Most of the guests took their leftovers home too, so there was very little waste!

I must say, the best part of having a party close to home is that you can go back for the food more often! Yum!

(All photos by family members)

Our wedding in review:

• We took care of some last minute DIY details, and officialized everything.
• We vacationed with our out-of-towners, and threw a yummy welcome beach brunch.
• Sak saluted an angry dragon during our wedding rehearsal, and we sniffed at our dinner.
• Wal-Mart crashed my bachelorette.
• The women magically transformed, and Sak tied me into our dress.
• There was a windy photoshoot on the beach, and then we hung out at the chapel in flat shoes.
• We marched to the altar and got married.
• Everyone was camera-happy.
• Reception time! A bustle for our first dance, and then it was time to eat.
• I wore a kimono, and then fed some lions.
• We tried a bouquet pull, which didn't go as planned. Coincidentally, neither did our cake feeding.
• Everyone yelled banzai before Rick-rolling on the dance floor.
• Details: ceremony and reception
• Our wedding movie!
• Honeymoon in Japan: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4

Sewn Together: The Movie!

When my family friend said he was building a portfolio for his new videography business, and wanted to use us Saks as guinea pigs - you better believe we were excited!

Ross was super professional, and one of the quickest, most attentive responders of all our vendors and friendors. He asked us repeatedly for our input, things we liked, didn't like, songs, etc. - but I tried to stay vague! After all, it was his portfolio - I wouldn't want to weird-it-up with some wacky request for synchronized lightsaber fights.

But you know what? Even without any direction from me - I think he captured our spirit perfectly. Check out our highlights video:

First reaction I had - "Awesome song, what is it?" Answer: White Dress by Ben Rector.

First reaction Sak had - "Is that a giggle I hear after our "salute"? BWAHAHAHA"

Oh man.

Anyway, the full-length vido is just as awesome, and I'm so thankful for all the time Ross and his sister (who was second-shooting) put into our lifetime keepsake! If you're in need of a videographer and are within the Central Coast - San Diego areas, you should definitely check him out at http://www.rossweddingfilms.com/.

And with that, I think I've covered just about everything from our crazy Hawaiian wedding. It was a fast-paced whirlwind of laughter and fun, and to ask for a better day would not only be incredibly selfish, but pretty much impossible! Thanks so much for helping us make it what it was, and for allowing me to share the results with you!

Up next - a quick look at another crazy party - our second reception!

Our wedding week in review:

• We took care of some last minute DIY details, and officialized everything.
• We vacationed with our out-of-towners, and threw a yummy welcome beach brunch.
• Sak saluted an angry dragon during our wedding rehearsal, and we sniffed at our dinner.
• Wal-Mart crashed my bachelorette.
• The women magically transformed, and Sak tied me into our dress.
• There was a windy photoshoot on the beach, and then we hung out at the chapel in flat shoes.
• We marched to the altar and got married.
• Everyone was camera-happy.
• Reception time! A bustle for our first dance, and then it was time to eat.
• I wore a kimono, and then fed some lions.
• We tried a bouquet pull, which didn't go as planned. Coincidentally, neither did our cake feeding.
• Everyone yelled banzai before Rick-rolling on the dance floor.
• Details: ceremony and reception

Sewn Together: Details Part 2

Ready? It's the details, reception edition!

Some last minute paper stars I made to throw around here and there.

As guests entered, they picked up their escort card bookmarks from the front table.

(Photo by family)

(Photo by family)

Our homemade buttons were a big hit!

With their bookmarks in tow, they made their way to the tables.

I was really pleased at how cute our centerpieces came out, especially since the mock-up hadn't been too promising (odd camera shot, I'm guessing. Things never look the same as they do in real life). However, I am a little bummed that they forgot to add the ferns I had waxed on and on about. Can't win them all, I suppose.

Each table had a guestbook canvas for people to draw on.  Along with a glass of custom pencils for doing the program puzzles.

Pencil in action? (Photo by family)

A place setting with place card and cometa ribbon candy flower.

And our crazy table names of engineering numbers.

By the end of the night, all the numbers had been passed around and used as flashcards by the many engineers amongst our friends and family.

(Photo by family)

As for the button pins,we should have made more Pokeballs!

(Photo by family)

And of the 156 chair-cover bags we made, I can now honestly say there are only two left. Just for the two of us! They were so interesting (also read: weird), that one of the venue managers pulled Sak aside to ask how they worked. And if there's ever a sure-fire way to make an engineer happy, it's to ask him how something works.

There was my upcycled strawberry garter.

And the adorable Keroro and Tamama plushies made by Cousin T.

Along with another parasol made with this method, also a gift from Cousin T.  Hers came out so much better than mine - love the swirly letters!


(Photo by family)

 Indeed - we were a very, very happy couple. With lots of fun details to remember making!  And even better - hardly any leftovers at all.  I didn't mind one bit that people had trouble giving us hugs on the way out, because their arms were so full of swag they wanted to take. Even the origami lotus tea lights found homes! Though I would have been satisfied even if no one took anything, I must say - it does make one feel good to see her hard work enjoyed by others.  I guess not all guests overlook the details.  Either that or my mom told everyone to take stuff home to keep the bride from crying. Who knows!

(Unless otherwise noted, all images by Terra Photography)

Our wedding week in review:

• We took care of some last minute DIY details, and officialized everything.
• We vacationed with our out-of-towners, and threw a yummy welcome beach brunch.
• Sak saluted an angry dragon during our wedding rehearsal, and we sniffed at our dinner.
• Wal-Mart crashed my bachelorette.
• The women magically transformed, and Sak tied me into our dress.
• There was a windy photoshoot on the beach, and then we hung out at the chapel in flat shoes.
• We marched to the altar and got married.
• Everyone was camera-happy.
• Reception time! A bustle for our first dance, and then it was time to eat.
• I wore a kimono, and then fed some lions.
• We tried a bouquet pull, which didn't go as planned. Coincidentally, neither did our cake feeding.
• Everyone yelled banzai before Rick-rolling on the dance floor.
• Details: ceremony