Sewn Together: Magical Makeup Power!

I woke up, alone in a huge suite, on the morning of our wedding day. It was really, really early. And since I obviously could not fall back asleep, I first spent some time in prayer. I watched the still-slumbering streets of Waikiki from the lanai, taking in the perfectly warm morning weather with a relaxed, calm mind.

I booted up the laptop and waited for the internet to behave itself - and read all the beautiful comments and emails of encouragement and support that everyone sent. It was the perfect start to our wedding day, and I cannot fathom a better one. Thank you.

But eventually I got hungry.

After showering, I went downstairs to my parent's suite and consumed half a loaf of sugar-glazed Hawaiian bread with some fresh-brewed hotel coffee. I awkwardly dodged my parents attempts at getting me to share how I was feeling. I've never been good at sharing my emotions, especially if they are of the mushy variety. In fact, I forbade Sak from even holding my hand when we were around people I knew for the first five years of our relationship. I guess I couldn't turn on the sappy, even on my wedding day.

Anyway, upon the arrival of our hair and makeup artist, Dorys, it was time to get ready.

The whole process went by quickly as the Maleana team worked magic on two mothers, one sister and one bride. It was very similar to the trial session I had, and she had all the shades we used last time written down. Apparently I got one shade darker on my face! How's that for a couple days on an island!

Sak showed up at some point, and someone forced a camera into his hands since he was just standing around.

He took some pictures of us ladies, at least until he got hungry.

There would be no grand, emotional "first look" for us - and I'm okay with that. We are the type to embrace the process just as much as the end result, so I think it is fitting he was around to watch me get made-up.

Dorys started with my hair. Like a good bride, I remembered the no-wash rule that morning!

An assistant did my mom's makeup in the meantime.

Yay, I've got pretty curls!

Next, Sak's mom took a spin in the magical chair.

And after a huge wad of concealer, I headed to the bathroom for some airbrushing!

Dorys also airbrushed my shoulders in an attempt to even out the nasty sunburn I had accumulated at the zoo and beach. Yeowch.

Now what about my sweet little sister?

Well, she had quite the experience during her makeover.

But does she approve?

That's a yes, believe it or not.

With the fine spray of foundation applied, it was back to the chair for finishing touches.

Who is this person?!

Dorys added my homemade hair flower and some lip color, and we were finished! Bravo, Dorys - a true makeup artist.

And lastly, to celebrate our new fancy selves - my mom and I snacked on some poke and sushi. So, so good.

I look entirely too excited. Let's get this day started!

(Photos courtesy various family members)

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.

Escort to the Photobooth, Please

One of the best parts of planning an at-home reception is being able to use all the cool ideas you found but never got to use the first time.

Starting with the DIY photobooth. It's been done by many a Bee in the past, but I happened to use Mrs. Pin Cushion's version for a starting point.

And yes, it's possible to fit 10-foot poles in a little Prius. Barely.

I won't bother with our measurements since they were ad-libbed - adjusted to fit our tallest guest and the width of the Ikea fabric we bought. It's pretty cool fabric, actually.

Though I admit we only bought it for Godzilla-type shots:

Rawwwrrrrr!

I also grabbed three red boxes at Ikea to fill with our props. There's a lot of props - what can I say? You'll have to wait and see what sorts of props, considering I don't have them all collected yet. But dinosaur hats are a given, rest assured!

Idea number two comes straight from Miss Glasses and her Japanese snack favors. I bought a couple of cute bento boxes from Daiso, with plans to fill them with our escort cards. I'll get to re-use the boxes later, yay!

For escort cards, we bought 5 cases of Pocky and gave each person a chocolate pack with their name on it.

The nametag will eventually point to the guest's table, where one is free to sit where one wants.

I say, what's the point of all this inspiration if you never get to use any of it? I'm thankful to everyone's great ideas, obviously!

What projects have inspired you, to the point of including them in your celebration?

Wedding Favor Redux

While I do the pro-pic wait, let's do some more projects, shall we? Projects are fun.

We'll start with favors for our fast-approaching second reception. There's just something about personalized favors that I love. Sure, they are by no-means necessary, but they can be so fun to make, give, and receive. It must be some side effect of that paraphernalia-collecting disease I'm afflicted with.

Anyway, we needed something usable, Chinese restaurant-appropriate, and of course something that can embody the saka-spirit.

Tea favors it is - now off we go!

To start off, we ordered a bunch of metal tins from SKS Bottle.

Then we picked up several different kinds of tea from our local Asian grocery store, and sampled them all. We chose green, genmai, jasmine and chrysanthemum - since they were available in big packs and not sketchy like oolong.

After designing a tea packet template, I doodled all over it. Sak suppressed a smile and tried to tell me they were too weird. Of course they are weird. We printed them out on recycled printer paper to ease a little bit of the guilt of using way too much paper. Sorry trees!

We cut them out and folded them into little pockets.

Here's the four different designs, along with their inner flaps:

After we folded 600 pieces of paper, we took a break to staple on new tags over the existing tea tags. Rebranding!

Then we stuffed the bag into the folded packet, and finished by tucking in the last flap.

Going back to the tins now, we put two almond cookies in the bottom of each. Who doesn't like some munchies with their tea?

In went one packet of each flavor. I didn't size the packets quite right though, so there was a little squashing involved to get them to fit in the tin.

We cut out some tags in black and white cardstock, and prepared to do the stamp-emboss. I custom ordered the 1" stamp from here. Obscure aside - can anyone name the anime the design was derived from?

After embossing, we punched some holes and cut some ribbon to wrap around our tin.

Here, have a tea favor!

And 149 more!

What's your favorite type of tea? Or are you like Sak, on team hot-choco-would-be-better?

Sewn Together: Wal-Mart Bachelorette

I'm the last person to use the "tacky" word. If you like it, and it won't cause physical pain to others - then do it.
But I've got to say, this one is really pushing my limits.

Why yes, I went to Wal-Mart in Hawaii, saw a pack of bubbles and said, "Cool. Bubbles would be fun!". And yes, I brought some ribbon with me to tie on the ends for a cute look. And yes, when I opened the package up in the hotel, there was a big fat bar code and Wal-Mart advertisement permanently printed to each and every tube.

Really, Wal-Mart? Could you not have just placed your name and bar-code on the packaging like normal people?! Is it that crucial to advertise on poor little wedding bubbles?!

What do you think? Is the "T" word justifiable in this case?

While a normal person would have returned the branded bubbles, my girl cousins and I opted to make it the goal of my bachelorette party - the night before my wedding.

Armed with some pina coladas, Kahlua coffee and some special Hawaii-only pineapple Pretz, three lovely cousins holed up in the wedding suite to work.

First, we tried covering the printing with some cute tape I had brought.

But the tape wasn't so strong, and refused to stick to the tube.

Second, we tried using nail-polish remover to wipe the ink away.

But the ink was too strong, and while it made the printing lighter, it was still quite visible.

Determined not to let their poor cousin walk down the aisle to funky bubbles - Cousin T had the idea of painting the tubes. You know, because she just so happened to bring acrylics and brushes in her luggage.

No really, she did. I'm lucky that she's an artist who never leaves home without being well equipped!

The girls painted red hearts and flowers over the heinous letters, and I think they came out quite wonderfully:

And thus, by two AM the morning of my wedding day, the girls had saved the day.

See that bloody blobish one in the middle? All me.

It's not really what most people think of when the words "bachelorette party" comes to mind - but I can think of no better way for a penga to spend her last single night, then by solving some crazy problem in the company of loved ones.

Oh - and if you're wondering what Sak was up to - I got was a phone call also around 2 am with a voice saying "I have a headache and am going to bed". Apparently he was made to drink two shots of something or another, which in his case was two shots too many.

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.