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

Sewn Together: Line Dancing

Dim the lights and pump up the bass - it's dancing time!

But first - here's what you need to know about awkward people like us: we only dance to group or line dances.

So go ahead and pop a blood vessel at the thought - but about 80% of the songs during the dancing portion of our reception were line/group dances.

I think we played every song imaginable - Electric Slide, Cha Cha Slide, Cupid Shuffle, Macarena, YMCA, and some I hadn't even heard of before. Cringing yet? The only one we didn't play was the chicken dance, and only because Sak had put it on the "do not play list" along with Soulja Boy.

The Macarena was popular with the men, oddly.

Aunt vs. Niece battle.

Luckily, the dancers in the crowd didn't mind the overload of line dances, and the awkward dancers like us joined in on the fun. As "uncool" as line dances may be - I guarantee people will get up and boogie when they play. It's like shouting the lines of your favorite movie out with the rest of the crowd during a special showing - you just can't help it!

Seriously, young man, you just can't stop.

The DJ even had the videos up on the screen if you didn't know the moves!

Sak's cousin teaches him to dance.

Wait!



You!



All better.

Much later in the evening one of our friends thought it would be funny to do a Rick Roll (I know, it's old, yeah yeah-), so he requested it of our DJ. Of course, it's only natural to start a conga line, because if we're going to be cheesy dancers, we might as well go all out.

And it was fun - more fun than I thought dancing could be, seeing as we never do it and didn't even want to have dancing at all. We were skeptical when Sak's parents insisted on a DJ, but it wasn't the empty, awkward dance floor that I was scared of. Not at all.

We ended with Flash Dance. Just a tad bit random.

(All photos courtesy 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.
• 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.

Sewn Together: Banzai!

With everyone seated with cake and champagne, my very first college friend and Sak's roommate for two years stepped up to the microphone.

As our friend who knew us before we knew each other - he shared a short, sweet, and slightly silly sentiment before delivering his Japanese toast. Which was written on a piece of paper by Sak's dad the day before.

"Shinro shimpu Banzai! Banzai! Banzai!" (Long live the bride and groom)

He did a good job for not knowing Japanese.

Sak's uncle followed next - like a seasoned pro, he bellowed his banzai.

"Raihin shokun Banzai! Banzai! Banzai!" (Long live all the guests)

Then both Sak and I got up and did a on-the-fly thank you speech to various people. Even though I had a list of names to remember - it would be a smart idea to roughly go over what you are going to say beforehand. If only for the sake of smoothness!

Our program reaching the end - it was dancing time! But before us Saks could get our boogie on, we presented our crossword winners with their gift card prizes...

Of course, it would be my high school English teacher that won! She even used the "phone a friend" option!

Everyone was reminded to draw on our guestbook canvases...

(Photo by Terra Photography)

(Photo by Terra Photography, name blur was me)

Some guests weren't quite finished with the bubbles...

And of course we gave away our lovely fresh centerpieces. We decided that the person that wore the most red would be that table's winner.

Underwear was fair game, red napkins were not.

Anyway, can we dance now?

Oh wait. We forgot something, didn't we. Yeah, I think we ought to sign that marriage certificate.

Super official!

(Unless otherwise noted, all photos courtesy 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.
• 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.

Sewn Together: Cakie!

I loved just about everything regarding our lovely four-tiered and whip-cream covered cake. It's scrumptious layers of strawberry shortcake, mango passionfruit, red velvet and chocolate ganache made with light and fluffy spongecake.

The intricate op-amp diagram piped onto the corners just like Sak had designed.

The way our little power poles spiraled up the cake to the top.

Keroro and Tamama sitting together on a red heart under a lone LED streetlamp.

I loved everything.

Kristy, our amazing cake coordinator from Satura Cakes, dropped off Sak's "baby" to the venue, along with three sheet cakes of Mango Passionfruit, tiramisu and strawberry shortcake. We planned on 120 servings for 100 guests.

Our guests were really fascinated with our light-up cake. Even to the point of making Sak come to the microphone to "explain the significance".

He did his best to not turn our reception into a lecture on circuitry.

...After class was over, it was time to cut the cake.

That's good and all, except after we cut it, I only saw a plate nearby, and no fork or spoon with which to serve my husband.

(Photo by family) "Hmmm. What to do?"

So I fed him with the knife.

(Photo by family)

My family, no doubt ashamed of my behavior, say I look like the poster child for "bridezilla". Is this how my future grandchildren are to remember me? Oh well.

Sak, for some reason, decided to make me look extra evil. He walked around until he found a spoon, fed me, and then dabbed at my face with a napkin.

(photo by family)

Well, I guess he wanted to make it clear that he is a gentlemen and not a crude, knife pointing maniac.(I was told later we were supposed to have fed each other with our fingers. My bad.)

An awkward silence fell for a little bit after that exchange. I think people fully expected us to do some cake smashing next, what with the knife and all. I guess we're not the smashing type.

At the end of the night, all the sheet cakes were eaten, but our fabulous cake stood whole and uncut. I had failed to account for the large number of diabetics in attendence, and should have had a sugar-free alternative available. In any case, a friend walked up, confused. He didn't know about the sheet cakes, and was wondering what the heck he was eating, if not our big cake tower. After explaining the sheet cakes, he exclaimed that our cake "was a lie". Hardy har har.

During cleanup, we cut up the cake and started passing out huge chunks of cake to anyone still dancing around. There was a literal fight over the red velvet, I tell you. Most of it went home to family, my brother took some to share with the homeless, and all the out of town guests had enough cake to last them the rest of the trip.

We took our top tier of strawberry shortcake back to the hotel too. But once we got there, and found some cold-cut sandwiches and poke in the fridge from that morning; it suddenly sounded tastier than cake.
And thus, the story of how we failed to eat more than one bite of our wedding cake, which I was so-very-much looking forward to eating.

Luckily, there's a Satura Cake's here in Palo Alto, so maybe we'll get to eat our strawberry shortcake on our anniversary or something.

In summary -
1) Don't feed your new husband with a knife.
2) TRY to eat some of your cake on your wedding!

(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