Michelle & David 04.28.07

[mrsddn]

this is a cross post from my xanga, but i hope you all enjoy the pictures and the reviews!

getting ready/house ceremony
i had 2 different makeup artists, one for the BMs, and one for me, mainly cuz the 1st lady i booked i didnt really like the look she gave me, and since i was bound by contract, i had her still do my BMs makeup. it was a little hectic in the morning cuz my makeup took longer than expected, and the hair took longer than expected too.. but it all worked out in the end cuz the roasted pig was an hour late. but we had to rush through the house ceremony in order to make it in time for church.
http://a933.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/19/l_245d271d0cb235e549afcbb5136ad4c4.jpg
here i am, finally ready and cheesin for the camera.
http://a898.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/3/l_771195770edb1d23c92d1dca49679b41.jpg
here are the hot boys outside my parents' house

http://a488.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/44/l_2317d9240ca77699d8f00348b8a6706f.jpg
us leaving my parents' house to go to the church

[mrsddn]

church ceremony
since we were short on time, we rushed over to church to make it exactly at 1:30pm when church was set to start. only problem was, there was a misunderstanding w/ the florists, and they thought mass was supposed to start at 2pm, so the pews weren't decorated, and the beautiful arches i insisted on having weren't up yet :( i was sad, but what can u do at that point. the florist was really upset, i think moreso than i was!!! in the end, it was fine, what wedding doesn't have glitches right? point is, i was gonna get married! woohoo!
http://a124.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/48/l_8ea327442526df41e832c4d525499beb.jpg
here's david and i in the limo on the way to the church!
http://a391.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/6/l_8af98c0957913a279552fa15d65f5a86.jpg
my adorable ringbearer kyle + flowergirl sydney walking down the aisle w/ their bride + groom buildabears. i was soooooo proud of them!!!!

[mrsddn]

http://a925.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/44/l_fc87c705b4dcf868d0cf934c2d08321c.jpg
my mommy + daddy waiting to walk me down the aisle. i especially wanted the chance to have both my parents walk me down the aisle. it was very special for me!
by the way, the covering my face w/ the veil -- HATED it. omg. throughout half the mass i kept having to try to be subtle about blowing the veil out of my face and eyes cuz it kept getting stuck on my eyes and my nose. plus i had such a hard time doing the readings b/c i couldn't SEE!!!! definitely should have practiced reading w/ the veil over my face!!! ahahah
http://a629.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/26/l_34ff824c809140554d489c2ba704ee2c.jpg
saying our vows. this was done in all vietnamese.......which was hard for david. but he practiced the night before and was amazingly great!!!!!
http://a583.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/1/l_cd0705baa39b0370a1578858af5e694e.jpg
the wedding party...... i heart this picture! hope the pro pics turn out good!!

[mrsddn]

reception
lemme tell u the definition of chaos. chaos is 600 people all coming at the same time trying to find their names on placecards and take a picture w/ us. and throw in people with 20 different aliases as is the case w/ vietnamese people. it was at times pandemonium!! but anyway, more pics
http://a473.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/1/l_fff163d8a493344fd443a52ecf6e04f8.jpg
the beautiful arches that were supposed to be at the church. they were the place of our picture area.
http://a560.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/30/l_28a23507c2b84109f0e8c07ea1eb24a7.jpg
the head table + cake table all in pink & browns
http://a449.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/41/l_40c42b0fd12b89f33e9cc64a0795cb68.jpg
some of the tables. we were in the middle of putting table #s/menu cards on the tables, so u can see a few of them on the tables in the back.
lemme just say, going table-to-table to greet 600 guests was a pain in the butt, esp. when ppl decided to do 5 minutes speeches. thus, the greeting went so long that by the time we were able to cut the cake most of the adults went home! party poopers! hahah
so after we cut the cake, i had a surprise for my husband. my brother-in-law and i have been working on playing the guitar together the past few months. i sang "better man" by robbie williams b/c it's the first song he sang to me when we first met. check out the original on youtube. it's a beautiful song. http://a803.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/8/l_5ecf39ebc64c2ee31eff2dec95e968d2.jpg
so here i am, singing to david. he's mesmerized. i wasn't nervous at all, b/c all i saw was him looking at me!

[mrsddn]

http://a840.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/8/l_b718d1bc56bcfe4f6f502327b1ec8167.jpg
us listening to my beautiful MOH yen's speech, which was an intro to their great SURPRISE for me & david. i had really wanted a slideshow for our wedding but w/o time or the resources (i couldnt find a projector at a reasonable price to rent), i decided not to have one. yen went and picked out old pics of me n david, linda helped put together a slideshow, chau helped get the screens, and they all had me fooled!!! when i saw the slideshow, i immediately started crying!!!!! it was the first time i had cried all day, b/c it had sooooo much meaning for us. i still tear up every time i think about it b/c it was worth more than any amount of money. they put so much effort into making this whole wedding special for me, and i love them so much!!!

http://a967.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/6/l_0b93e9c906dd8e55354e38e1ce20e1be.jpg
our first dance. it's funny, my daddy had dreaded the father-daughter dance so much (cuz he can't dance AT ALL), and he was lucky that it was soooo late into the night when we finally got to it, that i just asked him to give me away to david. thanks to fahd for capturing david kissing me during our dance
http://a266.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/62/l_4d91c86dcb7ef1d901610995187de891.jpg
a few group pics. thank goodness my gfs were able to catch me for a few pics! lhttp://a51.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/6/l_df25a317e3322b48df6b2c31ab8c5c52.jpg
all the BMs + jen and linda!

even tho i ate like 2 eggrolls and a bowl of soup the whole day, i couldn't have been happier. i was surrounded by people i loved and who loved me and i had my dream (albeit at times crazy) wedding.
i have lots more pics but too tired to add them. i'll post some more later.
here's a quick vendor review:
wedding dress: anna's bridal, it was a mori lee. i ended up having to get a 2nd alteration 1 1/2 wks before the wedding b/c i had lost weight the final month w/ all the stress that the waist was too big and my chest was going to pop out. the bust still felt weird to me, but i dont know if that was just the way the dress was designed. the dress was a B, and the vendor was a B+, mainly cuz the alterations + steaming cost a pretty penny, and they have 2 locations, so at times my dress wasn't where it was supposed to be when they were done w/ alterations, which was frustrating.
bridesmaids dresses: david's bridal, it was a simple strapless baby pink dress i got on sale for $99, and i bought them a year before our wedding. i had no problems w/ david's bridal, but the dresses needed major alterations. A. My aunt altered the dresses, and I give her an A++++
sashes: www.romanticflowers.com (http://www.romanticflowers.com/) i bought a big roll of chocolate brown satin sash, which was enough for my 4 BMs, my flowergirl, and the money basket. it was inexpensive, beautiful, shipping was fast as i remembered. A
reception: www.kimson.com (http://www.kimson.com/) if we had known that we were gonna have such a large reception, we would have booked it at their newest location. at any rate, the banquet manager, minh, was so awesome to work with. i was calling him several times a day within the last 2 wks and he was always happy to help me. but the main location where we had the wedding definitely was a squeeze for 60 tables, so guests in the back wings had a difficult time seeing the center stage. but great service. A-
florists: www.bestvillaflorist.com (http://www.bestvillaflorist.com/) these 2 guys were so nice and obviously loved their job. i was sad about the misunderstanding about the time of the church ceremony, but their flowers were sooo sooooooo beautiful, no words to describe. they are great at what they do. A-
photographer/videographer: www.3dvideoandphoto.com (http://www.3dvideoandphoto.com/) mr. thao did our wedding portraits and i loved his pictures. i am still waiting to see the pro pics and of course the wedding DVD. we did instant photos at the wedding as our thank-you for our guests and we hope our guests liked them!!
makeup: i used christopher from le cle de peau (luxury line of shiseido) at sak's fifth avenue from a recommendation from j, one of my BMs. i felt like i was glowing the whole day. and he was so much fun to work with. A
hair: i asked my long time stylist to do my hair. kimlan from tranquility salon. kimlanhair@gmail.com (kimlanhair@gmail.com) she is soo sweet and knows what she is doing. i changed my vision for my hair last minute and she was more than willing to appease me. i love her! A
placecards/table cards: www.paper-source.com (http://www.paper-source.com/) i bought like a zillion chocolate brown cardstock to make placecards and table cards. i love this website!! plus the cute packaging!!!!! A

[mariaandmanish]

The pictures are beatiful!! I loved your tables, and that arch was totally gorgeous!! I'm sure your pro pics are going to shine!!

[NicksBride]

WOW! That looks amazing. So elegant. You and your husband look so happy and how romatic you were able to sing him a song. I bet it was just fantastic. I love your colors and the reception was so beautiful. Congratulations and thank you for sharing your day!

[4424]

your pictures are great! i can't believe you could sing a song to your husband. that's so romantic and a wonderful memory i'm sure! everything looks beautiful!

[mrsddn]

hi everyone!! thanks!! i had such a great time at the wedding (aside from a few moments of irritation, but nothing to the sort of bridezilla mode). i was so happy. and it truly was my dream wedding.

as for the singing of the song, i really wasnt nervous at all once i started singing, cuz the whole time i just kept my eyes on him!

my sister in law was able to record it so u can actually hear and see me singing it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m6MhX_DRsE

the audio quality is pretty bad. but i'm so happy to have this memory cherished forever!

[KMS]

Oh my...watching the video on youtube made me a little teary eyed! What an awesome memory. I'm so glad that somebody was able to record it for you. The whole wedding was very pretty! KimSon is one of my favorite restaurants. I love to go there and to Mai's for Vietnamese food! I bet that your guests were very happy with the food!

[shelbyoliver]

Oh my gosh!!! Your whole wedding was soooo pretty! You are such a beautiful bride! =) You can see how much you two love each other through the photos! Congrats!

[Nekochanpurr]

Everything is soooooooooo pretty! It must've been crazzzzzzzy with 600 guests!! But hey, i bet it felt great that so many people loved you (or at least liked you enough!!) to be at your wedding! *^^*