NinaNews!!!

(hah, what a pun!)

March 11, 1998

 

Save the date!

Jin and I booked a ballroom at the Universal Hilton in Universal City for September 19, 1998.

 

Why did we pick the Hilton? Severalfactors:

The Hilton's ballroom can handle 1,000 guests and can be divided into 4 smaller rooms. Jin and I picked the room toward one end of the space to minimize the chances that we'd have spillover from the other rooms. This ballroom, Ballroom A, also has it's own reception area at the main doors, so we won't be sharing space with competing events.

WEDDING RECEPTION TAKES OVER LIFE'

After Jin and I booked the reception, people toldus that would be the most difficult part of the wedding planningprocess: reception site and date. Well, did they forget the paininvolved in choosing vendors for the rest of the stuff? Especially ifyou're on a tight budget?

Jin and I are looking at inviting 200 people,about 60% family and parents' friends, 40% friends, and we have apretty small budget for the amount of people. Consequently, we'vedecided to leave out the bar and bring in our own champagne. Afterlooking at the prices for house sparkling wine ($28 for the cheapestbottle, including tax and service charge of 26.25%), we knew we'd beable to find and bring in better stuff at or below this cost, evenwith the corkage fee the hotel will assess for bringing our ownbeverages. The corkage fee at the Universal Hilton is $15 per table.Since it's a flat charge, we can bring in as much or as little andit'll just be $15 per table!

 

"It's All Wedding Stuff" Complains a FrazzledJin

Well, the past 2 months have been a frenzy oflooking up vendors and visiting with them in order to find the onesthat fit with the reception plans in terms of pricing, quality, andproduct. Vendors we've looked at include:

 

Florists (found a great one in Venice named TammyJulian-bargain prices and great taste!)

Photographers (my friend at work'sbrother-in-law-he's helping us get things done AT COST!)

Bakeries

DJs (found one who has experience at the Hiltonand with Chinese banquets)

Invitations (still looking-the ones we like arebeaucoup bucks and the rest are ugly)

 

We've looked at least 2 of each type, except forthe bakery. The Universal Hilton doesn't have an inhouse bakery, sothey have a deal with a couple of bakeries where people having eventsat the Hilton can get 15% discounts. Since we wanted a Chinese cakewith fruit, Jin and I decided to go with Kuo's Bakery, a Chinesebakery in the San Gabriel Valley, who has that 15% discount deal andhas good cake. But, we were recently informed by the Catering Managerat the Hilton that Cathy's Bakery, the other 15% discount baker, hasless expensive cake and may be better than Kuo's. He said that manycliennts have gone with Cathy's an liked the cake and pricing better.So, we have to go and explore this option. Cathy's only has one shopin Temple City; at least they deliver!

 

 

Dress is Handled!

My mom is going to make the traditional Western-style wedding dress as well as the Chinese qi pao. I don't like frills and lace and wanted a simple dress. I looked around and found that the dresses I liked were the couture ones costing $1,000's and the more affordable ones I didn't like at all. So I ended up perusing a pattern book at the local fabric store and found a nice, simple gown that is a modified A-line, empire-style dress. I purchased heavy ivory silk for the skirt, silk georgette for the overskirt, and Venise lace for the top. Having Mom make the dress allows me to control the quality and fit of the dress, rather than relying on possible ripoff artists who sell $3,000 dresses, get you to order several sizes too big so that you'll have to spend more on the alterations once the dress comes in, and deliver poor quality gowns that fall apart as you walk around in them.

 

Grace will be choosing her own dress. I just needthe color so I'll know what flowers to use for her bouquet. Thankgoodness we don't have to wrangle with bridesmaids dresses!

 

For a while I was contemplating getting a 1920'sstyle dress because I liked the cut and look of them. They wereelegant with simple lines, even though the gown might be drenched inlace. You could get a vintage gown, or have one made to order. Thesedresses, however, still cost too much, even though you received goodvalue for the price.

 

Final Word..

Other than work, which is pretty same-o, same-o,this wedding planning is an everyday affair. It's stressful becausethere's a lot to do and everything costs so much. Jin and I areputting away a bunch of money every month to cover as much of thecosts as possible. We are postponing the honeymoon so that we havetime to save up for that outside of the reception costs. Besides,since we want to go to Alaska and the cruising season there is short(May through September), we would almost miss the last boats out atthe end of September. So, we will be honeymooning the following May.YAY!

 

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If you have any questions or comments, E-mail meat: Jin@TheOks.com