Passport Invitations

We finally got our passport invites out!!!! :)  My fiance and I have been working with my cousin who has a small letter press business with his wife and it was fantastic working with them. We came out with about 8 drafts in the end because not only can I be a perfectionist sometimes, but also, towards the end, when I shared what I thought was a final draft to my parents, my dad who's also an artist gave some good criticisms. Lol.

 I was a little annoyed at the idea of having to bug my cousin again since we've done so much changes and revisions, but I thought that my dad sees through an artist lense and I appreciated that he wanted to help. I obviously care about my parent's opinions hence I showed them the last drafts lol. And I felt like that was one of his ways of at least contributing his part for the wedding in which I was grateful for. In the end, the invitations came out beautifully.

We started assembling them with my bridesmaids on Thursday night at one of my bridesmaid's home. We brought pizza, breadsticks and chicken wings for everyone to show our appreciation lol. That night, we got majority of them assembled until we ran out of the red ribbons. hah. Then the rest of the shorter ribbons were just placed on heads or hair to tie.

On Friday night, the FI and I stayed up really late placing the map envelope liners and getting some of the labels put together. Hah. It worked out since we also got all the liners glued in place.

 It was A LOT of work, but we got through it! And I'm so lucky to have a partner that's there to help me out even if it felt like a second "job" to him. hahah

This is him taking a break at 1 am. Kawawa pants. lol.

This morning, Saturday, we woke up really early to place labels, assemble, seal and place the seal wax on the invites that needed to be shipped out. We were informed that postage is going up as of Monday and wanted to at least get out  the ones that needed to be shipped to save hehe :)  We finished it all with 30 minutes to spare and headed out to the post office that closed at 1pm. hah.

We celebrated our success by going to a near by Mediterranean restaurant called Petra Restaurant.  We were going to the Italian restaurant we usually go to, but didn't realize they were only open for dinner. It was a really great find for us though since we love Greek food and it was a family owned restaurant that's really good too! Small place, but the owner/chef who also served us made our overall celebration wonderful with in house humms and baklava! Yum!

Destination Wedding Bridesmaids Ask

 

 

With the destination wedding at hand, I wanted to ask my bridesmaids in a special way. I thought, I'd incorporated a little bit of the theme I'm going for which was a something in the lines of vintage travel with a touch of rustic. Hah. The materials I got are mostly from Michaels w/ the exclusion of the message bottle that I got from LA's Garment District. I also saw them at PartyCity in case you're looking for one. :) Here's how everything looked like and what I came up with.

The main holder is a book like cardboard box.

This is how it started; blank slate:

I then placed border scrapbook stickers on top and bottom. This came in a pack and I then drew an image tag in the middle that'll hold their names. I was going to paint the background inside the tag behind their names, but didn't have the time to do so.Lol. I think it turned out well in the end :)

 

 

Inside, I decorated the portion behind the bookcover differently to go with each bridesmaids.

 

The main book contained the following:

 

A card with the ask

 

 

 

Sorry for my chicken scracth hahah. The bottom message states:

Something old, something new

Something borrowed, something blue

The bride, the groom

The dress, the tears of joy will definitely be there

But there's nothing I'd rather have  to complete the day

Than to have the honor of you standing by my side and

see me walk down the aisle.

 

I may have found my true love, but I still need my sister (my girls).

So on my wedding day, I will need you more than ever.

Our sisterhood (friendship) means the world to me &

having you there will be as blissful as can be.

 

Message in a bottle

 

Inside the bottle contains these:

  

It's fun too since it opens at the bottom, they get confused as to how to open it haha

 

You just fill it out and put together

 

 

Swatch of the dress color

(The dress was supposed to be a cookie, but I ran out of time too hah. So I just traced the cookie cutter out of scrapbook paper)

 

 

Flipflop box container to hold the glowing ring

 

 

And these are how each looked like individually:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 My bridesmaids and their Bridesmaids Ask Book Box <3

 

My Wedding DIY

Since we only have two months to go 'til the wedding, I really need to get going with the rest of my DIY projects. In the mean time, I'd like to share some of the ones I've created thus far. The one I'm really proud of is my Upcycled Ring Bearer Burlap Pillow for my nephews that are respectively 6 and 8 months come March.

I've shared this DIY via WeddingBee & Best Destination Wedding sites so you can go there for the actual tutorial. Here's how they turned out:
From this

To This

 

Another DIY that I've done is a Burlap Message Board that can be found HERE for instructions.

My inspiration:

                                                                     
                                                                         My Version:

 

And for my latest creation, I got my inspiration from an Etsy seller and thought I could do it for less. I bought the Cake Knife server set via Ebay and used the materials I already had at hand.

 

 

 

 

 

My Pin-up Retro Bachelorette Party

 

 

I've lagged on really following up on this blog, but since I just finished my awesome bachelorette party last night, I thought I'd give this a try again and start from the present and see about tracking back. :)

In the morning, my sister, MOH, drove us to Ocean Beach Hidden Spa and met up w/ some of my girl friends. There, we got the following:  *40 minute Massage, *30 minute Facial , *Hand & Foot Scrub , *Mimosas and *Elite Mini Desserts which were all delicious!

 

 

After a relaxing time, we all got dressed and ready with our Retro Pin-up themed day. We then headed for an afternoon 3- Course Afternoon Tea Party at Tea Upon Chatsworth. We were so hungry that we ate a little too fast and didn't realize that we had at least 4 -5 teas to try out. haha. Here's the menu to make you salivate:

 Roasted Red Potato & Bleu Cheese Croustade
   Vegetable Pissaladiere
   Cucumber & Fresh Mint Tea Sandwich on White
   Chicken Salad with Walnuts & Rosemary on Wheat Tea Sandwich
   Toasted Cheese & Tomato on Rye Tea Sandwich
   Chatsworth Scone & Cream w/Cream & Raspberry Preserves
   Apricot Tart
   Apple Cinnamon Bread Pudding
   Fresh Fruit
   Pot of Premium Loose-Leaf Tea

Everything was delicious and the teas were definitely flavorful. We like the Kiwi tea and the first  one we tried w/c I forgot the name of. It was great pretending to talk with our English Accents, taking pictures and giving everyone a little thank you from my sister and from me. My sister gave the ladies there a purse picture holder, hand sanitizer, flip flop luggage tag for the ones going on the cruise with us and flip flop bottle opener for the rest of the girls. I gave them all a compact light up mirror with different pin-up girls in the front. When we were done eating and drinking, more pictures ensued with us utilizing the hats, pearls and othe props they had for use.

Since we love taking pictures, we then headed out to the Coronodo Ferry Landing to meet up w/ my sister's photographer/coworker friend. He took landscape photos of us which was a lot of fun. The weather was beautiful and it was a great time to spend with these lovely ladies.

We definitely got pictured by other folks there! Some very obvious and others trying to be sneeky hahah. Of course, there were also guys who were trying to get their game on pretending to be Charger players hahah. Maybe if they win the superbowl first...haha. Overall, we totally had a blast at this photoshoot! We can't wait to see how it turned out! :D

 

From all the photoshoot fun, it was right timing that we headed to our last destination which was the Marble Room. It was a perfect place to have dinner since it captures the feel and excitement of a part of San Diego’s colorful past-brothels. The waitresses wears corsets and the restaurant just has the look and feel of our theme. Some other ladies joined us for this dinner and we all had a relaxing fun time and enjoyed each other's company.

That evening, I gave everyone a big THANK YOU to those who took part in my awesome Bachelorette party! I couldn't have had it any other way! :D I came home with a full heart with the time spent with them all and an even happier soul when I came home with the laundry done and kitchen clean. lol. Not only am I the luckiest person to have the greatest ladies to have in her life, but also knowing I'm going to be with somene who also would take care of me like they all would. 
 ♥♥♥♥♥