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Wedding album

Saturday, January 16th, 2010

Merry Christmas and Happy 2010 everyone!

I feel so bad that I’ve neglected this blog of ours for so long since we tied the knot. But all is good, I’m back - hopefully on a more regular basis going forward.

So what has been happening? Well, a lot and not much. Life has treated us well and after we got back from the November trip, we bogged down to prepare for the huge Christmas retail season, which was, BUSY! Then, just when I thought we could relax, our wedding photographer kindly reminded us that we needed to pick photos for our wedding album. How hard can it be right? HOW WRONG!!

At first, I was an optimist, looking at the photos on the lappie and jotting down the ones I liked, my faves and must haves, before deciding that choosing every other photo when I should really only go for 60-70 was a no go! And after going only half way through and already chosen 150 or so photos, I thought there has got to be a better way. THERE HAD TO BE!

img_9507

So what did I do? I went and printed out over 400 photos (after editing out another few hundred) and split them into the different segments of the day and worked from there. As you can see from the photo, it was one mammoth task and it took me a good 3-4 days to get through it.. you must think I’m crazy right? Well, maybe. But you’d be pleased to know, I am done!! Yay!! And I will slowly group the photos and give them out to guests - hit two birds with one stone huh. Yes, smart JJ! Ha!

Since then, Trish has sent back the designed album so now I just need to sit Ben down to get his ok. It’s not over till the fat lady sings…..

x

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Posted in Blah blah blah, Wedding | 4 Comments »

Almost 2 months…

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

… since we got married on 2 October. And as of 10pm 14 November 2009, we finished the Taipei wedding reception too! It was awesome to see all our family and friends from HK/Japan. It was particularly great, for me, to see my adorable grandpa and aunts, who have flown in from LA for the big event. Likewise I think I can speak on behalf of Ben to say that he was mighty pleased to have his grandma and aunts/uncles witness him tie the knot (again!).

Looking back, we did/organised everything in 3 days! TOO GOOD! Either that, or the people we engaged have been very efficient (which is more likely the case!!).

There are two albums that we would like to share. Hope you enjoy them! First here and second here. xx

Thank you everyone xx

Thank you everyone xx

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Posted in All things Taiwan, Family & friends, Wedding | 1 Comment »

Photo time….

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

www.tealilyphotography.com

www.tealilyphotography.com


Trish has put up some of her fave shots from the day on her blog. I secretly think there are some amazing ones behind password (shhhh… it’s all so subjective ;p), but you will just have to wait and see!

Thanks Trish!!
x

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Mrs Hsu

Monday, October 12th, 2009

This is Mrs Hsu speaking/writing.. after a bit more than a week, how do I feel? Well, I imagined I would have said “the same” but I am pleased to say that I do feel ‘married’ and that while we’ve lived together for ages and people may have thought that the big day = a piece of paper, I beg to differ.

But if you ask me what is different, I can not really say. I suppose it’s that extra bit of connection, and as Mr Hsu likes to say “We are family now”.. the wedding band is making Mr Hsu’s finger tickle though - he will need some time to adjust!

Back to the big day. The day really sprung up on us rather quickly. I suppose it’s mainly because I was in Tokyo just a week before the big day; things were manic by the time I got back. Everyone wanted me, the florist needed to tell me the peonies we wanted didn’t grow because the weather wasn’t warm enough yet the sweet peas we wanted died because the weather was too warm… sighs… but on the big day, I must say the flowers turned out gorgeous and the orchids that we used for the button holes worked perfectly well with the bridesmaid dresses.

my bouquet

my bouquet

I spoke to the Watermark at least twice a day for a week. The DJ called, the videographer and the photographer emailed, I stuck the guest book together….. it was a long list of last-minute to-do’s. I think no matter how organised one is, the last week or at least the last few days are ALWAYS frantic.

In addition, the weather wasn’t so kind. From Monday, the weather forecast was predicting ‘rain’ for the Friday, and I became a little miserable, but later thought better of it and just left it to God to decide what he has planned for the day. Indeed, He was kind and gave us a day that looked like it would rain from noon but held off till 6pm (after all the photography) to POUR!

And the venue? Well, we found out the day after our big day from our florist that the Watermark was still working on the finishing touches when she rocked up at 2.30 on the day to do the flowers, but by the time we got there, around 5, everything was PERFECT!! Ok, maybe in hindsight there were way too many people and most do not look like wait staff when we rocked up but I was so pumped that day to really realise.. Thank you Watermark - we’ve always had faith in you though.. really, we did - we promise!! ^^

The Watermark

The Watermark


The day/night couldn’t have been any better! We had our closest family and friends there and we had the most beautiful venue, amazzzzing food, the slideshow illustrated by Karen was simply the BEST, Wing’s polaroid action was impeccable, the piggy cake was adorable, the MCs did the most excellent job. Everyone complimented on the DJs great choice in music, the speeches were so touching and our first dance went without a hitch. WE HAD THE BEST-EST TIME! THANK YOU ALL for making our special day so beautiful and memorable!

And at long last.. we’re married.

Bridal waltz to At Last by Etta James

Bridal waltz to At Last by Etta James

Photos on post courtesy of Fontein.
More photos to come. I will try and upload Karen’s slideshow too!!
x

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We’re married…

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009

more to come.. ^^

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Watermark’s facelift

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

Many of you may be aware that our reception venue is currently under renovation and yes, it is quite stressful wondering whether it will be ready on time, if not, what do we do etc. But, we have chosen to be positive and hope for the best.

In the past couple of days, I have spoken with Monique from the Watermark quite a bit and we have exchanged a few emails. While there will be quite a bit of last minute scramble, I think we should be fine. To help with our seating, Monique sent through a floor plan of the new restaurant, a la carte style, so it was still a bit of a struggle to visualise everything but she patiently explained and offered options so I was somewhat comforted by her reassurance.

When I got home, I showed Ben the floor plan and ran him through a few things. The funny thing is, the first thing Ben wanted to know was not the floor plan per se, but who is doing the renovation - I think this is more so because we’ve done quite a number of shop fit outs ourselves and he’s super keen to know more interior designers. Anyhow, we found beneath the little logo sitting on the bottom left hand corner the firm’s web address so we hopped on.

The company Watermark has engaged is Hecker Phelan & Guthrie, a firm based in Melbourne that does residential, retail, hospitality and commercial projects. We were very impressed by the projects they’ve done (all amazing!!). The most well known out of the hospitality space is its collaborative work with Woods Bagot to create the ivy complex in Sydney (come to think of it, both the ivy and hp&g logos share a very similar, if not the same font type!), but they have also done quite a few projects in Brisbane as well.

ivy, Penthouse. Collaborative partners HP&G & Woods Bagot. Image: Trevor Mein

ivy, Penthouse. Collaborative partners HP&G & Woods Bagot. Image: Trevor Mein

While we are worried about the progress of the renovation (just a bit!!), we are equally excited about being the first diners (for menu tasting) and the first party to host our function there after the facelift. I hope we don’t smell the paint! haha!

x

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Posted in Interior design, Wedding | 2 Comments »

1 month to go; Everything’s OK!

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

I thought a lot about this post; whether it would be better to do a “one month to go” post today or a “four weeks to go” on Friday. Then I figured, does it really matter? Either way, it’s VERY soon!

This morning, my colleague told me he was at Balmoral Beach with his little girl yesterday and the Watermark is heavily under construction… sighs, is he trying to scare me? He made up for it by saying that Rockpool looked far worse a week before its opening. Well, I guess at least we’ve a month! Lovely.

But yes, the big day is fast approaching. It is quite noticeable really. Ben has been super keen to make sure his diet is right (and trying very hard to avoid all kinds of carb) and went cycling around Centennial Park on Sunday morning while I slept. It is equally obvious how close the big day is when we see money moving out of our bank accounts at a very rapid speed. Of course, the fact that I run around like a headless chook should be an indication that things are frantic. And when my matron of honour told me she’s preparing for her speech yesterday it became apparent that everyone has become ‘happily’ nervous! Jitters….

And tonight, we will meet up with our lovely MCs to go through the reception schedule, which, on paper, looks perfectly straightforward — We hope!

I know, I know, this post is full of subtle worries and me trying to sound calm but actually really nervious. But don’t worry, things are fine. We’re fine. All’s well. Or do you think we should consider investing in one of these “Everything’s OK” kits? Yes, satire in a box but maybe it may really work! ^^

everything-is-ok

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Waltz in boxes

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

You will be glad to know that our first dance lesson went as smooth as a baby’s bottom. Well, at least we weren’t scratching our heads contemplating cancelling our first dance!

Anyways, the first thing we found out is that the song we chose to dance to is verrrrrry slow and that the slower the song, the slower (and harder) the waltz. Great!

Basically, the waltz consists of a ‘box’, whether you stand still and dance the box, or you travel with the box or you turn with the box so as long as you move your feet, it’s not overly difficult (at least that’s what Natalie, our dance instructor, tells us). Keeping to beat is also critical, esp when the music is super slow, like ours.

This is a clip I found on youtube, which teaches you how to dance the “box” - very good because these are exactly what we did in our first lesson (this clip is worth $85 an hour!) Warning: the clip can get tedious with him saying “one, two, three.. one, two, three” all the time, but they teach you quite clearly (and simply) the very basic steps you need to dance a good waltz.

Till next time.
x

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Musical Friday

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

I’ve decided that my hubby-to-be will not be getting his weekly movie night tomorrow as we need to sit down and sort through a pile of paperwork for our DJ and our videographer. Why the urgency and the sudden determination? Well, yes, the big day is still five weeks away, but our first dance lesson is on this Saturday and we’ve no song to dance to!!! And I must stress again that we are going to lessons so we don’t trip, so please don’t expect any beautiful dance moves!! I SO REGRET TALKING ABOUT THE DANCE LESSONS ON THIS BLOG!!! The presssssure! ^^

Fortunately, we do have an idea of what we want played at the wedding. Roughly, at least, we are thinking old-school romance, but then we fear an entire 4.5 hours devoted to old-school music may make some of our guests somewhat drowsy and for a night of fun, snooze bugs are certainly not very welcome.

I guess we are also quite fortunate in that most of our guests are roughly the same age as us, but we do have some young things who like their indie music and they may wonder why the hell we are all so excited when Grease Lightning starts playing and what the fuss is over Frank Sinatra - sinful I say to make those kind of comments, but saying so really just highlights our generation gap!

Wish us luck on the music selection task we’ve set ourselves for tomorrow night, and don’t worry, I will keep you posted on how our first dance lesson goes. I am sure it will be hilarious!

x

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Girls talk

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

Boys, don’t read this post! I am going to talk about you know, women stuff. Go away. Shuuuuu….

Okay, well hopefully the boys are gone and I can talk about my latest shopping expedition for lingerie. Hehee. While Zoe at Zoe Marie Bridal told me that I should just go without any undergarments for the big day, I wasn’t too sure. I mean, what if my dress falls off? The dreaded scenario in my head involves my dear husband-to-be stepping on my dress and I lunge forward, the dress falls off and I fall disgracefully on my face (and bare boobs). While my worst nightmare may be impossible to avoid, the minimum I could do, I thought, is to grace the grass that I fall on with some lovely lingerie!

So off I went and searched .. When I say ’searched’, I meant I went into ‘one’ store and did my searching. Fortunately, the ladies at Mary Holland’s at MLC were quite lovely and helpful and to be honest, there weren’t too many options of what I was after anyway (a white corset type undergarment). So I tried a couple on, and really liked one, which I ended up buying. It’s one of those that is super versatile with straps everywhere or nowhere if you so wished and the bones of the corset sat surprisingly comfortably on my ribs. According to the lady who tied me up, I’ve got a few meals to go in before I suffocate, which is good to hear (I CAN EAT AT OUR WEDDING.. Woohoo!) - that was comforting to hear! ^^

As I was changing back into my normal gear, I made a mental note to ask the sales assistant for a pair of matching panties. But guess what, I didn’t even need to ask, she read my mind! The sales assistant had selected three pairs of different styles that work well with the corset for me to choose. One of which is quite lacey, the other ‘very sexy’ and the other was a pretty thing with diamontes here and there. I ended up buying the xxxxx one (yes, the xxxxx is a deliberate privacy measure haha!)

Why?

Why?

One question before I sign off. Why is it that lingerie models always have that same pouting expression and ’suggestive’ poses? Is it working off the psychology that us women want our men to see us like that or that men will buy their women the lingerie in hope that their women will become like that?! Are we that superficial?

x

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