Boudoir Session

Guest Blogger: Won K. Choi

Image from: photograffiti.us

I'm sure you may have heard of Boudoir Session, a new sexy trend, yet it might still be a little strange to you. It is a photo album with you in sexy lingerie with beautiful, dramatic, and alluring poses. This photo album can be a memorable surprising gift for your going-to-be husband and it usually gets good reactions! It is okay even if you are not a pro, but here are some tips that can help you to end up looking like a pro with confidence.

Boudoir Session is definitely gaining attention and popularity, but what exactly is it all about?

The photo shoots can be taken in a relaxed atmosphere of a private studio, the bride’s house, her friend’s house, or a luxury hotel room. The most important thing is for you to be comfortable and feel safe and secure.
You may bring anyone you feel comfortable with, as your enjoyment sharing partner, but usually it is best you to come alone only for the best results; often times, you become self-conscious with other friends, fiancés or family members looking at you. Children are not allowed to be there when the session is on.
You should bring your own outfits, different lingerie items for a variety of shoots. You can wear whatever you want, but photographers don’t provide what you are going to wear.
It is helpful that you bring some magazine with different poses you would like to try or, at least, think of the poses before you take the shoots. It does, of course, save you time and lessen the awkwardness during the photo session.
You do not need to worry about your body even if you don’t have a so-called perfect body or you don’t wear size 0. Photographers will capture the natural beauty of you and will focus on minimizing certain attributes and maximizing others. Your going-to-be husband thinks you are sexy the way you are!
You will be consulting with your photographer before the session. You will discuss the location and how the session will be conducted. Your photo will never be on the public unless you give them the ‘go-ahead.’
The part you don’t want to show won’t be shown. Not to worry, you are not going to take a nude shot unless you decide to do it. Believe in the technology and skills of photographers, you will end up seeing princess-looking pictures.

Everything is all up to you so plan carefully, yet be carefree with your shoot: Show off how fantastic you are! Photographers are there to help you have the most beautiful images of you, so just work with them as you have fun. Every photographer is different in their styles, so choose the photographer only after you visit their websites, see their galleries, or contact them to ask some questions. Don’t be shy, be proud of yourself- revealing your beauty can be fun and thrilling. Think about your fiancés who will enjoy it! It really will be an incredibly romantic and intimate gift to your fiancé and an unforgettable experience for youself, too.

Photo Credit: Jasmine Star
Photo Credit: Jennifer Skog

Vendor Spotlight: Kelly Zhang Make Up and Hair Team

Hello Readers, I thought I would do another vendor spotlight on hair & make up artists since this is one of the most popular questions I often get from brides-to-be. Kelly Zhang is an extremely talented hair & make up artist and for those who are getting married in OC, LA, or SD, please be sure to check out her blog to see her latest "BEFORE & AFTER" shots of brides. Talk about some amazing transformations! Her team will be beautifying one of my clients' & bridesmaids in July and can't wait to see how beautiful she will look on her wedding day.
Photo Credit: Sarah K. Chen

Audrey Magazine Wedding Feature

Audrey Magazine is the Asian American women's lifestyle magazine celebrating their 6th year anniversary, and now they have published the first wedding issue. Anne, the editor-in-chief contacted me couple months ago to write an article on wedding planning tips, advice on dresses, decor, and latest trends. I was about to give birth when she contacted me so I had Elisa work on this while I was in labor and it turned out awesome!
April/May 2009 is now available at bookstores and if you would like to receive a free copy, please leave a comment on my blog with your email address and I'll be happy to send it to the lucky winner!


The magazine also features the best beauty trends, honeymoon looks after the big day, and where to spurge and save planning tips along with other great stories.

Some of the wedding photos I coordinated from last year's weddings

To read the article, click on its image. I'll post up the full article on the next entry.

A Cute Little Card Welcomes Your Guests!

Guest Blogger: Won K. Choi

The first impression is made when the guests arrive at the wedding reception.
The escort cards are honored to display the guests’ names! The card should be eye-catching and able to let guests know where to go sit. It allows you to be creative and unique with how you make them.

It can be very simple, but also, you can decorate the cards with flowers and some centerpieces.

Photographers: Leigh Miller, Sean J. Mason
To save you time there are also small Cards Holders you can purchase conveniently with a good price and amount.

Images from: www.getaframe.com, www.joyfulbrideonline.com

These are some of less-costly DIY Escort Cards you can make with some cardboards, ribbons and even forks!

Images from: intimateweddings.com, imaginewedding.co.uk, dancerdiva25.blogspot.com, do-it-yourself-weddings.com

These cards look simple, but can be a decoration with a unique set up. Attach Place Cards with pins or clips to a board or frame and covered with different color ribbon and fabric. Place the board where it can be found easily!

Images from: cheripearlphotography.com, furiousphotographersblog.com, weddingbee.com, tinaphotographers.com

Images from: dancerdiva25.blogspot.com, ardentphtography.blogspot.com, stylisheventsblog.com, weddingbee.com

When asking friends to help out with your wedding..

The process of preparing for your wedding could be so much more fun when you have a gang of enthusiastic friends by your side who are eager to lend their services. It definitely helps to have readily available hands to fold those myriads of invitations or pull off all those detail-oriented, time consuming DIY projects. But brides, be careful not to take advantage of your friends' generosity too much. You'd be surprised how many times I've seen friendships take a strain during these times because the brides were getting too carried away and taking their families and close friends' efforts for granted . Here are some tips you can consider in asking your friends for help in your wedding preparations.

Make sure . . .

1) the person you want to ask for help is someone that you had kept in touch with within the past two years. If you know that you're probably not going to contact them much after the wedding, then it's also probably best not to call them just to ask for a favor, even if that person's talents/services could save you a lot of money.

2) you ask for their help plenty of time in advance. This shows that you have thought this out carefully and consider them best for the job. I would say one month prior to the wedding is the absolute latest you should ask.

3) you are communicating the job descriptions clearly. Please don't just say "I need your help" without supplying specific guidelines and expect your friends to know what you want. The more you communicate, the more it will also help them acquire a sense of ownership to their responsibilities and produce better outcome.

4) you do have plans to show appreciations for their help. Thank you cards, gifts, or thank you get together after the wedding... You can discuss this with your fiance for ideas and include this to your budget.

And to those of you who ARE the friends who's been asked to help, please don't back out at the last minute when you have agreed to help. Trying to find a replacement for you will cause further stress on the bride and groom, on top of all the other stress they already have. And please, please be ON TIME if you're helping on the day of. I've seen so many friends who agreed to help in ushering & gift attendants that do not make it on time due to their personal reasons. On several occasions I had to frantically find replacements and let me tell you, it's not easy to find replacements at the last minute! For those of you who are helping with putting together a video or a slide show for the wedding, do work on it early and finish it at least one week prior to the wedding so you can go back and revise the work.

For all you pet lovers out there~

Sylvia & Dong min's dog, Yogi will be carrying the ring pillow this coming Saturday and I can't wait until the rehearsal day to practice how he'll be walking down the aisle!!!

Photo Credit: Jennifer S. Rau


Photo Credit: Convey Weddings




Photo Credit: Jules Bianchi

Photo Credit: Image is Found

Life Explained. Man vs. Woman

The reason why...
1) us women are never satisfied.
2) we become bridezillas
3) we can't make up our minds.

I should be thanking my husband more often for putting up with me. haha!

Non-floral wedding centerpieces

I HATE roses.
When I started dating my husband, I told him straight out never to give me a bouquet of roses on any special occasions. Thank God he listens! :)
FYI, I used to work at a flower shop for two years while attending UCI and I dreaded stripping off rose thorns and taking out petals. It's hard labor when you work at a flower shop and to this day, I give major props to all the talented florists in the biz. Maybe because I was surrounded by fresh flowers almost everyday, I couldn't stand why people dry them and hang them as their wall decor. It is not pretty at all and they don't smell good period.
Anyway, working at the shop did spoil me a little, but having the background & knowledge about flowers help me to give an honest advice and insight to wedding planning. Did I also mention that my love for flowers changes every season? For a while, I was obsessed with hydrangea & peonies even until last year.. then it changed to ranunculus, tulips, phalaenopsis orchids to dahlia.. Now I love centerpieces that are non floral that give very organic and natural feel to it.
Have you ever incorporated your wedding with succulents?? I'm currently in love with these and I can't get enough of them! Succulents are fairly easy to keep alive so you can definitely DIY if you really wanted to.

floral design by jl.design

photo credit: Leigh Miller

Speaking of simple DIY centerpieces, I love how the bride and groom put together candles with
green moss.


photo credit: Leigh Miller

Gosh.. I have a bad habit of just saving pretty images when I find them online and I forget the next day where I found them. I definitely want to give a proper photo credit, so let me know which photographer took these lovely photos.

Have a great week everyone! I now leave you with a picture of Grant at 7 weeks. :) After a long
day of non stop eating, pooping & sleeping, he's taking a nice long bath... oh boy, this feels good~

Sweet Sources- What you need to know before you order

Image from Amy Atlas
Candy buffets are becoming more and more popular, but there’s only one down side: planning and paying for one can be costly. Apothecary jars usually run between $10- $30 dollars depending on where you purchase them. You can try Target, Michael's, Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, Save on Crafts (I usually don't recommend buying vases on line because they break easily) and even Marshalls or TJ. Maxx if you get lucky. You need get at least 10 containers to fill up 6 foot table and purchase at least $150-200 dollars worth of bulk candy to fill them up. Remember some of them may look pretty and might match your theme color but that doesn't necessary mean they taste good so make sure you don't try anything too risky.

Making it one step easier for you, here’s a list of our favorite bulk candy vendors to shop and price compare to help you save the most money you can while still getting great quality sweets in the quantity you need.

ACandyStore.com
Best Buy Candy
Bulk Candy Store
Candy Direct
Candy Warehouse
Groovy Candies
Gumballs.com
Hammond’s Candies
Metro Candy

For other options other than candy buffet, click here!

DIY Damask Invitation

The wedding chicks have posted free damask wedding invitation for you to download. Take advantage of this useful tool to personalize your invites.

Directions on how to download are below.

1. Download ALL Damask Zip Wedding Suites Here (The file includes an invites, response card and Thank You card.

2. In order to avoide cutting the invites purchase Flat Card Stock from Paper Source
Invite Card Stock, Response Card Stock and Thank You Card Stock

5. You can download the Calligraphy style font for free here. You have to then install the font on your computer. Or use any fancy font that you like.

4. Open up the document you wish to print such as the invite. Print out your desired amount. We recommend a few extras. The invite will simply have the design on it and have a blank middle.

5. Open up the word documents that are in the word documents folder and type in your personal text. You may have to fiddle with it to get the correct spacing since everyone’s wording will vary.

Silhouettes!

I'm sure you've seen these lately as you are looking for wedding inspirations in the blog world but I think these silhouettes are so adorable! They can work for a vintage theme or more modern wedding theme. Whether you incorporate them on your invitations, desserts, jewelry, or other decor, they will bring a custom feel to your day. I also love the idea of silhouette wall hangings displayed at the wedding with a beautiful ribbon to match your colors.
{Top row from this wedding featured in Martha Stewart Weddings, Menu from Artfool, Coasters from etsy seller boriquaz}

{Left invitations from lily darby via style me pretty, top invites from Posh Paperie, top right from unknown, bottom right design suite from Bird and Banner}
{Button from vol25.etsy.com, necklace from luckymebeads.etsy.com}
Kristine Bender of K. Rose Cakes