Highlights of Our Reception

Here is the "best of" from our reception. Many pictures couldn't be included bc of size reasonings. =(

Wedding Slideshow for Philly Reception

This video was made for our Philly slideshow. Our guests are mostly the mother in law's friends.

color theme

so the color theme for our wedding was supposed to be purple, gold, green, and ivory, but our florist COMPLETELY threw it off by getting us pink peonies instead of white ones. SIGH! but it's over. here are some pictures. =)

parents dance. gold room.

vows: ugly white archway i specifically asked not to get and pink peonies. but on that day it didn't matter that much.

cute girls in purple =)

gold love statue to represent philly!, yummy cake, just okay aesthetically

teehee! gold, ivory, green, and purple!

the boys

vows. too many plants and ugly white easter baskets i specifically asked her not to use. oh well.

more pretty purple and ivory bouquets =)

back?

i am officially done with grad school which hopefully means more time to blog! here is something that i saw on style me pretty that i thought was awesome!

my apologies

hi everyone. i'm sorry i haven't blogged in so long. my life is going at about 200mph right now, so unfortunately my blog has seen the short end of the stick. but hopefully soon it will get better!

=)

married and happy. thanks to everyone who made the day a great success! i have no personal pictures, so i'll post some up when i get some. =)

no threading for you!

so i went to get my eyebrows and my 'stache threaded on sunday so that i can look picture perfectly hairless in my wedding photos this saturday. well, unfortunately, my hair has been replaced with PIMPLES. i have not broken out this much since i was in 7th grade! it is really awful! i have herad this is completely normal, but i don't want to be normal right now! not when it's my wedding!

anyway, leaving in t minus 8 hours for california to start the wedding extravaganza weekend. time is a ticking and i have so much to freaking do before we leave for the airport!

yesterday, we went to our marriage counseling session, and the pastor and his wife said we were ridiculously calm! yay!

i am excited for this weekend. i think that's good, right? =)

beautiful wedding!

i just hope mine looks half as good!

must. calm. down.

i just took my programs to kinkos to get copied. tomorrow will be consumed with our final marriage counseling session and lots of cutting!

why am i so freaking nervous right now?!!

flutter flies fickle butter bride

that is how i feel right now!

my very own!

so i am obsessed with twigs and honey: etsy.com/myrakim and i ordered a hairpiece from her a while ago. it is on its way to my house now! the only concern i have is that it is white and my dress is ivory, and i think i forgot to tell her that. but there is a little bit of ivory in it, so hopefully it will be okay!

boleros

wow look at these gorgeous boleros! i wish they matched my dress so i can wear them! http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5202546

wedding weather

60 and sunny!

paradigm shift

i have cried about seven times within the past 36 hours. needless to say i am stressed out! i've cried because of this wedding, because of my students, because of myself, because of my family, and because of God's undeserving grace. God has blessed me with the support of friends and family who are praying for me and remind me of how blessed i am. throughout the next ten days, i hope i can be better focused on the things that are more beautiful and eternal than this wedding. nothing is impossible for me!

a song that blessed me today:

this is our god by hillsong

our grace is enough
More than I need
And your word I will believe
I wait for you
Draw near again
And your spirit make me new

And i will fall at your feet
I will fall at your feet
And i will worship you here

Your presence in me
Jesus light the way
By the power of your word
I am restored
I am redeemed
By your spirit i am free

Freely you gave it all for us
Surrendered your life upon that cross
Great is your love
Poured out for all
This is our God

Lifted on high from death to life
Forever our God is glorified
Sovereign king
Rescued the world
This is our God

weather

weather for friday april 3, 2009 (weather.com won't show me any further):

turks and caicos (our honeymoon spot): 81 mostly sunny
monterey (our wedding spot): 59 sunny
philadelphia (our current spot): 56 showers

yayyyyy meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

so little time left!

10 days left until the wedding day madness!
9 days left until rehearsal dinner/ hair makeup trial #2
8 days left until marriage license/ hair makeup trial #1, i see my bridesmaids!!
7 days left until i leave for california, finish up work for spring break, get final head count to caterer
6 days left until our last marriage counseling session, to pack!
5 days left until _____________. this is my only free day! i hope i don't have to tutor!
4 days left until my last day to shop before the wedding!
3 days left until justin's birthday party!
2 days left until the weekend!, have to get the music to the dj/musician
1 day left until my formal observation at school and last day of grad school for a couple weeks
0 days left until i freak out.

beautiful picture

a helpful guide

hi guys. here is a post to help people who are new to the wedding scene. we've been getting a lot of gifts lately, which has been so fun, and we're so very thankful for them! this article was taken off of smartmoney.com.

The Wedding Gift Etiquette Guide

WEDDING GIFTS ARE big business — billions of dollars big. According to research firm The Wedding Report, this year alone guests will spend $6.9 billion on wedding gifts.

Each time an invitation arrives in the mail, wedding guests face a common and sometimes frustrating dilemma: What should I buy the bride and groom, and how much should I spend? Depending on the couple, where they live and their culture, giving cash is either considered apropos or gauche. And then there's always the quandary over the registry, especially when the only two options left are a $200 waffle maker and a $5 garlic press. After all, there's a fine line between breaking the bank to buy a generous gift and looking like a cheapskate.

The idea behind a wedding gift, according to etiquette doyenne Peggy Post, is indeed a noble one: "It is a tangible representation of love and support, a generous offering to help married couples get a head start in their lives together."

It sounds lovely, but for guests who don't know the bride and groom well enough to conjure up such a representation or are on a tight budget, here's a gift etiquette primer to get you through wedding season:

1. How much should I spend on a gift?

The amount you should spend on a gift is one of those gray areas that vary based on the wedding location, your age and your budget. A typical amount, says Betsy Goldberg, features editor at Modern Bride magazine, is $75. If you bring a date, expect to spend twice that amount. Don't be afraid to ask other attendees how much they plan to spend to get a better sense of what people within your social circle are giving, she says.

Though the gift amount is somewhat arbitrary, Summer Krecke, deputy editor of WeddingChannel.com, offers a few guidelines based on the guest's relationship to the bride or groom: If it's a co-worker's wedding, you should spend $75 to $100; a relative or friend, $100-$125; and if it's a close friend or close relative, anywhere from $100 to $150 or more is acceptable.

2. What if I can't afford the $120 five-speed blender because I have four other weddings this month?

Most brides and grooms don't want you to go broke as a result of their wedding. Therefore, guests should always consider their budget constraints. If you've been invited to five weddings that take place within three months of one another, you'll need to take into account expenses for all those events (not just the gifts, but any required travel and lodging, as well). At destination weddings, for example, most couples understand that the $500 you shelled out to attend their Bahamas beach wedding doesn't leave you much to spend on a big-ticket gift. "They appreciate that people go so far to be with them for their wedding," says Goldberg.

Also keep in mind that your gift obligations don't start and end with the wedding. Factor in surrounding celebrations, like the bridal shower, bachelor/bachelorette party and engagement party. Tally it up and you'll probably feel like you need a second job to afford your loved ones' nuptials, making it all the more important you don't break the bank on one gift.

3. Should the amount I give depend on the price per dinner plate or how posh the venue is?

Quite simply, no. "Never think about it in those terms," says Martha Woodham, author of "The Bride Did What?! Etiquette for the Wedding Impaired." Instead, think about it this way: You're not expected to pay for your meal at a friend's dinner party, so why should you be expected to pay for a night of dinner and dancing at a wedding? A gift is separate from the party itself and should not be considered "the admission price to the wedding," says Woodham.

4. If I can't make it to the wedding, do I still give a gift?

Yes. Ideally, says Woodham, guests give gifts to help the couple commemorate the occasion and start their new life together — and that should be the case whether a guest partakes in the wedding festivities or not. "If you care about the couple, you send a gift — not just because you were invited to the wedding," she says.

5. Is it always best to get a gift from the registry?

The great thing about wedding registries — and the reason why they're such a big business — is there's little risk involved. Brides and grooms tell you what they want, so you don't spend an afternoon shopping for the perfect espresso machine only to find out later that neither of them drinks coffee. With a registry item, "you know when they get it, they'll be happy and excited about it," says Woodham.

Since registry gifts veer toward the impersonal, Goldberg suggests including a note with the gift to make it less so. If you buy a couple that loves to entertain a cheese board, include a note that says something along the lines of: "We love coming over for your parties and thought this would be useful to you," says Goldberg. One bit of advice when buying from the registry: Shop early to make sure you have various price points to choose from.

6. Is it in poor taste to hand an envelope containing a check to the bride or groom during the reception?

Generally, a gift of cash or a check is acceptable — and, for the most part, welcomed. "I don't know of any bride or groom turning down a check," says Krecke. Most couples will put either the best man or a parent in charge of receiving and holding onto checks at the wedding.

What is inappropriate, however, is bringing a gift to the wedding — especially if it's a cumbersome 10-pound rice cooker. Many couples don't get married in their hometowns, so you make it more difficult for them to haul the gifts home post-wedding. Instead, send the gift directly to the couple's home address or to one of their parents several weeks before the wedding, says Krecke.

7. I can send them a gift later, right?

While it's fine to celebrate the special day with the couple and send a gift later — don't wait until well after the bride's written all her thank-you notes. Some people think "you can wait up to a year to give a gift," says Krecke. "We generally say anything more than six months is poor etiquette."

damage control

so yesterday john and i were talking, and through the rumor mill he heard that people are talking about me and my blogging. first of all, thanks for those of you who read because i have no idea who does considering NOONE COMMENTS. i had no idea it was that many people, but thanks for caring about how my wedding planning is going and just about me. i know that i have been using this blog as a sort of scrapbook of all the fun things i find and a place to vent, so those of you who read and might get discouraged because i sound stressed, i'm sorry, and i'll try to be more upbeat. things with wedding planning are honestly fine except for the minor etiquette things and overreacting of my mother at times. the craziness is starting to subside and i honestly am just working on last-minute things now like tables, my own stuff like shoes and jewelry, and the like. all of the wedding planning will soon be coming to an end!

anyway, the reason this is called damage control is because i wrote a post a couple weeks ago that apparently is causing a lot of controversy among people that may be coming to the wedding, and i may have been a little mean. like i said earlier, this is a place for me to vent, and in doing so i may lose some tact at times. i want to reassure everyone that john and i were very deliberate about the people we invited, and we are thankful to everyone that is coming considering we know that it is far and people are spendingn a lot of money and even vacation days to come celebrate with us. we don't want anyone to feel unwelcome because it is supposed to be a joyous occasion. at the same time, it has been hard because i am the first of my friends across the board, whether friends from michigan, cali, chicago, etc, so for me personally to not grow bitter when people are not tactful and don't have wedding etiquette has been incredibly hard considering wedding planning is hard enough as it is. in addition, because we are a young couple getting married, a lot of people are coming with the side intention of maybe meeting someone at our wedding, which is fine, but i still want a classy wedding, hence my comment about girls dressing appropriately. i think it's normal to say that i just want my day to be as perfect as possible, and my wedding becoming a club is one less thing i'd like to worry about.

i'm sorry if it sounds like i'm making excuses, and i'm sorry if you don't believe me. i hope everyone knows that i'm grateful for them in our lives and for coming to our wedding and the gifts that are coming, and we're both very excited to be able to share this occasion with you all.

this blog will be over soon.

oy vey!

am i really getting married in exactly a month?!?!?!?! :0!!!

i fell in love again

except that the object of my affection no longer exists... =(

OMG!!

THIS IS NUTS!! IT WAS IN A FROSTY AND SHE SWALLOWED IT!!!!!

this made me laugh out loud!

bows!

i love bows, and i almost wish i had incorporated them into my wedding, but i didn't, so oh well. for anyone who has incorporated them into their wedding, these earrings are darling!


this too is gorg!

snow day= my mom is so annoying day

today i had my third snow day of the year! it was quite wonderful. i got to sleep in and it was one day less of coming home stressed! or so i thought. instead of going to work, i stayed home and did a lot of wedding preparations, and what do you know, my mother and i spent almost the WHOLE DAY on the phone discussing rehearsal dinner, favors, and music. nothing really got done. blah. but here is a favor i love and hope to get:

wonderful and affordable bridesmaid dress

for flower petals perhaps? or tissue?

wedding lust

fav new blog!

i want to stick everything from this site into my wedding! =(

i'm a little teapot...

omg

my mother is trying to drive me to the grave!

1. she still hasn't sent out her portion of the invitations, when i had asked for all of my response cards by YESTERDAY!
2. she asked for an extra 40 invitations, meaning approximately 80 people!
3. she asked mr. zok if we want to suddenly switch to the intercontinental hotel b/c she can suddenly get a good deal on it, even though we've already paid a deposit and people have booked their hotel! bah!!!

love it!

hodge podge

hi y'all. so today i was quite upset. i know that i should be more understanding, but i just feel like because my wedding is the first amongst my friends, i'm going to have to suck up a lot of lack-of-wedding-guest-etiquette, and it's frustrating! and i keep wondering if i'm asking too much of people to know their roles! it's just hard because i can't be arrogant and be like HERE'S A FREAKING ETIQUETTE GUIDE AND EVERYTHING I EXPECT OF YOU but i also don't like feeling like i am getting the short end of the stick. and i'm thoroughly embarassed to mr. zok, because he and his friends are older and more experienced while my friends are newbies and seriously clueless.

anyway, mr. zok and i went on our first marriage counseling session today, and it was interesting. i would go into more detail, but i need to get my grad school work done. so that's all i've got to say about that.

disappointment

this is completely unrelated to weddings, but i came on google and saw this LOVELY LOVELY picture today only to click on it and see that it has to do with darwin. YUCK. what a sore disappointment.

random post

1. my mom still hasn't told me anything about the videographer.
2. our wedding cake is stressing me out.
3. mr. zok thinks it's funny that on our marriage counseling form, i put one of my fears about marriage is accidentally having a child too soon.
4. response cards are coming in SLOWLYYYYY
5. i am so stinking tired!

the end.

there she goes...

remember that song by sixpence none the richer? anyway, apparently my mother has hired a videographer for the ridiculously cheap price of $350 (which indicates to me that the job will be horrible considering all of the good videographers i've researched on cost AT LEAST a couple grand) WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. we had almost gotten into a fight about it because i didn't want to hire one and just wanted raw footage of the wedding with our home videocamera, and then she goes ahead and tells mr. zok that she's going to hire one, that he has to pay for it, and that he shouldn't to tell me! This lady is going to make me look like the beautiful image below!

invitations sent!

one less thing to do! =)

annoying things about wedding planning

sorry to be a debbie downer, but i just had to vent.

here are three of the most annoying things of wedding planning:

1. when people have no idea how much a wedding costs and still ask if they can bring a guest when your list is already hard enough to narrow down. there is enough stuff on a bride's plate and your +1 is not really going to be a priority on her list. plus, it's really selfish and impatient of you to ask before receiving your invitation, regardless of the fact that you must make travel arrangements. the bride isn't going to be inconsiderate by sending her invitations late, so you shouldn't be inconsiderate by rushing her or asking her to comply to your requests. plus, it's her wedding, and if she doesn't want your guest there and you're going to be a baby about it, don't come! she has people sitting on her b list that she would love to invite!

2. the guest list: narrowing down the guest list is hard enough. being organized when doing this is key. unfortunately for me, mr. zok isn't a very organized person when it comes to documents. thta coupled with me doing all of the planning made us i think send our save the date out like 15 different times to people we kept forgetting. DON'T DO IT. IT IS INSANE TO GATHER UP ALL OF THEIR NAMES WHEN IT'S TIME TO SEND THE INVITATIONS! i think after i labeled all of the invitations with some friends one night, i still had to just now sit down and double check all of the people the save the date was sent to in order to ensure everyone that got a save the date is getting an invitation. i had to relabel about FIFTEEN new invitations that had gotten lost in the shuffle!

3. other people's wishes bumping yours to the side: i love my mother. i do. i am thankful to her for hosting this wedding, especially when the economy is down. i am thankful that she is working as my consultant as i'm here in philly and she's in cali. but at the same time, i feel like i was completely jipped out of some aspects of the wedding. #1: venue picking, #2: flower arrangments, #3: hairstylist

i'm sure i have more complaints, but these are my top three right this second.

you know you're in love when...

you fall asleep on your fiance's shoulder, he falls asleep on your head, he proceeds to drool on your hair, and you don't care. HAHAHA

guest book

so i finally find a guest book i like, and it won't hold as many notes as i need it to! =(

invitations

last night, my friends grace, judy, tammy, and garce stayed up putting my invitations together! it was a long complicated process as former brides can attest, and i'm just glad it's almost over! while i would have loved to have my invitations hand calligraphed, it wasn't going to happen with the amount of time i have left before the wedding. so we went for the oh-so-weddingtacky labels. i picked a nice font if that makes any difference. =)

growing pains

it's been hard realizing that as much as my family will always be my family, i'm goign to have a new family soon. i'm excited, scared, but also so very sad. mr. zok tells me that he will send me home to see my family whenever i want, but it won't be the same. and i know i sound like a baby, but i don't want to let go of my family yet.

anyway, the reason i am so sappy is because i've been looking for wedding songs for the past hour or so, and i came across a song by steven curtis chapman about his daughter that recently passed away. and i LOST IT. below are the lyrics:

Cinderella

She spins and she sways
To whatever song plays
Without a care in the world
And I'm sitting here wearing
The weight of the world on my shoulders

It's been a long day
And there's still work to do
She's pulling at me
Saying "Dad, I need you

There's a ball at the castle
And I've been invited
And I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone...

She says he's a nice guy and I'd be impressed
She wants to know if I approve of the dress
She says, "Dad, the prom is just one week away
And I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone

She will be gone

Well, she came home today with a ring on her hand
Just glowing and telling us all they had planned
She says, "Dad, the wedding's still six months away
But I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone

genius again!

this save the date is genius, but also expensive considering the economy. oh well!

in other news, i just ordered my invitations! i'm so excited! but i don't want to post them up b/c i want them to be a surprise for my guests! hahahah. =)

genius!

i cant get over this!
seriously swoon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

diy frenzy!

while i was home in cali, i spent some time making some things for my wedding while mr. zok and my brothers played video games. time well spent i'd say!


all of the things i made!




these buckets are to hold the programs for the ceremony, or maybe tissue or flower petals to throw at me as i skip down the aisle. =)





these are pictures of the flower girl basket i made that is super little but will match perfectly with the ring bearer pillow i bought!



these mason jars are for us gals to put our bouquets in while we're dancing so the flowers dont bruise



these wreaths are to hang on the door for the reception and will eventually hang on the door of our condo. =)

new celebrity crush!

Channing Tatum, ladies and gentleman, is my new celebrity crush. I just saw She's the Man with Amanda Bynes (hahaha) and he was in it. and he is DREAMY! Don't get me wrong... I love Mr. Zok, but Channing Tatum is some serious eye candy. =D