I'm back.. and my engagement pictures

As you may have read from my previous posts, I was having problems finding the perfect engagement dress for my Chinese Engagement ceremony/party in Indonesia. On my last day before flying to Indonesia, I went to Neiman Marcus and arrived there are 5.45pm (the store closes at 6pm). I was to leave for the airport at 8.30pm. Anyway I went there to return my previous purchases because I had bought 4 dresses (2 style each at size 2 and 4) and I had to return the size 2 of each dresses. I hate Vera Wang Lavender dress sizes, I'm a size 2 damnit, they need to correct those sizes....

Ok back to the story, I finished returning the dresses at 5.50pm and saw that they had some new set of dresses and so quickly peered through them. Find a couple I liked and went on to try the dresses 10 minutes before closing time. Find a long gown I liked and bought it then. Record time for shopping!!! I usually have to ponder about it but ah what the hell..... See the cute flowing dress up there, that's my score for that day.

When I went to Indonesia, I met up with my makeup artist , who will be my wedding day make up artist. She said my Vera Wang and my engagement dress is S-I-M-P-L-E.... say what??? They are not simple.... they are modern and elegant!! Okay maybe simple for a common Indonesian wedding dress, see below , source Axioo



GAH, but anyway so my mom got annoyed AT ME! Because she feels overdressed with her dress and wanted me to buy a new dress say 20 hours before the said engagement party. So we went to a nearby mall and try out 20+ dresses, all of them full with sequins and crystals and bling bling but none I loved. Thank God I stood my ground and still wear my dress. SO that's a mini recap of my trip!

Monday blues....

if you recall I was trying to find an engagement dress for my upcoming trip on wednesday to Indonesia for my Chinese Engagement.

Dress #1 and #2: FAIL
I ordered two dresses from BHLDN.com but put in the wrong address so it never got to me and they don't have time to reship it to me by this Wednesday

Dress #3 : FAIL
I ordered a Temperley London dress from gilt.com which came on time BUT it does not look good AND it does not fit. (In that order!) so off it goes back to gilt..

Dress #4: FAIL
Bought a Marchessa Notte dress. After I went home, it just looks tooo sexy.. can't do it. So I returned it.

Dress #5 and #6: PENDING
I ordered two Vera Wang Lavender dresses from Neiman Marcus yesterday for a next day delivery. The dresses will arrive tomorrow. We'll see how those goes

Dress #7: UGH
My last resort is this dress i had where my fashion designer friend design and I custom make it in Indonesia. I made the dress probably 4 years ago. I tried it on yesterday after 2 years not wearing it. UGH! It is snug.... like very snug... it's kinda backless and you can see my back is trying to pop out... and my triceps area don't look too good either. UUUGGHHH!!! I do love the design on this dress though. Note to self: Please make my Parson-schooled friend to design more dresses because it's much cheaper than buying them in LA and her design is on par with J. Mendel's dresses.

Hoping dress #5 and #6 fit perfectly.

I also had to order size 2 and 4 for both dresses in case it does not fit.

I just measured my waist and it's at 27" which is a size 6 in US (SHRIEKK.... I used to be 0,now 2. )

I have 7 days to lose weight and fit dress #7.

Went to a body sculpting class during lunch at work, going to yoga after work, eating salad.

UGH

Quote of the day

Me: "Lets get letterpress invitation. It costs $10/person"

Fiance: "What??? I'd rather mail them $10 cash"

....................

Inspiration board: romantic wedding cakes

I went to a famous affordable wedding cake vendor in Torrance but.... I did not fall in love with the cake.. Forget about the looks (let's not even go there), even the cake itself is airy and dry and just not that good :( UGH! I was so sure that I will get the cake there. Here's one part of the wedding where we don't put too many budget.

The good news is...... I get to do more cake tasting yay... and since my fiance said he does NOT want to go to anymore cake tasting (he's not into dessert), I'm getting my bridesmaid (who looovesss dessert) to come with me.. yay...

Bridesmaid dress

I wanted short bridesmaid dresses for my girls. Something casual and romantic, chiffon or silk, most likely light pink or gray. What's with my theme being light pink and silver/gray.

Now that the wedding dress has been bought, I'm starting to think that long gown could be nice too.. make it more in line with the ball gown. BUT... we are doing the asian style where we will pay for the bridesmaids' dresses and at the budget we have per person, I don't think we can afford many long gown. So I'm sticking to the short cocktail length bridesmaid dresses.

Here are some of my ideas:







From browsing the net, I have to say I liked Amsale best for their bridesmaid dresses. It just embodies the soft, chiffon-y look that I want to achieve. I'm letting my three bridesmaid choose their own color (as long as it's still light pink) and style, since they're located all over and some of them are very picky. Say, my MOH will only wear Vera Wang/Monique Lhuillier or the likes for her bridesmaid dress since she is fashion design student. She's decided she's going to design her own dress. My other BM is into high end couture dresses and winced when I mentioned we can have J Crew dress for the BM's dress. Not surprisingly, both of them live in NY. Thank God for my third BM who is really chill who happens to live in LA.

Wedding Hair styles: Up vs Down?

Before I get my dress, I knew for sure that I wanted my hair up. It's just so elegant and chic. Of course I was dreaming of my mermaid wedding dress.

But now that I have my dress and it's a ballgown for my 150 guests outdoor wedding, I'm thinking that maybe I should have my hair down to kinda downplay the formality of my gown. It just makes it more casual.

inspiration boards of poses I want to have on my wedding day

I'm undecided on my veil.. The veil that I love at Vera Wang is $2400, so nope.. I'm not going to get ripped off twice :P but I gotta say I'm loving the cathedral veil length. If I have my way, my dress would be a mermaid dress and I'll be wearing a birdcage veil :) But... I'm doing a ballgown dres (which I still lovee... I kept on looking pictures of myself in it) and Mom definitely wants a veil....

What are you wearing for your veil? Did you love it?

Engagement Party Dress..

Really?? Now that I'm done finding a wedding dress (after 15+ store visits), I have to still find an engagement dress?

Really not complaining about the shopping part, but I'm quite hard to please in the dress department, as apparent on my wedding dress search.

So background: my engagement party will be in my home country. There will be 50-60 guests, family members, parents' business colleagues, parent's employee, NONE of my best friends.. So the setting is day time and lunch. It will be a chinese engagement ceremony where my fiance and his family needs to bring things to offer for my family.

So here are some dress inspirations, but I think I'm going to go with one, let me know what you think: