Korean Gift Exchange (Ham)

Happy couple and their matchmaker. What a happy day for the couple to get engaged but who knew what trouble brewed for the friends to get this engagement be a successful one.
A brief introduction for Korean 'Ham', known as the gift exchange, is done by groom-to-be's friends and bride-to-be's friends. The 'Ham' is the box carried by Squid masked man and it contains the gifts for the bride's family. In order for the "Ham' to be sent to the bride's family, the bride's side has to 'persuade' these stubborn men. They have to use bribery in form of money in envelopes, alcohol and snacks and womanly wiles. It can take hours and it can be easy or it can also get ugly, they all depend on how the groom's friend play it out...

1. The groom's friends had arrived and the bride's representatives (family and close friends) came to greet them. This just started and they had parked far from where the bride's family's place. To get the groomsmen to come forward, money was laid to bring them closer. Getting to know the groomsment and negotiating. Few steps forward. Cigarette break.

More enforcement came forward - bride's unmarried girlfriends and brother to bring the drinks and snacks. Pouring and feeding the Squid man. The girls were not as patient as they pulled the Squid man to come forward. Baiting Squid man with more drinks to move while Squid man stood his ground and sat again.

Using some femini wiles to get Squid man going while the men asked Squid man's rep on how much it would take for them to get going. Many onlookers watched the show while one of bride's gang took away Squid man's chair forward. The grooms gang parked themselves again at the spot and the girls asked for more enforcement.

I pretty much left the scene after witnessing 1 hour of these banterings, negotiations, pullings, laughter and fun, as I had to bring Baby J back to our accomodation to sleep. I heard the Ham took about 2.5hour for Squid man to break down and send forward the Ham.

Framing The Wedding

I finally got around to do my framing of my wedding pic plus the souvenir and the invitation. I thought this is a good way to store my physical wedding keepsakes. And I think I get a pretty good deal to frame this up, total costs is less than $130, which there was a framed mirror selling at around the same price in the store.

Hello Kitty For The Extremes

via Sanrio Blog

I'm sure speed and Hello Kitty are peas and carrots for this Ferrari owner.


via Born Rich

Ha! I'm sure there are many other people out there who loves crystals more than I do! I mean this doghouse from Hello Kitty cost a whopping $31k! I'm not sure whether a Hello Kitty fan would go all out to purchase this for their puppies...

Via NY Post Blog

If you love Hello Kitty products, would you wear this for your wedding?

Beautiful Wedding Invitations

From perusing Luxurious Wedding, I came across to this wedding invitation designer, Beyond Inviting. When I saw the brocade invitation in the silk box and the heavy crystal buckle, I knew this designer would design one of the most lavish and glamorous cards.

I can't wait for the website to be up and running so to be able to see more of their other collections! Click here to register for their new site.

Thank you Nicole Goodwin, Director, Business Affair of Beyond Inviting, for the above images.

Bridal Shower Inspiration

images from Hostess

While I was reading Style Me Pretty's blog, I came across this pretty layout and items inspiration for hosting an upcoming bridal shower from Hostess.
I love the color theme turquoise color, very refreshing (something not pink and ivory), and the 'bling' in the blue box is very unique. How so Tiffany dream-like... awww. I do hope the single recipients wouldn't be offended by the 'bling'... Any take on that?
Do you have any good entertaining ideas for bridal showers ?

Click here to view more of the blue themed entertaining idea.

The Decor

How many times have I mentioned about budget? A lot of times and décor usually takes up more than 50% of the budget. I first approached another decorator to design for my wedding but my father only wants the best., Siu, the maestro of decorator.

Our family had used him for both my brothers’ weddings and he always creates the plushest decors. He has the magic touch and how I had begged with him not to charge so much for his magic.

My oldest brother did the European garden, my second brother did the Garden under the Starlight, and Siu decided to do Asian garden for me.

I requested for him to make the wedding décor as Korean as possible but due to the lack of resources and inspirations from Korea books, I thought the décor should be more globally Asian.

He didn’t provide any sketches but I was sold by his idea of creating a lake (a pool really) in the wedding hall! He always wanted to do it but there wasn’t a wedding location able to consume a pool for decoration.

There were Asian palace with many cherry blossom trees and the flowers cascaded from the trees and touch the lake, creating a perfect double illusion.

Korean Ceremonial Robe (Hwarot)

Making the Korean ceremonial wedding dress was uncommon and my husband had indulged me to custom make one. We went to a wedding expo in Seoul and had acquired many contacts for hanbok and “hwarot”. The price of a Hwarot ranged from colossal designer prices of USD20,000 (made of silk and are hand embroidered) to cheap imitation of USD2,000 (made of satin and are machine-embroidered).

Since I’m a spoiled girl with an acquired taste of finer things, I made a living hell for my husband to hunt down a perfect “hwarot”, also known as flower robe.

I researched about the accessories to go with the Hwarot and my husband even bought me a book on Korean palace costumes.. The Hwarot was worn only by princesses during their weddings in the olden days but now many Korean brides wore Hwarot for their wedding ceremony. However, they don’t have to purchase one, as it was usually provided in the wedding reception places..

My husband is a good negotiator and he got us a great deal on my Hwarot (we didn’t spend a colossal amount on it). I was happy to get what I wanted: all silk, including the inner layer, all hand-embroidered and we even managed to get the sleeves material changed to a higher quality material too!

After making me happy with my Hwarot, my husband went for his own details. He wanted a big Dragon embroidery patch emblems on his front and back of his ‘durumagi’ –overcoat..

We also insisted to change his Durumagi’s material and the color. We saw a beautiful men’s Durumagi in black and we thought it will look cool for him to wear one too.

I was almost decided to wear the elaborate wig- the Empress wig for my wedding day.

Thankfully, I was sane enough to listen to my sisters and mother not to wear it. The explanation – the wig will make me look old.

I just loved my Korean crown! It’s called hwa-gwani and this is the traditional crown for Hwarot. It has the little details and is hand-embroidered. We proudly display in its glass box at our home now.

My husband at first preferred the modern crystal crown; he thought the crystals would stand out on the stage. My father agreed with me that this is more beautiful.

The Souvenirs

I searched for the guests’ souvenir for quite some time. On many American websites, showed a lot of favors but they are mostly candies and chocolates. I prefer something guests can use or display and remember the wedding they attended.

There were many choices that I thought of: pens with dragon engraved, photo frames, digital photo key chains, accessories box and the list goes on.

I finally found what I deemed as the best choice, it was enameled dragon wineglass made in China, I saw the company listing, called Roro Craft, in alibaba.com and went ahead to contact them with my splattering Chinese.

To further check their quality, I went to their booth in expo when I was traveling with my family and husband in Hon Kong. It was to our satisfaction.

Since I don’t have the budget to give a pair of dragon and phoenix wineglasses to guests, I asked them to custom make for me a double symbol- dragon & phoenix. I made thousands of pieces and they came packaged with the boxes.

They were then ocean freight from China direct to me. The timing was very tight but we manage to get the souvenirs a week before the wedding.

To make my souvenir more personalized, I went further to put my husband's name and mine as a metal plate for the bottom of the glass.

I had never bought such big quantity from China for my own purposes and I had heard so many first-hand bad experiences from other people. It was a good thing that those news didn't deter me to order from Roro Craft, else I wouldn't be able to give my guests these pretty glasses.

I was satisfied on how professionally the Chinese held my account.

Souvenirs for Overseas Guests

We wanted to give a nice package with local Indonesian products for our overseas guests to thank them for flying long hours to attend our wedding. Not only has it have to be 'nice', we wanted our guests to keep the souvenirs so candies favors were out of the picture.

image from Artichokes & Co

The idea was from a basket to be placed in the hotel rooms but we felt that basket may be too bulky for our guests to bring back home. This gift box from is from artichokes & co. You can view more of the cool gift items by their website. Thus, a bag was a better option and easier on my budget, which is not to spend more than USD20/ souvenir.

I made 4 colors of these rattan bags from a nice young lady whom also made these lovely chopsticks too. If you are interested more of their products, you can email them and request catalog. These rattan bags were a great hit, the ladies who received were proudly toting the bag to gold courses and shopping centers!
The gentlemen dutifully brought the bag back to their wives and girlfriends.


To fill up the bag, we bought batik-print kimono from a wholesaler and have our initials embroidered in gold. We also had a small souvenir box filled with tea-light candle, local candies and cookies. All of them supposed to have meaning, but I had no time to spare for the details of the meanings...All is to be in pairs as in the auspicious number for wedding.
I'm very happy to know guests not only brought back their souvenirs but are using them too! A friend told me that she use the kimono in her daily life.

My Bridesmaids

Initially, I had thought to have only 1 maid-of-honor, my sister, and 1 bridesmaid, my cousin. I didn’t want to inconvenient any of my friends. I know it’s very tiring to be a bridesmaid as it will be a one whole day event..

Moreover, I didn’t thought I would have an elaborate wedding dress with long train. My sister did tell me in advance that she will not be carrying the train of my wedding dress. Granted.

Last minute, I casually asked my close friend if she wanted to be my bridesmaid and she said yes! Thankfully for her, I had two loveliest and patient bridesmaids to carry my train.

Bridesmaid's Dress

I was a bridesmaid once for a friend and she had custom made her bridesmaids’ dresses.. It was pretty and thoughtful of her to make the dress in such a way that we’ll be able to re-wear the dresses again in future.

However, it was in a shade of ivory and thus, a shade of a bridesmaid dress.

I borrowed her idea and I picked out beautiful Mandalay (American brand) cocktail dresses from my store’s new collection delivery. I had other choices from the same designer but it was overtly sexy and I figured my bridesmaid will have to be dressed more demurely since they have to reach down to pick my train. :) The gold dresses fitted them perfectly and I hope they’ll be able to wear them again to other parties.

Gifts For The Ladies

I always like a flower crystal pinned on the hair and since I could not wear for myself (I had to wear our family heirloom tiara), I thought it would be lovely to see it on someone else’s hair.

And also, since I wanted to make gifts for my sister who was also my maid of honor and my sister-in-laws to show my love for them, I thought why not give them hairpins to wear on my wedding.

This beautiful crystal flower is made by Singapore-based company who specializes in making Swarovski components accessories. The accessory designer made the flower pins so delicate and beautiful and I hope my sisters love them as I do!

The Wedding Gown

I had wanted to cut my wedding budget and had thought to buy my wedding dress off the shelf. I also went to local rental wedding dresses places to see some dresses. The prices ranged from $2,000- $4,500. Then, a mother of a close friend’s told me its bad luck to wear someone else’s wedding dress.

In the beginning, I was adamant to stick to my wedding budget and tried hard not to overspend on a dress I only get to wear once in my life. All my sisters were very flabbergasted to know my feelings towards ‘the wedding dress’ and my mother was sad finding out that I tried to cut costs on my wedding dress. She told me she would pay for my wedding dress.

After much convincing I decided to put more budget allocation on my wedding dress, I went to my friend’s wedding parlor and tried on some Vera Wang dresses. I liked the Luxe collection but I found them too expensive. My mother then told me of her wishes to see me wearing a more elaborate wedding dress (she found Vera Wang too simple for her taste).

In the end, I went to a local famous designer whom our family normally uses. We went through several designs and I told him to design me the dress with certain budget. But alas! It went much over the budget due to my desire to use only the best of materials.

Oh! The shoes in front...Hmm... they are one of those mistakes I made when I was in my Bridezilla's mode. I wanted to look taller during my big day so I custom-made these 13cm tall platforms. They are hideous and I kept telling the photographers to be careful not to the shoes in our pictures.

The Invitation - Initial Design

Initial Invitation Design

To incorporate my husband likes and Korean theme, I picked the Dragon and Phoenix theme. I thought this theme is can be related to South Asian – Chinese, Korean and Japanese.

My husband is born in the year of dragon and I the year of rooster. Females born in year of rooster can also be depicted as phoenix. It’s supposed to be a heavenly match between the dragon and phoenix (rooster).

To avoid making the invitation design look like a Chinese restaurant menu, I wanted a simple, elegant design with the dragon and phoenix embossed, instead of vibrantly colored. Secondly, it has to look Korean too, so the card maker suggested putting “love” in Korean typography.

EnvelopeCover

The initial design of the wedding invitation card was supposed to be understated and elegant with muted ivory color made of recycled paper and blind emboss the dragon and phoenix.

To cut costs, I had first chosen a small squarish shape.

The Wedding Invitation

The design -------- Real Invitation

Final Design – We still kept the look of the original design but my sister convinced me to change the size of the card.

The initial size was not grand and she told me that my father wouldn’t be happy if he were to see the card, even less sending them out. Gold Japanese fancy paper with white printed dragon and phoenix.

The band is made of kalkir paper and it signify Korean colors – red, yellow and blue. This stripes are also seen on my traditional “flower robe” sleeves. The “fuk” (prosperity) signs are also the gold leaf prints on my hanbok “chima” – skirt. .

The Final Thing

The overall design of the card was one of the few things that I find very satisfying for my wedding, thanks to my sister. But my husband initially was upset with my last-minute decision to change the invitation. He had preferred it to be in recycled paper as we were printing a large quantity of 2,500 pcs. Those 2,500 guests who would receive the invitations would also be aware of being environmental.

The reason why I didn’t use recycled paper was due to another invitation I had received. I loved the gold they used. It was beautiful and my initial invitation design looked dull and dead compared to it. My card maker knew the paper used and my sister finally decided for me to use the exact paper, color coordination and even the size!

Secondly, my mother’s friend, who is a paper manufacturer, had given me the paper to make my invitation out of goodwill and I decided to incorporate her paper into the invitation. I used them for the map,, band and envelope. I had thought it will help cut the costs of the new design but sadly, it didn’t..

My advise for would-be brides and especially bridezillas to, save a few invitation cards for themselves as memory keepsake.. I even went as far as framing the invitations together with the souvenir! I will post them once its done.

A Bridezilla's Journal

Definition: a bride-to-be who focuses so much on the event that she becomes difficult and obnoxious
Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English, Preview Edition (v 0.9.7)

I love attending weddings and my husband has a hard time understanding why so. In weddings, that’s when I get to wear pretty dresses, catch up with old friends and check out reception decorations.

There were some weddings that I took down notes and had wished I could do something similar for my own wedding. I had heard of the term Bridezilla from a friend, whom her herself was one, but I had never imagined myself to be so “difficult” and over meticulous on wedding preparations. My husband had actually bought me “Soup for the Bride’s Soul” a year before our wedding! I had read about other brides stories and told myself to go easy on my own wedding.

Every girl (who wished to be married, that is) always has a mind on what they think is the wedding for themselves.. That is not the case for me. True, I had scoured magazines, from local, to foreign magazines, that I don’t comprehend the languages, to pull out wedding ideas, spent sleepless nights and working hours on internet for choosing themes, wedding dresses, invitations and others.

However, up to today, there are certain things that I wish I could change, such as, the wedding dress, flower bouquet, guest list…

I just realized, months after the wedding, I may have just the perfect wedding for myself.