Brauhaus

My veil is scheduled to arrive tomorrow and I'll try to take a picture of the whole ensemble for ya'll. In the meanwhile, check out my eyebrows!

I just got them done at a new salon called Brauhaus in Pasadena. After a couple of eyebrow mishaps several years ago where I would leave the salon without my skin intact, I started doing my own brows. It was a pretty good system- I saved a ton of money and I never ripped any skin off. But my brows were starting to become asymmetric and losing their arches. I googled brow waxing and found this salon in Pasadena that just does waxing and makeup. And wow! I can't tell you how pleased I am with the results. The stylist tinted, she waxed, she plucked, she trimmed, she applied brow gel and makeup afterwards. They are so much more symmetric and the perfect thickness. We have a game plan to make them better next appointment. Have you had one of those beauty experiences where the results just blow your mind??

Sorry for the delay

I know a few of you are interested in seeing the dress. I did get it and it's perfect: right color, right size (well, slightly too big and too long). I tried taking pictures of it when I got it with my camera's auto-timer but they didn't come out the best. It's really hard to press the shutter button then run twelve feet away and try to pose when you are wearing an enormous dress. I'm not meeting my seamstress until May 15th (yes, she assures me it will be completed by June 12th at the latest) so I'll try to drag a friend over to take some pictures or try the auto-timer thing again in the meanwhile.

And actually, I have a confession to make. The reason that the wedding blog posts have been few and far between is that I've been really, really stressed out. I finally got the OK from my boss yesterday to defend my thesis on June 11th. Until yesterday, I was in PhD limbo. Do I have to keep doing more experiments? Would I graduate before my wedding? If not, what am I going to do about my job start date? And what about moving to Colorado??

Coupled to that stress, I've had a string of recent disappointments in my grad school career. I'm having a lot of trouble trying to get a paper published on my project that was my pride and joy. I did a ton of work on another project and there's been drama on where I would end up on that paper's author list. I caught my boss on an extremely bad day and he sent me a scathing e-mail that highlighted his disappointment in my research accomplishments.

Bryan has tried to be supportive but he has been given a lot more responsibility at work and has been extremely busy. Now that I've been given permission to finish up in June, I feel that a huge weight has been lifted. But there's so much work to be done. Half of my thesis still needs to be written (~75 more pages) and proofread by the end of May. I have to run around campus and get various people to sign a bunch of paperwork. I have to prepare an hour long seminar on my thesis and be prepared for the tough questions. And on top of that, I have the wedding and moving stuff. Dress fittings, hair appointments, dentist appointments, finalizing menus and cake design, two more dance lessons, printing wedding programs, packing all of our crap, filling out forms for my new job. I feel like I'm at the end of a looong rollercoaster ride going down the biggest hill of my life.

Anyway, sorry for the long rant. I ordered a veil this morning and once it comes in, I will try to take pictures of the whole ensemble. Thanks for reading and thanks to those who have been so supportive!

The Dress is Coming!

That's right, folks, I got the confirmation e-mail that it's being UPS'd to me!! ETA: Next Wednesday. Yay!!!

Bridal Undergarments

I mentioned earlier that I had a interesting experiences when I went to get my wedding dress undergarments. My seamstress recommended a bra store near me to get a strapless longline bra to wear with my dress (if you don't know what one is, Google it). Like my shoe shopping experience (see below), this store is locked during the day and you have to be let in by the owner. I went to the store on a weekday afternoon and a tiny, old Japanese woman let me in. The store was impossibly crowded with merchandise, a lot of it still in plastic bags, ranging from classy to stuff that um, made me blush. She immediately handed me a baby-wipe to clean my hands with. I also saw her do this with other customers. I told her what I needed and she ushered me in to the back room, equally crowded with rows and rows of what looked like old shoe boxes. She starts picking out bras (that apparently ship in these boxes) and hands me another baby-wipe- this time to wipe down my, um, torso! I tried on several styles- rather this women put them on me. She was very concerned with keeping the mechandise clean. None of the longline bras were the style I really wanted. I found a halfway decent one (that made my waist cinch down to nothing!) but it was in a very yellowish ivory. I was willing to order it in white but the woman insisted that I "call the dressmaker and check to see if the ivory bra would work" and that there was no guarantee that the white one would fit the same if she ordered it. The dressmaker?? I guess she didn't realize that I don't have a personal relationship with the manufacturer of my dress.

As I was leaving (empty-handed), the woman asked me if I knew how to run a computer. She presented me with a computer CD and asked if she needed to peel the label off the top to get it to work, yikes! I ended up helping her install some insurance program on her computer (she deals with mastectomy patients a lot), which took an hour. I guess the storekeeper's business partner had died that Sunday and I could tell thing were a mess right now. I felt bad I couldn't do more for her but I didn't want to buy something I didn't feel good wearing.

I eventually went to another store in town that was more my style and got everything I needed and was a much more positive experience. Here's my something blue:

Wedding Shoes

Since I didn't have a picture the last time I posted, here are my wedding shoes:



They are from Grace, which makes some very elegant bridal shoes. Like I said in an earlier post, I thought Grace shoes looked great and wanted to order some online. However, I hate returning things so I decided to try on a pair first at an actual bridal salon. There happens to be a bridal cottage a few blocks away from Caltech so when I had a break from work, I walked over there. The bridal store was a tiny place and one of those places that are kept locked and you have to knock to be let in. The storekeeper let me in and showed me the bridal shoes. They didn't have the shoes I originally wanted (the ones with the simple bow on the front) but the lady gave me this pair (above) to try on. As I was trying them on, the storekeeper casually asked me questions about the wedding and myself. She finally asked about my heritage (I get this a lot) and I confessed that I was half Korean. She (herself Korean) lit up like a Christmas tree: "I knew it! You are like my daughter! Awwww! I give you a discount on these shoes! I'm trying to get rid of them anyway." She quoted me a price and I told her that I had to ask my mom if it was OK for me to buy these. I excused myself outside of the store and immediately called Bryan. "Bryan, I need you to Google these shoes and get me the online price- NOW!" The woman had indeed given me a generous discount and so I bought them. Yes, I got the Korean discount! They are white silk just like my dress so they should match well. Now, if my dress would only arrive....

Registry

It's been a while since I've blogged but a lot has happened. I got my bridal shoes... not the ones pictured below but from the same brand. It's a weird story and I'll devote an entire blog entry about it (with pictures) once the Foot Petals I ordered arrive.

I also got my wedding dress undergarments. That is also a very weird story which I will blog about soon.

We've also have our invitations. I don't have a picture yet but they will be sent out on the week of the 21st- stay tuned!

And we're starting a dance class (beginning foxtrot) this Saturday. When I called about the class, the owner of the studio, Francisco, answered. When I told him that the song we picked for our first dance was 4 and a half minutes, Francisco gasped, "Even as a professional dancer, I will not dance for more than 3 and a half minutes. It will feel like you are dancing for an eternity!" Um, that's great.

Lastly, I've started the registry. We're registered at Target and Bed, Bath and Beyond so far. We will probably also register for luggage at Macys too. Check out our website for more details. I couldn't get find this knife set at any of my registry places but if someone has a large chuck of cash burning a hole in their pocket, I would love to receive this :)

Wedding Shoes

These are so impractical but aren't they precious?!

They are sort of pricey and you can't even dye them (not that dark blue pumps with little bows are any less ridiculous than white ones). But I still love them! They are 3.5" tall, which isn't that bad for me (you can't date someone over a foot taller than you without getting used to high heels). I love the closed toe and the simple bow- it's like a poor gal's Vera Wang shoe!

But then again, how comfortable would I be in these:

Bridal platform flip-flops... who woulda thunk?