creative proposals

i'm a biter.

yes. it's the truth. somewhere on weddingbee, many many moons ago, i saw a DIY craft that one of the bees did to ask their bridesmaids (i forget who).... i thought it was a GRRREAT! idea. so i did it, too. with my own little spin, of course. i bought the accordian book kits (~$5)from Paper Source (aka a girl's best friend, aka my mothership), some pretty paper from the Paper Studio in Tempe, and got to work!


I pretty much followed the directions from PS, but you can do this on your own too - you just need your accordian folded paper, and 2 cardboard/chipboard covers that are slightly larger than the folded paper. You cut out the pretty paper a bit larger than the cover boards, and then use special paper paste to glue them to the covers, taking care to fold the corners well (like wrapping a gift - the directions are really confusing on this part), and get all the air bubbles out.


My supplies... (this is the journal kit from PS, same technique)
































I highly recommend using a bone folder to get really nice, flat creases and tight corners

I then attached a ribbon to the back panel, and then used the same paste to affix the covers to the pages. I chose a different ribbon for each girl, depending on her favorite colors.

Next, I set to work putting pictures and little decorations onto each page, outlining my relationship with each girl and our friendship adventures. On the last 1-2 pages, I wrote a little note telling them how much I valued their friendship and support in my life and relationship, and asking them to be my ladies! (Of course, I had excitedly asked them over the phone/in person much earlier - yup, that's me, always jumping the gun). I then personalized the covers with their names....

Ta-da! My finished products (please excuse my craft-desk-chaos...)



HUUUGE sense of accomplishment once these were done. The hardest part was filling the books. You could probably knock out at least 3 books a Saturday.

Did you ask your bridemaids in a creative way? Share your stories and pictures with the hive!

balancing act

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so.... most likely not many others are insane enough to be like me and get married in the middle of one of their biggest years in grad school. and good for you! because i am going crazy out of mind!

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but just in case you are... let me tell you... it can be done! it's all about time management. although, i will admit that i am definitely more prone to drop the ball for school to juggle my wedding plans. not that i'm doing bad in school, because i'm not. there have been times when i've had to put wedding tasks on hold in order to get through school, which is frustrating and stressful, to say the least.

i get UBER envious of girls who are working/out of school, because they can almost exclusively focus on planning their wedding (no studying, no homework, no having to practice clinical skills or taking midterms/proficiencies)! i really only had 3 months to do everything... because our wedding is in december, i pretty much only had this summer break to plan the entire wedding. actually, one of the reasons why we wanted to get married this december was so that i could have the summer (our only summer break in opto school!) to plan the wedding and craft my little heart out.... so a little less than 3 months to do ~85% of the wedding stuff....

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am i a little stressed out? yes. my skin has never been this bad, and i've never had so many problems falling asleep. but i wouldn't trade this experience for the world. yes, i may occasionally hate having to choose what to focus on and constantly having something to do, but i know in the end all of this hard work will pay off... and that's what i'm really looking forward to. so here's to hoping all of this will work out :)

flower girls...

i think if i could, i would have had a million flower girls. ok, so more like 10 or so... i just LOOOOOVE kids (Mr. Ramen and i could not possibly ever exclude kids, because we love them so much!)
most of our cousins are older than us, married, and have started families, leaving us with a bunch of sweet little baby cousins, the majority of which are super cute girls! and since i had spent so much time trying to find the best dresses for my lovely ladies, i couldn't leave my little girls hangin! i spent TONS of time looking online at the typical fg dresses, but i just wasn't finding what i wanted....

so... once again, i hit up Nordstrom (hello, Nordstrom Visa). and stumbled upon this GORGEOUS little number by Biscotti in the spring season catalog.... (*insert little gasps of delight here*)

is this not the most PERFECT, beautiful little dress EVER?!?!? it also came in a white, with pink edged rosettes. unfortunately, these dresses are now sold out.... for good reason

i quickly snagged a bunch, even before i knew who i would ask to be my flowergirls. we finally decided to ask one little girl from each side of the family (the youngest, most age appropriate ones).... the older one will be 7 and will be wearing the white dress.... and the little one will be 3 and will wear the pink dress! (so i can do my matching, but not matching thing, hehe)

every time i see this dress i just squeal!!! i know gross. but i'm dying because they are SO PERFECT and coordinate so well with our colors, the bridesmaid dress, and the overall look and feel i wanted for the wedding - soft, romantic, and different! and did i mention how adorable they are?!?

anyways. i love these dresses. i want one for myself (it is highly possible that i still have an extra one. that i'm keeping. for my future daughter. and she'll wear it, even if it's out of style. mwahaha). annnnd i'm totally going to ask my photographers to take a million pictures of my sweet little fgs, because they are sooo cute and these dresses are just going to bring out their sweetness even more. cute cute cuuuuuuute!

(wow, can you taste the estrogen yet?!?)

and what will my two sweet girlies be carrying down the aisle? coming soon!

my best ladies

call me crazy - i bought my bridesmaid dresses before i had even finished asking them. not that i have officially asked them yet, either - i'm getting around to it. i have one project to finish up and then it will be official!

until then.... my bridesmaid dresses... so, having been a bridesmaid once (going on twice) myself, i know that it is nice if the dress is affordable, cute, comfortable, and makes them look like the sexy women they are.

Trust me - i'm not a deluded bride who thinks that the hideous bmaid dress will actually be reworn - i KNOW mine will (right, girls?)! i like to think i have some pretty good taste, but i suppose beauty IS in the eye of the beholder. very early on (as in pre-engagement days) i decided that i wanted my girls to wear cute little black dresses of their choosing. They're slimming, rewearable, and who doesn't need another lbd? i know i could always use more! i also decided to be extremely lax about hair/makeup, shoes, jewelry - i mean, hey, they know what feels good and looks good on them, right?

so i started the long tortuous online search for potential bmaid dresses back in january. now, i originally was thinking of just finding some cute dresses to show my girls as ideas, and let them run wild. until i found it. the most perfect, unique lbd ever. seriously.

i hurried up and ordered this beauty from nordstrom for my MOH (my beloved younger sister) to try on -

i dare you to tell me it isn't sexy. it's a nice soft stretchy material too - and it looked really great on her. granted, the girl is a tiny size 2, but still. It looked fantastic!

not only was this dress incredible, but it went on SALE. so i HAD to order it. unfortunately, they only had size 12's left online!!! enter minor panic attack. ok, perhaps major. i mean, this was the perfect vintage/romantic/soft/perfect dress that i had been looking for! and i couldn't get it out of my mind, nor let this opportunity pass.

Mind you, this was occuring during the beginning of my finals week.... so i spent half of a day on the phone calling every single nordstrom on the west coast to hunt down the dresses. probably should have spent that time studying a little more, but....

amazingly enough.... i got them all! (plus a few extras, just in case)

but even after i received the dresses, i was still torn - i really wanted to be all anti-bride and anti-matchy-matchy, but.... i caught a bit of flack from my mom and future MIL about wanting black bridesmaid gowns to begin with, so i figured i could appease them by having all the girls match at least.

i am now in the process of having all my girls try on the dress to make sure it fits and looks good. in the meanwhile, nordstrom customer service has not only made sure that i got all the dresses that i wanted, in the sizes i wanted, but also at the LOWEST price possible. absolutely awesome. i love that place.

i don't really care what shoes they wear, as long as it isn't orange or something equally crazy. i DO want my girls' personalities to stick out, because that's why i love them!

i'm so excited to get them all together to meet each other!

once i finish up my big bridesmaid project, i'll be sure to share the details of how i officially asked my girls to stand by me.....
* photo source

finding our venue, part two

... recap...

we were leaning towards the bentley projects... but there was the issue with parking, possibly having to split our guests between two rooms, the issue of some unruly children that might be in attendance (bp has a strict policy that kids have to be suuuuper well behaved and essentially micromanaged the entire time they are there - or will be kicked out!), and the length of the rental (only for 4 hours). so we figured it MIGHT be a good idea to look into other options....

after some more research, we discovered the tempe center for the arts! i had originally dismissed this location as i thought it was too small (max 220 in their main room), and was again faced with the dilemma of splitting guests up. after much consideration and seeing the super low rental costs, we decided it was worth a drive down to tempe to check it out. beautiful! the lakeside room is usually used for wedding receptions - but holds only 170 with a dance floor. bummer, since i googled "wedding receptions at tca" and found a GORGEOUS reception there - with about 30 people. boo

have i ever mentioned what we wanted in a reception venue? i think it's best to describe our "style" as being clean and modern - as evidenced by our choice of photographer... more on that in a later post. however, my uber-feminine side (which i hide under lock and key) has begun to seep into that, so if i had to choose 3 words - i'd go with clean, modern, romantic. And by romantic i'm talking lace, fluffy flowers, etc. so.... eh. we shall see how this all works out. at any rate we wanted a really different location that embraced our style and captured quintessential modern phoenix. ok, so at least that's why i was looking for - i think mr. ramen, would probably say he just wanted something cool and different.

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so back to the TCA... it's set on the edge of tempe town lake, kind of isolated.... it is a GORGEOUS venue. absolutely beautiful! and the rental prices are phenomenal - we seriously considered renting out the entire venue... until we discovered that the ONLY event scheduled in alllll of the month of december was on our day - the 19th. right?! what in the world. so.... obviously... this wasn't going to work out, since we would need to have the entire lobby and lakeside room to facilitate all of our guests. big bummer, especially after getting all worked up!

so what is a girl going to do with 1.5 business days left in Phoenix and 3 days total before returning to school in CA? obviously, stress out and eat some ice cream.

after recovering with some dreyer's samoa ice cream (uh, hello lover, where have you been my whole life?!).... i decided to check into the children's museum of phoenix.

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yet another downtown phoenix location, housed inside the historic Monroe School. a little bit of vintage, but very playful. while the children't museum is absolutely charming, it was not right for us - the room was too small as they are going to be building a permanent play structure in the main room, and in general, just couldn't possibly hold all of our guests. it would definitely be fun for a smaller wedding (250 max for the entire facility) or birthday party. and since that was a no-go...

i decided on a crazy whim to call the phoenix art museum, crossing my fingers and praying hard that maybe maybe maybe? they would have a cancellation or something. luckily i have a highly unusual name (no, really) and the event coordinator, Jackie (i love her!) remembered me.... and informed me that they had cancelled their huge blockbuster december event! and
our date was now available!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the GORGEOUS entryway to the lobby, where we will have our "cocktail" hour

i think i peed my pants a little. you can't believe how giddy i was - i think i actually giggled on the phone (gross) and started feeling lightheaded. what a CUH-RAZY turn of events! and how completely perfect. so the perfect venue really is... perfect! it is one giant room that accommodates up to 350 people, the chair and table rentals are included since the museum owns enough for 350, we could continue working w/ the awesome caterers we had been chatting with, it was in central phoenix, it was modern and clean and beautiful, kids can be kids (w adult supervision in the galleries), the rental was just right for a 6 hour event, and.... we loved it! HUUUGE sigh of relief!!!


the Great Hall, where our reception will be held

God totally provided in the most perfect timing.
and like the really cool person i am, i didn't take any pictures - we just took videos of almost all the places we viewed.

* if anyone is interested in seeing these venues.... let me know bc i have videos! and if i have to i could upload them to youtube.... or something.

** when i say "we" i really mean i, with some loving input from j

the date is set -

we did it! we booked our sites! ok, i lied. we didn't really book them officially, as in sent-in-our-deposits-signed-the-contracts-official. BUT we have our date reserved and the contracts/deposits are in the works - WOOHOO!

God has some seriously good timing. Everything came together literally at the last minute. God was really gracious, as I was honestly SO stressed because I essentially had 1 week to get everything taken care of before I had to leave AZ and head back to school. It's tough to find a place that is affordable, nice, has the right je ne sais quoi, ANNND can fit around 300 guests. Anywhere.

So....back to the beginning... sometime last summer, Mr. Ramen and I went to the Phoenix Art Museum on First Fridays for a date, since it's freeeeeeee! We thought the space was awesome and would be incredible for a wedding reception (because we like to be different and couldn't just have our reception in a hotel ballroom) - although obviously, we weren't engaged at that point. It is possible that I was the one that first thought that was a good idea. So, crazy thinking me did a little research and found out that the rental was (surprisingly) quite reasonable. Since I knew I would be in optometry school, I knew that December was pretty much the only reasonable time of year for us to get married in AZ. (not to mention, 110*+ weather in the summer in a big white dress? no thanks) Unfortunately, PAM was planning a giant exhibit extravaganza or something for Dec 09, so the event coordinator told me to check back later in the year. So once the ring was on my finger I shot off an email - and no dice. They were still booked solid. Pretty devastated. To say the least.

I also contacted the Desert Botanical Gardens - another previous date location (1st anniversary, to be exact) of ours that is beauuuutiful and so very Arizona (what with the desert flora and all). Alas - another no-go due to Las Noches de Las Luminarias - which you should go to btw, if you ever have the chance. They decorate the ENTIRE garden with luminarias (tealights in bags) and Christmas lights and it's sooo romantic. Anyways, more depressed. Back to the drawing board....

Since we were looking for a unique venue, I checked out Monterra at Westworld, a ranch style setting in East Scottsdale. While it was a nice venue and verrrry affordable, it was pretty far out in Scottsdale (off the 101 around Princess/Pima, for you Arizonans) and a little too Western for our taste. I could see this being a fun venue for those who want a cowboy/Western themed wedding. They have a really nice, big ballroom that can accommodate about 450. And their wedding prices (at least when I checked), were EXTREMELY reasonable.

the Westworld ballroom

We explored this renovated hotel called Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale - it used to be this luxury resort where all the old celebrities used to stay back in the day. The newest owners spruced it back up so it's kind of this mod/vintage mix - super bright and colorful! Anyone that has a wedding here gets a free stay in a room for their wedding night - and it's just a realllly cool venue. Awesome furniture, bright backgrounds, super awesome rooms - it's incredible. But the ballroom was just typical hotel and for our color scheme (which I shall reveal soon... once we figure out exactly what that is, haha) it was just a little too loud. Sigh. It would have been pretty snug with our 250 guest list (which has somehow now expanded... exponentially) Not to mention a tiny bit on the pricey side - I mean, it IS Scottsdale.

We checked out the Arrowhead Golf Club - which is really nice... but too small of a room for our ever-growing guest list. As well as a bit too far out of the way from Phx and things to do. Unless you wanted to play golf. But really, a nice venue with lots of benefits and GREAT pricing. One of the most affordable venues. It's nice because the ballroom overlooks the green and a pond/lake. You know how golf clubs are.

Fiesta Resort in Tempe - a typical resort/hotel ballroom facility - it was just renovated, so the light fixtures and carpet are nice (although, as you can see - the carpet is pretty loud...)

The menu prices are extremely affordable (ok, so THIS one was the most affordable)... but not at the level of formality that we or the future in-laws desired. Probably not the fanciest food, but if you're on a really tight budget, I would definitely consider this option. The lobby was my favorite part, with a water feature and everything....

I'm not sure exactly what it is about downtown Phoenix, but I love it. It's romantic in that old, vintagey, revitalizing (as in the city is being revitalized) way. I told Mr. Ramen that if we move back to Phx once I'm done with school, I needed to live downtown in an old Craftsman style home. YEAH! Party at our house! Uhm.... in like, 4+ years. Deep down inside, I knew that I wanted to stick around downtown/central Phoenix, support local businesses, etc (uhm, I just realized how stupid that sounds because honestly? I think most wedding vendors are local...)

Enter.... the Bentley Projects. In one word - amazing. *cue angels singing*. It is just a huge blank slate just waiting to be given a theme. It's a modern art gallery in downtown Phoenix (south of the ballpark) that was converted from an old laundromat.
Exposed brick walls, huge rafters on the ceiling.... really sweet modern art on the walls... extremely unique.... exactly what I wanted.....

BUT (there's always a but, isnt' there?).... everything has to be rented. Tables, chairs, couches, etc. Which gets amazingly pricey quite quickly...

There are 4 galleries - the two largest ones are separated by 2 large doorways.... so we would either have to cram everyone into one room and have our "dance floor" in the other, or split everyone into two rooms (and if any uninvited guests showed up - there would be no room! not that i'm planning on any of that happening.) Not exactly an ideal setting. Another issue was parking - the Bentley Projects lot holds ~ 88 cars (but apparently that's only if you hire a valet service, according to a caterer that has done many events there). The rest is street parking OR renting a neighboring lot for an extra $250. Which in weddingland is the equivalent to 2.5 guests. Since I do NOT live in weddingland, but in the the world of I-am-living-off-student-loans-and-will-be-paying-them-off-for-the-rest-of-my-life, having to pay for the extra parking lot did not appeal to me. Also, it's not the most kid-friendly space; if kids get too unruly, they will be asked to leave, and Mr. Ramen and I looooove kids (we each have quite a handful of little cousins)! But.... it is such a gorgeous venue that it was immediately #1 on my list.

The Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts - the Atrium (pictured here) was nice, however it is undergoing renovations and those happen when the city is able to provide funding.... in our present economy, we didn't feel secure in going with this venue, although all major renovations are scheduled to be completed in Sept/Oct. It is a lovely space if you have a large number of guests - it can seat 500+, I believe and is right next to the very modern SMOCA (Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art). You do have to choose from a list of preferred caterers, but other than that, you can do whatever you want with this huge space. Plus, the area surrounding it is a favorite for wedding day/engagement portraits, what with the "LOVE" statue-thing being nearby.

Next.... Inspirador in Chandler. This place was most aesthetically pleasing to both of us - Spanish style (for me) with lots of modern touches (for Mr. Ramen).

This is an all-inclusive venue - You can pay one flat rate and EVERYTHING is included - open bar, custom designed menu and cake, floral centerpieces, your choice of round or square tables (i LOVE square tables - but they're more expensive to rent - isn't that counterintuitive???), event designer/coordinator AND chivari chairs. these glamourous chairs usually cost around $10 EACH to rent. why? i don't know - i mean, it's a chair. it makes contact with your butt. but at Inspirador, it's included.
anyways. inspirador is a nice deal. They were actually offering us some pretty sweet deals, BUT it would be a tight fit and again... it's in downtown Chandler. that's like... almost an hour from my parents' house. AND you don't get to choose the caterer. If it were only in downtown Phx.... sigh. I started worrying we were going to end up with a hotel ballroom after all.

so how does this story end? stay tuned...........
* all pictures by yours truly

finally!

how it all happened....

the proposal story. in all of it's glory. unabridged.
soooo, once upon a time, mr. ramen and i went hiking on camelback mountain. we like hike when it's cool enough in az and we actually have free time... so... uh, not a lot, but we like it. annnyways, we were hiking and mr. ramen mentioned that we should return and watch the sunset from this one rock overlooking the city.

fast forward to thanksgiving. we went to look at rings since mr. ramen has no clue what my taste in jewelry is like. he spied this beautiful ring while he was waiting for me to be dropped off, and thought, i bet a will like this one. and whaddaya know - i picked it out and fell in love with that exact same ring on my own. but i knew it was probably waaaaaaay out of any budget he had set up, so i tried to let it go. (translation: i googled the ring and bookmarked it)

and like any good, patient girlfriend, i kept asking him when we would get engaged. to which he kept saying, "i need more time. just be patient!" so over Christmas, i finally gave up on the asking. since he said he needed at least 2 more month, and made it seem that he hadn't talked to my parents yet, and hadn't even bought the ring.

little did i know... that sneaky boy had found a jeweler in NY who sold the ring and ordered it. like, the week after thanksgiving. ANNND he had asked my parents for their blessing/permission. uhmm, LIAR! totally lied to me. which was easy, since I was away at school.

anyways, he finally decided with perhaps some help, to propose to me on camelback mountain, at sunset. he enlisted his brother, and my sister and brother to help him. But, he thought if he asked me to go hiking with him, i would be suspicious, so he wasn't sure how to get me to go. on our drive back to az, he asked me to have lunch with him on saturday, and if we could go ring shopping since he didn't have a ring yet and i wanted to go to another jewelery store. to which i asked if we could go hiking later. to which he happily reponded, yes!

so... it was a bright sunshiney day, no clouds in the sky... and he was late! (scouting out proposal sites apparently). my sister offered to do my hair and makeup (she thought i'd be suspicious, but i wasn't bc she always does things like that). and finally mr. ramen showed up and we went to lunch at Duck and Decanter. not my favorite place. but anyways. as we walked to the car to go to the jeweler's the sky had darkened, which made him freak out and ask weird questions like "do you think it's going to rain? did you feel that? is it sprinkling?" and then "do you want to be with me forever?" all to which I responded "no, it's not raining, yes, i want to be with you, you are so weird."

so we went ring shopping. which threw me off, for sure, since i figured he didn't have a ring. although he kept text messaging someone (i assumed it was daniel), and seemed really disinterested (i assumed the rings were too expensive).

then we drive to camelback. and it's crowded. almost no parking. so i suggest we just go back home, i'm tired, it's cloudy. he gets realllllly persistent about finding a spot, even though i'm a bit cranky, so we finally park. i mention that if someone else gets engaged while we're watching the sunset, i would be so depressed (oh the irony!). and i have to change into my tennis shoes to hike, and i look sooo ridiculous - like i'm the crazy gf who dresses up to go hiking. ugh. so as we walked up i kept talking about how i looked dumb, and i was tired. and he kept stopping to "enjoy nature" and "look at caves". when i wanted to hurry up and watch the sunset so i could go back home.

so, we get to this spot where the trail splits into two. to get to the sunset watching spot, you go up to the Left. however, mr. ramen starts leading me down to the right, though. and i'm kind of annoyed bc he drags me up the mountain to watch the sunset and all of a sudden he doesn't even care about that anymore?!?!? and we're behind this other couple... and i see these rosepetals... and i start thinking, WHAT THE.... someone else IS getting engaged!!!! (*insert pouting here*) but then i see some asian person hiding in the bushes.... so i get confused, and then denial sets in.... and mr. ramen is leading me up the stairs covered in rosepetals.... to which i respond, "don't touch someone else's stuff!" and then i see his guitar, and automatically i think, "he's just tricking you! ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh, is this really happening? no! it's fake! it has to be fake!" he hands me a long stemmed rose. my heart has never beat so fast.

so, he had written me this super sweet song for Christmas, and tells me that there is another VERSION that he wants to sing for me. and at the end of the song he sings "i finally can say what i've wanted to tell you for so long - I love you." to which my mind literally imploded. literally. when we had first started dating, we said we didn't want to say i love you unless we got engaged.
so he gets down on one knee, and my mind was freakkkking out. i now notice my younger brother holding a camera behind a random ledge.... so i try to hold back my tears, and try to focus on what mr. ramen is saying to me...... and THEN. he busts out the ring. THE ring.

and i'm teary and saying "ohhhhmygoshhhhh, ohmygosh, yes!" then we kiss and hug.... and then applause! we had a captive audience of hikers congratulating us!

i was in shock and disbelief. and the best part? the boy knows me so well, he even brought my cute shoes up the mountain so i could change into them to wear for pictures :) oh yeah. i'm marrying a keeper.

* all pictures taken by my sister