Admittedly, I have been avoiding writing every wedding related item down on my blog these days, because I am ashamed to leave any trace of evidences that I am gradually becoming a bridezilla.
There are various definitions for bridezilla:
1. (a neologistic portmanteau of bride and Godzilla) is a difficult, unpleasant, perfectionist bride http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridezilla_(term)
2. (usually humorous) A woman who, in the course of planning her wedding, exercises or attempts to exercise an high degree of control over all or many minor details of the ceremony and reception. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bridezilla)
3. Today’s Bridezilla is continually redefining herself as a confident woman who knows what she wants and goes after it. If something goes wrong she doesn’t break into a million pieces and revert to toddler-hood, she simply finds the next best route to getting back on track. Bridezillas of today are strong, intelligent women who are not only well-versed in the arts of fashion, beauty and pop culture, but they also have a clear image of who they are and how their wedding will reflect themselves and their brand new husband. (http://www.bridezilla.com/bridezilla-defined)
While I am hoping to be the bridezilla in definition 3, somehow definition 1 and 2 caught me unguarded. Unlike what definition 2 describes, being a bridezilla is really not that humorous for me or people around me.
So how did I discover my internal bridezilla? There were a few things that frustrated me a little:
1. pre-wedding/engagement photo: pre-wedding photo session is a must for every bride from Taiwan. But unfortunately it's not something super popular in Canada. There are a few asian bridal shop or asian photographers provide such services, but they are rather pricy and quality is not as comparable to Taiwain. Since we don't have the time/money allowance to make an extra trip to Taiwan, we have given up on the idea of getting pre-wedding photo done. I was a little disappointed, but I have been telling myself we will have awesome photo on the wedding day. Also, I managed to interest Bear in getting engagment photo done. We ended up doing an engagement photo session in the snow on a mountain that's where we play and go on advantures together. That seems lot more meaningful to us.
2. makeup and hair trial: having a caucasian makeup artist is something that scares most of us Asians. Asians tend to have narrower eyes. Caucasion has deeper eye sockets, higher cheekbones. These different facial features require very different makeup technics. So I have been told a lot, the makeup artist in Dubrovnik would probably ended up doing badly with my makeup. I have been really worried. I ended up doing a makeup trial locally with an asian makeup artist and took some pictures, hoping to show the artist in Dubrovnik these pictures to help him get an idea of the type of makeup I like. I had the makeup trial last weekend, I wasn't super impressed with the results, it was not bad, but wasn't super. The solution is to do another makeup trial when I arrive in Dubrovnik. I will not suggested anything to the artist in Dubrovnik first. If it turns out to be horrible then I will show him the pictures of my trial here, and ask him to try to do the same. If it turns out to be better, then that's perfect.
3. Money and Time: it seems we are always short on time. Also I only have 3-week vacation per calendar year. I am a little frustrated that I won't have any vacation until September. As for money, after purchasing my mom's plane ticket to Dubrovnik, it surely hurt my wallet a bit. Now, I am just looking for cheaper accommodation for her, hopefully I can save some money on that one.
Luckily, I seem to resolved all the these frustration at the end with (im)perfect solutions. It's crazy, but when I read other bride's frustration online, it gives me the relief that I am not the only potential bridezilla :P
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Glacier Picnic
Finally something more exciting happened this Friday. After my complaint about Bear's proposal in November, he decided to do something "bearmantic" (ie. romantice in bear's way) for me. He took my engagment ring for resizing last month. Then he told me he would give the ring back to me in a more romantice setting to make up for his super casual proposal.
Glacier picnic!! That's what Bear decided we should do! And guess what it involved no hiking!!! We went for a helicopter ride for an amazing view of Tantulas Range. We landed on Serratus Glacier for a nice lunch picnic where we enjoyed our wine and cheese.
We took some pictures, but they don't do the justice of its beauty.
To make it totally cliche, we also went as far as bringing a picnic basket and picnic blanket :).
Glacier picnic!! That's what Bear decided we should do! And guess what it involved no hiking!!! We went for a helicopter ride for an amazing view of Tantulas Range. We landed on Serratus Glacier for a nice lunch picnic where we enjoyed our wine and cheese.
We took some pictures, but they don't do the justice of its beauty.
To make it totally cliche, we also went as far as bringing a picnic basket and picnic blanket :).
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.473605502916.253521.504307916&l=db0a69789c
Random items
To all the faither readers of this blog, I have to emphasize again, I still remember I have a blog, but I haven't found anything exciting to write recently.
It might not find this exciting, but let me do a breif update on things we have been doing (both wedding and non-wedding related stuff).
I finally received the extra fabric (plated tulle) from Landy Bridal. The shipping time wasn't long, but there was moments of "what the xxxx" while dealing with the customer service from Landy bridal. After I ordered and paid for the fabric, the customer service messaged me on Skype and asking me what kind of fabric I want, if I want something a bit softer or a bit stiffer. I was so annoyed by that, because I really had no idea what would one consider as soft or stiff. I was on the verge of turning into a bridezilla, (maybe if you ask bear he would probably think that I was already a bridezilla long before that) but since I really needed the fabric from them, I tried to remain as calm and as polite as possible. So I politely told them I would like the same type of fabric they put on my dress, to my surprise they told me that they didn't remember what kind of fabric it was, and it would be easier if I could just tell them if it's the "softer" or the "stiffer" type of plated tulle. As you all know patience is never my strong suit, Bear had to coach me how to politely explain to them, one couldn't figure out if something is softer or stiffer without anything to compare against. At the end, they finally sent me the correct fabric. I dropped off the fabric at my seamstress the weekend before and she is working on it now.
I was looking for a borrowed tiara and Sara offered to lend me hers. I tried it on, it was grogeous. But, I didn't feel comfortable taking such a sentimental item to a destination wedding. I ended up buying a small cheap tiara.
We did Sun Run again this year. To be exact, I did sun walk and Bear ran it. I walked with my co-workers and finished just under 2 hours. Bear did really well this year he did it in 49 minutes and 36 seconds.
I bought a pair of rental skis from Cypress. They were super cheap, we figured it's more worthwhile than always renting them.
It might not find this exciting, but let me do a breif update on things we have been doing (both wedding and non-wedding related stuff).
I finally received the extra fabric (plated tulle) from Landy Bridal. The shipping time wasn't long, but there was moments of "what the xxxx" while dealing with the customer service from Landy bridal. After I ordered and paid for the fabric, the customer service messaged me on Skype and asking me what kind of fabric I want, if I want something a bit softer or a bit stiffer. I was so annoyed by that, because I really had no idea what would one consider as soft or stiff. I was on the verge of turning into a bridezilla, (maybe if you ask bear he would probably think that I was already a bridezilla long before that) but since I really needed the fabric from them, I tried to remain as calm and as polite as possible. So I politely told them I would like the same type of fabric they put on my dress, to my surprise they told me that they didn't remember what kind of fabric it was, and it would be easier if I could just tell them if it's the "softer" or the "stiffer" type of plated tulle. As you all know patience is never my strong suit, Bear had to coach me how to politely explain to them, one couldn't figure out if something is softer or stiffer without anything to compare against. At the end, they finally sent me the correct fabric. I dropped off the fabric at my seamstress the weekend before and she is working on it now.
I was looking for a borrowed tiara and Sara offered to lend me hers. I tried it on, it was grogeous. But, I didn't feel comfortable taking such a sentimental item to a destination wedding. I ended up buying a small cheap tiara.
We did Sun Run again this year. To be exact, I did sun walk and Bear ran it. I walked with my co-workers and finished just under 2 hours. Bear did really well this year he did it in 49 minutes and 36 seconds.
I bought a pair of rental skis from Cypress. They were super cheap, we figured it's more worthwhile than always renting them.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Wedding Shoes
Shoes, I love shoes. I have at least 30 pairs of shoes at home (excluding climbing, hiking, snow sport shoes). Due to the limited space in our apartment, I have to cut down my love for shoes. I haven't shopped for shoes as much, plus I have become older and lazier, so I don't wear all the beautiful high heels anymore.
The wedding gave me an execuse to shop for shoes. Choosing a pair of bridal shoes can't be as unconditional as my usual love for shoes. I have reached out my best friend, Google, and found some tips on bridal shoes hunting. However, I disagreed with most of the choosing criteria, such as material, matching with the dress, wedding style and wedding venue. The only thing I really considered was comfort. I didn't really consider the material or matching the wedding dress, because I figure my dress are long enough to cover them, so they are not likely to be seen, also I don't really like the traditional bridal shoes. My original ideal was to go for something contemporary like this http://onefabday.com/add-a-splash-of-colour-fun-wedding-shoes/. Ok, I know it sounds contradicting already, if I do not care weather the wedding dress match the shoes because the dress will cover the shoes, then why do I care how they look. Let me try to explain this, I think wearing a pair of funky bright coloured shoes with a fancy princess ball gown dress walking down the aisle would really destroy the fairy tale scene. And I believe that's why a lot of people want to make sure they wear proper white bridal shoes. However, I am not planning to show my shoes except when we are doing informal photo shoot. I would really like to add a bit of creativity and funkiness to our photo, therefore I wanted to go for a pair of nice bright colour shoes (they can be hidden under the skirt when we are pretending to be all formal and mature :P). But I really dislike satin shoes and it was really hard to find bright coloured leather shoes. Also I have convinced myself that I don't need another pair of shoes that I am likely to just store them but not wear them ever again.
So I took on my friend Cynthia's suggestions and looked for trendy nude colour high heels. The advantage of wearing nude coloured high heels is if I am to wear anything shows my legs and feet, because of the continuity of the same colour tone of my skin and the shoes, it would create an illusion of longer legs :) Although my dress is not going to show my legs, but I do think that's a nice advantage if I ever want to wear those shoes again with other clothes. The other advantage I have recently discovered was that my dress was a little tiny bit too short, but with nude colour shoes, they still seem hidden under the dress, I can't hardly notice them.
It doesn't sound right that I want comfort but I want to wear a pair of high heels. The reason behind this is due the my unfortunate height. My maid of honor Conny has strong suggested that my shape would be more flattering with high heels, plus she is not used to wearing flats, and she doesn't want to look too much taller than me when standing right beside me. From my past experience, I have to say I don't believe any high heels are ever comfortable, all I can say is there are some, that are less uncomfortable. Nine West high heels are the least uncomfortable ones in my opinion. After all the thinking, last weekend I bought a pair of Nine West nude coloured high heels. They are not exactly designed for long standing, so I will also shop for another pair of wedge flip flops (like this http://www.weddingfactorydirect.com/ivsehiweflfl.html), in case I can't stand for those high heels after a few hours of standing and walking around.
Here are some pictures of my new shoes. I will have to spend the next few months walking around the house in them to stretch them out and practice to walk with good posture.
The wedding gave me an execuse to shop for shoes. Choosing a pair of bridal shoes can't be as unconditional as my usual love for shoes. I have reached out my best friend, Google, and found some tips on bridal shoes hunting. However, I disagreed with most of the choosing criteria, such as material, matching with the dress, wedding style and wedding venue. The only thing I really considered was comfort. I didn't really consider the material or matching the wedding dress, because I figure my dress are long enough to cover them, so they are not likely to be seen, also I don't really like the traditional bridal shoes. My original ideal was to go for something contemporary like this http://onefabday.com/add-a-splash-of-colour-fun-wedding-shoes/. Ok, I know it sounds contradicting already, if I do not care weather the wedding dress match the shoes because the dress will cover the shoes, then why do I care how they look. Let me try to explain this, I think wearing a pair of funky bright coloured shoes with a fancy princess ball gown dress walking down the aisle would really destroy the fairy tale scene. And I believe that's why a lot of people want to make sure they wear proper white bridal shoes. However, I am not planning to show my shoes except when we are doing informal photo shoot. I would really like to add a bit of creativity and funkiness to our photo, therefore I wanted to go for a pair of nice bright colour shoes (they can be hidden under the skirt when we are pretending to be all formal and mature :P). But I really dislike satin shoes and it was really hard to find bright coloured leather shoes. Also I have convinced myself that I don't need another pair of shoes that I am likely to just store them but not wear them ever again.
So I took on my friend Cynthia's suggestions and looked for trendy nude colour high heels. The advantage of wearing nude coloured high heels is if I am to wear anything shows my legs and feet, because of the continuity of the same colour tone of my skin and the shoes, it would create an illusion of longer legs :) Although my dress is not going to show my legs, but I do think that's a nice advantage if I ever want to wear those shoes again with other clothes. The other advantage I have recently discovered was that my dress was a little tiny bit too short, but with nude colour shoes, they still seem hidden under the dress, I can't hardly notice them.
It doesn't sound right that I want comfort but I want to wear a pair of high heels. The reason behind this is due the my unfortunate height. My maid of honor Conny has strong suggested that my shape would be more flattering with high heels, plus she is not used to wearing flats, and she doesn't want to look too much taller than me when standing right beside me. From my past experience, I have to say I don't believe any high heels are ever comfortable, all I can say is there are some, that are less uncomfortable. Nine West high heels are the least uncomfortable ones in my opinion. After all the thinking, last weekend I bought a pair of Nine West nude coloured high heels. They are not exactly designed for long standing, so I will also shop for another pair of wedge flip flops (like this http://www.weddingfactorydirect.com/ivsehiweflfl.html), in case I can't stand for those high heels after a few hours of standing and walking around.
Saturday, April 09, 2011
Wedding Dress Part II
The dress I liked is called La Sposa Lambel. I couldn't find that exact style of dress in any local bridal shop, because it's from the 2010 collection. However, I found a similar one from the La Sposa 2011 collection. Both dresses had the same skirt, the same cut, just different details on the bodice. I didn't know the style name for the dress I found in the store> They usually avoid telling you the style name in the store, the reason is to prevent you from ordering the dress somewhere else. Anyway, trying on that dress had confirmed that I didn't look horrible in that particular style of dress. This dress came with a very unique skirt, and I was glad that uniqueness didn't make me look retarded :). I found the dress at Sposa in New Westminster. It's priced at $2800 before tax, and according to the sales lady, I would need to special order a "petite" size dress. Not that I would need a small size, what it actually meant was that I would definitely need something shorter than the regular length it usually came in. And for less material on the dress (shorter dress), they usually charge you $250 more.
So by the time, I walked out from the store, I was pretty convinced that I should just order my dress online. Even if it turned out to be horrible, I would only loose about 10% of the cost of a dress in a local store. The dress I was looking at was popular on the Internet, there are many bridal shops in China making very similar dresses (more accurately "intended to be replica"). I picked a store called "Landy Bridal". Judging by what I have read online, they have a proper store front in China. There seemed to be a lot European buying from them. There were both good and bad online reviews. After some research, I was expecting the dresses they produced to have an okay quality, but not expecting they were able to make the exact replica of a designer dress. I also heard of a lot buyers saying that Landy bridal tended to provide better service if you buy from them through Ebay. So I ordered my dress from them on Ebay (on Ebay, they have two stores, one is called Maryann Bridal, the other one is called asapy), paid about $305 including shipping, the petticoat, and the bustle on the train.
The dress arrived at the beginning of March. Like what I expected, the dress was not bad, but it't not perfect. The first problem was the zipper, the zipper busted as soon as I unzipped it for the very first time. Most brides would just freak out and cry at that point, but in reality, a zipper shouldn't cost much to replace. So I was qutie okay with it. Although I already knew that a new zipper wouldn't be too expensive, but I felt the seller should at least send a dress that's "wearable". So after arguing with them for an hour and threaten to file a dispute, they finally gave in and gave me a refund of $30 to replace the zipper.
I also understand that a lot of places over charge or any bridal related alterations. So I was very careful when I was looking for a seamstress. I got an quote for fixing the zipper for $30 from Angeline Bridal. The owner Angeline is a seamstress herself. I went into the store with my dress in a suit case. She explained to me that she would need to take out all the fake buttons right beside the zipper in order to replace it, and that's why it's more expensive than a normal zipper replacement. I also used that chance to fix the second problem that I found on the dress. There was a elastic belt inside the dress to help holding the dress up. The elastic belt that Landy Bridal put on the dress was about 1 cm wide, which was totally useless in my opinion. Angeline was able to also replace it with a proper wider (wider than 10 cm) elastic band with 3 rows of hooks, so I can adjust the tightness as I loose or gain weight and this costs me $35. She also sold me a garment bag so I don't have to squeeze my dress into the suit case anymore (this is $10).
On top of that, there is still something that bothers me a little bit. The baselayer (the layer that touches my body) of the dress is satin. The skirt consists strips of pleated tulle that's sew on top of the baselayer. However, they didn't put enough tulle on so there are a little bit of gap between each strip. You can't tell at all from a photo, and it's not even obvious unless you are less than a meter away from the dress. But I was really annoyed by that. After a discussion with Angeline, I decided to buy fabric from Landy and get Angeline to add the extra fabric to the skirt. I paid $70 for the extra fabric, and still waiting for it to arrive.
The dress fits perfectly. There is no size related alteration to be done. The bustle was done nicely, so I don't have to worry about that either. Angeline will charge me about $150 for sewing extra fabric onto the skirt. The total cost for the dress turned out to be $570 now. I am quite convinced it's still worthwhile, since I know if I spend $3000 plus on a dress I might just go insane. But everyone is different, I think it would make me happier to save money on a dress rather than go crazy if I can't justify my $3000 spending :)
So by the time, I walked out from the store, I was pretty convinced that I should just order my dress online. Even if it turned out to be horrible, I would only loose about 10% of the cost of a dress in a local store. The dress I was looking at was popular on the Internet, there are many bridal shops in China making very similar dresses (more accurately "intended to be replica"). I picked a store called "Landy Bridal". Judging by what I have read online, they have a proper store front in China. There seemed to be a lot European buying from them. There were both good and bad online reviews. After some research, I was expecting the dresses they produced to have an okay quality, but not expecting they were able to make the exact replica of a designer dress. I also heard of a lot buyers saying that Landy bridal tended to provide better service if you buy from them through Ebay. So I ordered my dress from them on Ebay (on Ebay, they have two stores, one is called Maryann Bridal, the other one is called asapy), paid about $305 including shipping, the petticoat, and the bustle on the train.
The dress arrived at the beginning of March. Like what I expected, the dress was not bad, but it't not perfect. The first problem was the zipper, the zipper busted as soon as I unzipped it for the very first time. Most brides would just freak out and cry at that point, but in reality, a zipper shouldn't cost much to replace. So I was qutie okay with it. Although I already knew that a new zipper wouldn't be too expensive, but I felt the seller should at least send a dress that's "wearable". So after arguing with them for an hour and threaten to file a dispute, they finally gave in and gave me a refund of $30 to replace the zipper.
I also understand that a lot of places over charge or any bridal related alterations. So I was very careful when I was looking for a seamstress. I got an quote for fixing the zipper for $30 from Angeline Bridal. The owner Angeline is a seamstress herself. I went into the store with my dress in a suit case. She explained to me that she would need to take out all the fake buttons right beside the zipper in order to replace it, and that's why it's more expensive than a normal zipper replacement. I also used that chance to fix the second problem that I found on the dress. There was a elastic belt inside the dress to help holding the dress up. The elastic belt that Landy Bridal put on the dress was about 1 cm wide, which was totally useless in my opinion. Angeline was able to also replace it with a proper wider (wider than 10 cm) elastic band with 3 rows of hooks, so I can adjust the tightness as I loose or gain weight and this costs me $35. She also sold me a garment bag so I don't have to squeeze my dress into the suit case anymore (this is $10).
On top of that, there is still something that bothers me a little bit. The baselayer (the layer that touches my body) of the dress is satin. The skirt consists strips of pleated tulle that's sew on top of the baselayer. However, they didn't put enough tulle on so there are a little bit of gap between each strip. You can't tell at all from a photo, and it's not even obvious unless you are less than a meter away from the dress. But I was really annoyed by that. After a discussion with Angeline, I decided to buy fabric from Landy and get Angeline to add the extra fabric to the skirt. I paid $70 for the extra fabric, and still waiting for it to arrive.
The dress fits perfectly. There is no size related alteration to be done. The bustle was done nicely, so I don't have to worry about that either. Angeline will charge me about $150 for sewing extra fabric onto the skirt. The total cost for the dress turned out to be $570 now. I am quite convinced it's still worthwhile, since I know if I spend $3000 plus on a dress I might just go insane. But everyone is different, I think it would make me happier to save money on a dress rather than go crazy if I can't justify my $3000 spending :)
Thursday, April 07, 2011
Wedding Dress Part I
I haven't forgot that I have a blog. But recently, I have been working hard on getting our invitations, my dress and my veil sorted out.
I don't want to post a picture for my wedding dress, so I couldn't really go into details about it. As a lot of you already knew that I bought my dress online! I have to say I am very brave.
First of all, let me give you a bit of idea of the culture background that I came from. In Taiwan, a bride would usually wear at least 3 different gowns in the wedding day. One of them is for sure the typical western white wedding dress, and the others are usually just formal evening gowns. An Engaged couple in Taiwan usually get their pre-wedding photo done a few months before the wedding. In the pre-wedding photo session, they often wear wedding dress and tux. For all the above reasons, in Taiwan, bridal attire rental is a big industry. A typical bridal shop usually provides bridal attires, photographer, and makeup artist. In short, I came from a culture that no one really buys wedding dress unless they are extra-ordinary people.
In Canada, there is really no such thing as renting a wedding dress. In fact, in a lot of cases, wedding gowns are usually the most expensive single item in the entire wedding budget. A wedding gown can range from $1000 to $8000. The average brand new wedding gown is around $2000 with tax included. The average bustle, hemming, and other alteration will usually cost at least another $300. Sometimes the alteration could be very simple, but since it is a "WEDDING" gown, they tend to overcharge. However I understand the reason behind it, just because it's a wedding gown, the bride might likely to have much higher expectation than usual customers which I believe from a seamstress's prospective, a bridezilla could be very stressful to deal with. Anyway, my point is, it is expensive to easily spend $2000 on a wedding dress (reasonably or unresaonbly), not to mention it's something most of us hope not to ever use for the second time.
A few friends from Taiwan heard my complaint about the ridiculous wedding dress price in Canada, they suggested getting a wedding dress tailor-made from China. One wedding photographer friend also mentioned she got a few wedding gowns from Ebay for photo shooting purpose. I was skeptical to start with, however, with the combination of not being able to find the type of dress I like in store, and the scary price tag in the local bridal shops, I was at the end convinced to make a gamble and buy my dress online.
Buying a dress online was not easy, it took fair amount of courage and research effort. There were a lot of "Are you sure that's a good idea?", "how can you not try a dress on?", or "The quality from China is not reliable". I knew everyone was just concerned for me, but it was also hard for me to tell people "I am just going to ignore you and do what I think would work for me". Anyway, as for the research on dresses, I first started with browsing through the pictures online, and found a few pictures I liked. The ones I picked were all very similar in style, except the waist line varied a little bit. Using those as a guide line, I went into local bridal shops to try on some similar dresses. I used that opportunity to figure out which silhouette was both appealing and most flattering for me. At the end , my conclusion was, if you were an average size person, there was really nothing that would make you look horrible. I also experienced the moment, other people shopping in the shop complimented how gorgeous I looked in the dress. And really I am just an average short and chubby girl. I believe that the happiness of finding love just made me glow from inside of my heart and that's what made every bride beautiful.
Here are a list of local bridal shop (greater Vancouver) I went to and my comments:
Mia's Boutique: not a huge selection but there were seasonably priced dresses
Angeline Bridal: nothing strike my fancy, but again good price, and the owner was very helpful and nice. The owner, Angeline is a seamstress herself, she charges very reasonablely for alteration even the dress is not bought from her.
Bello Wedding Word: Huge selection, but only one dress that I sort of liked. Price were on average $1500 or higher.
Bisou Bridal: The dresses were quite funky, trendy, and unique. They carried mostly higher end designer dresses. Price were $3000 and up.
Bridal Gallery: The biggest selection out of all the store I have been too. Price range from $1000 and up. I know a lot of people got their dresses there but I found the sales person a bit too pushy.
Sposa: I liked almost all the dresses I tried on in this store, they had an average size selection, but covered a wide diversity of styles. I found the dress I was looking for there for $2800. (but of course I didn't buy it there)
Lisa's Bridal: Very out of style selection. In my opinion, not really worth going, unless you are looking for something cheap.
This a long post, so I am going to stop here. There will be more posts on my dress hunting story...
I don't want to post a picture for my wedding dress, so I couldn't really go into details about it. As a lot of you already knew that I bought my dress online! I have to say I am very brave.
First of all, let me give you a bit of idea of the culture background that I came from. In Taiwan, a bride would usually wear at least 3 different gowns in the wedding day. One of them is for sure the typical western white wedding dress, and the others are usually just formal evening gowns. An Engaged couple in Taiwan usually get their pre-wedding photo done a few months before the wedding. In the pre-wedding photo session, they often wear wedding dress and tux. For all the above reasons, in Taiwan, bridal attire rental is a big industry. A typical bridal shop usually provides bridal attires, photographer, and makeup artist. In short, I came from a culture that no one really buys wedding dress unless they are extra-ordinary people.
In Canada, there is really no such thing as renting a wedding dress. In fact, in a lot of cases, wedding gowns are usually the most expensive single item in the entire wedding budget. A wedding gown can range from $1000 to $8000. The average brand new wedding gown is around $2000 with tax included. The average bustle, hemming, and other alteration will usually cost at least another $300. Sometimes the alteration could be very simple, but since it is a "WEDDING" gown, they tend to overcharge. However I understand the reason behind it, just because it's a wedding gown, the bride might likely to have much higher expectation than usual customers which I believe from a seamstress's prospective, a bridezilla could be very stressful to deal with. Anyway, my point is, it is expensive to easily spend $2000 on a wedding dress (reasonably or unresaonbly), not to mention it's something most of us hope not to ever use for the second time.
A few friends from Taiwan heard my complaint about the ridiculous wedding dress price in Canada, they suggested getting a wedding dress tailor-made from China. One wedding photographer friend also mentioned she got a few wedding gowns from Ebay for photo shooting purpose. I was skeptical to start with, however, with the combination of not being able to find the type of dress I like in store, and the scary price tag in the local bridal shops, I was at the end convinced to make a gamble and buy my dress online.
Buying a dress online was not easy, it took fair amount of courage and research effort. There were a lot of "Are you sure that's a good idea?", "how can you not try a dress on?", or "The quality from China is not reliable". I knew everyone was just concerned for me, but it was also hard for me to tell people "I am just going to ignore you and do what I think would work for me". Anyway, as for the research on dresses, I first started with browsing through the pictures online, and found a few pictures I liked. The ones I picked were all very similar in style, except the waist line varied a little bit. Using those as a guide line, I went into local bridal shops to try on some similar dresses. I used that opportunity to figure out which silhouette was both appealing and most flattering for me. At the end , my conclusion was, if you were an average size person, there was really nothing that would make you look horrible. I also experienced the moment, other people shopping in the shop complimented how gorgeous I looked in the dress. And really I am just an average short and chubby girl. I believe that the happiness of finding love just made me glow from inside of my heart and that's what made every bride beautiful.
Here are a list of local bridal shop (greater Vancouver) I went to and my comments:
Mia's Boutique: not a huge selection but there were seasonably priced dresses
Angeline Bridal: nothing strike my fancy, but again good price, and the owner was very helpful and nice. The owner, Angeline is a seamstress herself, she charges very reasonablely for alteration even the dress is not bought from her.
Bello Wedding Word: Huge selection, but only one dress that I sort of liked. Price were on average $1500 or higher.
Bisou Bridal: The dresses were quite funky, trendy, and unique. They carried mostly higher end designer dresses. Price were $3000 and up.
Bridal Gallery: The biggest selection out of all the store I have been too. Price range from $1000 and up. I know a lot of people got their dresses there but I found the sales person a bit too pushy.
Sposa: I liked almost all the dresses I tried on in this store, they had an average size selection, but covered a wide diversity of styles. I found the dress I was looking for there for $2800. (but of course I didn't buy it there)
Lisa's Bridal: Very out of style selection. In my opinion, not really worth going, unless you are looking for something cheap.
This a long post, so I am going to stop here. There will be more posts on my dress hunting story...
Friday, April 01, 2011
My Recent Favourite Cookie Recipes
My interest in baking is built based on the fact that I love watching things grow and raise in a very short time interval. Yes, that's right, I like to watch all kinds of chemical reactions. Explosions are chemical reactions too, but with too much consequence to deal with afterward (if everyone still remembers that juice explosions at our home resulted us 4 hours of ceiling cleaning), so I stick with baking only. Although the excess body weight from eating baked goods is still a negative consequence. But I have a Bear at home so the eating part is always taken care of.
I continue to bake from time to time, despite the fact that I never really like the cookies I made. I have been using a cook recipe book that I got from Sara for Christmas 2009. It is called "Ultimate xxxxxxx". The book is great, it has colour pictures, clear instructions, and recipes for very cute looking cookies. But I don't think the book like me, I have been making the worse cookies with the recipe from that book. The cookies always ended up too hard, so that's why I never like the cookies I made.
Recently, I have been craving for sweets, so I decided I need to make cookie for my own consumption. So I looked for the recipe for my favourite type of cookie, SHORTBREAD COOKIES. This is my favourite short bread cookie recipe so far:
Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Directions
1.Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2.Whip butter with an electric mixer until fluffy. Stir in the confectioners' sugar, cornstarch, and flour. Beat on low for one minute, then on high for 3 to 4 minutes. Drop cookies by spoonfuls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
3.Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Watch that the edges don't brown too much. Cool on wire racks.
For some reason, we had 3 jars of peanut butter at home, so I had to make some peanut butter cookies too. This is my favourite peanut butter cookie recipe:
Ingredients
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2.In a large bowl, cream together the peanut butter, butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until well blended. Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla one at a time. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into creamed mixture. Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into balls. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Press each ball once with fork tines.
3.Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are lightly browned.
Both recipes are from allrecipe.com.
I continue to bake from time to time, despite the fact that I never really like the cookies I made. I have been using a cook recipe book that I got from Sara for Christmas 2009. It is called "Ultimate xxxxxxx". The book is great, it has colour pictures, clear instructions, and recipes for very cute looking cookies. But I don't think the book like me, I have been making the worse cookies with the recipe from that book. The cookies always ended up too hard, so that's why I never like the cookies I made.
Recently, I have been craving for sweets, so I decided I need to make cookie for my own consumption. So I looked for the recipe for my favourite type of cookie, SHORTBREAD COOKIES. This is my favourite short bread cookie recipe so far:
Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Directions
1.Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2.Whip butter with an electric mixer until fluffy. Stir in the confectioners' sugar, cornstarch, and flour. Beat on low for one minute, then on high for 3 to 4 minutes. Drop cookies by spoonfuls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
3.Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Watch that the edges don't brown too much. Cool on wire racks.
For some reason, we had 3 jars of peanut butter at home, so I had to make some peanut butter cookies too. This is my favourite peanut butter cookie recipe:
Ingredients
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2.In a large bowl, cream together the peanut butter, butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until well blended. Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla one at a time. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into creamed mixture. Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into balls. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Press each ball once with fork tines.
3.Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are lightly browned.
Both recipes are from allrecipe.com.
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