I'm a sheep.

I was already planning on mentioning that Mr. GB and I had my ring engraved last spring, but since it seems that it's the new thing to do having read the ring photo tutorial, I will follow. I find that I lack colorful, beautiful things to put in the background of my ring like the other girls do, I went with the peonies and the cupcake container I had full of candy. The tutorial does help, though! Maybe I'll take more interesting ones in the future, if I ever get a better camera.



And the engraving, right, this photo is older but my ring has been so abused and dinged up that it looked awful. I guess I could photoshop a new one in the future, but for now, this is all I have!

One year... and a couple months, but who's counting?

Our anniversary came and went, actually, we lived it twice as we were on a plane and flew back in time. A perfect anniversary, spent in airports, mid-air, and then jetlagged... we are truly a romantic couple, as I wore yoga pants and the ugliest, but most comfortable, most likely dirty shirt I could find for our 9 hour flight. I'm just that sexy, it shines through the stench. This was a precursor to the permanent state of comfy clothing and unshowered wife that he would come home to every day.

We still have a lot of wedding stuff just lying about the house, in drawers, under and in the credenza, in the garage... it's there to remind me of my perfect day, not at all because I'm disgustingly lazy. So lazy that we didn't actually get our one-year cake until last Saturday, it's only a little bit over two months late.

We opted not to save some of our cake since it would take up precious space that would normally go to freezer-burned chicken, fish sticks, and frozen pizza. That and my sister told me the heartwarming story where she had our mother save her cake topper and it was lovingly eaten by my father the next morning with some coffee. Thankfully, Nora offers to make couples a 1-year anniversary cake, which we gladly accepted. Of course it was lovely, particularly after we ate some tasty leftover lasagna that some friends had brought over. A fitting meal for our late anniversary, I think.

a very poor close up image


Just in case you have forgotten, not because of any fault of yours, but of my absence, (I hoped it would make you fonder of me when I returned for my triumphant 1 year look back) some refresher photos of our cake table.

pre-cut:


more detail to show off Nora's beautiful piping and buttercream masterpieces:


one more for good measure:


I cannot recommend her enough, not only was she the nicest and tastiest, but she also cost less than half the cost of all our other estimates including the delivery to our pretty-far venue. I'm constantly tempted to just call her and ask her to make us another wedding cake, just because I crave her frangipane on a regular basis. I mean, I don't wear stretchy pants every day not to fill them out with cake.

Nora del Chamberlin
(510) 526-8732



You don't have to admit it, but if you still don't remember who I am, here is a beautiful photo of me staring into the cake.

smooth like a dolphin

There is no way to say this delicately, but it has to be said.
I wanted to have all my hair ripped off pre-wedding. Yes, all of it. I wanted to be smooth and aerodynamic, so that should I need to fly or swim faster than someone else, I would have an edge.


if challenged to a slip 'n slide contest, I'd totally rock you

I've mentioned this before, but I'm a pierced freak. I have holes in places that don't belong, and probably ones that you can't even imagine. I needed to find someone who was comfortable working... around... them. And someone who made me feel comfortable, because let's face it, you don't want anyone near your "bathing-suit-area" that has bad bedside manner. I just didn't need a horrified face looking at my robo-crotch reminding me of exactly all the things I probably should never have done.

This is how I found my hair-removing goddess. She spoke to me on the phone about being comfortable around piercings, that I could come in and we'd just work around them and then make a decision about how to deal with them in the future. She was so comforting and so gentle, and as it turns out I have a high tolerance for pain, that we just went for it on the first day!

It doesn't hurt that she's basically across the street from me. Even if you're not a special needs freak and you're just looking for someone to trust with a good brow wax... or perhaps the wedding is the excuse you needed to get your future husband's "fur vest" removed, Ellen Olson is your girl.

Don't look at me like that, I know you've thought about waxing the man! C'mon, even the uni-brow he's sporting? Maybe just that stray brow hair that you're dying to pluck out, but he's too light of a sleeper for you to do it without him noticing? Call it a "couples bonding" event.

Ellen Olson Esthetics
580 Grand Avenue
Suite 213
Oakland, CA 94610
510.268.9500

I vowed to share my candy, but I haven't.

Despite the rain the day before, it actually turned out to be a gorgeous, cloudless day .. and we had to break out the parasols and fans for everyone!




Apparently, I look really sad/angry on my way to the aisle from the almond trees. I'm shy and generally dislike being looked at, so I'm sure that had something to do with it. I also went down really fast, I figured no one wanted to stare at me walking for 20 minutes, so I went down as fast as I could without falling. Thankfully, once I was almost to the end, I started laughing and smiling because of my friends and seeing Mr. GB, so we did end up with one non "dear god, this is horrible, grrrr" photo of me.



The vows went quickly, we had asked our friends to write vows for us, so neither Mr. GB nor I had read them before we said them. I ended up having to vow to share candy and leave closet space for Mr. GB. Mr. GB got off easy, he only had to love me and take care of the puppies. Sharing candy is like ripping my fingernails off, so I still don't share with him and I have no shame, no remorse.

Mr. GB's ring went on easily. Mine on the other hand, took me squatting down in an unfeminine way and ramming that thing on as hard as I could. I never said I was elegant or graceful.


We kept the ceremony to about 15 minutes. We were determined to keep the formalities at a minimum... besides, I was ready to eat some cake! Did I mention the cake was amazing??






I still don't intend to share my candy. Ever.

Agent Provocateur Sale!

Yea, I know, I spend too much time looking at their website. But if you're looking for the perfect bridal set, just something for your honeymoon... or because you are narcissistic and want to look at yourself in the mirror in hot lingerie, check out Agent Provocateur's Online Sale!

Agent Provocateur

I really think they should be sending me kick-backs at this point.

Hi, my name is Mrs. GB and I'm an addict.

I've been trying to ignore it, but it's impossible.
I knew this would happen.... I'm obsessed with wedding planning.

Admittedly, I was the one who adamantly did NOT want to have a wedding, being forced to have an intervention from Mr. GB and my mother about how I HAD to have one or I'd regret it... I knew why. Because if I let myself start looking, I'd never be able to let go. I can't stop myself from staring at wedding website, blogs, photographer links, beautiful designs and thinking how I could integrate that into a gorgeous wedding. Dreaming up DIY projects and thinking up themes that are different and interesting only to looking down at my left hand and thinking "dammit, I'm already married. $(#)!@#!!"

I do have a friend who is getting married next year and doesn't want to plan it, so I'm getting my planning fix vicariously through her... but after that? All my friends are married or not getting married in the near future. Where will I get my next fix? I need a wedding-dealer, I imagine some shady alley where a couple passes me an envelope of cash for me to call vendors and send them swatches.

It's been nearly 10 months since my wedding, I thought I'd be over it, discarding this obsession for a new one. I was wrong. I'm this close to divorcing Mr. GB so we can get re-engaged and I can plan another wedding. Although I imagine people wouldn't come to my second wedding, because it would be obvious I'm mentally unstable. I'm trying to keep that under wraps, you know.

What are other people doing to fulfill their obsession after their wedding?

Are these considered vendors?

Before I try and sort through the things I decorated the wedding with, I thought I should write about Mr. GB's and my personal details. Actually, I'm using this as an excuse to not have to go through the list of things I detailed the event with. It's daunting and it makes me think about how insane I am, so I'll pretend like I'm being really responsible by writing this instead. It's something, right? Baby steps!

Dress: Monique Lhuillier - Bridal Galleria SF, CA.
The buying of the dress went beautifully, but as I wrote before, they had the demon alterations manager that prompted me to rip my dress from her cold-evil hands and take it elsewhere to get altered. It definitely was the most stressful, awful experience I had with a vendor. Mind you, this is ONLY the alteration manager, who I can only hope has been replaced because she insulted too many brides, the rest of the staff was wonderful and apologetic that my experience with her was so poor.



- look mom! it fits!-
Alterations: Anna's Alteration on Geary.... um, downtown sf.
She's the sweetest! She was recommended to me by Jin Wang, who although I didn't buy my dress from, was one of the most gracious and sweet people I met during my dress search. My dress fit, and when I brought it in it had to be sized down at least 3 inches all over. I recommend her to anyone who will not be going with their bridal salon for alterations.

Shoes: Sigerson Morrison - Nordstrom
They were cute, however, I took them off fairly quickly because they hurt like a mother. I ended up returning them because I had so many blisters and unhappy toes that I knew I'd never wear them. I normally don't return things I've already worn, but I've never experiences shoes that made me wish I had wooden feet so I couldn't feel anymore. Nordstrom has an awesome return policy, so if you come in with bloodied and battered feet, they take the shoes back.

Jewelry:
Necklace: Alex Monroe
Earrings: Nadri from Nordstrom
Bracelet: Emma Cassi


Hair and Makeup: Sarah Hyde Mill Valley, CA.
Sarah is wonderful, she's very friendly and she has a way of talking to you that makes you feel like you've known her for a very long time. It's very comforting when you're freaking out about how your reception tent is on fire or they are manuring the lawn 5 minutes before the ceremony (it's happened!). My hair came out perfectly, she had a friend of mine watch so she could do touch ups for me when needed, and I actually look good in photos for the first time in my life. Sure makes me wish I knew how to put on makeup, because then maybe I could always look good! But then again, looking like crap every day keeps the creepies away... or that's how I like to think about it.



Hairpins + Pin:
The one I wore was handmade from the now well known Kelly from Relish at Home in Berkeley. I think I went crazy with hairpins because all the people I worked with on designing them were some of the nicest, most talented people I've had the pleasure of working with! I had another pin, which I ended up wearing to my BIL's wedding. I'm constantly searching for new events to wear them to, so if any of you are hosting a cotillion, let me know. Me and my head will so be there.

My sister's pin was made by the awesome girls of oda style, who like I said before, were among the nicest people i had the pleasure of working with. I recommend them to anyone who is looking for an organic or just truly personalized item!

My pin was purchased at Jin Wang, and I think I've said enough about her, I love that store, I love her and I wish I had bought my dress there so I could have worked with her rather than the alteration beast-manager.


MOH Dress: J.Crew Online.
My sister bought her dress online, I just told her what color she should aim for and to buy whatever she wanted in terms of style. I think if you have a lot of bridesmaids that don't live together, J.Crew is a good option because they can do the shopping online and find their size and style themselves. At least, I liked it!


Mr. GB's Details:
Suit: Hugo Boss. Really good for short hobbits like Mr. GB! I've heard people say they thought I would be a lot taller than I am based on the photos I posted on WeddingBee, so I am here to say that it's not that I'm so tall that I'm nearly his height, it's that both of us are really really short.

Tie and Shirt: Ted Baker. Mr. GB has a sick, sick obsession with Ted Baker, so he was desperate to work it into his outfit. That or Paul Smith, but Ted Baker had more selection at the time, so it won by virtue of availability.


Cuff links: I actually bought him two pairs, this one and a Space Invaders set, but we felt with our board games, he should wear the Scrabble pair. They are R and L, which not only work for right and left, but those are the initials of his first and middle name, so double score!! Both sets are adorable, and I can't say enough about etsy except that my bank account, and probably Mr. GB, wishes it didn't exist.

His Shoes: Were from Camper. Anyone who knows Mr. GB knows his favorite thing to do is rant loudly about anything. After months of him complaining about having duck feet, really, they are wide and look like hobbit feet, I forced him to go to Camper and try on some of their wider shoes. He now spends a lot of time in there dreaming about the room between his toes and dreaming of new things to complain about.


Did I forget anything?

Sweet Boundless Boobies!

A close friend of mine is getting married this Saturday, so I wanted to throw her a mini-bachelorette-party. It was an all day affair, but I won't go into the list of things we did that may not interest anyone, and if it does, you can always ask. That is, if I don't disappear off the face of the earth again...

My obsession with turning everyone I know, with boobs and without, onto Agent Provocateur led me to give them a call about having all the girls go and try on things, and pitch in for our friend's bridal set. I would have settled for a just letting them know they were going to be invaded, but what we got was so much better I had to share.


We arranged an after-hours private event, where we had personal attention from the super sweet, gorgeous staff, with macarons, pink champagne, rose vodka and chambord cocktails! Two hours of giggling tipsy while we all tried on mounds of lingerie, admired each other and whined about our jealousy of so-and-so's boobs, waist, or butt-to-thigh crease, we all left with at least one item, and a full set for our friend. I can't imagine a more fabulous way to end the evening to a long day of girliness.

This was their first private event in the San Francisco store, but everything went off beautifully and I recommend it to anyone who is planning a bachelorette event! Even if you're shy, you can hide yourself in a private dressing room, but I can't be held responsible if you come bursting out to show the world your goods because you look so amazing!

They even let me bring my little puppy, Frances, to the party... in fact, they requested her presence! You can't beat garters and puppies!


Agent Provocateur San Francisco
54 Geary Street
San Francisco, CA 94108
415.421.0229

I owe you

a complete list of my vendors... but nothing makes me more nervous than actually writing a review. I have no problem with self-deprecation, but if I have to say anything negative, I get all red and flustered and just run. So I'll say the good, hint to anything that was... not so good, and hope that since my wedding was so long ago that all my vendors may have turned into dust and washed away. After the months I've been gone, I imagine you all thought I turned into dust... but no, I'm here with my vendor list!

I'm going to sort these in an order that may only make sense to me, so part one: The stuff that was so big, they came into my brain first.





Location: Bear Flag Farms - Winters, CA.
Gorgeous, but did I have to even say that? You know that from looking at the pictures. Tina, the owner, is very very gracious and friendly and I can't imagine having had my wedding anywhere else.


Caterer: Rising Sun Catering - So. San Francisco.
I loved the food, I loved Heather and her husband! We did have a server who was rude, hated our settings and decor, and backed into the building with the truck, but he was fired the next day, so although we had to put up with him, I'm glad they canned him shortly thereafter. At least that means if you go with them, that guy won't be there! That and she told us the cat-vegan story, so they win points.


-this photo wasn't posed, he just made us look like we are a sweet couple somehow-
Photography: Ian Martin Photography - Berkeley, CA.
I hate cameras with a passion. There are no photos of me from the age of being able to understand that my soul was being ripped out of my body and that I had the option of hiding from the lens up until the wedding. I begrudgingly take group photos when asked, but in general, I run. I wanted a photographer I'd never see, feel, or hear. That's what I got. He's super nice, laid back, and you'll never notice him even once. I still don't know how he got so many photos of me. And so few of me looking like cow poo.



Florals: Nancy Liu Chin Designs - San Francisco, CA.
Do I have to say anything? She's amazing, bubbly, run you over with happiness and ideas friendly. My bouquet was breathtaking, my wannabe chuppah kicked the asses of other wannabe chuppahs, I really can't say enough about her. Getting a crazed excited call two days before the wedding of "THEY HAVE PINK RANUNCULUS!!!!!!!!" from the flower mart should say it all. If you can, book Nancy.



Cakes: Nora del Chamberlin Custom Cakes - Berkeley, CA. (510) 526-8732
I still dream about her cakes. I still salivate thinking about that almond cake that was to die for and the buttercream that I actually started eating alone. Make a note, I HATE any kind of frosting, so the fact that I was actually stealing it for myself means this was the best cake I'd ever had. To be honest, I feel that most wedding cake is yucky, so taste (and not a meanie) was the most important thing to me. The no fondant + amazing decoration didn't hurt.


You'd think this would be first, because this was my most important "vendor". I apologize to her, because I have only this one photo of her, or at least, I think I do. I guess that's the sign of an amazing coordinator, I never hear the bad things that are happening and you never see her. Things just go smoothly and perfectly. Here she is explaining to my "officiant" where and how everything will happen the morning of the wedding. You see, the monsoon that hit the site made it so we didn't have a rehearsal, so she had to do all the set up that morning and brief everyone for the schedule at the same time. She was 60 places at once the day of, and all the months up to it, pulled off miracles that wouldn't have happened without her, trusted Mr. GB and I to actually do crafts like we said we would, and walked me through the process of my insane wedding vision. I basically attribute the fact that I didn't fall on my face, tripping on my dress thus ripping it off my body down the aisle to her being there and her aura of making miracles happen being upon us all. She's definitely more than our coordinator, Mr. GB look up to her as a friend and our savior.

I love you, Grace!
Grace Lee Events


ps. if you were wondering what a dashing, tall, official looking person performed the ceremony, I'm sad to say he's not available for weddings. He's my best friend from college who I asked to do this for me because.. well, he's dashing, tall, and official looking. You have to admit, he does look good in a suit and he fooled everyone.. until he sat down to eat with us.

You need to get out more.

It's true, I do. I'm starting to look like golem and my skin is getting translucent from lack of exposure. I'm expecting to start de-evolving and crawl back into the water, and if I'm lucky, I'll turn into this.

i love these things

Until then, while I still have thumbs and fingers among other things that I will lose upon turning into an Axolotl, I will continue to do useless crafts that make my house a mess and end up with me picking up weird colorful nun-chuck poos from the dogs because they ate magenta thread... you know what I'm talking about. And if you don't, at least you know I pick up their poos like a good owner. I really don't recommend trying to do this on a large scale as it took me around two hours to do one. Granted, this is my first try, so if you're talented, I'm sure you can bust one of these puppies out in no time. Again, this is my first attempt and I'm willing to share with you something I'm sure in about 10 months I'm going to wish I never posted up on the internet for posterity. Be nice. I bled for you - the needle is no joke.


Ok, so I didn't have gray.. or yellow... so I had to make a baby penguin in shades of pink. Let's call that artistic and not a complete lack of foresight or willingness to get off my ass and buy the right colors. I have an excuse, I'm waiting for FedEx, and nothing twists my panties more than missing a package, so I'm not moving for anybody - especially a felt penguin.

Seriously though, it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be, and it's pretty amazing watching it come together. Who knew wool fibers were so rad? Did I use rad in two sentences? sorry. Buy wool roving, foam pad, scary needles and poke into shape. Easy!

There are a lot of cool things you can do - like.. making your cake toppers!

rainsend on etsy
Or making decorations since you can make fruits and shapes or whatever else you want... like starfishes. You can even make coasters and flat things with the right kind of felt. You can make coin purses and bags for your bridal party, or for yourself and brag about it to that bridal party while handing them a bag of stale cookies and laughing about the orange/seafoam two-tone tafetta dress you forced them to wear. You know, depending on your personality.

If you want to look at some neat stuff, just look up felt craft on etsy! There are some pretty good books about it too, mostly in Japanese, but they are step by step pictures in them. Good luck, and enjoy the bloody mess that will be your abused finger tips after trying this.

There has been a lot of discussion...

about boobage. Now, I'm not overly endowed, but us itty-bitty girls need a way to keep them puppies in for some level of modesty. I'm sure it'd be less than wedding-appropriate to be nipping out all over the farm.

Having an open back dress, I didn't really have that many options, so I'm happy to say that the nu-bra worked well for me. I cannot vouch for girls that have nice big melons, but for the mosquito bite troop, this may work for you!

here it is working well:


I bought one to use at my dress trials, but they are definitely stickiest the first use, so I bought a new one for the day of. It worked well, didn't become less tacky - but I'm also famous for not sweating, so I'm not sure if that is something to be concerned about. I'd recommend buying one and running around and seeing if it can hold up to whatever crazy wedding antics you might get up to. Even if you don't plan on dancing, you should probably do something that makes you sweaty and then perform the best boobshake you can muster in your living room to see if one boob become unstuck and slaps your partner in the face in a less than bridal way. If it manages to come unstuck but slaps them in a very bride-like way, let me know - I want video proof of this classy sweaty boob slap.

here it is withstanding very animated story:


The unfortunate thing about my dress was that because it was a sheath with very little holding it to me, my nu-bra was a very active party member.

It came out to welcome people to a piece of cake!


and it also wanted to introduce us as married!


I have a million photos of it poking out, thank god I'm not modest or I would have very few photos of me at my own wedding. I want everyone that see my wedding photos to share in the joy that was my stick-on-boob-holder. I mean, it was an integral part of my whole wedding experience!

All that being said, it held on with no discomfort and never came unstuck. At more it left my boobs looking a little weird and wrinkly from the stickyness going on not quite evenly.. but that was just more sexiness for Mr. GB to look forward to. Or perhaps a peek into his future 50 years from now.

Branch Centerpieces

A lot of people seem to want to know about the branches we used for our centerpieces, so here it is! We bought sandblasted manzanita from Nettleton Hollow and just laid the orchid blooms on the branches. That's it! No glue, no wiring, they were just placed around the branches. I won't say it was super fast since we had to do so many, but it was very very easy. Thanks to everyone who put them together for me, I was locked in the prep-room while it was put together.

This is how it looked on the table and on the guest book table:




A big change from when they came in this gigantic box... it was a puzzle to get them apart without breaking them to pieces!


Here are some photos of the table settings and the branches as they were on the tables. I really feel like they made the setting relaxed and natural, hopefully promoting a comfortable, low key feeling. We also wanted low decor, since we didn't want anything blocking conversation.





This wasn't our original idea for centerpieces, but I really feel like it contributed to the relaxed, casual feel of the whole wedding. And it wasn't hard - so if you want to DIY some really natural centerpieces, I think this is a really nice and unique option!