We got our proofs from our wedding!!! I'm so excited!!!

We got our proofs the other day from our photographer! I have to say he did a really good job of getting them back to us extremely fast.

First off, I wanted to give you the link to the picture montage that he sent over to us a little bit before the proofs got back to us: http://www.iqphoto.com/previews/08312008/

Out of the some 1000+ photos that he and his assistant took, we get to choose 550 photos from that mix. Below is the link of the photos that we decided upon:

http://www.pictage.com/client/eventPhotos.do?event=544031&folder=1386058&musicPlaying=false

I recommend you viewing them in the slideshow manner. It's a bit easier.

After looking at the photos, I'm really happy. His style was exactly what we were looking for. He has a few edgier pictures, but then a lot of traditional ones as well. Overall, we're extremely pleased with the pictures. I can't wait to get our album from him.

I know during my wedding I was getting a bit testy about all the photos we had to take and about having to run around in the street in my 4 inch heels, but after looking at the final photos, I'm so happy that we did it. Joseph, our photographer did amazing job. I couldn't have asked for more.

Photography

One of the items that I told Henry that I would not compromise on for our wedding was our photographer. Out of all of the things in our wedding, the one thing I knew we couldn't skimp on was the photography. In my opinion, a good photographer can make all the difference in a wedding.

After searching through a variety of blogs (projectwedding, the knot, yelp) we finally went with a referral from a friend. One of my family friends, Talesa got married last year and her photographer was awesome. I wasn't sure initially because I was worried we wouldn't be able to fit it in our budget.

A few weeks went by and one of my co-workers got married. She mentioned that her photographer was incredible as did many of the guests at her wedding. We were sitting around at work and looked at some of his pictures that he had sent her and after that, I think I was completely sold on his pictures. In fact, several of her attendees pulled me aside and told me that I had to book Joseph Kohn for my wedding because he has a great eye for photos. My husband did some research, contacted Joseph and eventually we were on our way to hiring him for our wedding.

Talesa and Dave's Wedding Montage by Joseph Kohn.

August 15^th, we met with our photographer to shoot our engagement session. I think that the engagement session was helpful because it helped us get more comfortable with being shot for a period of time. I have to admit, it does feel pretty weird getting photographed by a professional photographer. I know that my friends and I are camera happy and that we love making muck faces for each other, but when someone is photographing you professionally, it's very different. For me, I got shy and just never really felt comfortable. I think that the engagement session helps a lot to alleviate some of the "strangeness" that you feel about being photographed and helps you relax a bit.

Our Engagement Session: http://www.pictage.com/client/event.do?event=528029

I was happy with several of the pictures in our engagement session and our photographer had us pick a few photos and he chose one to blow up for our wedding. I can't tell you how many compliments we got on the picture.

People told us that it captured the overall feel of our "San Francisco" wedding and that we didn't look too cheesy like most engagement photos they've seen at weddings. People mentioned that at first they thought it was just some artwork until they realized that it was our engagement photo. I do love the photograph and it doesn't look glaringly sappy like normal engagement photos tend to look like, so I think we could put it up somewhere in our house. We just have to figure out where. =)

On our wedding day, I have to admit. It was VERY tiring taking going through 3 dress changes and having 3 ceremonies throughout the whole day not to mention trying to keep up a smile and everything for photos.

Here were some small tips that our photographer gave us during our wedding that I thought were kind of interesting, but I guess they made sense and we'll see it in the final product.

• First off, he mentioned to always look up. The shadows on your face are gone when you look up and you get great lighting on your face.
  
• When it comes time for the "you may kiss the bride" you need to hold that kiss for at least 6 seconds for them to catch a good picture.
  
• During dinner and during the ceremony, try and look up as often as possible and don't always look down at your food.
  

On the day of the wedding, Joseph and his assistant showed up on time and were very professional. I don't know how they do it. Put up with the wedding party snapping pictures all day. I think I would have lost it if I had to do that. Especially with our group. I know we're a bit unruly at times.

Overall, I can't wait to see the final product. I'm really excited and can't wait to see the photographs.

My Beauty Regimen

Prior to my wedding day, I made a few vows to perfect my skin before my wedding. Unfortunately, I broke all of those vows. Initially, I was planning on abstaining from alcohol for 2 weeks before my wedding. I think I messed up on this one several times before my wedding. We had a lot of friends in town and over at our house for the days prior to our wedding, so we ended up having wine on nearly all of the nights before the wedding.

A week before my wedding, I had a facial at Soothe in San Francisco. I have to say that Jeska Manuel did an awesome job on my skin. I always have a lot of whiteheads on my nose and cheeks and she did an awesome job of getting as many out as she could without pushing my skin beyond its limits. She used an extractor tool, which normally makes me tear up a lot, but she was as gentle as she possibly could. I have to say, this was the least painful facial with extractions I've had. She gave me a few pointers for my skin and the salon uses a skin care line that I'm a big fan of, Dermologica. I was first turned on to dermalogica while at a salon in Asia. I really like the way their products feel on my skin and having a few allergies, their products so far seem not to contain any chemicals or fragrances that cause me to have a reaction.

I've learned to be good about exfoliation and sunscreen in the future. Normally, I'm not good with keeping a routine for my skin, but now as I'm getting into my 30's, I am starting to realize how I treat my skin now will have an impact on my skin later.

The day before my wedding, I went with my cousin to get my nails done as well as my eyebrows threaded. For those of you who aren't familiar with the threading process, the reason I use threading is because I have sensitive skin and often times when I get my eyebrows waxed, my skin burns and I have scab/scars on my eyelids. Threading is a bit painful, but doesn't hurt my skin. I normally go to a woman named Deepa the Threading Queen, but for my wedding, I decided to try another place, Seema.

On the day of my wedding, I had the honor of having my makeup professionally done by Jira and her team at WOWpretty. Jira and her team were awesome. Each of my bridesmaids and my moms (henry and mine) had their makeup done by Jira's Assistant, Adrian.

Jira uses the airbrush technique and I swear, I wore my makeup for 3 days and it was still near perfect. I know, I know, I just talked about keeping up a good beauty regimen for my skin's future, but the makeup looked so good, I really wanted to make it last, especially my eyelashes. Jira placed individual eyelashes on my eyes.

Each of my bridesmaids also got their hair and make-up done as well, the following are pictures during the actual ceremony. The wind was blowing a lot, so they're not the best pictures to show off their hair and makeup, but you get the idea:

Our Florist

Well, my wedding has come and gone and I’ve yet to blog about a lot of it. Currently, I’m on a flight home from our mini honeymoon. Initially, we weren’t planning on taking a honeymoon since I had to be back at work and we just got back a few months ago from a trip to Taiwan and the Philippines, but we decided to just take a few days to get away from things and to spend some quality time together after officially becoming Mr. and Mrs. Chang.

Now, on this boring flight home, as the mister sleeps, I decided to sit down and really begin blogging about our wedding. I’ll most likely blog in small increments a day, divided up by category or thoughts. Today, as my first post, I think I’ll blog about my most favorite part of my entire wedding, the flowers.

I cannot even describe how above and beyond our florist went. We worked with a woman named Leanne and her company, Callalily. She was more than fabulous. All of my wedding dreams really came true through Leanne’s ideas and creations. After a referral from a family friend of mine and meeting with quite a few other vendors, we decided to work with Leanne. We felt the most comfortable and most at ease with Leanne. She was very down to earth and very nice.

Not to mention, her budget was very reasonable, in fact, I think we got away with a steal working with her. I cannot reemphasize how above and beyond my expectations the flowers were. Initially, some of the other florists we met with were asking for nearly double what Leanne did for us.

It seemed as if Leanne really cares about her clients and the work that she puts forth. As our wedding got closer, she met with us a few weeks before the wedding to look at the ceremony site as well as the reception hall. She was very organized and always very professional and prompt. She took down some notes and reviewed with us the flowers we had discussed.

In all of the chaos leading up to my wedding, I completely forgot to ask Leanne for flowers for my hair. Around 9am, I called Leanne to ask if by any chance she would be able to put together some flowers for my hair. It was no problem for her.

A few hours later, the flowers arrived to our suite, escorted by Leanne. I was so excited to see the bouquets and all of the boutonnières for the family.

Leanne then went to help set up the ceremony site. I know that Sutro Heights Park is on the complete opposite side of town from the Intercontinental Mark Hopkins Hotel, so we really appreciated all of the work her and her family did for our wedding.

Anyways, now for the part you’ve all most likely been waiting for, the flowers:

Please check my wedding photo group on flickr, little by little I'm asking friends to upload photos as we go.

(These were all taken through our friend’s cameras. Our official wedding photos will not be ready until later)

Flowers in my hair:

Bridal Bouquet:

Bridesmaids Bouquet:

Groomsmen’s Boutonnières:

Our Wishing Tree/Guestbook:

Centerpieces (I had 2 styles):

Flowers on our Arch for the Ceremony:

Ring Bearer and Flower Girl: (The Kissing Ball and the Ring holder)

Chair Decorations for Ceremony:

Decor for the Cocktail Hour:

Henry and my mom's Boutonnières:

Down to the final stretch! Boys night out....

Well, we're down to the final stretch. Only a few more days until I will officially be Mrs. Chang.

This morning, all of Henry's groomsmen and close friends are going golfing at Cinnabar hills golf course and then going to San Francisco afterwards for his bachelor party. In away, I'm glad he's having his bachelor party today. This way, he won't be TOO hungover for the wedding and everyone will be too hungover on Saturday to get drunk the night before the wedding.

This way, everyone will hopefully be up and fresh early in the morning.

I have to admit, this morning after the guys left, I started getting a sudden rush of panic about the wedding. I don't know why I started feeling that way, since most of the items are now complete.

Last night, as I mentioned, I fiddled around with animoto, which by the way is an awesome service. All I did was drag and drop my pictures and then the songs I wanted and within a few minutes, the entire slideshow was complete.

Here are the videos I made last night for our wedding. I broke them down into 3 sections, one for me growing up, one for Henry growing up and one with both of us together: