You Are What You Eat...

Happy Thanksgiving!

In honor of this special holiday, I thought food would be a fitting topic for today. And besides, who doesn’t want to talk about food? Food connects us all and transcends language and culture. Food brings everyone together (as proved by countless family gatherings across the nation today), and it has the power to help people communicate even when they don’t share a common language.

When I was in China, I shared many meals with both my American companions and my new Chinese friends. One evening during dinner, a very friendly Chinese man sat with us. He couldn’t speak any English (with the exception of “I’m full”), but I was able to communicate with him because of the food that we shared. He wanted to teach me how to properly use chopsticks, so instead of using words, he used his hands and the food on our plates to communicate with me. And we understood each other—my chopstick hold has improved and I think of him every time I use chopsticks. 

Lots of yummy food we had in China. (Learn Chinese: "I'm full" -- 我饱了

。

Wǒ bǎo le.)

So the moral of the story is that food is international, and it brings people together. Well, that’s exactly how we want our wedding to be—our theme is internationality, and the celebration of our partnership will bring many people together. We feel that the food at our wedding should be the same way. And because mine and Keegan’s taste buds reside on completely different planets, we plan to serve many different kinds of foods—from all around the world.

We’ve come up with a sort of “Venn diagram” of food, if you will. On one table, there will be Keegan’s favorite food—Mexican. We’re not sure on the specifics of what we’ll have, but we’re thinking along the lines of things like burritos, nachos, tomales, etc. On another table, we’ll serve my favorite food—Asian. I’m hoping we can have sushi and other side dishes like spring rolls or edamame. And yet another table will feature Italian food—this is where mine and Keegan’s taste buds overlap. I thought lasagna would be a pretty good Italian dish to serve. And since I’m a vegetarian, I’d love for there to be a veggie or all-cheese lasagna in addition to Keegan’s meat lovers version. Plus, this would give my vegetarian friends some more options.

So as you can see, we’re planning on serving a wide variety of food at our wedding. It fits with our theme, our taste buds, and I think it will give people plenty of options to eat something they’ll enjoy.

I had an idea on how to decorate the tables that will be holding the food. To go along with our theme and to represent each of the different foods, I thought about either hanging a flag from that food’s country on the table or just using tablecloths in the pattern of the flag. And yes—they actually make those (although I’m having a hard time finding one for Japan—though it would be easy enough to make). See for yourself:

Irish Flag Tablecloth 

And if you were wondering, we are planning on having all of this catered, but we haven’t officially booked our caterer yet. Our university actually has its own catering branch, and because we’re students, we get discounts, which is always great! So our university’s catering service is a major contender—we just haven’t had the time to make it official yet.

Once we do figure out our catering plans, I’ll be sure to talk about them in another entry.

Again, I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy this time spent with family and friends.

-Paige

The Pros and Cons of Going to a Bridal Show

In case you’re curious, we haven’t made a decision yet on the save-the-dates. But even if we did, I probably wouldn’t disclose which design we chose since some of you will be receiving them soon! Keep your eyes on the mail in December…

Now it’s time to talk about bridal shows.

Signing in at the bridal show. Thanks go to my mom for taking these photos!

I went to one over the summer with my mother and maid of honor. And like everything else in life, there are pros and cons to going to a bridal show.

My maid of honor and I putting our names in a drawing for who knows what.

 Pros:

-It’s more or less a catalyst of ideas—you can see dresses that are on display from different vendors to generate ideas for your dream dress. You can talk with photographers about your vision and get feedback on how that might translate into the actual photos. You can even meet dermatologists who may have helpful advice on skin problems that you might have. The list goes on and on.

-So many vendors come to share their wedding-related services. You can make a lot of connections this way and even decide on some of the vendors you might want to book. I actually met my photographer at the bridal show I went to.

-Some vendors offer discounts if you book with them on the day of the bridal show.

-There are lots of drawings and contests to enter! Take advantage of this—sign up for everything. Have whoever’s with you sign up for everything, too. Although the odds were low that I’d actually win something, I did get contacted by Celebrity China, who told me that I had won a “free gift.” (Perhaps my next entry will be about our experience with them… there’s a lot to talk about on this.)

-It’s exciting. Even for a quiet and somewhat shy person like myself, I enjoyed the atmosphere of brides (and some grooms) getting geared up for their wedding day. Any time I get the chance to gather ideas for my wedding, I get really excited. And this was another opportunity to do that so I enjoyed it.

-Free stuff! I went over to the David’s Bridal booth to see what they were advertising (even though I had already done my shopping there). One of the reps started talking to me and I mentioned that I was planning on going to their store later that evening to pick up a bridesmaid dress. Because of that, she set up a faux appointment for me (I already had one), and gave me a $20 gift card to Shutterfly for “making an appointment with them.” Also, a couple of vendors were handing out free cookies—no strings attached. Who doesn’t like free cookies?

Cons:

-Obviously, vendors are still basically trying to sell you stuff. So if you’re not a fan of advertising (and who is, unless you’re the advertiser?), it can be kind of annoying. 

-The drawings and contests are great if you’re okay with your contact information being given out to tons of vendors. There’s always that off chance that you could win something, but either way—you’re going to be bombarded with emails from the vendors (and their affiliates) from here on out. So be prepared for lots of ruthless advertising headed your way.

-It’s exciting, but it can also be a headache. It’s extremely loud and crowded. If you’re not a people person and you’re not ready for it, it can catch you off guard. If you’d rather shop around for vendors online or go to a bridal store late in the evening when hardly anyone’s there, a bridal show may not be your cup of tea. Personally, I’m not a big fan of crowds but I got over my phobia for a few hours for the sake of getting ideas and having fun.

-There’s almost always a catch with the “free” stuff. At the bridal show we went to, my mom spun a random prize wheel just for the heck of it. She “won” an all-expenses-paid-vacation, but when she talked to the rep, there was a catch—you had to be “eligible,” and of course, airfare and all that jazz were not included.

So if you’re willing to spend a few hours with hundreds of other brides, sifting through a chaotic maze of wedding vendors, I’d recommend going to a bridal show. After all, you never know until you try it.

Ideas for next entry:

-Cookware/China

-Food

-Invitations

-Your Choice

-Paige

Registries--Online or In-person?

You know those cute little Target mailers that advertise what your life as a married couple might look like? If you’re an American bride, you probably know what I’m talking about. As a bride subscribed to Brides magazine and various wedding planning websites (ie The Knot, The Wedding Channel, etc.), I’ve gotten several postcards, leaflets, and brochures in the mail urging me to sign up for a bridal registry. I’m not exactly a fan of my contact information being handed off between different companies that want to sell me stuff, but I must admit that the registry advertising (that I didn’t request) has caught my eye.

Since I’ve started getting these mailers, my subconscious has been nagging me about creating registries at various places. After all, I want enough time for my fiancé and I to envision what our style might be like when we finally move in together and to figure out what kinds of things we need and don’t need as a married couple. And another big thing—we need to give our guests plenty of time to browse our registries and get ideas so that they don’t feel like they’re going shopping for a wedding gift at the last minute (though—I’m sure—there are bound to be those last minute shoppers on any given occasion). So I have to admit that the advertising works—it’s gotten the idea churning in my brain that I need to set up our registries and I need to do it soon.

Realistically, however, I haven’t had enough time to get all that done. But I have started a registry for us at Bed, Bath & Beyond. And just from this one registry, I’ve already learned a lot.

I’ve been to BBB several times, but we started the registry completely online. I did go into a store to talk to a bridal consultant about the benefits of a registry at BBB—namely a no-questions-asked return policy, online wedding planning tools, and high quality products. She gave me a catalog featuring their most popular registry items as a way to get ideas on what we wanted. But she suggested that I come into the store to actually see and feel the products before I added them to our registry. Well…I should have taken her advice while I had more time on my hands.

Don’t get me wrong—doing your registry online is very convenient (especially for college kids like us). But I realized that there are just some things I have to see in person to really know whether or not I actually want it. For example, bed sheets are something I want to feel and touch before I decide I'm interested in a particular brand or make. There are so many different kinds of sheets and various thread counts that it’s not an easy decision to make just by looking online. Towels are like that, too. And in my experience, even dishware looks different online than it does in person. I've been into the store since we started our registry, and when I saw some of the products in person that I had put on the registry, I realized they weren't actually the kinds of things I wanted. I also saw more items that I was interested in from seeing them in person. All that to say, I need to go through and edit/update our registry. (So please don’t search for our registry yet—it’s not finished!)

Credit to Dynamic Graphics, Creatas, and thinkstockphoto.com for the use of this photo.

Anyways, I would suggest going into the store and taking a couple of hours with your partner to explore your options and get a feel for what style fits you best. Even though doing your registry online may be more convenient, it’s more helpful to see and feel the products in person in the actual store.

There are tons of different places that have bridal registries these days. I want to give our guests a lot of options and different price ranges to shop around with, but I think it’s also important to narrow your choices of which places you want to register at. I think having registries at more than five places would get pretty overwhelming for a guest. So we’ve narrowed down our options and we’re thinking about looking into starting registries at:

-Target

-IKEA (if they get one up and running soon…)

-Amazon.com

-Celebrity China*

*This is a cookware and fine china company. Its bridal registry is only available to members who have purchased something from them, but if you’re interested in finding quality cookware, I would suggest looking into them. They are pricey, but if you talk to the sales rep long enough, he or she might give you a better deal. If you want to hear more about our experience with them, or about cookware in general, leave a comment and I’ll add it to my list of entry topics.

Next entry’s topic ideas:

-Bridal shows

-Cookware/China

-Food

-Invitations

Until next time!

-Paige