the best wedding there ever was...xoxo.

okay...this past weekend, my fiance and i had our wedding at the sheraton...this was our itinerary:

Itinerary [*Valet your car. Let them know you’re here for the S*/H**** wedding. Valet will be comped.]

Lo
11:00 am pick up flowers
12:00 pm head over to Sheraton hotel
12:30 pm start setting up reception area
2:30 pm quick practice session with Kelly and practice dance routine
3:00 pm hair and make-up with k
5:30 pm eat something

K
3:00 pm do Lo’s hair and make-up at the sheraton

L and V [assisting: A, I, t, and l]
1:00 pm arrive at sheraton hotel
set up centerpieces, tables, escort cards/programs, table numbers, etc., * make sure we have four chairs for the string
quartet in the dining room and two stools for Kelly and his guitarist

A [assisting: l, n, and j]
1:00 pm arrive to Sheraton hotel
set up of candy bar [please bring cake stand]

Bridal Party [n, a, t, t, j, b]
1:00 pm assist either L, V, or A at reception area
5:30 pm hang out with Lo to make sure someone smacks her if she goes all bridezilla

K [assisting: T, B, A]
1:00 pm arrival at Sheraton hotel and set up
2:30 pm quick practice session with Lo and Vince

Cocktail hour: Greet Guests and have them sign guestbook and give out favors and escort cards/programs
6:00 pm N and L * 6:15 pm t and a * 6:30 pm j and b * 6:45 pm t and l

Photographer/jimmy
1:00 pm arrive at Sheraton hotel/take pictures of me getting my make up done, etc.
5:00 pm set up photo booth at reception

DJ/Christian
4:00 pm arrive at Sheraton hotel and set up
6:00 pm play cocktail mixed c.d.
7:00 pm bridal party entrance [parents: artic monkeys – baby I’m yours. Bridal party: when in rome – the promise. Lo and Vince: m.i.a. – paper planes]
7:15 pm first dance [Alicia keys – no one/timbaland – the way I are]…put strobe lights on when timbaland comes on
8:45 pm cake cutting [the archies: sugar sugar]
9:00 pm garter toss [mission impossible theme song]
9:10 pm tossing of the garter [m.c. hammer’s – can’t touch this]
9:20 pm bouquet toss [beyonce – single ladies]
10:00 pm dancing [make sure to play some prince, lady gaga, Britney spears, bel biv devoe (poison), vanilla ice,
michael Jackson (PYT), and any top 40 hip hop songs]/last dance song will be matisyahu (one day)]

String quartet
7:30 pm to 9:30 pm play music during dinner time
* please make sure to stop playing music during these times: 8:00 pm, 8:15 pm, 8:30 pm, 9:00 pm, 9:15 pm, 9:30 pm

Videographer/Jethro
5:00 pm arrive at Sheraton hotel and start filming

reception game plan
6:00 pm cocktail hour
7:00 pm bridal party entrance
7:15 pm first dance
7:25 pm vince rants, vince’s dad’s toast [champagne toast]
7;30 pm guests enter dining room/string quartet begins to play music/friend’s slideshow is played
7:35 pm dinner is served [Lo, N, J, and T changes into Chinese dresses]
7:45 pm lo and vince along with bridal party [n, t, j, a, t, and b walk around tables]
8:00 pm slideshow
8:15 pm toasts [a, n]
8:30 pm Lo’s video for vince
8:40 pm Lo changes into white short dress and N, J, T change into black party dress
9:00 pm Lo put on I <3 vince shirt/performance by Kelly
9:15 pm cake cutting
9:30 pm garter toss
9:45 pm bouquet toss
10:00 pm dancing
11:30 pm last dance

* will need: Table for candy bar, table for photographer, head table seating 6 people, 4 chairs for string quartet members, 2 chair stools for guitarists, table for guestbook, table for signing guests in with two chairs for workers, and table for wedding favors

*******************

so yeah..i had a lot on my plate...but luckily for me, i had a really good group of friends who made sure everything ran smoothly...i swear, i am truly blessed...

honestly, all i remember about the wedding was feeling incredibly nervous because i just wanted to make sure my guests had a great time...my fiance [he is still technically my fiance because we're not really getting married till oct. 15 in beverly hills...i need to hash out the pre-nup first before we get legally married...don't want my fiance taking ...u know, my juicy couture sweat pants and all clad pots and pans if we don't work out...i kid] and i had a hip hop dance routine for our first dance. it was choreographed by my good friend K...when we did our routine at the wedding, all i remember was counting the steps in my head and praying that i didn't trip over my wedding dress. oh yeah, my hair and make up was done by another good friend of mine...i'll call her K2. she did an uber fab job...she made me look like pretty...it was awesome.

during cocktail hour, our guests got to drink our signature cocktails which consisted of "the Lo" which was a strawberry lemonade with vodka" and "the vince" which was a peach iced tea with bourbon. we also had a make shift photo booth with costumes for our guests and a candy bar consisting of candies that my fiance and i like.

so anyway, after our first dance was done, our guests entered the dining room in which a string quartet started playing music...the string quartet was a gift from our best man, A. the string quartet was a genius idea....it really made my wedding classy....so THANK YOU "A"...you're da bomb!!!

we played our cliche baby slideshows, i had several wardrobe changes, and i also played a video i had made for my fiance in which i list several reasons why i love him...oh yeah...my maid of honor and best man also gave the best toasts there ever was...i swear, i can't wait to get my wedding video back so i can replay it...the only part of the wedding that made me upset was when our best man made his speech and the servers kept walking in front of him...i think that was the only time during the wedding where i felt bridezillaish and wanted to go ballistic on them but didn't want to start screaming my head off for fear they would start spitting on my guests' food so i kept my mouth shut...

oh yeah, the entree we had at our wedding was prime rib or vegetarian wellington...

i also sang a song for my fiance in which he later joins me turning it into a duet...and i swear, that was definitely the most nerve wracking thing i've ever done...for one, i have the worst voice known to man and what was really sad was that prior to my performance, i had weeks and weeks of vocal training and i still pretty much sucked and was out of tune...i mean, i was surprisingly much better than when i had started but yeah...i felt kinda bad for my guests who had to hear my screeching...luckily for me, i had two guitarists who were incredibly amazing and when vince came in to sing with me, it kinda saved my ass...

oh yeah, my youngest sister emceed the event and she was AMAZING!!! my bridesmaid T caught my bouquet so i hope she gets hitched real soon!!!

and the whole nite, since i was completely anxietied out, i didn't get to eat...finally around 10ish, i was able to sit down and eat my chocolate fudge wedding cake...i felt like i was in a whirlwind...

after the wedding was over at around 12 pm, i spent the next two hours cleaning up the place with the help of some friends. i also had to take one of my sisters home [i won't mention who] cause she was drunk and causing a ruckus and caused one of the security guards at the hotel to follow us around...so my fiance and i pack up our car with all of our wedding crap, take my sister home, and hit BCD tofu house at 2 am cause we were STARVING...we finally managed to get to bed at 4 am...

the next day, we went over our gifts and our friends were beyond generous...we got the best gifts ever which were loads and loads of cash...had enough money to like roll around in...or shoot some 80's rock video with...i kid...

i also got a sur la table gift card from our choreographer which is awesome...thanks K!!!

so the breakdown of the big ticket items for our wedding are:
$350 for bouquet, corsages, boutineres, and flower centerpieces
$1200 for wedding dress
$11,000 for venue
$1500 for engagement ring
$100 for wedding bands
$1000 for rehearsal dinner
$1000 for photographer
$360 for dj
$1000 for videographer
Best wedding there ever was: PRICELESS

so in total, we spent about $25K for our wedding and received about $24K in cash gifts so our wedding basically just cost us about $1K which is awesome for the best wedding there ever was...i got to have my dream dress, awesome rings, and get to spend the rest of my life with the best guy there ever was...

honestly, in looking back, i cannot imagine changing anything about my wedding...it was too beyond perfect...i got to share the day with everyone who is important to me and at the end of the day, that is all that ultimately mattered to me and my fiance...i didn't care to have that expensive dress [although i did go slightly over budget on my ghetto david's bridal dress] or the expensive ring...i'm honestly looking forward to getting seriously hitched to my best friend and honestly, the love of my life...so i can't wait till oct. 15 where everything falls into place...

we will be hitting the beverly hills city hall to get hitched at 10 am with my bridesmaid T and my good friend V and then we'll celebrate with lunch at crustacean's...i am sooo seriously excited!!!

**** so once again, THANK YOU to all my friends who made it out to our wedding and your generous gifts. you allowed V and i to seriously have the wedding of our dreams and we couldn't have done it without you and for that, we am forever grateful...xoxo.