Wedding Bells: Kris & Mark

My Ninang picked out this lovely arrangement for our centerpieces. I love how the candles match our wedding colors.

Last Sunday, we went to Crystal Cove with our wedding photographer, Omar.

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OK - going through our checklist of “To-Do-Items” for the wedding. Thank you to everyone who has helped out so far and will continue to help for the next 2 weeks and 5 days….yup - that’s how long I have as a single chica before the wedding. eeck!

Last weekend, we checked out our florist in Chino Hills - Buds and Blossoms. Dodi, our wedding florist dude, had a preview bouquet. It looks beautiful! In the car, my honey and I discussed the wedding tradition of “something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.”

I found an explantion on the knot.com.

An excerpt from theknot.com’s article: “Your Gown: Tracking Tradition”

SOMETHING OLD, NEW, BORROWED, BLUE -
The tradition of the bride wearing something old (for continuity), new (optimism for the future), borrowed (happiness), and blue (fidelity, good fortune, and love) on her wedding day stems from an Old English rhyme. The “something borrowed” comes from the superstition that happiness rubs off, so the bride borrowed something from a happily married woman. “Something blue” comes from the notion that the shade denotes fidelity, purity and love.

Mark said the traditions are “totemic.” But then he said that was more about the family. So he used the word “tailsmanic”. The honey and his anthro background determined this was a better word because it has to do with people and their superstions….for folks who want to ward off evil spirits.

Our priest told us we needed to go on a engaged couples retreat - in order to get married at St. Denis….so we went to one in Montibello this weekend. It was held at a seminary. The other couples at the retreat said they were their for the certificate of completion, as well. We both went, with our feet slightly dragging. After 44 hours - little sleep - we came away from the retreat with a better understanding of ourselves as a couple.

Tears were shed, we ate a lot and I went to my first Confession in 2 years.

Here’s a shot from the seminary’s “Mary Garden”. Mark identified the statue as Quan Yin - the female avatar of the Buddha - people believed in here and believed they would be sent into paradise. She fit in well with the other female statues in the garden - from South America, Africa and Europe.

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reception_inside, originally uploaded by queenkv.

We managed to snag Angelo and Vinci’s a few months ago. It was a bit scary, looking for a place, ’cause every site was booked for our wedding day - Saturday, August 27.

I remember my friend Stacey taking me to this Italian restaurant when we were in high school and still skating.

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map_2_church, originally uploaded by queenkv.

OK - this is mainly for folks who have not been to Cali and/or who have not been to Diamond Bar and/or who are just plain bad with directions. You know who you are.

Mark made these lovely maps with the help of maps.google.com. He’s so talented!

Here’s a map of our church - St. Denis in Diamond Bar. The ceremony is on Saturday, August 27 at 9 AM.

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St. Denis

Originally uploaded by queenkv.

I snapped some pictures of my home parish - St. Denis. It’s in Diamond Bar. As a teenager - it was almost a third home to me - the skating rink was my second home.

I’ve always wanted to get married here. So that’s what we’re doing. It’s beautiful to me.

We just got back from our meeting with Msg. Jim. He’s doing the mass for our wedding. A nice Irish priest - with a droll sense of humor.

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We have registered online.

Search for Mark Phillips or Kris Vera at:

Amazon.com - http://www.amazon.com/wedding

“People who purchase items from a Wedding Registry can opt to send them to any address; however, the default delivery address for the Wedding Registry is the one that the couple provided when creating the registry. Gift givers can see only the name, city, and state associated with this address–the street address is hidden.” (from the Amazon Wedding Registry Site)

If you would like to contribute to our honeymoon, you may do so at the following site:

TheBigDay.com - http://www.thebigday.com

“Couples create their own unique lists of the honeymoon gifts they would like to receive - including lodging, airfare, romantic dinners, and special activities such as a luxurious massage or sunset cruise. Wedding guests can select gifts they know are desired from the couple’s registry “wish list”, choosing a gift that will be remembered and treasured forever.” (from TheBigDay website)

[from http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/pd--10034686/Cafe_Terrace.htm]

So…..people ask me what colors you want in the wedding…Mark and I have passively discussed wedding colors…lord knows I’m not the best when it comes to nit picky details like color.

The other day….I got this comment on my Brainpickings…

Just talking to your mom about the flowers for your wedding. I started to check around on how much they charge to do the flowers but they’re all very expensive. So I suggested to your mom that we’re better off doing it by ourselves. I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to come up with great ideas on bouquet and flower arrangements. Let me know what kind of flowers you want for your bridal bouquet and what color.

Auntie

Ok…so…this is how we got our idea for our wedding colors…
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Here we are the Tower of London - we’re both working and playing…it’s an expensive town…but i’m glad we made it out here.

Mark proposed on Aug. 19. In London, we visited a bridal convention…we got some nice ideas for our special day.

My dad called up the church and the church said we should call up ourselves…I’m a bit worried it would be difficult to talk since we’re calling from another country…When I’m talking to my dad, I’m typically talking really fast to avoid the minute-charges by my phone company. Well, my cousin said they required a 6 month warning before the wedding thing…so we should be ok…

so far…I’ve registered on the the knot for more wedding ideas.

every morning, before I leave the house…as I’m eating a cup of yogurt…i pour over
Anti-Bride Guide: Tying the Knot Outside of the Box. It’s not like I’m anti-female…I just want a wedding experience that’s different…besides, I liked the cover.

Ok…I plan on doing a bit on the bridal party….I think we’ve pretty much have our list of folks now…I’ll post it in a bit.