Weddingbee boards

I can't believe the wedding is over!

I haven't been very good at posting about the wedding, but since I visited Wedding Bee on a daily basis during the entire planning process, I thought I should give back and contribute just a bit =)

Wedding Day: October 24, 2009

City: Philadelphia

Ceremony Venue: St. Mark's Episcopal Church
This church is absolutely breathtaking. It is in amazing shape and has an awesome organ, and while the fees are relatively higher than those of other churches (at $3500), I thought it was very well worth it. Neither of us are Episcopalian but the church was accommodating in allowing us to have our wedding here. The church was also very responsive and flexible to our needs, letting us take the pre-requisite marriage seminar through our home church here in NYC.

Reception Venue: Ritz-Carlton
From start to begnning, Ritz-Carlton was absolutely perfect. Initially, I was a bit hesitant to contact Ritz, knowing very well that they would be out of our budget, but we landed a deal because a corporate function had been canceled. Needless to say, the venue itself is exquisite, from the beautiful lobby space, the classy "Exchange" where we had our cocktail hour, and the luxurious ballroom with an enormous chandelier. But in addition to that, the service was absolutely flawless. We were treated like VIP all the way and all the staff were kind and friendly.

Oh and the FOOD!!! We have been getting so many compliments on how delicious the food was. We had the regular passed hors d'ouevres and a raw bar during the cocktail hour and then salad / intermezzo / steak - chicken - vegetarian / wedding cake plated meals. The steak was by far the best steak I've had at a hotel and definitely rivals that of fancy and pricey steakhouses here in NYC. It was tender, mouthwatering, perfectly cooked according to specification. And whatmore, when my mom asked for fish, which was not on the menu, they accommodated her request.

I really can't think of anything that went wrong. Everything was perfectly beautiful.

Dresses
I had 3 different dresses for the wedding. It wasn't necessarily planned that way from the beginning, but it was fun.

My first dress is by Da Vinci. I bought it through netbride.com for just over $500, which was a huge bargain. My mother then spent hours everynight for months, hand beading the dress. It was beautiful!

My second dress was by Jovani. I bought it for $50 at Loehmans, but it retails for around $500. Jovani doesn't specialize in wedding dresses but a lot of their dresses are very wedding appropriate so I recommend Jovani.

My third dress was by Forever 21. It was like $20. Perfect for dancing =) And everyone thought it was a designer dress because of the pleated front/bust area.

Make Up by Aleksandra
I am so happy to have found Aleksandra. As an Asian bride with a multi-racial bridal party on a budget, I was worried about finding a make up artist who was an expert in doing all kinds of make up. Thank God I found Aleksandra! She is absolutely skilled in what she does. My make up was exactly what I wanted, and she also transformed all of my bridesmaids and my mother into a beautiful goddess. She uses quality make up that lasted all day and also felt natural on my skin, as I normally don't wear foundation. She is also very efficient, spending no more than 30 minutes to achieve perfection on each face. She was punctual, responsive to my e-mails and professional.

In addition, she is extremely friendly and sweet, and willing to listen to what her clients want. For instance, I wanted super smokey eyes, which she delivered beautifully.

Her fees were $50 per person for non-brides, and $75 for the bride, which included a trial at her studio in Old City Philadelphia.

Hair by Meghan
Meghan Cahill is a well-known hair stylist in the Philly area and I found her through all the on-line raves that she received. She is super fast! I think she averaged 15 minutes per person for elaborate up-dos. She is awesome and books early!!

Flowers by Mary Elizabeth
Mary was an absolute delight to work with. I sought her out less than 1 month before the wedding and I feel so fortunate that she was available.

After my original DIY plans for branch centerpieces got denied, I was in a desperate search for a reliable florist who could work with my tight timeline and even tighter budget to transform our Ritz ballroom into a beautiful, classy place with 18 centerpieces, and also to prepare 8 bouquets and 15 bouts for the bridal party / parents.

I absolutely loved my bouquet. I wanted some anemones among large white flowers as black accents, because my wedding colors were black and white. She was able to find anemones and stay within my budget - they were breathtaking and the bouquet was exactly what I imagined. The centerpieces were beautiful and perfect for the fancy ballroom. They were lush and full, with hydrangeas, lilies, roses, and black lotus pods. Nobody would have guessed that these were made on a tight budget.

The only thing is that my husband's bout, made with two anemones to match my bouquet, did not last the afternoon. Luckily, Mary had brought extra bouts made with hydrangea sprigs, so he ended up wearing that for the ceremony and the rest of the night. But this is mostly my fault, since I specifically requested anemones for my husband.

I appreciated her for her flexibility, friendliness, professionalism and for respecting my vision for the wedding day. I especially appreciated how communicative she was and how she was able to accommodate last minute changes.

Rehearsal Dinner: Aqua
We had our rehearsal dinner at Aqua Malaysian and Thai restaurant at 705 Chestnut in Philadelphia. We rented the private room upstairs for our 40-50 guests. Food is delicious and very reasonably priced, and we probably spent around $25 per head. It is also a BYOB joint so we saved a lot of money by bringing our own wine and beer that we bought in Delaware. When we ran out of beer, we bought beer from Las Vegas lounge just across the street. The upstairs room also has a karaoke equipment so alas the night ended with some karaoking.

After Party: Raw Sumo Suhi Lounge
What an awesome place to party! We rented out the back room and had bottle service to start the party. Guests were also able to purchase own drinks and delicious sushi and other types of food throughout the night. They played awesome hip hop and we danced until 2 AM.

DIY Projects: Paper Presentations
I purchased high quality linen paper from NYC's Paper Presentations to print my programs. I also purchased perforated placecards from the store.

Tulip, buying alcohol in DE is perfectly fine if you're of age -- but transporting it across state lines back to PA is definitely illegal.  (I'm not sure, but you may be able to send a check for the amount of taxes to the Liquor Control Board to make it legal...I know it works that way with other types of merchandise taxes, but alcohol might be different.)  They do check your license at the liquor store, and make a note of it if you're from PA.  I know that a lot of people buy in DE or NJ and get away with it, but just know that it is a risk and there are pretty steep consequences if you get caught.

Oh wow I had no idea that was illegal. They checked my ID, which is a California ID, but they didn't say anything at all.

Melv, I'll message you about Aleksandra.

Some photos are up from the wedding from my photographer: http://www.studiomanhattan.com/blog/?p=992

Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful!

I absolutely loved all your dresses. I've attended weddings at the Ritz and the service there is impeccable.

http://makeupbyaleksandra.com

http://hairbymeghan.wordpress.com/

Good luck!