I knew a year ago that tonight will be my best New Year’s Eve celebration ever to date.  For the past two years Seung and I spent New Year’s Eve  at our friends Annabelle and Kashi’s downtown Seattle  rooftop party with a group  of good people and friends.  It beats the Seattle nightlife parties for sure I can tell you that.  This year we’re doing it again except at a different downtown Seattle venue.  A venue more suitable for a wedding.  A venue like the luxurious Hotel 1000. If you haven’t pieced it together yet, Annabelle and Kashi are getting married on NYE!  I’m so excited that it’s hard to believe that today has finally arrived.  How cool is that to get married and  to count down to the new year with your closest friends and family on this very special day?  I’m extremely happy for the couple.  It’s going to be so much fun!

Last month we got together to do an engagement shoot at the very site of past new year celebrations.  How fitting was that?  We initially had plans to roam around Seattle, but due to time and the sun setting much sooner during the winter we were confined to the apartment building.  It was fine though because it was already the perfect spot.  Plus, it was windy and chilly which made it less desirable to roam too far way.  Good thing you can always count on a glass of wine to help warm and spice things up! 

I totally love the city view on one side and the view of the St. James Cathedral towers on the other from the rooftop.  Love the architecture of that church.  It’s even more beautiful and dramatic in the inside.  If I was Catholic that would be my first choice pick to walk down the aisle.  Seriously.

If a title or trophy existed for the world’s biggest procrastinating bride “EVER” my sister would be the recipient of it, hands down.  Allow me to recall the “to-do” list with ONLY two weeks left before the wedding date: hire florist, hire second photographer, hire make-up artist, order wedding cake, rent chair covers, find flower girls dresses, have back-up bridesmaids dresses made, and alterations/fitting of custom wedding gown.  The bridesmaids dresses didn’t get done and picked up until the night before the wedding and the finishing touches to the wedding gown continued through the night.  And that’s just the major things to be done.  Talk about crazy!!  I guess you could never tell by the pictures though.  Things have a way of falling together on wedding days, they almost always do.  Before I wrap up there is something that deserves special attention — the wedding dress was custom made by the talented Sovannary, one of the bridesmaids.  She also custom made the gown Jacqueline’s wore during her wedding ceremony.  Aren’t they both gorgeous??

I love it when couples personalize their stuff (invitations, websites, favors, programs, thank you cards, etc). I think the easiest and most obvious way to do that is to incorporate the use of pictures. I received a wedding thank you card, which doubled as a holiday greetings card, from Hanh+Wing the other day and I thought it was very cute. Their wedding was in May, but it was totally worth the wait (haha, just joking guys!). It might take a little more time and maybe a little extra money to personalize your stuff, but it at least it won’t be a typical “cookie cutter” and it’ll stand out. At the end of the day it’s all about preference though. Personally, I prefer to put a part of “me” into my stuff and I like receiving stuff from others with a part of “them”. Trust me that your hard work won’t go unnoticed. I promise someone notices. =)

Photos on card by Alex Studio.

If you’ve been following then you  remember that my sister Elisa and brother-in-law Steve got married back in early October.  My Internet connection is actually cooperating today so I might just be able to blog about it finally.  Our Internet provider (*ahem* Comcast) still haven’t resolved our connection issues for nearly two months now.  Back to Elisa and Steve’s wedding though, I have to break their entry into two parts because of the multicultural aspect of their wedding.  In the olden days and back in Cambodia weddings are typically week long celebrations.  The modern day adaptation now lasts about two days and for those who prefer for it to be even shorter can choose and pick only the ceremonies they want to include  and condense it down to a day or even half a day.  After much negotiation with my parents my sister succeeded in carrying out a half-day traditional Cambodian wedding instead.  I wish I knew that I had that option for my own wedding.  While the process of going through a Cambodian wedding may seem daunting and overwhelmingly stressful, speaking for myself, it was all worth it every time I look back at my wedding pictures.  It truly is a once in a lifetime experience (that I would only do once and I’m glad I got it over with, hah).  I would recommend for my Cambodian peers to include some aspect of a traditional Cambodian wedding if they’ve never considered it before.  I’m starting to see more couples now incorporating bits and pieces instead of going full scale.   Again, I’m only speaking from my own experience.  Well, I hope that Elisa and Steve found it all worthwhile at the end.  I also want to say that Steve’s family and relatives were very open minded and very much engaged during the whole experience.  That’s awesome!  If anyone is interested in learning more about traditional Cambodian wedding ceremonies, this link from the Khmer Institute’s website is a great resource.