Honeymoon planning 101

It's now the stage to finally decide on our honeymoon location.

Greece is a definitely it, as I've decided long long time ago. Greece - Athens will be a 1 day stopover and off to Santorini island. Of all the famous hotspots, Mykonos, Naxos, Crete, I've always had "santorini" in my mind, since I was in high school, when I was a serious fan of new age musician-Yanni. If you had seen his spectacular performance with his crew at the Acropolis and listened to his written song "santorini", you'll decide to visit Greece once in your lifetime.

So, what else... Cliff has never been to Europe. I can feel his interests to visiting Italy, vatican city ..etc since he's always bought Dan Brown's books at first hand. Paris is another romantic city, perfect for honeymoon, but, I had just visited Paris' 08~along with Holland and germany.

Well, I'ld love to visit Salzburg, birthplace of Wolfgang Mozart, and experience a full bloom classical tour!

Deciding the honeymoon spots also means finding a balance between both of our interests. What about Spain? Spain + Greece: Santorini sounds alright, we thought. OR Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice) + Greece: (Athens + Santorini island).

As we researched lodging in Santorini, I've become quite insistent on living in a cave house + a room with a view of the Agean sea! The more Cliff researched, the more he's willing to extend a 3 day stay to a week's stay at beautiful santorini, he's even willing to give up going to Italy Rome!

Lots more prep work to do! We could have joined a group tour and leave it all to the tour guide, but, it's been fun searching for information together till past mid-night.

Photo-picking I- 6 hours

We made another uncountable visit to the bridal studio close to 3 wks after our photo shoot. Appointment was 12/27- 2-6pm, expecting to be done in 4 hours, GEE! Our goal is to pick only 54 photos! From 400 photos, we narrowed down to 80 photos in 2 hrs, which didn't seem too bad. But..... Narrowing down to our goal was tougher than ever! Selecting 30 for album-printing was a bigger challenge, even the photographer and his assistant has a tough time deciding which to include. We spent 6 hours on our 1st pitch.

Next up:
1/10 (2pm)- 修片-Photo alterations
2/20 (2pm)- Wedding day: dress picking

Wedding studio photo- sneak peeks revealed~~~
PS: We didn't pick any of the above, and took a couple photos secretly~ for wedding blog writing purposes.

Photo Shoot~II

Our 2nd-go the following wednesday~ we've become more experienced~
Arrived @ 10am for my make-up session~ and Cliff showed up when I'm almost ready! Waiting patiently for Cliff~ as he gets his makeup & hair done

After 3 hours of studio shoot... it's 3pm! Cliff heads out to buy us lunch as I change into my evening gown for the outdoor shoot.

By the time we arrived @ the mountain... it was one foggy afternoon & skies darken..

the darkness inspired our photographer of the "Dark Knight"... Turned on the car lights & continued for another full hour.

Photo Shoot~I

Dec 4th was our scheduled photo shoot. it turned out to be one of the coldest days of the week!
Make-up began before 8am that day, and Cliff had 30mins to get his hair set!
1st set of white gown~ and ready to leave Getting changed at the carpark >_< for the 2nd set

We ended the day earlier than expected... since it turned dark by the time we arrived at Yang Ming mountain. Cliff was much better at posing... and the photographer nearly gave up on me! argh! Taking photos didn't turn out as fun as expected. mosquito bites, staying frozen for minutes...no bathroom break... late late lunch..

Our 2nd go is scheduled for this weds~ to complete the shoot! Wish me luck!

Engagement Sneak Peeks

8am: Getting ready 10:40am: 1st part of the ceremony included offering tea~ and 2nd part was sitting on a high chair waiting to exchange gifts and rings 11am: Family portrait after the traditional ceremony12.30pm: Making our 1st entrance
It only took us 15 mins for a dress switch & we're ready to make our 2nd entrance~ thanks to Jasmine
Lighting candles at every table

We're Engaged!

Tada! I'm still feeling shy about revealing my outrageous UP-do~but... here it is!Nov 15th, 2009 went by in a swift! Many friends asked if I slept well the night before the engagement, and yes, I replied. Cliff and I worked on our "growing up" & "daily life" slideshow and I must have been too exhausted to stay awake. After snoozing my alarm twice, it's time to hop on the cab @ 7.30am for the make-up appointment. The video grapher showed up @ 8, photographer came at 8.30am, Jasmine arrived @ 9~ and morning was filled with my enchanted ring tone. We finally arrived @ Sherwood by 10am, headed up to the suite 1014~ but no one was there.. Jas & I headed down to the engagement ballroom, ran into the Emcee - my cousin Olivia, and I was told.... the bride-to-be has to hide out! Cliff & family arrived at a well coordinated 10:10am, welcomed by my brother- which is part of the chinese tradition. I'll spend some time later on, describing Traditions 103, once I received photos from all over!

Anyway, the 10.30am traditional engagement ceremony delayed for about 15mins and ended quicky~ I headed back to the suite for a short break, time passed and it was soon 12.30pm, the doorbell rang and, appeared the bridal secretary & Cliff. We weren't feeling anxious as we waited by the door, for our 8 min growing up slideshow & the right musical moment to enter the ballroom. As we followed 3 pairs of hotel personnel down the aisle, all I could remember was bubbles in the air & being in the spotlight. All happened in a blink of the eye. We are engaged, part of my family's reluctance to the fact of "marrying off" their precious daughter & sister is probably dissolved.

7 days to our Engagement

It was another busy weekend, a fresh start of my Sat morning involved some cheerleading at work's annual sports day! Rushed back to taipei, finalized flower corsages @ the florist, & did a final run down with Joyce @ Sherwood hotel. We tested the music I picked for our 1st entrance, our slideshow & the growing-up video we worked on through the night. My cousin Olivia~ our Emcee also joined us for the meeting and did a rehearsal walking down the "imagined" red carpet. My pre-conceived notions of an engagement has completely turned 180 degrees. After our long meeting, we have to give ourselves a treat!
Back to Smith & Hsu for some tea "sniffin"~