What Do I Do If I Have to Pee?

The day did not start off according to plan. I was behind schedule by about 45 minutes because of last minute packing, hair and makeup touch ups, and trouble finding a parking space. Any time I hit traffic or if someone decided to walk slowly in front of me in the parking lot I became instantly annoyed and thought, "Don't you know I'm getting married today?!"

Despite this hiccup in the time line, I made it right before Brandon arrived. I ran into the bridal room and stripped down to my bra and undies right away, only to be reminded that Hannah needed a shot of my dress on its hanger. I waited not so patiently to slip into my beautiful dress, but not before sucking myself into some Spanx-like underwear. I don't know how well it held in my love handles, but it did keep me nice and warm. It also made it difficult to go the bathroom. I'm sure my bridesmaids are thankful that I was able to manage that on my own.

It took many hands to get me ready for the big day.
I hit slight panic mode when the corset would not tie, but was also relieved that the dress fit.
The gorgeous detail on the back of the dress was the main reason why I purchased it.
The last task was to put on my something borrowed: diamond earrings from my mother (which I also wore on our prom night).
Debbie did the final makeup and hair check before I went out to meet up with Brandon.
And the boys? Well, they're just sitting around upstairs waiting to get the show going.
(Picture by Antonio Gomez)

Thank you for all your help dressing me, ladies. Thanks to Tony for running back and forth between the guys and gals as my personal messenger.

Pictures by Hannah Suh unless otherwise noted.

Thanks, Team Min

I apologize for being a bad blogger. My friends have been telling me that as a blogger, I have a responsibility to blog often for my faithful followers. So, my faithful followers, here I am, begging for your forgiveness with pictures of more wedding dress shopping.

A week and a half ago, "Team Min" (as my sister lovingly named us) went to David's Bridal in Costa Mesa to try on some more dresses. This was supposed to be a good day. It was not a good day. I probably would have been driven to tears if not for my wonderful team.

I was treated horribly by my bridal consultant, Josephina. To the left is a picture of Josephina doing what she does best: checking herself out in the mirror.

When I made an appointment over the phone, I was told to go through their website and write down a list of all the dresses I wanted to try on. Out of about twelve dresses, Josephina only wanted me to try on three.

We asked her to pull up a dress that I tried on last time and was thinking about purchasing. The style number was written on my records, but she tried to convince us that it was discontinued. After asking her three times to look it up, Debbie ordered Team Min to search the racks on their own. After less than five minutes, Debbie came back victorious, running back to my small box of a dressing room at full speed in her heels.

And then Josephina came back and told me to keep the Team under control.

A bridal consultant is supposed to ask you what you are looking for in a dress at the beginning of the appointment. She asked me at the end when I was going back and forth between two dresses. I would love the top of one dress, and the bottom of another.

Despite all this, I was able to find a dress that I could see myself walking down the aisle in. I wanted to hold off on purchasing it until my mother came home from China, but Josephina refused to look up whether or not the dress was going to be discontinued or still available for another month. She pushed me to buy it now or lose it forever.

I ended up putting a non-refundable down payment on the dress. Thankfully, after seeing the pictures of me in that dress I am liking it more and more. Also, I came way under my budget since the dress was about $600. It also has a lace-up corset so it adjusts with any future weight changes.

Going shopping for the dress you are going to get married in is supposed to be a special time. Whether you are in an expensive boutique or at David's Bridal, try to make the best of your experience. You should be allowed to stand in a single dress in front of a mirror for as long as you want. Be vain. Check out your hair. Turn side to side, and side to side again. Order someone to pick up your dress. Push up your boobs so that they look their best. Do whatever it is that you want.

But most imporantly, bring the ones you love beccause they make all the difference.

Thanks to Bridesman Tony for taking these pictures!

MOH Guest Post: Bridesmaid dress hunting

The wedding industry can suck it. Hard.



It's been nearly impossible to find anything remotely in local department stores that 1. isn't vomit-inducing hideous, 2. isn't marked up ridiculously high, and 3. flattering for different figures.

See Fig. 1. I am definitely of the "Triangle" persuasion, meaning I can probably shoot out a baby easier than, say, an "Inverted Triangle," but I also have membership in the "Itty Bitty Titty Committee." A dress that might look good on me will not necessarily look good on an "Hourglass."

And apparently, the bubble/sequines craze is apparently sweeping the under-18 crowd.



(Min made me try one on for shits and giggles so we might fool the other girls into believing that purple thing to the left is our bridesmaid dress. For the love of all that is good in the world, I couldn't do it. It was just too mean.)

After hours of searching for something remotely classy, we journeyed to the Macy's in Brea and picked out the best contenders (at the moment) for the "it" dress. The requirements were: affordable, possibly flattering on diverse shapes, classy, red. We failed on almost all counts.

Being the cheap bargain-hunters that we are, we couldn't commit to buying a $70+ dress this early in the game. Ordering dresses from special occasion dressmakers is ridiculous costly and timely, though the options are far prettier and better in quality than department store purchases. We also couldn't find anything RED. Um, wtf? Red is one of the primary colors, fer cryin' out loud. If that middle (black) dress was red, the search would likely be over by now, but nooo. It came in every hue BUT red. The only viable red dress we found was cute but was not comfortable in the least.

If I ruled the world, this J.Crew Silk tricotine Sophia short dress in Vintage Burgandy would cost 4 hugs, 7 kisses, and 1 rainbow.

But I don't rule the world, and the currency in America is not measured in love and affection. It's $150. One freakin' fifty.

For that price, J.Crew better be outsourcing its labor to blind Tibetian monks because this shit's bananas. I'm just sayin'.

Finding "The One"

Warning: Do not read further if you do not want to see me in a wedding dress. The following pictures are not of the dress, but of some dresses that I could never afford.

I've already found my Prince Charming. His name is Brandon, and he wears ACUs instead of shining armor. Now, I'm on my hunt for my Cinderella ball gown.

Yesterday, my mom, sister, Belinda, and I headed to Mary Me Bridal in Orange for a bridal appointment with a very tall woman named Sue. I was not impressed by the service at first because I felt rushed and even a bit lost. I lied saying that my budget was $2,000 so that they would be willing to show me something. From what I saw, nothing was under $800. A single simple veil was $200. Belinda and I were allowed to look through their many dresses on our own while Sue grabbed what she thought I would like into the dressing room. We concluded that many looked too much like prom dresses.

I had gone in thinking that I liked something more fitted like this Jim Hjelm dress, but as soon as I put it on I knew that it was all wrong. All of my magazine clippings and tearouts were based on the trumpet gown, and I was really surprised to find that my preparation was meaningless. The trumpet silhouette is definitely not forgiving on those with wide hips and love handles. Plus, I felt like I couldn't even move.

Belinda and I had found a ball gown that I had wanted to try on "just for fun" and I immediately swelled up with emotion since it was my first dress. I felt the tears sneaking up as soon as Sue zipped me up and fitted it with her massive industrial clips. Suddenly, I was a bride.

I went out to show my mini-entourage and I could see tears forming in their eyes too. I was in that dress for another five minutes or so and knew that I had to move on. It only got better from there.

I had asked Sue to take down a dress we saw on a form near the front entrance. This gorgeous gown by Alvina Valenta could very well have been "The One". Since I cannot describe such a beautiful speciman on my own without ruining the integrity of it, I will leave it to the website: "Rum pink silk duchess satin A-line ball gown with full double box pleated skirt. Winter white alencon lace adorns scalloped sweetheart torso and creates illusion of a dropped waist. A deep border of winter white alencon lace surrounds hem. Covered buttons and loops over zipper down center back, chapel train."

I was in love. My boobs looked great. My waist looked tiny. The dress had everything I wanted. Lace, beading, texture, sweetheart neckline, pleating. Too bad this baby was over $5,000!

Lesson to all: Yes, it may be fun to try on dresses that are way over your budget, but you will just end up dreaming about those dresses because nothing else will ever be able to top them.

Sorry for the awkwardness in this picture. I had read some reviews of Mary Me Bridal saying that pictures were not allowed in the store so I had Belinda/Debbie snap some whenever Sue was away.

I reluctantly took her off and tried on another beautiful gown. This dress was "only" $1600. She was beautiful too. There was so much detail in this dress. It didn't have that sweetheart neckline, but a "smile" neckline. However, Sue said that she would alter it herself for only $20 compared to the $75 that they normally charge. I could even order the gown in a petite size so that the hem would not need to be changed. Sue was making it work for me every which way. I felt so guilty because I knew that I would never be willing to pay so much for a single dress. I was leading poor Sue on.

I ended our appointment by telling her that I had to think about it and we left. Belinda needed to head to work, but the rest of us went to the David's Bridal in Costa Mesa.

Coming from such a high end store to one where I can actually afford created a different experience. They were definitely less personal at David's Bridal, but we didn't mind because all we wanted to do was try on a few gowns. Besides, we already knew what would and wouldn't work on my body. Yes to A-Line. No to trumpet/mermaid.

After a few hits and misses, we landed on what will most likely be the dress. My consultant, Barbara, pulled out a dress that was brand new and wasn't even featured in their catalogue yet. It had wonderful detail for a much lower price of $695. Plus, it is on sale at the moment for $75 off. However, the sale ends on Monday so I have to make a quick decision. I need to determine if I really like the dress because my family likes it or if I like it.

I'll let you know when it happens.

P.S. I have finished my Save the Date cards (finally). They look a lot better than I had imagined. I'll post on that after I send them out.