Our Big Fat Brown Wedding: Getting Pretty

I've shown you some details and our wedding day outfits but I really haven't been sure where to go from there. I'm going to do this as a chronological story of the day because thats the only thing that makes sense to me. I know its not a shocking revelation and I should have come to this a long time ago. I blame the heat for my slowness. My goal is to finish all our recaps before our one year wedding anniversary (which is in 24 days!) though so you're gonna be getting a whole lot o Margarita in the next few weeks.

As usual the day started out getting pretty with my lovely family, bridal party and friends. There were a lot of people but luckily the bridal suite was massive so everyone got ready in the huge dining/living room area and I got to have my own space in the bedroom. I was full of anxiety the morning of the wedding. I just knew we were going to be late no matter what time we started getting ready (of course we were). Mr.Margarita's family is incredibly punctual and usually 5 minutes early for things. My family is all scatterbrained and crazy and runs a minimum of 30 minutes late for everything.

On top of thatI think many brides must feel anxiety for a bunch of different reasons and I felt like there were a million things I was forgetting and my control freak nature was having a hard time leaving all the details to my coordinator. Of course my fantabulous wedding coordinator Mary Sushinski orchestrated everything beautifully but it didn't stop me from holding this coffee with a ninja death grip. Actually it looks like a peaceful picture, but thats not how I remember it...

Oscar Naranjo of Ziba Beauty did my hair and my makeup. He is a makeup god. Also, airbrushing is totally worth the investment.

Closeup of the make up:

I was skeptical about a man putting on my sari but he did a great job! He's gonna kill me for posting this but I think he looks awesome and like a pirate (which I love). Plus his goofiness lightened my mood and made me feel less stressed.
After getting dressed and pretty, Oscar put on my insanely heavy veil and pinned some gardenias in my hair as a final touch (courtesy of M's Flowers)

Meanwhile everyone else was getting ready. Here's Bridesmaids B and N getting ready and trying to lace up the sari blouse. My mom and I designed these really elaborate backless bridesmaids blouses that were insane to get on and off.

*picture taken by friends My friends taking over the bathroom to get ready:

*picture taken by friends My sis in law getting her hair did: *picture taken by friends My gorgeous Mom all dolled up: My flowergirls were hanging out and guarding their personalized suitcases. I filled them with candy and games to keep them occupied during the very long day. *picture taken by friends *picture taken by friends The flowergirls were starting to wilt after a few hours of getting ready. My poor niece looks so pooped here. While all of the ladies were getting ready, Mr Marg and his groomsmen were getting pretty too. Sadly we don't have many pictures of him getting ready in the morning since his day started with a lot of religious ceremonies early in the morning. Our photographer did get some shots at the ranch putting the final touches on his ensemble. Groomsman S and Best Man N trying to put the turban on correctly: Hanging out in the bathroom with his groomsmen and his dad: Next up, a whole lot of portraits and family pictures. All pictures courtesy of the incredibly talented Miss Dina Douglass of Andrena Photography unless otherwise noted. Already blogged: The Mendhi Wedding Details Our Fashion Show

Our Big Fat Brown Wedding: Fashion Show

I left you way back in November with some our wedding details promising to tackle accessories and outfits.

I had two outfits for our day - a sari for the ceremony and a lengha for the reception. The sari for the wedding was a ivory/cream color keeping with Sri Lankan tradition. I had it custom made in LA by Mehr Design Studio (described here) along with my veil.

I bought my reception outfit in Mumbai at Kala Niketan. The top was just a piece of fabric so I had it made by Mehr. I knew I didn't want to show off my not so toned abs all night so I had her make a corset top with a sweet heart neckline. I absolutely loved my reception outfit and felt completely comfortable dancing my heart out all night.

Both outfits were really heavy with all the beading, etc but I can say that I honestly didn't notice it since I was just so full of nerves and excitement.

Here are my gorgeous shoes. I added footpetals on recommendation from the hive and they worked wonders.

I had a LOT of jewelry to wear in addition to the outfits. My grandmother gifted me with almost all my wedding ceremony jewelry and my Mother in Law gave me my reception necklace as a gift. I know I'm a very luck girl.

My grandmother bought this diamond and white gold necklace, bracelet and earring set in Sri Lanka.

My Mother in Law bought my reception necklace in Toronto.

As a symbol of mariage Mr. Margarita had to put my necklace on me during the wedding ceremony so I was just going to walk down the aisle bare necked. Both my Grandmother and my Mom wore pearl necklaces on their wedding days so my parents surprised me with a pearl necklace to wear as I was walking down the aisle.

I wore my grandmother's engagement ring which was customed designed by my grandfather in Sri Lanka way back when.

A long time ago, my mom had my grandmothers wedding jewelry made into a pendant. We took the pendant and had it made into my tikka (forehead jewelry) at "Little India" in Artesia, CA by attaching a long silver clasp. It very easily converted back into a pendant after the wedding. To top it all off, I wore some of the bindi's above my eyebrows.

I had a ton of bangles to wear on both hands which are were also bought in Mumbai at Kala Niketan.

My bridesmaids also were decked out in some serious bling. I bought them all these jewelry sets in Mumbai. I can't believe they made it the entire day/night wearing them because they were heavy!

I had their plum bridesmaids saris made in Sri Lanka. All the fabric and borders are the same except for my MOH who had a slightly thicker and more beaded design.

My adorable little flower girls wore outfits from the same fabric and borders. I thought they looked SO cute in their little halter tops. :)

Mr. Margarita bought our groomsmen cream outfits and red shawls in New Delhi. I thought they all looked very handsome...

And our adorable ring bearer wore an orange outfit bought in Toronto..

And last but definitely not least Mr. Margarita wore a custom made ivory and orange outfit from New Delhi. His turban was made to match with some pearls to match my bling. ;) The pin he wore on his left shoulder was from his grandfather.

All of this doesn't even cover all the gorgeous outfits our guests wore at the wedding. There was so much color at our wedding from all the beautiful saris, it was a really stunning view to look out into the sea of our guests during the ceremony. Even our elephant was decked out!

Wearing all my grandmother's jewelry was really special and served as my something borrowed and something old. Did anyone else wear family jewelry pieces on their wedding day?

All photos are credit to our incredibly fantastic photographer Dina of Andrea Photography.

She sent me all 3000+ images recently so there is more to come soon...

Our Big Fat Brown Wedding: Video Highlights

Hi everyone! I know its been a ridiculous amount of time since I've posted anything. I'm not going to give any excuses for neglecting my bee responsibilities.  I know I've been a bad bee but I'll be starting up my wedding recaps soon I promise.  First I wanted to share our wedding highlights video from Robles Video. They did a great job putting this together and I finally figured out how to upload it so everyone could see it.  Its kinda long but if you have ten minutes here it is:

Videography wasn't high on my priority list but my parents really wanted a wedding video. I'm so glad that we ended up getting a videographer and that we choose Robles because they did such a great job capturing all the important moments of our day. It was definitely worth it to my parents who try and force everyone who comes to our house to watch the wedding video.

Is a wedding video high on your wedding priority list? For you married bees out there who did hire a videographer, were you happy with your decision?

Our Big Fat Brown Wedding: The Details

My fabulous photographer Dina of Andrena Photography has been slaving away to get me my pictures back.  She sent me an online album of over 2000 images! I don't even know where to begin in terms of ordering albums and I am even more confused about where to start blogging.  Since she still has to retouch many of the images, I will start with the images of our decor that she's already done for me.  

I had such a specific idea of what I wanted for the florals and decor and I was floored when I saw it all put together.  I had notions of this romantic, garden wedding but with vibrant colors and a ethnic/Moroccan feel.  The ceremony and mandap/poruwa were beautiful but the reception honestly blew me away.  It was like Jill my florist and Mary my coordinator had literally pulled the ideas from right inside my head.  I am not going to lie, after the ceremony and pictures I was completely and totally exhausted.  The ceremony ran longer than we thought, we had to rush through our couples pictures and family pictures and we missed the cocktail hour (we knew we would).  I just wanted to go to bed.  Then we walked up the winding path lined with hundreds of candles and when I saw my dream wedding I was instantly re-energized.   I wish that someone took pictures of that candle lined pathway because it was so dreamy and romantic. 

So here are some pictures of the beautiful decor:

Here's me and Mr. Marg cheesin' on the mandap/poruwa.  I was nervous because there were SO many people staring at us and it was just really really bright and hot.  We stepped on the stage and kinda stood there for a moment waiting for it all to begin.  Thing is that I was standing a really awkward distance away from Mr. Margarita and missed all his "subtle" gestures to get me to scoot over.  When I finally noticed and moved over, the entire audience was cracking up.  I'm pretty sure this is shortly after I moved over and I'm kinda trying to play it cool.  

Here is an overall look at our ceremony set up.  We choose dark cherry chairs with copper seat cushions.  My florist created little paisley designs in the grass with different shades of orange fading into white.
I feel like this image of our cake captures the feeling of the reception.  This structure was what we were supposed to get married under.  We thought it might be too small for the ceremony so we moved it up to the reception area as our little cake tent.  We just added the plum colored fabric drapes to enclose the cake.
Here are all the details:

Top: The first image is an overview of our head tables and the dance floors.  We added all the orange color stars over the dance floor.  

Second row, left: Our programs

Second row, right: A close up of the sweetheart table place settings with napkins and individual plum colored dahlias. 

Third row: The stunning trees that Jill created - tall manzanita tree dripping with candles and crystals, roses, dahlias, orchids, succulents, succinct, and lotus pods. M's flowers really outdid themselves on all the centerpieces.  

Fourth row, left: Escort cards tied to wood screens we bought on sale at Pier 1.

Fourth row, center: Our table numbers - I used affair font, our lotus design from our invitations and printed these at Kinko's.

Fourth row, right: Orange stars that hung above our dance floor.  All lighting done by the amazing Sid from Aspect lighting.

Fifth row, left: Gorgeous cake by Erica O'Brien Cake Design.

Fifth row, right: Close up of the long tables' centerpieces by M's Flowers.  Manzanita branches crawled along the center length of the table and were filled with clusters of roses, succulents, orchids, lotus pods, and succinct.

Bottom (sixth) row: Close up of our sweetheart table.  This is an adapted design idea from Mary at Occasions.  Its a half moon shaped table covered in loose florals.  Then a piece of glass is placed above it (held up by glass vases I think).  On top of the glass is another mini centerpiece and our table settings.

Obviously, it would have been a spectacular day regardless of all these details because I got to marry Mr. Margarita.  These details were just some wonderful additions to an incredible day.  There are probably even more details I could share with you, but I'll spare you for now.

Next up, the outfits and accessories. :)

*All pictures courtesy of the uber talented Dina from Andrena Photography

Our Big Fat Brown Wedding: Photobooth Fun

I'm still waiting for professional pictures but we just got our photobooth pictures back and they are so much fun I had to share.   We used Cheesy Photobooths based out of the LA/Orange County area.  They were so easy to work with and I love what they had to offer.  The gave us unlimited double prints for the event up to 4 hours, digital CD of all the photos, on-site attendant, free delivery/setup/breakdown in the OC/LA area, a custom digital banner and a scrapbook and supplies.  They also had this bonus where they were giving us 2 extra hours of service free of charge.  They also offer a projector and a 12 screen free of charge (for the first client to book) that date.   Not to mention that all the booths have a digital display screen on the outside so people waiting can see the pictures as they are taken.

Our guests loved the photobooth and we got some absolutely hilarious pictures to prove it.   The only thing I would change would be to put it in a more prominent location  since some of our guests didn't even know the photobooth was there.  Also, make sure you tell your family and bridal party to get their turn in the photobooth.  My family and most of our groomsmen/bridesmaids didn't find the time to make it over and take some pictures.

Me and the hubs:

Our friends managed to fit in their entire table in that small booth (sorry for the glare off the scrapbook):

Lots of of hilarious schenanigans

Are you doing a photobooth for your wedding? I highly recommend it :)

Our Big Fat Brown Wedding: Mendhi Night

Our mendhi party was held at my house in Orange County the Thursday before the wedding.  My mendhi artist insisted that I get my mendhi done the night before the party to let it really set in and get dark before the wedding.  This forced me to stop running around like a mad woman and actually relax.  Nothing like getting henna put on for 5 hours to slow a person down.  Lucky for me, my MOH, bridesmaid B, and one of my best friends from college were there to keep me company and even take my contacts out.  Yeah, I know gross.  I forgot to take my contacts out beforehand and with all the henna on my hands it was up to my friend to take them out.  Lucky for me she's an ophthalmologist so I was in good hands.

Getting my mendhi applied.  The paste was black but it dyes (temporarily) the skin a deep red color.

I had to sleep with the henna paste so my SIL tied plastic bags around my hands and feet.  It was honestly the worst sleep I have ever gotten.  Not to mention that we (my MOH and college friend) slept Willy Wonka style so my tossing and turning all night affected them too. 

Terrible picture of me but you get the idea 

Willy Wonka styles

I also wasn't allowed to wet my hands or feet for at least 24 hours so I couldn't wash the henna paste off in the morning.   Instead my SIL scraped the henna off my hands and feet with a butter knife.  It was actually kind of painful since the henna artist sprayed the henna with tons of hairspray so it was really stuck on.  Hairspray really worked though cause my mendhi was pretty dark.  

There are many associations with the color of mendhi - some say that the deeper the color the better your relationship with your MIL or the more your future husband loves you.  Just to make sure both those things came true, I rubbed Tiger Balm all over my hands and feet (recommended by the henna artist).  Tiger Balm smells intense and makes your skin weirdly hot but it did help make my mendhi get even darker.  

After all the henna was scraped off, I went upstairs to try on my mendhi night outfit.  I quickly discovered that the outfit was huge on me! All the wedding stress and running around helped me drop some pounds in the weeks leading up to the wedding.  Although its a great feeling to lose weight, I wasn't happy with only a few hours until the party. I rushed to our tailor in a panic and after much begging he agreed to alter the outfit in just a few hours.  While my outfit was getting altered, I rushed off to get my hair and makeup done at Ziba, took last minute engagement photos with Dina, and then rushed home to get dressed.  

Starting promptly at 7, the house began filling up with lots of friends and family. People enjoyed the perfect California weather, ate some delicious Sri Lankan food, and got their own mendhi applied.  

M's Flowers made hanging garlands of marigolds that were strewn all around our house.

Jill from M's Flowers came up with these modern beautiful flower arrangements - low clear glass bowls filled with rocks, orchids, marigolds, succulents, coxcomb and calla lilies. (Sorry for the bad quality picture.)

Mr. Margarita's gorgeous Mom (bottom center),  grandmother (top center) and four aunts

Me and some of my girls

Mmm Sri Lankan Food

Close up of my mendhi (Mr. Marg's name is hidden on my palm)

My nieces getting mendhi (Ignore the timestamp - my Dad had it set to Feb 2006 cause he's awesome like that)

Me and Momma Margarita

Midway through the night, the families and friends gathered in our living room for some singing and dancing.  It sort of turned into a dance/sing off between my family and Mr. Margarita's family which was odd but definitely entertaining.  

Mr. Margarita's side of the family singing

Our beautiful family friend dancing to some popular Hindi songs

The dancing and singing stopped a few hours later and our guests began to leave.  On the way out, each of our female guests got to take a set of bangles and a packet of bindis.  Divying and tying up these bangles took a few hours and left my us bedazzled with glitter yet again.  I think it was worth it though since I saw tons of our guests wearing the bangles at the wedding.  Also because of the adorable jewelry holders from Pier1.  

Up next, the rehearsal dinner and hopefully soon some professional pictures.

*All pictures taken by friends and family

For an explanation of the meaning of mendhi, read this article from Nirali Magazine.