pretty things to look at

I don't know about you guys but my Friday is dragging. I know, I know...I should be happy it's Friday but I'm feeling a little under the weather and I have work tomorrow. The only thing getting me through this day is the thought of curling up on the couch with a bowl of soup, some tea and a chick flick. Looking at pretty things during my lunch break is making my day a little brighter too. Here are some of my favorite finds of the day...

photo courtesy of 100 layer cake

 

photo courtesy of grey likes weddings

photos courtesy of green wedding shoes

photo courtesy of grey likes weddings

If only I could get paid to dream of wedding stuff all day....

xoxo, 

zar

striped straws make me happy

I challenge you to show me something cuter than this...

photo courtesy of style me pretty

photo courtesy of small stump

photo courtesy of hip hip horray

photo courtesy of style me pretty

I mean, seriously, what can be cuter than striped straws with little flags attached? (Don't even dream of saying "puppies" or "babies" because they clearly have an unfair advantage. We're talking inanimate objects, people. Now that we've gotten that cleared up....I think it's safe to say that this adorable straw/flag combo is the pinnacle of cuteness, no?)

Prior to the ceremony we will be serving iced tea and lemonade in mason jars and these will most certainly be making an appearance. It amazes me how something so small (and inexpensive!) can make me so happy! Now I just have to decide on a color. Thoughts?

xoxo,

zar

planning update: november edition

Ok, trusty blog readers. It's recently been brought to my attention that there are alot of you out there following my blog (cough cough thetas cough). First of all, this makes me ridiculously happy. Here I thought my bridesmaids and future hubby would be my only audience! Secondly, and more importantly, this means that there are plenty of you out there who can help me! (Scared? Don't worry. I'm not going to make you fly out to SF and help me with all of the DIY projects that are piling up [seriously, I think of a new one everyday] although if this interests you we could probably make arrangements...)

I've decided to start doing monthly planning updates outlining what's at the top of our to do-list for that month and what we've accomplished in the previous month. This is where you come in: If you see something reappearing on the to-do list month after month I'm counting on you to call me out on my procrastination. There's a comment section below each blog post. Use it. Something along the lines of "get your lazy butt in gear" should do the trick.

So here we go. Planning update: November edition. 

October accomplishments:

1. save-the-dates designed, ordered, printed, & received

2. wedding website construction got underway

3. guest list finalized

4. researched ceremony music ideas (bagpipes may or may not be involved...)

November to-do list:

1. finish the wedding website. asap. 

2. research music options for the reception  

3. research potential florists

4. research cake bakers (and perhaps set up some tastings....yummm!)

5. research potential officiants

6. set up a meeting with our day-of-coordinator to discuss flowers, linens, food, drinks, etc. 

7. assemble and send save-the-dates (DONE!)

Ok, that's it for November's planning update/October's accomplishments. You guys better keep an eye on me and make sure things are getting checked off of that list! 

xoxo, 

zar

P.S. not exactly wedding related (I mean, it has to do with love...) but I simply adore Shanna Murray's designs. Take a look at her wall decals and ceramic mugs below. So cute, right? Check out more of her stuff at here and here.

photo courtesy of shannamurray.bigcartel.com

photo courtesy of shannamurray.typepad.com

DIY project numero uno

It's been a week since I picked up the save-the-dates from Hello!Lucky and guess what? We have FINALLY started to mail them! Yippy!

So why did it take so long to get the little buggers in the mail? Gee, I'm so glad you asked...

Let's rewind to the day I picked up the save-the-dates last week (yes, the day I ran around downtown SF like a maniac...) After staring at them all afternoon/evening I realized that I loved the design work but I felt like something was missing. I couldn't quite put my finger on it but I felt like they were lacking a personal touch of some sort. Our wedding is going to be full of DIY details so I wanted our save-the-date to reflect that. After racking my brain trying to figure out exactly what I felt the save-the-dates needed I came up with an idea that I am head over heals in love with. All I will say is that it involves these...

...which I slaved over for quite a few hours (funny story...I wasn't keeping count as I was making them and ended up with 200 instead of 89. Ha.) I want there to still be some element of surprise when people receive the save-the-dates so I'm not going to give away any more details away about the new addition! I can, however, tell you all about the fiasco surrounding the DIY wrap-around address labels, which have officially become the bane of my existence.

Why do I have such hatred towards the wrap-around labels? Because these damn sticky pieces of paper (with the help of our printer) have caused zpao and I more frustration/anger than any paper product + printer duo ever should. 


Let's start with the fact that the labels made me miss the end of the Giant's World Series winning game. Yeah, I MISSED IT! Why? Because Zpao and I had to go pick up the labels at the UPS store where they ended up after two failed delivery attempts (dear UPS man, way to suck at successfully delivering our package. When someone leaves you a phone number to call when you've arrived you should probably call it. Just saying...) Ok, so technically that was UPS's fault but still. I blame the labels.

Next, the labels and the printer teamed up to make our lives miserable. It went a little something like this:

1) labels jam printer, ink cartridge gets all crazy, adhesive label stuff gets stuck inside printer
2) zpao takes printer apart, removes stickiness, fixes ink cartridge (he's pretty awesome)
3) we successfully print one page of labels...kind of. they are slightly off center but we decide the slightly off part isn't such a huge deal since they are the labels for our parents, moh, and bm (they love us enough to not get mad over small label imperfections, right?) 
4) we attach the labels to envelopes. it appears as though we are making progress.
5) we attempt to print a new page of labels with new names this time. printer jams.
6) after fixing the jam the printer decides to print the first batch of labels over again. PERFECTLY centered this time. awesome, except for the fact that I have already put the not so perfect labels on the envelopes...
7) minor meltdown ensues. after regaining composure/ pouring a glass of wine we carry on. 
8) I look down at our ONLY spare save-the-date (turns out I underestimated the number we'd need...)  to find ink smudges all over it. Thanks, evil label/printer duo. meltdown #2.
9) the following print attempts go like this: success. success. jam. success. success. jam. fabulous. it only jams every 3rd time. at least we know the pattern now? 
10) right as we're ready to call it quits for the night and go to sleep we have an epiphany: removing the outer sticky part of the label paper avoids jams. too bad we didn't figure this out 2 hours and 6 pages of labels sooner...and it doesn't really explain why it only jams every 3rd time, but we're just going to go with it, ok?


Hopefully we'll have better luck tonight because we still have ~70 to go. And on a happy note, the finished product looks really great. We can't wait for you to see them!

xoxo,
zar

mini brunch

Dear Martha Stewart,

Stop being so darn cute. Miniature brunch items? I can't even handle it. 

xoxo, 

zar

Yeah, these might be making an appearance at our Newlywed/Farewell Brunch...

ZARZPAO: est. October 31, 2004

October 31, 2004: zpao and I meet at Carnegie Mellon's Sleeping Bag Weekend. I am a high school senior and he is the super cool older (freshman) college guy. We eat at the Underground, take a stroll down to Oakland, and end up watching Ferngully in Scobell House. We're with a big group the whole time, but I only have eyes for zpao.

Fast forward 6 years...

October 31, 2010: zpao and I live in one of the most amazing cities in the world and are planning our wedding. Sometimes we get on each others nerves...

zar: "ZPAO! keep your nasty shoes off of my purse!"

zpao: "ZAR, CALM DOWN. It's just a bag. Maybe you shouldn't lay it down in the shoe area in the first place"

...but for the most part we spend our days laughing, inventing killer dance moves (which, despite zpao's insistence, will NOT be featured at the wedding) and planning all sorts of awesome adventures. Had someone told me that this is what life would be like 6 years down the road I probably would have started crying (tears of joy, of course) and thought "I'm the luckiest girl in the world". (And let's be real, I probably would have wanted a sneak peak of my engagement ring too!)

Happy six-years-of-knowing-you-anniversary, zpao. You da best. 

xoxo, 

zar

mmm...pie pops

I'm not a huge fan of cake (unless we're talking red velvet cake from the Bubble Room on Captiva Island, Florida...in which case, yum x 1,000,000) nor am I a big fan of cupcakes (it's basically cake, right?) I am however, a bit obsessed with pie. Cherry pie to be exact. Bring me a cherry pie and I will love you forever. Come to think of it, zpao bought me a cherry pie once. Coincidence?

So what do pies and our wedding have to do with each other? Well, allow me to share what is quite possibly the CUTEST thing ever: pie pops (translation: a miniature pie...on a stick!)

Genius? Adorable? The perfect idea for a wedding favor? Yes, yes and YES!

Zpao and I have decided to give these to guests as wedding favors! We'll be making them home-made (apple and cherry flavored) and then wrapping them up individually and tying them with some sort of ribbon or twine. It's definitely going to be a lot of work but I'm super excited.

Interested in making your own? Take a look at this website for detailed instructions (and mouthwatering pictures!):  http://luxirare.com/float/

the save-the-dates have arrived!

YAY! They're here! The first tangible sign of our wedding!

Yesterday while I was at work I received a voice mail from Hello!Lucky, the design company that we worked with to create our save-the-dates, saying that our order was ready for pick-up.

FINALLY! The moment I had been waiting for for weeks!

Me, being the ridiculously excited/impatient bride-to-be that I am, decided it was necessary to attempt to go 4 VERY long blocks to and from Hello!Lucky on my short 15 minute afternoon break. To be honest, this plan was flawed from the beginning. I knew darn well it would take well over 15 minutes to get there and back but I just couldn't resist. The save-the-dates were calling my name and there was no way I was going to let them sit there for another day (or another hour for that matter).

I got about a half block before realizing there was just no way I was going to be back in time. At this point, the logical thing to do would have been to accept defeat and turn back. I was only a half block away from the office after all. Instead, I decided to run. That's right, run (with my two herniated discs + dressy work outfit no less). When I finally arrived at Hello!Lucky I was sweating, winded and had about 8 minutes to get back to work. I said thank you to my Hello!Lucky bff, Stewey (who looked very surprised to see me after leaving me a voice mail just 10 minutes earlier), made sure the save-the-dates were in fact our save-the-dates, and then ran back outside to catch a cab. Unfortunately for me the cabs were switching from their a.m. drivers to their p.m. drivers so they refused to take me anywhere. With only a few minutes left in my break and no friendly cabbies in sight, I was left with only one option. Running. Again. 

Long story short, I made it back to work with only seconds to spare with my lovely save-the-dates in hand. I was dripping with sweat and was all red and splotchy, but it didn't matter...operation run-around-like-a-lunatic-to-pick-up-save-the-dates-and-return-to-work-on time was a success and I felt quite accomplished as a result. Also, I'm pretty sure I burned off at least half of that delicious chocolate chip cookie I ate at lunch. WIN. 

xoxo, 

zar

p.s. I promise to post part II of adventures in dress shopping soon!

p.p.s. GO GIANTS!

adventures in dress shopping (part I)

Starting a wedding blog once the wedding planning process is already in full swing can be difficult. On one hand, there are so many fun details that I want to share with you all (cake tables, striped straws, skeleton key escort cards, etc). On the other hand, I feel like many of you don't know the stories behind some of the really important decisions that have been made already (the photographer, the dress, wedding weekend events, etc). So, I am going to try to catch everyone up to speed on the big ticket items starting with the dress (which I am OBSESSED with by the way!) but don't be surprised if I'm back to sharing random pictures from a wedding I stumbled across later today! Clearly focus is not my strong point...wait, what was I saying? Ha, I kid, I kid.

So...the dress. It all started before a ring was even purchased (which, FYI, was in April. Yes, that's right, April. Zpao is a sneakster. I had no idea.) I, like many other women, was obsessed with Say Yes To The Dress and watched the marathons on TLC like it was my job. This led to a few things: 

1. I became increasingly annoyed that zpao and I weren't engaged yet (it had been 5+ years people!) 
2. I started to get an idea of what I liked and what I didn't like in terms of silhouettes, fabric, and detailing

Before even stepping foot in a bridal salon I knew that I really liked....

Strapless sweetheart necklines:

a-line silhouettes:

mermaid silhouettes: 

ruching (the gathering of the fabric) and some sort of beaded belt or sash: 

Before actually trying dresses on, I did some research (ok, A LOT of research) and these were some of my favorites:

 

I realized pretty quickly that I was drawn to dresses that were romantic yet modern and elegant but not stuffy. I liked dresses that had a bit of bling (i.e. a sparkly belt) but wasn't a fan of excessive beading or lace. Also, ball gowns were most definitely out. A casual, rustic outdoor wedding + a poofy princess ball gown just didn't seem like a great combination (not to mention I'm not a poofy princess dress kinda girl...) 

 

With my top picks in mind, I headed to my first bridal salon to try on my very first wedding dress! (eeep!!!!) So which dress did I end up choosing? Psh, I'm not going to give it away that easily. You'll have to check back for Adventures in Dress Shopping (Part II)!

xoxo, 

zar

latest eye candy

Every once in a while, a wedding comes along that makes me so happy/giddy/excited to be planning a DIY project filled wedding and this wedding that was featured on greenweddingshoes.com recently is definitely one of those. It's chalk full of charming details, fun colors, and so much personality! It's not exactly how I would want my wedding to look (a few too many bright colors) but that's what's so great about weddings: just because it's not quite your cup-of-tea doesn't mean it isn't still absolutely beautiful and inspirational!

Here are a few of my favorites pics but you should definitely check out the entire post on Green Wedding Shoes!

I'm especially loving the buttons, the cake topper, and all of the printed material! Buttons & a custom cake topper, like the ones shown above, are actually on my DIY to-do-list so I will definitely be using these pics for inspiration :)

xoxo,
zar

save-the-dates!

Greetings awesome blog readers! 

After adjusting to life as a working girl, getting my butt kicked by my personal trainer a few times and celebrating my last birthday as an unmarried woman (!!!!) I'm back with all of the juicy details regarding our save-the-dates!

For those of you who have never heard of save-the-dates before, here's a brief description via the goddess of weddings (+ all things DIY) herself....Martha Stewart:

"Save-the-dates inform would-be guests of when and where the wedding will be. Though not required, they are helpful, particularly if many guests will have to travel to the wedding, if it will take place during a busy holiday weekend, or if accommodations nearby are scarce. Send save-the-date cards four to six months before the wedding, or even earlier if extensive travel plans must be arranged."

Soooo basically they're just pre-invites and when you really think about that, it's a pretty weird concept. I mean, why can't I just send out the actual invite early enough to allow people to make travel arrangements? Why should I invest time and money sending something that contains minimal information and then says "invitation to follow"? In the end, I decided Martha Stewart and 8 million other wedding magazines & wedding blogs couldn't be wrong and there must be a perfectly legitimate reason for sending save-the-dates instead of super early wedding invites. Also, as you all know, I like pretty things so convincing myself it was necessary to send save-the-dates took about 2.3 seconds once I started looking at all of the amazing options out there!

After much deliberation, zpao and I opted to go with a semi-custom design with the help of Hello!Lucky, a letterpress print shop/design studio in San Francisco. Ready-to-print designs weren't quite doing it for us while custom designs were out of our price range (turns out we have expensive taste in design...who knew?!) so the semi-customized option worked great for us. We were able to choose from previous custom designs and tailor it to look just the way we wanted. Yeah, Hello!Lucky is pretty cool like that (I'd highly recommend working with them...check out their website, they do the cutest/most creative greeting cards! http://www.hellolucky.com/)


Sooooo what does the final product look like? Well, I can't give away all of the details because we want it to be a surprise but I can tell you a few things:


1) it contains pictures of us (courtesy of my bridesmaid T!)
2) it features some of our wedding colors
3) we used this fabulous font that I fell in love with and just had to have: LiebeErika

While we wait for the save-the-dates to be printed we'll be adding to our ever-expanding address spreadsheet (this is zpao's job :P) and creating some snazzy wrap-around address labels to go on the envelopes (they were $2/address label with Hello!Lucky so we decided to get crafty and make our own!) 


If all goes well (read: we actually get our act together in terms of addresses/labels) the save-the-dates should be sent out by the end of next week! Keep an eye on those mailboxes!


In the meantime, here are some save-the-dates that are pretty spiffy...

[photos courtesy of birdandbanner.com]

[photos courtesy of ruffledblog.com]

[photo courtesy of wedzu.com]

[photo courtesy of hellolucky.com]

[photo courtesy of birdandbanner.com]

[photo courtesy of hellolucky.com]

xoxo, 
zar

mini-update

Sorry for the lack of new blog posts (I feel a little guilty not writing regularly now that some of you have bookmarked my blog or added it to your RSS feed!) Life is super busy over here in the zarzpao-wedding-planning-capital-of-the-world but here's a mini-update to keep you (somewhat) entertained/informed while I search for the time to write a real update (with tons of glorious pictures of course)

1.  I started a big-girl job (woo hoo!) but it involves working 8 hour days (lame) & is cutting into my wedding-blog reading/general-obsessing-over-wedding-details time (double lame)
2. I joined a gym (strategically located right next to my office building so I can't pass it without feeling guilty. genius!) AND got a personal trainer. There's nothing more motivating than upcoming dress fittings!
3. Zpao and I went to our friends' wedding this past weekend in Napa and it was absolutely b-e-a-utiful. I'll write a post on this soon because you have to see pictures of the dress, venue, ect! 
4. Our "Save the Dates" are almost ready to be printed. We did a semi-custom design so it's a little more complicated than just choosing something and ordering it. We've done a few edits and are really happy with the way it looks now. Next step: get them printed. Next step after that: address massive amounts of envelopes (Yippy!). Look for a "Save the Date" related post soon!
5. We're working hard to get our wedding website up and running and hopefully it will be done veryyyy soon! Paul is doing all of the coding, I'm doing most of the writing and the design has been a joint effort. We're a pretty good team :)

Ok, that's all for now! More to come soon I promise!

 

xoxo,

zar

P.S. Isn't this adorable? Le sigh.

color scheming

One of the most shocking parts of wedding planning process thus far has been the fact that zpao has opinions about the wedding, and LOTS of them.

While zpao was gone on his business trip/family vacay post-engagement I spent the majority of my time (read: every waking moment) planning my dream wedding. Of course I thought about zpao while planning (I try to imagine what his face will look like when I walk down the aisle and all I have to say is there better be tears of joy!) but I didn't consider the fact that he would disapprove of some of my ideas. I figured wedding planning just wouldn't be his thing and he'd leave it all up to me. Needless to say, I was completely shocked when he told me he didn't like the color scheme I had envisioned. I may or may not have cried (ok, I definitely did) and said something overly dramatic about how it would totally ruin my wedding day if my flower bouquet and decor was in a different color than I had imagined (Ha, yeah...I'm a joy to be around sometimes)

You see, I've always envisioned a really muted, romantic color palette: dove grey, dusty rose, peach, cream, taupe, and very light pinks with some earthy tones thrown in the mix, like brown and green. Like this:

Gorgeous, right?! Well, zpao isn't such a huge fan. He much prefers brighter, richer colors like kelly green, royal blue, bright yellow, purple...anything really, as long is it isn't soft and muted. He also thinks that our venue really needs the pop of color to bring it alive and I guess he does have a point. There are so many natural, earthy tones there already that brighter flowers and decor can really make a big impact.

The current plan is to keep the ceremony flowers (bridal bouquet + bridemaids' bouquets + boutonnieres + wherever else there are flowers) muted and romantic like I had envisioned. For the reception, we'll take those colors up a notch by adding brighter pinks and peaches to the flowers, like this:

[photo courtesy of smallstump.blogspot.com]

The reception decor will feature pops of color in other ways too like bright antique jars and cans as centerpieces and bunting flags hanging overhead:

[photo courtesy of weddingbee.com]

[photo courtesy of ruffledblog.com]

We're definitely on the right track but the color scheme is still a work in progress which evolves a little more everyday. At this point the challenge is trying to figure out how to keep the colors that I love and have always envisioned while still including the pop of color that zpao wants. I guess in the end compromising isn't so bad because it is our wedding (i.e. 60% mine and 40% his. Now that's compromise people!)

xoxo,
zar

eye candy

These weddings are positively drool-worthy.

[photo courtesy of 100layercake.com/blog]

[photo courtesy of stylemepretty.com]

[photo courtesy of oncewed.com]

[photo courtesy of stylemepretty.com]

[photo courtesy of marthastewartweddings.com]

[photo courtey of with--this--ring.blogspot.com]

[photo courtesy of ruffledblog.com]

[photos courtesy of greenweddingshoes.com]

[photo courtesy of stylemepretty.com]

[photo courtesy of weddingchicks.com]