291 Little Gifts

So my dozens of my students, their parents, and their grandparents have been busy folding Paper cranes as I've said. In one week they have fold 187 cranes! Plus a few other designs such as paper hearts. It's really touching and sweet. They are made from lots of different paper and designs, but they are so bright and happy! I really appreciate the ones with note or messages as well, in English or Japanese. I can't wait to use them at the wedding!

On top of that I'm told one of my students has personally folded 100 at home and has yet to bring them in!

So all told 291 little gifts have been folded for our wedding and I can't help but smile. Thank you to all my students! I promise to send pictures after the wedding!

Fabric Found

So I've got it! The material I will use to make these adorable little dresses for the flower girls!

So I have shared the first fabric that I picked up before, and it hasn't changed. I couldn't find any more of it, and purple is exceedingly had to find in a Japanese them. But did find some different, but still nice Japanese fabric that I think (while not exactly matching, still goes along well enough.

I mean the two girls are twins, but they don't need to be identical on the big day to still be adorable! Honestly I would have preferred one in orange and the in purple, but that wasn't going to happen.

So here is the two fabrics, along with a shiny fabric that I will tie the obi out of. Because it is shiny it didn't photograph well, but I think it should match the bridesmaid dresses well. At least I'm hoping so. That would be nice to tie them all together.

So what do you think?

Rainy (Typhoon) Day Progress



The rice field beside us did NOT have water in it yesterday.



So we are expereincing our 6th (ish) typhoon here in Japan. I think it's the 6th, there are a number of typhoon in the last 2 years that were of little to no worry because they were so small. This one is probably the biggest we've had, and so far it's not terrible, although I am very glad I don't need to go outside.

On top of that I have a wonderfully sore throat which means I talk very little.

All this leads to Mike and I staying home and just working away at some small jobs. So I thought I should update everyone about how things are progressing.

I have gotten material for one of the flower girl dresses. After hunting at 4 different fabric store I came away with this material. I can find lots of Japanese fabric, but not much in purple and NONE in orange. Then on top of that I need at least 240 cm of fabric... and most places had only 200cm.... so it was rather frustrating to at times and I'm glad my friend Nikolina was along with me, otherwise I might have lost my mind.

At my job at U I school of English the students and parents have been folding dozens and dozens of paper cranes for the wedding! Some of them are definitely folded by students, but that kind of makes them super charming. The little notes and things are adorable too, I will definitely miss them. My boss Kaz posted on the School Blog (Click to link) about it, and she also posted about how Mike and I donated money to the Japanese relief fund instead of giving guest favours. It's in Japanese, but I'm sure you can get the idea lol.

The veils are coming along.... slowly. I am being super careful and gentle, which when hand-sewing can be super tedious. Plus I stared out with the entire lace, but after sewing the bottom edge on Mike and I decided that it look better without the top edge. So with a tiny pair of thread scissors I went along carefully cutting the lace (and NOT cutting the veil material). So the bottom edge of the lace is sewn on all of it, and now I need to sew the top part of flowers on.



Veil folded over; smaller edge is the blusher, big flowers is the rest of the trim.

So I will continue with the veils, since I have only half finished ONE, and the cranes, and other wedding stuff. Mike and I working on the ceremony details as well.

If you haven't RSVP yet please do so! Trying to confirm numbers. Also please send up song requests, are enjoying all the suggestions so far, so keep them coming.

Oh yea... one other thing...

Mike and I have booked our tickets home!
Touch down in Canada July 23 at 8:25!

Can you tell I'm excited? Lol

Well that's it for now. Lots more going on in life, but not really wedding related, so I'll save that for another time.

Gifts from Students

So it turns out that my boss Kaz wanted to know if she could have the students fold paper cranes for me as a gift for the wedding. I said sure! But that I didn't have any more orange and purple paper (since I still kinda want to fold 1000 myself). So the students are busy folding cranes for me, some students even are folding them at home and bringing them in. Also they are writing messages on the wings and things!

So at the wedding we will have lots of cranes. those folded by me, and lots folded by my students.  All in all it should be amazing.

I will have to send lots of pictures to the school though afterwards, to show them that I loved the cranes.


I have more news about coming home to Canada and veils and bachelorette parties.... but that will have to wait. I'm exhausted right now.

But stay tuned for me.

RSVPs

Thanks to everyone who is RSVP(ing?) so quickly! I know I asked for people to do it reply by August 3rd, but honestly the sooner the better.

Also some out international friend has sadly, but practically declined,  and while you will be missed Mike and I are more than understanding about the cost of travel. So thank you for considering it, and we know you wish us the best, and that means a lot.

To those of you yet to RSVP, or even for those of you who have, please let us know the full name of the guests you are bringing. We are making name cards (please see previous post) for the seating arrangement, and to save confusion we are using full names. So while I can Facebook some information, it would be phenomenally easier if you just included it in an email.

Don't forget to send song requests as well!

Can't wait to see you all there!

Just too Cute!

So I wanted to tell you about my adorable twin nieces Natalie and Jacklyn who will be my future flower girls.



Not sure who I am holding!

 When I left Canada for Japan in Sept 2009 they looked like this. they were just little babies, just about to turn 7 months old.

When I went home in September for Jen's wedding I got to see them some more and they had definitely grown a lot. Went from just figuring out the crawling to walking and sort making talking noises.



Pics from Easter



Now I talk to them on skype occasionally, and I think they believe I love in a computer screen, since that is the most interaction I have with the. However I can't wait to get home and see and play with them! They are just over 2 now, so I hope they can be my flower girls.

I miss all of my family, especially when I think about planning the wedding and inviting everyone. It's a real family affair with all the wedding party being family of both Mike's and mine. Plus we are having it at my sister's Heather's house, so she and her entire family are absolutely wonderful in that they are planting flowers and everything for us! Even my 9 and 7 year old nephews Darren and Kevin have agreed to clean up their (amazingly awesome!) 2 story tree house for me so I can take some pictures in it! (There is also a running joke that i will live in it before the wedding, garden hose shower and all! lol).

But this is about my flower girls, so I digress.

I picked up super cheap a pattern for children's Yukata Dress. What is this you might ask? And right so if you are not living in Japan and going to summer festivals where small children run around looking so cute it hurts.


A Yukata Dress (minus the belt)



A Regular Kids Yukata



So a Yukata Dress is essentially a kimono style outfit for little girls where the top has the big square sleeves of a kimono (or Yukata which is the summer Kimono) but the bottom is a separate skirt. This is great because a real yukata is one piece and a little restrictive on the legs, so the skirt lets kids run around and be kids. Also the yukata dress has a big obi belt, but usually it is a fluffy scarf like material instead of thick stiff material usually used for an obi.

So now that I have the pattern for this adorable little outfits I need to do three things;

1.  Find some great fabric that is either purple or orange to match the wedding colours. (I'm banking more on purple, I think that more likely).
2. Send the fabric and pattern home to my Mom who has a sewing machine, and some friends who can help. (Let be honest, if I hand sew 2 veils before I leave Japan I will be doing well, 2 more dresses just ain't in the cards!)
3. Hope that my Mom, in her infinite experience and wisdom, along with the aid of friends, can decipher and assemble these dress with the aid of the pattern pictures.... since the instructions are all in Japanese! (Lol I think it"s not as bad as it sounds... but them again they won't have seen the dresses before...)

Yep so I'm on the hunt for some fabric now, and also the material or the already made obi belts. I think ti shouldn't be too hard, what with summer coming and festivals starting.

You can definitely get a LOT of accessories and things. Shoes, bags, bows, flowers, purses, fans, make-up and lot of other piece that go in, under, or on the yukata. Especially if it is a coming of age ceremony of either 3, 5, or 7 years old. Some of those kids wear outfits that are worth more than my wedding dress. You can even rent these outfits like people rent their tuxes for a wedding! But I'm not going to do that, I don't want them to be uncomfortable, or worry about them getting dirty or anything. I want Jacklyn and Natalie to be happy and adorable!

However there is the issues that come with having kids in a ceremony, and I'll tackle those later, such as how to get them to walk down the isle, and what they should carry or not carry. I can tell you this though, while is was super adorable at Christmas, I think the 'Cindy-loo-who' hair won't be the style I go for the wedding. I think worst case scenario I'll do headbands lol.

 

 



A Big DIY (do it yourself)

It's official, I'm making a veil! Actually I'm making 2 veils!



Plastic Tulle



So with the help of Mike I have decided NOT to use the plastic tulle that is common in most bridal veils, especially the homemade ones. I didn't want to use this material because I felt like it was kind of like a 'dress up' material. I know that sounds silly, but that's my feelings on it.



So I was happy that Mike helped me choose a different material that would work well for the day. He noted that I shouldn't use the shiny fabric I was leaning toward because of the flash or natural sunlight could do weird things. So I went with a mate-er material that I hope is still shear enough to work well as a veil. I have to admit, I don't know what it's called! Gah Japan and language barriers!



Drop Veil



Gathered Veil



The reason I am making two is because I can't decided if I want a drop veil, or a gathered veil. So I'm making both!

With 2x the fabric, thread, and two types of lace I spent about 4400 yen, or at today's exchange $51 Canadian. So for two veils I think that's not too shabby at all!

I hope to trim them both in lace, to hide the edges, and them embellish them lace accents on the veil it's self. I went with lace, and not beads or jewels because I like it better, but I can always go back and add them later. Here is my trial runs so far on the extra pieces.

The thicker lace will be the trim, and the other lace will be the accent pieces.

I'm hand sewing all of this so it's a very delicate and time consuming project. Plus, unlike my Halloween costumes, it will drive me nuts if I make a mistake, so I will definitely have to undo some stitches and redo them throughout this project.

But I think they look good. I mean, can you see the stitches? Even from the back the stitches are minimal. So I just have to make sure I don't get sloppy. I'm not sure if this would actually be easier with a sewing machine or not. My only fear is that the edges hold and that they don't unravel on me. But a veil doesn't have to be really 'wearable' or 'washable', it's kind of a one day thing. So here's hoping it holds!

So now I just need to cut that material.... that's the part that makes me nervous! Here goes!

Veil or no Veil

Ok so I've been going back and forth on this issue for a while, and I still can't decide.

As a kid I grew up playing dress up with my two younger sisters, and as kids we had a few times where one of us would get married in an oversized dress of some sort. As the years have gone by I have watched lots of movies with weddings, and brides, and their dresses.

Now even as a child I knew that the movies weddings, especially the Disney ones, were not going to be within reach of someone like me (I hear training forest creatures to carry the train of your dress is rather expensive). So, while planning this wedding things like the venue, meal type, or dish pattern have all been decisions that Mike and I have decided based upon our own tastes and not the influence of childhood games or Hollywood movies.

Yet when it comes to me and what I'm wearing on the Big Day.... I can't help but envision myself in a white dress and veil. I know, I know, it's old fashion, but that's kind of me. I like those things, and it astonishes people. At the store where I bought my dress the sales woman was showing me veils and I asked to see on that 'goes over your head and then can be flipped up'. She looked aghast for a moment before saying 'Your not going to cover your face are you?' I was surprised because I was a wedding dress shop and was like 'Um, yea, aren't you suppose to do that?'

Since that time I have been researching this issue. Here is a little picture to help understand.

So the veil I was envisioning is called a blusher, and probably an elbow or fingertip length at the back. Now this is just lengths though, after that there are many other decisions to make. Do you have lace trim, or beading trim? Pearl beads, silver beads, sparkling bead? Beads through out? Lace all over? Heavy lace or fine lace? Now this is just the veil issues, combine that with how to do the hair and how to incorporate the veil as well. Oh and I dont' have my dress with me, it's in Canada, and that I'm shopping for veils online makes me super nervous that I will get something I don't like and/or doesn't match my dress. Plus veils aren't cheap either. I can find some cheap ones online but they make me nervous.

So here are my ideas to the situation;

1. I scrap the veil idea all together, it uncomplicates things and saves money.... but it's not what I really want.
2. I buy a super cheap veil online and hope and pray it works out..... but that could just be a waste of money (even if it is a little waste).
3. I get a veil, without the blusher, because that seems easier to incorporate with the hair.... but then I am still not getting what I want and instead still have an issue with my hair too (albeit a smaller one).
4. I make my own veil.

I almost had myself convince that idea #1, to have no veil, was the best idea. That was until I watched parts of the royal wedding and saw Kate Middleton, and I realized I don't want to be a 'princess' on my big day but that I did still want to look like her!

Idea #4 came to me today as I was thinking about what to do today. I've made a veil before for Halloween (actually I made the whole costume except for the white shirt). But that veil is a very different design to the one I want for the wedding.... but still it is do-able.... no?

 Anyway I would love some ideas and input on this on.

Also I need to figure out head everything else including hair styles. I'd love suggestions, not just because I am desperate for ideas, but because I am honestly curious as to what other people think about these things now adays. I like the retro veil, just covering part of the face (like my Halloween one) but it wouldn't go with my dress.

I await some replies (please!)

600

600 Paper cranes folded! I am 60% done! Woot!

I've sent the first 500 home to Canada, along with all the Canadian invitations. I have never lost anything in the mail before... and this is the one time it will really count!

Once they arrive in Canada, hopefully my wonderful sister Julianne and Meighan will be stamping them and mailing them for me. Wish I could mail them each from Japan so that everyone could get international mail but it would cost me about 3 times the price.

So I'm going to keep folding!