As one of our wedding gifts, my sister bought us these books written by the famous Dr. Laura Schlessinger. My older sister – always the helpful one. -/

She’s been happily married for over 7 years now with two young boys . Anyone heard of the seven year itch? I guess these books will help just in case we don’t go through the seven year itch. -)

I was uploading my photos onto xanga when I look over to see Mr. Apple reading one of them. I found it cute. He says Dr. Laura’s book thus far is “spot on”. Which means its “pretty accurate” from a male perspective.

Anyone read these?

A few minutes before the ceremony…

Officiant, Mr. Apple, Best Man

Sister Apple and Momma Apple

Junior Bridesmaid Rachel

How come Katie isn’t hamming it up like before?

Maid of Honor Susan

Everyone loved her dress – high five all around!

Flower girl Scuppy and Ringbearers with Spiderman

More to come from Mr. and Mrs. Apple.

Per xanga requests, here are some more photos of my qi pao . -) These photos were taken from our camera.

I’ll try to post our wedding day in segments so it won’t be wedding photo overload.

My Grandfather instructing us to pray to our ancestors

Mr. Apple leading me down to the ceremony.

Mr. Apple’s mother gave me pearl earrings on my wedding. -)

Offering tea to my grandparents.

Maid of Honor, Bride, Groom, Best Man

Ceremony photos to follow. -)

I’m married now. It still hasn’t completely hit me yet that i’m married. It’s been a little crazy the past couple of days saying goodbye to family and friends. I’m married!!!! Holy moly! I’m married.

Here are some funny teasers. I’ll post pictures once I get them back from F8 next week.

Poor Mr. Apple. I felt bad so I was wiping away all of the chocolate.

The little rascals.

Morning Tea Ceremony – Mr. Apple taking me away after he offered a red envelope to my MOH.

Highlight of the Day – The Speeches

Only 5 days left until my wedding and all i can think about is how bloated i feel.  My stomach looks bigger than normal and i feel my chin doubling up.  Any thoughts ladies?  It’s not that time of the month or even close to it.  I haven’t been eating more or less than normal.  I haven’t stepped on the treadmill for over a week now so that could be the culprit. Though I did lift some weights yesterday just so I wouldn’t feel 100% guilty. 

Mr. Apple suggested not eating the rest of the week. I think he was half kidding half truthful. argh! -) Besides I love food too much to even think about doing something that outrageous.  Maybe I should hit up the gym tomorrow and burn some calories but damn….i’m only one week away from my wedding date. It’s not like I’m going to look any skinnier by burning a couple hundred calories?!  I am one lazy mofo. 

I hope I can fit into my dress.  It’s hanging up in the guest room closet and I’m scared ladies…real scared to even put one foot in.

Maybe I should drink cabbage soup for 5 days or eat some rabbit food like steamed broccoli with oil and vinegar, yumm….my tummy is growling already.

Any suggestions on getting rid of this feeling?    

isn’t until another 2 months but here are some photos I found by googling. We’ll be traveling around Germany/Switzerland then joining our friends (I am her MOH) on Lake Constance for their wedding.

Here’s our tentative itinerary. We’re still tweaking it, adding adventures and picking hotels so its still a work in progress. We’re working with Lydia Jaeger from Belle Vue Travel (Certified Switzerland Specalist). She’s great and really knows Switzerland / Germany well.

We plan to do some hiking, visit local museums, and eat some hearty meat and potatoes!

Thursday – Depart USA

Friday – Arrive in Zurich



Saturday – Wedding on Lake Constance. My friend will be getting married in one of the famous cathedrals on Lake Constance. Something similar to this one.




The interior of Lake Constance – look at those quaint cities. So cute.



Sunday – St. Gallen



Monday – visit Stein am Rhein then travel to Basel




Tuesday & Wednesday – travel to Lucerne



Thursday – travel to Chur



Friday & Saturday- Take Glacier Train to Zermatt – Do you see the Matterhorn?? -)



Sunday – travel to Interlaken



Monday – Interlaken – Jungraujoch



Tuesday – Travel to Lausanne




Wednesday – Chocolate Train to Bulle




Thursday – Lake Geneva Region



Friday – Return From Geneva via Zurich to USA

We purchased a Swiss Rail Pass so we could travel around Switzerland during our trip. These trains offer spectacular and scenic views through the countryside. They also have these cool “panoramic views” which offer huge windows that sweep halfway across the ceiling for better views.




photos via flickr, google, and http://lpdwww.epfl.ch/pdutta/



Has anyone been to Switzerland/Germany? Any recs?

I just got off the phone with my cousin and her first question to me was, “So are you nervous?” That’s been “The #1 question” for me for the past 2 weeks.

I usually give them a quick answer, “I’m not nervous at all, just ready to celebrate our wedding day. I am so ready – more ready than anyone will ever know. ” -)

I think i’ve done all that I need to do for the wedding. It’s just smooth sailing right now. Maybe all of this free time gives me a chance to let it sink in. But shouldn’t it make me worry more about the little possible mishaps.

I was reading up on the weather forecasts for next Sunday. There will be a chance of scattered thunderstorms throughout the day. Oh sh*t, who cares. I am too THAT point.

Do brides usually get nervous around this time? One week ahead? The week of? The day before? How was it for you?

I found this on flickr. This is quite an interesting display – located in some HK subway.

We’re married! Well sort of. We’re just missing a few more signatures, the ceremony, and off the go to the court house. So our marriage license experience wasn’t as bad as I thought. I’ve heard horror stories having to wait in long lines but I guess we lucked out. I guess living in a small suburb has its perks sometimes. Really friendly clerks, no lines, and no parking fees. We were the only ones in line and it took about 10 minutes max. It was so weird seeing our names on a Marriage Certificate. We both smiled and giggled at each other when we saw our names printed on the documents. I brought my little digi camera just so I could document this moment. We’re getting married! We asked one of the security officers to take a photo of us and he said, “What a great idea! You’ll definitely want to look at this photo again in 10 or 20 years!”.

Did you have the same experience?

Do you believe in that?

Continued from my previous post. So far I’ve had a good experience with most of my vendors. I guess it could be that i’m paying a premium for it. The only exceptions was for my wedding dress (Lulu’s Bridal) and Miss Plum (my florist charging me at cost, only because she’s working on her floral business and portfolio). But from what I’ve seen first hand and from her personal taste and floral work – she’ll be charging a high premium too! haha Miss Plum don’t take offense to that at all – its a compliment! -)

I chose most of my big purchase vendors by looking at their porfolio. It so happened that they’re also charging me an arm and a leg for it too. So when people say, “You get what you pay for?” Do you think its pretty accurate? For example, my venue (includes food, service, liquor, venue fees, etc ) alone can also be someone’s annual income! I have nothing bad to say about the kind of service they have provided me and I have no doubt the service will be top notch on the day of. But is it worth $25-30,000+ for it? I am definitely paying a premium.

But i’ve also gone the cheap route and have heard great reviews too. For example, I could have ordered my save the dates from a fantabulously expensive designer but I ended up having a friend take a nice photo of us at the Ft Worth Gardens. He did some touch ups and editing on Photoshop, we printed them at Wolf Camera, glued them onto some chocolate card stock, and mailed them out. Of course, not as pretty as some std’s that i’ve seen but definitely worth more than free. -) If we had hired a photographer to do the exact same thing, would it have cost me double? Would it have looked that much better?

Do you think paying a premium is worth it?