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You’ve got until tomorrow night (Sunday) at 11:59pm to enter into the cupcake raffle. Your entire donation goes to World Vision for the Haiti Crisis. We’ll draw names of those who entered and if you qualify, then you’ll win 100 free cupcakes from Izacupcake! You can use towards your wedding or any other occasion. FYI, the donation page is through a 3rd party service that World Vision uses. View our announcement for details. Good luck!
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Celebrate Your Culture
by Amanda
When planning a wedding, some of our clients come to us with specific cultural tea ceremony requests from Chinese Tea Ceremony to Paebaek Ceremony (Korean ceremony) to many others.
Above is a collage of several Paebaek ceremonies that we helped produce. We love seeing the Paebaek ceremony unveil…. it’s full of color and eventful. From paying respect to the honorees and catching dates and chestnuts (symbolizing girls and boys that the couple will have).
A little background on the Paebaek Ceremony:
Paebaek ceremony is a traditional Korean ceremony usually performed at weddings. It takes place after the wedding ceremony and its an intimate event limited to family members. However, modern couples now do this in front of guests as well. For those who have not seen this tea ceremony before, its truly an eye opening experience.
About Our Guest Blogger
Amanda, co-owner of Fresh Events Company, is a talented wedding planner from the Los Angeles area. She delights in wow-ing her clients with her design talents and creating memorable weddings.
Big Fat Cake is proud to announce our newest feature, our Big Fat Cake Vendors! It’s still in it’s infancy since we have our first three vendors. I would like to introduce to you:
Do you have a vendor that you’d like to recommend to Big Fat Cake? Please send them this link. Vendors can come from any city within the United States and will get additional advertising deals from Big Fat Cake if they offer our readers a special offer. When they advertise on our site, they will be announced, much like this post. Only cool vendors allowed! 
My friend Jill that I studied abroad with in college recently got engaged and posted this picture of her engagement ring on Facebook. It was such a great pic, I just had to find out how she came up with such an adorable idea and share it with you! She said she had thought about taking a picture of her engagement ring but wasn’t sure exactly how to do it. She debated about what types of props to use, if any, and tried a few things but wasn’t pleased with any of them. She happened to buy conversation hearts on sale after Valentine’s Day and had a dish of them on her desk at work. Looking at that dish of conversation hearts, she had sort of a “aha!” moment. She then began playing around with her camera, putting it on different settings to see what worked. Since diamonds are hard to focus on, she found that the macro setting seemed to work the best. She ended up taking a number of shots, but this one was by far her favorite. Congrat’s on the engagement Jilly 
If you’re thinking about doing a similar pic, I recommend heading to the store ASAP before all the conversation hearts are gone!
Since my lace wedding invitation post, I’ve had a number of people ask me about making them! To answer the question above, here’s how I would go about making them:
For this project, you'll need your choice of papers (I chose Champagne metallic paper and plain black cardstock from paperandmore.com ), black lace (I purchased this on sale for $1.48 p/yard at G-Street Fabrics in Virginia), beige "rat tail" cord (on sale for 52c p/yard), black thread, ruler, pins, paper cutter, printer, double sided tape, and a sewing machine.
For the purposes of this post, I didn’t print the invitations, but that is the first thing you should do (after you’ve figured out your design concept). For this style, you could fit three invitations to a Letter sized page. I used metallic paper which is only compatible with laser printers (sadly, it smudges with Ink Jet). You could also experiment with linen paper, which will work with an Ink Jet. Personally, I prefer to buy my paper online because there is more selection and it’s usually cheaper. Check out Paper and More, Blue Dot Paper Shop, and Paper Presentation (which also has a store in New York City) for some low cost samples. So, now let’s pretend that the invitation is printed and move along!
Use a paper trimmer to cut your printed invitations down to size. Also cut the black backing cardstock in a slightly larger size (depending on what size invitations you make, it might be more economical to use a 12x12 sheet). Craft stores have a good range of entry level slicers available ranging between $10 - $60.
Tape the invitation pieces together with a piece of double sided tape in each corner. I've found that of all the various tape/glue dots on the market, 3M double sided tape works out the most economical. Measure the width of the invitation, then double that measurement for the lace, adding 1/2 an inch.
Fold the measured section of lace in half, securing at the end with a pin. I decided NOT to cut the lace yet - I waited until I had sewn the lace together and confirmed that it was the right fit before doing so.
Using matching thread, sew the lace together, 1/4 inch from the edge. I used a patchwork foot for this because it measures exactly 1/4 inch between the needle and the edge of the foot. If you have a walking foot, that would work even better. Secure the ends by reverse stitching about 2 stitches.
Test the lace by slipping it over the invitation to make sure it fits - it should be tight, but not so tight that it's hard for the guests to take it on and off. When it's right, you're ready to cut! (I used a contrasting thread so that you could see what I did here).
Here's what the back of the invitation looks like. I pushed the seam to one side. If you want, you could open the seam up and press it flat with an iron, but for demo purposes, I decided not to 
And here's what the front looks like.
To add some additional interest, I played with wrapping Rat Tail cord (beige) around the invitation. Tying the bow was a bit of a pain because it's pretty slippery. You could also play around with thin beige ribbon - making sure to trim the ends at a 45 degree angle so they don't fray.
So there you have it! The sewing part would get a bit time consuming, but I think it would yield a better result than glue. You could also play with double-sided iron-on hem tape if you don’t have a sewing machine. Total cost for the materials in this design works out to be a little over a $1 per invitation (based on getting paper from PaperandMore.com in packs of 100 sheets, giving you leftovers for programs, name cards, direction and RSVP cards). The price of ribbon and lace varies a lot, depending on what type you get, and printing also varies, depending on whether you are getting them professionally printed or doing them at home. You’ll also need envelopes! Finally, because of the bulky bow on the front, you may have to pay the higher postage charge (around 65c).
Remember, whenever you have a wedding related question, feel free to send us a message and we’ll try our best to answer it! And don’t forget about our Haiti cupcake raffle – a $25 donation to World Vision gives you an entry to win a fabulous wedding day treat (and makes you feel good too!)!
This is a continuation from one of my previous posts: Part I & Part II.
We got the digital photos! Just a couple of days ago, GT and I had our third wedding reception. It was held here in Taichung, Taiwan. Although it was just a small intimate lunch reception with just relatives, we still observed a few traditions. I changed into 4 different outfits, 3 of which were lent by Masa LiLi (included in our photo package). They also included the dress for the flower girl and a little boy, who walked in with us during our grand entrance.
Scene 1
After our first entrance, GT’s eldest uncle made a speech. After the speech, changed into a different outfit, we made our grand entrance for the second time. This time, we danced in along to ‘Poker Face’ with four of GT’s cousins. It was so much fun! We then played a game which consisted of red envelopes, followed with more speeches from uncles and then grandma. We then went around to room to each table to thank the guests.
Scene 2
Before I knew it, I was in outfit number 3 (qi pao) standing behind two Chinese lion dancers making our grand entrance for the third time to Chinese New Year’s music. It is lucky to give the lions red envelopes. So of course, GT and I each gave one of the lions a red envelope. Afterward, GT’s dad gave a speech.
Scene 3
Finally, I was in my last outfit for the feast. The MC made an announcement that the reception is coming to an end. She directed people towards the back of the room. The room had a stage at the back which was beautifully decorated with floral, greens, and branches. (I’ll have to post photos when we get them from the photographer.) One after another, the guests took turns taking photos with GT and I, who stood there like wax museum figures.
Scene 4
After two and half hours, all the guests were gone. I was amazed even though the MC had advised beforehand, it would take no more than 2 1/2 hours for everything we had planned. It went by like a light breeze.
Scene 5
And now, we are finally able to go on our honeymoon! We are off to Bali!!
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2010’s Lucky Date to Get Married
by Amanda
Once in a while there is one date in the year that is noted as LUCKY and very popular among the wedding industry. For example in the past we had 7/7/2007, 8/8/2008 and in 2010 we are blessed with another one- 10/10/2010, which lands on a Sunday.
Accordingly to the Shanghaidaily.com, “Many loving couples are trying hard to book a wedding ceremony on October 10, but face disappointment. The date (10/10/2010) has three 10s, a number which means to be complete and perfect in Chinese tradition, and thus is expected to be a very lucky day.”
Are you planning to get married on this date? If so, my recommendations would be to secure your vendors now if you have not done so already.
About Our Guest Blogger
Amanda, co-owner of Fresh Events Company, is a talented wedding planner from the Los Angeles area. She delights in wow-ing her clients with her design talents and creating memorable weddings.
I am loving the Vera Wang Spring 2010 bridesmaids dresses. The airy tissue organza, the ruffled layers and sashes, and the crinkled chiffon make this collection one of my absolute favorites. I would have posted all of the dresses if I could, but here are some of my favorite styles and colors from the website:
Source: verawangonweddings.com
Source: verawangonweddings.com
Source: verawangonweddings.com
Source: verawangonweddings.com
Source: verawangonweddings.com
Source: verawangonweddings.com
Source: verawangonweddings.com
Source: Microsoft
Google does everything…yes, even wedding planning. Google shares their wedding templates via their GoogleDocs sharing. For brides and grooms who have gmail accounts, GoogleDocs is an easy way to share documents, like the budget, guest list, photo album, to do list and more. Although, Google is not the only technology guru to share wedding templates. Microsoft also has had their share of templates, even wedding invitations. Not as convenient for sharing as Google is, but the information is there. These tools from Google and Microsoft are not as sophisticated as the wedding planning websites you see online, but it gets the job done with familiar formats.
This Sunday from noon-6pm, L’Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, D.C. is having a free bridal showcase. I hope you find your vendors there!
Source: L'Enfant Plaza Hotel
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