nykeiko: Bride to be...Yesterday at City Hall...

Sixteen days before our wedding ceremony,we finally got our marriage license. It cost exactly $35 and took less than 10 minutes to process if you don't count the wait in line.

"It's like the DMV but with more smiles" said someone on Foursquare about the Office of the City Clerk. There were definitely lots of smiling and general happiness in this place. Couples were getting married and some were even joined by family members for a memorable wedding in the City Hall chapel.

I saw a high percentage of same-sex couples which made me happy. There will be lots of faaaabulous gay couple in New York city this year haha. A gay couple who were getting married that day had matching outfits, it was such a cute touch!! I wanted to get married then and there!

There was a shop that carried souvenirs such as shirts, hats, mugs as well as flowers and boutoniers for sale. We picked up a "i got married in new york city" magnet for the hell of it.

Here I share some iphone clicks...

The wait began for us at 8:10 a.m. with about 40 people in front of us...

A price list! Starting at $1

A small shop with wedding stuff...cake toppers, garters, mugs...

Flowers for sale

Where's the DJ at?

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Bachelorette

Sneak peek of part 2 of my bachelorette party pictures .... I still haven't seen all the 400 pictures taken that day but a few were shared with me.

Here's me and my fabulous sister who organized everything. Her and L.B. did some research to think of a concept and look for a photoshoot in the park.

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SSS = Saks Shoe Sale + New Louboutin boutique

Have you guys seen this video of Christian Louboutin promoting Saks' new Louboutin's boutique? I took a peak but did not touch.

This weekend was all about (almost) Dave. He needed a pair of dress shoes, a tie and maybe a vest or some shirts for the wedding....I know, we're 20 days away. It's kind of last minute therefore, it was critical to SHOP (It is rare nowadays to go shopping for something you really really need). We headed to Saks Fifth Avenue first to check out the post July 4th sales. Women's sale items had an additional 50% off while menswear was 60-70% off retail price. So of course, while he shopped, I looked as well. Express elevator to the shoe floor on the 8th floor I went...

My instagram photos revealed two pairs of shoes I tried on in real time. The first pair was a pair of Jimmy Choo. They were more than 60% off retail which made them a little less than sample sale prices however, with taxes, it actually came to about the same. $184 + taxes.  However, unlike sample sales, there were no lines and shoving and general unpleasantness. I didn't get them because they were too narrow. Even after the sales associate went to stretch them out for me, they were still uncomfortable. 

My second find was a pair of Charles Phillip Shanghai. I have never really heard of the brand? I saw many pairs lying around in different patterns but then these tweed ones caught my eye. They were the only one left and was 1/2 size more than my usual size. While other CP shoes were marked down to $50 from $135, these ones were only $27. The sales associate said he can give me soles and to "just buy them for godsakes, they are $20 something dollars". So I did! But of course I didn't blindly just purchase them due to price, they felt very comfortable and light. These would be perfect for work or a light stroll. 

Oh right, shopping for shoes was all for Dave so let's talk about that. Unfortunately, the only pair of black shoes he found and liked was missing its match. Someone else had purchased the same pair of shoes but got mismatched pairs so now, Dave needs to wait and hope that the other customer realizes sooner rather than later and return them. But, let's hope the other dude doesn't need the same size as Dave.  With the possibility of never finding the other pair, he bought backup shoes from Macy's which look almost the same but not of the same quality. So, he left without shoes but did score a nice Hugo Boss shirt for $27 (orig. $135).

Charle Phillip Shanghai tweed flats for $27

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Just doodles...Two birthdays in July

I'm usually really good at picking up a birthday card on time to mail to my friends and family but I was really off my game this year. I didn't even have the time to send anything for my mom for Mother's day yet. This week, two special people in my life had their birthday on the same day. I didn't have the time to pick a funny/thoughtful/silly card to mail on time so I had the bright idea of doodling one. Sharpie pen, PicFx filter and a photo Crop tool, I sent both of them a little doodle I did during my commute and at work.

nykeiko: Bride to be....Poofy pretty flowers [Bouquet]

More than a week ago, I met with Gilian for a wedding bouquet consultation at a flower shop called Rose, Red and Lavender. One of the reasons I picked this place was because the store is just a couple of blocks from our apartment so it will be convenient for me to pick up the flowers before our ceremony. I'm all about practicality! They were also recently featured in an article on RackedNY about non-conventional indie wedding ideas. An indie/hipster wedding is not what I'm striving for but it can't hurt to be different and set our wedding apart from this cookie cutter wedding world.  We are not first time customers at Rose, Red and Lavender. We have dropped by the store a couple of times before to look at their various array of houseplants, succulents, fruit trees and flowers! I was surprised to see them in the wedding feature. I never would have thought that this little shack-like store can spawn such beautiful bouquets.

When I arrived to my appointment, I had absolutely no clue what I wanted. Gilian showed me a couple of pictures from their facebook's albums and then Googled some images of flowers she thought would be nice for my bouquet. I was inspired. I don't have a bridal party so all I need is just one super fluffly pretty unique bouquet for my special day to have and to hold. Here are the pictures we will inspire from to create my perfect wedding bouquet. Let me tell you, my bouquet won't be thrown into a bunch of single ladies during the wedding reception...hehe...It's just TOO PRETTY and I'm selfish and I want to keep it all to myself for weeks and it's just... too expensive. haha...hmm

And yes, Dave will be getting a matching boutonnier as well..

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