It’s weird; both times when I started to feel overwhelmed with the thought of all the wedding planning there was to be done, I barely lift a finger and everything falls into place for me.

While hanging out with childhood friend Lily over the weekend, she mentioned going back to the makeup artist who did her wedding makeup, and hiring her to do her makeup again for her brother’s wedding. I expressed interest in her makeup artist, and days later Lily forwarded me an email she’d written to the makeup artist, Amy, telling her about me. Amy wrote in her response that she was indeed available the date of my wedding and to have me contact her. I emailed her in response, and now we have an appointment/consultation for next weekend. She also does hair, and will go to the wedding site to change my makeup and hairstyle (including hair decoration and jewelry loans) to go with my dress changes. She is pricey though, so I’ll have to see what I can do about the cost.

MOH Vicky, my mom and I went to the Chinese dress seamstress on Wednesday to take our measurements and finalize our individual dress designs. It was my mom’s first time there and I brought her along so that I can buy her a custom-tailored traditional Chinese dress for the wedding, too. Looking at the sleeveless dress design I’d chosen for myself, she immediately went into how I should get a dress with sleeves because I have fat upper arms that I need to cover up. The experienced seamstress vetoed it, saying you can’t have the bridesmaids all formal and pretty in their halter top Chinese dresses and have the bride looking all matronly and conservative overly-covered up, and that my arms are fine. My mom suggested that I do the halter top style too so the line of arm skin looks elongated, lengthening my arm and hopefully making it look less fat. I told her I’d tried on the halter style top and it just makes me look more top-heavy since all you see is flesh. She made me try it on anyway and when I did, she grimaced even more than she did when she saw my original sleeveless dress. The seamstress said I have wider shoulders than the other girls and should stay with my original sleeveless design to cover them up. My mom said accusingly that my wide upper body girth is due to my exercising. The seamstress (remember, she’d previously advised MOH Vicky to avoid weight lifting at all costs for fear of getting bigger arms) asked my mom what kind of exercise I do, and my mom said in that exasperated my-kid-doesn’t-listen-to-me motherly tone, “All kinds! She does martial arts, she lifts weights, she does everything!” “No wonder she has wider shoulders and arms, she put on muscle!” the seamstress said as she and my mom looked disapprovingly at my apparently elephantitis-inflicted upper arms. My mom said that she wanted a sleeved dress as well as she also did not like her own fat upper arms, but at our insistence tried on a few sleeveless dresses which looked amazing on her. I remarked that I don’t know what she sees when she looks in mirrors as she clearly does not have big arms and in fact should wear this fitted style dress proudly at my wedding as she does not have the figure of a mother, and would regret not wearing a dress like this when she’s 80 if she doesn’t wear it now while she can so beautifully pull it off. So my mom ordered a sleeveless dress design, although protesting that she had gained a pound this week and thus feels abnormally fat. I asked her, “So how much do you weigh now?” She answered, “106.” Sigh. WHATEVER. I think I passed her weight in junior high. But anyway, all 3 bridesmaid dresses, my mom’s dress, and my dress are paid for now and we have appointments for the final fit and tailoring in July.

Today (Thursday), Mr. W and I left for Vegas to visit his parents for Mother’s Day Weekend and to bring his brothers their groomsmen tuxes. We’re way ahead of schedule; even if the tuxes don’t fit the brothers exactly, we have time to bring it back and get it tailored or exchanged. On the way to Vegas, we passed by David’s Bridal and I remarked that my bridal gown had arrived months ago at the store waiting for me to pick it up. We decided to stop and get it so we can bring it to Vegas to show his mother, who used to be a seamstress and has offered to hand-make my bridal veil. While in the bridal shop, I made an appointment with their tailor to get a fit and alteration of the bridal gown next week. I also found the perfect pair of shoes for the bridal gown which combines the height and comfort that I so desperately need.

Halfway to Vegas, we decided to stop by the outlet shops near stateline to stretch our legs and wander around. I moseyed into a jewelry store to peek at the wedding bands. I’d given up looking for a band to go with my 3-sided ring as anything I put in front of it would get scratched by the diamonds set into the forward-facing heart, but the store manager suggested a chevron band that may work. The second chevron ring I tried on paired with my engagement ring perfectly with the band pulling away at the exact point of would-be contact with the engagement ring’s protruding heart design, such that it doesn’t touch the front diamonds AND stays low-profile enough to not cover much of the bead-set hearts on the band of the ring. This diamond-lined band retails for $1100, but it was among the last one of its kind in the entire retail chain, on major liquidation, and I could get it for under $300. AND…this retail chain will double the cashback of my credit card points in a giftcard, and I happen to have $140 in cash back, which means $280 credit toward a purchase in that store, which means…FREE BAND!!!

This is turning out to be an incredibly productive wedding vacay after all!