My Engagement Ring Wedding Band Set

Unlike all of you gals out there, my fiancé didn't pick my engagement ring and give me a surprised proposal. We just kind of talked about our future one day while hanging out in our couch, and then we decided we should get married. After that, we just got into action and started researching what we should really do in order to get married. It was as if we were tackling it as one of our projects at work. Then one day, my fiancé told me he got to buy us the rings and he had no idea that there was the engagement ring and there were the wedding bands. Knowing his ignorance in fashion and wedding fashion all too well, I told him not to worry about it and I would get the rings for us and he would just pay for them... So I went out and get his wedding band, and my wedding ring set (as shown on the picture) that includes a single standing engagement ring that can be slided in between the CZ stones encrusted wedding band. My fiancé was shocked at how little money I spent on our rings when I gave him the bill. He is a very traditional guy who insists on paying everything. Lucky for him, I'm a very thrifty woman and I'm more dedicated to helping my man to save enough money for our future home than wearing some fancy expensive diamond ring which makes me nervous about losing it. I had lost a very precious family imperial jade pendant given to me by my grandmother few months ago. I have been wearing it since I was a baby. I'm still feeling very devastated by its loss... I don't need another diamond ring to put me through this kind of devastation again. So I bought myself this wedding ring set for only $20.57 from Simpretty.com. It looks very pretty on my hand, so I'm pretty happy with it. Since I picked it for myself, I know I will enjoy wearing it quite a lot, with no pressure, no stress, cause if I ever lose it like I did with my other jewelry, then I can always get a better and prettier one.....

My Groom's Wedding Band On A Budget

Both my fiancé and I are not into expensive jewelry because we always lose them in the gym, in the hotel, in friends' houses, in wherever. We are also on a tight budget. So when we are looking for wedding bands for our ceremony of two and our upcoming wedding portraits, we're looking for ones that are affordable and yet elegant for our photo shoot and ceremony, and hopefully to wear for a while until we finally lose them and upgrade to some fancy wedding bands in our anniversaries.... Today, I got this wedding band for my groom in the mail. He is very happy with it, and so am I. Availalbe for $26.65 at Simpretty.com

Makeup I'm Going To Wear

I'm going to do my own wedding make-up. I'm no makeup professional. I wear minimal makeup on a daily basis. So my friends are telling me that I'm crazy trying to do my own wedding makeup. Well, but I want to save money. In Hong Kong, I can get a professional from Mainland China to do a photo-friendly make up just like the one shown on this picture for $120 (with the makeup artist at my side all day, giving me frequent touch up, making sure my makeup looks perfect and shine free. She can even help carrying my stuff and just helping around at the wedding, that's the makeup artist we had at my sister's wedding... and all my friends' weddings....).

But in America, it' hard to hire a good makeup artist at an affordable price. Having a makeup artists to follow a bride around, giving touch up frequently is unheard of..... Even if I am willing to pay the high price for a makeup artist, I mostly get ones who don't have good artistic eye and who can't really make me up beautifully (I always showed them pictures like this and my own made up pictures at my friends' weddings in Hong Kong and China, the makeup artists here just couldn't replicate the look, I just don't understand them!), the make up artist here made me look aweful. Their skills are horrible compared to the ones in Mainland China... I looked better with my own daily casual work make up than having one that was done by an expensive American makeup artist. Either they are just not used to making up Asian women... or they just don't have the brain, the eye or talent. I don't know which is which.... I had tried many American makeup artists before for New Year and Christmas formal parties... But they all made me mad... I pulled out the photos I have in America and the photos I have in weddings back in Hong Kong (I looked gorgeous and matt like the above picture, but I looked horrible like a Chinese comic character in the Christmas party pictures I took here...)

So I will do my own make up on my wedding day... I don't think it's going to be worse than all the expensive American makeup artists I had before.

May be I just don't know where to find a good make-up artist here in the U.S. You guys have any good referrals???

Wedding Shoes I Like Better

After more searching, I found this pair of wedding shoes that I also like. This Nine West Jasmine Sandal is only $78.95 a pair, which fits my budget a lot more than the previous pair of wedding shoes I found.

My Wedding Shoes

I'm trying to decide what shoes I should be eloping in. I really like this Stuart Weitzman sandal because it just matches my dress perfectly. But the price is not too friendly with my budget... It's $385 a pair!!! I will keep looking.....

My Groom's Going To Wear This...

My fiancé doesn't have a suit. He told me since we were only eloping, he didn't really need to buy a suit and he didn't want to spend money to buy a suit that he would never wear... Okay, fine, you can rent one from here, honey... and you are so going to wear this suit!

We're Eloping To....

Even though my fiancé and I are planning on eloping for our own reasons, we don't want to go to Las Vagas and be married by Elvis. Instead, we are going to stay close to our home. We are going to spend our wedding weekend in the above ocean front resort in Palos Verdes, Calfifornia. It's only 15 minutes local drive from our apartment, which eliminates one more stress dealing with the LA traffic.