Duc and Jenny's Wedding

I actually met Duc and Jenny through another couple I made a video for. Let me start with that story.

The very first wedding video I ever made was for Harry and Eileen. I met them through Eileen's sister, Melinda, who I know from my church. Melinda had seen the videos I made for my church and she casually threw my name out when Harry and Eileen were considering a videographer. Well, they got in touch with me, we met up, I showed them some of my work and I made it very clear to them that I had never made a wedding video before. They didn't mind, they just wanted someone to film their wedding. And that's how I got my first wedding gig.

Now, Duc was Harry's best man and I had featured him in the highlight video. After he saw it, Duc contacted me saying he and Jenny were considering using me for their wedding as well. And that's pretty much how I met Duc and Jenny, and ended up filming their big day. 

Jenny is one of the sweetest, most down-to-earth girls I have ever met. She's always smiling, which is great because she has a beautiful smile. And I could tell that she really cares about the people around her. On her big day, she was surrounded by her nearest and dearest friends. Duc is an easy-going guy as well. He has a great sense of humor, loves a good laugh, and has some sick dance moves. He tore it up on the dance floor. Friends go a long way with him as well, because Harry served as his best man in return. 

Duc and Jenny got married at Maravilla Gardens, which is an absolutely magnificent family estate in Camarillo. It's now my second favorite wedding venue (and until I attend a wedding in a castle, the first will always be the forest wedding at UC Berkeley's botanical gardens). It had the most wonderful backdrop of rolling mountains and lush corn fields. Everything about this place was magical, down to the sparkler finale. 

My favorite moment out of the whole day was seeing Duc completely overjoyed at watching Jenny walk down the aisle. Perfection.

...........................................................................................................

Me and my crew

Joseph and Kristen's Wedding

It was a great honor to be able to film Kristen and Joseph's wedding. I have known Kristen literally since the womb. Our mother's were friends and they were pregnant with us at the same time.

We grew up together, told each other secrets, laughed, cried and matured together. So naturally it was a huge blessing to not only be a part of her wedding, but to also be able to provide her with a keepsake of the most important day of her life.

Kristen is one of those people who when you're around her you can't help smiling. She's very outgoing, shes very friendly, she loves to laugh and she loves to get to know people. She has an infectious amount of energy, and a really big heart. Joseph couldn't have been a better match. Though he comes off as more of the reserved type, he's actually a pretty big goofball. And so I imagine all their times together are full of laughter and good fun, surrounded by people who love them to death. 

Me and my crew

Renaissance Faire

About a month ago I went to the Renaissance faire for the first time. I had always heard about it and have always wanted to go but never got a chance to until this year. As with many of the other big or special events that I go to, I decided I would make a dress for this particular occasion. I always liked the Renaissance and medieval time period. One of the first dresses I ever made was a medieval/renaissance dress, so this was kind of right up my alley in terms of the kind of garments that I like to make.

The first dress I ever made. My high school prom.

I'm aware that the medieval era is definitely not the same as the Renaissance era but everyone who attends the faire doesn't really make that differentiation. I saw pirates, and vikings and all sorts of fantasy and steampunk costumes, so I definitely was not out of place by making a medieval dress, even though it's totally the wrong time..

There was a dress that I saw on armstreet.com that I liked, but I didn't want to pay $200 for. It's a fairly simple design so I decided to make my own version of this dress.

I think I got it pretty close, don't you?

The sleeves are what make the dress, with trim running down the length of the arm and button details. I literally bought 10 yards of trim and used every inch of it, and whatever I had leftover I made it into a headband.

Unfortunately, it was so blazing hot on the day that I went that it was quite uncomfortable to wear the dress because it was long-sleeved, pretty tight-fitting, and so thick with all the fabric that I was sweating beads the entire day.

At least I was able to unbutton the sleeves and provide a little bit of relief from the heat. Needless to say we bought a lots of drinks so that I wouldn't pass out from heat exhaustion.

...........................................................................................................

I enjoyed the faire so much that I went back a second time a couple weeks later. I really wanted to wear the dress again since I had made it, but it was going to be even hotter and I didn't want to risk not having a good time because I'd be uncomfortable. So I forewent wearing the dress and put on a different outfit.

I kind of threw together a huntress look because I really wanted to show off my coyote quiver. I went with a black corset and a black skirt, put a little flower tiara on my head and just strapped on my quiver and was good to go. I regret not bringing my bow because quite a few people asked me where it was, but I had no idea how to strap it to my back in the little amount of time I had to do it in. I got a ton of comments on my quiver though, lots of people asked me where I got it, if it was real, and if they could take a picture of it. People even took pictures of it when they thought I wasn't looking. So glad I went with this outfit this time!

 

I bought a horn earring, a crown to replace the flowers, and a drinking horn. A drinking horn! A fully functional horn you can blow into as we'll as drink out of! So cool!!

I can't wait to go back next year!

Disney Inspired Fashion

First off, I'd like to say that I've never written a blog before, so bear with me if this starts to become too wordy.

So to begin, I recently went on a Disney cruise, and since I'm a huge Disney fan and I also love costuming I decided to put together Disney character inspired outfits for each day of the cruise. I had booked the cruise ten months in advance, and let me tell you, I had no intention of this costuming escapade getting out of hand as much as it did. I initially just started buying all sorts of clothes in my excitement for the cruise, and my boyfriend thought I was crazy to start planning for something ten months away. He doesn't understand girls' need for new clothes. Several months before that I had seen blogs upon blogs of Disney inspired outfits and thought it was such a cute idea. So that's what I decided to do. Everyday I would think of ideas and outfits, every store I passed by I would think, hmm, what character could that item be used for. I came up with a solid seven characters that I knew for sure I wanted to do, but then I was having so much fun shopping and picking out different unique pieces that I decided to keep going with it. Eventually I ended up with twelve outfits, two for each day, a day outfit and a night outfit. I know what you're thinking, "You packed twice the amount of clothes you actually needed..you crazy nut!". Yes, yes I did (points to whoever got that Disney reference :P).

Now let's be mindful that these are Disney character INSPIRED outfits, so some might be a longer stretch than others, and some are a little bit more literal. But in any case, these are all wearable, as I have, yes, worn them in public (a cruise ship filled with other Disney enthusiasts counts!) Furthermore, when I was putting together these outfits, I naively had SoCal September weather in mind. So..basically fairly hot. However, where I was traveling (Vancouver and San Francisco...and the ocean..) was freezing. I still made due. In terms of footwear, I tried to be a little more conservative, switching between two pairs of flats and two pairs of heels.

I had all my outfits perfected, from the clothes, accessories and shoes, to my hairstyle and nailpolish color. Unfortunately, we got to the airport a little too late so we couldn't check in my bag. Thus, I got my nail polish remover and hairspray confiscated by airport authorities. I was stuck with my Mickey colored nails and simple hairstyles for the rest of the week.

Also, in case you're wondering, many of the pieces that make up my outfits were either bought (from forever 21, my store where I work, or on ebay) or handmade by me. I counted each outfit as a success if at least one person was able to tell who I was dressed as without it being blatantly obvious. So without further ado, here are the twelve outfits inspired by Disney characters. Enjoy!

...........................................................................................................

Day 1: MICKEY MOUSE
I knew I wanted to both start and end my trip being mickey, so I opted for something comfortable that I could wear on a plane and get through security fairly easy. Classic Mickey wears red shorts with yellow buttons, and has anyone ever noticed that he is naked on top?? :O. Or he's wearing a black hooded unitard. I went with red shorts, a black shirt and yellow suspenders. Yes, I was freezing, but oh well. Also added the mickey ears from Disneyland and a Mickey peace sign necklace I made. About three people recognized this outfit.

...........................................................................................................

Night 1: POCAHONTAS

Pocahontas's only outfit is quite casual if u think about it. It's one shouldered and has fringe, so the obvious choice would have been to look for something with those attributes. But I had already made a Pocahontas outfit in the past for Halloween so I wanted to stray away from that traditional look and go with something a little more fancy. I picked out a nude, asymmetrical dress, with braided straps that I thought would work well in place of the fringe. I happened upon this really cool turquoise choker from Forever 21 that fit perfectly with the hue of my dress. I topped it off with feather earrings to symbolize her connection with nature and animals. When I walked into dinner this first night, one guy at our table immediately pegged me as Pocahontas, and then everyone else was like "oh yea I see it now!"

...........................................................................................................

Day 2: SNOW WHITE
Snow White, by far, has the tackiest outfit of all the princesses, if only for the poor choice of colors. Primary colors should really only be worn by toddlers. But I already owned a pair of yellow shorts from work (if you look closely, they are the same pair as the red Mickey shorts but a different color) so I thought I'd put it to use. I decided to go fairly simple with this outfit since the colors were just too wild for me. I put on a royal blue vneck,and added a nice red apple necklace to top it off. Because if you dont know, the apple is a key element in the story of Snow White. I was going to add a red hair band, but I already looked too much like a 5 year old, so I just put my mickey ears on again cuz it had a red bow. Pretty good match right?

...........................................................................................................

Night 2: ARIEL
Since this second night was the captain's dinner, it required a bit more formal attire. The Ariel dress I made was just right. Purple on top like her shell bra, and two shades of green chiffon on bottom for her multicolored tail. A mermaid silhouette would have been too cliche, so I went with something a bit flowy, like seaweed in the water. I found a cute conch necklace on eBay, like the one Ursula uses to keep Ariel's voice. Spoon and fork earrings because Ariel is fascinated by human trinkets. And finally a starfish ring because, well, she's from the ocean. This one is probably one of my favorites.

...........................................................................................................

Day 3: MERIDA
Merida displays a strong and independent personality, and that is what I admire about her so much. She also does archery, so we have something in common. Now I know she wears a teal dress, but I wanted to emphasize her fiery red hair because that is so symbolic of her spirit and so significant of who she is. So I picked out an orange dress. And just so that teal dress wasn't entirely left out, I added teal feather earrings. And as I said, she does archery, so I definitely couldn't leave out those key elements. Therefore, I strapped on an armguard I made in highschool when I was obsessed with Legolas, and added an arrow knuckle ring, which apparently was also featured on one of the characters in Pretty Little Liars.

...........................................................................................................

Night 3: AURORA a.k.a SLEEPING BEAUTY a.k.a. BRIAR ROSE
Aurora was probably one of the first characters I wanted to make an outfit for. She's mostly advertised in her pink ensemble but I was always obsessed with her Briar Rose outfit. Puffy sleeves, a corset and a gray skirt. I hunted forever for a single dress that would capture this look, but realizing I wasn't going to find what I was looking for, decided to gather the three separate pieces. I wanted an off-the-shoulder top because it's a bit more feminine, paired it with a flowy asymentrical gray skirt, and completed the look with a black corset. I wore a white rose ring and earrings because her name is Briar Rose. And finished it off with an owl necklace because she's got an owl friend that she dances with in the forest pretending it's her prince. For added measure I carried around a woven clutch because in the picture below she goes out with a basket to collect flowers. This night was also pirate night (yes, Disney cruises have pirate nights!) so the look went both ways. Two birds with one stone!

...........................................................................................................

Day 4: ALICE IN WONDERLAND
Ok, this one is admittedly a stretch. Remember when I said I started buying all sorts of clothes as soon as I booked the cruise. Well this dress was one of them. I really wanted to wear it for the cruise since I bought it specifically for it, but I couldn't think of any character it would possibly fit. Several months later I bought this lace top because I thought it was super cute. I tried pairing them together, but without a belt it was a disaster. I thought, ok if I shorten the top and belt the whole thing it could MAYBE pass for Cinderella. Maybe. So I had settled on that, until I came up with a better Cinderella outfit. So then I was left with this cute outfit and no character to associate it with. I wasn't about to give up this dress so I searched high and low through the Disney character vaults to find someone with a blue and white outfit. Finally, I decided to go with Alice. I thought the silhouette was pretty close, a short hem and quite girly. I rolled with it. Added a necklace that had a clock, a rabbit, and a heart for the rabbit who's always late and the Queen of Hearts. Picked out a teapot and saucer set of earrings for the Mad Hatter's tea party. And topped it off with a giant hair clip because at some point she drinks that potion and shrinks down in size.

...........................................................................................................

Night 4: BELLE
Belle's iconic ballgown was an obvious choice for an outfit, especially since I knew exactly what I wanted to do for it. But it required me to make it out of scratch. I had made a shorter version of this dress back in college, but since I didn't want the same exact dress, and Belle's dress is a ballgown, I went with a full length dress. Off the shoulder and super ruffly, it matched wonderfully. I went with rose earrings because of Beast's enchanted rose, and a charm bracelet with a mirror, teapot, book, and clock charm. I sadly wasn't able to wear this outfit very long, but I made use of it at the Palo restaurant which is the super fancy restaurant that has amazing food and costs too much. I made Andy dress up with me in a navy shirt and yellow suspenders to kinda resemble Beast's tux.

...........................................................................................................

Day 5: CINDERELLA
As I explained in the Alice in Wonderland snippet, I originally had a different outfit for Cinderella in mind. But then I found these pieces and they worked so much better. For much of the movie Cinderella is in her servant outfit. Since I was going for a day look I used this more casual ensemble. I found both the brown skirt and the aqua sweater on a random trip to Forever 21 when I was actually looking for a black shirt for Mickey's outfit. It was spot on, way better than what I had originally planned. I stacked a gorgeous pumpkin coach necklace with an ornate key necklace. I also wore sewing needle earrings because cinderella likes to sew little outfits for her mice friends who in turn sew a dress for her to wear to the ball.

...........................................................................................................

Night 5: MULAN
I struggled with Mulan's outfit for a while because I didn't want to wear anything too Asian looking. I would be too cliche for that character. After having no luck finding anything in stores, and getting little inspiration from any blogs I decided I would just make an outfit. I searched for a few designs and found one I really liked. And bam, this was the outcome. The design stuck with the original colors of Mulan's hanfu, but took the look in a completely different direction. I didn't accessorize much with this outfit because it already spoke for itself.

...........................................................................................................

Day 6: PHINEAS
Phineas, from phineas and ferb, was the first outfit I decided to bring since I already had it for trip I took to Disneyland. I got Andy a Perry the Platypus shirt too. It's pretty simple. Blue shorts (the same as the Mickey shorts and Snow White shorts) and an orange striped top.  The original outfit also had tube socks and chucks. But I didn't want to bring another pair of shoes with me. For breakfast this morning we got to dine with the characters.

...........................................................................................................

Night 6: JASMINE
Jasmine is my favorite princess out of the all the princesses because she is so independent and strong-willed. Her main outfit is a midfriff-baring off the shoulder crop top and harem pants. I bought a dress at Target in the clearance section and added side cutouts and altered it so it was off the shoulder. I wore teardrop-shaped earrings because they kind of resembled the ones she wears, and then tied my hair with a gold head scarf and sectioned it into bubbles as Jasmine wears it. I also found a gorgeous genie lamp necklace on eBay. I made a friendship bracelet in the colors of the magic carpet and tied it off with little golden tassles.

...........................................................................................................

And there you have it! All twelve of my Disney character inspired outfits. Hope you enjoyed all of them. Leave me a comment and tell me which one you liked best!

Cheers <3