photo by Phyllis Sun

I can't believe it's here already.

Today, my husband and I celebrate our one year anniversary of marriage!

We made it!
Looking at this wedding photo of us in front of our house already says so much. The house looks so different from what it is now that it's a constant reminder of far we've come in only a year. 

Putting together our wedding was a crazy time. We planned as much as we could from Germany and had only 6 weeks between arrival back in LA to our wedding date to make the loose ends meet. Throw in the holidays and the down time, it felt like we put a wedding together within a month! Luckily, we have so many friends and family to help that we pulled it off. We're so grateful for our in-house talent! The music, coordination, flowers, decor, wouldn't have been possible.

branches from a felled tree turned into our floral centerpiece

flowers girls + ring bearers

Somehow I thought some things wouldn't change. Ok...Richard and I haven't been together that long to know everything about each other but I thought that I had known him enough to not have any surprises. It's funny how that changes once you pass the threshold of marriage. All the this time I thought "it'll feel the same." A lot of it does- the places we go, the meals we share, the hobbies we like- but there's something inside and in the relationship that changes once you hold hands and make the commitment to be a partner for life.  It does feel different and you see differently too. I  can't explain it. 

We are home to each other. It's a blessing not taken for granted.

I used to like papyrus, but their aesthetic has gone off the deep end. Maybe it's me, not them. These days it's hard to buy greeting cards when you can crank them out yourself.

See what happens when I plan it ahead of time? I can make my own and a few more to spare! I just wish I was better at the planning ahead part instead of the usual method of scrounging for a card on the day of a friend's event. Yep, guilty of that one. Good thing I have a few these to spare!

After all the wedding hoopla settled, the gifts opened and everyone is back home, the last of the wedding to-do list are my Thank You cards. I went to McManus & Morgan for their 110 stock of Lettra pearl white and did a blind emboss of our initials for the cover.

Inside, it says:

"Thank you from the new Mr. and Mrs Kim." 

I'm still working on it and still have to envelopes to process and maybe calligraph too.

When a good friend gets married, it's tough to figure out what to get her as a gift.

Tracy, a good friend that I've known since we were teenagers, is getting married and instead of bringing the expected pink tote bag with skimpy goodies, I opted for something different.

Instead, I made her a print showing off her new Mrs. title along with the date of their wedding on the side, and a set of monogrammed notecards bearing her new set of initials "TT." Cute eh?

Even though I spent a few good hours getting everything just right, I felt that my gift was so much more personal and fulfilling than a lacy onsie. At least this one can hang on her wall and not end up scrunched up in a drawer.