• Parents of the Bride/Groom- Attire

    May 3, 2017

    Hi Everyone!

    I realized that I wrote multiple posts on what I wore to my sister’s wedding, but I forgot to tell you what my parents wore to the wedding and what we got for my grandma for the reception.

    We already knew which styles my mom liked because of Pinterest. Last summer, we started looking around in stores and my mom tried on some dresses. We narrowed it down to the exact style that she likes. We realized that sequins were too much for her, but lace is too plain…so we went with a morph of the two: lace with some beading. She tried on Tadashi Shoji dresses, but she didn’t like the style on her. So, we ended up with two dresses by Adrianna Papell.

    I ordered them from Nordstrom online which was a bit of a gamble but we bought one dress in her regular size and the other we ordered a size up in petite (that’s all they had in stock). Adrianna Papell dresses are beautiful for bridesmaids and mothers of the bride/groom.

    I think Adrianna Papell will be my mom’s go-to designer for whenever she needs a nice dress. She also got a blue lace shift dress by Adrianna Papell that she wore to the wedding shower in October. They are affordable and have a bit of sparkle. She ended up wearing the one on the right to both the wedding in Mauritius and the reception in Toronto. The one on the left was the one that we ordered a size larger, but in a petite and my mom felt it was a bit too short because it ended a bit higher up than the other one.

    For shoes, she got a pair of Nine West Austin pumps in Gunmetal. These are interesting because depending on the lighting, they look gold or silver or a mix of both (as you can see on the left and right, these are the same colour, but the lighting has changed its appearance).

    For my dad’s suit, we knew we were going to get a navy blue suit (contemporary fit) because my soon-to-be brother-in-law was wearing a dark gray suit and my dad didn’t want to match. My dad tried on several suits: Canali, Hugo Boss, Harry Rosen’s brand, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, etc. He ended up with a dark blue one from Harry Rosen by Z Zegna (I think it’s this one). He wore it with a plain white button up shirt and a blue chevron tie. There was some deal at Harry Rosen (spend a certain amount and get an accessory $100 off or something so the tie was basically free). He wore his classic Florsheim leather wingtips in Black (which I believe are older than me). I don’t really think there’s a need to post pics for these because suits are kind of all the same and they don’t even sell the Florsheim shoes anymore. The reason I post pics of M’s dresses are to help Mothers of the Bride/Groom who are in search of an outfit.

    For my grandma, we knew what style she wanted: flowy skirt, not too fitted with beading…lots of beading. My grandma loves her bling. So, I ordered her two dresses from Nordstrom as well. Two embellished gowns by Pisarro Nights.

    She liked the black one better and returned the blue one because it didn’t fit quite right (otherwise, she probably would’ve kept it for the next grandchild’s wedding). I don’t know what shoes she wore, but they were black pointed toe kitten heels. On IG, after Christmas, I posted a pic of a jacket (see below) that we got grandma from Mendocino that’s black and beaded. She wore it ON TOP of her black and beaded dress when she got cold. Coincidentally, they matched even though they are different brands (the jacket is by Velvet, you can see a full-length view: here). We also had to order one dress in regular size and another in petite (but one size up). The smaller size didn’t quite fit, but the petite one that was one size up fit perfectly.

    When ordering dresses online, you need to remember that the Petite sizes aren’t just shorter, but the measurements for the bust/waist/hips are smaller as well (even when ordering a size up). For example, a 4 Petite still has slightly smaller measurements than a 2 Regular. See the table below:

    2 Petite 2 Regular 4 Petite
    Bust 32.25″ 33.5″ 33.25″
    Waist 25″ 26″ 26″
    Hips 33.75″ 35.5″ 34.75″

    My mom and grandma seem to be quite lucky when ordering online. I haven’t been so lucky, it’s either a hit or a miss. Recently, I’ve had to return several pairs of pants because they didn’t fit quite right.

    Love,

    jen

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  • Recipe | Classic Almond Biscotti

    December 28, 2016

    Hello Everyone!

    I can’t believe it, but this is my 100th post! I know it’s been over 100 days since I first started my blog, and I said I would do my best to write a post each day, but with the wedding preparations and prepping for our trip to Mauritius, I haven’t been posting as much as I would like. I will definitely try to write at least 3-5 posts each week (it seems that my readers like my food posts, so I will try to do more of those…Here’s one for you now!)

    A few years back, I wanted to try making my own almond biscotti and I found a recipe on Pinterest. It was really good, even C asked for the recipe so she could make it herself. I just made the biscotti for Christmas eve dessert with the family. It’s already delicious, but you could add some chocolate or dip it in your tea (or rum like my uncle, HW, did). It definitely tastes better than the store-bought kind and it’s the perfect snack to enjoy with a hot cup of tea. Below is the recipe, courtesy of Julia from Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body. I’ve copied the recipe directly from the website:

    Classic Almond Biscotti

    Yield: makes about 48 biscotti (depending on the size)

    Ingredients

    • 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
    • 1 tbsp baking powder
    • 1/4 tsp salt
    • 1 1/2 cups sugar
    • 10 tbsp (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
    • 3 eggs
    • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
    • 1 tbsp almond extract
    • 1 cup almond slices, toasted

    Instructions

    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat mat.

    Sift flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl.

    In a large bowl mix the sugar, melted butter, eggs, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until it’s well combined. Mix in almonds.

    Divide the dough in half. Get some flour on your hands and shape each dough portion into a 13 inch-long x 3 inch-wide, x 1 1/2 inch thick log. Transfer both logs to the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches apart. *They don’t expand much, so it’s ok if the logs are very close to the edge of the baking sheet.

    Bake the logs until they’re golden brown, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool the logs completely on the sheet on a wire rack, about 30 minutes. Keep your oven on.

    Transfer the cooled logs to a cutting board. Use a serrated knife and cut logs into 1/2-inch-wide slices. Arrange the slices cut side down on the same baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes. Turn the biscotti over and continue baking about 10-12 more minutes, just until they’re starting to get some color. Transfer the biscotti to a wire rack and cool. They’ll harden even more as they cool.

    Store on the counter for up to 1 week. Or store them in the freezer in a plastic baggy for months.

    Enjoy!

    Love,

    jen

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  • Recipe | Cauliflower Pizza Bites

    September 26, 2016

    Hi Everyone!

    When I was on Facebook a few weeks ago, a recipe video popped up for Cauliflower pizza bites that looked pretty good so I thought I would give it a try. I have to say that it was one of the few recipes I’ve tried that actually looked the same as the picture on the recipe page. Instead of adding more basil on top, I added some dried chives, of course you can add any other toppings, I’m sure bacon will make them even yummier.

    They were actually pretty good. I was expecting them to taste a lot like cauliflower, but to my surprise, it tasted like pizza. Of course, you could still taste the cauliflower, but as long as you get a good mouthful of cheese, sauce and pepperoni, it’s a great little appetizer or snack. I would suggest to make them on the thinner side because my second batch tasted a bit mushier. Also make sure to squeeze out the water from the cauliflower.

    I would definitely make them again, it’s especially good for those who don’t want to eat too much bread and pizza dough. Obviously nothing can compare to a real pizza, but these are pretty good.

    Here’s a link to the recipe for Cauliflower Pizza Bites.

    Love,

    jen

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  • We Went Bridesmaid Dress Shopping!

    May 20, 2016

    Hi Everyone!

    Back in January, after my older sister got engaged, I started looking on Pinterest and websites for bridesmaid dresses. I say ‘started’ even though I probably had tons of dresses pinned already. I mean I started to seriously browse the dresses now. I probably looked at each site about 10 times, hoping I might find a dress I had overlooked. I think I scrolled through thousands of dresses. Since I am the only bridesmaid (Maid of Honour) for the wedding, my sister let me choose whatever dress I wanted in whatever style and colour. Obviously, I asked her what she liked when I tried the dresses on, but we have very similar styles. I knew I wanted a blue dress (I was thinking of a cobalt blue since baby blue would wash me out and dark would be too hot in the sun). The wedding is a destination beach wedding in Mauritius, so I wanted something flirty, flowy and breathable – chiffon. In the back of my mind, I was sort of looking for other dresses that would work for the reception we would have in Toronto. Since the wedding is in Mauritius in the summer time and then the reception in Toronto would be in the winter, I considered getting two dresses because a summery, bright blue dress would look out of place during the winter. I looked at dresses by Vera Wang, Alfred Angelo, Watters, Bill Levkoff, Hayley Paige, Bari Jay, etc.

    bridesmaid.png

    I absolutely loved some dresses in the pictures online, but sometimes it doesn’t look as good in person as it does in the picture. We went to a local bridal shop to search for dresses. I didn’t think it would be so quick, but since I had been looking for a few months by that time and knew what style I wanted, it was easy to find dresses we both liked. I tried on about 7 dresses at the store and we took pictures to show our parents. I also sent the pics to my friends to get their opinions, but I think we had already chosen which ones we liked. Of course, the sample dresses they had were sizes 10 or bigger, so hopefully the dresses fit well because the consultant has to estimate your size based on your measurements. There’s tons of time between now and the wedding, but I figured it’s better to get it now just in case adjustments need to be made or we need to re-order for whatever reason.

    Originally, I hadn’t considered getting a full length dress because I’m petite and the fact that it would be hot in Mauritius. I tried on a dress that my sister suggested and we both really liked it. The plum-purple dress pictured above was one of the styles I saw online. They only had the full length version, so I tried it to see if I liked it.

    I ended up choosing the full length dress that my sis chose for the wedding and a short tea length dress for the Toronto reception. I know what you’re thinking…it would make more sense to wear the long one here and the short one there, but the neckline of the long one is more summery and it’s lightweight. It works out anyway because my grandma and aunts liked the short dress better than the long one and they won’t be able to attend the wedding in Mauritius.

    • Full length After Six chiffon dress with a mock halter neckline in sapphire (style 6704)
    • Tea-length Alfred Angelo chiffon V-neck dress in viola (style 7359S)

    The colours of the dresses on the websites don’t accurately represent what they look like in person- they’re much more vibrant in person.

    If you’re a bridesmaid, don’t forget about the price for alterations (if needed) on top of the dress price. The After Six dress was about $300 and the Alfred Angelo was about $225. It was less than $100 for both dresses to be altered. I only got the length adjusted on the full length dress and I got the straps adjusted on the tea-length one because it was a bit low for me.

    Don’t forget to have the right undergarments! I bought a bustier which was almost $200 and some seamless underwear ($20-30). Luckily, you can wear those again, so they’re an investment. I bought a bustier because I was worried a strapless bra would keep slipping and I also noticed a bit of a tummy when I was wearing the full-length dress. Since I was concerned about the bra situation, I decided to get a bustier to solve both problems – stays in place and sucks in the tummy. I bought an off-white bustier from a local boutique and I bought some Knixwear seamless underwear (read my review) so I didn’t get any visible panty lines!

    UPDATE FROM AFTER THE WEDDING: in Mauritius, I think they tend to wear full-length dresses at weddings. My brother-in-law’s sisters and mom were wearing full-length dresses.

    Love,

    jen

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