Archive for 五月 2015

Phnom Penh, I Love You!

Published on 21:13:00 By Steampunk

It was 2007, and I was only meant to be in Phnom Penh for three days. I had less than a month in Cambodia before I moved to Thailand , and I wanted to explore as much as possible and get off the tourist trail a bit. But three days became four, four became seven, and seven became ten. Every day, I woke up, thought to myself, “I’ll get the bus tomorrow” and rolled over and went back to bed.

I’d walk out of my room into the common area overlooking the lake and slink down next to my friends. “What movie are we watching today?” I’d ask. Later, we’d go out for lunch, relax during the afternoon, and head out around town at night.

Phnom Penh was a city you just became stuck in. It sucked you in. It was laid back, cheap, and easy-going. The locals were friendly, polite, and helpful. The pace of life here was perfect for trapping other travelers, and our group got bigger by the day as more people fell into the black hole that was Phnom Penh.

However, as the days ticked down on my visa, I knew I’d have to leave. By the time I finally did, I’d fallen in love .

I especially loved the gritty, Wild West feel the city had. Here the streets were still made of dirt, and cars and motorbikes raced around you in all directions as you gained on an ox cart. People swarmed the streets. The buildings were a bit run down from years of neglect. Yet this was a city of contrasts, with ritzy hotels standing next to abandoned buildings. Hell, they were still celebrating the arrival of ATM machines when I visited. The city was changing rapidly, and there was such contrast that the feeling of possibility was tangible.

Now returning almost exactly five years later, so much of the city has changed and developed. Where before I had to walk miles for an ATM, there’s now one on every corner.

Things are more expensive now, by which I mean meals now cost $1.50 to $2 USD instead of $1. Hotels that were once $2 are now $9. Buses costs $5 USD instead of $4.

The most noticeable change is that the lakeside district, once home to all the backpacker guesthouses, is now gone. It’s a tragedy that corruption and greed pushed over 4,000 people out of their homes and ruined one of the city’s best areas.

There are more cars here, and every shop now seems to be a mechanic’s garage. The roads of the city are (mostly) paved; there are a few overpasses now. Traffic is even worse than before.

The city’s changed a lot since I was last here. There’s more money, many nicer buildings, some shopping malls, and a lot more upscale restaurants. I’ve found some good sushi and Korean BBQ restaurants, which, given the influx of Korean and Japanese money, doesn’t surprise me much.

Yes, Phnom Penh is developing. But while the face of Phnom Penh has changed, its heart has remained the same.

It’s still gritty, polluted, and full of dust. Buildings are still run down, lots remain empty, and the streets are still filled with chaos. People line the bars for hours on end on hot afternoons. Cars zoom past rickshaw drivers. People still laugh on the corner like they used to, and the old men play their domino games. Everyone’s in a hurry to get nowhere. Behind the façade, it’s still the crazy city it was back then.

Phnom Penh might not look like the city I fell in love with. Its exterior has changed so much that I barely recognized it. It’s a new city. But that happens a lot in Asia. The pace of development is so rapid that years seem like decades of change here.

All those years ago, I came to Phnom Penh not really expecting much. I didn’t know a lot about the city. I simply imagined it to be a run-down city with not much worth staying for. Yet Phnom Penh became and still remains one of my favorite cities in the world . I love Phnom Penh.

I was nervous coming back . When you walk away from a place with such fabulous memories, you can be scared to go back. What if you only liked the place for the people and you return to find nothing but ghosts ? What if the place you remember is now only a dream? Will the magic be gone, leaving you with nothing but memories and disappointment when you return?

I worry about that a lot when I travel, but then I bite the bullet, fight the fear , and return to find that places can still be as wonderful as they were that first time around…even if everything is different.

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Of Backpackers and Tourists

Travel

Published on 20:18:00 By Steampunk

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All along the backpacker trail, you hear it. The talk. The chatter. The snarls. The attitude.

That’s right. I’m talking about how backpackers feel about tourists. Backpackers view tourists as non-travelers – those who go for the pictures and the hotel, but never the place. Backpackers, on the other hand, consider themselves true travelers – they go for the cultural experience, to meet the locals, and to immerse themselves in faraway lands. Or, at least, that’s what they think.

In the traveler lexicon, a backpacker is usually a young traveler on a long trip who sleeps in hostels, cooks his/her own meals, lives cheap, is on a budget, and parties hard. They take local transport and hang out with the locals. A tourist, on the other hand, is anyone who goes somewhere, follows the Lonely Planet trail, stays in nice hotels, eats at nice restaurants (that don’t really serve authentic local food), takes tourist buses, buys silly gifts, and generally sticks out like a sore thumb.

I always found this distinction a bit ironic since so many backpackers, while talking down about “tourists,” carry their Lonely Planet, visit the same cities and stay at the same hostels, and stick to the same path that was laid out before them 30 years ago by the hippies. While I consider myself part of the backpacker set (though more of a nomad), I don’t subscribe to this line of thought. When I hear this argument, I shake my head and find joy in pointing out the hypocrisy to some naive fellow traveler.

But let’s be clear. “Tourists” do stick out like sore thumbs. They couldn’t hide if they tried. Many make no attempt to learn cultural norms, blend in, or respect the local way of life. These are the tourists that people speak about. And I can’t stand them either – those tourists who come to a place, make no effort to interact with the locals, and stay in the resort their whole vacation. What’s the point of coming to a new country if you’re never really going to see it?

To me, that is not travel. That’s flying to a resort. But, at least they made the effort. Baby steps, right?

However, I think we all have our tourist moments. We all stick out sometimes. And you know what? There’s nothing wrong with that! We all get an A for effort. What is ironic is that, instead of trying to promote better travel – travel that gets people of all travel styles to interact with the locals – backpackers claim superiority because they do it cheaper and for a longer amount of time. They get off the beaten path, they say, and live like the locals do.

Except they don’t.

Experiencing a new culture means staying there long enough to get into the flow of life. Most backpackers don’t do that. They simply go to the newest party location and call it off-the-beaten-path until someone (else) with a Lonely Planet arrives. They eat at street stalls and claim they are just like the locals, yet they never learn the language and only eat food that looks safe. I often get asked where to go to see the “real” Thailand , and I always say that there is no such thing – every part is equally real. “Well, we want to live like a local,” they respond. “Get an apartment and get a job” is my response.

I like to call this “The Beach Syndrome” – this idea that traveling cheap is better and more authentic (because the locals are glad you are saving your money and not giving it to them) and that there is some place off the beaten path that is the true, authentic part of a country. Backpackers think just like the characters in the book The Beach did – that there is some travel ideal out there. This authentic, mysterious place that supposedly exists where everything is real and you’re the only stranger there and everyone is friendly and you melt right into local life. What a place that would be! Too bad it doesn’t exist. It’s a myth. It’s “The Beach Syndrome.”

I’m not a fan of package tour tourists, but that doesn’t mean I’m better than them. No travel is really better than any other travel. What matters is that we move past the backpacker/tourist debate and realize that the important part is that we travel. We not only go for pleasure and pictures, but to also learn about another culture and break out of our comfort zones – even if just a bit. Isn’t that the point of why we go anyway?

A rose by any other name is still a rose. And, no matter what we call ourselves, we are really all just tourists.

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Sun Soaked Annapolis Engagement | Taeck Jang

Blog

Published on 17:00:00 By Steampunk

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This engagement session, captured by Taeck Jang Photography is everything that an e session should be! Ko Eun and Allen spent a sunny Annapolitan day by the docks, getting ice cream, holding hands, and finding comfort in each other’s presence. Congratulations you two!

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How To Get An Event Published On Something Turquoise

Blog

Published on 17:00:00 By Steampunk

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Our goal here at Something Turquoise is to curate a wedding website full of exceptional images, personal narratives, and honest inspiration for the bride who wants to do things herself. The only reason that our pages are so visually appealing and creatively stimulating is because of all our fabulous Vendors and DIY Brides who want to share. In this post, we hope to make it easy for you to understand what exactly we look for in a submission and how our process works – so that you can see your amazing event featured here!

What We Look For In A Feature:

Since our website truly “embraces the DIY bride”, for your event to be fit for a feature here on Something Turquoise at least one element of the day has to have been handmade. Or in the case of proposals and engagements, the bride and groom have to have DIY plans for their wedding day. However, just because an event has DIY details, doesn’t mean it’s a fit for us to share.

Although we gravitate toward rustic, boho, and beach wedding themes – we are open to featuring any and all themes, again as long as there are handmade details.

A few things that we look for right off the bat:

Happy Brides + Grooms (seriously)
Beautiful Light + Natural Poses
Fully Executed Themes + Styling
Awesome Venues + Shoot Locations (ie. non-ball rooms)
On-Trend Fashion + Hair
Handmade Details!

It’s really all about the details. We look for fun, unique, and fabulously crafty wedding details, because that is what will inspire our creative readers. They visit ST to find things like bridesmaid gift ideas, awesome table numbers, colorful decor, beautiful invitations, awesome signs, yummy desserts – in a nut shell – fresh DIY-able options to recreate for their special events.

The easiest way to see if your event matches our editorial style is to peruse our “ real diy weddings ” page and our “ tips and inspiration ” page and compare. If you are still on the fence about whether or not it’s a fit for us, ask yourself this; “would you pin your event on Pinterest?”. If the answer is yes, then send it on over!

If your event doesn’t fit our focus, our friends over at Tidewater & Tulle created an awesome list of all the best niché wedding blogs by category, which we think every vendor should read and bookmark. We know that our vendors participate in many different styles of weddings and we hope that you are able to find the perfect place to share each one.

Image courtesy of: Gillian Ellis Photography via Something Turquoise

Who Can Submit:

Anyone. Brides, Photographers, Planners, Stylists, Florists, etc.

We do ask that as a Vendor submitting an event – please ONLY submit if you have the express written permission of the couple and confirmation that they are willing to share their bridal feedback with us for their feature. Also as a Bride, or another vendor who is not the photographer submitting an event – please ONLY submit if you have the express written permission of the photographer. In simple terms, we want everyone to be aware and excited about their feature.

Image courtesy of: Kate Connolly with Off BEET Productions via Something Turquoise

Image Requirements:

Your images must be sized to at least 660 pixels wide, un-canvased (meaning not designed in a layout) with no watermarks at 72-dpi.

Weddings: 150-250 images
Proposals, Engagements, Bridal Showers, etc: 50-100 images

We need a mix of vertical and horizontal images, but keep in mind that vertical images take up more space on Pinterest and are pinned about 90x more than horizontal images.

Images we look for specifically:

Bride + Groom Portraits
Wedding Rings
Getting Ready
Welcome Gifts
Bridal Party Gifts
First Look or First Touch
Overall Ceremony Location
Ceremony Details
The Ceremony Itself
Awesome Kiss Shot
Bridal Party Portraits
Any and All Wedding Signs
Cocktail Hour
Cocktail Details
Seating Charts/Escort Cards
Guest Books
Favors
Table Numbers
Overall Reception Location
Table Decor
Head Table/Sweetheart Table
First Dance (drunk dancing pics not needed)
Cake/Desserts
Grand Exit
ALL handmade details, no matter what they were! ***the worst is when we read the brides feedback and learn that she made something terrific, only to find that we don’t have pictures of it in the submission folder. Then we have to contact the photographer and locate the images, which takes extra time.

Image courtesy of: Candace Jeffery Photography via Something Turquoise

Event Info + Couple Interviews:

From a proposal to a wedding… we want all the info and so do our readers!

Please include a brief description of the event, with a short list of what was handmade. We value hearing the stories that our brides/grooms have to tell and we feel that including that information in their feature makes it more interesting and valuable to our readers. We email interview each of our couples so please include the appropriate email address within your submission.

To speed up your submission/publication time – please feel free to interview + include your couples answers to our standard questions below:

WEDDING:

What is your favorite wedding day memory?
Did you DIY anything for your wedding? If so, what..?
What was your something old, new, borrowed, and blue?
What is your advice for brides currently in the planning process?

ENGAGEMENT:

How did you find your photographer?
Are you DIY-ing anything for your wedding?
Of all your wedding plans, what are you looking forward to the most?

BRIDAL SHOWER:

Tell us about your shower… did you DIY anything?
Are you DIY-ing anything for your wedding?
Of all your wedding plans, what are you looking forward to the most?

PROPOSAL:

Describe your thoughts on your proposal… how did it happen?
Were you surprised?
How did your fiancé find the photographer?
Are you DIY-ing anything for your wedding?

Image courtesy of: Leah Marie Photography via Something Turquoise

Let’s Talk About Credits:

Giving credit where credit is due is incredibly important to us.

The main reason that vendors share their work on blogs is for business exposure and some would call blog features the best “free” advertising available. If you participated in a gorgeous event that is being featured you deserve to be credited! With that in mind, we beg you to take the time to create a correct list of any and all vendors that participated in each event that you choose to submit to Something Turquoise and other blogs.

Sadly we often receive unhappy emails from vendors who participated in events we’ve shared who are upset that they weren’t credited, simply because the submitter left them off the vendor list. We don’t “select” who to credit. We can only provide the credits and links that we are given from the bride and/or submitter. While this is in no way our fault, it’s seen that way and it’s never fun to deal with. Not to mention the extra time it takes to go back and edit the feature. So again, please take the time to provide blogs with full and up to date vendor credits.

To properly credit vendors we need:

The Vendors Name
Their Category (ie. florist, baker, hair, etc.)
Live Link To Their Website
Live Social Links

Social Credits:

Oh how the social world has changed over the past 5 years! It is now necessary for us to share your features across all our social platforms and while not everyone can be credited in each social post – some can be. For example, if we share a picture of the brides bouquet on Instagram – we’ll want to tag the florist and the photographer. However, there are usually at least 10 vendors included in a feature and we can’t take the time to look up every single one on Instagram, but if you send us a list that we can copy and paste into Instagram – we’ll credit everyone.

If you want to be tagged – you HAVE to send us your live social links + information.

A Note To The Bride:

If your wedding is being featured on Something Turquoise – we think it’s fabulous and we know that our readers will think the same and you might very well inspire them to make or buy the same things that you did! You obviously did an amazing job choosing the right vendors and details so this is your chance to brag about them! We want to know things like who made your dress, who did your hair, where your bridesmaids jewelry is from, where you bought the guys socks… and so much more! If it was super cute and there is a picture of it – chances are that our readers will want to know where it’s from.

Image courtesy of: Andie Freeman Photography via Something Turquoise

How To Submit:

We prefer to take submissions through Two Bright Lights ; however we also accept them through DropBox, and email/zip file. We also don’t mind seeing links to vendors blog posts of events, just keep in mind you’ll need to send over the un-canvased files if we decide to share.

We’ll need:

Images Sized To At Least 660px Wide
Short Description
Complete Vendor List With Social Profiles
Brides Email Address (or) Her Interview

EMAIL: submit @ wordpress.com with ‘SUBMISSION (xyz)’ in the subject field.

You will hear back from us, either way, within 15 business days.

Image courtesy of: Hawes Photography via Something Turquoise

How Our Feature Process Works:

Each unique event that we share goes through a very specific process:

We receive the submission, review it and make our decision.
We email you to say that we’d like to move forward with your feature.
We email interview the bride for her feedback (unless this was already gathered).
Once we hear back from the bride, we set the feature date and notify you.
We like to have the photographer or event planner write the feature introduction instead of us writing the same old thing.. “We have a lovely wedding to share with you today….”. We feel that the personal narrative from a vendor who participated in the event is a much more unique and heartfelt way to connect with our readers. Plus, it gives that vendor a link in the first paragraph of the blog post feature which is an SEO builder.
We typically spend 2-3 hours building each feature and scheduling social media shares.
Unless you hear from us again, you can count on your feature being published on the date we have given you; if not in the morning then at some point throughout the afternoon.
You can count on multiple social shares across all platforms.

On average we receive anywhere from 40-60 submissions per week, so please bear with us if it takes a while to get back to you.

Image courtesy of: Erin Wallis Photography via Something Turquoise

Our Exclusivity Policy:

We prefer to be the first online publisher to share your wedding feature and we ask that you simply space out other features at least 1 month after featured on our site. **Of course, features on participating vendors websites/blogs don’t count :-)

How To Get The Most From Your Feature:

We do our absolute best to shout your feature from the rooftops and think you should do the same. Here are a few ideas of how you can socially brag that your work has been featured on Something Turquoise:

Give your followers a little teaser a few days before your feature
Share our Facebook post on your page
Tweet to us and retweet us
Regram one of our Instagrams
Pin your feature to your Pinterest
Comment on the blog post feature
Tag your bride + groom in social shares
Add links to recent features to your business blog or even your email signature

Lastly, grab a “ featured on ” Something Turquoise badge!

Thank you for taking the time to read this post and for considering sharing an event with Something Turquoise. We strive to honor your work and make your publication experience the best that it can be. We appreciate the time you spend putting together a submission and we hope that you value the time that we spend putting together your unique feature.

Sincerely, The Something Turquoise Publication Team

Image courtesy of: Ivy Lee Photography via Something Turquoise

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Cwtch of the Week: Charlotte & Laurie by Christopher Ian

Cwtch of the Week

Published on 17:00:00 By Steampunk

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This week’s Cwtch was submitted by our lovely sponsor Christopher Ian Photography . Charlotte & Laurie got married in Mid Wales last year and this photograph was taken outside a field in Maesnewydd, Meifod in Powys.

If you would like your cwtch to be featured please get in touch by emailing charlie@wordpress.com

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Elegant Garden Wedding: Christine & Diego at Fairchild Tropical Gardens

Wedding

Published on 17:00:00 By Steampunk

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You guys. This is the kind of wedding that Miami dreams are made of: a beautiful couple so obviously in love (the way they look at each other!), an elegant affair under the twinkling stars and string lights, and the fusion of the most delicious food and drinks imaginable, all brought to life by our talented faves, Pogo Photo and Ines Naftali Floral and Event Design . Every detail of this day, designed to delight the couple's guests from the first moment on, was planned to perfection by JCG Events .

Elegant Garden Wedding: Christine & Diego at Fairchild Tropical Gardens

Christine, an Otolaryngologist (or ENT, for all of us non-medical folks) and Diego, a general surgeon, met during their surgical residencies at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospitals. Christine jokes that they "fell in love at 'first incision'!", and that they love everything about each other. Christine was born in Miami, and did all of her studies at UM; she felt it was inevitable that they would marry at the St. Augustine Church on campus.

The two loved the small church's charm and character, and the large windows that flooded the space with light. Christine tells us about one of their favorite memories from the ceremony: "We remember fondly how the priest and all of our family and friends burst into laughter as my aunt gave out loud words of wisdom to Diego that echoed in the small church: 'Just Be Quiet!'"

The nearby Fairchild Tropical Gardens was the next choice in their planning, and I love how Christine describes why they chose it: "We were enchanted by the whimsical ambiance, enhanced more than a hundred fold by Chihuly's artwork and the glittering sky of stars."

The two were inspired by their diverse backgrounds - she is Vietnamese, and he is Spanish - to create a fusion of cuisines for their reception. Guests were welcomed to the gardens with a ginger beer bourbon cocktail, then treated to a lavish cocktail hour under the Vine Pergola that featured Pata Negra (acorn-fed cured pork). Dinner was served on the garden house lawn under a canopy of string lights, and was followed by Dulce de Leche frosted cakes especially for the kiddos. Late night snacks of mini bahn mi sandwiches rounded out the soirée.

Our Fave Ines Naftali Floral and Event Design worked magic on the tables, arranging a gorgeous mix of purple hues on driftwood and accented by tons and tons of warm candlelight.

One of the couple's favorite moments came during the best man and maid of honor speeches, when Christine's brother and sister surprised them with a rendition of "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper: "There was not one dry eye in the entire crowd!"

“We wanted our celebration to be outside without constraint, underneath the twinkling stars, symbolizing a love that we know is infinite.”

We wanted to be surrounded by nature, sitting on rustic chairs that appeared beautifully weathered with time. Even the succulents appeared as if they were growing from the crevices and nooks of pieces of driftwood - a nice symbiosis of opposing characteristics. We spent hours on the Spanish-Vietnamese menu, obsessed with pleasing the taste palates of both our families. And we danced the night away, free spirited, and to our hearts content.

I couldn't come up with a better way to sum up a perfect night than that! Congratulations, you two!

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Real Wedding on the French Riviera by Greg Finck

Wedding

Published on 17:00:00 By Steampunk

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Just in time for us planning our next trip to the South of France, today we are sharing the wonderful real wedding on the French Riviera of Maryam and David, captured by the fabulous film photographer Greg Finck and planned by Lavender and Rose Weddings.

Every time we see beautiful images of the French Riviera our hearts just sing and today’s wedding does that and so much more!

From Greg Finck: “Saint-Jean Cap Ferrat is the perfect location to tie the knot on the French Riviera. Ideally located between Nice and Monaco, this small peninsula just calls for summer laziness, turquoise seas, and easy breeze lifestyle.

That’s the location, which was chosen by Maryam and David, for their glamorous and chic wedding. A fabulous summer day, perfectly designed by the superstars of Lavender&Rose Weddings, in the splendid venue La Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild.

The day started with bride preparation at Le Grand Hôtel de Saint-Jean Cap Ferrat, a fabulous palace hotel on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. An elegant stationery suite had been designed by Mister M Studio, reflecting the glamorous mindset of this wedding. A stunning Rime Arodaky’s gown and some Jimmy Choos perfectly enhanced Maryam’s natural and effortless beauty, while the groom had chosen a bespoke tuxedo and a bow tie for timeless elegance.

We then took Maryam & David to a cliff near the sea for their first look. We found a deserted place by the beach for an intense and emotional moment, which will never be forgotten. Ceremony then took place in the splendid Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, which had been perfectly prepared and designed by Lavender & Rose . Receptionists with flower crowns welcomed the guests, giving them their escort card and a rose, while a jazz band was playing. The stage for the reception had been glorified by the floral design of Wayne Riley Flowers, and everything was ready for a perfect sunset wedding ceremony.

The cocktail then took place in the gardens of La Villa, with fine food and wine by Lenôtre, a famous French caterer. The day finally ended with an elegant outdoor diner and a splendid table design. The culmination of a fabulous summer day on the French Riviera.”

Wedding Vendors:

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