Food, Flowers, Photograph

While we were in Maine, I got a phone call from the Chinese restaurant where the reception is going to be held. The manager reminded us that we were supposed to pay part of the cost soon. So we asked them to charge the amount to the card we used for the deposit. Nope, nope, nope, check or cash only. Right, I forgot, it's a Chinese place, it's all cash transaction. I thought, yes, credit card company charges merchants, it's wise of them not to accept credit cards to keep the cost low. WAIT, I forget again, they are Chinese and so am I. There were more than a few of my Chinese friends whom had their own businesses wondered why I paid so much taxes every year. They said that there were "ways" to maximize my income, paying taxes smartly was one of them. OK, I am always able to sleep at night, I think not maximize my income might work better for me, I don't mind being a bit "not smart". So I looked at the contract again, they'd take another check for half of the total cost the month before the event date. Then on the event date, they would only accept cash. Humm, I don't know about you, I think they definitely try to minimize the amount of taxes they need to pay.

I was always wondering about flowers. So the nice Chinese owner in the restaurant gave me a brochure of this place that was very good with flowers. Then she said, "yes, they are good, they are cheap, they are Russians." OK, is there a double meaning to this statement? I'll be sure to contact them because they always deliver to the restaurant. But then, is this another way for the restaurant to "maximize" their profits? But then, the world is indeed very small, today, I went to lunch with a few very good friends of mine, one of them told me the owner lady went to high school with his mom, he said he might be able to get a good deal for me. You can never underestimate the power of Asian connections.

When we were in Maine, we tried to have some photoes taken for our engagement but it was too hard to get the shading and the lighting right even though it was absolutely beautiful there. We'd been shopping for wedding photographer for awhile now, we got some recommendations and looked at their websites. We knew we found the perfect match. We really liked her work, she priced very resonably, the name of her business is called Black Cat White Cat Photography. . :-) We set up an appointment with her before we left for Maine. After we got back, we met with her, and I like her even more because she's Chinese who speaks both Cantonese and Mandarin, just like me. I don't know about Rob but I really think it's meant to be. One of her packages included an engagement session, we thought, we should just "dewit". Our session is this Sat, so I'll see how I'm going to glam up Rob. Just kidding, I like him just the way he is. I think maybe the next post, I'll post a photo or two of our engagement photo session.