Here We Go

Yesterday marked our first official stop on the wedding planning express. Was that too cheesy? How about, Yesterday marked the first steps in the beautiful journey to come. Okay, fine. Yesterday was our first wedding venue visit. So much for the beauty of language.

Since late August, I have been researching venues online, primarily through theknot.com, focusing on their "In Your Area" vendors search. The site allows you to edit your profile based on the season, location, color, size, and formality of your wedding, which makes hunting for venues ten times easier than using a simple web search. The Knot provides, for each venue, pictures, price ranges, capacity information, and amenities that the venue offers, such as valet parking and whether or not a ceremony site is available.

Another great site is Here Comes the Guide, similar to The Knot. This site breaks down locations by more specific regions ("East Bay" rather than "Northern California"). Actually, this service was somewhat of a disadvantage to us in that we were not sure exactly where in the Bay Area we wanted to get married, but I can see it being helpful to most couples.

In conducting my not-so-scientific research, I realized I needed two vital pieces of information before we could even get close to booking a place: 1) the guest count (approximate), and 2) the budget. There would be no sense in falling in love with a place if it could only accommodate 75 people and was way over our budget. So we called in the families for help. Parents were "assigned" the task of creating a tentative guest list by November 7, which was also the date the families would all get together for the second time since the engagement. After that, Terry and I typed up the lists and estimated a grand total of 258+. Not everyone will attend (it is, after all, somewhat of a destination wedding), and not everyone will bring a date, so our magic number lands at approximately 200.

After conducting months of research and creating an (as-yet-unfinished) enormous Excel spreadsheet of possible venues, I sent out feelers to a few places. Here were our major requirements:

• Keep it close to home. As much as I have always wanted to get married in San Francisco, logic tells me the day (and year and a half of planning) will be ten times less stressful if the location is close to Fremont, where my family's house is. I have also always wanted to have the rehearsal dinner at my parents' house, so it makes sense to keep the following day nearby (within 30 minutes of Fremont).
  
• Can everyone fit? We now have a guest list of about 200, and Terry and I are adamant about making sure that everyone has plenty of room to eat, dance, and be merry. We have been looking at venues that allow for 250 or more in order to ensure that 200 is a perfect fit (not a squeeze).
  
• It must be indoors. As gorgeous as outdoor weddings can be, we know we want our wedding in July. In California. In the afternoon. It's going to be HOT. We don't want our guests to suffer in the heat, and we don't want anyone passing out from dehydration. Additionally, the Great Outdoors offer too many potential unknowns, and we don't want to mess with Mother Nature (moreover, we don't want Mother Nature messing with us) on our wedding day.

Our first visit was to the Palm Event Center in Pleasanton, California. We entered the gorgeous vineyard event room to find a king's table set up with photo albums from previous weddings. Stephanie, a fantastic tour guide, greeted us immediately, and we had her full attention for the next hour. Stephanie answered every question we had before we knew we had it, and she didn't oversell any aspect of the venue. She showed us each space and offered ideas for different options, and her demeanor maintained a professional and friendly tone. I could not have felt more impressed, and Terry and my parents felt the same way.

The space at the Palm, as you can see in the pictures, focuses on wine - perfect! Terry and I (and our parents) love wine, the wine country, wine tasting, you name it. The vineyard would make an ideal backdrop for pictures, and the Estate Room would make a gorgeous ceremony setting.

While we still need to see a few other venues for comparison's sake, we liked a lot of what the Palm has to offer. I hope to book within the next month or so. If this first stop on our wedding planning journey is any indication, the next year and a half should be a fun ride!

Finally You Have Found Something Perfect

The proposal goes back to the weekend before the 4th of July, 2009. I definitely wanted to go the traditional route in asking Julie's parents for permission (in person) before planning anything. The only difficult part was that with Julie's parents in NorCal, I couldn't just stop by to ask on my way home from work. Thankfully, Julie's parents own a place up at the Delta near Stockton, where I was able to set everything in motion.

Obviously, the whole situation was a little nerve-wracking. First, I had to find the opportunity to talk to her parents without Jules catching on to what I was doing. Second, I had to hope that no one would spill the beans there on the spot. Luckily, I managed to corner her dad while she was out by the water. Stammering through most of it, I asked for Julie's hand and received a teary (and happy) nod. But I also had to talk to her mom. Dave called her into the room, and I formally asked for permission to ask Julie to marry me. Now, I'm not intimidated by Julie's parents (not anymore, at least), but during that whole scene I was rooted to the spot a good 10 feet away from her father and didn't move until I had gotten a "yes" from both of them.

Later that evening, I told her brother that I was planning to propose to his sister. His response? "That's awesome!" And even though they were sworn to secrecy, Julie's parents were so excited that they had to tell family friends, the Johnson's, everything as soon as we had left.

The ring was next. Luckily, Julie's aunt Dawn Lynn was willing to give me a diamond that once belonged to Julie's great-grandmother. Julie had shown me a few ideas of what she wanted, and the heirloom center stone allowed me to design Julie's dream ring. With a little help from Jan's jeweler, I had myself a ring... in San Jose. In early August, I flew to San Jose, picked up the ring, had lunch with Dave, and flew back to LA. Excited and anxious, I called our friends to inform them of the upcoming event. That evening, Julie assumed I had been at work all day and didn't suspect a thing.

On Friday, August 21st, 2009, I was ready to go. I wanted to take Jules on a walk around our neighborhood, as it was going to be one of the last ones in the area (we were getting ready to move). There's a quiet little corner that doesn't get much traffic that I knew would be perfect. Of course, Julie had other ideas for the day; she wanted to go to the beach. I did have to be a little stubborn about it, but I was able to convince Jules that we should really walk around the block. She agreed and off we went, me keeping a surprisingly cool head about me. We talked about restaurants we hadn't been to that we still wanted to try, Julie's new job (which she got the call for while we were on the walk - two awesome events in one day!), and the things we'd miss about our first place together.

When we got to the corner of Westgate and Currituck, Julie mentioned that she felt me starting to slow my pace, but didn't think much of it. As we neared the corner, I told her how much I loved her, and that even though this would be our last walk in the neighborhood, I was looking forward to many more walks in our lives. I got down on one knee, pulled out the ring, and asked Jules to marry me.

She said yes.

The Olive Theory

The Olive Theory. When Terry and I first heard them, these three words changed our lives. Well, as much as any three words from a CBS sitcom can change someone's life.

The words come from the pilot of the popular series "How I Met Your Mother". In the episode, we learn that two of the main characters, Marshall and Lily, are so perfect for each other because Marshall hates olives, Lily loves them. "In a weird way," says Ted, Marshall's best friend, "that's what makes them such a great couple. Perfect balance." Similarly, Terry loves olives, I hate them.

The Olive Theory ties into our nuptials in more than one way. As I said, after all, the concept changed our lives. First, after that pilot episode, we are now die hard "How I Met Your Mother" fans. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Oh, I love that show!" That's cool and all, but Terry and I are die hard fans. We don't just know the characters, we know what the characters would do in everyday situations. We don't just watch the show every Monday night, we own all of the DVDs - and watch them regularly. We don't just discuss our favorite episodes, we quote our favorite episodes. People think we're weird. We think they're right.

So, okay, we love the show. Maybe more than we should. But that's who we are. We love television. In the same way, we are die hard fans of "Seinfeld", "The Office", and "Friends". We're working on "Arrested Development", "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia", and "30 Rock". We quote these shows on a daily - okay, hourly - basis and find ways to reference them in most situations. I'm not going so far as to say our entire relationship is founded on a silly television show, but we may not be where we are today if it weren't for Ted, Lily, Marshall, Robin, and Barney. Oh, Barney...

If you are just getting to know Terry and me, I hope this blog will provide some insight. Here are some basics:

We met at UCLA. We currently live in Los Angeles. Terry works as an electrical engineer and is pursuing his Master's in the same field; I am a high school English teacher and cheerleading coach. We celebrated our three-year anniversary in July 2009, and Terry proposed on August 21, 2009. We are getting married in July 2011 in the Bay Area, where I grew up. Our favorite way to spend a weekend (if we aren't traveling) is hiking, finding something new to do in LA, cooking together, and going to the movies.

I hope you enjoy our wedding blog! Thank you for reading.