200 Days!

Today marks 200 days to the wedding! Terry and I are knee-deep in holiday festivities (not to mention decorations and wrapping paper), and we are so excited that next Christmas we will be celebrating our first holiday season as a married couple.

This year will be Christmas with the Heinrichs, followed by a few nights up north with my family. I'm really excited to experience Christmas Eve and Christmas day with Terry's family and to learn about their traditions. Christmas at the Lanier house will definitely be different this year, but my family has lots to celebrate, especially my mom's retirement after 33 years with Menlo Park Police Department. We are so proud of her, and Terry and I are especially excited at the thought of my parents coming down to visit us more!

Terry recently finished up his third-to-last quarter in his Master's program. While he still has work this week, we're both excited to finalize our invitation design and figure out our printing options. Hopefully the process will work out beautifully, but no matter what it will have a very personal touch. I've been looking forward to the invitations and other paper products, because there is so much room for creativity and unique designs. I can't wait to see Terry's finished product and then to assemble everything!

Another exciting event: Our menu tasting at Palm Event Center is coming up in January! A few months ago, I asked Terry what he is most excited for in the wedding planning process; not surprisingly, he responded, "The tastings..." Well, here it is! Unfortunately, our venue only offers tastings on Wednesdays, so we have to fly up midday on a Wednesday and back to LA at the break of dawn on Thursday, but it'll be worth it!

While we're up north next week, we have a few exciting meetings. First, we're finally doing our engagement session with our wedding photographer, Rhee Bevere, and we are so anxious to get to know her better and to learn more about her photography style. Secondly, we're meeting with our DJ, Rob Mutzl, to work out some details and hear more of his ideas.

If I could give one piece of advice (pre-wedding, sure, but I've learned a thing or two about wedding planning), here it is: Choose vendors who have worked with your venue! Our vendors know the staff at the Palm Event Center, plus they have a million ideas that can work at the place. The great thing about choosing such awesome vendors is that we feel we can completely trust their expertise; we know for certain that they will incorporate ideas into what they know works at the Palm.

So with 200 days left to go, we are ready to start the details. We want our wedding to feel like our wedding, and we know that personal touches are the way to do it. We look forward to making the magic happen!

Seven Months to Go!

We missed the seven month mark in blog world, but we celebrated with some wonderful Christmas cheer. Last week, Terry and I found our first Christmas tree, and we spent the week decorating our apartment for the holiday. We don't have much in the way of decor yet, but we started a lovely tradition this year. From now on, every year, we will find a tree, listen to Christmas music while decorating, and watch Love Actually together. Terry will likely get tired of hearing me sing Christmas songs, and I will enjoy watching Terry chase the cat out from under the tree.

Hope you're enjoying the holiday season as much as we are!

A Break from Wedding Planning...and Reality

Over Thanksgiving, Terry and I joined my parents, my brother, and my brother's girlfriend for a Southern Caribbean cruise. We were celebrating my mom's upcoming retirement, and it was an incredible escape for both of us. What an incredible trip! We visited six different islands, learning about each island's culture and nature.

The trip was a wonderful break from constantly thinking about the wedding details. I've realized it's all too easy to get swept up into trying to make the day perfect and trying to please everyone. The important thing is that we're getting married, and in ten or twenty or sixty years (or perhaps even sixty days), so many of these minor details won't matter. This vacation helped me gain some perspective on wedding priorities, and I know now that with the incredible professionals we have booked so far, we are in very good hands. We're going to leave all the big stuff to them. The fun stuff is ours!

Case in point - the honeymoon! Technically, honeymoon planning is the groom's responsibility, but Terry has been generous enough to let me help research. If you know me at all, you know traveling is absolutely my favorite thing. I love it all, from researching new places to finding the perfect hotel to the actual adventure. Moreover, I love traveling with Terry. From road trips to cruises to long flights, we love the thrill of learning about new cultures and new places. I cannot imagine a better travel buddy for the rest of my life.

Right now, we have several stops planned for the few weeks after the wedding, and we have officially booked one hotel! Our stay at the Amalfi Coast is all set. This stop is between London and Rome, so we're viewing it as the relaxing part of our trip. The hotel, in Vietri Sul Mare in Italy, will provide gorgeous views, hiking opportunities, wine tasting, and other low-key adventures to contrast the big city feel of London and Rome. We actually booked our hotel through Luxury Link, an awesome website that I highly recommend. The site provides significant discounts on luxury hotels. The hotels are guaranteed to be four- or five-star quality, and the packages usually include breakfast. Sometimes they even include spa treatments, dinners, champagne, or other bonus amenities. We are hoping to book London and Rome hotels through the same site. Whenever I get stressed about anything, I imagine relaxing in Europe. I can't wait to experience a European adventure!

Floral Design Studio

Flowers. Ugh. I have been dreading the flower thing since day one. I mentioned before that I have a hard time with flowers; as beautiful as they are, I hate seeing them go to waste after a wedding. Plus, with so many out of town guests, no one would be able to take home leftover centerpieces even if they wanted to. So originally, I envisioned hundreds of candles all around the reception. I've seen so many pictures of stunningly elegant weddings with candle centerpieces, and it worked perfectly for my no-flowers rule.

And then we met Nona. Owner of Floral Design Studio in Fremont, Nona is quite the charmer. My mom, Terry's parents, Terry, and I all adored her spunky personality and creative ideas. I already had my bouquet and bridesmaids' bouquets picked out from pictures online, and Nona assured me that she can create those, even adding some extra suggestions to make the bouquets more original.

When the centerpiece/decoration discussion finally came around, I think Nona could sense my hesitation. I explained that we are trying to keep decorative costs down (we chose a gorgeous venue for a reason!), and I described my lack of enthusiasm about floral centerpieces. Without skipping a beat, Nona came up with the perfect solution. She sketched an idea within about two minutes that fit all of my criteria - price, elegance, and non-floral. Plus, she even found a creative way to incorporate our grape/wine theme! Nona won us over in a heartbeat, and I feel so lucky that I stumbled upon her website in my research. Even more importantly, my mom and Terry's parents really seemed to like her ideas, too, so we all went home happy.

So now, officially, our major vendors are done. We have the venue, the photographer, the DJ, the cake, and the florist. Everything else is DIY - and we are SO excited about all those details. Now that we have our major vendors in place, we can really see our wedding coming together. And good thing, as it's almost seven months away!

Cake Creations by Bev

A few weeks ago, I asked Terry what excites him most about the wedding planning process (not a trick question; I simply wanted to know what aspects he might be more motivated to endure). Thoughtfully, not surprisingly, he replied, "Um...the tastings..." I guess I should have known. So when we made our way up north over Labor Day weekend for a few cake tastings, I knew Terry felt at least as excited as I did.

I learned from a few other wedding weekends to avoid booking too many meetings in too few days. We agreed to start with just two bakers and then come up again for more if necessary.

Cake tasting is exactly as fun as it sounds. It is delicious and sweet and awesome. Terry's parents joined us for the first tasting, and the second baker actually gave us two small cakes to take home, so all of our parents got to try a bite.

Ultimately, we chose the world's sweetest cake baker, Bev. She works as a wedding baker part time to help put her three sons through college, and she insisted on hugging Terry and me before we left the meeting. We absolutely fell in love with Bev (not to mention her affordable pricing!), so we crossed our fingers that we (and everyone else) would love the cake. Luckily, it's AMAZING. Bev's buttercream frosting is seriously divine. We can't wait to work with her to design a beautiful, delicious cake for the wedding!

Cakes we will NOT be getting.

Catching Up

The fact that we haven't posted in awhile (ahem, almost a month...) should serve as no indication of our wedding progress, though it can certainly tell you how busy we keep ourselves. Fall means football season, and apparently cheerleading coaches stay fairly occupied during football season. Between practices with my girls, JV games on Thursdays, and varsity games on Friday nights (which Terry attends almost every week), the wedding planning has to take somewhat of a backseat during the week.

So today is catch up day. We FINALLY compiled (addressed, stuffed, labeled, stamped, and sealed) the save the dates. And we put them in a mailbox. So they are out of our hands and in the hands of the U.S. Postal Service. THANK GOODNESS. Who knew compiling addresses for the people you know and love would be so time consuming and complicated? Plus, who knew that actually writing the addresses properly would be so difficult? I consulted my Emily Post's Etiquette book four hundred and seven times (that may be an exaggeration) over the last six weeks, trying to figure out how to address an envelope for each guest. I hope I did it right.

This weekend we have another wedding adventure planned: We are off to my parents' house for a few days in hopes of booking a florist and baker. Terry's parents are also getting a chance to see our venue for the first time, and I'm hoping I can try on my wedding dress for my dad. We're also aiming to have our parents get to know our pastor and enjoy a bit of relaxation in the gorgeous fall weather of the Bay Area.

And finally, one of the most exciting check marks so far: We booked our honeymoon flights! Our dream of traveling the world together takes another step toward coming true. Our itinerary is:

• San Francisco --> London
• London --> Amalfi Coast, Italy
• Amalfi Coast --> Rome
• Rome --> San Francisco
• San Francisco --> LA to begin our married lives!
  

Regardless of the fact that we are still eight months away from the big day, wedding planning remains a highlight of our week, whenever we can find time. We especially love exploring honeymoon options and look forward to the next steps!

Save the Dates & Paper Source

Today Terry came home! He had a good trip to Buffalo for work, but I'm thrilled that he's home. Today was a great day to head to Paper Source to finally make some concrete decisions together about our invitations and save the dates! We bought all our envelopes for sending our save the dates, as well as a few extra decorative supplies for our stationary. We also checked out all the displays and ideas from the Paper Source experts, and we got some great ideas for our DIY invitations. Now we're finally starting to see what we can do to create a consistent theme in all our stationary.

We also finally ordered our save the dates! They should be here in a few weeks, during which time I'll be addressing all the newly purchased envelopes. On the other hand, today I ordered a custom rubber stamp (www.rubberstampchamp.com) to use on our reply card envelopes. It'll be far faster to stamp the return address on all the envelopes rather than handwriting or printing each one!

Can't wait to officially announce our wedding to our guests!

Binders and Spreadsheets

I did it. I finally got organized. Exactly one year, one month, two weeks, and four days after our engagement and exactly nine months before the wedding (today!), I did it. And thank goodness.

I had thought about it, even tried it a few times, but nothing really worked. I found millions (okay, about a dozen) of websites offering to help me get organized, but I really need everything in one place, and I need to be able to carry that one place with me, to access it from anywhere. I imagine that in a few years (or even now, for some more connected brides), a laptop/iPad/SmartPhone will be sufficient for wedding planning, but I need more. So I went old school, as teachers tend to do.

You may wonder how on earth I had time to spend almost three full days getting organized, but the answer is simple: My fiance is out of town. I'm surprisingly more productive when he isn't around. But it's so much more fun when he is around, so I guess that's the trade off.

Anyway, back to the organization. I wish someone had told me about all this stuff when I first got engaged, but maybe I wouldn't have taken it to heart until over 13 months later. I was saying that I went old school. Really old school. Like...paper. I already had my "wedding planning binder" that I had toted around from vendor meeting to vendor meeting, but today things got serious. I used my lovely green wedding planning binder (a gift from my amazing matron of honor) and created new tabs that make much more sense to me.

Aren't they lovely?

I also printed all of our invoices and contracts so far in order to have them in one place. I used sheet protectors for the especially important stuff. The tabs are organized by importance (biggest vendors first) and then in order that we'll need them. I finally have a working tool for the wedding planning that I can continue to use for the next nine months.

But that wasn't all. If you didn't know it already, you should learn now that I LOVE spreadsheets. Microsoft Excel didn't know it, but they really created their product specifically for me. I can spend hours upon hours lost in the wonders of Excel spreadsheets. So far, I have the following spreadsheets for the wedding:

• Wedding Budget (estimations, actual costs, amounts paid)
  
• Honeymoon Budget
  
• Master Guest List (including the main list with addresses, the rehearsal dinner guest list, the names to be written on escort cards, the response list, and the table numbers)
• Wedding To Do List (maybe my favorite - including the long-term to-do list from 12 months out, the wedding weekend itinerary, the ceremony schedule, and the reception schedule)
• Wedding Day Contact List

I felt inspired to be so productive because Terry and I have made a lot of wedding progress this week. We are thisclose to booking our honeymoon tickets, making some significant decor decisions, and ordering our save the dates, envelopes, and return address labels. Before we do all that, I needed to make sure we have a firm budget and track all of our spending. Weddings are expensive enough as it is - no need to spend money without at least planning it out!

And now, the fun can continue! Terry comes home tomorrow, and we're planning a field trip to Paper Source in Santa Monica. It might just be my new favorite store. Thanks to a gift card from Heidi and Ed, we can get started on our paper-buying extravaganza!

Scout was very helpful today.

9 months to go...

Bits of Progress

Sometimes I hate that Google forces me to come up with names for each blog post, because, let's be honest, most of these posts could have the same generic title: Most Recent Wedding Planning Process. And yet, I love Google so much for everything else it allows me to do that I can really only elaborate on my complaints for as much as a sentence. Listing the stuff I love about Google would take much, much longer.

One thing I love about Google is that they provided the template for our wedding website! The site hosts all pertinent information for our wedding guests, including hotel information, ceremony directions, and registries. Google has countless templates for personal websites, including the grape/vineyard one that we chose for our site. It's been surprisingly fun for me to build an entire website, and hopefully our guests will find it useful and informative.

Recently, we scheduled two more engagement sessions! One is with our great friend, Roxanne, who is generously taking us to UCLA for more pictures. The UCLA pictures are especially important to us, as we met and fell in love on campus and continue to cherish being UCLA alumni. The next session is with our wedding photographer, Rhee. The session with Rhee will allow us to get to know her better (and vice versa) and will also give us a chance to do a fun themed shoot. We are so excited to take more pictures to document this incredible time in our lives.

After the major vendors, the save the dates have felt like a huge decision. Before he could design the save the dates, Terry had to envision what our invitations will look like, because we want a consistent flow throughout all of our wedding stationary, right up to the day of the wedding. Terry did a beautiful job with the save the date design! I can't wait to post pictures after they have gone out to the guests. Over the last few days I have been researching the various companies that allow you to upload your own design for save the dates. Prices are surprisingly reasonable, and our friends provided the hint that you can find coupon codes online to get 50% off! We also need to order envelopes and return address labels, plus stamps. We don't need anything fancy; we just want an elegant, pulled-together look that minds our paper budget. Plus we have to double check our guest list to make sure we have it all sorted out. We are looking to order the save the dates this week, address the envelopes when they arrive, and send them out before November! A little progress at a time!

For now, enjoy a little sneak at another of Rox's amazing pictures from January!

Introducing Scout

Against my brother's wishes, Terry and I are now officially pet owners! We had discussed the idea of adopting a pet for several months, and yesterday we finally did it! On Friday, we visited the San Gabriel Valley Humane Society, a wonderful establishment where Terry's family adopted another cat several years ago. They approved our application, and we picked up our four-month old kitten yesterday!

Scout, a brown-gray tabby, has quite a rambunctious personality. So far, we have learned that he loves attacking our feet, challenging our "other cat" (his image in the mirror), and watching TV! He kept us pretty busy last night, including a trip to CVS because Terry is apparently allergic to him. Awesome. Ultimately, though, he settled in to sleep right between us, and that was just the cutest thing. We had several names picked out before we got him, but Scout seems to fit best. Technically, he is named after the character from To Kill a Mockingbird, a book Terry and I both love, but he's also quite the explorer and seems (at least so far) to live up to the Boy Scout motto of being prepared. Well, as prepared as kittens can be, I suppose.

I promise this blog will not turn into "The Cat Theory" - I just felt that adopting our first pet needed a little shout out. We're enjoying the new addition to our home!

Ten Months and a Wedding Dress

Our wedding lingers only ten months in the future, or 303 days according to the online countdown. According to The Knot, we need to complete the following tasks in the next four weeks:

• Appraise and insure my engagement ring
• Announce our engagement (perhaps a bit delayed?)
• Finalize the guest list
• Investigate family traditions we want to incorporate into the wedding
• Look for a florist
• Decide on wedding invitations and save-the-dates

Looks like a busy month! Luckily, Terry already finished the design for the save-the-dates (I am so excited for everyone to see how talented my fiance is!), but otherwise we have our work cut out for us. My work this semester (so far) feels much lighter than last year, perhaps because this year lacks the horrendous seven-hour adventure to Northridge, so in theory we can focus on the wedding. In addition to planning, we decided to join a gym while my foot is in the final healing stages. My physical therapist gave me the okay to work out, but I can't do my usual combination of running/yoga/Pilates/whatever I feel like doing, so the gym will provide the obligatory bike, elliptical, and lap pool. I can't wait to run again!

While not on the current month's to-do list, we can check off buying my dress! My mom and I planned a morning adventure to Pleasanton's adorable Main Street, where we could check out J'aime Bridal. This bridal shop comes highly recommended by every vendor we have encountered, and now I can see why! I already knew - or thought I knew - exactly which dress I wanted, so Saturday morning was supposed to serve only as a chance to get together with some of my favorite women and celebrate buying the most important dress I'll ever own. But the wedding gods had a different plan!

With my matron-of-honor, mom, second mom (mom's best friend), aunt, and bridesmaid Jenn who happened to be up in the Bay Area, I entered J'aime Bridal confident that I need not try on more than just the one dress. But the owner of the shop, Jamie, convinced me to take a look around at all the dresses. In my browsing, I mentioned the few concerns I had about "my" dress, which Jamie overheard and immediately corrected by grabbing a few new dresses. One by one, I tried them on, and I realized how wrong I was about the original dress. Three dresses in, I had a new favorite, and I truly felt like a bride. We even ordered the veil to complete the ensemble! Sorry, no pictures until the big day, but I will tell you the dress is NOT Maggie Sottero, despite my love for her designs! After the big purchase (and three texts to my out-of-town bridesmaids!), we ventured down Main Street for mimosas, girl talk, and a trip down memory lane with my aunt's photo album from her wedding!

A big thanks to my mom for buying the dress of my dreams, and to the lovely ladies who accompanied me to J'aime Bridal!

One Year Engaged!

Terry and I celebrated one year of engagement last weekend with a picnic and show at the Hollywood Bowl. I feel so lucky to get to share awesome LA experiences with such a great man.

The school year officially started yesterday for me, and the arrival of students signals the start of a crazy nine months. But the positive crazy far outweighs the negative. Here's why this year will kick last year's butt:

1. We're getting married!
2. Terry will not be in Buffalo for two months, which subsequently means that I get to see him more AND we get to go to all the UCLA home games! GO BRUINS!!!
   
3. We're going on a cruise with my family in November, and I'll be spending my first Christmas with Terry's family.
   
4. Terry will finish his Master's in Electrical Engineering at UCLA in June!
5. I don't have to drive to Northridge for classes every week! (This one may seem to only affect me, but you would feel differently if you had experienced my post-Northridge grumpiness every week.)
   

In other amazing news, Terry has his summer quarter finals this weekend, and then he gets a full month off from school. I am so excited that he has volunteered to design our save the dates and invitations, and this month will provide him the opportunity to get some designing done. Our great friend Edward offered a ton of information and advice about DIY invitations, so we feel ready to get started!

Thanks for sticking with us through the slow months. We will be picking up steam very quickly here, and we'll continue to document all the fun planning adventures!

Brian and Winnie's Wedding | 8.7.10

Two of our closest friends - my matron of honor and one of Terry's groomsmen - wed a few weeks ago in a beautiful ceremony in Walnut, California. We had a blast throughout the entire day and got to be a part of the rehearsal dinner, ceremony, and reception. Because we know the couple particularly well, my favorite part of the whole day, their vows to each other, felt so sincere and touching. Winnie was a gorgeous (and calm!) bride, and Brian looked so handsome. Here are some highlights from the day!


Winnie's maid of honor, her sister, Gloria, helping with the veil.

Winnie's huge family was a big part of the celebration - here, the uncles are snapping pictures of Winnie in her beautiful dress!

Sharing good luck soup with different members of the family and bridal party, including grandma, mom, sister, and dad.

Tossing a fan out the window to let go of her childhood.

I chose this picture because you can see the gorgeous view from the reception hall. They really went all out with a spectacular room!

First dance.

Cutting the beautiful cake!

One of my favorite photos from the photo booth at the reception!

An amazing wedding! Congratulations to the Kings!

A "New" Apartment

Last year, Terry and I lived with one of my best friends (and bridesmaid!) Jenn, and now she has moved to her own apartment in Century City. We miss Jenn dearly, but we love the amount of space in the apartment now! We switched to Jenn's room, which makes it feel like an entirely new setup, and we are now in the process of redecorating/reorganizing/reconfiguring the place.
One major bonus of the "move" was acquiring our new comforter set! We are having so much fun deciding how to decorate the apartment now that we actually have a little bit of time. Terry has been a champ moving all the big stuff, while I'll be hobbling around and getting the little projects done. I can't believe we're heading into our third year living together! We truly love every second we spend together.

In other news, Terry's cousins just had a baby! He is absolutely precious, and we are all so excited for the new parents. Congratulations to Eric and Kari! I'm so lucky to be joining such a big, fun, loving family.

And lastly, get excited: My maid of honor is getting married this weekend!!! We are so excited for Winnie and Brian, two of our very best friends. We look forward to being a part of their big day and celebrating their relationship!

White Wedding

I found this white wedding on Style Me Pretty, an awesome wedding blog. The bride and groom's color scheme included only whites, ivories, and creams. Of course, we are using splashes of green and purple (green dresses for the bridesmaids, purple in the bouquets, etc.), but I just LOVE how elegant the tables look in all white! The pictures are stunning, too. Check it out!

Four Years Together

Last night, we celebrated our four-year anniversary with a dinner at The Grill on the Alley in Beverly Hills. Our actual dating anniversary was July 20, but the celebration itself had to wait a bit because of our crazy schedules. We decided to make a big deal out of this anniversary to celebrate the fact that next year at this time we will already have a new anniversary date!

We love dressing up to eat out, and The Grill on the Alley has the perfect ambiance for it. If you haven't been, we definitely recommend it! If you sign up for their mailing list, the Grill also sends you a $30 off coupon for the month of your anniversary and your birthday. They have awesome service and delicious, gourmet food. Terry always gets the lamb chops, and I love both the filet and the swordfish. My favorite part is always the side dishes - creamed spinach to die for and creamy garlic mashed potatoes. They even comped us a dessert for our anniversary!

After dinner we ventured a few blocks over (would have been a perfect walk if not for my crutches) to Nic's Martini Bar. Super trendy and not exactly romantic in atmosphere, the menu of martinis seemed endless. Terry tried a cucumber martini, and I had the "Pink Monkey," which essentially consisted of various fruity ingredients. I think other nights of the week they have live jazz music, which would have set the tone a little better, but the experience was still fun.

I feel so lucky to have spent the last four years with such a wonderful man, and I look forward to all the years to come! Less than a year to the wedding!

Mr. and Mrs. Duque 7.17.10

This Saturday, Heidi and Edward took their vows in a beautiful ceremony in Newbury Park and celebrated with a delightful reception at Moorpark Country Club. Heidi and Ed have been together over six years now, and their wedding showed how much they love each other, as well as their family and friends...and of course, UCLA! Enjoy the pictures from the event!




All smiles after their beautiful mass at St. Julie Billiart's church.

Heidi and Edward's nephew and godson, Noah, the adorable ring bearer!

A HOT day in Moorpark!

Yep, Josie Bruin made an appearance!

Heidi and Edward focused on all the minor details and certainly set the standard for how to make a wedding come together. Edward created the designs himself, from the save the dates to the invitations to the decorations on the day of the wedding. Check out some of their incredible details!




Professional banners throughout the wedding.

The colors were watermelon, chocolate brown,
orange, and green - perfect for summer!

Table names based on locations around UCLA and Westwood. Each table had a story about why the location is important to Heidi and Ed.

Beautiful cake with a personalized
cake topper with their monogram!

Awesome idea for the cards!

Cute Bruin garter!

Heidi and Ed's wedding was beautiful, fun, and perfect for their personalities. This couple was meant for one another, and I wish them a spectacular honeymoon in Alaska!

Starting the Details

Now that the all-important one year mark zoomed by us, we know we need to start actually planning the wedding. We have a general vision of what we want, but how do we make that all come together? Slowly, by the looks of it. One thing at a time. We chose to start with hotels.

The Livermore wine valley, home to our venue, hosts a multitude of weddings each July, we want to ensure that our guests have no trouble getting a great hotel at a great rate. Our venue recommended the Courtyard Marriott a few miles from the event center, and we love anything Marriott, so we booked a huge block for our wedding weekend. The hotel also provides great services, such as a complimentary shuttle service to the wedding from the hotel, no cancellation fees to a certain date, and a discounted rate.

We also booked our own room for the wedding night. My parents talked us into a really nice hotel, convincing us that if we ever had a good reason to spend money on a hotel room, our wedding night is it. We didn't exactly resist.

Finally, since I'm still home all day with my casted foot, I created our wedding website. We tried several, and several custom websites exist, including The Knot, WeddingChannel.com, mywedding.com, but ultimately we just created one through Google Sites. I had a lot more creative freedom to design a site that flows with the theme of our wedding.

We feel like the planning is now officially underway! Get excited for some pictures from Heidi and Ed's wedding this weekend!

One Year!

Today marks one year to our wedding! We get one more year of betrothal before the wedding, and then married life begins! Today we visited Solvang and Los Olivos to enjoy some wine tasting and quality time with Terry's mom, Sharron. The perfect weather and great company made for an awesome day.

So far, Terry and I have loved the engagement. Some people question the length of our engagement, since by the time next July 9th rolls around it will have been 23 months since Terry proposed, but we have no qualms about taking our time with the wedding. We only get to be fiance and fiancee once, so we like the idea of extending that time. Plus, two of our favorite couples are getting married this summer! Heidi and Edward will wed next Saturday, July 17, and Winnie and Brian will marry on August 7. Terry and I feel very lucky to be a part of these weddings, to hear all the planning details, and to receive their wedding and marriage advice in the coming year!

We feel so excited to share the next year together. Our roommate (my bridesmaid Jenn) is moving out to live with her boyfriend, and we are thrilled for them even though we'll miss their company. A half-hearted apartment search and a whole-hearted agreement later, Terry and I decided not to move when Jenn leaves. We love our location in Mar Vista, near Santa Monica, we have reasonable commutes to work, we feel safe, and we love the amount of space in the two bedroom apartment. Amazingly, we already grew out of a one bedroom, and we look forward to having both a bedroom and an office/spare room. We hope to stay in this apartment through our first year of marriage, and it provides plenty of space for us to grow a little more. More than anyone, I think Terry's dad is thrilled we aren't moving, because he was always the one burdened with the bulk of moving us over the last few years! Also, not moving was one of our goals from the beginning of the year, so we can check off another one!

As far as wedding planning, the one year mark means we can really get serious about our plans. With all my down time, I have been working on the wedding guest list, organizing my Excel sheets and collecting addresses. I love using my etiquette book (Emily Post's Etiquette, a gift from Terry) to determine how we should go about planning a formal wedding, and the book has been helpful in determining our budget for each aspect of the wedding, such as save the dates and invitations. We plan to send out save the dates within the next three months (many of our guests will be coming in from out of town), so Terry needs to finish up the designs. My mom and I found favors that we love and that work great with the wine theme of the wedding. We have seen so many incredible ideas for favors, including a candy bar with a cute box or bag, or a photo booth, which I hear is a blast. Looking for favors is easy online with websites like My Wedding Favors, Little Things Favors, and WeddingFavors.org. The tough thing is finding something unique and useful, as opposed to something everyone will simply throw away. I have also heard of couples making a donation in lieu of giving individual favors, which I love, but we haven't made a decision yet.

Centerpieces. Ugh. I am SO not looking forward to centerpieces. First of all, no flowers. Yes, I have seen the millions of pictures on The Knot and other sites that display gorgeous floral centerpieces, but Terry and I have agreed that we simply will not spend that kind of money on flowers. As beautiful as they look, we have decided that we want to focus our funds on other areas. So don't expect many (if any!) flowers at our wedding! Expect simple, elegant tablescapes with simple, elegant centerpieces. We want our guests to focus on each other, the food, the dancing, and, well, since it's our wedding, us! No need for all those flowers to distract everyone. I would love for the centerpieces to all be different, which should be a fun challenge for our 25+ tables. I haven't created any mockups yet, but I know we will use ivory candles, wine corks, and clear glass vases. The actual compilation is TBD.

We are so excited to be getting married in one year! Thankfully, the extended engagement has given us plenty of time to plan without stress, and we love every step of organizing our wedding. Meanwhile, we look forward to enjoying Heidi and Ed's wedding in a few days! Congratulations to a wonderful couple!

Sunday Night Dinners

At the beginning of the year, Terry and I set a New Year's resolution to cook one new meal every week. We love trying new foods, and we love cooking together, but we often fall back on our easy, usual (read: boring) meals when life gets hectic in the middle of the week. So we decided on one new meal per week, and to stick to it, we set aside Sunday to fix our new creations. Every Sunday, we pull out my binder of recipe collections (from magazines such as Cooking Light, Gourmet, or Food Network) and choose something that sounds good.

The Sunday Night Tradition has proved a huge success! We have cooked a new meal almost every Sunday since January 1, and we truly look forward to the time we spend shopping for, preparing, and enjoying the meals. Even cleanup can feel fun, because we discuss what we liked or didn't like, what we would do differently next time, or future meals we might make. Cooking is a great bonding experience for us and a good break from school, work, and the general stress of life. Enjoy some photos of our creations!


Goat cheese-and-prosciutto-stuffed chicken with ratatouille

Pepperoni and bell pepper pasta (one of our favorites!)

Salad with homemade vinaigrette and croutons

Greek salad with Mediterranean chicken

Steak and arugula salad








Yum!

A New Trend?

My mom sent over some disturbing news today: Apparently adult diapers have made their way into the bridal industry! According to my sources, some women find using the restroom too difficult, time consuming, or bothersome on their wedding day, so they opt to...um...skip that step altogether. What happened to having a few bridesmaids hold up your dress? I know some women dream of THE DRESS and choose that dress despite any obstacles or hoops they may have to jump through (forgive the pun), but would your wedding day feel as special if you spent most of it in a dirty diaper? And then imagine the wedding night: "Give me just a second, new husband, while I change my diaper." What's worse is that some women even wear satin skivvies over the diaper. WHY?! At what point during the day are you planning to have other people see your dirty diaper? Some opinions say that it makes the attire feel "more bridal," but I'm fairly certain that wearing the diaper in the first place threw that feeling out the window.

Call me old fashioned, but I'd rather go for the slightly less ridiculously sized dress than face the alternative. To form your own opinion, enjoy these topical articles from Aisle Dash and The Frisky.

Note: I tried to find a picture to post, but thankfully this trend has not hit Google Images yet. Here's hoping it stays that way.

Best Fiance Ever

As if I didn't already know, I have confirmed that Terry is the world's greatest fiance. No offense intended toward other friends' and family members' fiances out there, but Terry really takes the cake. He and my awesome dad have been taking excellent care of me since the surgery yesterday, and I feel rather spoiled having such service. Dad has been helping me get ice for my leg, water to drink (I have become part camel since yesterday), and taking me out to practice climbing stairs with my crutches. Last night, Terry made a lasagna from scratch. How incredible is that? And it was absolutely delicious! Here's the recipe if ever you and/or your significant other is up for some comfort food. Cooking together is one of our favorite activities, so I hope you'll enjoy doing the same!

Awesome Air Kicks

While not specifically related to the wedding, my foot surgery certainly affects our wedding planning and the rest of our summer. I have a bunion on each of my feet. The condition has plagued me for as long as I can remember. Essentially, my big toe grows in the wrong direction, which causes immense pain most of the time. The condition can worsen based on genetics, activity levels, shoes, etc. Over the last few years, the pain has grown increasingly worse, so I opted for surgery. The procedure will be extremely routine, but I'm still very nervous about the recovery time. According to my doctor, I will be in a full cast and unable to put any kind of pressure on my right foot for the next six weeks. I have crutches, so I can get around, but I won't be able to drive or help much around the house. Ultimately, the next few weeks will be a great opportunity for me to rest, take care of minor chores (shredding old paperwork, for example), and research more vendors for the wedding. My dad came down today to take care of me for this first week while Terry works, and Terry is excited to take care of me after that, which is great, because he will be cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, and driving me everywhere! I'm very blessed to have such awesome men in my life.

If you're at all interested in the condition or procedure, or if you're a person who thinks bunions are "gross" (like my loving big brother), check out the website from my surgery center. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery! Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9). Here's to being able to do some awesome air kicks in six weeks!

The Music Man - Rob Mutzl

As Julie and I sit and enjoy ABC Family's Pixar Weekend (Toy Story and The Incredibles, my two favorites), I was inspired to add a little bit to our blog. Don't ask me why, but I was.

This one is a bit overdue. We've had our DJ booked for a little while now, but we haven't announced it to the world (not in blog form, at least). Well, I would like to "introduce" our DJ and Master of Ceremonies, Rob Mutzl.

Rob was the first DJ we met with and we were quite smitten with the guy. He's charming, personal, professional, and an all around good guy. We met over coffee at a Starbucks in Pleasonton and for the next hour, we got to know the dude. He offered plenty of tips and ideas for things we hadn't nailed down, like how we would introduce the bridal party, greet guests over dinner, and stuff like that. An added bonus is he's extremely familiar with our venue, the Palm Event Center, and even gave us some tips to make our wedding even better!

We loved Rob, and can't wait to work with him. He gives us plenty of updates, and always looks forward to meeting us when we're in the Bay Area. We honestly can't say enough about him, and we hope everyone in attendance will agree!

Until next time...enjoy a Pixar movie.

rhee bevere photography

Terry and I, convinced that we simply research rather successfully, only met with two photographers before deciding that Rhee is "the one." Of course, my hours on the Internet searching for a true photojournalist with experience at our venue and decent prices could only result in at least somewhat promising meetings, but we certainly did not expect the love-at-first-sight experience we got with Rhee.

Rhee's name shows up on every preferred vendor list in Northern California, and with good reason. She maintains a professional and light-hearted demeanor, treats her clients with respect, knows our venue well, and creates unbelievable work. Terry and I felt incredibly comfortable in our meeting with her and knew that she would preserve our memories beautifully for the wedding. Rhee's warm personality ensures me that our guests will feel comfortable enough to remain candid for all of the photos, a must for photojournalism.

Rhee's photography package includes an engagement session. We already have some awesome pictures from Rox, and we'll be taking more at UCLA this month, but we figure the engagement session with Rhee will provide us an opportunity to get to know her better before the wedding. Plus, we can take some pictures in the Bay Area, my favorite place!

We can't wait to get to know Rhee better over the next year! Meanwhile, check out her incredible portfolio. She is brilliant!

The Ring Story

No, this isn't the real story of how Terry got the ring. For that, you'll need to check out our previous post. This story, much more recent, makes me appreciate my ring all the more.

When Terry and I started talking seriously about marriage, we ventured out to Tiffany's to check out styles. The "experts" at Tiffany's, likely disappointed to find out we already had a diamond and would therefore not purchase a ring through them, promptly and with annoyance announced that my ring size was 6. Armed with our new knowledge, Terry proudly told Jeff, our jeweler, the proper size and his desired specifications. Jeff created my dream ring, but I have been dealing with it sliding side to side for eight months, and we finally brought the ring, along with the wedding ring, in for a legitimate sizing the last weekend in March. My parents would be coming down to LA the following weekend, so they would bring it with them.

The plan seemed perfect. How could it go wrong? Well, that's where Dad steps in. A brilliant man when it comes to police work, yard work, and navigating any roadway, my father is apparantly less than brilliant in understanding the intricacies of engagement rings versus wedding rings. You see, when my father proudly presented Terry with the "fixed ring," Terry smiled and thanked him. But it took a few minutes for us to realize that the wedding ring was what my dad thought was the engagement ring. Soon we all figured it out.

He had brought the wrong ring.

Now, of course, it wasn't the end of the world. The engagement ring sat safely at home in Fremont, and obviously the wedding band was safe. But, much to my dismay, I would suffer without a ring for a full month before I could get to the Bay Area.

Of course, my dad felt awful, but I assured him it would be okay. I tried my best not to make him feel bad, but I think that made him feel worse. The next day, incident forgotten, my dad presented me with a beautiful ring. To remedy his mistake, Dad had bought me a legitimate-looking cubic zirconia to stand in for my missing ring. He and my mom had both had the same idea while shopping at Macy's, and I was rather grateful to have something on my finger again.

While I wished to have my ring, I have to admit that my dad was quite sweet to pick up the rings from the jeweler, bring one (although the wrong one) to LA, and then purchase an $18 replacement to get me through the month. Plus, it's an awesome story.

Finally, after a month of yet another too-big ring, people asking where my real ring is, and missing the one Terry gave me, I have my ring back. We are keeping the fake one as a keepsake, but it's great to have the one Terry bought and designed for me. So that's the ring story.

Oh, and it fits!

The Ladies

I feel quite blessed to have truly wonderful ladies in my life. I don't have a sister, so my friends are my sisters, and I cannot imagine a better group of ladies! Plus, they all look great in pictures, and isn't that what really matters?



Winnie Ko | Maid (soon-to-be-Matron!) of Honor
Winnie and I met the summer after my second year at UCLA, in the Orientation Program. Her now-fiance, soon-to-be-husband, Brian, and I became great friends that summer, and Winnie and I grew close as their romance bloomed the following year. Between late-night Papa John's pizza, long talks about the men we love, and common friends and interests, Winnie and I have truly grown up together over the last few years. Terry and I love spending time with Winnie and Brian as often as we can, and Brian will also be a groomsman in the wedding! (Check out Terry's post about it here!) Winnie is generous, loving, and truly kind. She currently lives in my hometown, Fremont, and works in San Francisco in Public Relations. She and Brian will be moving after their wedding this August. I am so excited to have her next to me as Terry and I say our vows!



Fay Gordon | Bridesmaid
Fay now lives in Baltimore but still lights up my day whenever I hear from her. We are the millennium version of pen pals, except when Fay makes it out to California for a quick catch up over breakfast or a walk. Fay and I met through the Orientation Program as well, but we actually knew each other through the World Arts and Cultures major at UCLA first. I have always admired Fay's beauty, positivity, kindness, and sense of humor, and she makes me smile every time we chat. Fay is in her last semester of law school at the University of Maryland, and I am so excited to have her back in California soon! Knowing Fay will be with me as I marry Terry is such a wonderful honor.



Jennifer Marcella | Bridesmaid
In Fall 2005, after getting acquainted (also through the Orientation Program at UCLA), Jenn jetted off to Spain to study abroad for a few months. Several weeks into her trip, I received an e-mail detailing her European adventures, and our friendship took off. Jenn and I, both educators (preschool and high school, respectively), have an incredible talent for balancing excruciatingly detailed conversations about fashion with equally stimulating discussions about the most recent educational research articles. Jenn is currently working toward her Ph.D. in Early Childhood Education at UCLA and living with Terry and me in West LA. She is hilarious, sweet, and the definition of fun, so she'll be the life of the party at the wedding!



Amanda Schroeder | Bridesmaid
Amanda is one of the most hilarious people I know. We have a wonderfully sarcastic relationship, which began with a few jokes on Orientation Staff and developed into a true bond. We even lived together for a bit during Amanda's senior year (she did move out rather quickly, though, now that I think of it). Amanda gets me through tough days via Gchat, and she always knows how to time her humor perfectly to get me laughing. Additionally, Amanda hates being late, and she doesn't really like it when other people are late, so we know that she will get us all to the wedding on time. Amanda has been working hard for two years and is currently applying to business schools, so she will soon be an even more brilliant businesswoman. She majored in math and has an incredible career ahead!



Heidi Stohlman | Bridesmaid
Heidi and I met through the UCLA Spirit Squad in 2004, when she was a cheerleader and I was on the Dance Team. Heidi is always bursting with optimism and has the world's brightest smile. She and I lived together our senior year of college, and it has been an incredible blessing to grow closer to her and her future husband, Edward (wedding countdown: two and a half months!). One awesome memory we share is that Terry and I helped set up for and take pictures of Heidi and Ed's engagement, and they returned the favor when Terry proposed! Heidi is almost finished with her Masters in Physical Therapy through Cal State Northridge and will begin her career as a physical therapist this summer. (We are considering free massages as our wedding favors.)


UCLA certainly blessed me with some phenomenal women, and I cannot imagine my wedding without this fab five up there with me. Between the inevitable showers, parties, preparations, DIY disasters, dress bustling, and toasts, I hope to find a way to show them each how much they mean to me. I love that despite distance (well, except for Jenn), careers, school, bad cell phone service, and the traffic in LA, we've managed to stay close three years out of college, and I hope that friendship continues well into the future!

It's going to be legen - wait for it...

We are now less than 15 months away from the big day (425 days, give or take), and we have just hit another big moment in the wedding planning process. We officially have (drumroll please) our WEDDING PARTY! Now, I will not highlight the ladies, as Julie is really looking forward to giving the girls their due.

Soooo, on to the gents. The title of best man was bestowed on my best friend (aside from Julie) and brother, Kevin. On St. Patty's day, Julie and I joined my brother and his girlfriend, Jane, at Enterprise Fish Co. in Santa Monica. It'd been a while since I had seen Kevin, so I knew that I would ask him because who knows how long it would be before I saw him again (to be clear, we're not estranged or anything; he just has a really odd working schedule that only leaves him available on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. And he lives east of downtown). So I ordered up some Irish Car Bombs (a Heinrich celebration staple, despite the fact that we're not Irish), and I asked him over the quaff. Of course, my brother agreed, and I couldn't have been happier. Kevin is two years younger than me, has the smartest wit of anyone I know, and is the funniest and greatest guy I know. For those of you on Orientation Staff, you'll remember that my brother was the subject of my chair twice, so it's no real surprise that he is going to be right there beside me when I marry Julie.

And (in no particular order), the rest of my groomsman are Chris Lanier, Jesse Carrasco, Brian King, and Ed Duque.

Chris is Julie's brother, and needless to say, I was really nervous when I met the guy three years ago. Even though I'm a lot of things Chris doesn't like, like someone who says "The 5" instead of "Highway 5", or a Dodger fan, or... you know, a Southern California guy, he let me know early on that he approved of me dating his little sister. Over the years, we've built a really good relationship, and it's always a pleasure getting to talk with Chris over a beer when we're up north.

Jesse is...how do I put this...like me. We're basically the same person, right down to the wardrobe. We watch the same movies, read the same books (and graphic novels), and yeah, play the same video games. We're total geeks, but we get each other like no one else. I'm not ashamed to say that Jesse and I go on man-dates whenever there's a movie out that Julie has no interest in (I believe Kick-Ass is next on the list). He's one of my best buds, and I'm super excited that he agreed to be one of my groomsmen.

I've known Brian since my sophomore year at UCLA when I met him through Spring Sing. I got to know him further on the following summer's Orientation staff. Brian's another very funny dude and has been there to support me whenever needed. At UCLA, Brian provided me with assistance in being a Resident Assistant, Orientation Counselor, and Orientation Coordinator. Even after UCLA, whenever I catch up with Brian, it's always a discussion of what's to come and how to prepare for it.

Ed is one of the nicest guys around. I met Ed through Julie in my junior year, and he instantly made me feel like his best friend. When he asked me and Julie to assist in his proposal to his soon-to-be-wife, Heidi, I was thrilled, and doubly so when they were there to take photos of our engagement. Ed's a great guy and it's always blast to hang out with him.

So: Kevin, Chris, Jesse, Brian, and Ed. The groomsmen. The dudes. The guys. Can't wait celebrate with them!

...DARY!

Easter and Extended Family

This weekend, my parents drove down to LA to celebrate Easter with us and to meet Terry's extended family. I think we all felt a bit nervous for the big meeting, but the day's relaxed atmosphere put everyone at ease.

Weekends like this one can feel busy and stressful sometimes, but the fun food and outings made it worth any stress. We enjoyed Damon & Pythias, one of our old favorites, Ichima Sushi, one of our new favorites, and even a home-cooked meal. We played a game, took a long hike in Griffith Park, and enjoyed some incredible wine and conversation. Then today, we introduced my parents to two groups of Terry's family members. My family only consists of very few people, and I barely knew my grandparents before they passed away. I love spending time with Terry's family, and I feel so lucky that my parents seemed equally excited. In turn, Terry's family generously hosted us and seemed to enjoy getting to know my parents.

We feel incredibly lucky that our parents and families get along and support us in our relationship. I look forward to officially joining the Heinrich/Andersen family next year, and I know Terry is already part of the Lanier family!

**Note: This weekend also marked accomplishing one of our goals!

Finally, some progress!

For the last few months we have been itching to get something done. A long engagement has its benefits, of course: Plenty of time, less stress, more options for vendors, time to enjoy being engaged, etc. At the same time, however, a 22-month engagement also means we have no excuse to get things done quite yet. While we're still over a year out, we have no need to feel pressured to make decisions or book vendors, which is both comforting and frustrating. But very slowly, we are crawling closer to that year mark, and we can finally make some strides toward planning our wedding!

Last weekend, we ventured up north for a marathon weekend of meetings and appointments. Planning a "long-distance" (which I define as anything that can involve a plane ride) wedding requires serious organization. We have to book appointments far in advance and make sure that we schedule as many as possible. Otherwise, we have to wait perhaps a month or two before we can come up again. So we hauled our wedding binder back and forth between Dublin, Campbell, Cupertino, Livermore, and San Jose. We met with photographers and a DJ, visited a bridal salon (well, not Terry), checked out a bridal fair, and even spent time with some of our bridal party members.

While we didn't make any final decisions, the weekend felt extremely productive. Comparing different photographers really gave us an idea of what we are looking for and what we can expect to pay. Man, photographers are expensive! But as we've said, pictures last the longest and will capture those little moments we want to remember and share with our children. We will likely make our own albums, however, which can save upward of $1,000 through most photographers. As for style, we are picky about finding a true photojournalist for our wedding. We want few, if any, posed pictures; instead, we want the photographer to capture the mood and moments of the day. We also really want two photographers on site for the whole day so that we can get various angles and have plenty of choices for our prints. We hope to book a photographer within the next two months.

One element we are really looking for is professionalism in all of our vendors. Perhaps that's obvious, but we expect a certain level of respect, friendliness, organization, and attention during these meetings, and so far we have been extremely impressed with most people we've met. We also need to feel really comfortable with these people, because we have to feel able to honestly say what we do and don't want. Terry did an awesome job of lining up an interview with a great DJ, so we're off to a great start in two of the most important parts of the wedding!

In other news, we also had to have my ring resized because it was too big. Dropping it off at the jeweler was a special treat for me because I got to see my wedding ring again! Terry did such an incredible job of telling the jeweler exactly how to make it, and I cannot wait to get to wear the whole set next year!

We are busy now trying to plan our next trip up north, during which we hope to put down deposits on a photographer and a DJ. Expect some updates soon on our choices!

March already???

It seems impossible that March is here already, but, alas, here we are. Our wedding is inching closer, and we are still finding time to love engaged life!

2010 has been a fun challenge for us. Our New Year's resolutions and commitments to Lent have been great for helping us grow individually and as a couple. Our New Year's resolutions are to avoid fast food for a whole year, along with flossing daily and cooking a new recipe every Sunday night. We've had an awesome time coming up with new things to cook, though we miss In-N-Out! For Lent, we gave up sweets, which is probably going to kill me sometime soon, or I'll kill Terry because I'm craving sugar so desperately, but we're okay right now. I'll keep you updated. Meanwhile, work keeps us busy, but my cheer season has slowed so I can be home more with my fiance! Terry won't travel again until fall, so we are grateful for our time together.

In the way of wedding planning progress, we are nearing some important dates. Long-distance planning is tough at this stage, because we need to interview potential vendors. This month, however, we'll finally have a chance to get up north (our last trip was when we finalized our contract with The Palm Event Center. You can read about it here). During our weekend up there, we will meet with a few potential photographers and hopefully a DJ or two.

For photographers, I started by using the "Recommended Vendors" list from our venue. I also found some photographers on miscellaneous websites and used recommendations from friends. I then researched photographers' websites and focused on quality of the images, pricing and packages, and style. We're looking for a candid style that will capture the most important moments of the day, and, ideally, we would prefer two photographers for the whole day. We have always said photographs are one area we assume will take up most of our budget, and we could not have been more right. Photographers run at least a few thousand dollars, plus extra for overtime, travel, or any bonuses.

Dress shopping will (finally? already?) get underway this month, also. My mom and I will hit up our first store when I'm in the Bay Area. We've both looked at pictures of dresses we like, and our tastes are surprisingly similar, so hopefully we can get a good idea of what works with my body so that subsequent trips are easy and fun. Some of my favorite high school memories are of shopping for prom dresses with my mom, and I'm so excited to continue that tradition with her again!

A few weeks ago, Terry and I attended a Crate and Barrel "Wedding Party" in Beverly Hills. We chose Crate and Barrel for its high quality, range of products, and reasonable prices. At these Wedding Parties, the store opens early for couples who RSVP, and those couples get the entire store to themselves to register. We decided to check it out, regardless of how ridiculously early it is to register, and we had a BLAST! The Crate and Barrel staff was incredibly attentive, the breakfast was delicious (not to mention the mimosas!), and the empty store felt relaxed and easy. Only five other couples attended, so we essentially had the entire floor to ourselves. Terry got the scanner gun, and I got the checklist. We took off running!

Most of our kitchen gadgets are registered through Crate and Barrel, but we are also going to register for our honeymoon. Registering for a honeymoon is becoming a popular option for registries, especially for couples who live together before they are married. The idea is that someone can contribute to your honeymoon rather than giving either cash or a physical gift. There are plenty of companies who run these types of registries, but we are going with Honeyfund. Our friends Nick and Jocelyn used this site for their wedding registry last year and had no problems, so we're giving it a shot! Researching the honeymoon "items" that we're registering for makes us so excited for our trip. 16 months can't go by fast enough!

And lastly, our first set of engagement pictures are in! Our incredible photographer (and great friend), Roxanne Neal, with the help of her husband Chris, took some awesome shots of us at Point Dume in Malibu. She is so talented, and we were so excited to see our photos. We want to share them all eventually, but we haven't decided how we will use them all quite yet, so for now, enjoy one of our highlights!

17 Months to Go!

We don't have too much to update, but I'll share a few minor details.

Terry will be designing our save the dates and invitations. He is incredibly artistically talented, and I am so lucky to be marrying a man who has so many surprising gifts! Better yet, I'm lucky that he is so excited to be involved in the wedding planning process! While we won't reveal the final designs of the save the dates or invitations until they're all finished, I will share that Terry is creating them (from scratch!) using InDesign (Terry here - I'm using Adobe Illustrator at the moment, but I will soon be using InDesign when I want to make it ready for all to see), a software program that helps you...well...design stuff. He already has our invitations almost completely done, and we're still almost a year and a half out!

One aspect of the wedding we have nailed down is the color scheme. I have seen beautiful weddings in every color, and if I could create eight different color combinations I would. Silver, gold, and ivory. Chocolate and turquoise. Blue and gold (obviously). Black and white. I love looking at wedding magazines to check out different color combinations.

But our colors, I think, are going to work out great for us. Our main color will be olive green. The other colors we're incorporating are purple (hence the bouquet you saw in my earlier post), ivory, and dark grey. With one main color and three "accent" colors, we'll have lots of options for our centerpieces, paper items, and attendants' attire.

Terry's mom will be a big help in selecting our cake. I'm not big on what the cake looks like (though I do care what it tastes like, of course), but Sharron is excited to make sure we have a beautiful cake. I think I'd like to keep it simple and tasty, perhaps an ivory cake with a green "ribbon" or an ivory cake with green and purple accents.


I love the "draping" on this cake. It's actually from CakeABakin in Pacifica, California, a bakery that serves the greater Bay Area - something I'll definitely keep in mind as the date draws nearer!

We have also tossed around the idea of a small "ceremonial" cake for cutting and pictures, accompanied by an assortment of desserts. This option would cut costs and provide our guests with a variety of desserts to nibble on after a big meal. We certainly don't want to waste a full piece of cake each stuffed guest. But we want to look at all of our options before we decide. Taste comes first!

Our next steps for wedding planning will be:

1. Booking appointments to meet with photographers and DJs.
   
2. Dress shopping (I hope to have my dress purchased within the next six months).
3. Getting our second set of engagement shots taken so we can design the save the dates!

Things will certainly stay slow for the next few months, but by summer we expect to be in full swing!