Bridal Shower and Dress Fitting

This weekend I flew up north for the final time before the wedding. Terry stayed home to work on his final paper, so I spent some quality time with my parents on Friday night. Saturday we woke up early for a workout, and then Mom and I finally found my earrings for the wedding at Nordstrom! The jewelry line is Nadri - I love them!

Next we headed to Monika's Alterations in Pleasanton, where, I'm convinced, the world's greatest seamstress makes magic happen. I got to try on my newly-altered dress, and it fits great! Monika only had a few changes to make, but they made a huge difference. Plus, she added a bustle, which looks really great with the dress. I even got to try the dress with my shoes, and I can walk and everything! My mom also brought in her dress for alterations, and I am so excited - she looks simply gorgeous in her dress. Now both mothers have their dresses, and the dads have their tuxedos - everyone is going to look incredible!

One fun part of the "small town" feel of Pleasanton/Livermore valley is that we often get a chance to meet other couples getting married at the Palm Event Center. Yesterday, at the fitting, I got to meet the bride getting married the night before us at the Palm! She looked stunning in her dress, and it was so fun to meet and share the excitement of our upcoming weddings.

After the fitting, we headed up to Lafayette for a bridal shower at my Aunt Dawn Lynn's house. Dawn Lynn did such a beautiful job, and the day was just so special. She had awesome snacks, GREAT wine, and a fun game. It was so great to spend a day with all the ladies, including my mom, my "second mom" Diane, my aunt Sue, Terry's mom, Terry's close family friend, my brother's fiancee, my cousins, my maid of honor, and one of my mom's friends. I know everyone had a great time, thanks to my aunt! Check out some pictures from the day:

Amazing little touches everywhere!

We made the "countdown plate"!

My mom and future sister-in-law (my brother's fiancee, Ashley).

My aunt Sue, me, my aunt (and the hostess) Dawn Lynn, and maid of honor Winnie.

My beautiful cousins.

Dad loading the gifts and rehearsal "bow-quet" into the car.

An amazing weekend, and now, as my uncle informed me, we're only five weeks from the wedding! Here we go...

All roads converge

Sometimes I like to think about all the things that had to happen in order for Terry and me to meet, fall in love, and end up where we are now. It may seem easy, but it's amazing how it all came together. Somehow, we both had to end up at UCLA. While a decent student in high school, I wasn't exactly the 4.6 GPA you see applying to today's colleges. Terry was a phenomenal student in high school, earned a full ride elsewhere, and somehow felt that UCLA was the best choice.

Somehow we both had to apply to the Orientation Program in the summer of 2006. I had already been a counselor the year before, which never would have happened if an ex-boyfriend hadn't wanted the position. I went with him to the information meeting, applied, and loved the job, so I applied again the following year. Terry, on the other hand, never would have applied if he had stayed on the UCLA Football team, which he walked onto his freshman year. I am so grateful he opted for Orientation instead!

Of course, there are a million other little things that had to happen to get us here. Every now and then I like to think about that and give thanks for those million things. I know we work hard at our relationship and that we have a lot of say in our future, but I have no doubt that there is another force at work here. We were made for each other!

Just a few updates

Apparently we're in crunch time, as everyone keeps reminding me, so I feel like I should update the ol' blog to provide you with some insight into the alleged insanity. I'm sad to say that this will be a rather anticlimactic post if you're expecting a frenzied bride and annoyed groom, because we haven't had more than a few minutes (literally!) to do wedding stuff lately! We are so excited for Memorial Day, because we are 100% free to run errands and get organized for the last few weeks before the big day.

Not to say it hasn't all been fun. In the last few weeks we've celebrated Terry's 25th birthday, worked (a lot), visited with friends (a little), driven into the Bay Area, bought a car, laughed at our adorable kitten, enjoyed a few great meals, and completed half of our scuba diving certification. We're just ready for a little down time.

As far as wedding stuff goes, the last few weeks have included creating a partial honeymoon itinerary, finalizing our ceremony details, updating RSVPs, and creating the day-of schedule for the bride, groom, parents, and bridal party. Of those, the honeymoon takes the cake as the most fun and easiest to plan! Our tentative London schedule includes:

• Westminster Abbey
• Clarence House
• Hyde Park
• Kensington Palace
• Green Park
• Buckingham Palace
• Waterloo Station/Bridge
• Victoria and Albert Museum
• "Les Miserables" at the Queen's Theatre
• British Museum
• King's Cross
• River Cruise
• London Eye
• St. Paul's Cathedral
• Tate Modern
• Millennium Bridge
• "Much Ado About Nothing" at the Globe Theatre
• National Gallery
• National Portrait Gallery
• Trafalgar Square
• Waterstone's Bookstore
• Tower of London
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (YES - IN LONDON!!!)
• Big Ben & Houses of Parliament

PHEW! I guess if you're going to do London, you have to do London. We're adventurers, and we're not really into relaxing on vacation, apparently, so there you go. Any other suggestions, please e-mail us!!!

In other SUPER exciting wedding news, my amazing aunt is throwing me a bridal shower up north with my relatives from the area. I am so excited and honored. I remember my aunt's wedding and her gorgeous dress and flowers, and I can't believe that now she's throwing my bridal shower! I have always looked up to my aunt because she throws incredible Thanksgiving dinners and is such a gracious hostess. This is also the aunt who generously provided my great-grandmother's diamond with which Terry proposed. Since we are so close with her, my uncle, and their daughters, we have asked Barbara and Chase, my cousins, to serve in our ceremony. These gorgeous young ladies will present the bride - they are responsible for opening and closing the doors during the processional and eventually opening the doors when my dad and I are starting our walk down the aisle. I hope they're excited!

So that's it for now. My school year ends June 10th, and Terry graduates June 11th, so we can get much more focused on the wedding at that point. I promise far more interesting and exciting blog posts!

Meanwhile, 52 days to go!

Two months and one day...

This weekend, Terry, Scout, and I ventured up north for a few important appointments (not to mention wishing my mom a very happy Mother's Day).

First, we had our finalization meeting with our venue, the Palm Event Center. Our coordinator, Monique, knows absolutely everything about weddings at this gorgeous location, and we know she will take care of all the little details leading up to and on the big day. Before the meeting, we had to complete a ridiculously detailed questionnaire - and I'm so grateful we did! The questions illustrate that the venue takes our event seriously and that they truly know what they are doing. My mom was amazed at all the details we need to think about, and Monique put our minds at ease. She was able to provide some insight regarding a few of our decisions, and we'll be much more able to finish the rest of our planning with her guidance.

We also had an appointment to meet the woman who will make all the alterations on my gown. First we stopped at J'aime Bridal, the salon where I purchased my dress, to pick it up. My dad and Terry convinced me that it wouldn't be far to walk to the alterations place, and you should have seen it: I had my giant dress bag in my arms, and I ended up having to walk at least three blocks with a 25-pound (perhaps only a slight exaggeration) dress. Regardless, I made it to the alterations place, Monika's Alterations, with my mom, and the dress still makes my heart race. The seamstress will need to take it in a bit (yay!), and of course she's adding a bustle. My mom was even happy with the price, so everyone wins!

And then, to top off a rather productive day, Terry and I bought a car! We have been planning to purchase a car for awhile, and a family friend happened to have one ready for us this weekend. Obviously, it's the largest purchase we've made together, and it was both scary and exhilarating to sign all those papers and make that down payment. We ended up with an awesome 2011 KIA Sorento. On the way back to my parents' house, we discussed how exciting it is that this car will eventually take us on road trips and carry car seats and move us into the first house we buy. Amidst all the wedding planning, it's even more exciting to plan for our marriage.

Last wedding planning weekend up north

Tomorrow, Terry and I head up north for two major wedding planning moments: my first dress alterations appointment and our finalization meeting with our venue.

We're excited and anxious about the meeting with the Palm Event Center, which is where both our ceremony and reception will take place. We had to complete an extensive questionnaire regarding every detail of our wedding, from guest count to where the escort cards will go to what we want to do with the centerpieces after the wedding to what time our photographer will leave. I'm so grateful to be working with such an experienced venue. I have approximately 850 questions, and they seem prepared to answer all of them. I'm excited for all of the details to start coming together!

65 days...

Wasn't it perfect???

I'm currently watching the wedding for a second time, this viewing with all the commentary beforehand and (finally) getting to watch the balcony kiss. I know it's been beaten to death, but, seeing as this is a wedding blog, I absolutely must provide a few comments, if only as a mini-time capsule upon which I can later look back.

It was truly perfect. From the Abbey to the gown to the vows, I thought the wedding was breathtaking. Catherine is such a gorgeous bride, and of course William is a total hunk, especially in that uniform. Here are my favorite parts:

William and Kate broke with some traditions. Weddings are traditional affairs, and Terry and I are huge fans of that tradition. I love the ancient vows, giving away the bride, and not seeing each other before the ceremony. But of course, some traditions simply don't fit with the couples. William is not wearing a wedding band, and they chose to arrive via car instead of carriage. The Queen was apparently not thrilled with the latter choice but ultimately lent Kate her 1950 Rolls Royce. I felt a bit relieved to know that even the royals break tradition, because Terry and I are breaking a few as well, much to the chagrin of our mothers. For example, I will not walk down the aisle to "Here Comes the Bride." (Then again, neither did Kate! We could pretend it's a British wedding!)

My favorite part of the wedding today was the Bishop of London's sermon, which included, "Marriage is intended to be a way in which man and woman help each other to become what God meant each one to be." What a beautiful way to summarize the true ideal of marriage - that two people can be joined by God to then grow and become greater than they ever could be independently. I do feel that Terry makes me the best version of myself, and I hope I can help him continue to grow as an amazing man.

I wish the best for William and Kate's future - may the fairy tale end in "happily ever after!"

Royal Wedding Countdown - Six Hours!!!

No, I'm not staying up until 3 am to watch, but I am waking up at five so I can quickly fast forward through and watch the ceremony before work. I imagine this feeling is close to how excited I'll be on my actual wedding day. (I am only exaggerating slightly.) How will I sleep?!

There has been some talk about how crazy people are for being so excited, but I find the whole thing fascinating, romantic, and historical. And of course, there's the cliche - it's a real life fairy tale. But it's more than a fairy tale; it seems as though William and Kate have created a solid foundation for their relationship, and I look forward to watching their wedding. (Okay, let's face it, I'm slightly more excited than that.) That said, I'm off to bed to rest up for the big day!

Cheers to the bride and groom!