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!