Girl vs. guy's thoughts on wedding...

Me: So when you think of our wedding, what do you envision?

Garrett: I just see you. 

Me: Oh. Well, is my hair up or down? Or half-up?

Garrett: *grumbles*

Funny coincidence

There is a funny story to this picture, which I just came across a couple days ago. This photo was taken just outside of my dorm room freshman year at UCLA. Garrett, a newly-minted frat boy, was on his way back from a nurses and doctors themed party. He stopped by my room to say hi. At the time, I was back together with my ex-boyfriend after a 3 month break-up. During those 3 months, Garrett and I got to be better friends and even spent one night talking until 3 am! I guess you could say that's when we first started liking each other, but I was way too into my no-good ex and didn't see clearly at the time :)

Anyway, while Garrett was visiting our dorm room, he made a joke about being my boyfriend or kissing me or something - I don't even remember what the joke was. But, me being the feisty one, I said, "Well, you had your chance, but you blew it!" I was of course referring to that night when I was single and we stayed up talking until 3 am. His response to hearing that "he had his chance" was to go into the hallway and yell. He was drunk after a party, and it was funny. So I snapped this photo right afterwards. On February 21, 2003. Six years to the day he proposed.

The search for the perfect venue

So far, the most difficult part of planning the wedding has been trying to find a location! I really want a vineyard setting, and with a guest list of about 200 people, it limits us a lot. We have found several places that fit the bill so far, and they all happen to be in the Pleasanton/Livermore area, which is nice and convenient. Apparently it's the new up-and-coming wine country. Our top picks right now are:

• Palm Event Center (Pleasanton): very nice place with rustic barrels and beautiful palm lined entrance. This is probably our favorite right now.  www.palmeventcenter.com
• Casa Real (Pleasanton): this place is owned by the same people as Palm Event Center. It's location is not as good (right by an intersection) but it is gorgeous both inside and out. www.casarealevents.com
• Garre Vineyards (Livermore): this place is nice becuase it has a beautiful heritage oak tree that serves as the backdrop to the ceremony, as well as an indoor space for the reception. The Yelp reviews are so-so though; we are checking it out this weekend. www.garrewinery.com
• St. Francis Yacht Club (SF): Garrett's dad has a connection there who could sponsor our wedding (it's members only). If we were to do it at the yacht club, we could probably do a March wedding. I don't know if I'm the yacht club type, but the view of the Golden Gate bridge would be amazing.

Stay tuned for our final decision! We really hope to make up our minds within the next few weeks, as this is one of the most stressful parts of the whole process.

Amy's Wedding

So I am down in LA this weekend for the wedding of one of my oldest and dearest friends, Amy Yiu. I was a bridesmaid in her beautiful wedding to Andrew Huang on Saturday. 

Amy and Andrew had the ceremony at the Church of the Chimes in Sherman Oaks, a beautiful church featuring stained glass windows in Sherman Oaks. The long aisle made Amy's entrance that much more stunning. She looked absolutely gorgeous in her strapless ballgown. The ceremony was very traditional, and they changed their minds about doing personalized vows at the last minute. The minister noted that there is something to traditional vows that personal vows just lack - that element of the "promise" of sticking it out in the good and bad times. Personal vows, on the other hand, talk about the rosy aspects of the relationship while ignoring the more serious promise aspect of it. I thought that was an interesting observation and am now tempted to do the traditional vows instead. We'll see!

After the ceremony we went on a 4 hour picture taking spree. We took pictures in front of the church, at Fuller Seminary and City Hall in Pasadena. Amy is a born model - she seriously is the most photogenic person I've ever met. It was exhausting, but I am looking forward to seeing the result!

One thing I couldn't help but notice over the weekend is how stressful planning a wedding can be! I know it might seem obvious but there are so many little details that go into it. I have to commend Amy for keeping her calm when things went, well, not perfectly according to plan. For example, a box of decorations for the ceremony was lost en route, and it had the unity candles and flower girl basket plus ring bearer pillow in it. We improvised with some wooden bowls and I doubt anyone even noticed. That's the thing about wedding day mishaps - the guests rarely notice since they weren't in on the planning process all along. Amy did a great job of not letting the little things get to her and just relishing in her day as the bride. Another observation from last night is that weddings hardly allow the couple time to enjoy themselves! I felt sorry for poor Amy and Andrew who spent most of the night going to each table to toast and take photos with the guests. It seemed like they hardly had time to eat. 

Speaking of eating, the reception was held at a Chinese restaurant - yum! We had 11 courses, including Peking duck, shark fin soup, abalone and honey walnut prawn! Sooo good. It was nice to see all of Amy's hard work come together - she planned the whole thing herself. Very inspiring for me, as I want to plan most of my wedding myself too. Congrats Amy and Andrew!!

Possible Wedding Dates

So originally, we were thinking of getting married March 20, 2010 - the first Saturday of Spring Break of 3L Year. However, it's becoming pretty apparent that 1) most places are already booked for that date, and 2) since I want an outdoor ceremony, that isn't the best time weather-wise. So as of now, we are thinking of having the wedding in August or September 2010, after I pass the bar (notice the optimism here). I think Sunday of Labor Day weekend (Sept 5, 2010) sounds like a good option, because it would be convenient for out-of-town guests. What do you think?

EDIT: A friend of mine says flights and hotels are more expensive Labor Day weekend, but I just checked Kayak.com and flights from JFK to SFO on Labor Day weekend of this year are the same as any other weekend in September. Of course, it is 6 months out, so that may change. Any thoughts? I still think it seems like a more convenient weekend because people wouldn't be missing work, and after all, work = money too.

The Proposal!

Garrett proposed almost a month ago, on Saturday, February 21 (my brother's birthday).  I thought I'd share the story for those of you who haven't heard it in full detail. 

A few days before the proposal day, Garrett told me that he was going to take me whale watching at Stinson Beach. He said his friend Ryan had a coworker who knew all about whalewatching and we would go with them. I was a little suspicious (ok - a lot suspicious) because Stinson Beach is a special place for us - we had one of our first dates there and also celebrated our 5 year anniversary there. The few days before the proposal, I kept looking for clues and hints but I really wasn't sure. Then, the morning of, Garrett said we were meeting Ryan for donuts in San Rafael before we headed to Stinson Beach. That's when I figured the proposal wasn't going to happen after all, since his friend coming with us was now a reality.

Little did I know, this was all part of Garrett's plan to throw me off. We did end up meeting Ryan for donuts, and then we were supposed to meet him at the beach. He called us on our way to the beach to let us know he would be late because he needed to get gas. We got to the beach and sat down on a towel, waiting for Ryan (or so I thought). I started getting antsy and cold - at one point I even wanted to go back to the car! But then, around 30 minutes after we had gotten to the beach, Garrett told me to stand up because Ryan was there. When I stood up, he pointed to the sky and I saw a plane with a banner that read, "Monacs, will you marry me?" Actually, it said "Moncas" because they misspelled it - but neither of us noticed until later)

 I turned around and there he was, down one on knee, grinning, and said "will you marry me?" I was so surprised since I had convinced myself it wasn't going to happen, that my immediate response was "Are you kidding me?! Are you kidding me?!" and then I said "Yes!". The ring is beautiful and everything I could have wanted - just my style. After the proposal, we started walking back to the parking lot. Just then, I said to Garrett: "Does anyone else know about this?" and he responded, "I think those people do." There, in the parking lot were both of our families! My parents, my aunt and uncle from Romania, Garrett's mom, dad and little brother. 

My favorite part of the day was how he invited our families to be a part of it. When you get engaged I think the first thing you want to do is share it with the ones nearest and dearest to you and it was nice to be able to do that. We had brunch together in celebration of the engagement. It was a wonderful proposal, and I am so excited that I get to marry my best friend. 

Welcome!

 I thought this blog would be a nice way of sharing all my wedding ideas and plans with my closest friends, since we are all so busy! I like the blog format because it enables you to comment and share your thoughts with me too. Plus, it's a great excuse to procrastinate. Because we all need more distractions, right?