Ahem. This will not be a long post, I just wanted to poke my head in and say hello.
As Therese says, I asked her to marry me earlier this month at a local restaurant we like. We are already in the thick of planning - we are visiting Austin in two weeks, and we will be visiting a couple of prospective venues. We are hoping to have a fairly simple ceremony, with reception to follow immediately. If we get the location straightened out, we can start on menu and entertainment, and be fairly well on our way.
There are all kinds of different approaches to weddings, as I am coming to realize. Some favor keeping it simple and doing for themselves, some people go to Disney World and hand over their plastic. This is what it comes down to for me - a wedding should be fun. So keep the ceremony nice but brief, provide good food and decent booze, and let people eat, drink, dance, sing, tell stories, or just sit and enjoy. It's a party, right?
When my grandfather passed away one of the things that struck me was that a funeral is not for the dead, but for the living. Similarly, but in a happy way, the wedding is more for the community, for the family and friends, than it is for the couple, who would hopefully honor and support each other in any event. So to everyone planning to attend either wedding, let me say right now - I hope you enjoy it, and I hope that you are glad that you came.
Last, please bear with my fiancee. Therese can be a completist in general, and especially about something like this. I am doing my best to keep her from running herself into the ground, so if she is slow to reply to correspondence, please be patient. She has a lot on her plate right now.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
And It Begins
Welcome to Jess' and my blog; this is Therese with the first post. Currently we are scrambling (well, I am) to start with who to invite, how many people to invite, what colors, what dress, and so on. We do have about a year and more to plan for both weddings (wait, two? yes, two), but I firmly believe it's better to stress now than later. However, before we get too embroiled planning, here is how it started.
Jess had planned to buy my engagement ring before Christmas, but it was too close to the holidays that they would only deliver in January, so he decided to postpone it 'til then. He got the ring the first week of January 2010 and had it delivered at work. Unbeknownst to me, he had it in his bag; I had put a bag of chocolates for him to share right next to the box! After that, he hid it in a safer place ;) That Friday, January 8 2010, under the guise of celebrating our monthsary (Jan 10, but I worked, so we went out Jan 8 instead), we had dinner at T'afia, and after dinner, before dessert, he gave me a card that asked me to marry him, and as I was reading, whipped out a box...with a shiny sparkly ring inside it. Even as we had talked about this day, I was still floored. I covered my mouth, looked at him all shocked, and squeaked, "really?" and proceeded to softly, in shocked tones, "What! Are you serious?!" to which Jess replied a tad exasperatedly (if still affectionately), "What do you think?!" Then I asked why. And yes, Jess, maybe it's not a why question but a yes-or-no one (however, I still think most questions are why questions) So in the end, I covered my eyes, peeked and squeaked, "ok." I'm shy like that. :)
We tell family (and facebook) the happy news not too long after, and now it's plan, plan, plan. We have sent out a poll of some sorts of who is probably going to the ceremonies, which are:
1) Jan. 15, 2011 in Manila, Philippines --> where I grew up and where most of my family and childhood friends still reside
2) Sept. 10, 2011 in Austin, Texas (USA) --> where Jess grew up and where most of his family and childhood friends still reside; also closer to where we met and now live: Houston, Texas!
So we've come up with the dates, so far, which I think is always the first step. I have also been accumulating a wedding/related lit collection of sorts, and reading several blogs, all of which have been helping with ideas and so on. To this end, I wanted a color theme that the entourage can use again afterwards, at the same time not black per my mother's preference, so after much discussion, the happy medium of a color theme is royal blue, with touches of ivory, and flower-wise, with touches of lemon yellow and apple green. I think royal blue is a pretty universal color, and not too hard to find, as well.
We have also more or less firmed up our entourage, so yay! As for the very-important wedding dress, I am still toying with the idea of buying secondhand, or having a tailor make it, but if it doesn't work out, or is comparable to a designer dress, I will probably have it made by a Philippine designer, Patrice Ramos-Diaz. She is not cheap, but I've loved her designs for years, so. I recently contacted her office, and her assistant asked me to make a "mood board" of favorite images, etc so they can determine from there how to go about designing my dress. It's kind of a cool concept. She added that I can show that to the florist, etc as well.
My recent addition to my "team" is an old-fashioned, old school address book. Excel was too much of a pain and took too long: I got those addresses/contact info on paper by alphabet and as of now, I am proud and pleased to say I have replied to everyone who's written me for possible wedding attendance, as well as written their contact details down; natch. A tip I got from a friend was to leave the opposite page blank for notes/gifts received/etc. Hmm.
Now, with address book in hand, I feel more equipped to face the planning process. Jess has been looking at venues and pricing; we hope to resolve that soon, too.
Onward we go!
Song of the day: You and Me by DMB
Jess had planned to buy my engagement ring before Christmas, but it was too close to the holidays that they would only deliver in January, so he decided to postpone it 'til then. He got the ring the first week of January 2010 and had it delivered at work. Unbeknownst to me, he had it in his bag; I had put a bag of chocolates for him to share right next to the box! After that, he hid it in a safer place ;) That Friday, January 8 2010, under the guise of celebrating our monthsary (Jan 10, but I worked, so we went out Jan 8 instead), we had dinner at T'afia, and after dinner, before dessert, he gave me a card that asked me to marry him, and as I was reading, whipped out a box...with a shiny sparkly ring inside it. Even as we had talked about this day, I was still floored. I covered my mouth, looked at him all shocked, and squeaked, "really?" and proceeded to softly, in shocked tones, "What! Are you serious?!" to which Jess replied a tad exasperatedly (if still affectionately), "What do you think?!" Then I asked why. And yes, Jess, maybe it's not a why question but a yes-or-no one (however, I still think most questions are why questions) So in the end, I covered my eyes, peeked and squeaked, "ok." I'm shy like that. :)
We tell family (and facebook) the happy news not too long after, and now it's plan, plan, plan. We have sent out a poll of some sorts of who is probably going to the ceremonies, which are:
1) Jan. 15, 2011 in Manila, Philippines --> where I grew up and where most of my family and childhood friends still reside
2) Sept. 10, 2011 in Austin, Texas (USA) --> where Jess grew up and where most of his family and childhood friends still reside; also closer to where we met and now live: Houston, Texas!
So we've come up with the dates, so far, which I think is always the first step. I have also been accumulating a wedding/related lit collection of sorts, and reading several blogs, all of which have been helping with ideas and so on. To this end, I wanted a color theme that the entourage can use again afterwards, at the same time not black per my mother's preference, so after much discussion, the happy medium of a color theme is royal blue, with touches of ivory, and flower-wise, with touches of lemon yellow and apple green. I think royal blue is a pretty universal color, and not too hard to find, as well.
We have also more or less firmed up our entourage, so yay! As for the very-important wedding dress, I am still toying with the idea of buying secondhand, or having a tailor make it, but if it doesn't work out, or is comparable to a designer dress, I will probably have it made by a Philippine designer, Patrice Ramos-Diaz. She is not cheap, but I've loved her designs for years, so. I recently contacted her office, and her assistant asked me to make a "mood board" of favorite images, etc so they can determine from there how to go about designing my dress. It's kind of a cool concept. She added that I can show that to the florist, etc as well.
My recent addition to my "team" is an old-fashioned, old school address book. Excel was too much of a pain and took too long: I got those addresses/contact info on paper by alphabet and as of now, I am proud and pleased to say I have replied to everyone who's written me for possible wedding attendance, as well as written their contact details down; natch. A tip I got from a friend was to leave the opposite page blank for notes/gifts received/etc. Hmm.
Now, with address book in hand, I feel more equipped to face the planning process. Jess has been looking at venues and pricing; we hope to resolve that soon, too.
Onward we go!
Song of the day: You and Me by DMB
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