Honeymoon (635 photos), by reema tandan

Here are our pictures from our honeymoon! (The first few are from the reception...) Hope you enjoy!!! Click here to view photos

Wedding (824 photos), by reema tandan

Here is a link to our wedding photos. Thank you to Olivia and Jason Moore of Moore Family Photography. More pictures to come (from others)!! Click here to view photos

Marriage License

Just a quick update...

We went and got our marriage license this morning! Looks like we are all good to get married in 29 more days! Can you believe it? I sure can't.

Next on our calendar for the day, our 30 day appointment with Cheri and Chantal at the hotel. Hooray! :)

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Our New Car

Well, Chris and I had another big life change this past weekend. We bought our first car together! Very exciting, but a little crazy. This is the first time I have shopped for a car without a family member. I mean, Chris is my future family, but you know what I mean!

We bought a Honda Accord. Chris's car that will no longer be named was not the best car in the world. It was shiny, black and fast...but that was about it. It had a mess of issues like so many VW's have. We were very happy to get rid of it.

Here is a picture of what Chris thinks of the old car... (look closely)

And the new car...

Reminders...

Hi Everyone! Just wanted to send out a few reminders to everyone. If you are interested in reserving a room under our room block please do so by September 23, 2010. Please call Kirstin Lloyd at 281-558-8338, ext 1100 or email klloyd@omnihotels.com or call 1-800-THE-OMNI. When you call in please mention that you are booking for the Tandan-Kasavich Wedding. The room rate is $99 per night and the room block is for October 7 - October 9.

Please also remember to send your RSVP cards back! It is important for Chris and I to have this information so we can seat our guests properly and also know what you want to eat.

Thank you and we can't wait to see you all soon!!

Reception Tasting

Yesterday Chris and I went to taste all the food that will be served at the reception. It was ever so tasty! I have a few pictures from it, but will have to upload those later since I don't have the camera with me.

By now you should have received your invitations and inside is an rsvp card asking for your meal selection since we are doing a seated dinner rather than a buffet. Please make sure to check what you would like, either veggie or non veggie. The options are Eggplant Parmesan or Chicken with a Champagne Sauce and Mushrooms. Both are very tasty, but I prefer the chicken since I am not a huge fan of eggplant. The eggplant was really the only veggie option that sounded like a meal. The rest were things like grilled vegetables and rice and that just did not sound like enough food to feed our vegetarian friends. We want to make sure all of our guests are fed well.

We also tried the salad and the apps that they will be serving that day. All were delicious. I am not going to tell you what those are so you can be a little surprised the night of the reception.

Just a note...you cannot make your selection the day of or change your mind at the reception. Chris and I need to know what you want so the hotel can make the correct number of dishes for our guests by September 15, as indicated on the response card.

And They are Off...

Invitations that is. Chris and I put them in the mail Saturday morning. Please be on the lookout for them and send back the RSVP cards before September 15th please! See you in October!!

Stuffing Party!

Invitations are stuffed, sealed and ready to be mailed! Wow, I guess we really have to get married. :) Thank you to my bridesmaid, Ginger, hostesses, Margo and Kimberly and good friend, Stephanie for coming over this evening to help me stuff what seemed like the most complicated mailing I have ever done in my life. Just a reminder, I do a lot of mailings for my job.

Of course I tempted them with pizza and wine and Chris made cookies for all of us. Thanks honey!

Invitations will be put in the mail on Saturday, so be on the lookout for those in your mailboxes and PLEASE send the rsvp cards back! PLEASE!!! It will make my life just a little easier.

Here are a few pictures from the stuffing party...

Bridal Shower

Oh my! The wedding is getting close. My bridal shower was held earlier this month and it was wonderful! Thank you so much to my aunt, Monika Masi, Rehka Auntie, Ginger, Erin, my mom and everyone else who was there. It was such a special day and I felt so loved!

My friends all learned where I get my hostessing skills that day. I take after the women in my life who also love to entertain.

Here are a few pictures from the afternoon.

The entrance to Monika's House

My very cute penguins my aunt made for the party

The hostesses with the mostesses (and Prisha)

Kimberly, Margo and me...my two hostesses for the wedding

Ginger, Erin and Me - Two of my Three Bridesmaids

Dina, Jamie and Me

June Update (in July)

Update time! Sorry I haven't been posting. It has been a busy month.

Let's see...what is going on in the life of Reema and Chris. We celebrated my 29th birthday earlier in the month. My last birthday as a Tandan and of my 20s... kind of a big deal. Chris and I celebrated with my family by going out to dinner at Fadi's and then making our way over to Dessert Gallery for cake. It was a fun evening and I was happy to celebrate with everyone. That Friday we went out with our friends to a great sushi restaurant and then to our favorite wine bar (Block 7).

On June 15th we celebrated our one-year anniversary of being engaged. I still can't believe it has been a year since Chris asked me to marry him. Time certainly has gone by fast. We celebrated by going to dinner at Max's Wine Dive (which is where I actually wanted to go the night he proposed, but for some reason I thought there was an event happening that night. There wasn't, so we could have gone there). I know it isn't where we went last year, but hey, it's owned by the Tasting Room!

At the end of the month Chris and I booked our honeymoon! We will be spending 7 glorious days in Hawaii. We booked 99 days before the wedding and 100 days before the reception. Booking the honeymoon reminded both of us that the wedding is almost here! I cannot wait. We just need to make it through the next 3 months and we will finally be married.

And finally...Chris is finished with his MBA! He finished this week and is an honor graduate. I am so proud of him and all the work that he has done to get this degree. Needless to say, there will be a celebration at the end of the month. I will post pictures once that happens.

Until next time...have a great 4th of July everyone!

Wedding Ring Shopping

One more thing to check off the list! Chris and I bought our wedding bands in the middle of May. Yes, I know it is June and I haven't blogged in a month. Sorry!

Regardless, we drove up to San Antonio on a Saturday morning and after our regular stop at Buckees we made our way to Americus Diamonds.



This is the same store that Chris bought the engagement ring. I had my ring cleaned and tightened and enjoyed a glass of Cristalino. While waiting Chris and I looked at some of the other rings. Of course my eyes went to the 5 karat diamonds. The salesman saw me looking and pulled a beautiful square cut diamond that was about as big as my hand. Maybe in 25 years we can upgrade to that ring, but for now I am satisfied with my ring. :)

Once my ring came back out we started looking for Chris's ring. Mine was already picked out. It matches the band on my engagement ring. I love it!! Chris's took a little while longer, but he found something he liked (and that I was okay with!). I really wanted to wear my ring for the rest of the day, but that was not allowed. Oh well, I just have four more months to wait for it.

Guest Book Added!

We added a guest book down at the bottom of the page. I know you have to sign in on google to write comments and that can be annoying. So, we added this to the bottom of the page! We would to ready your comments.

Reema and Chris

So Thankful...

I am so incredibly thankful for Chris and my relationship. We had a big scare last night, but thankfully everything is okay. I don't feel like going into all of the details but the short story is I ate something that got caught in my throat. I could breathe and was talking and walking, so we knew it was okay for the most part. Chris rushed me into the car and got me to the emergency clinic. Note to all of you, if you have a minor emergency where you aren't bleeding and are still bleeding, go to one of these places. I didn't even have to sit in the waiting room.

They took my vitals, gave me some really good medicine to relax me (I was extremely relaxed). I played be-jeweled on Chris's phone - he said I wouldn't stop. They came and took me for a CT scan, but this point the drugs had hit and I remember looking up and thinking there were a set of eyes staring at me.

Finally they took me back to my room and gave me even more meds to knock me out for the most part, but I was still awake. I have no recollection of being awake. I thought I went to sleep. They also asked Chris to leave the room at this point. That made me sad and I know Chris wasn't to happy to not be there with me.

Regardless, they did get the object out of my throat. They called Chris back in and I was saying something they couldn't asked. They asked Chris what I was saying. He said, she says "I am not going to floss tonight".

They took another x-ray to make sure everything was gone and eventually let us go home. Chris said we were home by midnight. That really isn't a bad amount of time to be at a clinic...8 pm - 12 am. Had we gone to the emergency room I would have gotten home at noon today.

I am so thankful that Chris is on his toes about things like this and knew what he had to do to make sure I was okay. I hope I would be the same for him as well. Though, I hope nothing like this happens again.

...I have the scans from the CT...I can't upload them...but once I look at them I will determine if I want to put them online.

Call Me Bond...James Bond

Nothing makes me happier than checking off a "to do" on our wedding checklist. Today, we got to check off the tux rentals.

Chris and I went over to Men's Warehouse today and picked out what he, the groomsmen and ushers will be wearing the night of the reception. Chris did ask why I needed to go since he has no say in what I or my bridesmaids wear, but in reality I was just there to fill out the paperwork (Chris's handwriting is not the best) and to make sure my email was on there somewhere so I could keep track of who has gone for their fittings. I am leaving it up to Chris to get all of the guys to do this, but I would like to be in the loop about it. I must say, Chris did a great job picking everything out. The guys are going to look so handsome!

We also came up with a great title for our wedding ceremony. It is a Hindapalian Wedding. Thank Chris for that one!

Hooray for another completed task! Now to figure out outfits for my bridesmaids and also what I am going to wear...

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! We hope you all had a wonderful day. Chris and I celebrated Easter in our own way today. No big egg hunts, no big gathering...just the two of us making good food together and spending time together.

Chris made a delicious ham made with mustard (that made me nervous), ginger snaps, brown sugar and scotch. The recipe called for bourbon, but all we had was Chris's 15 year old Glenfiddich, expensive way to make a ham, we know! I made my famous roasted potatoes with garlic and rosemary (fresh from the backyard) and some bacon and cheese scones. Chris used my pig cookie cutter for the scones.

Piggy Piggy!

Lunch was so very tasty, but we had way too much food for the two of us. Looks like we will be making ham sandwiches this week. I plan to make a ham and cheese quiche tomorrow for dinner (possibly using the leftover dough from the bacon and cheese scones). I also made spring sugar cookies on Friday that I was going to frost but I never got around to it. Though honestly, these cookies did not need anything else to make them taste any better. Chris said they were like crack!

We spent the rest of the afternoon outside reading. It was too pretty of a day to stay inside. Eventually we came back inside and had dessert. Dessert was a slice of toffee-licious cake from Dessert Gallery that I bought Friday. We also watched "Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown" which is completely inappropriate for kids. Marci and Peppermint Patti are out shopping and cooking unsupervised throughout the episode. We love all of the Charlie Brown holiday episodes and try to watch the specific holiday episode on the holiday. This is a tradition we hope to continue throughout our lives.

That's all for today! Again, Happy Easter! Until our next post.

We are So Excited...

And we just can't hide it! Why are we so excited? So much has happened in the last few weeks that has given us something to celebrate. Our wedding is 6 months away, things are going well in both of our jobs and Chris is doing well in school.

Now for the good news...Chris will be done with his MBA in July instead of August! He has been in school since January 2008 and it has been a long two years. This summer he was planning on taking two classes during summer sessions (one during each session). Well, he was able to find two on-line classes during the first session that deal with what he is focusing on with his MBA. So yes friends, we will be having a party in July. It will more than likely be a late birthday party for me, an early birthday for Chris, a graduation party and a Fourth of July party.


And the other news...I am the newest coordinator of Something Planned, LLC. You can see my introduction on their blog Something Planned, LLC. I am so incredibly excited about this! I have been working with Cheri as an assistant for a few weddings and I am now her second coordinator in case someone wants to book an event/wedding on a day she is already working with someone else. Next week I get to go to the wedding rehearsal for the wedding I am assisting at this weekend to learn the ropes of the rehearsal. This is such a wonderful opportunity and I am so happy that it is happening to me! Cheri, the owner and my wedding coordinator, is such a wonderful business woman and will be such a great mentor for me. And yes, I am still working at the Museum.

And the final news for excitement...Mario Galaxy 2 comes out on May 23rd! I get to go get Starbits while Chris does all the hard work in the game. Why do I mention this? Because it is a fun game and I am being silly.

What a Sap!

That would be ME! I am such a romantic at heart. Today as I was driving home through that wonderful Houston traffic Chris and my song came on the radio. As I was listening to it I imagined dancing with Chris to it at our wedding reception and got all teary eyed. I can't wait until October!!

We are almost 6 months away and I can't believe it. Chris proposing to me still feels like yesterday.

We had an appointment at the hotel this past Saturday. Cheri, our wedding coordinator, went with us so she could get a better look at the space and see what I want for the night of the reception. We came up with a preliminary layout of the space and figured out how we are doing seating for the reception. We also discussed the food and will be scheduling a tasting for August so Chris and I can remember what the food tastes like before October. We are doing a seated dinner for the dinner portion of the reception rather than a buffet.

There is more I want to write about, but I don't want to give it all away. :) More updates to come...

The Groomsmen

Finally, part two of the Bridal Party entry!

JR Kasavich

JR is my older brother. We have known each other for most of his life, and all of mine. He’s an engineer for the Fort Worth Water Department in an office full of Aggies. He keeps offering me a job with the City of Fort Worth, but it sounds like I’d be his stooge driving a vac truck and cleaning up sewer messes. Not much appealing about that.

He’s a cool guy and is honestly the funniest person I’ve ever known, not that many people know it because his sense of humor is so…odd…that most people don’t see it as humor. I’m glad to have him as a groomsman and hope there isn’t some weird water emergency that keeps in in Fort Worth the weekend of the wedding.

JR and his wife Cornelia and don't forget Sammy the Dog!

RJ Bruce, Friend of the Groom

RJ and I went to Trinity together but we really got to know each other at the weekly Pint Night, back when it was just four guys at a bar. Ridiculous inside jokes, nicknames, and drinking aside, RJ is one of the few truly good people I’ve known in my life. You know those people that don’t say bad things about other people? You know how boring they can be? RJ is nice AND somehow not boring. I don’t know how he does it, and watching him be a great friend and father is an inspiration.

Oh, that last bit was too serious. RJ once nearly cut his finger off throwing a beer can. There, that’s better.

Eddie (you will learn more about Eddie later), Chris and RJ at RJ's house a few years back for New Year's

Jeff Gilley, Friend of the Groom

Jeff…yeah. Anyone who knows us knows when we’re together, our collective mental age hovers somewhere around nine years old. Seriously, it’s pretty bad.

Jeff and I got to know each other through Alpha Phi Omega at Trinity, and stayed great friends through school and beyond. I keep hoping he’ll wake up one morning and decide to move back to Houston, but in the meantime it’s a perfect excuse to head up to the northeast. He’s a great guy, married to a wonderful woman, and his daughter is the cutest thing in the known world.

Too serious again. Jeff once did a power hour in twenty minutes. If you don’t know what that means, Wiki it.

Jeff and Chris when we were up in Maryland visiting.

Registering!

When Chris and I started dating I said, "I don't even want to register, I just want to get married." That was a big, fat lie.

It was so much fun spending a day registering even though I didn't get to bring it all home right then and there.

Chris and I are registered at Bed Bath Beyond, Target and Macy's. Our first stop was Macy's in the Galleria. We made our way up the stairs to the registry department and set up our account with them. And then the fun begins...I get to carry the little gun around and Chris just points at things for us to register for. Macy's has half of our fine china, glassware, silverware, sheets and big appliances (like the KitchenAid Mixer that both Chris and I really want! Remember, if we get that, we get to bake more. And Chris and I ALWAYS share our desserts with friends). Somehow a deep fryer ended up on the list. That needs to be deleted.

Can you tell what we really want?

On to Bed Bath and Beyond. We chose BBB because they have everything you need for the home, are reasonably priced AND they always send 20% off an item coupons in the mail. After we went and set up our registry and got the little gun (yes, I got it again) we started walking around. I remember walking past one of the co-workers and hear, "We have two brides in the store. Please be on the look out." That made us laugh (and it was pretty cool to know they were talking about you).

BBB is our biggest list. It has the other half of the china, more glassware, bake ware and so much more.

Finally, we make our way to Target. We chose Target because it is my favorite store and Chris is a pretty big fan of it. Ask any of my co-workers. I go there at least once a week during lunch. There have been weeks where I go to Target four to five times and I go to a different one each time. True story.

The Target registry has the stuff you can't find at the other two stores: games, books, yard stuff, etc.

I am sure many of you are shocked that we (I) didn't register at Crate and Barrel. I wanted too, but Crate and Barrel is not the most convenient place for everyone and everything I really want from there I have already bought.

Here are our registry numbers....
Bed Bath and Beyond - 11375910
Macy's - 1949842
Target - 013085800000170

Where to Stay?

We have reserved a block of rooms at the Omni Hotel Westside, 13210 Katy Freeway; Houston, Texas 77079, starting October 7 until October 10. The room rate is $99 per night plus taxes (state and Hotel Occupancy Tax...don't complain, my job gets some of these HOT funds. Your stay in Houston helps pay my salary). This hotel is where the reception is taking place, so it makes sense to stay here.

In order to reserve your rooms please call the hotel's group coordinator, Kirstin Lloyd at 281-558-8338, ext 1100 or email klloyd@omnihotels.com or call 1-800-THE-OMNI. When you call in please mention that you are booking for the Tandan-Kasavich Wedding. You must book your rooms by September 23, 2010, in order to receive this room rate. I will keep reminding you all, but I can't promise to remind you that final week. My biggest work event is that Saturday, September 25, so my brain will be on both work and the wedding! Just want to give you the heads up.

Please also note that we are not reserving room blocks anywhere else (unless they run out of rooms!). If you would like to stay somewhere else you will need to find that on your own. There are plenty of hotels in the area and of course in Houston.