Designing a Theme

Have I ever mentioned how wonderful my friend Ginger is? Well, now I have and now you know. She is one of the most talented people I have ever met. She has helped me come up with the most beautiful theme/design for our wedding that will be incorporated throughout the entire wedding. Basically, she has created a brand for our wedding.

She created her own brand for her wedding and I just loved how it all came together. From the save the dates to the cake to the ties that the men in the bridal party wore, it just looked so together and elegant.

Chris and I wanted to incorporate the two religions in our theme without looking too "religousy" (I can't think of any other way to describe it). She chose the lotus flower and the dove. The lotus in the Hindu religion represents primarily represents beauty and non-attachment. The lotus is rooted in the mud but floats on the water without becoming wet or muddy. This symbolizes how how one should live in the world in order to gain release from rebirth. The dove represents the Holy Ghost in Christianity. It is also represents peace.

You will see the image in most of our printed materials for the wedding and perhaps in a few other things. Again, can't give away all of the surprises!! Thank you Ginger for all of your help.

Engagement Pictures

Chris and I took our engagement pictures (with the help of the lovely Olivia and handsome Jason Moore) on October 3, 2010. It was a cloudy and not so hot day in Houston! Sadly, in October, us Houstonians have no clue what the weather may be like. In fact, the only months we can be for sure is June-August when we know it will be extremely hot and humid.

Our photo shoot started out at Hermann Park, a park that Chris and I both like to go out to when the weather is nice to walk around. It is near both of our jobs, but we don't get to go there as often as we like. We took pictures around most of the places people take their pictures. Over by the fountains (not the one in the middle of the circle that connects Hermann and Montrose, I wasn't feeling that adventurous that day), by the different columns that are in the park, the Japanese Gardens and the different hills that go through out the park. My favorite place was the hill by Miller Outdoor Theater and actually sitting inside the theater. I don't see as many people taking pictures there and those are special places to us. Every year on the 4th of July (except this past year) Chris and I pack up a snack, the big blue tarp and a blanket and make our way to Miller Outdoor Theater to hear the Symphony play their annual Fourth of July Concert and watch the fireworks afterward. This is a tradition we hope to continue throughout our lives together.

After the park we trekked over to Rice Village and went to Chocolate du Monde, a delicious chocolate shop in the Village. We met one of the guys who works there through a mutual friend years ago (both of these people work out at our gym) and have been going back ever since. They have the best fudge and hot chocolate I have ever had. It is a tradition for Chris and I to go there at least once a month to pick up some chocolate (though we haven't been there in a few months...don't hate us please! We are going to go next week, Chris just doesn't know it yet). We thought this would be a wonderful place for pictures because it does mean something to both of us. The shop was decorated for Halloween which is both of our favorite holiday and we are getting married in October, so it was without a doubt the perfect scene for us. Thank you to the wonderful people at Chocolate du Monde for allowing us to take pictures there!

After this excursion it was lunch time. We made our way to Two Rows for a quick lunch with our photographers and friends the Moores.

Following lunch we went to the Museum (where I work) for a costume change! Chris put on his handsome suit and I put on a dress. You will notice that Chris's tie does match my dress in these pictures! Our final stop was Jones Hall, where the Houston Symphony performs. Chris and I met working at the Symphony, so it felt right to have our pictures taken here. We didn't think we would be able to actually get into the building, but lucky for us, the security guard recognized Chris and we were able to get in!

We want to thank Olivia and Jason for taking such wonderful pictures, Chocolate du Monde for allowing us to take some pictures in their shop and the security guard who let us into Jones Hall when no one else was around.

Below are a few of the pictures from our shoot. Olivia and Jason took over 400 shots. You will each be getting one in our save the date cards and you will see more at the wedding! I can't show you all of them now, can I? :)

At Hermann Park
At the park
Smile!

Yes...I am wearing the fancy shoes!!

Sitting at Miller Outdoor Theater

See all of the Halloween Stuff??

At Jones Hall

Meet the Parents

Our parents had not met before our engagement. Yes, I know this isn't the most ideal situation, but we did set it up soon after. I have met Chris's family and he has met mine, but the two families had yet to meet.

Two months after our engagement (and two days before Chris's birthday) our parents came together to meet each other. It was a small gathering with a few close friends of ours, my family, some of their friends and Chris's parents. The people missing from the gathering were my brother, Chris's brother and my cousin Nihaal. Amit was actually in town for the weekend!

The meeting went very well. I think Chris and I were more nervous about it than anyone else. Our dads figured out that they were the only smokers in the group, so they pretty much spent the evening outside on the porch. There was tons of food and laughter.

All in all, it was a good evening. Here are a few pictures from the evening.

All the Tasty Food
My Mom, Chris, Chris's Mom and Me
Family

The Girls
Kimberly, Margo, Me and Ginger

Mehek and Prisha Singing

Why did Chris get the ring in San Antonio?

I am sure many of you are wondering why Chris drove to San Antonio to buy the ring. Well, this takes us back in time to September 2008, right after Hurricane Ike hit Galveston and Houston.

For those that don't know, Hurricane Ike caused a lot of damage to both Galveston and Houston on September 12-13, 2008. Chris and I decided not to leave Houston for the storm and boy do I wish we had. Instead, we were in for the longest night of our lives listening to the rain and the wind. There were points in the night when I thought the door was going to be blow open by the wind. For those of you who would like more information on Hurricane Ike, please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Ike. Here are some pictures...

Me telling Ike to take a hike!

Where I slept the night of Ike
The backyard after the storm

Needless to say, most of Houston was without power for a few days. My aunt and uncle had power the day after Ike hit. As for us, not so lucky. There was no power at home for 2 full weeks! The first week was okay weather wise. Some cool front came in after the storm and it was pleasant in the evenings (we were either at work or at a friend's house during the day on most days following the storm).

The second weekend without power would have probably driven me crazier than I got if we had not "evacuated". Chris and I packed up the car and drove up to San Antonio to stay at the Westin La Cantera for the weekend.

At one point during the weekend we were out shopping and killing time until we had to go to dinner at Chris's parents house (they live near San Antonio). Chris had always mentioned Americas Diamonds every time we drove through San Antonio so I asked, can we just go and look around in there for a bit?

We made our way over to the store and walked in. The store just glitters as you walk in. I start looking around at the necklaces and earrings all while keeping my distance from the rings. During our stroll through the shiny jewelery I said to Chris that he never needed to spend the amount of money some of the pieces were worth...except for on an engagement ring. :)

Surprisingly enough, Chris said, "Let's go look at those then. I'm not buying one today...but we can look." This was just heaven to me! I started wandering around and looking at a few rings. I saw one that I liked and Chris told me to try it on. I wish I could tell you that I tried on 100's of rings, but I didn't. This ring was the only one I tried on and I fell in love with it. (I may have tried on one before, but I don't remember). The salesman then had me try on the wedding band with the engagement ring. Next he added the anniversary band (I don't get that until our 10th anniversary though). The ring was just so simple and elegant. It wasn't too big or gaudy and it looked perfect on my hand. I just knew this was the ring for me just like I knew the man who gave it to me was my perfect match.

Searching for a Venue

For those of you who know me very well you know I love to plan events! I plan many for work as well as for my personal life. So getting to plan a wedding, oh wow, I am so excited. Chris made me promise him that I wouldn't start right away. This was very difficult for me since I am such a planner and want to figure out what I want to do as soon as possible!

I think I started calling hotels three weeks after we got engaged! In one day, I set up appointments for five different hotels. They were all within the Galleria/Downtown part of town.
The first one I looked at was with Chris and that was the Doubletree Downtown. The next set of appointments happened on a Friday that I took off from work. I made Rachel, Kimberly and Ginger all go with me since Chris was at work. We started off at the JW Mariott Galleria. That was a gorgeous hotel, but I wasn't too pleased with the customer service there (sorry Nihaal's friend who works there!). Following that was the Sheraton Galleria. Now, I really did like this space. Lynette, the events coordinator was so helpful and wonderful to work with and I was really thinking this would be the place. After that we made our way to the Hilton Post Oak. Again, beautiful space, but it just wasn't what I wanted. Finally that day I went (by myself) to the Hyatt Downtown. That hotel was just too big!

The Sheraton and Doubletree were my top choices out of the 5 I visited. I took Chris back to the Sheraton and my aunt too and it seemed like that was where we were going to have the reception. I did have one more hotel that I wanted to look at. On August 14, 2009, Chris and I took a day off to go look at this last hotel, the Omni Westside. We went to the site and looked around and met with the event coordinator. The coordinator, Chantel, is wonderful and the hotel itself is simply beautiful. I could envision my wedding reception happening there. The only downfall is that it is a little further out of town than I wanted it to be, but I-10 isn't that bad anymore (not compared to 290) and I grew up near that area, not the Galleria or Downtown!

Well, we signed the contract and put down a deposit on September 30, 2009. The date that I wanted was mine at the location I wanted it at. That was a fun to do to cross off of my massive wedding planning list!

***Just a note, the wedding will not be taking place at the hotel. Also, we will have a discounted room rate available for guests the weekend of the wedding at this hotel. I will post the information once I have it!

Cake Tasting!

Today I am going to come back to present time and write about an adventure Chris and I had today. I may have to do this every now and then since we are in full wedding planning mode.

Chris and I went and picked out the wedding cake for the reception. The hotel that we are using provides the cake for us. We get to use one of Houston's premiere bakers, Who Made the Cake? over on Shepherd.


We got there and walked into a room filled with beautiful designs and tasty smells. We finally got to sit down and start looking through a BIG book of cakes. It was extremely overwhelming and I was so afraid that I was going to walk out of there with such an extravagant cake that I really didn't want. Chris and I went through the entire binder (this binder was about as big as my head) and picked out designs that we liked. There was a common thread in all of the pictures we liked (sorry, can't tell you that yet) when we look back through what we picked.

Now comes the cake tasting. Oh my goodness. Everything we tried was so good, except the raspberry, I am not a big fan of raspberry. Below is a picture of the cake we got to try. These are there most commonly picked flavors. We did not pick any of these combos, but again, I can't tell you what we picked. We feel like what we picked will be pleasing to all of our guests and that it is not your typical wedding cake.


Needless to say, we did walk out of there with almost exactly what I originally wanted. I thought we would have been there for hours discussing the cake, but we were done in an hour. It really did help going in knowing what I wanted and making some minor adjustments to my original idea.

Any future brides reading this, I strongly recommend looking up ideas and not getting caught up with all the extras that they can add (unless budget is no option, then go crazy). Bring the groom with you, because first of all, he will love trying the cake. He can also help keep you grounded on all the fancy trinkets and remind you not to second guess yourself about your personal ideas that you have. Make sure you tell him what your ideas are before you get there. Finally, make sure to take advise from the designer/baker. They are the experts!

I did also bring a copy of what my invitation is going to look like, my flower arrangement and a fabric swatch. Be prepared, that is my motto!

So many phone calls!

After we got engaged we had to make lots of phone calls and send lots of text messages. And let's not forget updating our status on Facebook! That is what makes it official these days now, right?

The phone calls began almost immediately following the proposal. First I called my mom. No answer. Then I called my dad. Again no answer. Next, my aunt. Did she pick up? NOPE! Finally, my uncle answered his phone!

I was crying and was trying to tell him I was engaged, but he thought I was hurt or in trouble. I had to calm down a second and say it again. Ah! "Congratulations!" he said. I think by this point my dad called me back. When I told him that Chris proposed, my dad's comment was, "Already? I thought he was going to ask you this weekend!"

Wait. What? How did you know when he was going to propose? Then I found out that Chris had asked my parents if he could marry me and told them that he was going to get the ring on Monday. The original plan was for him to propose that following Saturday when we were getting ready to host a small gathering for my birthday and turn it into an engagement party. He just couldn't wait that long!

Well, following those two memorable calls, the rest were a blur. We called Chris's parents, his brother, my brother, my cousins, my grandpa and many friends! I did finally talk to my mom around 8 and talked to my aunt not to long after I talked to my uncle. I would not update my Facebook Status until I had spoken to everyone I wanted to tell personally first.

At some point we finally left to go celebrate. Chris kept asking me where I wanted to go and I had no clue. I was too frazzled. We made our way to The Tasting Room (in Uptown) and celebrated with Champagne and truffle fries! The whole time I was staring at my ring and making even more phone calls.

After a bottle of Champagne it was decided that we needed some food. We made our way to Willie G's for dinner, but I have no idea what I ate or how long we were there. We ended up there because I just couldn't figure out where to go!

The calls didn't end until well into the night and I hardly slept at all! I was so excited to go to work the next day and tell everyone the great news.


And yes, I did update my status that day. I have never gotten so many posts on my facebook in my life!