Double date time! Double date night with Steeze & Madel. Oddly enough, this is the only picture I have from that night. I must’ve been really hungry! Hahaha! Nevertheless, it was a good night of eating and chatting about our upcoming wedding. It’s always nice to be in good company.  We ended the night at my apartment watching Momento eating popcorn and sliced jalepenos!
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Double date time!

Double date night with Steeze & Madel. Oddly enough, this is the only picture I have from that night. I must’ve been really hungry! Hahaha! Nevertheless, it was a good night of eating and chatting about our upcoming wedding. It’s always nice to be in good company.  We ended the night at my apartment watching Momento eating popcorn and sliced jalepenos!

To party, or not to party? That is the question

So my BFF, slash Maid of Honor, decides to take it upon herself to throw me a bachelorette party next month. With all the wedding expenses, I knew that Vegas was simply out of the question. We were trying to find another way around this. A get-together at someones home, perhaps? A few hours later I learned that Virgin Airlines had a sale going on. $59 one-way tickets to Los Angeles! My future hubby ensures me that this is a once in a lifetime event and that I should really consider it.  Plus, a night out with the girls (my high school sweethearts) would be just what I need to de-stress. Without further hesitation, even without any concrete plans, I book my flight! Aghhh…

Cheers to whatever awaits me!

The shoes! Check out these kicks! These are 1960′s vintage leather pumps with bow detail. They are a dusty navy blue with  cut-out leather detail. They are “Nickels” brand, made in Italy. Sure, they have subtle wear, but I like to think they have a lot of character. I’m super excited to rock them. They are definitely my “something old”. Since blue is a part of my wedding apparel color palette, there really is no point in having a particular “something blue”. I lucked out on that one.
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The shoes!

Check out these kicks! These are 1960′s vintage leather pumps with bow detail. They are a dusty navy blue with  cut-out leather detail. They are “Nickels” brand, made in Italy. Sure, they have subtle wear, but I like to think they have a lot of character. I’m super excited to rock them. They are definitely my “something old”. Since blue is a part of my wedding apparel color palette, there really is no point in having a particular “something blue”. I lucked out on that one.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrong. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

1 Corinthians 13: 4-8

I just did that from memory! This is the verse that we were asked to memorize throughout pre-marital counseling. I think I got it down now. Since I’ve been reciting it to myself everyday, I’m starting to understand it more & more. Love really is such a beautiful thing <3

About the ring

He liked it. He put a ring on it.

I know that I posted a picture of the engagement ring before, but I thought maybe I should take the time describe it.

I absolutely LOVE my ring. It is definitely different but it really encompasses all that we are as a couple. We have a very organic & simple relationship. From day one, our relationship had been effortless. If anything, we were trying to avoid anything romantic, but naturally, we fell in love <3. Agh! Enough of the sappiness, lets get to the ring!

First, the stone. I loved the idea of having a gemstone other than a diamond. Don’t get me wrong, pre-engagement, we did our share of ring shopping. We actually went through the process of trying rings on. Different styles, diamonds, other gemstones, gold, etc. I didn’t fancy any of them. I wanted to break tradition a bit, and go with something colorful & vibrant. I had my eye set on a a precious blue sapphire. Lo and behold, that’s what I got!

Leejay ended up going through the custom jeweler, Kristin Coffin, located in Venice Beach, CA. She is such a sweetheart, very personable, and was great to work with. She did an amazing job crafting the perfect ring. She believes in earthy, feminine jewelry. It is exactly what I wanted. The ring is a real twig cast in solid recycled 14k white gold to create the unique ring shank. Nestled into the branch is an incredibly vibrant, high quality AA Ceylon Blue sapphire, prong-set in a basket setting. The oval- cut sapphire weighs 1.0ct, measuring 7x5mm, and the twig is about 2.0mm wide. The ring is polished gently to bring out the twig’s natural texture. The interior is sanded and polished to a flat, smooth surface for comfortable wearability. The wedding band is a matching twig cast in 14k white gold. Of course, that’ll be worn after the wedding day. Coincidently, the sapphire also is the birthstone for the month of September. It’s incredible how much everything fell into place!

This is the Taryn dress from the J. Crew bridal collection. I will be wearing this exact dress. The hem falls right above the knee. I was looking for something very simple. I remember the day I described to the gent the type of dress I wanted to wear for our wedding. I explained it but wasn’t sure where exactly it existed. Luckily, it found me!
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This is the Taryn dress from the J. Crew bridal collection. I will be wearing this exact dress. The hem falls right above the knee. I was looking for something very simple. I remember the day I described to the gent the type of dress I wanted to wear for our wedding. I explained it but wasn’t sure where exactly it existed. Luckily, it found me!

50 Days of Summer

Actually, it’s 50 days until the wedding (51 if you count today). I wanted to document the journey of our upcoming wedding. I thought maybe I’d post something about the “Big Day”, everyday until then. But before I do that, for those that don’t know, we are having a small and intimate wedding on Friday, September 28, 2012. It’ll be a very simple wedding. We’ve managed to keep our expenses under $8,000 thus far. This amount even includes our Honeymoon to the Bahamas. The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco is allowing us a maximum of 25 guests (so pretty much family) . Although we would love to have everyone and their mama there, we would love it EVEN MORE to see your faces at the post-marriage shindig we will be throwing next year! So, look out!

Anyway, we are excited to have our little ceremony in San Francisco. Hopefully one day (soon), SF won’t just be our wedding destination, but also the place we call home. We didn’t go to a San Francisco home-buying class last month for nothing! Wish us luck! In the meantime we are residing/ melting in the heat of Walnut Creek. Commuting back and forth to SF for work everyday hasn’t been awesome, but luckily we are able to spend a few hours after work  enjoying each others company, watching How I Met Your Mother, and eating like gluttons. Oh yeah! And planning for the day we tie the knot!

Okay, enough chit-chat, todays “thing” is the venue:

This is the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. Although the norm would be to get married in the Rotunda ( the dome), we opted to do it right here on this concrete apron in front of the lake. We were told they don’t rent out that particular space. The city of SF was nice enough to make an exception. :)