Glenn is no longer my boyfriend (and I couldn't be happier).

So we are finally engaged after almost 8 years! Glenn proposed at the Happiest Place on Earth just as I wanted....in front of the castle...off to the side. I've told him in the past how awesome it would be if he proposed to me at Disneyland but not in front of a huge crowd cuz that's embarrassing. I guess he was really listening cuz that's exactly how it happened. So now I finally have my beautiful ring that I picked out....SO HAPPY!

Now I really have to consistently plan this wedding. I've been up and down for the past 3 months. Yes, it was super stressful to find the reception venue and finalize that but now I still feel stressed because I'm stuck on what I want the creative vision to look like. Maybe I'm just not letting my mind loose to get all the creative juices flowing. I know what kind of elements I want but I don't know how to put it together. I'm afraid that I don't trust my judgment! Gotta really sit down and think about things instead of thinking about things, getting scared, and then retreating.

In other news, we also put the deposits down on the church and the reception venues this past month! So the ceremony will be at St. Lorenzo, the church I grew up in. And the reception will be at..........::drum roll:: please......SEVEN DEGREES in Laguna Beach, California! This was the second place that Glenn and I went to on the first day of our venue search and it was love at first sight. It's been a loooooooooong road to get the proposal finalized to my liking and for me to finally relinquish the deposit money. But it's done now and I've scheduled the first planning meeting.....hmmm..hoping their curation team can help me with my vision!

That's it for now....I guess I should get better at writing in quick updates on this thing rather than just having occasional long essays.

Peace out!

P.S. I am so excited for SEVEN DEGREES!!

Wow! Progress in the Reception Venue Search

So I haven't posted in this blog for over a month! You ask why? Due to stress in trying to book a reception venue!!!! Let's recap what's happened in the last month, shall we? Around my birthday, we started visiting reception venues. It actually didn't take long to find a place that we absolutely loved. I had done a lot of research online to find venues. I made the selections to which sites I should visit (even had a day for LA sites and a day for OC sites). Some of them were just so outside of my price range that of course we didn't need to visit them in person. And most of the ones that we did see, they were such a turn off that we eliminated them from the running. It's good to see some sites in person that you thought may have been a candidate but that turns out wasn't what you expected.

So now.......we do definitely have a reception venue of choice in mind. It was actually the second place we saw in person and it was love at first sight. Still working out the final details and just the expensive cost of this place has caused me great stress this past month. We've gone back and forth and made some sacrifices and decisions in order to make it possible...it's not booked yet....so the name will be kept secret for now until it's finalized!

Hmmmm.......we are at the very end of the reception venue search though. So I know I have to find locations for the reception and the ceremony....I guess now I need to find a catholic church. I'm actually not sure if it needs to be near the reception or should I have it in a church local to where I grew up? Is that proper etiquette for guests to drive to two separate locations that's a good distance apart? Beyond the church, now I'm kinda feeling lost on where to go from here................

So all this means is that it's just a never ending stressful process!!!!!

More to come........hopefully I'll update more frequently.

P.S. Damn it, Glenn, where's my Calla Cut ring?!

Reception venue costs = BIG HEADACHE!!!!

Am tired of looking for wedding venues!!

Here's Where I'm At

Took a 5-day weekend off from work (historical, momentous occasion) and was inspired to start wedding planning. Had a woke-up call when the photographer I've been stalking for 2 years was already taken for my date! Started getting to work on looking at other photographers and reception venues. No way I'm going to let other favored vendors get past me! Within a week, my very own photographer was already booked. Yes, I'm going backwards because I'm not formally engaged yet and I started with booking the photographer?! Well, the pictures are just THAT important to me. I'm actually very, very excited about his work. And I spent all day yesterday looking at the engagement rings that I love. What I thought I loved, I hate now and won't be getting...hah! Glenn has high expectations to fulfill...(get started!). So the following weekend, I've continued on my quest to start getting organized. Wedding planning is tricky with many distractions. I might be looking at one thing and I get distracted and start a whole new path of looking at other things....all fun and crazy at the same time! I barely started getting organized on The Knot and updated the basic information and started getting familiar with the format of the website (more than one wedding planning website is sufficient enough. No way you can have two of these!) I organized all of my bookmarks and email folders and information I'm keeping. I'm contemplating whether or not I need to actually buy any wedding planning books or an organizer. This day in age with the Internet, I'm sure I can get everything I need online and I can just organize everything electronically. Do I need a cute wedding organizer? I can either live in the wedding planning vision and dream and get all those cute tools or I can be realistic and frugal and cut costs wherever I can. Probably the latter option is best. So many ideas swirling around in my head for this wedding, hard to keep track of everything! And so the adventure begins.....stay tuned for more updates!

Engagement Ring Madness

I looked around for engagement rings online ALL DAY yesterday............ALL DAMN DAY! So what I thought I wanted, I now dislike with a passion. Had some epiphanies on its plainness and I realized I need something with more bling, more character, more unique features that represent me! Got a lot of good ideas online of what I know I now like....totally convenient to do all this from the computer instead of going round and round to different stores to find what I like. But now that I know what I like, I do need to go see how it actually looks on me. Then after that, Glenn can take over! (Hint: start by requesting an increase on the credit limit for your Discover card!).

Starting to plan the big day!

So I decided to start a blog on my wedding planning process....wow!