Wedding Survey

How long did you date before you got engaged?
A little over 3 years


Did you get the ring you wanted?
Pretty much. There were 5 I really liked and mine was one of them


Was the proposal a complete surprise?
Nope. I knew it was coming. We have been talking about marriage since the VERY beginning of our relationship


Do you wish you had a bigger/smaller diamond? If so How big or small?
My ring is perfect. If anything, I didn't want the diamond too big because my finger is so small (size 4! omg.)


Did you cry when he proposed?
No I didn't


Was the proposal romantic or creative? Explain how if you'd like.
It was thoughtful and romantic. Tommy took me out to dinner to my favorite Thai restaurant with a few of our closest friends. Then after we ate we all headed to the "secret location" which was up a mountain. Once we got there we stopped in an area that over looked the city. He knew I loved the lights at night. He even had 3 places in mind to pop the question just in case one fell through, which the first did. All with the same type of view. Then he got down on one knee and asked.


When do you want to go for your honeymoon?
Like a month or so after the wedding so we can get settled in out new place and not be so rushed. Plus we want to spend time with family and friends, mainly those from out of town, and want to send out our thank you's.


Are you buying his wedding band for him?
Yes


Have you gone over your original wedding budget?
Nope


What day of the year will your wedding be?
Friday September 25, 2009


What kind of weather?
Probably on the warm/hot side


Inside or outside?
Outside!


Church/justice of the peace/other?
"Church"


How many people will be there?
Over 200


Time of day?
5:00 pm


Any kind of theme?
Hawaiian with touches of each of our cultures. Puerto Rican and Filipino for Tommy and Japanese and Mexican for me.


How many bridesmaids? Who would they be?
Oh gees. 6 bridesmaids and 2 junior bridesmaids. My maid of honor will be my best friend, and the bridesmaids will be one of my cousins, one of Tommy's sisters, one of my kindergarten friends, and two of our friends. The junior bridesmaids will be Tommy's niece and a friend of ours.


What kind of cake/what will it look like?
For sure Chocolate with Raspberry filling and maybe Vanilla with Apricot filling. It'll be white, square, with a cake topper of our Monogram with Swarovski crystals and flowers and swirls decorating it.


Where will you have the reception?
CalTech's Dabney Lounge and Garden


What kind of dress will you have/color/material?
Strapless, maybe slight mermaid style, white with a Hawaiian print (white on white)


What kind of flowers in your bouquet?
Orchids with other tropical flowers


Kind of engagement ring?
Solitaire Princess cut


Kind of wedding bands?
Not sure about mine, but Tommy's will either be Black with Silver or a Dark Silver with a light Silver. It's awesome! Maybe I'll get him both!


How will you wear your hair?
Down and wavy with either one flower by my ear, or a few scattered



Who will be important to be there?
Everyone!


Will the reception be big or small?
Considering we had to cut our guest list to less than half, it's small


What will the groom wear?
Khaki pants and jacket, white linen shirt, turquoise tie, with a Ti Leaf Maile and white Orchids


Where will you go for the honeymoon?
This was the easiest part of our planning because it was automatic. We didn't even need to discuss it because we just knew. We're going to Hawaii


How long?
We'll see


What will you do?
Everything we can


Will it be modest or costly?
Well it's Hawaii, it doesn't come cheap


What will you stay in?
Hotel, condo, or both


How old will you and the groom be?
We'll both be 23


How long will you be engaged before you get married?
A little less than 2 years


Live together before or wait till married?
Waiting


Take a long time to plan the wedding or will it be simple?
It's taking long because I procrastinate, and because things don't always work out the way we plan. But we want it fairly simple.


Will you do it yourself or with family or hire someone to plan the wedding?
I'm doing it mostly by myself with the help of friends and family



Will you write your own vows or use something pre-made?
We're going with pre-made/traditional but will have personal ones in our wedding program for those who want to read them

Wedding Party: The Girls- Megan's Entourage

So these are the lovely ladies of our wedding party. I'm very excited to be including all of them in this special time of our lives. I can't wait till I can finally do some serious planning and get this wedding going! I look forward to all of the pre wedding stuff I have to do with these girls before the big day arrives. I'm sure they'll all help make it fun and as stress free as possible.

(The order they will be in, from shortest to tallest excluding my MOH)

Maid of Honor: Marissa- Best friend since 4th grade

Bridesmaid: Corinne- My cousin

Bridesmaid: Roslyn- Our friend

Bridesmaid: Vanessa- Tommy's sister

Bridesmaid: Eunice- Our friend

Bridesmaid: Andrina- My school friend

(Non professional) Engagement Photos

Since my best friend/Maid of Honor is so awesome, during her stay down here (which is the main reason she came down in the first place) she took our Engagement photos. Now, Marissa is not a photographer, but she does do it as a hobby (mostly in high school I think since she was in yearbook) and I've always liked her pictures.

Here are a few of our favorites:






This seems to be a favorite for everyone that has seen these.






















I can't believe these pictures are almost a year old. It seems like only yesterday Marissa was here, and we were off taking pictures. We'll probably be taking some professional ones as well since a lot of the wedding photography packages inculdes them. How often do you get to take engagement photos. It'll be fun to do them again.

How time gets away from us

It's been a little over a year since we got engaged. WOW! Especially considering our engagement was only supposed to be 9 1/2 months. But things do happen, and our plans have had to be pushed back a little. Hopefully if things go right this time, by the time the 2 year mark for our engagement rolls around, we'll FINALLY be Mr. and Mrs.

Since our plans are still up in the air, i haven't really been able to feel like a bride. Sure I look things up, do research and everything, and plan, but I can't finalize anything until something else is finalized. It's very frustrating. I'm tired of waiting and "planning". I just really want to be married already. I've even considered skipping the whole wedding and doing a courthouse ceremony. But I know we both want an actual wedding, the memories, the pictures, so we'll (mostly I) will have to have a little more patience. Patience is a virtue, right? I know once its here, and we're finally married everything will be worth it. But for now I'll have to deal with the waiting and frustration.

Anyways, about a month after our engagement, my best friend since the 4th grade came down to visit from Washington to take our engagement photos and help out with the planning. Since she of course was automatically my Maid Of Honor, she wanted to do her part to make sure I had everything I needed to know about planning a wedding and being a DIY bride. So she bought me some books.


Anti-Bride Wedding Planner



The DIY Wedding


This one is my favorite because it's basically a joke, but it sure is fun to read

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Weddings

And she even got one for Tommy, so he knows exactly what he needs to be a Groom

Guide For the Groom






Marissa is awesome. Thanks :)

This is our story

Our families go way back. First meeting was when Tommy's parents rented an apartment my grandparents owned about 10 years before we were even thought of. Who knew this random encounter would lead to marriage years later.

Even though our families knew each other from years earlier, we didn't officially meet until we were about 6. Or at least thats our first memory of each other. We were both born and raised in California but he was from Northern Cal and I was from Southern. His family moved back and forth a couple times. Anyways, we crossed paths when my family ended up moving to the same "church" his family attended. It did not go well. For whatever reason, we could not stand each other. So from then on we were practically archenemies. It's funny to think about now, but back then having to see each other on a weekly basis was a nightmare. We hated each other!

Around 10 years later something changed. We no longer thought the other was as evil as previously believed. We didn't care for each other still, but things were different. We were civil.

Things really changed when his mom started teaching her Hula class at my house. So every week as his mom came over to teach, he came over to bug me, lol. At first since things were still a bit rocky between us I was slightly bugged and would not allow him in my room. But as the weeks and months went on, I started letting my guard down and we would watch TV and play video games together.

One day as we were trying to be nice to one another, long story short I ended up giving him a cell phone I no longer used (this was back when phones were only one color and flip phones were the big thing!). That was one of the things that started all of this. It was that act of random kindness that brought us even closer together. Because of that phone we had the opportunity to get to know each other better at literally the palm of our hands. Because I was nice, Tommy took it upon himself to befriend me. He figured since I was nice enough to give him something, then maybe I wasn't THAT bad. So he text me. And from then on we have text each other basically every single day.

So now as the months go by, and our dislike for one other fades and turns into a friendship, which then leads us to becoming best friends.

As like all best friends, we were close. Always hanging out with each other and goofing around.
You know, friend things. I remember saying these words a lot because of it, "We're just friends", which was true, but I guess not entirely :)

August rolls around and our bond keeps growing. Something comes up and we were going to need to spend a little less time together before it lead to something more. Too little too late. One day while my best friend was visiting from Washington and we decide to go to the movies. So my cousin, Tommy, my friend Marissa and I go see The Bourne Supremacy (this is now known as "Our Movie"). After the movie we all head back to my house to just hang out a bit. And then it happens, we admit our feelings for each other but thats it.




A few days later, on my second day in Hawaii with Marissa (it was a graduation present to ourselves to take a trip to Hawaii), on our way to The Polynesian Cultural Center he asks me out via text messgae. Later when I told Marissa about us finally being official, she even made the comment that this could actually lead to something serious. At the very beginning she knew!

Now, over 4 years later, here we are planning our wedding. We're both very fortunate to be marrying someone that was not only our friend before dating but our BEST friend. Even to this day, which I'm so thankful about, he still makes me weak at the knees. I get butterflies just thinking about him, and spending time together never gets old. Its like time never went by. Our relationship still feels brand new.