Save The Date

They are SENT!  :-)

It was like Christmas morning opening the package of the pretty paper I selected for the Engagement/Shower invites.  

Envelopes are stuffed, stamped, sealed, and sent!

We kept our save the date cards pretty simple.  Our wonderful photographer designed it out for us and we couldn't have been more thrilled.  He really understood what we were looking for and executed with such creativity.  If you guys are looking for a photographer and looking for someone who will creatively blow your mind, then book Eric Kieu!

I am pretty detail oriented and a perfectionist, so picking the paper, envelope, address stamp, etc. was important to me.  We ordered our address stamp through a groupon wedding special they had and couldn't have been more happier.  The paper I choose for the invites was a pearlescent champagne that really brought out the graphics my brother and friend designed.  

All in all, it was a fun seeing it all come together and slipping them all in the mailbox.  

Guest List and more...

Overwhelming and a complete nightmare...

I tend to shy away talking about the guest list, just the fact that I've had plenty of discussions with the parents and fiancé about it.  Dealing with my parents is a whole other level of patience and communication for me.  Being sure that we respect our parents and they are happy with the agreement is priority for us, but keeping in our budget because of it has been a struggle.

We are in the process of finalizing our save the date list and engagement/wedding shower invites.  I'm hoping to send them out by mid May...

I've been starting to feel really overwhelmed and stressed with the little details, thankfully I have a wonderful fiancé who helps me take a breather and reminds me everything will be ok.  Makes me smile knowing how wonderful he is.  

Photos of the Galore

Photos photos photos...It has been a lot of fun, yet overwhelming.  We had a terrific time with our photographer and videographer.  We were able to recreate a lot of memories that brought Peter and I together.  To be able to capture that on camera was like reliving that honeymoon stage all over again.  It made me fall in love with Peter even more so.

At this moment, we've been overwhelmed picking out photos for the save the date card, website, slideshow, etc...It has been a overwhelming process, but the outcome has surpassed my expectations.  We received our final edited proofs and we were ecstatic to look at them again.

We are in the process of finalizing everything and can't wait to share it with everyone...

We did it!

We completed our premarital counseling class!

I really can't put into words to how blessed we are from attending this class.  We would hands down recommend this class to any couple who are thinking about getting married.  You really do not have to be engaged to take this class and now I can see why The Rock church would recommend taking it before getting engaged.  The class helps you discuss things as a couple that you never thought was necessary and you learn so much about each other.

This class helped define and recognize a lot of obstacles that we went through.  A lot of the struggles that we were facing was definitely not any different from what we've learned from other couples.  It definitely gave us some peace in mind that we weren't alone.  It certainly helped us iron engagement/wedding details with our parents.  Wow...in-laws was definitely the hot topic in our discussions and also how us ladies would give our halves the "silent treatment".  Sorry guys...:-/

We learned so much from our marriage coaches, they are the most grounded and solid people we've met.  Along with the 4 other couples we've met on this incredible journey.  During all our discussions as a group helped us learn so much about one another.  It was great to see everyone being so transparent and honest with one another.  Seeing all the quirkiness about each couple brought a lot of laughs and fun.  Definitely bittersweet to our weekly meetings coming to an end.


We are both stronger as a couple; learning to be a team and a unit in all aspects of our marriage.  We have both grown exponentially in our spiritual lives individually and as a couple.  Praying together is key!  A great start to building a strong foundation and we surely can't wait to see what else God has in store for us.  

WE DID IT!  

Dam Hoi (Vietnamese Engagement Ceremony)

It is set!  


After all that has been said and done, the parents have come together and have finally come to a compromise.  We are, well I am ecstatic to start planning the décor and details of everything.


I'm approaching the planning with a best of both worlds type of attitude.  What I mean by that is, I have a lot of ideas and things I want for our wedding. I didn't want a "wow, there is so much going on" type of reaction.  So I decided to keep the feel of the wedding simple and chic.  Yet I love the country rustic feel also; therefore, our engagement party will be just that!


I have been brainstorming various affordable ideas for decorations.  We definitely don't want to break the bank on this event, since our budget for the wedding wasn't set for this event.  I'm looking forward to a lot of DIY for this event and can't wait to let my creativity juices start flowing.  


Stay tuned for my many DIY projects!   

Engagement Preparations

We are weeks away from having our engagement video and photo session.  Gathering ideas, props, and how we want to portray ourselves has been fun.  We are constantly reminding ourselves to stay grounded and not do anything that isn't us.  So we are gonna stick with the simplicity of our relationship and just be ourselves.  Our goal is to help our family and friends understand our love story.  Can't wait to see how it all turns out....stay tuned! :-)


Now for the engagement ceremony, I wish it was as easy as the video and photos.  We have both learned that when parents are involved, it surely complicates things even more.  We both want to honor our parents and now depending on the parents to compromise and help make our day special.  We are both looking forward to having our families come together through this traditional ceremony.  It will be a time for presenting the two families, bride & groom, tea ceremony, shower of gifts/jewelry, and prayer.  


We are both excited as our countdown is getting closer to our big blessed day to come!  

Big Checks & Smiles

Church? - check!
Reception? - check!
Photographer? - check!
Videographer? - check!


Big checks and smiles for me and Peter.  We have officially booked our church and reception venue; we couldn't be more happier.  It has been a tiring, but fun adventure thus far.  Appointment after appointment...searching and hunting for the perfect church, reception venue, photographer, and videographer was stressful, yet exciting.  


We had initially found a church and it was beautiful.  The pastor was very accommodating and the fee was quite reasonable. The only negative thing about the church was the aisle, it was short.  So our search for a church continued. I started to head north with my search for churches and had stumbled on First Baptist Church of San Diego.  The pictures were beautiful and I immediately contacted the coordinator for additional information and set up an appointment to look at the property.  We instantly fell in love with the church and knew that this was where we were to be married. 


Our reception site was on the dramatic side.  We initially had our hearts set for the Coronado Community Center and were able to get our date.  Unfortunately, when they sent our contract to sign and pay our deposit, their were some fees that were not initially disclosed to us.  It was quite disappointing to see this and turned us off to hold our reception there.  We had the Hilton Del Mar in the back of our minds and scheduled another appointment with them to see the property one more time.  The second time around, we knew that this was where we will be celebrating our new family with our family and friends.


We had our hearts set for our photographer and videographer at the get go and was eager to book them.  Fortunately, the videographer was a friend of mine who does amazing work and we were able to book him.  I wish I was able to say the same for his sister, the photographer.  To my great sadness, she was already booked on our date and became unavailable.  My heart sank hearing this news and my stress level shot up in the fear of not finding a photographer we liked.  In our great fortune, my friend recommended us an amazing photographer who was twice as expensive, but the work we've seen so far is worth every penny.  


Big check offs on the list of venues/vendors to book and it came with giddy and smiles from ear to ear.