Weddingbee bios

We're both computer engineers for a company that makes national defense products (missles, fighter jets, etc.).

Some of our favorite things to do are watch TV, make dinner together, and travel.   Mr. Brena has an intense photography hobby and has used our pre-wedding activities as practice for wedding photography.   My hair trial pictures are stunning!

We're madly in love, hate to leave the other's side, and love to snuggle.  

Everyone always asks me if we met at work (we both work for Lockheed Martin Corporation) but we didn't, our meeting is much cuter than that!

So, for months, my friend M had been telling me about this guy that was perfect for me.  We apparently listened to the same music, had the same ridiculous humor, had similar careers, and were both hopelessly goofy.

Unfortunatly Mr. Perfect-for-me did not want to meet me.   He had been setup before and it had gone badly.   Plus he was finishing up his Master's degree and didn't want any distractions.  Also, he had pretty much resigned himself to being single for the rest of his life.   He was not at all interested in relationships.

So when I finally did meet Mr. Brena I had no idea that he was Mr. Perfect-for-me because no one actually said "Hey, this is the guy we've been saying is perfect for you."   We met when I invited my friend M to the movies and she asked if she could bring friends along.   I actually thought Mr. Brena was with someone else and I remember thinking "He's cute but of course, he's taken.".   Then I started talking to the girl I thought he was with and she mentioned her boyfriend in Boston and it occured to me that Mr. Brena was single.

I pulled out all the stops that night.   I unzipped my jacket (it was December) to reveal my low-cut top, made stunningly fantastic jokes, and talked about my favorite bands.   Unfortunatly I was so amazing that I made Mr. Brena think that I was out of his league!   Also, he was really caught up in the last year of his Master's program.

I saw Mr. Brena infrequently when hanging out with friends for the next 6 months.   I would always try to sit near him and we were getting to be good friends.   We'd occasionally talk over the office communicator but he is in a locked lab most of the time and there's no internet access in the labs.

After awhile I was ready to make my move.   Mr. Brena had finished his program, we were comfortable around each other, and I wanted to make out with someone!  So I started asking him for favors.   First, I asked him to pick me up at the airport.   I made the excuse that I was coming in on a Sunday morning and all my friends would be at church (I didn't want to appear friendless!) so could he please pick me up.   That would involve exchanging digits and being alone together for the first time.   He was the perfect gentlemen and carried my suitcases up the stairs to my apartment.

Then, I asked him to see Transformers with me because my father had dumped me as a movie buddy for his new girlfriend.   After hanging out at my apartment for hours and seeing the movie I finally told him how I felt about him.   Mr. Brena's response?   "I just want to be friends.".   For some reason I didn't really listen or care.   I was persistant to say the least!

To this day I'm kind of shocked at how I didn't take what Mr. Brena said into account.   Maybe it's because even though he just wanted to be friends he stayed at my apartment until 5 am and told me a big secret that he hadn't told any of his friends (he'd bought a house the month before).   But I really just dismissed his "just friends" talk and went about my ways.

The weekend after Transformers we went to see the Simpsons movie with our friends.   I made the hand holding moves and we had our first kiss.   That Saturday I invited him over again (with some lame pizza-making excuse) and we officially started going out.   I knew Mr. Brena couldn't hold out for long, muhahahahahaha!   I was too irresistible.

The way Mr. Brena proposed was perfect for us.  He made all of my favorite things for dinner and proposed during the desert.

Desert was cake and when he brought me my cake slice my engagement ring was on my fork!  There was some crying and then some celebrating.   :)

I had 5 bridesmaids: my 2 sisters, my sister-in-law, my husband's niece, and a good friend.  We choose David's Bridal style 81441 in truffle, they looked great on everyone!  But in a lot of our outdoors pictures the color came out purple (which is fine because our wedding had shades of purple everywhere)

Everyone looked so beautiful!   The dresses were flattering although I heard some of my girls complaining that they were restricting in the belly when they sat down.

I can't tell you much about the groomsmen wear.   My mother-in-law picked out the tux and Mr. Brena handled all the details.

We had 5 groomsmen to match our 5 bridesmaids.   Mr. Brena choose his 2 best friends, his 2 brothers, and his brother-in-law.   We dressed them in the brown striped suits from Men's Wearhouse and I think they all looked pretty sharp.  My husband had an ivory vest and tie while the groomsmen had brown vests and ties.

I had to include this one, it's one of my favorites.

Ok, so this post is hard to type.

Everything about my wedding was great... except for while I was getting dressed in my bridal suite my father called me to tell me he would not be walking me down the aisle.

See, I'd asked both my father and my mother to walk me down the aisle.   My parents are divorced and my father recently got remarried.  I'd told everyone before hand that this was how I wanted things and no one had a problem.  Until the morning of my wedding my stepmother told my father that he could not walk me down the aisle.   And for a couple of hours, he decided not too.

It was horrible.  My first reaction was anger, then I was upset because I had sucked up to this woman soooo much and for months my father had been promising that she would behave.  Of course, I wanted my husband right away to comfort me but even though he was in the room next door I couldn't see him yet!   Ugh, that was hard.

But a few positives came out of it.   Many of the men in my family offered to step up and so did my father-in-law.  And as soon as I did get to see Mr. Brena (we did a first look and I am so glad because it helped me calm down before the ceremony_ everything was alright because I was getting to marry Mr. Brena today and that could erase any sadness in the world.

In the end, my father ended up walking me down the aisle.   My uncle, who very recently lost his daughter, talked to him about it.  According to my father his wife had said that if he walked me down the aisle then she would attack me during the ceremony and he didn't know what to do.  But it seriously sucked and my relationship with my father is very fractured even though we're both trying to keep it together.

But back onto the positives!  My mother-in-law and my mother get along fabulously so they had a wonderful time.   The rest of my family was incredibly supportive and I could feel their love for us the whole time!  

I choose my dress from David's Bridal and I loved it.  I choose a sweetheart neckline and an asymmetrical a-line because I thought they were flattering to my body.   And there was lace and sparkles.   Lots and lots of lace and sparkles.

The look on my face here is "I'm not sure why you're having so much trouble back there."

Looks like I described my bridemaids dresses too early in my bio.   I'll just throw some extra pictures of my girls in here for your enjoyment.

My sisters, my mother, and I

Bridesmaid M, me, Mr. Brena, Groomsmen J

How could I not include this?