Weddingbee bios

I use the word 'kismet' because given the rathe odd circumstances of our first meeting, it has to be fate that we ended up together.

Although we grew up a mere 40 miles from each other in Southern California, we didn't meet until we both moved to San Francisco. I made the trek up to the Bay for law school. I didn't no anyone my own age in the city and assumed that I would make friends at school. I was sorely disappointed when I discovered that I didn't mesh well with law students - they were too focused on competition and too often an olive brach extended came with a price. However, there was one girl who I took an instant liking to, although I doubt she could say the same for me. We were placed in the same 'section' together, meaning we had all our classes together. The first week I tried to chat her up multiple times, but she didn't seem to be interested in my friendship. It took a cup of coffee (purchased by me) at 8 o'clock in the morning to open up the gates of conversation. I asked her if she knew any good bars in the city and she invited me out that weekend.

Michelle was our gateway. She went to Cal with Cody, Josh's best friend from home. Josh moved up to the Bay a few months before I did because it had always been his dream to live here. We met for the first time at the bar Michelle took me too that weekend. I liked him right away. But here's the catch - we were both in relationships at the time.

I was still dating my college sweetheart, although it was apparent at the time that we were headed towards a break up. I cared about him deeply but after a year of long distance and the fact that we were facing three more if we chose to stay together (he is in the military and there was no way we could live together with his station assignment), we weren't going to last long. Josh was in an extremely tumultuous five year relationship. I met her that first day when I met him and I can say that I didn't care for her one iota. They had a history of breaking up and getting back together and she was very emotionally abusive to him.

Before you go thinking that I stole him away, let me get on with the story. Anyway, while I was interested in getting to know Josh (as a friend), he did not seem interested in getting to know me. He is incredibly loyal and very rarely talks to girls he doesn't know well. I hung out with him a couple more times with him after the first encounter and he rebuffed my friendly conversation. It wasn't until one afternoon when we were sitting on the couch in Cody's house that we really got to talk. And we really clicked. In a big way. From there, he says he developed a crush on me. But given his loyalty, he tried to avoid me. Given that I was basically living on his best friend's couch, he didn't do so well.

A couple weeks after our 'click' moment, Josh and I ended up going out to dinner alone. We had one of those nights where hours go by talking and you look around and wonder how it got to be three in the morning. It was about the time when I started realizing how late it was that he kissed me. I know, it was bad. He still had a girlfriend after all. It was not the most promising start for a relationship, but I'm still glad it happened. He and the girlfriend broke up and we started dating. We've been together ever since. It's messy and it's thr truth and that's how we met. :) I've never been happier in my life than I have in the past three years.

I'm feeling lazy, so I copied this from our wedding website. Sorry for the use of the third person.

"Josh pulled a classic bait and switch! For their two year anniversary, Josh told Molly that he had gotten reservations at one of the nicest restaurants in town. Coupled with the fact that Josh had been acting extra lovey-dovey recently, Molly suspected that he might propose over dinner. She kept her suspicions to herself and tried to relax that day to prepare for the big night.

However, Josh would simply not leave her alone. He kept bugging her to take a walk around the neighborhood that had recently moved in to. Given that Forest Hill, with its greenery and awesome views is a nice place to take a walk, but Molly wanted nothing to do with it. Finally, in the late afternoon, she acquiesed. The walked up a large (read: huge) hill and found a little hidden park. They were walking its perimeter until Josh looked around, noticed they were all alone, and took Molly over to a fence. He said, "You should marry me." Molly hardly blinked - Josh had been saying this for sometime now, it was like their little joke. "Of course I'll marry you, honey", she responded. "No really", said Josh, "Will you marry me?". He took the black velvet box out of his jeans and placed it in Molly's hand. Of course, Molly immediately started crying and felt extremely light headed. And then she said yes.

They went home and called their friends and family. Then the glowing couple went out to dinner at Masa's, one of the nicest restaurants in town. Classic bait and switch.

Josh and Molly will be getting married on the one year anniversary of Josh's proposal and the three year anniversary of when they first started dating."

Update: Pro Pics of me in the dress!

When I started my dress search I quickly narrowed it down to a few designers. I was looking for very specific criteria: romantic, not strapless, no poof, and nothing shiny. I also have a penchant for interesting fabrics. So I focused on Lela Rose, Jenny Packham, and Claire Pettibone.

First stop was Saks, to look at Pettibone. I love the ethereal flowy nature of her gowns and the beautiful embroidery. The only Pettibone on the floor was the Kristene and I immediately dismissed it because of the hangy baubbles all over it. However, after trying on a couple dresses (including a gorgeous Vera), my maid of honor convinced me to try it on. The moment it went over my head, my face flushed and I felt overwhelmingly happy. I got the same response when I stepped out onto the floor and my bridesmaids got a glimpse. That's when I knew she was the one.

I went to another salon and tried on some Lela Rose (looked too old for me) and Jenny Packham (simply not glam enough to pull it off) and I settled on my vintage looking, beautiful lovely.

I did not want to go the traditional bridesmaid dress route. No offense to anyone who went with David's Bridal, but I wanted dresses that not only reflected my sense of style but something that my girls would be happy wearing. I had the color in mind (a dark purple, plum) and the length (tea), so it was just a matter of looking.

I began looking. With five bridesmaids helping me out, I thought it would be easy. Boy was I wrong! I looked everywhere - Anthropologie, Nordstroms, Bloomingdales, Macys - and found nothing for FOUR months. I found my own dress the first time I went looking. Finally, the Adrianna Papel Shantung Silk dress entered into the picture. Know that feeling you get, the first time you see something perfect? My heart got all light and I felt like a weight got lifted off my shoulders. I sent it around to the girls and they all loved it. Even the fact that it was backordered did nothing to diminish my happiness.

My maid of honor got her dress first. It looks fabulous on her!!

After I found it, I noticed that it was a popular choice in the wedding world. I've been so excited to see it on other bridal parties! They all look so beautiful and I love checking out the shoes they match with it. I am going to let the girls chose their own shoes. I'm already making them wear the same dress, after all.

We found these adorable brown dresses at some random fancy dress shop in Huntington Beach. Each girl had a different idea of what they wanted to wear - the one with the hand in her mouth had her heart SET on a frilly pink princess number. Broke my heart to make them wear the same thing, but I think they were okay with it in the end.

I just had my wedding hair trial the other day. First off, let me say that my hair stylist was a saint! I came in with one idea, which she made, then I decided I wanted something different and she did that as well, without blinking an eye! I thought I originally wanted a messy bun, but quickly discovered that my hair is too long to get the effect I wanted. In comes the swoop and bun. Loves it!!

I have always wanted a three stone diamond engagement ring. Growing up I used to try on my mom's engagement ring and I dreamed of having one just like it - diamond in the center with flanking rubies. When I started trying on engagement rings myself (years ago), I was told that gems like rubies are more likely to break than diamonds. Given that I slam my hand into at least ten different hard objects a day, my dream of having a ring to match my mom's kind of went out of the window.

It was also important to me that the diamonds be ethically sourced. My FH took care of this problem by asking his parents if he could have some of the 'family' diamonds. The stones for my ring once belonged to his great aunt and are over 60 years old. I know that it isn't absolutely certain that they are completely ethical in source, but it makes me feel a lot better. I also like the fact that the diamonds came from his family because such a gift lets me know just how excited they are to have me marry their son.

Sorry for the low picture quality. I've been having a hard time catching the sparkle of the ring. I'll post a better one when I take it. :)

 

Our invitations are the perfect combination between geeky and artsy. My FI is very much in to making art through interesting means so here you go. The poppy on the invite was designed by myself, while the purple felt flower was designed by the FI.

 

 

These are our postcard save the dates. The floral design is inspired by a suite of letterpress invites I saw during my wedding research. Unable to afford the actual super expensive genuine article, I decided to hand draw the pattern myself. So what you see above is my very own rendition. Everyone really liked them. The flowers are going to be included in our invite suite.

Just a word of warning out there for all of you Jewish brides who are planning to sign a kettubah on your wedding day: ORDER IT EARLY! We faced so many problems with our kettubah leading up to our wedding, even though we worked with a great vendor. A kettubah is a personalized document and needs to be extensively proof-read by your rabbi to ensure that it is accurate. This process takes quite some time and for a while there I was worried that it wouldn't arrive in time for our wedding day! As you can see from the pictures, it very fortunately made it on time. It is a wonderful daily reminder of our marriage, but it almost didn't happen! Start the process with your rabbi at least three months out from your wedding.