Weddingbee bios

 

That's us!  My future last name is Puma, like the shoe.  It's pretty awesome if you ask me (or my fiance for that matter). 

Who are the Pumas?

Me:

I'm a 21 year old psychology and criminology senior at the University of Oklahoma. I grew up in an OKC suburb and have lived in the area my whole life.  I work two jobs on campus, but spent 5 years in the restaurant industry. Following graduation, I plan to attend both graduate school for my Ph.D. in Forensic Psychology and law school for my J.D. When not working or busy with school, I love to run, as I'm training for the OKC Memorial half marathon. I'm also actively involved in numerous OU and community organizations, currently serving as president of my sorority - Kappa Phi, and a campus service club- Circle Kiwanis International. I also love to travel, scrapbook, read, and volunteer.

The fiance:

He is a 22 year old journalism senior at the University of Oklahoma. He was raised in Tulsa, OK before moving to college.  He just finished interning at The Oklahoman as a food writer, and also works at a local hotel restaurant. Following graduation in May, he plans to work in culinary journalism. While food is obviously a major interest of his, he also enjoys Frisbee golf, traveling, skiing and playing instruments.

So that's us!

The (soon to be) Puma's met on November 9, 2007. We were set up by one of my college roommates, who was also a friend of my fiance's from his freshman year. One evening my roommate and I were watching a movie in which the main character's boyfriend was a chef and made her dinner. I made the off-hand comment that I needed a guy who could cook. Ding - my roommate suddenly said she had the perfect guy! She met up with my fiance the next week and told him that he just had to meet her roommate. Then she brought me over for a cookout at his house where he grilled pizzas.

It took the Thanksgiving holiday to separate the two of us for more than a day after that fateful night. Over the last year and a half, we've built a life together enjoying many new events and activities.

We really love to cook, host holiday or dinner parties, play games (I always win!), spend time outdoors, watch movies and travel together.

My fiance proposed to me in Tulsa on June 20, 2009.  He took me to "The Center of the Universe", in downtown Tulsa, where a unique naturally occuring phenomenon happens.  On a pedestrian bridge there is a small circle, in which only two people can stand inside, that causes an echo at even a slight sound.  Outside of the circle, the echo cannot be heard.  He got down on one knee while the couple stood inside the circle and asked me to marry him.  After recovering from complete shock, I said yes!

Did you really think he pulled it off that easy?  No way!  I always told him I'd know, that he couldn't get it past this detail-oriented psych major.  Well, kudos to him.  We got engaged over Father's Day weekend.  We were "supposed" to drive to Tulsa from Norman for Saturday with his dad, before going to my dad's in the OKC metro on Sunday.  The Wednesday before, he went to get my ring size, as he was planning to buy the ring that same Saturday in Tulsa! 

So he was "supposed" to go to work Wednesday night, but I decided to drop in and say hi.  He wasn't there.  I called and he said he was told to come in later.  So I said I'd wait.  Ha!  He told me to go ahead, he wouldn't really have time to chat.  Well later that evening, he showed up at home!  He brought a bottle of wine and said he wanted to surpise me with a relaxing evening.  Little did I know it was all a cover-up for the ring sizing!  

Then Saturday rolls along.  It's hot, HOT, in the Oklahoma summer.  It was over 100 degrees in the beating sun.  Plus, we had our whole day already planned.  The night before he announces he wants to go see this Center of the Universe place.  I rolled my eyes and told him we wouldn't have time, pick another weekend.  But he persisted and on Saturday afternoon he made us go.  We drove my car (his AC broke a few weeks before!) and he drove.  He went the wrong way down a one-way street and parked illegally.  I griped the whole walk to the Center of the Universe that he'd be in trouble if my car got a ticket or towed.  Then I griped about the heat while we were up there and even began walking back to the car after 5 minutes, asking if he was done.  He said "wait!, One more thing."  So he made us both stand facing each other in the center and then rushed into saying "And I've got to do this!" and got down on one knee.  The rest was such a whirlwind blur!  I freaked out and asked so many questions!  I didn't even wait for him to put the ring on my finger, I just grabbed it!     
After many phone calls and returning back to his parents' house, he further surprised me.  Rather than going out for a Father's Day dinner as "planned", he had arranged a four course meal at this awesome restaurant overlooking the river in Tulsa.  He arranged a menu according to all of my favorite foods and flavors.  When we arrived at the restaurant with his parents, a big boquet of roses and lillies was waiting on the table.

It couldn't have been more perfect and I couldn't have been more surprised!

Means the Puma's e-pics!

All photos by the one, the only, the incredible Kris Boevers.  Check out her amazingess at http://www.krisboeversphoto.blogspot.com

We started out at the OKC Botanical Gardens.  Love this sculpture almost as much as I love his whole demeanor here!

My creative fiance actually suggested this shot!

 

I think every little girl has had dreams of that "wind in your hair" shot.  I love my photographer for capturing it!

 

Yes, I was laughing akwardly...

 

Perfect example of us!

 

Ok, so I really like this photo.  But I HATE orange.  So I'm at odds with this one.

 

Heck yes we wore Puma shirts for our e-pics!  It is our last name, after all!

 

Love this one!

 

If you can't tell, I'm super short, so this tip-toes shot is cute!

 

Check out my other posts for more e-pic goodies!

First, please excuse my interesting faces in all these photos, which are all credited to my mom.  Wedding dress shopping and photo posing can be very...awkward.

But this is my dress!  It began as my 3rd place dress and ended as THE dress.  My changes will be alterations and the chanpagne color has been switched to ivory, so the whole dress is in the lighter color.

Please also excuse the bra shot!

Here's my new inspiration board:

 

 

But, before that, was this Polyvore board:

 

Our wedding will be characterized by red, pearl, and either silver or black.  Other main parts of our theme are pearls, roses, and board games.  We are going for a classic red June wedding.  You can see my dress in the boards too!  It's going to be in the all-white (well, ivory really) version seen in the "new" board.

http://www.dillards.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=301&storeId=301&langId=-1&productId=501290469

These shoes had me at hello.  I haven't had the easiest time getting them though.  Macy's told me they only go to a size 6.  But my little feet need a 5.5, which Dillard's claims to carry.  Still working on my beauties!

 

 

Flowers were an expense we weren't ready to splurge on, so I ordered bulk roses from Sam's Club online.  They were delivered on Wednesday, we put them together late Friday (it was stressful), then they looked really nice on Saturday. 

I had wanted to do my bouquet in red roses and the girls' in white, but it didn't work out to purchase the roses that way, so they were all red.  In the end, I'm glad because they looked cohesive.  I used small pearl floral picks throughout the bouquets and wrapped the girls' and toss bouquet in satin ribbon secured with pearl tipped corsage pins.  For my bouquet, I was going to use the leftover material from my dress alteration, but it got a little lost in the supplies.  So we ended up using extra material from the flower girl's dress (which my Grandma made) and it worked perfectly. 

I had an absolute blast getting ready with my girls.  We always had either wedding movies or fantastic music playing, which often resulted in impromptu dancing.  We chowed down on the last thing you'd think of for wedding lunch - burgers.  We snacked the whole day and forgot to even open the champagne!  Although there was a teeny bit of rushing and nervousness, it was some of the most fun I've had with all of them together.

We stayed at the wedding hotel and got ready in joined rooms before moving into the honeymoon suite (yep, I got to see it long before Mr. Puma).  I went to have my hair done, while the stylist for the bridesmaids (my roommate's sister) came to our hotel and was also fun to hang out with.  We did our own makeup and used my Mom's fabric steamer to get the dresses ready before the photographer arrived.  We spent what felt like forever putting the dress on, buttoning all these teeny little buttons over the zipper.  Then suddenly that was it, wedding time!

 

OUR VENDORS:

E-ring: Vincent Anthony Jewelers in Tulsa, OK (Fantastic quality!)

Wedding Bands: Moody's Jewelry in Tulsa, OK (Great pricing)

Dress: Bridal Boutique in Norman, OK (High end selection at reasonable prices, with great service)

Invitations: Paper N More in OKC, OK (Good prices and service, sales in Jan & May)

Ceremony Venue: St. Mark Lutheran Church in Edmond, OK (Nice contemporary church with a focus on faith)

Reception Venue & Catering: Sheraton Hotel in Downtown OKC (Great prices, poor communication)

Baker: Ruth's Sweete Justice in OKC (Delicous, beautiful, and great price!)

Photography: Kris Boevers Photography out of Norman, OK (Fantastic quality and service at an unbeatable price!  Used in both the engagement & wedding photos.)

Cake topper & attendant gifts: In Your Dreams in Norma, OK (great gift store)

Bridesmaids Dresses: David's Bridal in North OKC (very busy and mediocre service)

Tuxes: Men's Wearhouse (we used various OKC locations, good service and product)

Flowers: Sam's Club online (ordered bulk roses and did DIY florals, great results)

Bride's Hair: Tiffany @ Schardein & Co in OKC (Excellent!)

BM Hair: Roommate's sister

DJ: Friend operated our computer playlist

Decor & Project Supplies: Michael's & Hobby Lobby

Paper & Signage: DIY with supplies from the above stores

Transportation: Personal

Rehearsal Dinner: Coach's in Bricktown OKC (good price and private room)

Favor/Trail Mix Buffet Supplies: Sam's, restaurant supply stores, Scoops Scoops

Registry: Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Williams-Sonoma

Honeymoon Hotels: Avia in Napa, CA (Amazing!), Hilton in Union Square San Francisco (Very nice), and Hilton Gaslamp in San Diego, CA (Very nice)

Honeymoon Flights: Southwest Airlines

Honeymoon Activities: Silver Oak Winery, Schramsberg Napa, Castello di Armosa Napa, Jarvis Winery, and various San Francisco and San Diego activities

 

 

We spent our honeymoon in 3 different California cities to get a piece of everything: food & wine, relaxation, adventure, outdoors, and beach! 

We started out by flying into Oakland (Southwest was a lot cheaper going in here).  We rented a car and drove to downtown Napa, where we stayed at the Avia hotel.  The Avia was incredible.  While not well known apparently, it is beautiful and has a great restaurant. 

The tub was curtained off from the master bath, with a walk in shower in the bath.  It was so relaxing after a day of wine tasting and shopping. 

On our first morning we went to Castello di Armosa, a winery in a castle.  It was a neat tour, but a teeny bit touristy.

After lunch we found a little time to stop by the Napa campus of the Culinary Institute of America for my husband, who is a total foodie and was admitted to the CIA New York campus before deciding to finish his journalism degree.

That afternoon we visited Schramsberg, which is the sparkling wine served at US state dinners.  It was amazing, and the ground were beautiful.

And they keep all their wine in underground cellars, so we got to tour the caves and do our tasting in there.  They asked where everyone was from and what they were doing in Napa, and a couple who found out it was our honeymoon was so nice to buy us a bottle of Port when we saw them at another tasting room that afternoon!

That everning we went to my new favorite restaurant in the world, Bottega, in Yountville.  Everything was absolutely amazing there; I don't think I could do it justice here. 

The second morning we went to my husband's favorite winery, Silver Oak.  We like this tour the best because it was very reasonably priced and they poured (and repoured) your wine during the tour.

After having a little debit card oops because we forgot to tell his bank that he'd be traveling and not to put a hold on his card, we bought a bottle of wine and were on our way to a delicious lunch at Rutherford Grill.

That afternoon we went to Jarvis, a winery set completely in a mountainside.  It was a really unique tour and a good tasting with cheese pairings.  Sadly most of my photos didn't turn out well because of the lighting.

Dinner that night was at another great Napa establishment, Mustards Grill.  But before dinner, we went to Locals' Night at the Oxbow Market in downtown Napa.  It's a big building similar to the Ferry Building in San Francisco with food markets and restaurants.  We had a ton of fun tasting so many things (and I discovered I really do not like oysters!).

 

Our last day in Napa was spent doing a little shopping before we drove through Sonoma to the Muir Woods just north of San Francisco.

We really enjoyed some walking/hiking through the Muir Woods.  Neither of us had been to Northern CA before, so seeing trees that big was pretty amazing.  We almost skipped the trip through there, but we're so glad we didn't (except for the drive, I'm so scared of heights!).  Plus we got a fun surprise as we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge on our way into the city!

We had a lot of fun in San Francisco!  We walked Chinatown, rode the street car around, had lunch at the Ferry Building, walked Fisherman's Wharf, had a drink at the Rogue Pub (DH's favorite brewery), enjoyed dinner on the bay overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, shopped in Union Square, and had chocolate in Ghiradelli Square - all in 1 1/2 days.

Next we flew to San Diego for a couple days.

We went to the Zoo, where we got sunburned but had lots of fun (I saw my first panda!).  We stayed at the Hilton in the Gaslamp, so we walked around that area and even watched a Padres game from the Marriott rooftop bar.  We enjoyed the beach and went to Old Town, and spent a lot of time relaxing in the hot tub.

Our honeymoon was an absolute blast and we can't wait to go back (especially to Napa!).