How Trey Feels This Week

It's a big week for us...

Celebrating One Year

My, how time has flown! It seems like yesterday I was worried about the weather and the parking, would it rain and would the neighbors get upset about all parked cars in the driveway? Everything turned out better than we could have imagined. Trey and I both agree: having a wedding is FUN! The sad part is how quick it goes by, you don't get nearly enough time to check in with all your loved ones.

The highlights:
- Everyone danced!
- The dessert (no leftovers) - we had apple pie, peach pie, and flan - no cake was a hit!
- Trey's cousin and my cousin stole the show on the dance floor - it was a riot
- Seeing my family from Costa Rica fly all the way out!
- A car stuffed full of stuffed animals
- The quiet ceremony on the beach

Now, looking back, one year later - the only thing I regret is not taking more photos with the people I love. Instead I just cherish the memories close to my heart, and hope to keep all those who supported us in our life for years to come.

16 Days and Counting

What goes through the mind of a bride nearly two weeks before the big day? Lists, lists, and lists! The kegs to order, the dress to clean, the wine to purchase, the bills to pay (yikes!) and for this bride the crafty down home details that will make the day something special. At this point, I'm happy to report that the yard is DONE! All the lights are hung (just need to add the lanterns the day of); the gravel and beauty bark spread; the planters filled.

As you can see in the photo, we've even been blessed with enough good weather to ripen a few strawberries (one of the planters). Tomorrow I meet with the caterer to turn in our final numbers for food (and pay her - $30 a head is a good deal round these parts, and at 80 guests, our most significant expense). That to me really signifies how far we've come, the first "outsider" will see all the work we've put in.

This will likely be the last post before the big day - I look forward to more posts in the future to document for myself (and any interested parties) all the steps it took to make our wedding come to fruition!

Wait, only 41 days till the wedding? How did that happen? At this point, wedding invites have been sent out (phew! pictures to come later), most of the RSVP's are in, the lawn is in bloom and flourishing, and all the fun stuff lays ahead: picking what pies to serve, decorations, and flowers. One of these fun activies has been tasting different microbrews as to find the perfect two for the wedding (plus one cider). As you can see, we had quite a sampling event of our local brews:



We settled on Alaskan Amber (not pictured)and our college town favorite Boundary Bay Scotch (Trey's favorite). We also found a very nice cider (our champagne alternative). I really enjoy Crispin's Honey Crisp cider, however it was unavailbe in keg form for the wedding. The original cider is very nice though, not too sweet and very refreshing. On a budget, hard cider fit both our personalities and our pocketbooks as the perfect toasting beverage.

And where did we find all these lovely spirits? At a great little (or big, depending on your definintion of small) store in Federal Way called 99 Bottles. They have over 1200 brews to choose from for a keg, and tons of great seasonal ales in bottles (I highly recommed the seasona from Alaskan, a Blackberry Ale).

We are looking forward to a great wedding full of good spirits (of both the liquid and less tangible varieties). Now to find the perfect white and red wine and our beverage menu will be set!

If I was a flower growing wild and free all I'd want is for you to be my sweet honey bee...

It's now less than 7 months till the big day! Save the dates have gone out, a wedding website created , and a caterer hired. Now there are table linens to pick out, a ceremony to plan, lots of decorative lights to research and purchase, planning of logistics (parking is number one right now) and formal invites to create. The fun stuff!

In the meantime, I've finished up my first semester at school, and it's been a whirlwind of a good/challenging/fun time. Trey is newly employed in downtown Seattle, and loving it. As my childhood neighbor put it we're "disgustingly happy." As the holidays approach, we are just both so grateful to be employed, let alone at places we love, for family in good health and spirit, and for the way things in our life have just started to come together. We are just very lucky, and happy to be soaking up all the good vibes as long as they last. I hope anyone reading this has a very merry holiday! See you in 2010!

Engagement Photos!

Two weeks ago, Trey and I ventured North to where it all began. Well, that's not exactly true. It all began in Tacoma, but it grew in Bellingham. A friend of ours happens to be a great photographer, and got some great shots of us goofing around at Hovander Park. We were blessed with great fall weather, crisp and clear. Combined with great talent behind the lens, and our natural silliness and lets just admit it, our cuteness, we had a great time and are very pleased with the results! Here are a few of our favs:


Special thanks to Selena Smith, at Blue Moon Photography for the amazing shots! More here.

Swing sets, swing dancing, skipping amongst pumpkins and barns and flower - it was totally cheesy and wonderful. I love photography, and really value having some photos of us looking like ourselves and not all done up in wedding garb. It's really the beginning of becoming a family to me. I remember getting dressed up to take photos at Sears with the family, and this to me is one step toward realizing marriage isn't just simply about love. It's a love that goes deeper than that, so much so you want to be family, there for each other through thick and thin. No matter what happens. While taking the photos alone was fun, seeing them and imagining a house full of the photos that will happen throughout our lifetime I began to see how the symbolism of it all is powerful and good. I usually am pretty non-traditional, and don't always see the value in going through the motions of tradition (i.e. not walking at my graduation from WWU). But this was good, out of the box for us, and made us feel just a little closer in a way I hadn't considered before.

Now that we have some great photos, I'll begin the process of designing our save the date cards. July 17th, 2010 - be on the lookout! If you haven't filled out our survey in the previous post, please make sure to do so!

Address Collection

Most weddings require extensive use of the US postal system. Ours is, of course, no exception.

Please help us make sure we get all those nested envelopes to where they belong.

Just fill out this little form (link) and we'll add you to our address book.