I met Mr. Honeysuckle online, at Match.com.  He was just looking, after getting through a bad breakup, just seeing what was out there.  I was on there as a dare from one of my girlfriends.  I had also just gone through a bad breakup, and had nothing to loose.  His profile was the first one that I clicked on, and we started chatting right away.  We had instant chemistry, so we decided to meet in person at the local Starbucks.  Our first ‘date’ was awesome.  We got some hot chocolate and started walking.  We ended up walking and talking for over 6 hours.  The conversation never got awkward, or silent. We talked about everything, from what we had in common to the fact that he worked at the same company that my mom used to work at.  So I had to get the inside scoop….

The next day, I talked to my mom about it.  I said, so I went out on a date with Mr. Honeysuckle, and he said that he works for this software company.  And she said, MR. Honeysuckle?  Oh yeah, he is great!  Super nice, great guy, I used to sit next to him!  She gave me her approval right then.  I was so relieved that she already had met him and approved, that it made the whole ‘online dating thing’ much easier.

Almost two years later to the day, he proposed with my dream engagement ring, in our apartment.

Now since I am the ultimate perfectionist, I am planning my wedding myself.  Doing everything low budget, and doing most of it by myself.  From the fabric covering the railings at the ceremony and reception venue, to the invitations, to the cupcakes for my wedding, things are busy, but I am learning so many short cuts along the way, and I know that my wedding will be beautiful.

We are getting married on October 24th, 2010, in a beautiful park in Santa Barbara, CA that I grew up next to.  From the location of the park you can see the city and the ocean.  It’s really going to be a spectacular event.  Since most of our intimidate family lives within 2 hours of where we currently live, we thought why not have our wedding in one of the most beautiful places in the US.

I hope you all enjoy reading my tips, as I have gotten so many tips from you already!

Hydrangea Dude and I met almost three years ago through a mutual friend and started dating him 9 months later.  It is so refreshing to find someone who truly loves me for me (even with all my crazy dance moves and goofy nature).  I am excited to be marrying the love of my life and best friend in about eight months and am looking forward to all that wedding planning has to offer, from the flowers, to the menu to THE DRESS.

I am one of the first of my friends to get married, so I am relying a lot on advice from others, wedding magazines and of course a lot of google searches.

A little about my wedding – I live in Atlanta but am planning our wedding in Fort Lauderdale, FL, where Hydrangea Dude’s family lives.  My family is from all over so it was easier to plan our wedding in South Florida – and hey, who doesn’t love traveling to Florida for a wedding?  My wedding date is April 16, 2011, and I look forward to sharing all the fun, the journey to choosing vendors and hope you can provide me with some great tips along the way.

Who is this Cotton Bud?  I’m an adventuring vagabond ready to begin the next chapter of my life with the man who fills my heart with so much love, Cotton Cutie – aka CC, from here on out.  I’m originally from Boston’s Irish community, South Boston, and moved to central NH as a teen with my fantastic parents Cotton Mom1 and Cotton Mom2.  (Yup, that’s right – CC is getting TWO mother-in-laws in this package!)  After a few not-so-gracious teen years, I settled into the travel industry and began the incredible decade that was my 20s traveling in Europe and living/traveling in the Caribbean.  As much as I loved the free/cheap travel afforded me by working in the travel industry, I felt a pretty big hole inside and wanted to do more.  I wanted to give back somehow and be someone who made a difference.  I decided to leave the travel industry behind and return to college with the ultimate goal of becoming a teacher.  This is about the time I met CC and here we are – a couple of Cottons kickin’ it in Northern California living our dreams.

Photo by Cotton Bud

CC and I have the most incredible, supportive families any bud could ask for.  The Cotton Moms and CC Mom and CC Dad are such caring parents, if not extremely patient with us both.  We are also supported by my mentor/friend and his wife (Cotton Rog and Cotton Sue) and CC’s birth mother (CC Judi).  Unfortunately, we’re both from the East Coast (CC is originally from Philadelphia) and do not get to see our family as often as we’d like.  This has been a deciding factor for us with planning our wedding.  Although we both live in CA, we’re having our wedding in NH, in Cotton Moms 1 & 2’s rural town of Alexandria, to make it easier for our families to travel to.  This has naturally provided some interesting problems when it comes to this bud’s desire to DIY the heck out of the celebration!  I’ll definitely be talking about this more in the future.

Aside from traveling as much as I possibly can, I also love to craft, Craft, CRAFT!  Planning our wedding has been an amazing opportunity for me to express my creativity in ways I had no idea existed.  I enjoy photography, camping, reading, exploring national parks, road trips, bar-b-ques, Latin American culture, taking classes, and discovering the world around me too.

I’m very excited to have been given the honor of being a bud and look forward to sharing all of our wedding planning fun with you!

So, I guess you are just dying to meet Sunflower Dude. Here he is (with me of course!):

Sunflower Dude is an automotive technician. That’s in italics because that’s the fancy way of saying ‘car mechanic’–but he doesn’t mind either way. He’s very laid back and go with the flow. Which is everything that I’m not, so we balance each other out pretty well. He loves cars and is very, very good at what he does. He also likes video games, anime, movies, playing with our fur-baby (our pit-bull/lab, Diesel), and basically just chilling.

Sunflower Dude and I have been together since high school. We met in Algebra II and were friends for a year before we stopped denying that we had feelings for each other and were actually “dating”. But for months you couldn’t tell us otherwise!! We started dating my senior year (he was a junior) and the rest is basically history. We’ve been though 2 instances of long-distance dating–when he moved to Chicago for school after he graduated. And then when he moved to Florida for 9-months to finish up his schooling. After that, we moved to Atlanta and have been living here ever since–and don’t plan on leaving. We moved here with one fur-baby (a black cat named Bear) but have adopted 2 other fur-babies: a rambunctious furry cat, Rascal, and the already mentioned dog, Diesel.

Our wedding is pretty simple. So far I haven’t been stressing out about it… but I know that I eventually will–I stress about everything, pretty much all the time. I just finished up graduate school and am searching for a job so I have a ton of time to plan out our wedding. I told myself no planning while in school (trust me, we got engaged in Sept. ‘09 and I graduated this May ‘10 and 8 months of holding myself back from diving into the wedding world was torture!) so I have sort of dived head first into it while I have the time off… Trust me, I’d much rather be working to save up for the wedding, but having the time to plan is pretty nice as well.

The style of the wedding as of right now is a vintage look. I’m dreaming of wild-flowers and wooden signs and mason jars. And Sunflower Dude is pretty much on board. We have a little under a year to plan everything which is great because I’m planning a lot of DIY projects. It should be great fun. And I do have to say, my bridal party is going to be pretty amazing!!

Well, that is me in a nutshell. I hope that you will find my posts interesting and my wedding planning inspirational and fun. I’m trying to keep it fun and stress-free

That picture was taken in Walt Disney World! so much fun! ok, back to the wedding… Summer wedding (June 18th, 2011). Colors: bright pink and yellow (perfect for a lightspirited, fun, summer party!) DIY projects to undertake: fabric bouquets…you should enjoy those pictures of my attempts, and baking cakes for every table as the centerpieces…and many others to come…

I hope you all enjoy following my blog, I look forward to sharing all my ideas and my planning with you!

Dahlia Dude - He looks so young!!!

Dahlia Dude and I have been engaged for a few months now, but, due to unforeseen circumstances, we’ve had to push our date back to August 2012. We’ll be tying the knot in a beach ceremony in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. So maybe it’s not such a bad thing that we have two years til the wedding, because I never realized how much work goes into a destination wedding!!

So a little about me: I’m a DIY bride, a dreamer, and a control freak. Dahlia Dude likes to say that I’m my own worst enemy, as I go back and forth constantly over almost every aspect of the wedding. So I hope that I’ll keep you all entertained and spark some more great ideas!!

Isn’t he cute? But for some reason he isn’t thrilled about hearing about the wedding 24/7. Can’t imagine why not. Hence the blog. You lovely ladies get to hear about my inspirations, my dreams, my projects, and anything else I happen to cook up.

Orchid dude and I are both fun loving people who love being outdoors for any excuse we can and be surrounded by as many people as possible, so naturally that is the focus of the wedding. It must be outdoors, and we want all our friends and family to have a blast. I am a firm believer that a wedding should be an expression of the couple getting married, and how unique they are. Orchid dude and I vowed not to do anything for our wedding simply because it is the “done” thing. That being said, we are having an Outdoor, Vintage, DIY, Eco Wedding, which I will describe to you in DETAIL through future posts.

Personal Photo

But I’m sure you hear that a lot, so let me explain…..

I’m from Florida. Miami specifically. He’s from Washington state, Seattle to be precise.

http://maps.google.com/

That’s right… we had approximately 3,365 miles dividing us. And yet we met, as if by fate, at a Christmas Party neither of us was supposed to attend. And now only 2 and a half years later we’re getting married in Sedona, AZ at a beautiful venue.  I hope some of our trials and tribulations will help you in your wedding-planning journey!

My name is Jasmine Bud & I am so excited to begin this journey with all of you! The Dude & I have been engaged since June 19th, 2009 so we are very well into our planning process. We are almost at the 100 day mark until our wedding! Most of our big stuff has been planned for awhile so my blog will mostly consist of all the last minute bridal stuff that we all go through. As I enter the last 100 days of this stage of my life you can follow me in my struggles in losing those last 5 pounds, finding the perfect shower outfit, my bachlorette party & so much more!

I look forward to letting you all into my world of planning & cannot wait to hear all of your feedback! =)

And now a little about Moon dude, he graduated from the same university that I now attend, where we met (but we’ll get to that story at a later date :-]). Moon dude currently works in the food industry and enjoys spending his spare time working with food. His two major passions are food and music. He has a deep knowledge of the history of his favorite music genres that is incredibly detailed and impressive.  His ability to work with food doesn’t just mean grilling a juicy steak either (though, he does a fine tri-tip), it extends to things like fermenting sauerkraut, brewing beer, making/aging cheese, and making surprisingly delicious food from things that most people consider gross (eg, mmmm scrapple).

This photo was taken while we were decked out for a friend's wedding, shortly after our engagement..

We got engaged on the 4th of July (again, more on that later!), and we will be getting married in September (lol, much, much more on that coming!) . Although we are both from the north east, we’ll be having our wedding in North Carolina on the Outer Banks. Some of the bigger points of our wedding are down, and I cant wait to share them with you.  Many details still need to be ironed out, and I can’t wait to work through them with your help and ideas!

Lilac Dude and I are currently students in Canton, Ohio. We’re both from the area and are going to get married here. I will be the last of three children in my family to get married and he will be the first in his family.

We have a very long engagement and I’m very excited to plan our wedding and life together, and in the process share with you everything along the way!

Here we are on our 3rd anniversary, shortly after we got engaged.

I feel as if I am one of the last people I know to get married. I did everything backwards and had the baby before the wedding. Although, she is no longer my baby but my ten year old daughter. She is thrilled I am getting married and I am as equally thrilled that she has an awesome father figure in her life now.

My fiance and I met on eHarmony. Yes…it works. I even recommended it to my old college roommate and she is madly in love now.

We are planning a July 2010 wedding. It is going to be very casual and take place on the beach. My parents have given us a $10,000 budget and I am determined to have everything I want and not break the bank.

So far I have completed a few of my wedding tasks (venue, photographer, save the dates, and the honeymoon is booked) and now with less than six months to go I am sort of beginning to feel the pinch with everything else I still need to do….including finding a wedding dress.

I hope to share with vendors I have already booked and my hopes for all of the other things I still need to accomplish.

Dogwood Dude and I met 2 ½ years ago through mutual friends.  I am blessed to have such a wonderful fiancé that makes me laugh all the time, supports me through every situation and loves me more than I could have ever imagined.

I am one of the last of my friends to get married so I have seen it all! I have been to more than 20 weddings in the past three years, and I was a bridesmaid in six of those.  All that time I watched as each of my friends married the man of their dreams , spent countless hours planning huge weddings and ultimately having the wedding of their dreams.  That’s when I realized that the wedding of my dreams was small and on a beach at sunset.

The planning should be interesting as we live in Washington, D.C., my family and friends are in Atlanta and we are getting married in Key Largo, Florida.  The big day is July 9, 2010 and am excited to share what I find, what I love and anything that can help y’all out!

Hmm, where do I begin introducing myself? Well, I guess the beginning . I was born and raised in South Africa – a country that still has my heart – and my family immigrated to the United States when I was 12. We first moved to the Midwest and lived there for 3 years. While the transition was a culture shock, I made incredible friends in Iowa and actually just got back from visiting some of them a few weeks ago.  After Iowa, we moved to North Carolina where I finished up high school & attended college – UNC Chapel Hill (go Tar Heels!).  Post college, I did what every young graduate did – moved to a big city. I chose San Francisco and spent the most incredible year there with some friends from college.  Academia started calling my name after about a year in the working world and that is when I moved back to the East cost to attend graduate school in D.C.  While in grad school, I met my soon-to-be hubby and have never left!

This picture was taken the day after we got engaged

Traveling is an obsession of mine and I try to squeeze in an international trip whenever possible (though now that I’m working, it’s a lot harder – though I actually just got back from a week-long trip to Lebanon).  Traveling is a passion that my fiance and I both share and something we really bonded over initially.  Our first trip together was to Morocco, then came Puerto Rico, China, South Africa, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, and most recently Egypt.

I have the most incredible family and am pretty blessed to be inheriting some pretty awesome in-laws too. I’m the youngest of 3 girls and we have a brother who is 8 years younger.  My eldest sister is also engaged (she is getting married in April 2010 – poor parents, I know) and the middle sister is married and mom to my adorable nephew who is about to turn 1.  I’ll be inheriting an older brother and younger sister when I get married – both of which I never had and always wanted.  Family time is really important and I travel to see my family and my future in-laws a lot.  Though we’re spread all over the East coast, we still manage to see each other quite frequently, in fact I’m blogging from my parent’s house right now .

I’m a marketing professional and my work has gotten a whole lot busier lately (great timing, I know).  When not working or globetrotting, you’ll find me shopping, going for a jog (or walk/run as I like to call it), having a glass of wine with friends, and cooking for my love (I really enjoy baking too).  Not to mention that I’ve picked up a few bad TV show obsessions lately. Hmm, I guess that’s all for now!

]]> http://www.bridalbuds.com/2009/10/meet-the-bridalbuds-gardenia-bud/feed/ 7 http://www.bridalbuds.com/2009/09/meet-the-bridalbuds-maga-bud/ http://www.bridalbuds.com/2009/09/meet-the-bridalbuds-maga-bud/#comments Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:00:34 +0000 Maga Bud http://www.bridalbuds.com/?p=9979 Hello BridalBuds and hello to all of the blog readers! I’m Maga Bud and I am so proud to represent my native flower from Puerto Rico (PR). I was born in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, but raised in Bayamon, PR. I lived in Puerto Rico, also known as the Island of Enchantment for 19 years. I’ve been living in the Evergreen State since 2006.

I describe myself as a detailed oriented bride. I am so in love with my fiancé, whom I like to call Towie Bear. We are getting married in July 24, 2010. He proposed on Christmas Eve; right before our big family gathering. It was quite a surprise and celebration for everyone. My Towie Bear is handsome, hard-working and a tender gentleman. He’s been very supportive during the whole wedding planning process. He likes to be involved in details that are in tune with his interests.

Towie Bear & Maga Bud

For example, the other day he expressed his opinion about the vehicle that we should consider for our wedding transportation. This is because of his passion for cars. Therefore, I am truly taking his point of view seriously. This is one of the things I’ve learned since I started organizing our wedding and it’s to listen to my future husband and make sure that his vision is also part of our magical day. Thank you my love!

This blog is a fantastic opportunity for me to share my knowledge as a Latina bride living in Washington State. I look forward to reading my fellow BridalBuds experiences that may help me during this wonderful journey. My overall wedding coordination experience has been positive. There are still many unanswered questions, but I do feel accomplished because I’ve already booked almost 50% of my vendors with 9 more months to go.

I am very much excited for the next phase of our wedding planning. Stay tuned!

We’ve been engaged since the end of January, and there’s still so much left to do.  We picked our venue almost immediately, which made me feel very accomplished.  However, we are now about 8 months away from the big day, and there’s still so much left to do!  I have gotten such great inspiration from this blog recently, and I only hope I can add a bit more inspiration as well.

We are getting married in Raleigh (located in central North Carolina, for anyone unfamiliar with the area), which so far has proven to be a treasure trove of vendors and suppliers – I look forward to sharing what I’ve found so far!

Hi!! I’m Fressia Bud (and that handsome guy is Freesia Dude) I have anxiously been preparing my first post as a Bridal Bud! I am beyond excited to be writing here.

Freesia Dude and I got engaged on April 18th of this year. Since then, I have already experienced the highs (and lows) of planning a wedding. We are going to have a very simple wedding in beautiful Austin, TX. After realizing that the wedding was something that could potentially cost a lot of money, we decided to stick to the basics. Freesia Dude and I are inviting about 60 people and leaving out a lot of traditional wedding “must-haves”.

Even though our wedding isn’t until May 30th, 2010, I feel like we have all the big items covered. We found our photographer on Craigslist. She was giving away a free engagement session to develop her portfolio! So we definitely decided to have her do our wedding.

Our ceremony is taking place at a beautiful chapel in Austin, TX. – Chapel Dulcinea. This chapel is completely free!!

With a free ceremony and an affordable photographer, we knew we could splurge on food. We’re having a cuban-style reception at the lovely Habana de Calle on 6th street in Austin.

I have been blessed with a wonderful sister-in-law to be, and family who wants to help me do a lot of DIY things for my wedding. Freesia sister-in-law is so great, she even made me my own wedding binder with personal tips and advice she had from planning her own wedding.

It has already been a fun ride, and I can’t wait to share the journey with you!

She found her weatherman and lived happily ever after

Ah! I’m here! And so happy to be Poinsettia Bud. At this point, we are just over nine months away from the wedding with so much left to do, yet, I am not feeling any kind of time crunch. Yet.

I consistently say that I have won the “Husband Jackpot” with Poinsettia Dude. Shortly after we started dating, I shared with him that I was recently diagnosed as diabetic and that the next year or so would be tough. He had the chance to walk away friends or stay and be my rock….. Love is grand!

Before getting engaged, Poinsettia Dude and I had discussed what type of wedding we would have. I’m not a traditional bride and didn’t want to fuss with seating charts and place cards. That led us to a theme of “cocktail style reception”, with a lounge like feel, this is, after all, Vegas….so let’s turn it into our own club with our own velvet rope requirements.

Even as an event planner, the “where to begin” questions ran rampantly through my head on a daily basis. You will read to start with setting a budget, but I found this to be a catch 22-without knowing how much your venue will charge to feed 150 people, you can’t really set a budget. But you also know that you HAVE to invite all of your extended family, you mother in laws friends, etc. Even though we have a running list, we are making new friends along the way. I can’t wait to see our final tally come January.

Once I got engaged, I did start my wedding binder. You can find amazing templates on line, which I’ve used and just bought my own binder from an office supply store- again, functional without breaking the bank. I’ve been saving magazines for over a year now (yes, before I got engaged) and clipped, snipped and ripped out pages that have provided me with inspiration.

To say that I lack craftiness is a valid and true statement; however, I am determined to have several DIY projects. I feel like DIY done right can truly make your wedding you own. I also believe that if your DIY skills fail, your wedding will still be your own courtesy of some fabulous vendors!

We are determined to make our wedding fabu yet economical…I will share this with just you…our budget is way less than the “average” wedding “these days”. I’m determined to successfully plan a classy, fun and memorable wedding without breaking the bank. I’m trying to prove that it can be done and it can be done in Vegas of all places.

My checklist is still early awaiting more attention, we have the date, the venues and the Save The Dates have been sent, I bought a dress and that is about it!

I look forward to sharing my experiences with you as I, the planner, get to plan my own event.

I am so excited to have this wonderful opportunity to blog and share ideas with other brides like myself. I am also looking forward to learning from the Blossoms who will help me prepare for my life as a wife. No rhyming intended.

I have been dubbed Cymbie Bud. I met Cymbie Dude in the Singles class at our church over two years ago. You know how they say that when you meant The One, you know? Well I knew! I was instantly attracted to Cymbie Dude even though I had a boyfriend at the time. Things progressed as we grew to become best friends before ever entering a relationship. I think that’s one reason our love is so strong. We really got to know each other before we dated.

I’ll share more in the posts to come, such as our engagement story and how our wedding planning is going. But tata for now! Can’t wait to write more.

This is one of our oldest pictures, but one of my very favorite!

I am delighted to join this wonderful group of women in the conversation of wedding planning and everything that goes along with it. Let me start my first post telling you about our strange and wonderful story to provide a background for everything that is yet to come:

Snapdragon bud & Snapdragon Dude

You’ll see in my bio a little bit about how we met. In short, we met in a bar while I was visiting a friend in New York from my home in Boston. And five short months later I left my job and apartment and moved in with him. It was relatively easy for me to make the move– I have always loved to try out new places (in 15 years I have moved to about 8 times in 3 countries). I pick up and go pretty easily and usually adapt to new surroundings with ease.  But this move had one major difference…

Snapdragon dude came to the US about 7 years ago from Europe, Montenegro, to be precise. His family lost just about everything in the Balkan War of the 90s that tore up Yugoslavia, and they had no choice but to flee their home to seek asylum in the US. I can’t imagine what they went through, but through the help of their extended family, they were lucky to be legally resettled in NYC. Snap dude took charge, being the only son of aging parents who don’t speak English, and found a job, a home, and a new life for all three of them.  And to this day, he remains responsible and continues to support them.

So, you see, I left my cute Boston brownstone to move in with my newish boyfriend AND the parents he supports who don’t speak English. Totally normal, right? In all honesty, it hasn’t been without some bumps, but somehow we have made it work now for 3 years.  I figure if our new relationship was able to withstand certain road blocks, we’re getting good practice for the long haul.  And so now we’re planning a bilingual and bi-cultural wedding down in Florida for May 2010!

We have chosen our venue and are signing photographer contracts this week, but that’s about it– there is much work to do. Right now I am struggling with feeling a little lonely in the planning process. My mom isn’t really involved and lives in South Carolina, my only sister who is in Boston just had twins 4 weeks ago (so she’s somewhat preocupied) , and my best girlfriends are now living far away which leaves me no one to talk to about centerpieces, color schemes, DIY projects and the like (poor snapdragon dude can only handle so much when it comes to this stuff). So, often I will turn to you readers, not just to impart whatever advice I can muster, but also to count on your thoughts and suggestions as well. I know you won’t fail me.

Looking forward to a long and fruitful collaboration,
Snapdragon bud

This is my first official post as a Bud and I couldn’t be more excited to share my wedding plans, my DIY projects (I’ve got lots!) and learn from everyone else’s personal wedding planning experiences.

This year I will be planning 2 weddings – a “Western” wedding (Western as in culture not cowboy boots and lassos) that will be taking place on October 31st, and a Sikh wedding that will be taking place on November 7th. As an Event Planner I couldn’t be more thrilled to be able to plan 2 weddings for myself!

Our first wedding has been planned for Halloween – this will mark 6 years to the day that Orchid Dude and I first met.
This wedding will be a complete reflection of our style and I’ve been working hard to make every aspect of this wedding personalized (can’t wait to share these DIY projects) and original.

Our second wedding is to honour the traditions of Orchid Dude’s culture.  Although I have planned Sikh weddings before, it will be a totally new experience for me to take part in and be the center of all the rituals and customs.

Since we’ve been engaged for almost 10 months now, quite a bit of the planning for both weddings has been done so I have lots to fill you in on and can’t wait to get started!

The Grad Ball

For my first post I wasn’t quite sure what to write, as with my wedding planning I have too many ideas and I’m not sure whether thats a good or bad thing. I guess that must happen for most brides and growing up with Disney movies, I have the Disney princess bride and romance firmly in my mind but maybe minus the “princess” style dress.

Since getting engaged to Paradise Dude last March, I have fully immersed myself in the world of weddings. I’ve bought every possible wedding magazine, bookmarked a million (well maybe not a million but feels like it) wedding websites from the UK and US, DIYing as much as I can, joined the trend with Twitter and now something that I have wanted to do for a while – a wedding blog and I am so excited to be part of BridalBuds so that I can share my ideas with all other brides-to-be and pick up some wedding tips along the way.

View from the pier

Our wedding is in about 5 months time in St Andrews, Scotland, where we have both lived for nearly 5 years now. St Andrews has a charm that means you never want to leave and even more so when you’ve been to university here and explored the beaches, country side and ski slopes (only 1 and a half hours away). I’ve posted one of my favourite photos of St Andrews to show you all the wonderful town that we live in.

Let me digress. On one of the days Rose Budette and I had interviewed wedding locations and planners, we decided to go out to lunch. We had to park on the street to go the restaurant, which is normal procedure. Rose Budette was driving, and she parked in a no parking zone. We didn’t notice until we had come out of lunch and saw the ticket on the car, and THEN we saw the sign. So, I had a parking ticket to pay. That’s just part of this story.

When we were going into lunch, we saw a work crew cutting down a large tree. A branch had fallen off of the tree onto some cars parked on the road, so the crew had been hired to cut it down. I said, not even thinking, “Now there’s where you get your firewood. It’s free!” It made complete sense to make this statement, since Rose Budette and I do not have any use for firewood at the house. Rose Budette decided she wanted to bring the logs home to practice cutting firewood (for the future wood-burning stove, of course). I was hesitant, thinking of termites, and heavy lifting, but she was determined. And when Rose Budette gets determined, watch out. So, we loaded it into my car, and went on our way, parking ticket included

We arrived home, and around 9pm we realized the wood was still in my car. It wasn’t a big deal; we would just get it out and store it along the side of the house until tomorrow morning. So, we went to the trunk of my car, and Rose Budette wrangled out the first piece of wood to the driveway, dropping it with a thud. I turned around, and the next thing I see are several LARGE roaches crawling from the log. After a bit of swearing, a shovel appeared, and loud clinks as the metal shovel met the concrete for the main event. At that point we, for some reason, decided to get one more log out of the car. A similar event followed, and we were thoroughly grossed out. We very carefully put the two logs BACK IN my car, and drove to a field to dump them.

Over the next few days we spotted two roaches, and temporarily parked my car until we could get it exterminated. I have never had to have my car exterminated, but was very thankful when the bug man showed up, and took care of the problem.

The point of this story? Love. A lot of people would have been beyond mad if this happened to them. But, I love Rose Budette SO much, that all I can do is laugh about it. She was very upset and regretful, but I told her that it just made me realize how IN LOVE I am with her. So, after a few tears, she started laughing too.

Us at Home

Speaking of Geranium Dude… he is adorable. He makes me laugh on a daily basis, he is open with his love and adoration for me, he supports my career endeavours maybe even more than I think I deserve, and surprisingly enough, he really seems to be enjoying this whole wedding planning process. We met at my neighbourhood bar about 2.5 years ago, and while the start of our relationship was rocky to say the least, we now laugh it off saying there was a definite “ish”-factor at the beginning… were we dating, seeing eachother, hanging out?? Who knows, but on December 23rd, 2008, there was nothing ish about his proposal!

Our wedding will be in Fernie, BC, Canada, and we are inspired by the laid back feel of the small mountain town. We will relax with our friends and families for the labour day weekend, with the wedding on September 6th, 2009. Although I am very detail oriented and planning-OCD in my normal life, I am currently finishing my PhD in Mechanical Engineering… as a result, my wedding planning process is more about efficiency, simplicity, and down-home fun (with a touch of old-school glam thrown in for good measure!). I love etsy for unique wedding finds, and anthing DIY that will act as stress-relief from my normal life stuff is a project I will consider!!

I look forward to getting to know you all!!

Just dropping you a note to say hi to all of you.  Tuberose Dude and I are oh, just about three and a half months till the big day in June.  To be more specific, 108 days!  You’d think I’d be all set by now but as with most major events and projects, there’s always going to be something to be done.  Still, at the tail end of our planning, I have loads of ideas, specifically DIY projects, which I’m excited to share with you all.

Some background info, in my favorite writing style: lists!

Our wedding theme: “Live, Love, Laugh.”

• Helps us keep perspective as we plan our wedding and a great way to inspire guests and keep the mood light.

Locale: The Hyatt Regency Waikiki, in our beautiful hometown, Honolulu, Hawaii.

From Hyatt Regency Waikiki

• For my 15 OOT guests, it’s really a destination wedding. They’ve been dying for me to get married so that they could make the trip! Hehe.

DIY: Everything! Why not get more for less?

• Our wedding venue certainly took up a good chunk of our $30,000 budget. Because little costs add up to big costs, doing everything ourselves not only personalizes our wedding but also helps us keep within budget. Besides, I always welcome the challenge of being creative, channeling the craftiness in me, and finding good deals without sacrificing quality.

What we’d like to accomplish on our wedding day:

• Born and raised in Hawaii, which epitomizes America’s melting pot, our wedding will hopefully incorporate my 2^nd generation Chinese-Vietnamese heritage and my fiancé’s 4^th generation local Japanese heritage with local Hawaiian and American cultures and traditions. This includes holding a tea ceremony that blends both Chinese and Vietnamese cultures, an American ceremony, local Chinese and Japanese family style reception dinner, DIY Asian lamp centerpieces, Japanese cranes (all 1001 of them), Japanese candy favors, and a slideshow typical of local Hawaii weddings. It is our hope that our family and friends of all different races (Caucasian, Black, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Indian, Hawaiian, to name a few!) will have the best of times as they help us celebrate.

Wedding Style: Simple, yet modern, elegance that still reflects the “Tuberose Bud and Tuberose Dude” our family and friends know.

• Ultimately, we are just two silly souls who were fortunate to find each other and share the rest of our lives together. Here’s to living our lives fully, loving each other always, and having enough humor to laugh during all the highs and lows in our future life together.