The Blue House

Check out the July issue of PaperCity. There's a huge spread about the house where we will all be staying the Friday night before the wedding. We used to refer to this house as "the blue house" but it's not blue anymore. Ruth Davis has re-done the whole thing and it's amazing. The house sits near a lake next to the Grateful Family Farmhouse. I'm very excited about getting ready for my wedding in one of the upstairs bedrooms.

PaperCity doesn't archive their articles online so you'll just have to pick up an issue the next time you're out. Ruth's business is called Found. She sells repurposed furniture.

Checklist

Caterer. Check.

Not quite sure where Chef Wade plans to put this thing... but hopefully it will hide behind a barn or something.

Guitar Hero. Check.

Five J Crew Wedding Dresses. Check.

Wedding Rings. Check!

Boxes are here!

I finally found (and bought) the boxes that our wedding invitations will be mailed in. I'm so excited! I am working with Kristin Schwartz-Lauster to copy a design that I found on www.thedreamgardens.com, a website that creates hand-made wedding invitations for a pretty penny and a 4-6 month advance order. I won't show you the exact design so it will be a surprise when it arrives in the mail. It has been really wonderful, so far, to be able to rely on our friends to help us out with wedding plans, photographs, and, now, invitations. I'm sure there will be many people to thank when it's all said and done. Oh... and there will be a crafting party in the near future to put together the invitations and other DIY projects.

On another note, I went dress shopping for the first time this Saturday with Team Bride. It was more fun than I expected it to be... the company had a lot to do with it. We visited Marry Go Round, a really nice boutique that sells dresses on consignment. It was a good first-dress-shopping experience. This Thursday the team and I are going champagne tasting at 13 celsius!

Allen is in charge of Gary, the guitarist who was playing at Potbelly's in Clear Lake the day we got engaged. We have high hopes for Gary and his ability to play random Blue October and Dashboard Confessional songs.

One last note... I just bought four J Crew wedding dresses online. Team Bride has created a monster.

--Jennifer

4 months!

Only four months until our wedding day!! We still have a lot to do but we're taking it in stride. We're working on our DIY wedding invites, maps, and table decorations. Jennifer is obsessively pouring through wedding websites and DIY sites for ideas while Allen is taking care of the musician.

After a nice no-wedding-planning trip to Portland, we're home and hitting the ground running again. Here are some fun pics from Portland:

Kristin and Adriana really outdid themselves this past Saturday. They sure do know how to throw a party, I mean a "Texas Toast." Menil ladies came out and brought their best Southern recipes. There was also delicious planter's punch and lemonade and very sweet, lady-like bottles of Corona. I hope to post some pictures soon.

Meanwhile, we are getting ready for our last official vacation before the wedding. We fly out to Portland, OR on Saturday evening for five days of eating, drinking, and being merry in the Northwest.

Photos

This past weekend we had our first round of engagement pictures taken by Ebony Porter (thearthistorian.etsy.com). We had a fun time romping around the UH campus with Ebony. We also visited the Arboretum, where we got engaged. Of course, we picked up the pup for these photos... can't take a trip to the Arboretum without her! 

Allen is finished with his spring semester of classes. Only one more semester to go before he's a full-fledged, book-toting librarian. Yay Allen! 

This Saturday Adriana Perez and Kristin Schwartz-Lauster are hosting a celebratory get-together for Menil ladies... should be fun. And next week we're off to Portland!

Brenham

We spent Easter Sunday in Brenham. Here we are in the bluebonnets.

The view from the farmhouse.

Cow!

This is the house where we will be married... it is still in production but it will be lovely.

The Engagement Continues

We're still engaged! And we're very anxious for October to get here!

For those that don't know, the wedding will take place in Brenham, TX at the newly named Grateful Family Farmhouse. The farmhouse is a 100 year old house that in being renovated by Jennifer's awesome family. It will be a very special place for us to be married. We can't wait to see the finished house and share it with all of you. 

In the meantime we are trying to find a cute chef to cook at our wedding... There is an unsuspecting chef-neighbor that may be bombarded in the near future. Keep your fingers crossed that he is actually a chef and doesn't just parade around in a chef's coat for kicks. He also has a tiny shih tzu puppy that Keira tries to eat on a regular basis. But I digress... 

Here's a fun picture from the farm...

Planning...

The wedding planning has begun! Jennifer has spent hours pouring through bridal magazines and theknot.com. Allen has picked the beer for the big day and his groomsmen. 

The engagement party planning is underway. Jennifer's kind sister has agreed to host the party at her brand new house in Pearland. Invitations

 will be going out soon for an intimate party in late April so the bride and groom's families can meet. Jennifer is already obsessed with planning the menu. 

Donna Arriola will be our wedding photographer.  Check out her website at www.theportraitcompany.com. Donna took Jennifer's high school graduation photos and has been a long-time friend of the family. She is g

reat and we can't wait to work with her!

We have not registered yet but are planning to register at Macy's and Crate and Barrel. We will post here when the registries are up and running. 

Stay tuned...

The Proposal

We're engaged!!! On the 14th day of February of 2009 Allen proposed and Jennifer said yes! The location was the Arboretum at about 3pm during the very few minutes that the sun was shining. Afterwards, there were lots of phone calls and text messages and very many surprised responses. Jennifer's favorite response was Jessica's, who while at Valentines dinner with Brian, kept saying, "Jennifer.... are you serious? Seriously?" over and over and over. Think she believes me now?

So now the wedding planning begins. More to come about that in the future.