My Second Love Part III.

After visiting with Father Don last weekend, Bryan and I visited Sweets to Remember in the heart of Troy. Not only is this bakery the CUTEST bakery, but it has the sweetest woman working there. She was so nice and laid-back on what we wanted. After talking to her for only a few minutes, we knew this is where we wanted our cake to be baked. Their prices were the MOST reasonable of all the bakeries we had spoken or visited with in St. Louis. And, she was not charging us delivery or set-up considering the drive for her is almost 45 minutes to the Renaissance Hotel. The BEST and our most favorite part...one of their cake flavors is Funfetti, which is our absolute favorite cake flavor!!! And, she was willing to do the groom's cake the way Bryan imagined it, which you all will find out at the wedding! She even gave us some samples, and two pieces of cake to take home with us. All I can say is that we are one very excited couple! So, we can check "bakery to make our cake" off the list! A big thank you to Bryan's sister-in-law, Crystal and his mom, Liz, for suggesting this cute and delicious bakery! I still can't believe we are over a year away from our big day. Everyone says it will go by fast, so we'll see! Love.

Change of Plans.

As you all know, Bryan and I planned on having a Non-Denominational ceremony after the Indian ceremony on the day of our wedding. After discussing this with one another, we are going to take out the Non-Denominational ceremony and have a Catholic ceremony on Saturday, July 3rd, 2010 (two weeks after our wedding day). The church we will be getting married at is St. Charles Barromeo Catholic Church. It is beautiful and is near Main Street St. Charles. We felt this ceremony would be more meaningful, and it would properly bless both of us by our individual "priests." We met with Father Don, Bryan's priest he grew up with, last weekend. He was incredibly generous and helpful and was going to work with us on our situation. Since we have plenty of time until our wedding next year, he assured us we would have enough time to finish the marriage preparation needed. We have already started our marriage preparation classes, which we LOVE! We are keeping it small-family and close friends. We want to keep it casual and intimate since this is something we are doing for one another. Therefore, the day of our wedding, we will only be having the Indian ceremony! I can't wait because both ceremonies are going to be so beautiful and so meaningful to both of us. Love.

Beautiful Bridesmaids.

I was taking a few moments of a mental break on this oh so wonderful transformer design I am currently doing (I bet you're jealous...haha!) to read a few of my favorite blogs. I came across the blog "Style Me Pretty," which has pictures and ideas for weddings. One of the feature weddings was of an Indian girl and an American boy (like Bryan and I!). I started scrolling through their pictures of their gorgeous wedding. (http://www.stylemepretty.com/2009/04/15/real-wedding-at-the-biltmore-estate-nisha-and-jay/). Their wedding ceremony was outside, and it was a traditional American ceremony so to speak. However, the bride brought some of her Indian heritage by having all the bridesmaids wear Indian saris! Check out below how beautiful they looked. It makes me think, our seven lovely bridesmaids are seriously going to be stunning in their saris come next June! (Mom, if you are reading this, I hope this helps you get an idea of how the girls will look!) :) I am so excited! Happy Thursday and much love.

Easter Weekend.

What a wonderful Easter Bryan and I had over the weekend. We spent all weekend with both sides of his family eating a LOT of awesome food and stuffing my mouth with jelly beans and chocolate. What's new! So, you can imagine how happy (and upset) my tummy and I were. Haha. Apart from the food, Easter is probably one of my favorite holidays because of the little munchkins. Bryan's cousin's two girls and Bryan's niece were the CUTEST little girls on their Easter egg hunts we had set up at Bryan's aunt and mom's houses. (See pictures below!) And, we got to see Shalin, otherwise known as little one, and Bryan's sister, Beth on Sunday in Columbia for lunch! What a great time we had! (See pictures below of me and my two favorite boys and the ladies of the family, we're missing Crystal.)

While we were at home, we went to Susie G's bakery to taste some oh so delicious cake samples. We absolutely LOVED LOVED the cakes we sampled. And the price was very reasonable-in fact, it was the cheapest price we had found so far in St. Louis. We were sold. However, we talked with Crystal, Bryan's sister-in-law, and she recommended a bakery in Troy, Sweets to Remember, which her and Brad used for their wedding. I remember their cake being delicious! So we called right away and found out for everything Susie G's bakery was offering, they were offering, but for much much less. So, our plan is next time we are in Troy, to make an appointment and visit the bakery. All in all, it was a successful, fun, and wonderful weekend! I can't believe how much we are getting finished and checked off our list! And, we still have a little over a year to go! I know we are both getting more and more excited about our wedding and being married! Love.

Easter!

Who doesn't love Fridays?! And, I would like to start out by wishing everyone a wonderful Easter holiday! Bryan and I are very excited about this weekend. I found out yesterday, Bryan's sister, Brandi will be joining us for Easter weekend, which I am thrilled about! (Shout out to Beth: We'll miss you incredibly but can't wait for lunch on Sunday!) It seems every time we come home (StL), we always find ways to fill every minute of the weekend with things to do. We plan on seeing Bryan's dad side of the family for Easter lunch tomorrow and spending time with his mom and Rich for the remainder of the day! And, Sunday, we of course will attend Easter mass and then head to Columbia to have lunch with my brother and his sister, Beth! Happy Early Easter and Friday! Much love.

It's Finalized!

Wonderful news! We have our ceremony and reception site picked and finalized! It will take place at the Renaissance by the StL Airport (see pictures below). The site is beautiful! I don't know if I have mentioned this, but we plan on doing both our ceremonies (Indian and a non-denominational Christian ceremony) on our wedding day! They will most likely be back-to-back with a small break in between both. We wish we could have done a Catholic ceremony at Bryan's church in Troy, but with so many out-of-town guests, we didn't think it was feasible. We hope to renew our vows maybe on our one year anniversary in a Catholic church and maybe have a small celebration with our close friends and family. This way we get the Catholic blessings as well, which is important to both Bryan and I.

As of right now, the contract has been signed by both parties, so we have our location, food, alcohol, our wedding night room, and tableware/chinaware taken care of! I have to make a HUGE shout out to my parents (THANK YOU SO MUCH MUM AND DAD) who did the majority of this and made is easier on Bryan and I! They rock basically! Because of their hard work in finding the best place to hold our special day's festivities, we now have some of the biggest things crossed off our list! Also, my dad found a great guy who might DJ our wedding ceremony and reception and can play both Indian and American music! Works out great. Our friends and family really are going to be cultured during our wedding day! Now it's on to the really fun and creative planning! We still have lots to do, but it's nice knowing some of the major things are taken care of now! Our next task if finding an officiant, looking into marriage classes, honeymoon resorts, and bakeries for our wedding cake (really, REALLY excited for this part)! Love.

Lucky Green.

Wow it has been awhile since I have written in our blog! I have lots to catch everyone up on. Let's start with a few pictures from the lovely holiday of St. Patrick's Day. Being a graduate from Rolla, dating a man who has Irish roots in him, and seeing that the majority of my friends are Catholic, really give me no other reason to not celebrate this oh so wonderful holiday! Bryan and I hope to accompany our good friends, Stacey and Zac for a St. Pat's trip to Ireland one of these years! Here are a few of my favorites from the weekend and the day of! Love.