Invitations

We got our invitations back on Friday. They look good, but there have been a few hiccups along the way. The printer forgot our inner envelopes and the tissue. For those of you who haven't gone through this invitations need to be packaged a certain way. I will stress too much about it unless our vendor is unable to get them to us by the end of the week. I have just 8 weeks left, so every moment counts. Every "i" has to be dotted and every "t" needs to be crossed.

To be honest with everyone I am becoming more nervous as time draws near, but I am certain that it is because there is sooooooo much to do with very little time to do everything in.

Please just continue to pray for us.

The Bridal Shower and More!!!

I must say that the past weekend has been phenomenal!!! I had my first bridal shower this weekend, and can I say that I have the best friends ever! You ladies are really a great group of people, and I could not be surrounded by a better group. It wasn't about the gifts, although, I must say they are nice. Ken and I will make great use of them, but it is more about the amount of love that was poured out in Wykeenia's family room. I am in awe. I am in awe of God; how He blesses me when I don't deserve it, and the wonderful group He has blessed me with. Ken and I really appreciate you all!!!

The best friends in the world!!! Love you ladies





My Cluster Girls- We are believing for 2010-2011

To top it off a really good friend came to see Ken and me from Little Rock, AR because he knew he would not be able to attend the wedding due to being out of the country.

Ken, Tujuana, and Sriram


So I will not keep jabbering, but I will add some pictures so you can see how much fun I had.

We are at 71 days and counting!!! Now we just gotta get all the little stuff. I'll be better about blogging.

FINALLY!!!

So, I have not blogged in a while. So much has happened so little time to blog about it. I'll feel everyone in on a few details. First, I wanted to let everyone know that our wedding is December 31, 2009. Most know that the date was changed to accommodate for a venue. We have FINALLY booked a venue. Everything will be held at Vestavia Country Club.

Having everything in one venue makes life easy. We are able to make sure everyone is in a safe location, and no one has to try to find a second location. Vestavia Country Club is beautiful, and I can't wait. We are 89 days away!!!

I FOUND MY DRESS!!!

Hi Journey followers!!! I haven't blogged since the death of Michael, but I am back with great news. I found my dress, and at a great price too!!! I couldn't believe it. I have heard people say that when you put it on, you will know! That phrase could not be more true. While I would love to let the world see, I have to have some restraint because Ken doesn't know the final dress choice. I will let you know as well that I am sooooooooo happy that shopping for a dress is over!!! I think it is the worst/best experience that one could have. I think after purchasing the dress; it really hit me, I am getting married. I bought a dress I have a ring and there is no turning back. While choosing to marry Ken is one of the best decisions I could ever make, I will never ever ever have another wedding. The stress of planning our nuptials has been anything but easy. I will say that God has been so gracious to us in all things. So I am excited again- YAY!!! No worries, the pic to the right is not my real dress:)!

I love you guys, and thanks for following Our Journey!!!

NOT Michael!!!!

Okay, I know this has nothing to do with Ken and me personally, but we are both just crushed about the death of Michael Jackson. I grew up listening to all the Michael Jackson songs even though I really couldn't listen to secular music. I love the Michael Jackson videos, the songs. The last two days I have been reliving my band days with friends from high school. Okay, I will keep it brief because I know most of you think I have gone crazy, but I have not. I just hope that he accepted Christ somewhere along his journey. Although his end has come, his legacy will live on in the countless millions who loved his music and the artists he inspired.

Courtesy Update

Hi everyone!!!

This post will not be very long at all. I wanted to update everyone on our search for a church. We still have not gotten a yes, but all things in due time. I am surprisingly not stressing about it ( I know that many of you can't believe it).

Sunday night, we had an engagement dinner with Ken's family. It was really nice. I will be marrying into a wonderful family, so hopefully all my family and friends can rest easy when I am fully entrusted into Ken's care. I'll add pics from Sunday night later.

Thanks for taking the time to read, and please keep us in your prayers.

Our First Huge Challenge---The Old Monkey Wrench

If you have been following, things have been progressing for Ken and me at lightning speed. Which is a good thing, until the old monkey wrench was thrown in the mix on yesterday. We had locked our venues in early May, or at least I thought. Ken and I knew that selecting New Year's Day would be a challenge here in Birmingham, but we thought we had beat the odds by selecting personally known vendors and getting venues to agree early.

I will not make this an incredibly long blog, but I wanted to let you know I am very annoyed with a certain church locally. I will not name names, but I will admit that some choice, less-than-holy words came to mind when I heard the news that our church had backed away from what was promised. I wouldn't be upset if I didn't ask the pastor over and over once I received the contract, but I did. And he agreed.

So here we are back at the drawing board. I am trying not to panic, but if you know me, you know that I stress. Ken and I prayed about it last night, so I will calm down and let God handle it for us. I really want another church, but I will be okay if we have to go to another venue, I will do so. But somebody is gonna let Ken and me get married on New Year's Day!!!

Keep praying for us.

Bling!!! Bling!!!

So everyone knows what this is about--- I gots my ring!!! I know that is bad grammar, but that is to let you know how serious I am about it. Let me say that I like the stand-in ring (notice "like" is present tense), but my ring is soooooooooo gorgeous. Ken gave it to me in the most precarious way. We had lunch today at one of our new spots Saigon. He played his usual jokes on me by giving a cd back stating that I had been waiting for it for a long time, blah, blah, blah, blah. Then he asked for my stand-in ring to wear. Have you ever seen Ken's pinkie finger? Well my ring didn't get past his first knuckle. Kinda funny but weird because Ken has never asked for my ring before. He asked me if I didn't get the ring until my wedding day would I be okay. I said that I would be okay... I couldn't imagine waiting that long, but if that is what I needed to do---I would. So any way long story short I asked for my stand-in back, and he pulled the old switcharoo on me. I got my bling!!! So here is the pic!!! Thanks Ken--- YOU ARE THE BEST and I LOVE YOU!!!

Dress Shopping :():

First I'd like to say that I have finally found a layout I can live with. So, I don't plan to change it again anytime soon.

Now, on to business... I went dress shopping on Saturday, May, 30. It has taken me a lot of time to build up the nerves to shop for a dress. I will admit this is the part I have least looked forward to. I think it is all the trying on, and these dresses are not that simple to get into. I never knew that you seriously have to have someone help you dress. If you know me, I am very body conscious person, so having someone help me dress up is definitely going to take some getting used to. I won't bore you with a lot of verbiage this time. I'll just add the pics from the day. Don't worry for all you who are nervous about Ken seeing the dress, I won't let the cat out of the bag. I haven't decided firmly on any dress yet ( I plan to make at least two more trips to bridal salons to check out the newest chic trends).Thanks Wykeenia for staying there with me and helping me with all the dresses. I have to admit towards the end, I started to have fun.

Food Glorious Food!!!

Last time, I let everyone know that we were meeting with our vendors. We have selected cakes and have a preliminary menu. I am enthused about the food at this shindig!

We chose Hilde at Magnificent Cakes to do both the bride and groom's cakes. Her work is fantabulous, and the cakes are scrumptious. When we got there, you could smell cakes baking in the oven (so my mouth had already begun to salivate). Hilde had about six or seven flavors for us to taste ranging from vanilla to peanut butter. Ken and I looked over her portfolio and conversed with her as we ate each cake on our plate. This has nothing to do with us, but I was amazed by the cakes she had created in the past. I watch Food Network all the time, so I know that creating cakes is now a true art form, and Hilde is able to create and sculpt with the best of them. Anyway, we chose buttercream icing and Italian creme filling for my cake, and Ken's cakes... well let's just say there will be five and all are candy bar flavors. Ken selected five 10" round cakes. His flavors are Oreo, Heath Bar, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, and Snickers!!! I am sure each of those cakes will be devoured---please eat some of my cake too---that is all I ask.
The picture to the right is similar to the cake design for me. Our initials will appear on the second tier instead of the top, and fresh flowers will be at the corners and on the top of the cake.

Well that is enough about the cakes... later Tuesday night, we met with Executive Sous Chef Jeff Jones to discuss menu ideas. I like to eat, but I was completely out of my element meeting with Jeff and Ken. There palates are soooo sophisticated that all I could say while I was there is "I want good."

So here is the a quick run down of what we discussed (it's not final, but it sure could be). We are thinking of having a Top Round station, gourmet mac and cheese station ( different cheeses and toppings for mac and cheese- in case you were wondering like me), prosciutto and melon/figs, grilled asparagus w/ feta cheese, grilled chicken skewers w/ various glazes, shrimp cocktail, salmon and small plate station, antipasto station, fruit and cheese displays, citrus punch, wine, and passed champagne. It's a lot of food, sure to help us ring in the new year right!!! The only thing I can say is " I can't wait..."

Planning

Hi everyone!!! Just thought I would update you all on how planning is going. I would like to say that Ken is being more than helpful. We have made appointments to talk to most of the major vendors. We are meeting with the cake lady tomorrrow, our caterer during the week, and we will choose invitations this week as well. I have picked the dress I would like for my bridesmaids. I went for Bill Levkoff's Style 966.

The dress is a formal length made of satin. It comes with a shawl that is optional to wear. The color chosen for the dress is European Black. So, now that I have gotten dresses picked, and a vendor to order them from, I must decide if everyone will have to get the same shoe. Decisions decisions...
I am working on finalizing the wedding party with Ken. Then on to bigger projects, like tackling the guest lists.

Right now, both of our lists are out of control. I am ready to reign it in, but Ken not so much. I remember when we first started discussing guests, he thought that his list would be ultra short. Ha !!! His list is much longer than my own, and I have a huge family to invite. Needless to say, there is a lot of work to be done there. I am sure we will, but I do agree it is really hard to cut people. We both are finding that people will invite themselves (which is kinda funny). I don't have the heart to tell them initially they probably won't get an invite. I am sure we will find the most delicate way to handle that segment.

I am trying to not stress out about tomorrow, but I can't say that I am doing that very well. So please keep us in your prayers as we continue to book vendors and plan the rest of our lives.

How We Met

I was so excited to tell everyone that we are engaged that I forgot to tell you how we met. No journey is complete without its origins. So here it goes...

Ken and I met New Year's Eve 2007 through a mutual friend. Our friend Wykeenia had been telling us we needed to talk for sometime; I don't think either of us really put much stock into it. I was still hanging on to past relationships, and who knows what Ken was up to at that time. What is most interesting about our meeting is that Ken and Wykeenia worked at the same place for only two days. I spent almost every day or weekend at Wykeenia's and Ken and she kept in touch through emails. Ken often gave Wykeenia new recipes to try out, and I was always around to taste them.

Anyhoo, Ken and I exchanged pics through Wykeenia, and I got his telephone number. I didn't call, but Wykeenia and I were going to ring in 2008 together. Wykeenia called Ken, while I was still awake, to see what he was up to. He had worked that night and was pretty tired, but he managed to stay up and talk for a while. It was interesting to find out that Ken was younger than me but decided that I would not let that hinder me from getting to know him. From then on we talked every night for a month until two o'clock in the morning or until one of us fell asleep (usually Ken).

A couple of weeks into the late night phone calls, we decided to meet in-person. Since our schedules were completely opposite, lunch was the best time to do so. However, each time we set something up, I had to cancel because of work. After close to a month, we finally met for drinks at On Tap. I was running a few minutes late and scurrying across the parking lot. Ken, was sitting in his car watching me hurry and planning his casual entrance.

We hit it off and the rest is OURstory!

The proposal !!!

Hi Everyone!!! I am new to blogging, but I figured this would be a good way to document the wedding planning process for Ken and me. We are finally engaged!!! Anyone who knows me, knows that I have been excited about wanting to marry Ken since I met him.
Sooooo, our engagement was definitely us. It isn't anyone else's story.

Basically, we were at my place one night watching tv and talking. Ken started telling me that he found a ring for me. And of course, I don't like surprises, so I started asking a bunch of questions. He didn't know if he wanted to tell me, but he started giving me a few details. I noticed he became fidgety( which he does when he is nervous)... He began to tell me that he couldn't imagine life without me. He also told me that he was looking at size 6 ring (My finger is a size 5!!!) but that is okay. So he kept telling me about the ring and how much he has enjoyed the last year or so with me. He then asked if he proposed to me, would I say yes. I told him I couldn't say no because he probably wouldn't ask again. So at that moment, he got on his knees and told me he couldn't imagine spending life without me and said my whole name (which is really difficult to hear unless I am in trouble with my mom or getting a diploma) and asked me to be his wife. I said "Sure!" So there you go, we had no ring, but we were as serious as one could be when planning the rest of your life. He started to panic and tried to find something that would symbolize our love until I got my ring. He came up with his favorite cross necklace he got on a trip to Mexico, and that was my "engagement piece." Totally unplanned, in the moment, not traditional, but all Ken and Tujuana!!!

I could not pick a better person to spend my life with. I'm excited and can't wait to get through the next 8 months. We decided on January 1, 2o10. So wish me luck, pray a lot and see you all next time for a Journey update.