Kevin is a teacher, and I'm a soon-to-be lawyer - I graduated in May and now I just need to pass the bar exam in July!

We met in our second year at UCLA (go Bruins!) and have been together for 5 1/2 years.

Kevin proposed on a trip to Lake Tahoe last October. We went for our 5 year anniversary and I had no idea it was coming. We drove up on a Friday evening after he finished work; it took a long time to get there because it started to snow lightly. We got there around 8 and were starving, so we went to dinner and then came back to the condo. He had a plan to propose outside - it was a gorgeous night because of the early snow - but I ruined his idea because five minutes into the walk I told him I was freezing!

When we got back to the condo, he started a fire and I gave him his anniversary gift - a DVD of a Ken Burns documentary (he's a huge history buff)... I should say that it never fails that I give Kevin a weird gift and he gives me something fabulous; for example, for our first Valentine's Day, I gave him fish boxer shorts and he gave me a Tiffany starfish necklace. So, as I'm giving him the DVD, I'm thinking "No way will my gift be outdone this year!" He loved the DVD, and he said he was sorry, he didn't have a gift for me ... in retrospect, this should have tipped me off!

But I was clueless as ever, and ended up falling asleep on the couch. Eventually I woke up and went into the bedroom, and I heard what I thought was the lock of the balcony door clicking. So I came back out to the living room to tell Kevin not to open the door because he'd let all the cold air in, and he looked like he was trying to hide something behind his back. When I asked him what he was doing, he said, "I lied to you earlier. I do have something for you." Then he brought his hand out from behind his back, with the ring box (which was what was I heard clicking), got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I completely fell apart and there was a lot of crying and hugging. Five minutes later, he said, "You did say yes, right?"

This picture is the next day, when it warmed up!

So far, this is what's been done:

Ceremony/Reception - Ruby Hill Golf Club www.rubyhill.com
Officiant - Hank Visscher
Photographer - Clifford Brunk www.brunkphotography.com
Ceremony Music - Exeter String Quartet www.exeterquartet.com
DJ - Amos Productions www.amospro.com
Florist - Anne Mendenhall www.annemendenhallflowers.com
Dress - ordered from Trudy's Bridal www.trudysbrides.com
Bridesmaid dresses - J.Crew (Sophia short silk in espresso)
Cake - Katrina Rozelle www.katrinarozelle.com
Chair covers and sashes - Best Party Pros
Save the Date cards - Wedding Paper Divas www.weddingpaperdivas.com
Invitations - Carlson Craft via Costco Business Center in Hayward
Makeup - Audrey Crandell www.glowingbridal.com
Calligraphy - Tracy Joe Calligraphy www.tracyjoe.com
Guest Book - Paper Source www.paper-source.com
(I bought a Kolo Newport photo album to use as a guest book - it lays flat and has blank pages, and I'm adding additional pages to it)
Hair - Gina Khan Salon
Groom/Groomsmen attire - Men's Wearhouse (against my better judgment - hopefully everything works out okay!)


Still to do:

Favors
Programs
Wedding bands

And probably other stuff that I can't think of right now!!

We're going to go to Australia for two weeks (thanks to Kevin's fabulous parents); we'll be staying in Syndey, Brisbane, Cairns, and the Ayers Rock Resort. His parents offered to give us a trip, no restrictions, so we decided to go someplace we'd probably never be able to go otherwise (in terms of both time and money). Not exactly a "traditional" honeymoon..

Kevin is VERY excited to see the Great Barrier Reef, so I'm going to overcome my fear of the ocean to go snorkling with him when we're in Cairns....meanwhile, my mom keeps reading me articles about all the poisonous jellyfish!

Cairns - The Hotel Cairns http://www.thehotelcairns.com.au/

We both really want to see Ayers Rock (Uluru), and Ayers Rock Resort has accomodations locked up as the only place to stay in the area...so, that's where we'll be.

Ayers Rock - The Ayers Rock Resort http://www.ayersrockresort.com.au/

Brisbane is, honestly, just a jumping off point so we can go to the Australia Zoo in Beerwah. I'm such a nerd!

Brisbane - Hotel Ibis Brisbane http://www.ibishotel.com.au/2062/detail/default.aspx

Sydney is where we start and end our trip (we're basically making a big circle because flights on Quantas from SF only go to Sydney). I'm looking forward to seeing the Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Royal Botanic Gardens, the Taronga Zoo (yes, another zoo), etc.

Sydney - Intercontinental Hotel