Jesse and I had gone to the same high school, and we were both in the same elective class, although I was a freshman and he was a junior. Jesse had his eye on me and one other girl at the time, but since I paid no attention to him, he went out with her instead. Several months go by, and him and his girlfriend decide to try to hook me up with his best friend. That backfired and I started liking Jesse. After about a month of hanging out, he broke up with her and asked me out. We've been inseperable ever since.

Every year my family and I go to Mammoth Mtn., CA in the summer for vacation. The first year Jesse and I were together, he was allowed to come with us. One day, him and I were running through the forest in the back and had seen where other couples had shaved their names into the trees. We decided to do this as a little momento and took a picture.

Fast forward nine years later (yup, nine!), and we are once again on our annual summer vacation. Jesse had the idea of going back to "our" tree to see how it has done over the years. We searched and searched, finally giving up due to the high possibility that it either 1.) burnt down from the lightning fire from several years prior, or 2.) someone chopped it down for fire wood. Jesse held me and proceeded to tell me that it doesn't matter if the tree is still around or not, that we still have the memory of what we had done so many years ago. He then goes on to say that 9 years ago, he would have never thought that we would still be together, even through the rollercoaster of a life we have both been through. He then pulled out the ring and asked me to marry him. I of course said yes! I think he shed a little tear.

The Ring

His Ring

You can ask anyone. No one would have ever believed that we would have ever ended up a couple, let alone be engaged to be married. I was the dancer who got great grades, and as Jesse puts it, "the girl with the halo." He was the bad boy who didn't follow the rules. He often tells people that if it wasn't for me, he would probably be a screw up in life. I helped him change his life around for the better, and he wouldn't have it any other way. Although starting out to be complete opposites, we have grown up to be best friends that can never be apart.

About Jesse

• Has a twin brother named Carlos. Jesse is older of the two, but they have an older sister. He often suffers from middle child syndrome.
• He loves UCLA
• Went to school to become a firefighter (currently on hold)
• Used to play soccer
• Loves a good martini
• Used to be the bad boy until he met Sara
• Loves to go fast. Everything he owns has to have maximum power
• Rides dirt bikes, street bikes, ATV's, and UTV's
• He hopes to visit all 50 states. So far he has visited 7.
• Used to be a Sergeant for the U.S Army

About Sara

• The youngest child of three by 10 years
• Used to be a competitive figure skater for 7 years
• Used to be a competitive dancer that got to represent the U.S. for Miss Dance Drill Team International in South Africa in the year 2000
• Rides ATV's and UTV's
• Loves to travel to historical places of interest
• Has a strong interest in the paranormal (even grew up in a haunted house)
• Her favorite drinks involve an umbrella
• Has a strong fear of driving (hodophobia)
• Loves to shop, even if she doesn't buy anything.
• Loves museums and antique stores. Even once spent 2 hours in an antique store and had to literally be dragged out by her parents
• Went to school to be an investigator/crime scene technician (currently on hold)

It has definitely been a fun one! I currently live in Las Vegas, NV. Jesse is back to living in our old home town due to work. Since it would be easier for majority of our guests, we have decided to have the wedding in Long Beach, CA., not too far from where he lives. Planning a wedding from another state has been interesting, but it's getting done.

The Location

After a ton of researching and checking places out, we have found the place!

 This is the Palm Terrace, where our ceremony will be held.

*UPDATE*

They have changed the tent outside where the ceremony takes place. Here is the updated photo.

 This is the Garden Room, where our reception will be held. The windows face out to the ceremony area, and even contains a private patio area (since several weddings can take place in the other rooms) that our guests can go out to and take a little breather. We definitely wanted a place where the ceremony and reception were in the same location as to keep our guests from having to travel from place to place.

The Colors

Jesse had thought of doing blue and yellow for our wedding. I wasn't too thrilled with the idea, but had thought that turquoiseand yellow could be a possibility. I, however, wanted red in the wedding since it will be in the fall. After talking it over with my aunt, we came to the realization that Jesse wanted blue and yellow because he likes UCLA. Not gonna happen! That's where we are different, he likes UCLA, I like USC. Total rival teams. So after some thinking, we decided to go with red and turquoise with an accent of black.

The Ceremony

We are planning on having red tissue pomanders in the aisle for each row of seats, and hanging red paper lanters from the tent and the archway. Because of the contract that we have, we cannot have any petals on the ground, rice, sparklers, etc. So we are going on the route of having people blow bubbles as we walk back up the aisle as man and wife.

The Reception

The reception room has red accent lighting in the ceiling already, so we will definitely be using that. With our DJ package, they offer several uplights that we can use along the walls. We are either going to use red for that as well, or use an aqua color, depending on how it looks.

The Kid's Table

There will be around 10 kids at the wedding, and to make it fun and enjoyable for them, as well as the other adults, we are hoping to have a kids table set up after dinner is done. I picked up about 12 boxes of crayons from Target for 24 cents each! And that's for crayola! Got to love the back to school sales. I also picked up coloring books and puzzles from the Dollar Tree, and 8 tubes of 15 glowstick bracelets for a dollar each. I was only going to pick up enough glow sticks for the kids to have two each, but Jesse thought that the adults might want to wear them too (I know I do!), so I picked up enough for everyone. I am hoping to find more little goodies for the kids to pay with at the table so that they don't get too bored. I had initially thought of setting up our gamecube or playstation, but once again Jesse came to the rescue and convinced me it was a bad idea because the guys would take over. So true!

So my checklist is growing, and I am pretty sure I have missed some things, but here it what I have so far. If you think I have missed anything, please let me know!

The List

• Book ceremony and reception site
• Book photographer D2 Photography
• Book DJ  Station Identification
• Hire Officiant  Erik Lorack (Friend of MOH)
• Book Honeymoon 7 Day Riviera Carnival Cruise
• Book Florist   
• Create STD's  Zazzle.com
• Send out STD's
• Select Wedding Dress Davids Bridal
• Cake Tastings
• Day Of Coordinator Station Identification
• Book baker
• Start Invitations
• Block hotel rooms for OOT guests
• Book hotel room for night before and night of
• Tux Fittings
• MOH Dress fitting
• Centerpieces - DIY
• Ceremony Decor - DIY
• Reception Decor
• Favors
• Matchboxes
• Cake Stand - DIY
• Card Box - DIY
• Jewelry and Accessories
• Veil - DIY
• Marriage License
• Music Selections
• Maps for Invites
• Tears of Joy Packets
• Programs
• Engagement Pictures
• Hair Trial
•  Make-up Trial
• Grooms Ring
• Schedule Rehersal
• Mom's gift
• MOH Gift
• BM gift
• Usher's gifts
• Finalize Guest List
• Finalize menu selections
• Gift Registries
• Pick out rehersal dinner location
• Plan mini-moon
• Menu cards
• Purchase toasting flutes
• Purchase cake cutting set
• Make reserved signs for ceremony - DIY
• Purchase flip flops for dancing shoes basket
• Make signs for flip flop baskets
• Purchase MOH jewelry
• Bubbles - DIY
• Buy Invitations
• Address and mail invites (By August 10th)
• Buy Shoes
• Buy Cake Topper
• Buy Garter
• Buy Rehersal Dress
• Pick/Order Cake
• Pick Ceremony Readings
• Buy Wedding Band
• Make Table Numbers
• Escort Cards

I am DIY most of the wedding projects on my own. Anything to cut costs and to keep me busy throughout the day.

Card Box

I am hoping to recreate this as our card box.

My version:

Tissue Pomanders

These will go along the aisle.

Paper Lanterns

I had accumulated a bunch of red paper lanterns in various sizes from my old workplace. I am hoping to hang them from the tent and our archway at the ceremony (if they will allow this). Since the ceremony will be at 5:30 in October, the sun should be setting, and lighting will be needed. Due to the fact that they dont have many outlets outside, we have decided to get some LED glow sticks and place them inside the lanterns to eluminate the area in a soft glow.

*UPDATE*

We will no longer be doing the paper lanterns. It turns out that our venue has changed the tent that they used to use, so hanging the lanterns in the new tent wouldn't be too appealing, as well as hard to do. The bonus to that is that the new tent has hanging chandeliers, which I originally wanted to do, but it wasn't in the budget. Also, as it turns out, upon digging out my lanterns to see what sizes I have to use for the surrounding area, I found out I actually have the wrong style. They are the oblong shape, not the rounded. I guess things work out for the better.

The Ceremony

Jesse and I have decided to go a different route with the ceremony music. We didn't want to go with traditional music because that is what everyone does, so we have found several bands that we listen to often, but the string quartet versions of their songs. We have yet to pick the song that I will walk down the aisle to, and even when we do, it will be a secret.

Sunday, Bloody Sunday (U2) - String Quartet Tribute

Girls Not Grey (AFI) - The Vitamin String Quartet

Beautiful Day (U2) - String Quartet Tribute

Hands Down (Dashboard Confessional) - Vitamin String Quartet

Time Is Running Out (Muse) - Vitamin String Quartet

Thanks For The Memories (Fall Out Boy) - Vitamin String Quartet

Snow (RHCP) - Vitamin String Quartet

Nothing Else Matters (Metallica) - String Quartet Tribute

Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode) - String Quartet Tribute

Our wedding is on the small side, so our wedding party is really small, which works out well because it's less drama and hassle in the long run.

Matron of Honor

My sister Shallan and I have always been close, so there was never a question on whether or not she would be my matron of honor.

Best Man

Jesse had no question of a doubt would be his best man, his twin brother Carlos (Sorry, no picture yet. He's camera shy).

Ushers

We wanted to have these two very important guys in our wedding, so we asked them to be our ushers.

Scott is my brother-in-law and is a character.

Chris is Jesse and my close friend. This guy can bring on the laughs everywhere he goes.

My sister, mother, and I treked down to Davids Bridal one day just to take a look. I had a stack of index cards with pictures of the style of dresses I was considering, so off we went into the aisles to see if we could find some similar designs. My sister held one up, but I turned it down. After trying on dress after dress, and me liking one, and my sister and mother saying that it wasn't "me", the sales lady brought over the dress my sister originally picked out, in which both her and I had no idea it was that one. I tried it on and we all fell in love with it.