Blame Game

David (Fiancée) gave me bronchitis. When I told everyone that I blamed him for bronchitis, he says that although it is possible that he gave it to me, in the last 5 years that we’ve been together I may have gotten him sick as well. Hrmph!

This summer would be 5 years that we would have been together and it will be just over 6 when we finally get hitched. We met fall of 2003, a few weeks before a Halloween party at the bar that I worked at. I worked the day shift as a bartender and he was friends with some of the regulars and the night staff. As he came in more frequently during my shifts, we got to know each other and eventually became best friends. We would talk to each other quite often despite the fact that we were dating other people at the time. In May 2005, both of our leases were up with our current roommates (and coincidentally both of our roommates moved out of town), we decided to get an apartment together. 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, roommate style floor plan. It really did start out as a roommate situation, but living together and spending more time together made us realized that we belong with one another.

just over 15 months...

Most people are planners. Those who one know me, knows I am the ultimate planner. But when it comes to wedding planning and a girl who is not so girly , I'm am not sure how well this will go.

We got engaged on June 28, 2008. When he asked my parents for my hand, they made him promised that I would be close to graduating college...which at my current rate will be December 2011. According to TheKnot.com we have 461 more days to go for our July 23, 2011 wedding in Houston, Texas.

Since June 2009, we have looked at over 10 venues in Houston, both hotels and freestanding venues. Learned a lot about linens, drapery, room rental, food and wine minimum, catering, and the poor response times of some of these venues. Not a Zilla yet, but...if an email is sent on a Monday, receiving a response by Wednesday NIGHT, is not acceptable in my book.

So just over 15 months from getting married and we have already booked our venue. It is a local boutique hotel in Houston. Took us by surprise, because we never thought that we would have been able to get what we want from this venue without having to make sacrifices. Happy to say that we both took a day off on a Thursday (playing hooky to attend a job fair), ate a fabulous lunch at Narin's Bombay Brasserie , and then stopped into our future to-be-signed wedding venue.

Needless to day, we signed the venue 3 weeks ago. Yes, just under 16 months before the wedding, we booked our venue. AND, yesterday (still over 15 months from the date) I ordered my wedding dress. HOWEVER, I ordered the dress 1 size larger than what I needed for my just in case (JIC) stress weight to be gained (hopefully not!).

Here is today's problem...I am the first American born Vietnamese in the history of my family (tree and branches and treelings). I am the oldest of 2 girls. I will be the first person to get married between the 2 of us. My fiancé is White. Good Ol corn fed white boy. Although I consider my self quite Americanized, I want to incorporate my Vietnamese traditions into our wedding. As of now, we are doing the civil ceremony at the hotel and reception at the hotel. The only thing we have is the greeting of the tables. I have been debating on the Tea Ceremony since it is hard to explain all of the quirks and traditions to the future in-laws. I've sent his step-mother, mother and my fiancé Videos and websites that explains the ordeal, but to me, I am almost afraid that it may seem like a burden to them.

In the meanwhile, I am still looking for ao dais (traditional outfits) for my girls and myself. My mom is going to VN this fall and if we are going to go through with the Vietnamese ceremony, I will need my girls measured to have their dresses made.