Engagement Photos!

I was somewhat dreading these.  First of all, it is hotter than the surface of the sun in Houston these days.  Second of all, I had been meaning to lose 50 pounds before this photoshoot, and clearly that has yet to happen.  But we took our nice camera, our 3-4 different 'looks' and my little brother Jeff (our discount photographer, he only costs a McDonald's breakfast, lol) and hit the town at 8am on Saturday.  We sure were go getters!  I know a lot of real (no offense, Jeff) photographers have packages that include an engagement photo shoot and all of that, but I just wanted to get them done and over with because it isn't getting any cooler outside, and I wanted to get our Save the Dates ordered so we can get them out during the first part of July.  Plus, bonus, with real photographers you get maybe 2 locations max (or pay extra) but with Natalie in charge, we could have no less than 5.  I just like to be thorough, and we were already dressed up, and I didn't know which photos I was going to like...   But anyway.  We only needed two good photos for the photoshoot, and out of 500 or so we took, only about 30 were 'facebook worthy', lol.  It was kind of awkward at first, but it was pretty fun once we got over that. 
For anyone curious of some good engagement photo locales in Houston, we took pics at:
Discovery Green
Downtown on Preston St.
Bell Street Metro train stop (only because our reception venue is on Bell St.)
The phone booth in front of The Black Labrador on Montrose
Hermann Park

And now for the main event:

If you want to see all the 'facebook worthy' shots, they are on the Bells and Bows facebook page (you might need to 'like' it first) or you can click on the facebook page icon on the left sidebar and it'll get you there!

April Flowers bring May Showers

Bridal Showers, that is!  So we (Annie and Summer and myself) threw Angela a bridal shower on Sunday before Aaron and I left back to Houston, it was really really fun!  The theme was vintage sassy housewives, because Angela is a PhD student in History, and it was just so her style.  We had the guests wear aprons and pearls, and Summer had the guests send in recipes and compiled a little cookbook for Angela.  We had it at Annie's house, which is like the most perfect party throwing house if I ever saw one - and she made all the food (and so many things from scratch, what?!), and it turned out AWESOME!  Everything turned out so good you guys, I was seriously impressed with us!

Some Decor - Aren't those yarn balls cool?!

I made that!  And I am so not crafty, lol

The spread: Quiches, sherbet punch, bundt cake, mini tea sandwiches, spinach meatballs and little bruschettas 

Everything was soooo yum!

There is the bride! 

Playing games

Toilet Paper wedding gowns!

We had a crasher.  lol

I was in charge of games for the event, and to be honest, I was suuuuper nervous.  I love playing shower games, but some crowds seem not so into it.  And the only ones I knew were my co-hosts and Angela.  Turns out everyone had fun with them, so that was awesome.  We played a 'guess the celebrity couple' game where I just printed off 20 photos of celebrity couples and we guessed who they were (duh).  A 'guess the spice' game, where I passed around a bunch of different unlabeled spices and everyone guessed what they were.  That game was actually a little difficult!  Then we had a toilet paper wedding dress fashion show, which was hilarious.  And lastly we played 'How well does Angela know Erik' where everyone guessed how many questions out of 20 she would get right.  The joke is, the questions are sort of ridiculously hard, and every time she gets one wrong she had to chew a piece of gum.  So by the end, you have a sizable wad of gum in your mouth, lol.  Angela was a good sport about it though! Then we ate cake and opened gifts and all that fun stuff!  It was a great afternoon, and I think Angela really enjoyed it!  And her friends and family are totally cool and it was so great meeting everyone :)  And we get to go back in September for the wedding, SUPER YAY!

Engagement Photo Thoughts

It is a scam created by photographers!  Only kidding.

I think, back in the day, you only took an engagement photo (singular) for your announcement in the newspaper...
I really love looking at engagement photos of other people.  I think that they are far more interesting than wedding photos usually.  Like 'here's us with my grandparents' 'here's us with the wedding party'...  Totally special to you (the couple) sure, but for your average facebook stalker friend - yawn.  I guess engagement photos these days are much more fun and personalized, and you can wear whatever you want and take them whereever you want.  The only downside I see to these is that a lot of photographers get super mushy and have all these pics of you and your guy kissing and stuff.  I don't really want to look at that framed in my living room.  And I certainly don't want to send it to my Mom, or my Aunts and Uncles!  So aside from putting said photos on flickr and facebook for people to ooh and aah over, I don't much see a practical point for them.  And I don't know, the whole thing seems better suited for more attractive people than A and I.  We are total trolls.  (kidding.)
But yeah, the super deal I got on save the dates are ones that require a few pictures.  Ugh.  And since I decided a while back that I didn't want to carve out any of our budget for engagement photos, I am going to improvise. 
I have a digital camera, and a perfectly good little brother.
So at some point A and I may go buy a new outfit or two and take a few family friendly photos together.  Nothing too mushy though.  lol 

I am going to be a wife!!!

Source

lol.

And so the journey begins.

Well, it began November 12, 2010, but close enough.  

So I had known A for 3 years, and at this point we spent just about every spare moment together.  A and I had dated for about 4 months when we first met in 2007.  It didn't work out, so we went about our separate lives.  Well a month or two passed and we got to talking again and a friendship formed.  And occasional dinner meetups or trips to the movies turned into seeing one another daily.  And that has been the story for about the last 2 years.  Just friends though. 

Now I, at the time, was 28 years old and single - so I couldn't go 5 minutes without someone asking me when I was going to settle down or at very least find a boyfriend.  So as any late 20's single gal can attest - that was super annoying.  But really, of course I wanted that.  Something with a promising future.  But I was happy.  I liked my job, I was back in school working on my masters degree, I had a great friends, and a great friend A who I love being around.  If it ain't broke, why fix it?  But secretly I really really wanted to be A's girlfriend again, but I was playing it cool.

Well it was a random Friday in November, and A and I had made plans to go to Houston's Nutcracker Market - this giant Christmas craft show they do annually to benefit the Houston ballet.  We are both big fans of Christmas so I thought it might be fun to check it out.  I invited our friends J and M along too.  So we walked around the show, grabbed dinner after and went home.  A and I are neighbors in the same apartment building so we parted ways to our own residences.  Since we are such nerds, we got right on the instant messenger and were chatting - as we do most evenings.  Truth be told, we were chatting and I was being kind of mopey.  A's really good friend Ag got engaged on Monday of that week.  I was over the moon excited for her and her fiance E.  It was a whirlwind romance that went from 0 to 60!  I mean, I think marriage is such an exciting and wonderful life event that is so incredibly special - how could anyone not be excited?!  And weddings are always a blast!!!  But as per usual, whenever another friend or acquaintance gets engaged I always had to wonder 'when is it going to be my turn?'  So I was being a girl about that whole thing, and then I hear a knock on the door.  Mind you, it is about 11pm at night, so I assume I am totally about to get murdered or something... but it is A, and I am totally confused.  What is he doing here?  He hands me a card with on it that reads: You are the whipped cream on the pumpkin pie of life.  And then he gets down on one knee, ring in hand and asks me to marry him.  Wait..., what?  I am stunned, but I say yes.  My wait is over.  And through the next few weeks I learn that A had decided he wanted to ask me a while ago, and was just waiting for a good time to ask.  It was going to be at the Nutcracker Market, but I invited friends along so A decided against it (whoops).  But then A found another opportunity that night for good timing because it got me to quit whining about being single, lol.  Romance is overrated! ;)

So we did things kind of out of order, but we are together and engaged and couldn't be happier!

Now it is time to plan the party!!!