ultimate wedding contest!

I always wanted to be in a wedding contest in hopes of winning the prize! now we are!!!! Vote for us in the Crate & Barrel Ultimate Wedding Contest! Vote Here

It be sooooooo AMAZING to win! if you remember vote everyday! thanks!

"say 'yes' to the dress"

last saturday, i had the appointment that every girl looks forward to most of their life! (or if you are me, your entire life!)

my grandma, mom, sister (MOH) and i went to mary me bridal in orange. they were having a trunk show for a designer that i really liked!

knowing that i probably wouldn't find the "dress" on my first try, i thought that i might find a few runner-ups...upon my arrival they let me look around the store while the consultant asked me what i was looking for..."lace, a-line, strapless or a little sleeve, no halter, no spaghetti straps, no bling, etc." i knew exactly what i wanted...but after trying on about 15 dresses, none of them felt like i had thought they would have felt...first with the designer i was there to see, the dresses were huge and heavy with lots of tulle! most i could barely move in and the others were just soooo heavy...after trying on a ton, the consultant found a few that she thought i might like...soooo much lighter, and feeling like i could get around, i found a few i like...only one had lace and the other two didn't but they did have a bow!

we are going back this weekend to see them again and also go to a few more stores...more details to follow...

finally

"ADVICE: before you get engaged, find the venue you want to get married at." -Shannon

after looking and visiting more than 15 wedding venues (and looking at over 100 online) we finally figured out where we are going to get married!

the very first venue we looked at, Rancho Capistrano, was wonderful! except for the new owners... Saddleback Church now is renting the property after the Crystal Cathredral sold it...meaning we would now have to go through Saddleback Church to get married and also no wine would be allowed at the reception...also there was about 125 couples on the waiting list to get married there...so after much disappointment we decided we needed to find a new venue.

looking at many places in orange county and the wine country (temecula) we couldn't find that "perfect" venue...

some things we wanted:

-outside venue

-secluded from other surroundings

-options for us to bring in our own caterer

-not a "drive-thru" wedding, meaning "bring just your dress" type of places. they do everything for you, i want a little control..haha

temecula had a few that we liked...but we didn't have that firework feeling...so we decided to keep looking around.

Wiens Family Cellars: we loved this place!

(another beautiful place, but too much 'drive-thru' wedding feeling)

after a few more weekends looking at places in the orange county area, we still hadn't found a place. one saturday after we went and looked at 2 places that were not up to par we decided we would go to the place we first loved...the meanda grove. a couple we know had their fall time wedding here last septemeber...at the wedding i remember telling matt's mom that the wedding was perfect and that i would love to get married there. we didn't really think too much of this place due to it being in riverside and also wanting to find another venue...but after much searching we couldn't seem to find a place that gave us the same feeling as we had at the meanda grove.

the great thing about the meanda grove is that we can do our wedding how we want to! it is going to be great! we both have soooo many ideas!

flu.venues.make-up.photos

"I have found the one whom my soul loves" Solomon 3:4

well this weekend was a very eventful weekend! started off with friday night and searching for wedding venues to look at on saturday. we found a few and were very excited.

on saturday we (mom, matt, gma and gpa) were able to look at different 3 wedding venues (Jone's Victorian Estate, Dove Canyon Courtyard & Muckenthaler Mansion)...though they were all very pretty...we didn't find the one...

beginning off on saturday i wasn't feeling too great...i woke up with a headache and also no appetite (which is sooooo not like me!) after a late lunch and looking at venues we (i mean matt) came back to watch the 'coveted' nfl football playoffs...o joy! i decided to maybe sleep it off...but that didn't work...so after trying to sleep, taking a t

on of different over the counter meds, trying to settle my tummy with a little wine and some other remedies, i finally woke up to my mom and matt watching my favorite 'Father of the Bride' and me running to the bathroom to throw-up...and matt running behind me to hold my hair. but after my first 'up' matt began to gag and handed my hair off to my mommy and he went to go and get me some soda to calm down my tummy (what a wonderful guy!) after a few 'ups' i felt 110% better and watched the rest of the movie with them.

on sunday matt and i had our engagement shoot with Katrina Michelle

Whitaker. katrina, her sis, heather and their mom have been dear friends to us since my sister and i were little. since i could remember katrina would do lauren's and my make up and hair. heather and katrina really treated lauren and i like their little sisters and we always loved seeing them! so when katrina asked matt and i to be her guinea pigs, i knew i couldn't pass up the offer! i knew we would be in good hands :)

after having a wonderful lunch in redondo beach with our mommies :) we went back to katrina's place and she choose the clothes matt and i would wear, and did my hair and make-up! after we were all ready, katrina shot some amazing pictures around redondo beach...all i can say is katrina is soooooooooooo talented! just check out the photos:

"Our song is the way he laughs
The first date 'man, I didn't kiss him, and I should have'
And when I got home, before I said amen
Asking God if He could play it again" -T.Swift

thanks Katrina! you are the BEST! xoxoxo

"Happy marriages begin when we marry the ones we love, and they blossom when we love the ones we marry"

(the tree from the cover of the Purpose Driven Life and hopefully the tree we get married under)

On Friday, December 31st we decided to start our wedding planning by looking into venues. the night before matt, my mom and MOH (lauren) googled wedding venues for a few hours..."Oooohhh" and "awwws" and "eeekkkks" while they were looking through webpages and reading reviews on www.weddingwire.com (matt's new favorite website hehe)

after narrowing them down to a short little list (about 5) we made our way to look at venues in orange county. we first made our way to Rancho Capistrano...coming thru the gates i wasn't really impressed. i have driven by it many of times and it can be seen off the 5 freeway in laguna niguel. i had always thought it was camp with lots of soccer fields. after finding some people who work there they explained to us that saddleback christian church (the pastor is rick warren) owns the grounds, and that they allow weddings and are now revamping the grounds. walking around the place we both (plus my mom and sis) fell in love with the place. here are some pictures:

(the beautiful patio where the reception could be held)

(us dreaming of our big day!)

(a smaller patio where the cocktail hour could be held)

RC started our venue search off to a good start. we then made our way down to downtown san juan capistrano to a place called The Franciscan Gardens. we liked it cause it was right across the street from the mission but it was really tiny.

(looking into the garden area)

we then made our way to Rancho Las Lomas to find a sign at the gate entrance reading "private property, appointment needed to enter." not having an appointment we decided to call the place to see if we could get one, but they did not answer the phone, so lauren (being the non-rule follower she is) told me to get out of the driver's seat and she would drive us in! entering the place it did not look like any of the pictures we had seen online. what we liked about it was that they had a zoo....what i did not like about it was there was a reptile building (i would absolutely hate if a snake accidently was let out and made it to our reception!) we decided that this was not a place we could picture ourselves getting married at.

after a quick bite to eat at fashion island we made our way up to the place i was really excited to see, the Knewland Barn. it was very pretty and i loved the look of the place. but after going to rancho capistrano, we decided that the barn was our second choice.

though we both really love rancho capistrano we are hoping to have another day full of looking at wedding venues.

"I dreamed of a wedding of elaborate elegance,
A church filled with family and friends.
I asked him what kind of a wedding he wished for,
He said one that would make me his wife."

cotton.headed.ninny.muggins

"He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree."

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

this has been a wonderful week full of visits from family and friends. as many christmas is my favorite holiday, but i have feel that getting older christmas has become even more special than when i was younger. speaking with family and friends, i have expressed not feeling the typical "christmas day at noon blues." you know what i am talking about...the feeling most kids get after all their presents are open and now the long 352 days wait till next christmas. getting older those "blues" disappear and now it is all about the true meaning of christmas. the birth of our Savior! and being in the presence of family and friends!

i always LOVE being with my family for the holidays and this year matt and i were able to spend christmas eve together both at my aunt and uncle's (in mission viejo) and then at his family's home (in riverside). this is the beginning of many driving miles from family to family...i guess that's what happens when get "betrothed" to someone (as what my grandpa said in his christmas eve toast).

this week i was able to see many friends, including claire. claire and i had our 2nd annual claire and shannon christmas cookie extravaganza! we made soooo many cookies...double chocolate chip, sugar, pumpkin chocolate chip, peanut butter and no bake peanut butter-oatmeal-chocolate cookies...can't wait till next year!

(not all but some of the cookies)

christmas eve was wonderful...at my aunt's and UD's it is always fun! with jokes flying around and lots of laughter! matt and i received some of our first engagements presents from my wonderful aunt and uncle (wedding champagne glasses and picture frame). dinner was amazing!

we then made our way over to matt's family home. this is my 2nd year spending christmas eve with them and it is always very nice! opening christmas gifts, eating lots of cookies and spending time with matt's family was very enjoyable...so many more of these to follow!

after going to 8am mass (least crowded christmas mass) we came back and got back into our christmas pj's then began to make latkes (jewish potato pancakes) and crepes. G-ma and G-pa came over a wonderful breakfast and opening presents! (g-ma got a I-PAD!) such

a blessing to spend christmas morning with g-ma and g-pa!

(the new shredder g-ma gave me to shred the potatoes)

(latkes: grandma said it reminded her of her mother's latkes)

the rest of the day we laid around watching "it's a wonderful life" and "the nativity story." for dinner we decided to go to the new little sushi place lauren and i discovered at 10pm on thursday. even though we were the only white people at the sushi place, we started the night off well. after sushi we hit up mcdonald's for ice cream cones then drove down to balboa and go on the ferry to look at christmas lights.

it was a wonderful christmas!

"Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love! "

after 2,399 days he asked the BIG question!

engagement story:

Disclaimer: sorry this is really long, i always told myself that i wouldn't have a long engagement story blog post, sorry i lied :)

just 1 week ago, matt asked me the very important question many girls look forward to..."should we park here and walk?" hahah just kidding/well kindof :)

on December 2 (just one day shy of our 6 year and 7 month anniversary) matt planned a special date night for us.

Lets start from the beginning of the day...matt told me about a week before that he was going to have thursday night off from school. me, being the planning type, i said lets go use our disneyland passes, and he said sure. then a few days after (about a day after i told matt that we don't go on any dates anymore because we are soo busy) he said lets go out for a nice dinner. hmmmmm...now i was thinking maybe this will be the "big question night!?!" but i have had a few "big question events" that i thought matt would ask and found out that i was wrong. But who knew this night would be different.

being a PE coach i have a group of 4th grader girls who ask me at least once a week "Coach Shea, are you engaged yet?" well on thursday it was their time to ask this week...when they asked i told them that i wasn't yet but was going on a date with matt and that maybe this was the night! they were all excited and started giving me pointers on what to wear "wear a pretty dress, with heels and lipstick" ha

after work i rushed home to get ready, not really thinking that this night would be any different then our other nights out. after a call from matt saying that he would be a few minutes late, matt showed up to my house. getting ready to go, i asked me mom to take a picture of us on my phone so that i could have a new phone background. then matt said "shannon, don't you have to go to the bathroom?" and i actually did (later i found out that he did this so that he could ask my mom for a lighter)

on our way, matt had a mapquest in his car for the Cliff restaurant in Laguna Beach. Never been there before, i asked him how he found it, he said on Yelp. I asked what did you type in, he said "cool restaurants" (typical matt!)

we get to laguna beach and there is no parking, so we drove around for about 20 minutes looking for a spot, after finding one we took the little hike to the Cliff. getting to the Cliff there are not that many people there. sitting down matt looks at the beach and says "i wonder how we can get down there?" so at this point i am thinking matt doesn't have anything planned. If he did he wouldn't have asked. eating dinner, we were sitting and i figured it wasn't going to happen, so i asked "matt, are going to propose when you are done with grad school? right?" and he gave me one of the faces like "i don't know?" after dinner we got up and left and walked back to his car. getting to his car he says "lets go on a scavenger hunt!" hmmmmm......this hasn't happened before. he says he wants to be more spontaneous.

He got a bag out of his car and we started walking to the beach. I said "well, this will be my highlight of the week! ha" he said "IT BETTER BE!" getting to the beach, no one is around and he tells me to turn around and he was going to get the hunt set up, and once he was done he would text me. so after waiting for 20 minutes (matt says it was like 5) he texted "in 20 seconds follow the lights" I count to 30 (just incase he wasn't ready) and I turn around to see 4 tealight candles in the sand. being completely dark except for the lights i walk to the last candle. not sure what to do next i see a shadowed matt about 20 feet away. i say "matt, what should i do next" he says "the last 2 candles burnt out, walk towards me"

after getting to him and being face to face, i say "now what?" and this time he gets on one knee and says "Marry Me!" i couldn't believe it! i started laughing and then laughing some more and then tearing up and then laughing again! i am still not sure if i said yes but the ring was put on my finger! and then i gave matt a big hug! and laughed some more!

just what i wanted :)

after laughing with each other we were both like "wow!" it happened! walking back, Matt says don't put this on facebook yet! ha lets take this in! not having an engagement picture i told matt we need to find someone to take our picture. we found some people walking around and i asked if they would take our picture and also told them what just happened! they were really happy to do it and even said that they should have their picture taken so that we would remember them and name our first born! ha

finally getting to our car, i had a lot of people to call and tell the news, while matt was relieved and just called his mom. we also visited claire at fashion island to tell her the news and it was so great to see her and her reaction. finally getting home and telling many people about the special question, matt laid on the couch emotionally exhausted! ha all he wanted to do was see the heat play the calvaliers (lebron's first time back), and i had to make it official and tell the whole facebook world!

well now we are engaged! not sure when we will plan the big day! the earliest would be a year from now, but we are looking more to summer or fall 2012. we shall see! but we both are sooooo happy and it is sooo fun to wear a beautiful ring on that finger.

also one more thing: going to my PE coaching job on friday was fun! i told one girl and she seemed to tell the whole school. I had teachers and kids coming up to me asking to see the ring!

the first people we told, our photographers :)