Ceremony: Saturday, August 27, 2011 @ 2PM
Redeemer by the Sea Lutheran Church
(Carlsbad Korean Presbyterian Church)
6600 Black Rail Road
Carlsbad, CA 92011
Reception: Saturday, August 27, 2011 @ 4PM(?)
Home of Cha Kimball (Cathy's Aunt)
3313 Piragua Street
Carlsbad, CA 92009
(5.6 miles from the church)
Friday, March 11, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Decisions
I've never been quick to be decisive... or quick about anything really.... We started with wanting something simple and intimate.... and I gotta say, it is really easy to just cruise on autopilot as we begin to explore all the possibilities... We initially thought about having it in December with an ocean view, however, we would rather have it in August and simplify everything. It must be true, most people plan for a party and end up with a festival. I don't want a festival... not even a party... just something that will feel cozy and familiar...
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Step 1: Wedding Venue
Where do people get married in San Diego? We will attempt to check out different venues this weekend =)
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Caleb's Story
Pre-engagement:
Cathy and I have been talking about engagement or "moving forward with our relationship" pretty soon after we started dating. We both had the mentality that we were looking for a serious relationship and that we were not going to mess around with "no scrub." =)
In one of our conversation's we jokingly said we should have the engagement in our one year anniversary. Secretly I have been thinking of proposing before the new year as I wanted to set the tone for the new year. However, I played along with the proposal on our one year anniversary as to maintain the element of surprise.
Since Cathy is very modest and humble, I had a hard time getting her to actually step foot into a jewelry store until the last couple months. We went from doing "walk-bys" to actually sitting down with a jeweler and talking about the style of ring she liked. It took some work to actually get her to "like" the idea of wearing such expensive jewelry on her humble and modest hands.
I spent several months learning about the 4 C's and was fortunate to have my brother-in-law and several friends and a roommate who had experience in this area. (siblings please be warned, do not eat before reading the following line) I finally found the perfect diamond that reflected Cathy, flawless to the naked eye, reflects light flawlessly, and once you've seen it, it's hard to take your eyes off of it...
Finding the setting that worked with her petite and delicate hand's required some creativity and imagination as there were no setting's fitting. So I combined all the different styles and details she mentioned she liked and brought it together with the help of an amazing jeweler (Collin's Family Jewelers).
The engagement:
So I picked her up to carpool to work in the morning (it was casual Thursday at her work since she was off on Friday). We had some coffee and picked up a donut at a grocery store close to her work. I dropped her off and hurried off to pick up 3 dozen fresh red roses and some baby’s breath. I went to work afterwards and took the afternoon off to have lunch with her mom and to give her a single stem rose as a “thank you for your blessing” and to pick up Cathy’s clothes for dinner at Jake’s Del Mar where we had reservations for after the engagement. I went home and set up framed black and white pictures we took throughout the year and set them up chronologically with a candle and some rose petal’s along the stairway at my house. I also made a trail of rose petals for her to follow to where she would find me. I also had some champagne on ice to celebrate =)
I went and picked up Cathy from work with a single rose similar to the one I gave her mom and brought her over to my home. I had her wait downstairs for a few minutes while I setup the candles. I then held a candle on a rose and angled the ring box so that the light hit the diamond ;-). As she came up the stair's I turned on the song "Marry Me" by the train. When she saw me she said “what are you doing?!?! Get up ;-)” and then she said YES!!! We then danced to the remainder of the song followed by "Just The Way You Are" by Bruno Mars.
Cathy and I have been talking about engagement or "moving forward with our relationship" pretty soon after we started dating. We both had the mentality that we were looking for a serious relationship and that we were not going to mess around with "no scrub." =)
In one of our conversation's we jokingly said we should have the engagement in our one year anniversary. Secretly I have been thinking of proposing before the new year as I wanted to set the tone for the new year. However, I played along with the proposal on our one year anniversary as to maintain the element of surprise.
Since Cathy is very modest and humble, I had a hard time getting her to actually step foot into a jewelry store until the last couple months. We went from doing "walk-bys" to actually sitting down with a jeweler and talking about the style of ring she liked. It took some work to actually get her to "like" the idea of wearing such expensive jewelry on her humble and modest hands.
I spent several months learning about the 4 C's and was fortunate to have my brother-in-law and several friends and a roommate who had experience in this area. (siblings please be warned, do not eat before reading the following line) I finally found the perfect diamond that reflected Cathy, flawless to the naked eye, reflects light flawlessly, and once you've seen it, it's hard to take your eyes off of it...
Finding the setting that worked with her petite and delicate hand's required some creativity and imagination as there were no setting's fitting. So I combined all the different styles and details she mentioned she liked and brought it together with the help of an amazing jeweler (Collin's Family Jewelers).
The engagement:
So I picked her up to carpool to work in the morning (it was casual Thursday at her work since she was off on Friday). We had some coffee and picked up a donut at a grocery store close to her work. I dropped her off and hurried off to pick up 3 dozen fresh red roses and some baby’s breath. I went to work afterwards and took the afternoon off to have lunch with her mom and to give her a single stem rose as a “thank you for your blessing” and to pick up Cathy’s clothes for dinner at Jake’s Del Mar where we had reservations for after the engagement. I went home and set up framed black and white pictures we took throughout the year and set them up chronologically with a candle and some rose petal’s along the stairway at my house. I also made a trail of rose petals for her to follow to where she would find me. I also had some champagne on ice to celebrate =)
I went and picked up Cathy from work with a single rose similar to the one I gave her mom and brought her over to my home. I had her wait downstairs for a few minutes while I setup the candles. I then held a candle on a rose and angled the ring box so that the light hit the diamond ;-). As she came up the stair's I turned on the song "Marry Me" by the train. When she saw me she said “what are you doing?!?! Get up ;-)” and then she said YES!!! We then danced to the remainder of the song followed by "Just The Way You Are" by Bruno Mars.
Cathy's Story
Okay, I like to claim I'm a "planner" and sudden surprises or unplanned activities make me anxious... fun and spontaneous? I am so not!! No big surprise that I once mentioned to Caleb, maybe we should just get engaged a year from when we started dating! Let’s be honest, all the anniversary counting, flowers, along with the majority of the notable romantic “events” stem from yours truly, Caleb. Based on what people say about finding a good balance in everything, Caleb and I have it worked out in being romantic. Well, I can be romantic too in my own non-verbal and subtle ways, when I step away from my usual keep-your-feelings-suppressed-inside mentality. I really thought we’ll probably get engaged on 1/29/11, exactly a year from 1/29/10. Do the math, numbers make sense and we’ll be good to go…
From the beginning… I move to California in May of 2009. I was ready for a change, and the final push came from when my mother told me I’m going to meet my future husband in California. She had sound reasoning of course, which was based on a dream I had in earlier months of 2009. In this dream, I was standing by huge bodies of clear blue water and saw countless fish just swimming around. All of a sudden, a massive fish jumped out of the water and landed right next to my feet. Well, if this dream didn’t get a Korean woman going on interpreting the significance of it all, filled with good fortune (which is clearly a suitable man to a single 30 year old girl), I don’t know what would. But come on, I didn’t simply move from Missouri to California based on a dream, but if we were waiting for that final nudge to spark the process, my fish dream did it. We're Asian and it's in our blood...
October 2009, my good friend, Cindy emailed me saying there’s a guy she knew from college moving to California from Illinois. He’s a good guy and it would be good for you to meet people, she said. I thought, oh goodness, is he the fish? No, I’m totally joking…
We met at the end of October at Ichiban in Pacific Beach. We ordered our food, and he offered I should sample his plate. Knowing Caleb now, it was a remarkable gesture of giving and kindness. We ate, and he bought me a vanilla cone from McD’s to take on our walk along the beach. Now that I think about it, it sounds a lot like a date but then again, walks along the beach is so accessible in the state of California. It was comfortable and we shared a lot of personal information.
And last Thursday, December 30, 2010 (11 months +1 day of dating)… Since I had Friday, New Year’s Eve off, I had casual Friday on Thursday instead. I had jeans on with my IU shirt, sneakers and hair in ponytail. Does that image bring romantic proposal to mind? Failed again, and I was just being myself. I went to work and when Caleb came to pick me up, he said he needed to stop by his place to grab some stuff for the weekend. When we arrived at his place, he told me to take my time in the bathroom because it was too messy upstairs. I guess most girls would be paranoid when your boyfriend tells you to take your time in the bathroom, but I simply thought he needed some time to clean the mess upstairs. So I did, and when I walked out, I saw a trail of rose petals. To be utterly honest, my first thought was… did he hear me pee? I chuckled and followed the trail thinking we’re now celebrating 11 months which we didn’t get to celebrate the night before due to Caleb not feeling well. Shortly after, I saw candles and then saw pictures of us framed in chronological order. Dang, he’s going all out for this anniversary and shame on me again, I don’t have anything! When I walked a few more steps, he was down on one knee with a small box in one hand and a candle in the other. I don’t recall the exact words, but something about how I make him happy and he asked me to make him happy for the rest of his life by marrying him. At that moment, I said what any girl would say, “what are you doing?” I must have really been surprised to utter such words, and when it finally dawned on me what was going on, my heart started pounding and I eventually came to my senses to say yes. We then celebrated, toasting with Almond champagne. Soon after, when I gently brushed my hand against his chest, it must have tickled him because he then proceeded to spit out the champagne all over himself, mostly, and was kind enough to spread some to me. We laughed, because it was funny romantic and that’s the kind I like most. He then told me to go change, in which earlier that day he met up with my mom to give her the scoop and to pick up presentable clothes to wear to our engagement dinner. Dinner was delicious at Jake’s and their complimentary dessert for the newly engaged couple, the hula pie, was delightful. It was simple and sweet =)
From the beginning… I move to California in May of 2009. I was ready for a change, and the final push came from when my mother told me I’m going to meet my future husband in California. She had sound reasoning of course, which was based on a dream I had in earlier months of 2009. In this dream, I was standing by huge bodies of clear blue water and saw countless fish just swimming around. All of a sudden, a massive fish jumped out of the water and landed right next to my feet. Well, if this dream didn’t get a Korean woman going on interpreting the significance of it all, filled with good fortune (which is clearly a suitable man to a single 30 year old girl), I don’t know what would. But come on, I didn’t simply move from Missouri to California based on a dream, but if we were waiting for that final nudge to spark the process, my fish dream did it. We're Asian and it's in our blood...
October 2009, my good friend, Cindy emailed me saying there’s a guy she knew from college moving to California from Illinois. He’s a good guy and it would be good for you to meet people, she said. I thought, oh goodness, is he the fish? No, I’m totally joking…
We met at the end of October at Ichiban in Pacific Beach. We ordered our food, and he offered I should sample his plate. Knowing Caleb now, it was a remarkable gesture of giving and kindness. We ate, and he bought me a vanilla cone from McD’s to take on our walk along the beach. Now that I think about it, it sounds a lot like a date but then again, walks along the beach is so accessible in the state of California. It was comfortable and we shared a lot of personal information.
And last Thursday, December 30, 2010 (11 months +1 day of dating)… Since I had Friday, New Year’s Eve off, I had casual Friday on Thursday instead. I had jeans on with my IU shirt, sneakers and hair in ponytail. Does that image bring romantic proposal to mind? Failed again, and I was just being myself. I went to work and when Caleb came to pick me up, he said he needed to stop by his place to grab some stuff for the weekend. When we arrived at his place, he told me to take my time in the bathroom because it was too messy upstairs. I guess most girls would be paranoid when your boyfriend tells you to take your time in the bathroom, but I simply thought he needed some time to clean the mess upstairs. So I did, and when I walked out, I saw a trail of rose petals. To be utterly honest, my first thought was… did he hear me pee? I chuckled and followed the trail thinking we’re now celebrating 11 months which we didn’t get to celebrate the night before due to Caleb not feeling well. Shortly after, I saw candles and then saw pictures of us framed in chronological order. Dang, he’s going all out for this anniversary and shame on me again, I don’t have anything! When I walked a few more steps, he was down on one knee with a small box in one hand and a candle in the other. I don’t recall the exact words, but something about how I make him happy and he asked me to make him happy for the rest of his life by marrying him. At that moment, I said what any girl would say, “what are you doing?” I must have really been surprised to utter such words, and when it finally dawned on me what was going on, my heart started pounding and I eventually came to my senses to say yes. We then celebrated, toasting with Almond champagne. Soon after, when I gently brushed my hand against his chest, it must have tickled him because he then proceeded to spit out the champagne all over himself, mostly, and was kind enough to spread some to me. We laughed, because it was funny romantic and that’s the kind I like most. He then told me to go change, in which earlier that day he met up with my mom to give her the scoop and to pick up presentable clothes to wear to our engagement dinner. Dinner was delicious at Jake’s and their complimentary dessert for the newly engaged couple, the hula pie, was delightful. It was simple and sweet =)
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