In place of a bridal shower, I decided I wanted to have a tea/hat party with my closest friends and family for some brunch and cocktails. After looking at several locations, I decided on the adorable little restaurant called Favorite Place in Glendale, which by coincidence has mint green walls, one of the colors of my wedding! The staff at Favorite Place Restaurant was so accommodating and their prices were unbeatable! I can't remember hearing a "no" to any one of my questions. They didn't even have a cake cutting or corking fee!

Wedding favors are an easy and simple way to show gratitude for your guests. After all they do to be there for you, you want to show them that you care and that you are thankful. When it came to favors we wanted to stay away from chocolates, which are traditionally used as wedding favors. We wanted to have something that people would not only like but that they would keep.

Serj and I couldn't have been any more different when it came to suggesting places for our honeymoon. The two things we did know were that we did not care to go any island or water related location and we did not want to go immediately after our wedding. So we each had a suggestion. Serj wanted to go to Europe, specifically France and Italy, and I wanted to go to somewhere adventurous such as South Africa. 

Photo Source Sabi Sands 

Our venue, Metropol Banquet hall, similar to many other halls requires us to bring our own alcohol. Some may think that this is an easy task, but I can assure you that it isn't. First, there was deciding what type of alcohol we wanted. We knew we wanted vodka and whiskey, but didn't know if we wanted red or white wine, or both. We decided on red wine only.

Photo Source Metropol Banquet Hall

Happy Trndez! For those not familiar with this Armenian tradition, we're featuring Christine's blog from 2016 where she explains this Armenian holiday that takes place on February 13th.

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Last weekend, Victor and I, celebrated a very special day, Trndez, with our families. Trndez or Candlemas Day is considered to be one of the most loved holidays among newly engaged couples and newlyweds. According to church rituals originating from Ancient Armenia, Christian Armenians create a bonfire which "resembles the Lord's light and warmth". Traditionally, newly engaged or newlyweds jump over the fire symbolizing joy and happiness. Trndez takes place on the evening of February 13th overlapping with Valentine's Day! 

As I mentioned in my previous blogs, Serj and I wanted to be sure to include as many of our family members as possible in our wedding party. So to recap, Serj's brother, Christian, will be walking in their grandmother, and Jonathan, the youngest brother, will be walking in immediately before me, holding the "Here comes the bride" sign. My niece and nephew will be our flower girl and ring boy.

Photo Source Etsy

Transportation for your wedding day could be a major concern for many brides and grooms a like. We are so lucky and fortunate to be working with Love Boat Limousine on our wedding day. Love Boat Limo so graciously participated in the Bride's Story contest. Victor and I are so happy that we won a gift card for our limo service for our wedding day.

I didn't know there were so many different kinds of headpieces. Ones with a comb, another called a "necklace", a tiara, a headband, and the list goes on. After looking around for a bit, I decided I wanted a necklace headpiece, a thin round, very simply embellished headpiece. It wasn't until I saw the piece that I bought that I fell in love with the headband. The downside was that I would have to change my hairstyle because of the size of the headpiece, but I'm sure the experts at Chateau De Luce would take care of that!

Our wedding date, July 03, 2016, is getting closer and closer! The next big event before my wedding is my bridal shower and I couldn't be more excited! My mom is hosting my bridal shower for me and she let me choose the theme and venue. I'm really excited to see how things pan out. I'm planning on having my bridal shower in June, a month before my wedding. It will be an intimate event at The Villa in Woodland Hills. My mom, cousin, and I went to brunch there and I fell in love with the scenery. It is perfect for a bridal shower. The Privato is a private room up a gorgeous staircase with a cozy fireplace and furnished balcony. It feels like home!

As one of the Harsanik.com Bride's Story winners, I was generously gifted a $500 gift card to use for the services of Abraham's Lincoln Limousine. I contacted Abraham's Lincoln Limo several months ago and inquired about their pricing. Almost immediately, I received an e-mail with the pricing guide. Given that Serj and I have such a large wedding party, we knew that we would want a party bus. The difficult part was figuring out how long we needed it for.