The first time I was able to say “join me” as a bride was at the Harsanik Bridal Show. I was so excited to attend my first bridal event. My family including mom, grandma, maid of honor, and junior bridesmaids joined me at the event. I started the day at the beauty bar. What a great idea! I met Lynette who demoed her gorgeous eye lash extensions on me. I can’t wait to get mine done for my actual wedding.
Had I written this blog three months ago, I would have said that choosing a dress was truly the hardest part, but now I can say it was the most exciting. Every girl dreams of putting on the big white dress and mine was no different. After looking all over for the perfect dress, I found a picture of an Essence of Australia ball gown to try on. I visited Panache Bridal in Pasadena and tried on the gown. It was pretty, but definitely not “the one”. How did I know? I looked at my mom and she didn’t have tears in her eyes.
One of the easiest things I’ve done in terms of planning for our wedding is booking our venues. We knew that we wanted an outdoor wedding and wanted to do something different than what takes place during a traditional Armenian or a traditional Mexican wedding. Originally, we wanted to have our wedding ceremony and reception in Las Vegas. Among others, the hotels we had in mind were Caesars, Wynn, and The Venetian. We explored this idea for a short time but eventually came to the realization that a local wedding would be ideal for us and our families and generally Armenian style banquet halls had way more to offer.
Given that our wedding is during the Memorial Day holiday weekend, we felt it was necessary to send save-the-date cards. Initially, I thought I would send them in January for our May wedding but was quickly told by some close friends and family, and even some vendors that the sooner you send, the better, and ideally anywhere between 8-10 months before the wedding. I started shopping around for some ideas, and settled on using Shutterfly’s Wedding Divas services. They have an option, where you can choose several styles, colors, and layouts and they will send you a sample package. It was the most convenient and inexpensive way to go. Plus, it was an excuse for me to convince Serj to take some engagement photos.
"We’re engaged!" The most exciting thing we had the pleasure of announcing. The first thing everyone was asking us was, "So when’s the big day?" Before we did any type of planning though, we decided to take engagement photos so that we could always remember how excited we truly were!
The first question people often ask when they hear you are engaged is, “so when is the big day?” and realistically, the answer is “whenever I find a hall.” At first, Serj and I were very adamant that we wanted to shy away from the typical Armenian banquet hall. Realistically our dream was to get married at Hummingbirds Nest Ranch in Santa Susana. We reserved a date, a random Saturday, then were told that the location had been booked almost all summer for the filming of a show or movie. So we started our search for an outdoor location all over again and our dreams of an outdoor wedding were quickly crushed when we learned about the costs and restrictions associated with those types of locations.
Photo by Metropol Banquet
Victor and I have had the most random conversations. One conversation I particularly remember well was when he asked me which of the buildings in Downtown, LA was my favorite. I responded, the one with four cylinders on the side of it. I didn’t think much of it at the time.
Throughout the years, Victor has always told me that he wanted to take me to the Westin Bonaventure so we can experience “the rotating lounge”. The idea of the lounge is very cool. The top floor of the Westin rotates so that once an hour, you have had a total 360 degree view of Downtown, LA. I unfortunately suffer from motion sickness very easily so my immediate response was, absolutely not!
Photo source Garuda Liberty Travel
In Talar's first blog, we heard the story about how their relationship started. She also mentioned, Serj said if the Kings won at the Stanley Cup Championship, he would propose! Three months later, they were both in for a surprise. Here’s Talar and Serj’s proposal story, from the groom’s perspective!
There comes a time in a man’s life where dreams turn into reality, especially when you make that choice to wake up from your dream! From our first date on, I knew I was living in a dream in the presence of Talar. I would refer our dates to my friends as being on “cloud 9” and how she would hear the good, the bad and the ugly in my day to day life yet remain very optimistic of my outcomes. She was always a positive and loving presence that I cherished to have week in and week out. That’s when I knew I wanted to turn this into a life long friendship. I say friendship because it’s not just love that keeps us together, but our passion to strive and be a strong presence in our Armenian community and family life.
Hi everyone! My name is Christine Brungard. Let me start by saying that I am so thrilled to have my wedding planning featured on Harsanik. For years, I worked in the wedding industry and helped design many different unique weddings. I couldn’t wait for the day that I started the plans for my own wedding. Victor proposed a little over a year ago and I’m already deep into plans that I’m very excited to share.
Serj and I met in September of 2013. Our first date included an amazing dinner at Café Santorini in Pasadena followed by drinks at the beautiful Perch in Downtown. Never had I ever had a first date like this… filled with so much laughter, so much smiling, and really a wondering if it was all real. Serj and I are very opposite in many ways, but we’re also alike. We have different tastes in music and movies, but both love sports and spending time with family! It keeps our relationship so very much alive and always interesting.
Our first ever picture together
