You're late! You're late! You're late! You're very, very late!

With the clock ticking at 8 months to go, I knew I had to find us a venue - stat! I never was the girl that had her wedding planned/dreamt up at the tender age of 2. What kind of dress did I want? No idea. What kind of flowers did I want? No idea. You get the gist of it.

We consulted with both parents on what kind of wedding they expected and unanimously responded, "We don't care. Whatever y'all want to do." Is that your final answer parents? Yes.

And with that, Sothea and I decided an American wedding would be most feasible so that we didn't have to accommodate two different cultures (I'm Chinese and he's half Cambodian and half Chinese, but more Cambodian than Chinese, if that makes any sense). We took my parents to the Gaylord Texan early December 2009 to visit the ICE! exhibition

the theme was How the Grinch Stole Christmas, in case

you were wondering. And everything is made of ice.

and all I could do was be mesmerized at the beauty of the place. I kept nonchalantly commenting how nice it would be to get married there, not knowing I was going to be proposed to in a few short weeks! When we tried to decide on a venue, you bet the Gaylord Texan was my first pick. Then again, the only other place I've been to a wedding in Dallas was at The Crescent .

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I called The Gaylord Texan and inquired of the availability and price. Sept 18, 2010? It's available! Price? *big gulp* Excuse me? How much? But when I saw pictures, I knew I wanted to this place badly.

Above 4 pictures were provided via email by

Tristin Jumper, Gaylord Texan Catering Manager

No worries, I did eventually inquire of other places so I wasn't completely off my rocker. Yet. After discussing it with the hubs, we decided a small intimate wedding of about 100 people was do-able (we were paying for the whole shin-dig ourselves). Excitedly, I asked Tristin to fax me a contract. The form was all completed, and as I was about to give my John Hancock to make it official, when my cell phone rang. It was the hubs. His madre said we needed to have an Asian reception, but didn't care what we did for the ceremony. For political reasons of course, and Asian weddings are more for the parents than the bride and groom. Sigh. Not sure what washed over me, but the waterworks came instantly. Fierce and with no mercy. So this is what they mean when they say, "You can't always have what you want". Ohhhhh.

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The hubs was able to knock some sense into me and after re-composing myself, I set out to find a location that didn't charge me an arm, a leg, and a few vital organs just to rent the venue for an hour to host our ceremony. When I thought all hope was lost (sounds like a good juicy book huh?), my manager's boss inquired of wedding planning. I explained my ordeal and she graciously offered to put in a phone call to the hotel where she once presided as the Chief Financial Officer - Hilton Anatole.

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I put in contact with Cathrine New, the Food and Beverage Director at the Anatole and y'all, she is seriously the sweetest lady ever!! Communication with her was like talking to a friend. All that she did for me was above and beyond any service I could have every expected. You'll find out what exactly it was later on in my recaps. In the meantime, ladies and gentleman - we have a wedding venue!!

With that settled, I needed to find the perfect photographer stat! You know how those guys get booked up quickly!!

Did you have any issues with finding a venue? How did you overcome those and decide if it was THE venue?