"Will you marry us?"

....is what we asked our very good friend Jeff. Of course, he broke down in tears of joy and it took a good 10 minutes to calm him down. OK - maybe we can't back up the crying part, but we are very pleased to announce that he said yes. Shama has known Jeff for over 12 years - which include several painful OU losses, Vince Young and a national championship (woo hoo!!), and the infamous trip to the Mr. Gatti's buffet with Scott and Ryan where the 4 consumed 100 slices of pizza!! (Don't ask Shama who ate the most)

Anyhow, we are very glad to have a very special friend playing such an important role on one of the most special of times for us and our families. Jeff definitely jumped at the occasion to finally get us married, as he (and his mom and dad!!) always seemed to give Shama a hard time about procrastination!

Lights, camera, get ready for action....

After months of deliberation, we have selected our photographer, Jill Hays (www.jillhays.com). Ironic that we randomly came across her website and even more ironic that she lived less than half a mile from Shama's old house.

Slowly but surely.....

.....the time approaches. We are less than 6 months until the wedding. Save the Dates should be mailed out soon. Plans are coming along nicely.

FYI, if you were planning on staying at The Driskill and have not booked your room yet, we strongly urge you to get that done. The first block of rooms we have reserved are quickly running out and if we need to reserve a new block, rooms will be running about $90 more per night.

We look forward to seeing you all soon....

The party starts here...

As mentioned earlier, the wedding will be in Austin. The venue is the historic Driskill Hotel, in downtown Austin. We have been advised that our wedding will be the same weekend as the Austin City Limits Music Festival. It is an added bonus as we're sure to have some famous folks running around the hotel that particular weekend!

The hotel has been around since 1886, and has undegone several renovations over time. We are very excited to have it be the venue as it is absolutely gorgeous and is filled with history (Legend has it that there are haunted rooms & hallways around the hotel - but we'll leave that up to y'all to discover! All you have to do is Google Driskill Hotel haunting).

We look forward to seeing you all here with us on our special day: 9.27.2008

FINALLY....

I finally got my ring back today! I have been sick and this actually made me feel much better! Shama even said I was in a much better mood, who knew that diamonds could have such healing powers. :)