Hi everybody! It’s time to make the announcement on who we have selected for our free wedding coverage. Before I do that though, I just wanted to say that was very tough for us to decide on just two couples. If we could we would help everybody. But, I feel confident that there are enough photographers out there that are offering their help so the rest of the couples aren’t left behind. Just in case, we have a special deal for those couples who were not selected. We will be more than happy to offer them the same package at a highly discounted rate:
- 6 hours of wedding day photography coverage with two photographers
- one portrait session (engagement or bridal)
- Password-protected proofing gallery
- Hi-res digital negatives on dvd
Without more ado, here are the couples. I thought it was best for them to introduce themselves, so I am posting the stories and pictures they submitted to us.
Couple #1:
My name is Laura Lam. On first impression, people see me as a shy and mild-mannered young lady. But to my dearest friends and family I am full of life, caring, and down-to-earth. I met my fiance, Mikey Lin, during my last year at The University of Texas at Austin in 2001. The moment I saw him I knew he was special. He was smart (like me he was studying chemical engineering), sweet, and handsome! It turned out that we had a mutual friend…my college roommate Alice. Since Alice was getting married in July 2002 I found the perfect opportunity to ask Mikey out. It took me a whole semester to gather up the courage to ask Mikey if he would be my date to Alice’s wedding. And of course he said yes! From that date on I knew Mikey would be the guy I would marry. We have been a couple but living in separate cities for over 6 years now. After I graduated from UT in 2002 I moved back to Houston to work at an engineering company, while Mikey stayed in Austin to pursue his PhD in chemical engineering. We postponed marriage since we wanted to wait until we were both living in the same city. Mikey completed his PhD in August and will be moving to Houston in November. We have been anxiously awaiting our March 29, 2009 wedding at The Tuscany at Garden Oaks. Unfortunately, our dream of sharing our special moment with family and friends has been ruined. Not to mention I have lost most of the money I’ve saved since graduating from UT. I pledged to myself never to turn to my parents for money after I graduated from college since they have sacrificed so much for me already. They escaped their war-torn country with nothing but hopes for a better life for me and my siblings in America. They have slaved away at blue-collared jobs for years to put me and my other three siblings through college. And for that I will forever be in their debt. I have always dreamed that my wedding would not only be a celebration of my love for Mikey but also an occasion to honor my parents in front of family and friends. I am determined not to let the owners of The Tuscany destroy my dreams. My wedding will happen. It may not be as grand as originally planned and I may have to make sacrifices but these sacrifices are nothing compared to the sacrifices my parents have made. I hope that you can be at my wedding to photograph Mikey’s expression when he sees his love for the first time in her wedding gown and also to photograph the sense of accomplishment and pride in my parents’ eyes when they see their daughter marrying the man of her dreams and living the life they have always wanted for her. Even if you don’t select me I am happy to have shared my story and very touched to know that there are indeed good people out in the wedding industry.
Couple #2:
Dirusha Dehipitiya and Paul Hines are our names. Our wedding was scheduled for May 22,2009 at the Tuscany in Garden Oaks. We paid in full already with a cashier’s check for $18,566.78. The original bill was $26,523.96, but they offered the 30% discount for paying in full with Cash. Complimentary amount was $7957.18. We have 250 guests(6pm-12am) with passed Hors’d'oevers, buffet food stations and the liquor/bar package, candle package, both the brides (4 tier) and grooms cake (which Cakes by Gina never got their money since they are the preferred cake vendor). Also the entire facility rental for the Friday, the chapel, the garden room and Mraz ballroom.
We paid for everything in full on 6/17/2008 and we had recently gone to the open house @ Tuscany on 9/10, the Wednesday before the hurricane, and it was just fantastic and beautiful (had all the food and wine to serve everyone, it was great). We were told that in order to get the 30% discount, you must pay cash/cahsier’s check because I originally wanted to use my Discovercard to charge the whole thing. We came up with the full amount and thought, wow, we are getting a great deal, let’s just do it. Bella has been around forever, so although Tuscany was brand new, the place was just amazing (looked like building in Italy with all the columes), and thought nothing could go wrong cause they were already booked for most all the weekends already when we walked in, so everyone was reserving and paying for their special day. The way the columns and arches were in The Tuscany were just breathtaking, so we fell in love with it and decided to fork up the money.
You know you always dream up planning your wedding and making your special day the most happiest day of your life. This has turned into an absolute nightmare. A lot of people’s lives have been turned upsidedown from this, and I hope that the owners, Dan Blasinghame and Carolyn James, realize what they have done to so many Houstonian brides. Thank you so much for trying to help out in our unfortunate situation. Hopefully, someone will do some justice and make things better. We can all hope. Take care, Dirusha
This was my website. It will need to be changed now with a new venue whenever I do find one and most likely a new date in 2009 vs. May 22, 2009. It’s weird I finished it during the hurricane when we got our power back on and was ready to start sharing it with everyone…..but then Monday 9/22, rolls around, and everything came to a halt….for now….it was just strange that exactly 8 months to the day we found out about the nightmare from a 3rd party vendor.
Couple #3 (you didn’t know there was a couple #3 huh?): We actually have a bride who came and hired us way before all this mess happened. Naturally, she would be the first one we would help out.
Alice and I are very happy that we are able to do something to help make these couples’ wedding dreams happen
by serendipity
2 comments