Garen's and my saga began on a rainy fall day. It was our first date and we had decided to go to the Natural History Museum (yes, we are self-described nerds). We realized that we had something special when what was supposed to be a nice leisurely date at the museum, ended almost eight hours later with a trip to two museums, lunch, and dinner. 

After some time dating, we got engaged in May 2018. By June, we had decided that we were going to have our own Armenian wedding. 

Can't believe our wedding has already passed! Garen and I recently got our wedding photos so I can't wait to share my wedding blog post soon. Until then, I'll start off with my favorite wedding topic - flowers! As a woman who absolutely loves flowers, my wedding flowers were a top priority. My amazing wedding florist, Giah Events Studio, and I worked for months on using the perfect flowers and other decor to create the right ambiance for both the wedding ceremony and reception.

Roses, ranunculus, dahlias, coxcombs, lisianthus, amaranthus, anemones…and my centerpiece floral arrangement list goes on, and on, and on. 

Like many brides, I absolutely love flowers and picking a florist was no easy feat. When I began my search, I knew two things – (1) what floral arrangements I generally liked (the diaphanous look, typically achieved with high petal count flowers), and (2) that I wanted a romantic look for the wedding. 

With the above in mind, I went on my quest for a florist. After weeks of searching, I came across Giah Events Studio. Although I initially had some hesitation because of their location (Huntington Park), I was reassured by my contact at Giah Events, Hong, that they were more than happy to work on a wedding in Pasadena. And I have since learned that they have worked on countless Los Angeles area weddings, including many Armenian weddings in the Glendale/Pasadena area.  

Soon after our proposal, Garen and I got started with wedding planning. The reception hall sets the tone for a wedding and picking the reception hall was the first big decision Garen and I made for our wedding. Like every couple, we had our list of parameters – the hall would need to comfortably fit between 150-200 persons; it needed to serve Armenian/Mediterranean food in a family-style setting; it needed to be close to the Glendale/Pasadena area because we are getting married in an Armenian Apostolic Church; and it needed to be close to overnight accommodations and Burbank airport as we are expecting many out-of-town guests.

With our parameters in mind, we spent several weeks looking for the right place. We visited both American and Armenian halls and, when we walked into NOOR, we knew that we wanted to host our wedding reception there. NOOR has two beautiful event spaces to choose from - the smaller Ella room (accommodates up to 142 persons) and the larger Sofia room (accommodates up to 350 persons). We loved the look and feel of both Ella and Sofia with their sleek black floors, modern chandeliers, and mirrored-pillars. Both rooms have an elegant and timeless look that – very importantly – won’t appear dated in our pictures in the years to come. Given the expected size of our wedding, we will be in the Sofia room.

We're thrilled to introduce our newest Bride's Story blogger, Diana! We happen to know Diana pretty well... she's engaged to Garen, one of Harsanik's co-founders! Garen and Diana got engaged earlier this year and are planning to get married in October 2018. Yes, you read that right, 2018! You can imagine joining the Harsanik family has some advantages. We're excited to kick off the series by having Diana share her proposal story:

On a very special Saturday in May, Garen proposed to me with the Santa Ynez mountains in the background. We were in Santa Barbara for the weekend. Garen knew that he was going to propose, but wanted it to be spontaneous and in the moment.

It was the late afternoon and we were driving to Solvang to enjoy a couple of cappuccinos and some delicious sweets. We decided to stop at a lookout point along the way. I should say that I absolutely love, love, love lush, green scenery. While at the lookout I couldn’t stop swooning at the gorgeous mountain range. Before I knew it, Garen was holding the ring and asked me to marry him! The proposal was amazing and so representative of us – spontaneous, romantic, and an intimate moment just between us.