Ladies and Gentlemen . . . A proper introduction is indeed. . .

I know three things for sure.

One is, if you are reading this blog is because you know her or you know me, and you are really interested in following and reading these little pieces of our live during this process, for that reason you deserve a big thank you.

THANK YOU ! ! !

Second is, if you are reading this blog is because you kind of know her or you kind of know me,

(And been honest. No hard feelings. I can tell you that I believe most of the people to whom I was introduced during the last two years have a little difficult to understanding me, but it's OK, because I also, Yo no hablar mucho ingles...)

- and you are really interested in know a little bit more about us and you want to follow and read these little pieces of our live during this process. You deserve a big thank you too and a big welcome, because this post is just for you.

THANK YOU ! ! !

and

WELCOME ! ! !

And third and finally, if you are reading this blog and you don't know her or don't know me.

My friend, seriously, you have too much free time nowadays. And that is OK, with us. But at least, you should send us the most expensive gift on our wedding registry, and believe me, the Bride has expensive tastes...

So for you either number one or two, you are welcome to keep reading this post... And of course, for number three, you are welcome too, better have a open policy here now, that fight hate mail later.

NOW and after the previous disclaimer here are the basics statistics about the happy couple.

The GROOM (aka. Christian Garcia Fuentes previously also know as Chrisito) was born in Mexico City in April 21st, 1974.

His mom, Alma Fuentes Martinez (aka. Madruzca).

His dad, Gustavo Garcia Uribe (aka. Gustavo and these days just Dad).

Only child. Meaning no siblings. No half-brothers. No half-sisters. But with a very extensive tribe of age-related cousins.

Educated and lived all his life in Mexico City.

Moved to New York City for work with the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs or SRE for its acronym in Spanish, in 2000, after finished his college degree in Information Systems for Management, attending at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), Campus Estado de México.

Kicked back to Mexico City after six months in NYC.

And come back to the US in 2002. Working again for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I guess some people don't learn from previous mistakes.

Two years ago, he meet the bride in a traditional posada (typical Mexican celebration during the month of December) and after a few discussions about NAFTA, friends, life in DC and the aphrodisiac qualities of Costco's Guacamole...el amor nacio.

The Proposal, 11/11/07, Cafe Cafe, Rome

This is Christian and I a few moments after he proposed!! We had just arrived in Rome few hours earlier, had walked around the Coliseum, and had found this great little cafe nearby. After a wonderful discussion about our life together, he asked me to marry him... of course I said YES!!!

Here's the blog, finally . . .

This blog is supposed to be among other things, as Katie always says "...Something fun to do," me in the other side, I see this blog as another "important" thing to do... like find a church, find a place for the reception, plan the menu, meet with the catering, look all over the great DC area in the quest for THE best bargain for booze, check the dress (Katie's dress, not mine...), make appointments with immigration lawyers, doctors and also with the counterpart of my work colleagues, the very best and finest DC's bureaucrats . . . En fin . . .

But here I'm complaining but keep writing, and thinking over and over again "this is fun"...And guess what??? .... It's indeed, FUN!!!

Let's start taking something off from the procrastination-list-to-do, and put it instead on the taking-and-showing-the-initiative-list.

So, let's be optimistic... Let's hope that planning a wedding is not going to be a stressful task and instead is going to be a journey to discover all the good things that made me fall in love with Katie in the first place, and why not, discover through the bad and uncertain the emotional "glue" that makes us perfect for each other...

And let's try to make this blog a window for all of you, dear readers and surfers, an easy access to a bunch of information about the upcoming event...

Y para aquellos que no hablan mucho o no leen ingles, of course, va a haber la spanish version de este blog, escrito por Katie...

Asi mama, papa, familia y amigos esten enterados como la estamos pasando con este pequeño asunto de la boda...