Chancy's Nuptials: Chago and Nancy Are Getting Hitched!

Where to stay continued…

dulzuramarga — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:37:08 +0000

La Quinta Inn is probably the most affordable hotel thats located downtown Austin. My search found $89 a night for the Capital hotel. Just a little further north along Highway 35 by Highland Mall they advertised $79 a night and same is true for the one further south along Highway 35 on Oltorf.

Wedding Registry at Macys

dulzuramarga — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:41:56 +0000

Wedding registries – now here’s something I was not looking forward to. If you know me quite well then you may be wondering how the idea of making a wish list of all the things I would love to have could make me the slightest uncomfortable. Well folks, its cultural, which is another paradox for I despise the use of culture as an explanation of behavior but I do believe that this time it is worth something. Gift registry’s are simply an American (i.e. consumerism) tradition. Working-class Mexican weddings are organized somewhat differently. Gifts come in the form of Padrinos or in “the dollar-dance”. The wedding itself is a gift from your family and friends who have pitched in for the gran celebration. And during the baile, your guests line up to dance with both the bride and groom but not without first pinning money on the bride or groom, hence most aptly named – “the dollar dance,” but nowadays we’ve replaced the pins with a basket – sadness. But since folks have been asking if we’re registered anywhere or if we’re going to register; and since we’re taking responsibility for most of the wedding, Santiago and I decided that we would go ahead and register.

I was still dreading this task because Santiago doesn’t like to shop, but then I get an email from the Knot about a registry event being held at Macys. Macys lured us with food, drinks, and a free gift so, naturally, we weren’t going to miss this! And we’re glad we didn’t. We registered for a ton of great stuff (mostly Martha Stewart stuff because we support prisoner reentry, you know, helping ex-cons rehabilitate), got fed, and came home with some goodies. This is definitely the way that registering should always be done! Plus, Santiago surprised me and really got into it.

So what have we learned ladies and gents? Since we’re Mexicans living in the U.S. then we’ll just have to blend the two traditions! Check out Macy’s where you can shop for us online or in your Macys store and bring your dollarz to the reception, preferably Benjis, because we will definitely be having “the dollar dance.” We will let you know where else we’ve registered. xoxo

Pom-Poms – A DIY Success Story

dulzuramarga — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 00:25:19 +0000

What a day! My dear friend Erica came over today to help me give Pom-Pom making a test run. Ou, she also introduced me to my new favorite latte – “a half moon” but she made me swear not to reveal where the quaint lil’ coffee shop that serves this drink can be found so I’ll just move on. After catching up over “half moons,” we embarked on my first second wedding do it yourself (DIY) project (my first was the save the date cards and I’m still dealing with those!!!). And people, I was sceared!!! The result was UGLY and not even close to looking like something I had envisioned. After a lunch break we tried again but this time I looked at the instructions more closely and figured out that our proportions were off. With the first one, our tissue paper wasn’t as long as the instructions called for so we just used the paper as it was (squared) but we really needed to have a rectangle. So on our next attempt we made sure we had a rectangle and they came out beautifully! The only thing is that they are a bit labor intensive and sometimes the tissue tears but this isn’t that big of a deal. Rounding of the edges takes a bit of effort since the paper is thick but when they’re rounded it really looks pretty. Sadly, making one took a lot of effort out of me so I’m going to have to come up with a plan for making a bunch (I still don’t have an idea of how many I’m going to need). I plan on making them in different shades of pinks but not two-toned as seen in the pic.

Oh yeah, one more thing. I had been really stumped on a baker for the wedding cake but Erica suggested a place, which I’m very excited about and Santiago and I hope to schedule a tasting soon! Mmmm, cake!

Where to Stay While in Austin

dulzuramarga — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 03:50:15 +0000

So I’ve been looking into places for our guests to stay and renting a house may be a good idea for some, depending on the length of your stay (Austin is a great place to visit and I’ll make sure to post things to do in and around town). This may be a great alternative for those who don’t mind sharing a house with other friends/family. You can find listings on Craigslist. Or you can go to Vacation Rentals By Owner and search there to. As far as neighborhoods go there are a lot to chose from. East Austin will be a good choice since both Our Lady of Guadalupe and Fiesta Gardens are located in East Austin. But then again Austin is quite small so almost anywhere will be close. Other areas include Downtown, Clarksville/West End, South Congress (SoCo), Hyde Park, and UT. You’ll also find rentals on Lake Austin. These homes will be a further from the the wedding (maybe 20 or 30 mins away) but may be worth it if you’re looking to get a vacation in while you’re down here. If you look into this option and you have questions, please just ask – I love to help. I’ll also be posting hotels and rates soon.

UPDATE – I’m posting this map here that shows where the hotels downtown are located in relation to Our Lady of Guadalupe and Fiesta Gardens. There are other hotels that are lined along the highway and I’ll try to post that information up soon!

View Larger Map

Save The Date

dulzuramarga — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:19:40 +0000

Our date is finally set so start making your plans to be in Austin, TX on July 18, 2009. We will be holding our ceremony at Our Lady of Guadalupe, which is located at 1206 E. 9th St.

The ceremony will start at 4:00 pm and our reception will be held immediately following the ceremony at Fiesta Gardens which is located at 2101 Bergman Ave. We hope to send out Save The Date Cards by next week so keep an eye out for those.

We’re Getting Hitched!

dulzuramarga — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 01:56:33 +0000

The wedding is six months away! Holy moly macaroni! Our intentions with this blog is to allow you to be a part of the planning of our wedding. We are looking forward to celebrating our day and to bringing our families and friends together but there is A LOT of work ahead. As you know, we are both in graduate school (Hook ‘emHorns!) finishing up our dissertations and so it’ll be interesting to see how we’ll pull this one off! Chago is currently writing his brilliant dissertation, From Vaqueros to Mafiosos: A Community History of Drug Trafficking in Rural South Texas, and he’s teaching Mexican American Culture at the University of Texas – Austin. And I’m finally conducting fieldwork research on the raced and classed politics of sexuality as is experienced by teen parents of Mexican descent.