
Wedding date?
October 28, 2006
Wedding theme?
Fall harvest
Designer and name of gown?
Pronovias “Tunez” with a custom Casa de Novia veil and Monique Lhuillier lace bolero.

Wedding gown style?
Trumpet
What was your experience at Casa de Novia
I wanted an elegant gown with delicate details, feminine but not fussy, and I absolutely didn’t want a
“princess” ball gown. I had spent several months searching for my gown and it seemed that every salon
in Houston was full of puff.
A co-worker who was also getting married suggested Casa de Novia, the owner, Luvi, was known for a
unique style. I came in alone one evening and Kalie Sanders took care of me, she listened carefully to
my requests and provided thoughtful opinions. In other salons I would try gown after gown without
satisfaction, that evening I tried on two dresses and I knew the tulle trumpet dress with the cathedral
train was what I had been looking for all those months. I went home and thought about it, called my
mom and my friend Laura and told them I had found my gown, no reassurance needed. In the course of
that first visit I also learned that Luvi was originally from Nicaragua, where I’m also from, and somehow
that confirmed in my mind that the dress was meant to be. I bought my gown a week later while Kalie
toasted me with champagne.
After that it was smooth sailing, Casa de Novia made sure the gown was perfectly proportioned to my
body down to the height of the heels I’d be wearing; my gown had a long way to travel from Barcelona
but I had plenty of time until my wedding date and that allowed for alterations to be carried out calmly
and to perfection. I was also fitted with a custom, cathedral drop veil that matched the cut of my train
beautifully, and Carmen helped me get a gorgeous Monique Lhuillier bolero to complete my look.

Your Love story
John and I met at lunch during our senior year at the University of Notre Dame. Our mutual friend Rudy
introduced me to John, who had just returned from a year abroad in Mexico, was fluent in Spanish,
majored in engineering, was incredibly smart, and loved all things Hispanic. John and I would run
into each other at dinner time and pretty soon he was asking me out, and pretty soon we became
inseparable.
John and I dated, traveled together, and had the best time for 4 years. He proposed while on a trip to
Nicaragua, he called my father aside one evening and asked for his blessing, then asked my parents
where would be the best place to pop the question; my parents suggested the summit of the (active)
Masaya volcano, so atop the barren landscape and surrounded by clouds, John got down on one knee,
pulled out some mementos from our first dates, presented me with his great-grandmother’s ring, and
asked me to marry him. We were engaged for a year and married at the Basilica of the Sacred at the
University of Notre Dame, we held our reception at South Dining Hall, the place where we first met.
Photographer
Rebecca Burkett Photography
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