Gulfscapes Gulf Coast Beach Weddings.

Initially Dr. Alberto L. Belalcazar dreamed of becoming a scientist.  He left his homeland of Columbia at the age of eighteen for Texas A&M Kingsville to pursue a degree in physics.  He loved the work and never foresaw how one day his physics background would help him with lasers.

A love for the Dr. Kildare show with Richard Chamberlain inspired Alberto Belalcazar to continue his education and get a medical degree.  With MD degrees from Matamoras, Mexico, and New York State, he spent five years as a general surgery resident at Buffalo General Hospital and another year in New York City perfecting his surgical skills.

His memories of the friendly, hospitable people of South Texas led him back to Corpus Christi twenty years ago. After working as a trauma surgeon, a civilian Navy surgeon and a pediatric surgeon, Dr. Belalcazar began to research laser surgery.  His new wife Melissa was about to have a laser vein treatment on her legs and he found himself intrigued by the science behind the procedure.  After much consideration, he was convinced he wanted to get into this area.

The Belalcazars have developed a world-class spa, which is one of the most advanced in the country, and can boast that they have all the equipment to treat any kind of problem skin. They have traveled throughout the country to learn the latest procedures.  Nine unique lasers, using different wavelengths, can treat veins, remove hair, treat moles and warts, remove tattoos, change pigment and more.  In addition, other machines can help with skin tightening and acne treatments.
 Dr. Belalcazar has become a pioneer and expert in this field.  His vision has changed, but his dedication to his work has not.  He makes people, especially women, feel good about themselves by making them look their very best. 

Posted by gulfscapes at 03:13 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

 This is a modern day fairy tale.  It’s the story of a fair maiden and a prince charming who fall in love in the enchanted land of South Texas.  There’s a good fairy mother in law and a sweet sister and even a magic fishing pole.  And, oh yes, there’s a magazine called Gulfscapes, without which the whole thing might never have happened.  If you believe that some things are just meant to be, you are going to love this story.

Kelsey Wells and Buck Garcia grew up in the Valley.  They dated two years in high school, and then went their separate ways when he went off to South Texas Junior College in Uvalde and she headed for Texas A&M in College Station.  They lost touch as they formed new relationships and started on their career paths.  After college Buck went back to Harlingen to work with his father in the cattle brokerage business and Kelsey settled in Corpus Christi, where she did some modeling and retail sales before joining Channel 10 as an account executive.

One of her modeling jobs was for Elizabeth Ann’s, a boutique advertising in the new coastal lifestyle magazine Gulfscapes.  Down in the Valley, Buck’s sister Laney Davis was reading that first issue when she spied Kelsey’s picture in the ad.  She rushed to her mother’s house to show her the picture and they oohed and aahed over how beautiful Kelsey was and how much they had loved her and how cute a couple she and Buck were and how they wished things had worked out for them.  They tore the picture out of the magazine and took it in to the office to show Buck.

Time passed and Buck’s mother Linda was planning a shopping trip to Corpus Christi.  Her friend, Linda Bodenhamer suggested that she must not miss the opportunity to visit her aunt’s store when she was in town. Didn’t she pull out a new issue of Gulfscapes to show her the ad for her aunt’s shop, which happened to be Susan Castor’s on Alameda.  Linda Garcia exclaimed that she had seen that magazine before, but hadn’t read that issue.  “Keep it,” said Linda Bodenhamer.

Later that day as she leafed through the pages, there was Kelsey again.  This time she was pictured in an ad for a boutique called Shannon’s.  This was just too much   Linda picked up the phone and dialed the number for the shop. When she found out that Kelsey worked there but wasn’t in at the time, Linda began to tell sales clerk Anne Haynes all about who she was, and how Kelsey had dated her son and that she’d love to talk to Kelsey again.  She also asked if Kelsey were married.  She wasn’t nor was Buck.  There was hope.

Anne gave Kelsey the message and Linda’s phone number and told her “That woman was so nice and she really went on and on about how much she cared for you when you were dating her son in high school.”  Anne also told shop owner Shannon Bartkowiak about the call.  Shannon and Kelsey were very good friends and they discussed the merits of calling Linda back.  After all, Kelsey was in a relationship.  She hadn’t seen or talked to Buck or his family for over eight years.  After much talk in the shop, Kelsey decided to call Linda.  It was the polite thing to do, and Linda had been so gracious in her praise for Kelsey.

Linda Garcia was delighted with the phone call and assured Kelsey that Buck had grown up to be a real gentleman.  Linda was not going to give up easily and even though Kelsey assured her she was not interested and was involved with someone else, she encouraged Kelsey to stop by the house the next time she was in Harlingen.

A few months later on a visit to the Valley Kelsey got in touch with the Garcia family.  She wasn’t interested in rekindling a romance, but remembered how nice the family had always been, and well, maybe, she was just a little bit interested in how Buck had changed.  Over a period of months, she saw them and Buck, but it was a long time before she and Buck actually dated.

One thing led to another and by late summer of 2005 they were dating and falling in love.  A typical date might include fishing, which was a favorite pastime of both.  On one trip in late October Kelsey was having no luck what so ever and her line kept getting tangled.  Buck handed her a brand new pole and suggested that it might work better because it was “new and nice and real smooth.”  Kelsey noticed that Buck had quit fishing and was just watching her.  Finally he said, “Kelsey, I had that rod made special for you.  Read what it says.”  The rod had been ordered from Hook Line and Sinker in Harlingen, and along the side had been engraved, “Kelsey, I love you.  Will you marry me?”  Then Buck dropped to one knee and asked her again to marry him.  Kelsey said yes.

“I just couldn’t be happier.  They are such a beautiful couple.  I loved her when they dated in high school, and I love her now.  She is so right for my son,” says Linda Garcia. “We are so lucky to have Kelsey in our family,” exclaims Laney Davis.  Buck added, “This is pretty amazing…a real shot in the dark.  It proves that you should always trust your mother.”

While there are no specific wedding plans yet, Kelsey envisions a large evening wedding next fall. “We have so many friends and family to invite.”  So many people wish this special couple well, and we at Gulfscapes feel excited that we had a bit to do with their finding one another again.

So in true fairy tale fashion, they lived happily ever after, and always kept a current issue of Gulfscapes on the coffee table.

Posted by gulfscapes at 03:11 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Four years ago April and Craig Mlady bought their building lot on Padre Island.  They had decided to leave their busy life in California for a quieter, simpler place to raise their new baby girl Helen.  April grew up on Key Allegro in Rockport, and her parents Phil and Frances Colling moved to the Lamar Park area of Corpus Christi in 1977.  Padre Island offered the lifestyle the Mladys wanted with the added bonus of family nearby.

April’s parents sent their daughter a subscription to Gulfscapes at their California address.  Frances knew they wanted to build and decorate a coastal style home, and Gulfscapes was full of great ideas and photographs.  A story about award winning jewelry designer Peter Barr and the gorgeous ads picturing his custom pieces caught April’s eye.  While her engagement ring was beautiful, she felt it simply did not go with her wedding band.  She began to think of having the ring redesigned, and Peter Barr was the artist she wanted to do the job.  As far as April was concerned, a meeting with Peter Barr was going to be her first task once their move to Texas was complete.

A quick sale of their California home brought the Mladys to Texas faster than anticipated.  They settled into an apartment on the mainland and began to research builders for their home on the Island.  With dozens of ideas from Gulfscapes in mind, they met with the builder and finalized a plan for their home.

April hadn’t forgotten that meeting with Peter Barr.  She wanted to redesign the ring to go with her wedding band of diamonds.  She took one of the ads she had carried around with her to show Peter what she wanted. According to Peter Barr “About 50 to 60% of our business is redesigning jewelry.  Factors in choosing a piece for redesigning include wear ability, fashion, and what stones the customer has to work with. The process in creating a new design starts with seeing the stones and gold… Then we look at the different styles of my work in the showcases and pictures of other pieces I have done while listening to what is being said.  From the information gathered, I start sketching, keeping function and beauty in mind along with the meaning of the new piece.  When we are locked in on an idea, we review the design.  Next, I carve the design out of a block of wax.  The client can see from the wax model the shape and placement of stones for the finished piece.  If I haven't captured what they were asking for, I make the adjustments at this time.  Next we cast and complete the piece of jewelry.”

“That was it.  It was just perfect,” says April.  “It was exactly what I wanted.”  The ring was crafted and the house was underway.

Frances Colling had shopped at Tropical Home Furnishings in Rockport and on the Island and suggested that Carol Albrecht might be just the right decorator to help them realize their dreams.  “Carol was right there to advise on everything from furnishings, window treatments, art work and accessories to the style of faucets.”  The master bedroom and dining room furnishings were chosen at Buddy Walker, another of the Gulfscapes advertisers whose beautiful vignettes inspired April and Craig’s dreams of a beachside home.

While Carol Albrecht, whose own store My Coastal Home opened in the fall of 2005, was giving advice on decorating, Craig and April Mlady were giving advice to Carol and fiancé ROC.  Carol and Robert O. Curry of Legacy Estate Planning in Rockport and Padre Island were engaged, but she didn’t have an engagement ring.  She didn’t really want an engagement ring.  Since everyone including the Mladys kept asking her when she would have one, she started to research.  She asked jewelers for some ideas and told them her own. They continued to supply stock pictures from catalogs.  If she was going to have a ring, she certainly wanted it to be something special and unique and meaningful, not one ordered from a picture in a catalog.  She had seen Peter Barr’s award winning work in Gulfscapes, and had seen her friends and clients wearing his creations.  She loved his work, but was worried that it would be terribly expensive.  As luck would have it, she met Peter at a party and they started to talk about the ring she might want.  “The customers give me more input than they think.  As they talk about what they like and don't like, I listen.  I hear the words and the emotion.  They are giving me the direction in which the piece will go. It is up to me to interpret what they are asking for, evaluate the mechanics of construction, design, comfort and wear ability,” Peter suggests.

Peter asked questions and listened to her answers and Carol knew they were on the right track. He got it! She gave him a copy of a poem ROC had written for her.  Using the poem as inspiration and some family gold jewelry to incorporate into the design, Peter creatively combined the two to form an engagement ring and two wedding bands that met Carol’s standards of perfection.  “They are the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen,” says Carol.  “And the greatest surprise was that they were so affordable.  I have jewelry designed just for me by an award winning artist, and it was just so affordable.”

Carol’s latest recommendation to the Mladys was a landscape designer and pool contractor.  They are happily settled into their new home and have welcomed another new family member.  Son Eddie was born in December.  And April is looking ahead to another redesign by Peter Barr.  For their tenth wedding anniversary she wants to use the stones in her engagement ring as part of a new wedding band.  As Peter’s wife Jo would say, “That is the ultimate in recycling.”

Posted by gulfscapes at 03:09 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)