Ahh I am SO HAPPY with all our images.  Tinywater has truly outdone themselves.  For any bride still wavering on splurging on photography you have got to do it!  They have made the whole wedding process so memorable for us.  We had 2 e-sessions, 2 photogs and 1 asst photog on the day of for 8+ hrs, and a newlywed session.  So we spent a lot of time with Caroline and Dan.  And they are true artists.  I can't believe I get to see OUR wedding now after looking at so many blogs.  The icing on the cake was that we went to their totally cool loft/studio with both our families to see the pics for the first time. We had a slideshow of images on a big screen, along with gourmet snacks and wine.  It was a memorable experience on it's own!

Here are our slideshows:
http://tinywater.com/showit/sandrachadwedding/
http://tinywater.com/showit/sandrachaddayafter/

Wedding images
PART I:  http://www.tinywaterblog.com/?p=742
PART II: http://www.tinywaterblog.com/?p=748
PART III:http://www.tinywaterblog.com/?p=751

haha we had a laugh at this one b/c Chad buttoned his vest wrong!!  love my man

This image makes me tear up.  Chad watching me walk down the aisle.

Chad standing at the back of the church waiting to walk down.  I've never seen him so nervous!!



Me walking into the church.... hmmm do I look a little happy?



Ahhh we're done



Mr. and Mrs.!!







My girls!

Some of our mens


Our venue

Completed by Anton Lorimer of Lorimerworks.  I love it.  Period.

http://www.vimeo.com/5417106

The BIG DAY was March 14, 2009

 FI and I met back in high school. Yup, we're high school sweethearts. We started dating junior year of high school, and have been together ever since. We became engaged after 10 years of dating on December 15,2007--two weeks after moving into our new condo. I joked with him during those two weeks that we were "living in sin." What I loved about his proposal was that he thanked me for being so patient, (after 10 years that's an understatement!) and for loving him through the ups and downs.

I just realized I never really posted the full story.  So if you're bored and have some time, here's the long version:

This is our 3-year old handful, Rocky.

From Tiffany & Co, Round Brilliant Solitaire.  I know, I'm spoiled.

From Fred Meyer Jewelers

Best pics I could get...

E-Ring- Tiffany & Co
Wedding Bands- Fred Meyer Jewelers
Ceremony-Mission San Jose
Reception- Ruby Hill Golf Club
Wedding Planner- Kristen of Sugar Rush Events
Photography- Tinywater Photography
Videographer- Lorimerworks
Rentals (Linens, Chivari chairs)-Stuart Rentals
DJ- DJ Dave Tutton
Invitations-My sis!  She's a graphic design artist for Apple so she designed and helped print our letterpress invites and thank you cards, table numbers, escort cards, cookie buffet signs, bathroom basket signs, and signature drink signs.
Florist-The Flower House
Makeup- Exquisite Faces
Hair- Giao Nguyen
Wedding Dress-  Sonia Cholette, purchased at Trudy's Brides
Earrings- White aisle
Shoes- Believe by Carlos Santana, Macys.com and Jcrew sandals for later
Bridesmaid Dresses- B2 Collection, purchased at Trudy's Brides
Groom/ Groomsmen attire- Men’s Wearhouse
Mother of Bride Dress- Alfred Angelo
Wedding website-mywedding.com
Registries- Macy's and Target
Bridal Shower- Café cacao
Rehearsal Dinner- Nouvelle Bistro
Additional Photography- Thai Mai Photography
Transportation- Elite Limo
Lighting-Northern Lights
Cookies for Cookie buffet- Mrs. Fields
Cookie buffet vases/jars- Ross and TJ Maxx
Favor boxes- Efavormart.com
Ribbon accents- Michael’s
Photosharing cards- Vistaprint.com
Guestbook- Blurb.com
Groomsmen gift- Groomsmen.com
Bridesmaid gift- Peach Couture, Sephora, Chadwick’s
Photosharing host- Snapfish.com

What started it all.................(Photos by Jessamyn Harris)

   So from this came:  COLOR PALETTE #1   

I know the tiffany blue/chocolate theme is pretty common, so we wanted to add just a little of us to it. We plan on having a copper color as our hue of brown, and the green and coral/papaya-ish colors as accents.

UPDATE:  So we've decided to eliminate the brown and one of the blues.  Just too much going on.  So this is our new palate. 

COLOR PALETTE #2                       Here is a pic of our Linens :

A BIG SHOUT OUT to Marissaco for use of her wedding pics to help me with inspiration.  I LOVED all her deets and it was exactly what FI and I were thinking right down to the dyed water, cybidium orchids, and turquoise uplighting.

     We'll probably have the Papaya color where the white is in the floral arrangements above.  Kind of like the picture below.  We will have runner instead of blue stones like in pic below, but same idea...

MISSION SAN JOSE

          

*This section is not meant to discriminate or push my religion onto anyone, it is merely here to help those who are planning a Catholic ceremony.

PROGRAM WORDING
                             Wedding of Sandra Cristina Q & Chad Alika B

Processional:       Cristina C                       Juanita B
Parents:             Sonia and Vince Q           Lil V & Gloria B
                                                           Jr. Groomsman:  Jake H    

Bridesmaids:        Sabrina A                       Groomsmen:      Alan B
                        Veronica D                                            Chris H
                        Maureen Q                                            Tony Q
                                                                                  Frank W

We’d like to thank all that joined us today for celebrating our Sacrament of Marriage.  Thank you to our Wedding party for all their help, and to all our readers, and sponsors. We’d also like to acknowledge and thank those that contributed to our wedding, making it the beautiful day we envisioned, including: Aunty Lorna S, Grandma Cristina C and Maureen Q.  And to our parents, without who, we would not be here. Thank you for supporting us through our lives as individuals, through our lives as a dating couple (11 years!), and now, as we step into the roles of man and wife.  Muchos besos!!

THE READINGS

FIRST READING: Tobit 8:4b-8

A reading from the book of Tobit

On their wedding night Tobiah arose from bed and said to his wife,

            “Sister, get up.  Let us pray and beg our Lord
             to have mercy on us and to grant us deliverance.”
             Sarah got up, and they started to pray
             and beg that deliverance might be theirs.

They began with these words:                

“Blessed are you, O God of our fathers;
            praised be your name forever and ever.

            Let the heavens and all your creation
                        praise you forever.

            You made Adam and you gave him his wife Eve
                        to be his help and support;
                        and from these two the human race descended.

            You said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone;
                        let us make him a partner like himself.’

            Now, Lord, you know that I take this wife of mine
                        not because of lust,
                        but for a noble purpose.

            Call down your mercy on me and on her,
                       And allow us to live together to a happy old age.”

They said together, “Amen, amen.”

The word of the Lord.


SECOND READING:  Romans 12:1-2, 9-13

A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans

 I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God,
            to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,
            holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.

Do not conform yourselves to this age
            but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
            that you may discern what is the will of God,
            what is good and pleasing and perfect.

Let love be sincere;
            hate what is evil,
            hold on to what is good;
            love one another with mutual affection;
            anticipate one another in showing honor.

Do not grow slack in zeal,
            be fervent in spirit,
            serve the Lord.

Rejoice in hope,
            endure in affliction,
            persevere in prayer.

Contribute to the needs of the holy ones,
            exercise hospitality.

The word of the Lord.

COUPLES PRAYER: (Excerpted from the book they gave us and we ammended it a little to our situation-- we said this together aloud in front of the congregation after our vows)

All-powerful, ever-living God, we thank you for your many blessings, and your hand in bringing us together some 11 years ago. We thank you for letting our love—and each other grow to be the best people and partners we can be. May you continue to bless us with growth, compassion, honesty, openness, humor, trust, and perseverance, and  be ever-present in our lives. Protect us from anything which might harm this marriage, give us courage when burdens come our way, and teach us to forgive one another when we fail. We ask your assistance in becoming the best spouses, friends, and parents, we can be. Finally, may you bless us in our old age, that we may love one another as deeply and cherish each other as much as we do at this very moment. May you grant these wishes which we offer through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL: (Again excerpted from the book, but added our spin to several)
Loren:  The response is “Lord, hear our prayer.”
Loren:  For leaders of Church and state
           for heads of institutions,
           for heads of homes and households…
           that they will lead us and guide us
           in the search for God and the good life,
           in the search for peace and joy, and
           in the search for love among us
           Let us pray to the Lord.
All:  Lord hear our prayer

Jessica: For those who are sick, lonely, discouraged, or oppressed
           that they may be strengthened by God’s help and aided by their friends
           Let us pray to the Lord.
All:  Lord hear our prayer

Loren: For married persons
         that they may continue to give, be able to forgive,
         and find happiness deepen with the passing of each day
         Let us pray to the Lord
All:  Lord hear our prayer

Jessica:  For Sandra and Chad, now beginning their life together,
             that they may have divine assistance at every moment,
             the constant support of friends, the rich blessing of children,
             a warm love reaching out to others, and good health until a ripe old age,
             Let us pray to the Lord.
All:  Lord hear our prayer

Loren:  For our relatives and friends who walk with us on life’s journey,
          for those that could not be with us today,
          and for those who have gone before us to the other side of life 
          For the fulfillment of all their unfulfilled desires—
          Let us pray to the Lord
All:  Lord hear our prayer

 Jessica:  For these personal needs which we mention now in silence
             (pause)
              Let us pray to the Lord
All:  Lord hear our Prayer

Priest to speak

MUSIC:
Entrance music:
       Entourage processional:  Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring- Bach
       Bridal processional:        Canon in D-Pachelbel
Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 34   Taste and See-Moore
Gospel Acclamation:             Celtic Alleluia-O’Carroll
Unity Candle, Veil, and Cord: When love is Found-Wren
Offering to Mary:                   Ave Maria-Schubert
Recessional:                        Ode to Joy- Beethoven

Taken from our church's website suggestions. 

Check it out...you can hear music samples and get a list of possible music here: http://saintjosephmsj.org/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=Pre-Approved+Music+Suggestions.  (You may have to copy and paste the link)

RUBY HILL GOLF CLUB: Pictures do NOT do it justice!!

As you can see I like the low chignon. MarinBride's hair on the right is absolutely stunning!   

Hair and Makeup done by Giao Nguyen.  I've already booked my MUA so she'll be doing my Hair only. Thanks to SFbridefromLA and Prismis for the referral!  She was so great to work with, and her husband, who also took our epic session, took some shots of the finished product.  It's hard to tell from these angles, but it's a right side do, the other side is straightened and tucked into the other side. We're still working on what the front will look like, but overall I'm very pleased!  (Flower is also created by Giao, she sells them on her etsy site).

Holy crap I look washed out in the first pic!  I asked for a dramatic look, and I think we're pretty close.  FI loved it, he couldn't stop staring at me...hehe.  A good indicator for wedding night. He's actually the one that said I should do dramatic, I figure, he knows what I look like everyday, might as well turn up the dial on a day nobody can object =).

I'm not a huge fan of how my eyebrows look, and I'll have to get used to the whole fake lashes thing, but overall I think I'm pretty pleased.  Not bad for a free trial!  The pic is the one she will use on her website.  I'll post more of my own pics when I get home.

ok here's a bigger pic (sorry for so much of my face in one place)... are the lashes too much?  how bout the eye
shadow?

Here is how my hair and makeup looked for our "Newlywed session."  Both done by Vy and her mom at Exquisite Faces.  Photograph taken from their website.

I like the vintage look of the chandelier earrings. I'm imagining myself only wearing earrings and my ring, but we'll see. We all know how things change...; )

UPDATE:
Thanks to you fabulous ladies I have ordered these from whiteaisle.com:

I. LOVE. MY. SISTER

So my fabulously talented and overly generous sister (who works for Apple as a graphic design artist) will be helping us design and print our invitations with one of her connections.  I was originally going to buy some cheap-y ones online, but sister would not hear of it.  Of course she offered to pay for it all herself--but I can't let her do that so we will be putting in about 300 more than we originally budgeted for, and she'll help us with the rest.  Still a hefty donation as we're doing letter-press (gulp).  I'm still trying to figure out where we're not splurging....cause everytime we're going over and saying.... "oh don't worry, we'll cut back on the next vendor."  Ya that hasn't been working.

They will be our deep teal/turquoise color with a modern touch.  Not traditional at all.  I wish I had brought our camera to the brainstorming session this weekend.  Grrr... maybe next time.  More to come!

UPDATE:
Here they are:  Well the honest truth is they didn't come out exactly as we envisioned.  The blue stripe on most of the invites ended up faded and it was clearly visible that the ink ran dry.  Also, the pocket envelope is a lot brighter than the sample and looks more baby blue than turquoise. For letter-press invites, I am dissapointed with the fact that they were not perfect.  Especially since my sis and I are paying a pretty penny for them.  I feel bad though, and don't want to break it to my sis because it's already done and there's no real reason that I would need the services anymore... and it was done by her recommendation with one of her work friends.  Oh well, I'm still pleased with the design.  We wanted it to be unique and that it is!!

I wish I could make these bigger but then they just get blurry.  The small 03.14.09 card is a reply postcard.

Left is the outer envelope, and assembled invite.

The varying colors and the modern look are both aspects I like in the escort cards.

3/4/09: Here are our placecards, they are going to be laid onto alternating vertical blue and green ribbons on the table along with votive candles and a sign indicating that our table names are activities we like to do.. and invite them to go table to table to read up on us.(Designed by my sis)

3/4/09:  We also decided to do photosharing cards from Vistaprint (designed by my sis)

And lastly, our programs.  These were a b!tch to make.  We had to cut each. and. every. piece. of. paper. with an x-acto knife.  Ya I've never used one before but my designer sis, who yes, designed these too, insisted that it would give us a finer edge.  As you can see it's still a bit wavy but whatever, at leas they are done.  We even had to cut out the backing from card stock too.  I am so not a DIY'er so I grumbled my whole way through this. In our programs we included the order of events, including our bridal party and details of our cultural elements.  The last paragraph is our "thank you's."  The only thing i don't like is my sis printed them out SUPER small so I hope our guests can read the font.

I heart the idea of having three different arrangements on the table, each with just one type of flower.  We will definitely use the green mums as one of our three, and possibly mango roses, white hydrangeas, or green roses.  We'll see what's most cost-effective at our florist meeting.  I also like what marissaco did with the dyed turquoise water with one floating cybidium green orchid....so that will be in the mix somehow too.

FI and I are not cake lovers, so we've entertained the idea of doing cookies and milk as both dessert and/or favors. Here are some pretty displays.

UPDATE: 1/26/09

Yay we got our cookie buffet!!!  My venue has been yankin our chain about these and we finally came to an agreement for them to reduce their cake cutting fee and allow us to not have cake.  Instead we are doing our cookie buffet with milk!  I now have to work on purchasing the vases and containers they'll go in.....busy, busy, busy!

We also created a Cookie Buffet poem:

Welcome to our Cookie buffet
We hope these goodies will brighten your day
We wanted cookies as our sweet
Because cake we do not like to eat

So take a couple for your dessert
C’mon now a little sugar never hurt!
And come back later after guests have enjoyed
To take some home for your special girl or boy

And here are the bags we purchased for people to take them home, from boxandwrap.com.  It came relatively fast and was the only site I could buy bags by the 100's and not by the 1000's.  No joke.  I got the 5x7 size.

So I did it, I got the dress.  Sonia Cholette Fall 07. 

As many of you know, I had a pretty hard time finding a dress.  I went into it thinking what everyone had told me was true, that I'd "just know" when I had tried it on.  Well I didn't have the "ahhhhh" moment like so many others, but I feel comfortable in it, and I feel like it's totally "me".  So for all you out there who haven't had the moment, don't worry, just choose what you feel best in.

UPDATE:  Ahhh the saga of the annoying dress continues.  I had 2 fittings.  It doesn't fit right.  The lady just basically pulled up the straps, chopped off an inch, and left the bust line too high, and the boobage area higher--therefore puckery, and wrong.....just wrong.  Sheesh I can't wait to get this thing right.  I'll post pictures when everything is said and done..I'm irritated I had to pay close to $200 for something I'm not happy with.

So I knew I wanted a mantilla with scalloped edges.  So when Kohler said her mom had one available from her mom's bridal shop, I was like PERFECT! Nancy (Kohler's mom) was so sweet and helpful with the process.  Thanks ladies.  Here are some long overdue pics.

Update:  Just added a pic from my Hair trial by Thai Mai photography.  I didn't even pose for this, he just snapped it as I was standing there!

I was always intimidated when I saw these lists in others bio's... but now I definitely see the use. 

*Whew* Things I can cross off my list
Church
Reception location
DJ
Photographer
Videographer
Wedding website
Dress
Veil
Ceremony shoes
Linens
Chairs
Chose ceremony music
Wedding bands
Compiled guest list
Rehearsal dinner/E-pic dress
Complete 2 registries
Chose Bridesmaid dresses
Completed Engaged Encounter weekend
Completed Tasting
Ordered shoes
Ordered bridesmaid dresses
Engagement pics taken
Makeup trial
Hair trial
Booked Hair stylist
Booked MUA
Booked Florist
First two fittings
Booked Wedding Night Hotel
Decided HM location
Rehearsal dinner location
Send out Invites
OOT Hotel
Order earrings
Groom suit purchased
Groomsmen suits purchased
Booked HM flights
Honeymoon registry up
Last meeting with Venue
Transportation
Last meeting with priest
Booked pre-wedding night hotel
Pick up BM dresses
Pick readings
Groom suit fitted
Final dress fitting
Bridesmaids gifts
Groomsmen suit fitted
Programs
Table Names
Pick father/daughter, mother/son, first dance songs
Cookie buffet jars
Pickup Marriage License
Seating Chart
Final payment spreadsheet
Pick guestbook
Purchase gifts for guys
Print drink menu, and cookiebar saying
Favor packaging
Rehearsal dinner menu
Bathroom baskets--FMIL taking care of
Family must-take photo list
Purchase gifts for sponsors
Purchase gifts for parents (will get albums after wedding)
Decorate Cookie Jars
Gratuities spreadsheet
Deliver supplies to venue
GET MARRIED!!!

Still need to do *deep breath*
Change name documents
Thank you cards
Parent albums
Wedding album

Photography:
Tiny Water
Jerry Yoon
Jennifer Skog
Happenstance
Gene Higa
Sarah K. Chen
Jonilyn Photography
Jason Q. Tran
The Image is Found
Thai Mai Photography
Jasmine Star

Inspiration:
Style Me Pretty
Snippet and Ink
Something Old Something New
The Bride's Cafe
Rebecca Thuss
Bride Sohpisticate
With this ring

Videography
Lorimerworks
Still Motion

We took our first session of E-pics yesterday in San Francisco at the Embarcadero Center.  Here is a teaser...  You can't really see me but there's FI trying to check out the action!

UPDATE: 01/26/2009
Our shoot from Thai was actually a bonus, but our hired photogs posted our e-pics from November (remember the skateboarding pic?) on their blog today http://www.tinywaterblog.com/?p=412.  they are so artsy, i love them!  i'm also glad we got thai's too though b/c it is such a mix of styles.

Just some ideas I'm playing around with. 

This flower was $2.50 from H&M, and the shoes were $3.00(!!) from Payless.  I'm not sure about the shoes though b/c I can't decide if they're too cheesy/ugly, or if they are a nice touch... it's mainly the weird circly thing that's throwing me.

We had our pics with Thai of Thai Mai Photography.  Ok Thai is AWESOME!!  I reviewed his work here.  Um ya, we just had our e-pic session YESTERDAY!!!  And he has already sent us teasers.  I wish our hired photogs were that fast!  Thai is so amazing, it makes me wish we could have 2 photogs!! (Hmmm is it ok to have 3 photographers on one day ..hehe).  If you have not found a photographer yet, he is awesome and very reasonably priced.  Click here for our full-res pics.  If I don't say so myself, FI looks hot!!  Me on the other hand, I was FREEZING!!  Didn't realize how big the shoulder pads were on that coat til now!!

       This last one is my fav!

I had my Bachelorette party on 12/27.  It was so much fun, I loved having my friends from all walks of life with me.  They didn't all know each other, but they got along famously!  The only downer was that one of my sisters didn't make it, as well as my preggo BM left early before the dinner & dancing b/c her husband told he she shouldn't be out (don't get me started). We did a spa day in Sausalito, then checked into the SF hotel to get ready, then went to a place that had fabulous dinner and an upstairs club (Le Colonial).  All in all, a great time!

On the way to Sausalito.                   At the Spa, those couches were comfy!! 
     


View from the hotel--the wall was one whole window             At da club (yes that is a penis crown...*sigh*)
                         

After a couple drinky drinks
   Ok that's where I stop ;)

BRIDESMAIDS
So I've finally picked the bridesmaids dresses.  Let me tell you, my experience with Bridesmaid dress shopping was not too dissimilar to my long and frustrating Wedding dress shopping.  I felt like there was so much time and energy spent, just to end up with something I'm not thrilled with.  Don't get me wrong, I'm happy I was able to save the girls some money (these are around $175, as compared to the $275 the Jim Hjelm ones were), and that it is a flattering style.  I'm just unhappy about the color.  It's this bright turquoise, and though it may be nice in linens and lighting, it's pretty shocking to see as a dress.  But there were NO options in the beautiful saturated teal/turquoise color I was envisioning.  Ahhh oh well, c'est la vie right?  Ok I'll stop sweating the small stuff now, and hope my girls don't hate me =).

B2 by Jasmine Bridal                                                               eeeeekkk see what i mean??  

MOTHER OF THE BRIDE
My mom has decided on this two-piece set from Alfred Angelo.  This is the top, but the bottom is a single layer chiffon skirt.  I wanted her to get knee length b/c I think it'd look better with her petite frame, but she doesn't like her legs..hehe.  She's done a great job at getting healthy lately too.  She attributes the catalyst as our wedding, and I'm glad I factored in even a little in getting her started.  She's lost 30 lbs so far on a Kaiser program!  She's getting this in the "Tealness" color.

From fitting 2/11/09 

GROOM & GROOMSMEN
So I've seen pics of Blue wedding where the bridesmaids were in a bright blue, the boys had a bright blue vest and tie, and all the linens were blue.  I was like...whoa, that's a whole lotta blue.  So I've encouraged FI to have the boys be a little toned down since our girls are SO BRIGHT!!  Most likely the boys will be getting a grey suit, with a white vest and blue tie, and my FI will have a black suit or tux with a blue vest and tie.

Like this, except in reverse:                   Groomsmen:Except with a blue tie, white vest, and a darker grey suit.

GROOM: With a green and white boutennierre.  Men's wearhouse "Turquoise."  It's much brighter in person.
   

UPDATE:  Ok so FI went with his boys to get their duds, and they came back with solid black suits for the boys, with a black vest and blue tie.  Apparently the white vest had funky designs, and they competed with the stripes on the tie.  I must confess, I'm a bit dissapointed that they got a 3-button suit and that it wasn't the medium grey we spoke about, but really?  I need to get over myself and let it go.... I know, I know.  FI bought a charcoal grey thin pinstripe suit and will be renting the tie/vest from above.  Again, not what I pictured, because I though FI wanted to stand out and have a completely diff color, and IMO charcoal grey might as well be black... and with pinstripes?  Ok ...checking myself again.  This is not what's important, right?  RIGHT!

I had my shower on 1/3/09, a week after my Bachelorette.  That's b/c my sis was in from N. Carolina and we squished everything in so she could participate.  She's also the reason we're getting married in March.  She's my MOH and her funky break from her 18-mo nursing program is in March...well there ya go!

My other sister put together a fabulous shower.  It was at Scherfenberger (sp?) Chocolate Factory in Berkeley, at Cafe Cacao.  So cute!  The food was delish.  Is was set up so we could pick from one of four options, 2 were breakfast and 2 were lunch.  Then we had our choice of decadent desserts--chocolate raspberry cheesecake, chocolate chocolate cake, or lemon cake.  *mouth waters.*  My MOH made up the games including a crossword puzzle for facts about us.  It was so funny seeing my friends get so competitive.  That's when I realized how similar some of my girls are...lol.  But--there were some definite cheaters in our midst!

My sis-- who planned, paid for, and set up the shower (godsend!) setting up her flowers and decor.  She coordinated with our colors.  My FMIL provided a couple favors too-- a headless bride candle, and a beautiful handmade varnished and embellished box with Hawaiian symbol for good luck (hoku= the turtle).  Turns out her sister and her husband MADE the boxes for us.  I feel so blessed.  My sis also had coasters with different chocolate recipes printed as favors.  This is in addition to the prizes ppl won at games.  A whole lotta goodies!

Gettin down to business!                                       Cheater!!
 

winner!                                                            our crossword, my sis calls us chandra (chad and sandra)
 

ok this was the fastest present unwrapping ever.  so quick this was the only unflattering pic my FMIL got.  i had a system baby b/c i get so self-conscious having ppl watch me open presents.  on my right is the "pre-unwrapper" and card opener, then i unwrapped it, told the person 2 ppl down what is was, she wrote it down, i passed it to my sis on my left and she stacked them and threw away the garbage.  voila!  dunzo!

I just bought these in gray (the silver looked baby blue) for the girls after seeing Beaties wonderful suggestion for Peach Couture.  And then I bought this one for myself for wedding day. Even if I don't use it, you can see I loooove blue so I won't have a problem putting it to use ;). Only $9.95!
             

Then I bought them these for the reception in silver as well.  They got pretty decent reviews and were only $9.99!

And finally I purchased this "Best seller" set from Philosphy at Sephora.  I got the idea from Bride set that I received at my shower.  I loved the products so much I though I'd get them for my ladies!

READER GIFT

I got this "Thank You" set from Philosphy at Sephora for one of our readers

GROOMSMEN GIFTS

Fi caved and just got some generic gifts from groomsmen.com (can you tell he just googled it...lol).  At least they are useful, and he customized each with a funny nickname for the boys.

So we were going to do our cookie buffet as both our dessert and our favors, but our mothers hemmed and hawed enough about it that we will be doing separate favors in addition to the cookie buffet.  We've ordered the boxes below from efavormart.com, and plan to super dress them up with printed labels, ingredients, and a pretty ribbon belly band.  We'll be alternating the ribbon blue-green-blue-green, and setting them at each person's place that way too. 

In each of the boxes we will be putting 4-6 dark chocolate covered macademia nuts (a nod to his Hawaiian fam and culture) that FI's fam is going to pre-package.  TG for family!  His fam wanted them to be super fresh, so they wanted to bring them the Thursday before the wedding and package them for two days but....nononono that's not going to happen.  That makes me waaay too nervous and macademia nuts can keep for more than a couple weeks.  So we'll be getting them the last week of February.  Still makes me a teensy bit nervous but it's better than the Thursday before!! Now....we gotta get crackin'!

4x4x2 cake boxes, our green is actually the color in the back

3/4/09  And here they are....FI and I put out our back slapping these things together.  Lots of steps.  The macademia nuts below were packaged into the box. In the box we put blue tissue paper to nestle the nuts in (heehee... ok sorry, what am i 13 for laughing at that?).  Then we put precut ribbons around the box, and put the pre-cut (by us) paper labels onto the carton.  It says "sandra & chad, thank yo ufor sharing our day with us" and on the bottom it says "dark chocolate covered macademia nuts"
    

We are giving our planner the liberty of choosing if the favors will go every other on the guests' tables, or if one table is all blue, and the next is all green.  So we'll see when we get there!

At Ruby Hill we have the following menu:

Two passed Hors d’ Oeuvres
Italian Bruscetta--Fresh Tomato, Roasted Peppers and Basil Topped with Aged Goat Cheese
Petite Meat Balls--Chives & Sour Cream

Ruby Hill Salad (Served with Warm Ciabatta Bread and Butter)
Chef Harold’s Balsamic Vinaigrette, Sliced Apples & Parmesan Cheese

Duet plate Entree
Chicken Piccata With Lemon Caper Butter Sauce, & Blackened Salmon
With Sauce of Verjus, with Polenta (to die for!!)  and Seasonal Vegetables

Coffee & Hot Tea Service

Beer and Wine Package 5 1/2 hours (OUCH!!!!)
J. Roget Sparkling Wine, CK Mondavi Chardonnay (best white wine I've had), Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon and Beringer White Zinfandel

Signature drink
We're debating between two blue (natch) drinks:

  1.  Blue Hawaiian.... a nod to FI's families culture, and looks super yummy

Ingredients:

• 2 oz pineapple juice
• 3/4 oz rum
• 3/4 oz blue curaçao
• 3/4 oz creme de coconut
• maraschino cherry for garnish
• pineapple wedge for garnish

2.  Skyy Winter

• 1 1/2 oz SKYY Orange vodka
• 1/2 oz blue curaçao
• 1 oz Champagne
• blue maraschino cherry for garnish

Bridal Party Entrance:  We let the DJ decide and it worked out well!

Bride/Groom Entrance:  We actually didn't have an entrance song but just let people clap as we came down the staircase.  DH came to get me on the other side of the staircase...kissed my hand then led me down and to the staircase.  As we approached the bottom of the stairs...the DJ started playing our first dance song.  He suggested that it would be awkward if we went straight from fast to slow, and we agreed.  It also shaved off a couple of seconds from the "everyone staring at you" dance =).

First Dance: The Sweetest Love, Robin Thicke

Father/Daughter:  Isn't she lovely, Stevie Wonder

Mother/Son: Somewhere over the Rainbow, Israel Kamakawiwo 'Ole' 'IZ'

Slideshow:
My growing up pics/family/friends: Something, The Beatles
DH's growing up pics/family/friends:  Dream on, Aerosmith
Couple pics:  Let's stay together, Al Green

The rest we just let our DJ groove out to and it worked out fantastically! I don't even remember what he played for the cookie cutting, etc.  We were in our own world =).

Well, I'd like to do a photguestbook, but for some reason I'm not feeling the push to get it done.  So I've started looking into alternative guestbooks.  Compiled from Martha and Wedding Bee, these are the contenders:

Martha--"Transform a store-bought album into a guest book that has a handmade feel. Use double-sided tape to affix envelopes in assorted sizes and colors to the pages of a plain-paper photo album or scrapbook. Leave cards and a pen on a table for guests to write wishes. When they're done, they can tuck their cards inside the envelopes for the bride and groom to enjoy later"


Also Martha--"A guest book doesn't have to be in the form of a book. The bright hues of these small gift cards can't help but beguile the eyes of wedding guests; their small size gives well-wishers just enough space to write a sweet thought, quip, or hope; and the envelopes, allowing for privacy, encourage them to get a little sentimental. Use a clear vase or bowl to hold the sealed envelopes; after the wedding, the opened envelopes can be glued facedown into an album so that the cards can be easily removed and reread."                             

 

Martha #3--"Rather than signing a traditional guest book, guests are given postcards with the bride and groom's address printed on the back to fill with good wishes during the reception and drop in a copper mailbox displayed in the lobby. The cards are to be mailed the next day by a friend of the couple so that the newlyweds will return from their honeymoon to a brimming mailbox."
 

Last Martha--"Inspire guests to express themselves artistically as they write down their sentiments on your wedding day. At the reception, set up a table with craft and office supplies -- pretty card stock, colored pencils, an array of stickers -- and invite guests to embellish their notes with fun designs. Finished cards can be placed in a clear glass bowl, then arranged in a scrapbook later."

From WeddingBee (from a fellow PW poster's thread, sorry I can't remember who..)

A List of Start-Offs for Guestbook
1. For a long and loving marriage…
2. My wedding wish for you…
3. May you have…
4. Always remember…
5. Always make sure to…
6. Marriage is like…
7. Always say…
8. Don’t forget to…
9. Never say….
10. Love means….
11. Marriage means….
12. Never underestimate….
13. One advantage of marriage is…
14. Marriage requires…
15. A good marriage is based on….
16. To prepare for marriage, one should….
17. The formula for a successful marriage is…
18. On your 1st anniversary don’t forget to…
19. After the reception remember to…
20. The most important thing to do on your wedding night is…
21. My wish for your honeymoon is…
22. When walking down the isle remember that…
23. Your first kiss as husband and wife should be…
24. As a husband you must…
25. As a wife you must…
26. In my experience I have found that marriage…
27. I hope that the future holds…
28. In 10 years I think you will…
29. I predict that…
30. The key to a happy life is…
31. When things are going less than perfect remember to…
32. Before going to bed you must always….
33. When you wake up in the morning always…
34. After an argument…
35. Love is like…
36. No matter what always…
37. Having a husband is like…
38. Having a wife is like…
39. Now that you are married you must…
40. The recipe for a sweet marriage includes…
41. May your days be…
42. May your nights be…
43. When it comes to household chores…
44. When it comes to balancing the budget…
45. To love someone means…
46. The biggest surprise about marriage is…
47. The best thing about marriage is…
48. The best thing about being a husband is…
49. The best thing about being a wife is…
50. The worst thing about being a husband is…
51. The worst thing about being a wife is…
52. When he snores you can always…
53. When she steals the blankets you can always…
54. Upon the birth of your first child remember to…
55. When the honeymoon is over…
56. The most important thing in a marriage is…
57. On your first Christmas…
58. On your first New Years…
59. On your first Thanksgiving…
60. When dealing with the in-laws remember…
61. Make sure you always take time to…
62. What ever you do never…
63. A great way to apologize…
64. After your first big fight…
65. Don’t ever forget…
66. To spark romance…
67. Marriage is not…
68. To live happily…
69. Happiness is…
70. Look forward to…
71. It’s not true that…
72. You’ll discover that real love is…
73. You will discover…
74. If you don’t like something…
75. If you like something…
76. It’s never too late…
77. The future holds…
78. Don’t be afraid to…
79. Everyone thinks that…
80. You don’t get to choose…
81. The best relationship is the one that…
82. May you become…
83. May you not become…

Instead of doing numbers, we'll be doing names of our favorite activities along with descriptions.  My sis is printing out a horizontal label with our blue as a backdrop, and white font blocked out for our text.  She's doing them in the Persimmon text we had on our invites.  Then we're going to doublestick tape them to some glossy white tented cards and put 2 per table.  Here are our activities:

1.  rocky
we love our nearly four year old chihuahua, rocky.  he loves his walks, treats, bathing in the sun, sitting on laps, and howling to the piano. 

2.  wine
wine tasting has been a growing interest for us.  we've gone to several local wine festivals, wine bars, and have gone to napa twice.  california is such a great area to live to serve our love of vino!

3.  golf
sandra has been learning chad's game of golf.  they've taken lessons- she has the clubs, the shoes, the glove, and the awful swing to prove it!  they hope to make it to the range and (*gulp*) get on the course this year.

4.  movies
movies are how we started our relationship, and continue to be a frequent past time for us. our first date was to see air force one.  we have our netflix subscription, and a movie theater down the street, so we're all set! 

5.  television
this has been an area of much compromise for us.  but over time sandra has learned to tolerate football, karate kid, and in the very beginning--WWF; and chad has found the appeal of cheesy reality shows and murder mysteries.  one show we can agree on is survivor, we have been watching since season one!

6.  music
we attended our first floor-seat concert when seeing sandra's favorite performer, christina aguilera, in 2007.  we have very similar tastes in music, and continue to look for future concerts to attend.

7.  travel
travel is a common goal for us.  we have been to new york, las vegas, napa, monterey, los angeles, disneyland, cabo, cancun, clear lake, sausalito, and capitola together, but hope to expand our travels.  our honeymoon is to puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands of st. john and st. thomas.  we will also be taking a mexican cruise in june, and are planning a european tour next summer.

8.  shopping
you'd think this would just be an enjoyable pastime for sandra, but chad enjoys this too.  most of the time it is just window shopping, but we like to go to lunch or walk around and enjoy time together.  santana row and walnut creek are a couple of our favorite places.

9.  fine dining
we try and visit a new restaurant for every special occasion, like birthdays and anniversaries.  the bay area is such a great place for fine dining, and we are learning to appreciate and become more adventurous in our choices.  if you have a recommendation, please let us know!

10. sports: 
we met when sandra was a soccer and track team member and chad played baseball.  he used to secretly watch sandra as she practiced for track. from attending A's and Warrior games, to going skiing and doing water sports, we have been joined for our love of sport and look forward to learning new activities.

11. camping
camping is something we have done since our junior year of high school.  every summer we go with sabrina's uncle george and take the boat out and enjoy time with friends.  our latest adventure was renting a cabin in clear lake.  not technically "camping" but a good time nonetheless.

12. comedy
we love comedy!  we have been to see wanda sykes, tony rock, shawn wayans, margaret cho, carlos mencia, tommy davidson, pablo francisco, dave chappelle, and chris rock.  we love to laugh, and we love to do it together.

13. gambling
chad's family lives in reno.  so everytime we visit, we have to play a little blackjack, craps, and occasionally some pai gow right? chad has probably made a tower bet in every major casino in vegas... while sandra covers her eyes and hopes we come away with at least enough money to eat.

14. theater
productions of any kind are a big draw for us.  add dance, cool light effects, and some magic, and we're sold.  we've seen cirque du soleil, wicked, a chorus line, phantom of the opera, david copperfield, and lance burton.

15. dancing
it all started with the high school dances, which we attended together during our junior and senior years of high school, as well as some in college. now we occasionally show off our moves at the local night clubs. salsa lessons in the future?

16.  Mr.
17.  Mrs.

UPDATE: 3/4/09  Here they are!

Yay!  We got our license today.  At the advice of some wise people, we went first thing in the morning when they opened at 8:30.  We went to the Alameda County Clerk, it's only 3 blocks from Lake Merritt BART.  It cost $84 and only took us a grand total of 10 minutes from start to finish.  Easy peasy!! Next stop, marriage!  Oh and they had this thing where you can tell them what you'd like your name to be changed to after the wedding so you don't have to go back to the clerk's office or court to change it.  I had asked if this would affect legal documents, and they said no, not until you send in your marriage certificate.  This is good for me b/c I can't change my name til after June due to my maiden name being on my passport-- and me going out of the country in June.  Another check on the to-do list =).

I've seen a lot of posts lately about timelines, so I thought I'd help by sharing ours.  Please note that we had a church wedding with a reception at a different location, so this may not work for you.  However, if you have the reception and ceremony at the same place....everything from cocktail hour on should work for you. 

I gave a copy of this to our videographer, photopapher, coordinator, moms, and bridal party.  It really helped fill in all the last minute Q's that popped up.  (I had it done at least a week and a half in advance).  Our MOH brought a copy and it was neat to look at it at the reception and see we were ahead of time!  It was also nice to see what was coming next.  Helped ease the Type A in me.

Deciding on the timeline was actually quite a headache. The tricky part was deciding when to get picked up by the limo, and how much time we wanted to wait at the church-- or if we wanted to get pics at the church before the ceremony at all.  The second tricky thing was the photography and videography arrival times.  We only had so many hours contracted, but I really wanted the prep time on film, so we had to push it back as much as possible so they could still stay late enough into the night.

Hope this helps!

Pre Wedding Timeline:
8:00am:        Hair stylist arrive at Hyatt Summerfield, Pleasanton, 94588
                   Hair:  Sandra ($125), Vicki, Mo, Sabrina, Veronica ($70each), Mom, Grandma, Gloria (~$40?)
9:00am:        Makeup Artist arrives at hotel
                   Makeup: Sandra, Sabrina-Eyes only ($30), Vicki-Eyes only ($30), Mom ($60)
11:15am:      Florist bring corsages & boutonnières to Hotel, Gloria may bring them to boys
12-12:30pm: Videographers and Photographers arrive at the hotel and at boys location
11:15:          Boys arrive at Alan/Erik’s house to get ready, Adress: __________________
12:15:          Boys putting on suits/getting ready,
1:00pm:        Boys leave for Mission San Jose in their own cars, carpool
1:30pm:        Boys arrive at the Mission. *GROOM: Please move to side of the church to avoid seeing the bride.
1:00pm:        Limo to pick up girls at Hyatt and take to Mission (Videographer, mom and grandma to ride with)
1:30pm:       Girls arrive at Mission San Jose *Church coordinator to pin all boutonnières/corsages
1:30pm:       Groomsmen greet guests in front of church

 Ceremony Timeline:
1:30-2:00pm: Prepare to Walk Down Aisle:*Boys will greet guests out front and girls to wait in the limo or 
                    neighboring church.
2:00-2:45pm: Ceremony
2:45-3:45pm: Family Pictures—Loren to assist with Groom's family pics, Sonia to assist
                   with Bride's family pics
3:45:            Limo to leave MSJ for Ruby Hill with all Wedding Party

Reception Timeline:
4:15-5:40pm: Wedding party and bride/groom pics
5:00-6:00pm: Cocktail Hour
5:50pm: *DJ to announce for guests to be seated and have a drink with them for toasts.
6:00pm: Bridal Party Announcement

        1.Chris (Chad's bro) & Jake (Chris's son, Junior GM)
        2. Alan, Steve & Sabrina
        3. Frank & Veronica
        4. Tony & Maureen
        5. Erik (BM) & Vicki (MOH)
                    Bride and Groom: Mr. and Mrs. Sandra & Chad B__________
6:15pm: First Dance
6:20pm: Blessing: Vince (father of the bride)
6:30pm: Salad Service
6:35pm: Johnann’s Hula Dance
6:40pm: Toast: DJ Notes: Please do not open mic to anyone not listed below.
            Father of the bride: Vince
            Best Man: Erik
            Maid of Honor: Vicki
7:10pm: Dinner Service Begins
7:50pm: Slide Slow
8:00pm: Table Greetings
8:20pm: Cookie Cutting by bride and groom  *This is in lieu of cake cutting. The bride and groom will cut the cookie and feed it to each other, then the cookie buffet will be open.
8:30pm: Father/Daughter and Mother/Son Dances
8:35pm: Open Dance
8:40pm: Cookie Bar Opens
9:00pm: Money Dance –*Money bag will be hung on the back of the brides chair.
11:00pm: Party Ends

We FINALLY(!) decided on our HM location.  We originally had our hearts set on Italy, but just couldn't see spending the money when we're planning on doing an extensive European tour next summer.  We'll have to rush it in somehow next year. Since we were stuck on it though, it was hard to part with.  But we've finally decided (with the help of prbetsi75) to go to Puerto Rico, with a day trip here and there to the USVI of St. Thomas and/or St. John.  Now.... to book the flights and hotels!  Luckily, since the prices are so much more reasonable than Florence, FI's points will be able to cover both flights AND a couple hotel nights!  YAY!  (They would only cover 3/4 of one of our flights to Florence =/ ).  We also decided on PR because according to Betsi, it's very different than Mexico or Central America (we were also thinking of Belize or Costa Rica).... and we wanted that b/c we're going on a Mexican Riviera cruise with friends in June.  Can you say broke?  heheh.  Luckily we're not going until a month after the wedding, to sync up with my spring break.  So we'll have a teensy bit of time to save and recover.

Our criteria:
Culture
Activities
Nightlife
Beautiful scenery

=PR!!

Where we'll be staying:  Courtyard by Marriott, Isla Verde Beach Resort.  We decided to just make it simple on ourselves and use Hubby's points with Marriott and get a good rate.  We already indulged ourselves with fab hotel rooms on our wedding night and our mini-moon, and figured we wouldn't be in the room too much anyway since we wanted an activity HM.  (Well ya know, except for indoor activities ;) ).  At least it's on the beach!

We're staying 3 nights in St. Thomas, and taking a day trip to St. John on one of the days (20 min ferry ride); Oh and did I mention the appeal of the duty-free shopping here? ;)
 

We will be staying at Mafolie.  Not a beach resort-- but instead a quaint hotel at the peak of the mountain overlooking the ship port, and in between one of the world's most beautiful beaches, Magens Bay, and downtown Charlotte Amalie.  We chose a location right in between the two places we wanted to visit.  The hotel offers free (albeit long and windy) shuttles to both locations and that goes a long way with taxi rides being charged PER PERSON, PER RIDE on STT.  Rip-off!  Really that is the one outstanding complaint I've seen about St. Thomas --the egregious amount for taxi rides.  Here's our little hotel:
   

UPDATE:

We went on our honeymoon from April 16th-26th.  I wrote the update when we first got back, but took forever to upload pics.  I finally did it!

We just got back from our Honeymoon last night at 1 in the morning.  The weather was awful down the middle of the country, so our flight had to head as far south as the border of Mexico to get us back to the Bay Area from ATL.  Sheesh it was a long and bumpy ride.  We had a wonderful time and I came back with a much needed tan.  We didn't do too much lounging around and kept the schedule pretty packed with activities.  Despite this I still managed to gain around 5 lbs from all the yummy food.

Day 1,Thursday:   Red eye to ATL, then connect to PR, arrive in PR at noon on Day 2

Day 2, Friday:      Have a thouroughly unappetizing lunch at hotel, Pass out on hammocks on the beach from exhaustion, and go to dinner at Barrachina and eat authentic upscale yummy food

View from our hotel room on Isla Verde                  Mofongo at Barrachina-- A Puerto Rican food 
                                                                            that either has cassava (yuca) or green plaintain mash
                                                                         of onions/garlic, etc with a yummy creole sauce and   
                                                                         meat.

Day 3, Saturday:  Bacardi tour and tour of the fort of San Cristobal in Old San Juan, Mi Casita for dinner
  
The Bacardi emblem...the fruit bat. They           The outside tasting tent at Bacardi factory, made
lived in the rafts of the very first factory.            to look like a bat in flight.

 
View from the top of Fort San Cristobal.  You can see the capital building from here.

                                  
Inside the tunnels of the Fort. They had secret            San Cristobal plaza. Every plaza (and there's lots) in Old
compartments in the walls for gunpowder to seal       San Juan has some sort of monument or statue.This one is
a passageway, or to store a gun. The tunnels              the farthest inland, and most accessible when coming

were windy so you could run away from the enemy.          into Old San Juan.


These used to be one long big structure that house military families. Now they're broken down into single family units.

Day 4, Sunday:     Rain forest tour (El Yunque), Swimming in the waterfalls in the rain forest, overpriced dinner at hotel though with priceless scenery on the beach

  
The native Taino indians thought the rainforest gods were protectors. And they were right! The mountains act as a shield for the rest of the island as the weather collects and dumps in the mountains instead of heading further on. The forest was teeming with sounds of frogs and birds. No monkeys or parrots (extinct), but lots of frogs. A tiny frog is actually PR's national animal. It's called the coqui for the sound it emits "co-kee, cokee."  There actually aren't bugs up that high, so it was a nice break!

 
Whaddya know, it started raining in the rainforest?                      But it let up after awhile

  
It was actually really windy cuz of the force.          And REALLY cold!!  Brrrrrrr

 

Day 5, Monday:     Lounge at beach and get wicked tans burns, go to Piu Bello for dinner




Day 6, Tuesday:    Fly to St. Thomas in tiny, 8 passenger plane. Whew that was nerve racking. Go to downtown Charlotte Amalie and shopped wayyyy too much.  The lowered prices and duty free shopping were way to enticing to resist.  We got perfume, cologne, diamond earrings (*drops head in shame*) and fugazi louis wallets and a chanel purse (for MIL). I'd never bought knock-offs before but they were too good to resist. Fabulous dinner at our hotel, Mafolie which had a view at the top of a mountain of the whole downtown area.  Oh and it was neat to drive on the left-side of the road!!
 
We could actually reach out and touch the                  View from the air of PR.
pilot--that's how small it was!

  Downtown Charlotte Amelie.  A tip:  Most of the business is from cruis ships which have to report back to the ship by like 4.  So by 4 everything is dead, and shops close at 4:30.  This pic is taken around 4:15.  But come like 9 or 10 in the morning it is bananas!!


Day 7, Wednesday:  Went to Magen's Bay, one of the top 10 beaches in the world.  Gorgeous!  But we did get some major bug bites and I thought Chad left me at one point as he stood in line for an hour for food.  Went to Mountaintop where we had the place where banana daiquiri's where first invented (they were gooood) and had a view out to the rest of the virgin islands and british virgin islands.  Went to Yacht Haven which is the port for all the cruise ships, and had a generic touristy appetizer and fruity drinks meal.  We got to watch the pelicans feed though, that was neat!

Magen's Bay

  View from Mountain top with a picture of the description of the island.  Apparent Jost Van Dyke is quite the party island.

                
St. Thomas and the BVI's and USVI's were              Yacht Haven at night.  There was also high end shopping
visited heavily by pirates.Hence the statue.            like Gucci at steep discounts.  Too bad we already spent
I have no explanation for the face I'm making.         our $$ on a HM.
Maybe the banana daiquiri made me do it?

Day 8, Thursday:  Ferry to St. John into Cruz Bay where we did some souvenir shopping, and a hike-kayak-snorkel tour.  We saw 2 species of Turtles (green and hawkback), a sting ray, a coral reef with lots of tropical fish, and got to take in some beautiful scenery.  St John had the most beautiful beaches.  White, white, sand and crystal clear water for miles.  We snorkeled at Caneel Bay, but if we had time, we would've liked to go to Trunk Bay where we hear the beach is one of the top in the world for snorkeling and beauty.

 
What we see when we disembark.                            The pierfront shops and restaurants are so colorful. So
                                                                          naturally I fell in love.

Day 9, Friday: Flew back to Puerto Rico on an even bumpier small plane ride.  One lady threw up the entire 30 minute flight.  Blech!  Explored Old San Juan, and scavenged souvenir shops.  Did a nighttime Kayaking tour of a bioluminescent bay (it glowed at night!).

Day 10, Saturday: Lounged around hotel....rainy day =(

Day 11, Sunday: Spend day getting home

Nouvelle Bistro in Fremont, right across from the Mission.  It is a self-proclaimed Asian-Fusion Cuisine restuarant and looks really chic and yummy.  We're having our rehearsal on a Thursday to spare our ppl the Friday Bay Area traffic. We're having about 30+ guests including their spouses in the private banquet room with it's own entrance.  We haven't decided yet if we're going to have a prix-fixe menu or a customized menu.  FMIL has graciously offered to host, and we eagerly humbly accepted =).
 
 

UPDATE 3/13/09

We had our rehearsal last night and it was sooooo yummy.  We had to take some home!  The rehearsal itself was okay.  FI and I were sooo irritated with the church lady because despite our numerous attempts to contact her pre-rehearsal to ask what we needed to bring, to assure she got our readings, and to make sure she had everything she needed-- she showed up, asked us where all our stuff was (never told us to bring), and had to ask us whose everybody's names were, what our reading were, what traditions we were doing, etc, etc.  RIDICULOUS!  We had sent that information to her 2 months ago but she didn't "have a chance" to go by the main office to pick it up.  Whatever,  I just hope everything goes smoothly on the day of.  Oh and I found out we'll be standing the whole time, as will the Bridal Party.  Yikes!!  Here are some pics:

AT THE CHURCH:
 

YUMMMY:

TOASTS!!  You know I cried.

PRESENTS!!

MY GIRLS AND MY FAM

Before we headed out to our mini-moon we stayed in the GORGEOUS Rose Hotel on Main Street in Pleasanton.  We had a bouquet of roses for us, petals around the 2 person jetted tub, a bottle of chilled champagnes and turn-down service.  It was divine!  I have never been to such a luxurious suite! (complete with his/hers robes, take-away slippers, and Aveda products no less ;) ).  It had a gourmet breakfast buffett and who did we see there but John Madden?!  DH was bragging about it later at our Sunday brunch.  Here are some pics:
   
 

I am soooo excited for our mini-moon!  Since we are not leaving for our honeymoon until April due to my Spring Break, we are taking a couple days from Sunday-Tuesday after the wedding to go up to the critically acclaimed Kenwood Inn and Spa in Sonoma.  It has everything we wanted--- not too far, with large jet tub, spa on-site, wine bar on-site, and luxurious rooms.  I want to get the breakfast in bed and couples massages in room.  Ahhh I can't wait!

This is a work in progress.  I'll add to it as I think of things so that hopefully my experience could be of some use to you!

Leading up to the day:

• Distributed list of vendors and timeline to the Wedding party a week and a half ahead of time.
• I am soooooo glad we let our moms, the maid of honor, the best man, and others know what we expected from them that day way ahead of time, and gave them some duties. That way it made it so much easier when we asked them to do something-- it wasn't a surprise and they were happy to be of help.
     Mom's-Bring bouquet for the blessed mother, bring marriage license, bring programs, collect Unity   
              candles after ceremony, man the guestbook table and hand out photosharing cards, make sure
              everything got collected at the end of the night (cards, guestbook, gifts, cardbox, etc.)
     Best Man- act as liason to groom (freq calls with MOH), distribute boutenierres, make sure boys got
               there on time, carried our tips and distributed, carried checkbook
     Maid of Honor- act as liason to bride (calls to BM, called vendors to let them know what room we were
               in and check on their arrival), checked us out of hotel room, make sure bride was hydrated,
               carried tissue for bride during ceremony, got people to dance at reception
• At our photographer's request, we put together a bride's family photo list, and groom's family photo list.  We asked a responsible family member to collect the people that were to be in the next photo, and not let them wander off.  The responsible family member was given this list a week ahead so they could print it out and bring.  Made everything verrrry smoth.

The day of:

• I took JDWeddingday's advice and had my mom bring snacks for the girls as we got ready.  It was a LIFESAVER!  We had just little munchies since we couldn't sit down and eat a meal.  Things like pretzels, grapes, cheesesticks, water, and salami were included.  Extras were brought for our vendors (hair, mua, photogs, videogs) and I saw their true appreciation.  (Plus they were more energized to work harder for us ;) )
• Brought a big bag for all the ladies.  This may not apply to you if you are getting ready, having the ceremony, and having the reception at the same place.  But for me, I needed a big bag to follow me around that had:
  
  • Mints, gum, snacks, deodorant, perfume, my hair flower for the reception, water, my pashmina for later, my sandals for later, emergency kit (thread, needles, sewing scissors, extra dress tape), makeup, list of vendors, timeline, and clutch
• Brought our checkbook!  Turns our DH hadn't paid everybody I we thought we had, so we ended up having to write a couple checks.
• Brought our timeline and list of vendors.  Even though I had distributed these to everyone well in advance, turned out we needed it a couple times (to call a vendor, to talk to DJ about order of events).  It was also kinda neat to look at our timeline during dinner and see what was coming up next and the fact that we were ahead of schedule!

If I could do it again:

• I would've gotten a floral mockup or drawing at least.  Even though I brought photos of what I wanted, there were still miscommunications that ended up with me dissapointed in the final result.
• I would've sent pictures to the lighting guys to show how blue I wanted it, and then they could make recommendations/advice.  I relied too much on descriptors and trusted too much that what I saw in pics was actually doable in my venue.  My venue had such high celiengs-- that the lights didn't bounce back like I wanted to, giving very little impact
• I would have more people to help me remember things.  Like we forgot a whole case of cookies! We packed up the car too fast the day before and nobody double checked to see if we forgot something.
• I would've spent more time on alterations, and closer to the wedding date.  My dress was still slightly big and we had to tape it down on top.

Another fantastic job by our favorite photogs, Tinywater.  We went to Dixon and Davis to capture these shots.  We shot in a mustard field in Dixon and it was super windy!  Allergies and watery eyes were present the whole day, unfortunatley. Then we went over to the orchards, and finally to Davis where the trains were, and where we found an abandoned wearhouse that just happened to have hay.  Weird huh?

Part One
http://www.tinywaterblog.com/?p=753

Part Two
http://www.tinywaterblog.com/?p=759

And it's soooo exciting!

Ch-ch-check it out:

San Franciso Style Unveiled:
Real Wedding Feature:
http://www.sanfranciscostyleunveiled.com/sandraandchad/

Our wedding/newlywed session:
http://www.sanfranciscostyleunveiled.com/thelounge/2009/5/28/tinywater-impulse.html

The pic from our newlywed session:
http://www.sanfranciscostyleunveiled.com/thelounge/2009/5/27/san-francisco-veil-tales.html

My hand putting on my earring:
http://www.sanfranciscostyleunveiled.com/thelounge/2009/6/1/ring-in-the-month-of-june.html

Rock n Roll Bride:

http://www.rocknrollbride.com/2009/05/we-love-colour/