our ringbearer

This is Camille's dog, Gadget, our ringbearer for the wedding. He's modeling his new polo shirt in this picture, but I just special-ordered his puppy tuxedo for the wedding. Isn't he adorable?

discounted hotel room rates for our wedding guests

Thanks to one of my bridesmaids Camille, we have discounted room rates of $70 and $76 per night at the Miyako Hotel and the New Otani Hotel for our wedding guests.

So if you're coming to Los Angeles from out-of-town for our wedding, or you're from Los Angeles but you don't want to drive home after our reception, make your reservations at either hotel, but make sure to email us your name, hotel, and the dates you've booked. We'll provide the hotel with our guest list and they'll make the rate adjustments.

Miyako Hotel ($70/night)
328 East 1st Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
direct: (213)617-2000
reservations: (800) 228-6596

New Otani Hotel & Garden ($76/night)
120 South Los Angeles Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
direct: (213)629-1200
reservations: (800) 639-6826

Thanks again Camille!

The RSVP that wasn’t there

We sent another big batch of invitations out yesterday, so they are all out there except for those we forgot and a few that needed to be re-addressed. We have started to get a trickle of reply cards back, but today we received an empty reply card envelope! So if you mailed your reply card yesterday from the Los Angeles area, you might want to drop us an email or give us a call, since we may not have actually received your reply.

And if you got your invitation and have not dropped your reply card in the mail yet (or done it online), please do so!

Clothes make the groom

Celia, her brother, her dad, and I went to the tux shop to pick out my penguin suit for the big day. Here's the jacket. I'll have a white vest and tie, the groomsmen will have black vests and ties, and the fathers will have silver vests and black ties.

We're grinding through the to-do list. The invitations are almost ready to go out, and we're close to locking in our florist.

a big thank you

I had a blast at my bridal shower, near as I can remember. Thank you to Cecilia, Liz and Camille for planning and hosting such a fun party, and thanks to all who came!






First thing I noticed when I arrived were the cute baby pictures of me and Jim, and hilarious pictures of us as adults displayed on the tables. I don't know why I'm wearing a thong on my head in the picture below. I suspect it may have been a posed shot. But doesn't Jim look adorable in his high school graduation picture?



After I made the rounds and greeted everyone, Cecilia handed me glass of champagne and made sure that it was never empty throughout the party. That explains why I don't remember a lot of what happened, but I do remember that the food was amazing, Cecilia's house is beautiful, it was a gorgeous day and a lot of my favorite people were there.



There were amazing palletas and croquetas from Porto's Cuban Bakery and I think some shrimp. No, really, there was a ton of yummy food (I just have lousy recall) and everyone filled up on appetizers thinking that was lunch. Then we all went inside and I opened presents and then there was yet even more food and dessert. That's what I remember, at least. My mom made her famous chinese chicken salad, which everyone raved about, and there was duck and a story that went with it, but I forget the story and what else was served. For dessert, there was this rich, decadent, gooey chocolate cake, a tres leches cake, and those guava and cheese pastry things. I think I ate half of the tres leches cake. I just don't remember doing it, but Kathy swears she sat there and watched me. I think a lot of you guys are having a good laugh at my expense.


Of course I had to open up the Hello Kitty bag first!

Camille and Sandra from Shopper Shuttle were nice enough to provide a shuttle from downtown to Cecilia's and back. I don't remember the ride back home, but Jim's mom, Janice, and Aunt Suzanne said I just sat in the back of the shuttle, smiling drunkenly.

Jim said that when I got back home, I was schnockered. I muttered something like, "I'm done with this," tore off my blouse (it was fussier than my usual black t-shirt), and promptly passed out. The next day, Jim's mom and Aunt Suzanne joined me, Jim and Camille & Sandra's crew for dimsum and everyone filled me in on what I didn't remember from the night before. Jim just wanted to know why no one bothered to pack some food for me to take home to him.

OMG, look over to the right - we're getting married in one month and 29 days!

bridal shower

A dear friend of my family, Cecilia Bloomquist, and my bridesmaids, Elizabeth James and Camille Alcasid, are throwing together a bridal shower for me this Saturday, November 4th. Invitations have already gone out, let me know if you didn't receive yours yet. Details, directions, rsvp, etc. can be found here.

No, really, save the date!

They say that you should send your “save the date” cards out as soon as possible after setting the date. For us, that translated into them finally getting addressed and stamped this weekend.

These are going mostly to out-of-state (and country) guests, so they can have a little more time to make their hotel reservations and travel arrangements.

And in about six weeks, the invitations are supposed to go out. We should probably get started on those.

where to stay in los angeles

There are so many hotels in the downtown area, but listed below are a few that Jim and I can heartily recommend. Most, if not all, have courtesy shuttles that will take you to Union Station (our wedding venue). Three hotels that we can see from our living room windows are:

• New Otani Hotel & Garden (Little Tokyo)

120 South Los Angeles Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
direct: (213)629-1200
reservations: (800) 639-6826


• Millenium Biltmore Hotel (Historic Core)

506 S Grand Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90071
direct: (213) 624-1011
reservations: (800) 245-8673


• Miyako Hotel (Little Tokyo)

328 East 1st Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
direct: (213)617-2000
reservations: (800) 228-6596

Little Tokyo has a lot of restaurants, shops, and museums that are within a short walking distance (like, right outside the hotel doors). I heartily recommend walking to Fiore's for Italian yogurt (Japanese Village Plaza). The Miyako Hotel, which is a block east of the New Otani, costs about half of what a room at the New Otani does, and is surrounded by more restaurant options. The Biltmore is a block and a half away from a subway stop (which can take you to Union Station and beyond) and across the street from the Central Library.

Other downtown hotels we can recommend:

• Westin Bonaventure (Financial District)

404 South Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, California 90071
direct: (213) 624-1000
email: labon@westin.com


• Hilton Checkers (Historic Core)

535 South Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90071
direct: (213) 624-0000
reservations (800) HILTONS


• Omni Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza (Financial District)

251 South Olive Street
Los Angeles, California 90012
direct: (213) 617-3300
reservations: (888) 444-6664


• Kawada Hotel (Historic Core)

200 South Hill Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
direct: (213) 621-4455
reservations: (800) 752-9232
email: reservations@kawadahotel.com

If there are other hotels in Los Angeles that you are considering staying at, leave it here in the comments and we can update this post with more information about that hotel and the surrounding area.

Do you hear that whistle down the line?

We’ve got a location for the wedding — the old Harvey House Restaurant at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. It hasn’t been a restaurant for about 40 years, but it is a beautiful space.

This is a picture from the Los Angeles Public Library’s photo archive that shows the space when it was still operating as a restaurant.

When we were visiting the Harvey House, the site manager told us a great story about a man who had recently had his 80th birthday party there. The man said the last time he had been there, he had bought his ticket at the old ticket concourse, had lunch at the Harvey House, and then gotten on a train to head off to World War II.

Photos from the Engagement Party

It’s taken way too long, but pictures from our engagement party are online now. (Click here to see them.)

Thanks to Darrell Miho, Lucas Jackson, Elizabeth James, and Berda SooHoo for all the great pictures.

Hello Registry!

Because some people have started asking, we’ve started a wedding registry at Target. It is pretty sparse right now, but I’m sure we’ll come up with lots more stuff for you to buy us once we have a chance to wander around the store with the magic registry wand.

easter brunch with a bridesmaid

For those of you who had called and emailed asking what my fiance looks like, here's a very recent picure of us. Jim and I spent Easter brunch with one of my bridesmaids, Elizabeth (Liz), and her husband, Jason. Liz took this picture after we stuffed ourselves silly.

We had brunch at the Pacific Dining Car in downtown Los Angeles (order the roast beef hash, it's wonderful). On the way to our table, we ran into a big group of friends and neighbors (Catherine and Andy, Jeremy, etc.) gathering for brunch. Jim and I completely forgot that we were invited to their rollerskate disco party the night before. Catherine reminded us that they are throwing a monstrously huge graduation party on May 12th, the night before our engagement party, at the Farmers & Merchants Bank, directly across the street from Jim's pad. With Mother's Day falling on the Sunday after our party, that weekend is shaping up to be party central. I'm so excited, I can hardly wait.

Save this other date!

We’ve been looking at wedding venues so we can nail down the date of the big day (and waiting on word of its suitability from the astrologer), but we’ve also been planning on our engagement party. It will be May 13, in downtown Los Angeles (naturally), and it will be a blast. Invitations should be going out soon-ish. If you suspect that we don’t have your snail mail address, you should send us an email.

Save the date!

You’ll probably want to mark it on your calendar in pencil, but we’ve settled on a tentative date of January 13, 2007 for our wedding. This may change depending on what venue we choose and its availability, or any number of other factors. You can keep track of the months and days to go with the handy countdown clock in the sidebar.

Thanks!

Just a quick note to say “Thank you!” to everyone who has congratulated us, privately and in comments here, and to those who have blogged it:

• Sean Bonner at blogging.la: Blog(wire) Love
• Mike Schneider at Franklin Avenue: Blog Engagement
• Mack Reed at LAVoice.org: Jim and Ce-lia, Sittin' in a Tree ...
• Carolyn Kellogg at LAist: A toast to the happy couple

We’ll soon start updating with more about date selection, venue selection, and all of that fun stuff.

More:

• Kevin Roderick at LA Observed: Bloggers in love
• Eric Richardson at blogdowntown: Congratulations to Jim and Celia

Answering Your Questions

The ring is a one carat, princess cut diamond in a platinum setting - and I love it.

No, we haven't set a date yet.

Yes, I do like chocolate. Very much.

No, this isn't an April Fool's joke.

No, we're not pregnant.

We are engaged.