We need your help!

Adam and I just found out that we were chosen as a top three finalist for a wedding photography contest. We turned in "our story" and we chosen as the top 3! God has certainly blessed us with this and it is such an amazing blessing. We are speechless! God is so good. Remember how you said that you made a list of the things you wanted for your wedding and then you wrote down how God answered all those prayers. I started my own list and God has been blessing us so much. This being one of them. :) We are so incredibly humbled by His love and His Grace. Wow.

Here is where you come in. In order to win the free wedding photography, we need the most votes as the favorite couple. Here is the link to the contest details: http://jenettalea.blogspot.com/2007/10/top-three-contestants-vote-for-your.html

Here is the direct link to our story: http://jenettalea.blogspot.com/2007/10/couple-jasmine-and-adam.html

The instructions are:
*Only one vote per valid email
*Send the email to mail@jenetta.com
*In the subject line, put "Photo Contest - Jasmine and Adam."
*You may include in the body the reason why you chose us. :)

The deadline is October 19th and the winner will be announced on October 20th.

The photography company is called, "Jenetta Lea Photography." You can view her work at http://www.jenetta.com. To view some of her recent work, please view her blog at http://jenettalea.blogspot.com.

We would be very honored if you helped vote for us. It would be such a huge blessing to have not only a great wedding photographer, but a FREE one as well. God has given Adam and I such an amazing love story. It makes us feel truly humbled that someone else out there also thought it was a great love story too.

If you have any questions, please email me. If you could please spread the word to friends and family to also vote for us or help us in any way, we would greatly appreciate that.

Thank you in advance for your help!
Jasmine & Adam

New blog?

I spent most of today trying to figure out which mac program to use to make our wedding webpage and to move this blog over to, but it's been an incredibly frustrating experience. I'm hoping I'll have something up by the end of this week. Agh!

MIA

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Adam just started student teaching and his credential program and I'm in the midst of parent/teacher conferences. Madness!!!

I am in the works of our new website though! (And our official wedding website! It should be great~!)

Off to Indiana!

Adam and I are off to Indiana tomorrow for Amanda's wedding on Saturday. We're so happy for her! :)

Our story...

This is what we came up for the photography contest. Adam wrote most of it and I just added some details here and there. Oh and I added the engagement story. :) Let me know what you think. I'd like to send it off this Weds.

The story of God, Adam and Jasmine

In the beginning, God made Adam. Then God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” (Genesis 2:18) God has definitely been instrumental in bringing Adam and Jasmine together. Here’s how it all went down.

College years

Adam and Jasmine met their sophomore year at the University of California, San Diego (Go Tritons!). Statistics was the class and Psychology was their major. It seemed improbable that they would get together since both of them were in relationships when they met. What were the chances that they would break up with their respective significant others, become good friends and then start dating? Well, God sure did have a plan because it did happen! Against all odds, Adam and Jasmine became good friends. To make it even more improbable, Adam was studying in an exchange program at Morehouse College for a semester when they first started to become friends. The chances started looking better when they both became single and involved with the Asian Pacific-Islander Student Alliance club on campus that upcoming quarter. They continued to work together on club projects and finally started dating!

God was still waiting for them to both come to Him and worship Him. Well, Adam and Jasmine did what they saw fit in their eyes and continued to do their “thing.” They continued like this and ultimately broke up after 2 ½ years.

God’s turn

After being broken up for several months, Jasmine contacted Adam to see if he wanted to go to church with her. As both of them sat down to hear Pastor Miles talk, they both knew that God was talking to them directly. It seemed like at the exact moment that they sat down, Pastor Miles began the sermon with the title of, “Love, Sex and Relationships.” God was truly speaking to them!

Both of them continued to attend church and each of them, at their God appointed time, re-dedicated their lives to Jesus Christ, making Him their Lord and Savior. They got back together and made a covenant with God to work on what they had heard in that initial sermon. Things were the best they had ever been. Now it was time for the real test… being apart for two long years.

Faith in God

Adam joined the Peace Corps after graduation and Jasmine began teaching after getting her Masters in Education and teaching credential. They embarked on a task that could only be completed by God. Adam left to serve in Jordan in the Middle East for two years, leaving Jasmine in San Diego, thousands of miles away. When it was night here, it was daytime there and vice versa. They were worlds apart. Needless to say, it was a tough time that truly tested their faith in God and their love for each other.

Each of them faced unique challenges of being apart from one another, but God used this time to draw each of them closer to Him. And it worked. Fifteen months went by and they finally got to see each other. It was magical. It felt like no time had passed at all. They professed their love for one another and also their desire to be with one another for the rest of their lives. At the end of the 26 months apart, God had increased each of their levels of faith and dependence on Him. Against all odds and all the critics, God had also strengthened their relationship providing it with a foundation that could withstand anything. What everyone once said was impossible to do, was now proven to be very possible with the help of God. Now, it was their time to finally be together.

Back Home

Adam returned to San Diego and quickly moved in with Jasmine. They spent all their time together and catching up on the years that they were apart. Still, God wanted more from them that they weren’t able to give up. God wanted Adam to move out and for them to live separately. As both of them developed more of a relationship with Christ, learning God’s Word and being baptized together, they realized what they needed to do. Finally, after about eight months of being disobedient in the matter of their living situation, they were obedient one weekend and Adam moved out. The VERY next weekend God put it on Adam’s heart to propose to Jasmine and they got engaged.

Adam had planned on proposing to Jasmine for a while now, but the timing didn’t seem right. She was finishing up her second Master’s Degree and busily working on her thesis while teaching full-time. Her final project was to present her thesis at a symposium. Adam had the idea to take Jasmine out to celebrate her finishing her Master’s degree that evening. Jasmine had no idea what was going on, but thought something was fishy. Adam drove Jasmine up to Mt. Soledad where she had once taken him for a date early on in their relationship. He set up a lovely picnic and gave Jasmine a special “gift” in small box. Jasmine immediately thought it might be a ring. When she opened it, she tried hard to hide her disappointment when she found a remote control for her camera inside of the box. Adam said it was something for her camera. So, she set up her tripod and they started to take some pictures of themselves. Little did she know Adam had a plan for the remote!

He got down on one knee and proposed! Jasmine was so shocked, the only thing that came out of her mouth was, “Are you sure?!” After realizing what was going on, she finally said yes. And the best part was, with the help of the remote, we have our whole proposal in a series of photos. What a perfect proposal!

Before and After


Some may view our relationship in many ways while throwing in words like “coincidence” or “great timing”, but we both know that it’s God’s timing and His Plan. Without Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we know that our lives and our relationship wouldn’t be as blessed as it is now.

Next Steps…

God continues to want more and more of their lives and their relationship so He can direct it and bless it. Adam and Jasmine certainly have experienced a little about living for themselves and living for God. It seems like no matter what situation they find themselves in, God wants to be a part of it and bless it. So as they are in the planning stage of their wedding, many factors need to fall into place in order to make this special occasion happen. God has blessed us with a wedding reception area and we feel that if God wills, He’ll bless us through this photography contest. We don’t deserve a free photographer, we don’t deserve our gorgeous reception site, nor do we deserve the grace of God that He pours out onto our sinful hearts. However, He gives and gives and gives and even more so if we give to Him.

A wedding photography contest

A wedding photographer that I met at the Bridal Bazaar yesterday is holding a wedding photography contest. I looked her up the night before the show to go through her work. And I have to say that I'm impressed! Keep in mind that this is a huge compliment because I've become very particular about wedding photography lately. I've learned so much about it in the past eight months, it's quite shocking actually. I'm still a bit in denial that Jasmine Star won't be our photographer, but I'm slowly trying to move on and open up my mind to other photographers out there. :)

Well, Jenetta Lea Penner Photography is holding a wedding photography contest. They are the only mother/daughter wedding photography team in San Diego. Isn't that neat?

Directions for entering the contest are below (these are copied from their blog):


We are giving free wedding photography away to one deserving couple whose wedding date falls between Dec 1, 2007 and Dec. 31, 2008.

Here’s what you win:

Six hours of Photography coverage by Jenetta Lea Penner Photography
Two photographers
5x5 bordered proof prints
One 11x14 Signature Gallery Print
Online proofing for 90 days after proof pick up.


Here are the rules:

1. You must be getting married between Dec 1, 2007 and Dec. 31, 2008
2. The wedding date and location must be set and also in the general San Diego, CA area. Travel beyond that region is not included.
3. You must send the story of how you met, got engaged and why you should have your wedding photographed for free.
4. You must send a recent photograph of you and your fiancée.
5. You must not already have your photographer booked.
6. Your wedding date must fall on a date on which Jenetta Lea Penner Photography is available.

Email entries to mail@jenetta.com with the subject - “Free Photography Contest” before Sept. 30, 2007.

Jenetta Lea Penner Photography will pick the top 3 couples/stories and post them to the “What’s New” section of Jenetta.com by October 6, 2007.
Voting will start for the public’s favorite couple to receive free wedding photography on October 6, 2007


I've been praying about this all evening. I think God has given us a wonderful love story and it's definitely something worth sharing. We'll see what He does. :) It would be GREAT to have a free wedding photographer. I'm gonna keep praying about this one...

Some humor...

I got this in an email and thought it was hilarious!



Dear Tech Support:

Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0. I soon noticed that the new program began unexpected child processing that took up a lot of space and valuable resources.

In addition, Wife 1.0 installed itself into all other programs and now monitors all other system activities, such as Poker Night 10.3, Football 5.0, Going To The Pub 7.5, and Softball 3.6

I can't seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background while attempting to run my other favorite applications. I'm thinking about going back to Girlfriend 7.0 , but the uninstall doesn't work on Wife 1.0.

Please help!

Thanks,
Troubled User.....

_____________________
REPLY:
Dear Troubled User:

This is a very common problem that men often complain about.

Many people upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0, thinking that it is just a Utilities and Entertainment program. Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its Creator to run EVERYTHING!!! It is also impossible to delete Wife 1.0 and to return to Girlfriend 7.0 . It is impossible to uninstall, or purge, the program files from the system once installed.

You cannot go back to Girlfriend 7.0 because Wife 1.0 is designed to not allow this. Look in your Wife 1.0 manual under Warnings: Alimony-Child Support . I recommend that you keep Wife 1.0 and work on improving the situation. I suggest installing the background application Yes Dear 2.7 to alleviate your program problems.

The best course of action is to enter the command C:\APOLOGIZE!
because ultimately you will have to give the APOLOGIZE command before the system will return to normal anyway.

Wife 1.0 is a great program, but it tends to be very high maintenance! Wife 1.0 does come with several support programs, such as Clean and Sweep 3.0, Cook It 1.5, and Do Bills 4.2

However, be very careful how you use these programs . Improper use will cause the system to launch the program Nag Nag 9.5 . Once this happens, the only way to improve the performance of Wife 1.0 is to purchase additional software. I recommend Flowers 2.1 and Diamonds 5.0

WARNING!!! DO NOT, under any circumstances, install Secretary With Short Skirt 3.3 . This application is not supported by Wife 1.0 and will cause irreversible damage to YOUR hardware!

Best of luck,
Tech Support

Bridal Bazaar

Adam and I are off to the bridal bazaar tomorrow at the San Diego Convention Center. Should be fun! :)

I'm a convert!

I finally bought a new laptop! :) And it's NOT a PC! I've been a PC-er all my life... and I've finally converted over to a mac after two long years of deciding and saving money. I don't know why I didn't convert earlier. These things run so smoothly!

I went out to the Apple Store today and bought a new MacBook Pro. I had some gift cards that really helped. (Thanks so much.)

I am so in love with this thing. It's incredibly sexy... it has a mind of it's own. When the lights are bright, the screen turns brighter all on its own. When it gets dark, it dims and then the keyboard lights up. How does it do that?! I'm in awe.

And I'm loving being able to just sit on the couch and waste the night away in front of my computer. YAY!

I have photos to post of the whole shindig of opening up the box... it was quite thrilling.

Christopher complained that my last post wasn't "wedding related." Well seeing as how I am the bride, Adam is the groom... anything involving me (or us) is therefore "wedding related." Ha ha.

What's nice is I'll be able to update this blog more frequently because I'll most likely be using it a lot more than the desktop. WOO HOO!

I'm moving it over to a mac.com in the next month.

And the computer itself is going to be great to use for "wedding related" stuff... like the "Save the Dates" that we'll be making in the next month. :)

It's strange learning a whole new OS though. Learning how to get around and do simple things that you normally take for granted. Like desktop shortcuts or even the Windows Start Menu and control panel. It's going to take some time to get used to not have a right-click too. It's not totally different than a PC, I know, but it's just slightly different enough for me to have to actually slow down and figure it out. Give me a week or two and I think I'll be a complete Mac convert.

Oh it truly is so sexy...



I'm so happy.



Okay, I've been on this thing for hours and it's past midnight now. Time to go to bed.

Concert goers!

Adam and I are becoming concert goers. See we can be more than just homebodies! Sort of... hehe.

Granted we've only been to one so far. We went to see The Fray for my birthday on July 17th and they totally rocked.


Now we're off to see Maroon 5 on Nov 9th at Cox Arena! WOO HOO!



I missed out on the Myspace show when they performed here in SD at the Epicentre for FREE a couple months ago because I didn't think I'd get in and didn't want to wait hours. But I heard that everyone that showed up got in. So I refuse to miss Maroon 5 AGAIN in San Diego.



YAY!




On a side note, Eisley's new album is came out today. They opened for The Fray at the concert and I've been listening to them almost everyday since. My two fave songs are "Invasion" and "Go Away." Plus, they're super fun to sing along with. Perfect GRRL music!

A very eventful day!

We made several huge decisions today!

One was we opened up a joint checking account at Bank of America. We went back and forth about which bank to open it with because I've been loyal to BofA for almost 10-years now because my mom has worked for them for almost 20 years, but WaMu has completely free checking without any direct deposit or anything. Ultimately, we decided on BofA because Adam's flexible and I'm pretty set up in terms of how my paycheck comes to me and online banking and all that. It's weird to think that we're going to be sharing our finances soon, not because I don't want to, but it's just one more sign that we're getting married!


Here's a photo of Adam putting together a lego man while waiting at BofA. He's such a big kid. I love him.


Another huge thing we decided on today....

... we chose the place and set a date!!!


We'll share the specifics after we get all the logistics figured out so stay tuned!!!!

I know we've been engaged for almost three months now (3 months tomorrow actually), but I think for the first time, both Adam and I feel like it's REAL. Now that we have a date and place, it's like a realization that it's truly going to happen... we're actually getting married!!!

Needless to say, we're on cloud nine.


YAY!

























Adam on the phone with his parents afterwards. :)


We're so excited!

Wedding photographer

I think out of everything in this wedding, I have long chosen our photographer way before we were even engaged. :)

Those of you closest to me know that I'm always attached to my camera. Less so, nowadays, because it's so big and I no longer use my point-and-shoot because it's become completely inadequate for my photog needs. Photography is at the center of my artistic soul and tops my list of priorities in terms of what to spend money on in our wedding. It's truly the ONE thing that we'll be able to keep forever after the actual wedding day.

Plus, if I can't be behind the camera taking pictures, which I'm sure I'll be utterly dying to do, I need someone that's good. Real good. And will take hundreds of photos... of EVERYTHING. Someone I can trust to take all the photos I wish I could split myself into two and take myself. I'm going to have to ask my bridesmaids to pry the camera out of my hands if I find myself behind one on my wedding day instead of in front of one. Who wants the job? ;) I'm not going to offer it to my MOH (maid of honor), my sister because she'll be mean to me and yell at me. But, I can see the ad for this position now...

Wanted: Someone to keep the camera out of Jasmine's hands the day of her wedding. Must not be too mean at her and allow her to take a few pictures every now and then so she doesn't go nutty from the attachment issues she has with her Canon XT. Cannot make her cry because of the lack of her camera because she will be sure to cry plenty all on her own.

Anyone, anyone? He he he.

So as I was saying, for the two sites we're deciding between, unfortunately the photographer that I've been blogstalking since February-ish is booked on the date that our sites are available. Darn.

I don't know if it's because I feel like I know her because of my blogstalking or if it's just because I admire her work and her story behind becoming a photographer which is something I daydream about at least three or four times a day, but I was really really REALLY hoping it'd be her. We were even going to go with the cheaper place to make room in our budget for her. Sigh.

We have an appointment with both sites tomorrow and maybe we can see if there are any other dates. Hehe. I'm planning my wedding around a photographer which in all honesty, I think it's quite fitting actually.

:)





*photo from Jasmine Star

Work

Work has been a bit crazy lately. The first weeks of school are always the most difficult for a teacher (in my eyes). I feel like I have yet to find a balance and get into the "groove" of things. I blame it the fact that I've been working late into the afternoon at school and then coming home and working until bedtime. On what, you may ask? I don't know. Organizing myself, I suppose. I spent all last night reorganizing my Physical Science unit and its binder. Took me forever, but now I have a revised (and better) game plan for teaching the unit in a way that makes a lot of sense to me and hopefully will make even more sense for my students.

Anyhoo... enough "teacher talk".

I haven't had a moment to sit and even think "wedding." In fact, I've been so crazily busy that there are times I forget that we're planning a wedding. We have some major decisions to make soon and I hope we're making the right ones. I'm trying to listen to God's voice, but I think I'm not doing good enough at listening to Him and what He has to say. I just hope we don't make the wrong decision and then regret it later. Ugh.

Good news is I've found a seamstress that is going to alter my dress for me. I hope it doesn't cost me a fortune.

More good news is I think I'm going to finally start a .mac account, which means I'll be moving this blog over to a new (and much better!!!) website sometime next month. Plus, I have tons I need to update on... including our recent Big Sur road trip this weekend (I have 600+ photos to organize!) but for now, I think I'm going to organize my math binder/unit for this quarter (hehehe... I can't help it!) and then relax for the night. I need it. My boys (in my class) are driving me crazy!!!

Lastly, and the best news of the summer... we got our state test scores back last week. My grade level scored 2nd in the district in math out of 45+ schools!!! Which means that the way we've changed our math instruction to incorporate more inquiry-based learning using the Japanese lesson design WORKED! I have two kids that scored a perfect! That's so amazing.

AND.... the news gets even better... we scored FIRST in the district for fifth grade science!!!

When I found out, we were hiking in Point Lobos and I was just doing a "happy dance" for like fifteen minutes.

It's so amazing because we've put so much work into making ourselves more effective as a math and science teacher and it's just so validating to know that our students did so well because of it.

(and our language arts scores weren't bad either... 5th in the district!)



WOO HOO!!!

Bridesmaid dress

My bridesmaid dress for Amanda's wedding finally arrived last week. I was starting to worry that it wouldn't arrive on time because when I called earlier this month they said to call back at the end of the month because they were backed up on orders for Alfred Angelo. Luckily, it arrived in time for alterations.
When you buy a dress, typically you want a larger size because you can always bring a dress in, but you can't always let it out. So I ordered a larger size than I usually wear because the lady at the store said I should, but now that I have it in front of me, I'm definitely going to have alter it. I should have listened to my own intuition because I had a gut feeling that ordering a dress much larger than the size I typically wear in dresses would probably end up being way too big. Well, with this dress I can't exactly hold it up (if you know what I mean). I hope the alterations won't end up costing more than the dress. :(

Isn't it a pretty blue?

(A closer view) The ribbon is my favorite part of the dress.
















Now I just need to find a trustworthy seamstress to alter it for me.

Maybe if I can find someone else to magically melt away some pounds too, that'd be great. :)

An animated invitation

Came across this on another blog again and wanted to share it with you all. It's genius!

*disclaimer: Our invitation will NOT be animated. Please do not set your standards that high.


hehehe...

Enjoy!

A lesson learned

This entry is especially written to those of you who will one day plan a wedding in the future. No one shared this bit of information with me and it is such a crucial piece of information that the wedding industry purposely hides from you.

All the books and magazines say that when searching for a reception site, you need to know the number of guests you are planning on inviting. This is important because some venues cannot fit parties larger than 100 depending on where you search. Everything I've read has really stressed the importance of knowing how many guests you are inviting. Granted, I still believe that this is one of things you DO need to decide on first... I've come to find that it's not exactly the whole story.

After the guest list, most lists of venues focus on the price per entree for each person. This seems very important because to figure out about how much a venue would cost you, you'd multiply your number of guests by the price per person. However, from what I've learned... you want to add $25-30 more per person than the price that is listed in magazines/websites to get the REAL price.

Sounds simple enough, right?

WRONG.

What every place I've looked at has failed to share with me is the food and beverage minimums. This is mostly dependent upon the day of the week and time of that day, but can also vary depending on the number of guests you invite thus requiring a certain size for a ballroom. From all the places I've called in the last three days, it seems mostly dependent on date and time... with Saturday evening being the priciest.

Now I know that Sat evening is the most popular date/time, but I really wonder... when else are people going to get married? So let's say Friday evening. Fri evening sucks. People who work have to get a day off and regardless of whether a guest lives in the city or not, they'll probably have to face rush hour traffic to a certain extent in order to reach your wedding site. Plus, everyone gets confused thinking that Fri was Sat when it really wasn't.

Richard suggested getting married on a weekday to save costs. I don't think anyone wants to do that either. Considering that 90% of our guests will be coming from out of town, I really think it'd be almost rude to ask them to come to a wedding on let's say... Tuesday. No thanks.

So back to the point...

No one tells you their food and beverage minimums up front. Not in the brochures, not in the menus, not when you first start talking to the catering dept person... no. They wait until they get all the information from you (your name, your FI name, your number, address, # of guests, date, etc) and THEN they drop the bomb and tell you it's going to cost $30,000 minimum.

It's almost like they want you to fall in love with their venue so that you will pay whatever they ask in order to get it. This seems to be a general theme throughout the whole wedding industry. Something I do not want to get trapped into.

The reason why I said earlier that the number of guests and price per person are important but actually not is because when you find out what the food and beverage minimums are, it actually doesn't matter. Notice how earlier I did NOT say that the minimums are based on the number of guests you are inviting. The only connection is that larger ballrooms will have a larger minimum because of your larger number of guests. However, most places I talked to had one general minimum regardless on where you had the reception on their site.

Why is it not THAT important? Let me explain. What I mean is... if the place is asking for $20,000 minimum for food and beverage and you're only inviting 100 people. That means it'd be $200 per person. That seems like a lot per person. You might as well invite more people, right? At least invite enough that the price per person is at an amount that will include an entree, hor'dourves and cocktails that's reasonable and you can max out the number of guests you can afford to invite. Make sense?

Therefore, my recommendation to future brides searching for a wedding site is:

• Decide on about how many guests you'll be having. An estimate should suffice.
  
• Come up with a list of possible venues within a reasonable price range taking into considering the price per person. (Don't forget to add that extra $25-30 per entree.)
• CALL first to ask about their food and beverage minimums. This will give you a real sense of whether you can afford it or not.
• Visit the site in person. Ask a lot of questions to the catering department.
  

On an interesting note... while I was researching, one place that actually included their minimums up front was the Hilton Torrey Pines/La Jolla in their wedding packet from their website. I remember looking at it awhile ago and scoffing at the idea that they would enforce a minimum. Little did I know that they were one of the few places that was actually being honest and upfront.


Now this is why I truly believe any woman that plans a wedding can definitely become a professional wedding planner/coordinator after her wedding. I've learned more about places in San Diego that I have in a long, long time during these past two months. And I've learned a lot about catering too!

Lastly, I think it's kind of ironic that the one place Adam and I were going to choose is turning out to have the highest minimum out of all the other places I've called by a huge margin. I even dare to say that it has a higher minimum than the Hotel Del. God sure has a sense of humor.

I have several entries coming up soon this week! Stay posted! Comment often! :)

Back to square one? or maybe two...

Just when I was starting to feel like the ball was finally rolling on the whole wedding planning thing... it's hit a pretty large roadblock:

Food and beverage MINIMUMS.




It's amazing how much these minimums are.

Argh.

Some photos...

I feel like I've been running around with my head chopped off for 3 days now and have yet to have a good several hours at home relaxing. Before I run off to bible study, I thought I'd link you to my best friend from high school, Kevin's, website that has some of his great photos of our wedding site search. They look great.


Okay... gotta finish inhaling my dinner before running off to bible study. See ya!

Quick update on the wedding site search...

Before I share a few words about the wedding site search...

One of my favorite wedding photographers just talked about me on her blog! Aww. I feel so special to even be mentioned! And on my birthday too! It's like a virtual b-day present. :)

I am totally in love with her work and even more so because of the way God has been working in her life. I've been following her blog for about 4+ months now. I read it religiously... it's one of the blogs that I check everyday after I finish checking my email. Her blog caught my eye because we share the same name. :) I'm hoping that Adam and I can hire her for our wedding photographer. I guess we'll see what God has planned. (I hope it's her!)

Here's the link to her blog: Jasmine Star
(to read more posts, click "view all recent post" on the top left)


... okay, back to the wedding search...

Tomorrow will be my first day of the new school year. Today was a teacher day and the kids come tomorrow. So as you can tell by the lack of posts that I'm back to being busy again.

I do have some photos of the many sites we visited this past weekend. If you can't wait for the posts, here's sneak peek (a link) at our new favorite place: Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa. They just recently updated their website so it's easier to navigate. (Goes to show how familiar I am with their website. hehe)

Adam cooked me a lovely dinner earlier tonight to celebrate my birthday. It's the first time he and I have been in the same city on our actual birthdays in the 6 years we've known each other. It was nice to share it with him. :) We had yummy frozen yogurt for dessert too... mmmm.

Speaking of, Adam's taking me to see THE FRAY tomorrow evening for my birthday. I am SO excited. I love love love these guys and have listened to their album at least a 100 times. No joke. I don't know how I'm going to muster up enough energy to go to a concert the evening of my first day of school, but I guess we'll just have to make that "sacrifice." tee hee.

Adam and I are off to visit his family in Sacramento this weekend in celebration of his grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary.



It's going to be a busy week!

Binder and Newsletter Projects

I finally started to put together my wedding binder. It is very much inspired by Joanne's binder and I can only hope that it'll be as organized as hers is. I put in the dividers and labeled all 16 of the tabs. Then I started putting magazine clippings, catalogs, sample invitations and other things I've gathered this past month into its appropriate section. :)

I also decorated the spine.

Here's another photo of the inside of the bridesmaids section:
















Another project inspired by several weddingbees is a bridesmaids newsletter. Sometimes I think if I weren't a teacher OR a travel photographer, I could definitely work as a graphic designer. So I've been designing the basic layout of what the newsletter would look like. I thinking this newsletter will go out to those involved in the bridal party.

The brainstorm sketches:






































So I started tinkering with MS Publisher to create the front page layout and this is what I have so far...

























Look familiar? It's similar to my photography blog design.






The creative juices are definitely flowing!!!

Continuing the search for a wedding venue...

Adam and I have plans to go look at more sites this weekend to have our wedding. I researched numerous places online today. The problem with looking at so many different websites is that places start to look the same after awhile. Another hard-to-swallow realization is that we probably cannot afford very many locations in San Diego. Lots of places are just too expensive or like what Ian pointed out while he was helping me with my wedding planning today is that a lot of sites can't fit the number of people we're inviting to our wedding. I got a little tired of looking at websites today and just wished we could just pick one already. :)

I have a list of possible places that I want to share with Adam before we head out. However, I am a little discouraged that some of these places are quite far from the SD airport. Most of our guests will be coming from out of town and I think asking them to fly in to SD only to drive another 40 minutes inland might be too much to ask of our guests. I guess we'll see if we decide to visit those locations. I found one in that's east of Poway (but seems REALLY east of Poway) and another in Carlsbad, but we'll see.

I'm becoming quite anxious to find a place and set a date. I hear places book up to a year in advance and if we're planning a wedding this time next year, then time's just ticking away. I don't want to pick a place that we'll later regret, but I think our budget will limit the number of possibilities we have in choosing a location.

It's my prayer that God will make it clear to us where our wedding will be.

Until then...

Happy 27th Wedding Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Today, July 10th, is my parents' 27th wedding anniversary. It's easy for me to remember because it's exactly 1 year and 6 days before my birthday.

When Adam and I get married next year, I'll be the same age as my mom when she got married. VERY strange. My mom was also about to turn 28 when she had me. VERY VERY strange. I can't even imagine having babies now for completely selfish reasons. To be honest, I'm not quite ready to give up my freedom. :) Plus, I'd like to spend a good couple of years being husband and wife with Adam before having babies. Now I'm off on a tangent...

I think it's cute how everyone in my family is about the same height. It really stands out in our family pictures like the one I included in this post. Hehe.




Mom and Dad, I love you! May He continue to bless your relationship and provide you with endless blessings.

Like a Star...

... across my sky.

I was listening to my iTunes while updating each of the wedding sites' entries last week and came across Corinne Bailey Rae's song, "Like a Star." Her voice just sinks into the deepest parts of your soul and makes it ache (in a good way). I'm a sucker for music that touches my heart. I just love how music can evoke such different emotions with the music, melodies and words.

So, I was thinking, "Oooh, this could be a great wedding song! Quite unique too!" And you bet it's not, "At Last" by Etta James. (No offense to the song, but it's been overdone in my opinion.) It is a bit slow to dance to though. Very sleepy.

However, the chorus does kinda talk about constantly arguing with each other. Unless I'm interpreting it incorrectly?


Here are the lyrics:

Just like a star across my sky,
Just like an angel off the page,
You have appeared to my life,
Feel like I'll never be the same,
Just like a song in my heart,
Just like oil on my hands,
Honour to love you

Still I wonder why it is,
I don't argue like this,
With anyone but you,
We do it all the time,
Blowing out my mind,

You've got this look I can't describe,
You make me feel like I'm alive,
When everything else is au fait,
Without a doubt you're on my side,
Heaven has been away too long,
Can't find the words to write this song,
Oh...
Your love,

Still I wonder why it is,
I don't argue like this,
With anyone but you,
We do it all the time,
Blowing out my mind,

Now I have come to understand,
The way it is,
It's not a secret anymore,
'cause we've been through that before,
From tonight I know that you're the only one,
I've been confused and in the dark,
Now I understand,

I wonder why it is,
I don't argue like this,
With anyone but you,
I wonder why it is,
I wont let my guard down,
For anyone but you
We do it all the time,
Blowing out my mind,

Just like a star across my sky,
Just like an angel off the page,
You have appeared to my life,
Feel like I'll never be the same,
Just like a song in my heart,
Just like oil on my hands


I love it. Adam probably won't like it as our wedding song, but maybe I can convince him to put in our wedding video at least? :)


Your thoughts?

Dinner with Dad

My dad was in town last Thursday working at the local restaurant for the chain that he works for. He called me in the morning and asked if Adam and I wanted to come down to the restaurant so he can cook us dinner.

Free food? Free homecooked Chinese food by my Dad?! Well, you know I wasn't about to pass on that. :)

Something I still miss even after all these years (9 years this Sept) since I've lived at my parent's house is the food. Everyone says their mom or their dad cooks the best, but in my case it's true. ;) My grandpa and my dad are both chefs and I've been spoiled all my life to have eaten truly yummy homecooked Chinese meals every night for dinner. The rare opportunities that I get to go home to LA nowadays, I usually eat as much Chinese food as I can and I bring it back with me to SD. Chinese food is not the same here in SD... Sam Woo's would be the closest, but it's still not the same.

I picked up a pound of shrimp (head-on) and you-choy at 99 Ranch with Adam after he got off work and we went over to the restaurant. My dad, the sometimes flamboyant but always charismatic man that he is, was busy working so he managed to find a moment to cook us up some of my "favorite dishes" as he says. (Frankly, I'm surprised he knows what I like to eat still to this day. Goes to show that your parents know you better than you know yourself sometimes even when you're supposedly a "grown up.")

He goes off and whips up some dishes for us. Adam went to watch. Food is at the very center (below God, family and me) of Adam's soul and I am amazed at how blessed I am to find a man that can cook great food for me like my grandpa and dad used to. My dad comes back with some homemade soup for us with choy, pea pods, mushrooms, chicken and shrimp in a big bowl. It is no longer a secret to my family that Adam LOVES soup... so they always make sure to make Adam a big bowl of it whenever they see him.

Later on, my Dad comes back with beef fried rice, spicy salty shrimp (my fave!) and some steamed choy. MMMMmm! We actually finished it all. We tried to kid ourselves into thinking it was hard work to actually finish it, but who were we kidding? He he.

We had a lovely conversation and he shared about work. He's down in SD because he's introducing five of his new recipes/dishes and he's teaching the chefs how to make it. It's interesting how both my parents are natural teachers. Wonder where I get it from? ;)

It was nice to see my Dad. I saw him last year around September in San Diego and we had dinner just the two of us. I don't think we've done that ever since I was a little, little girl. Something I'm loving about this wedding process beyond the superficial things like magazines and free invitation samples in the mail is being able to get closer to my family (and Adam's family too). Pastor Vic said in our pre-engagement class at church that something beautiful about weddings is that it has the power to mend and strengthen family relationships. It is my deepest desire to have that happen with my own family. Being fiercely independent has it's ups and downs and even though I am quite happy being my own woman, I guess it's okay to need your parents every once in awhile. :)

I realized recently that a big reason for the strain in my parents relationship with me is that we speak very different "love languages." If any of you haven't read it yet, go out and read "The Five Love Languages." There's a quiz you can take to find out what your love language is (or how you express love) and a quiz for your significant other to find out what his/her language his. Both Adam and I have very similar love languages - "physical touch" being at the top of both our lists. We love the hugs, snuggles, cuddles, and all that sappy couple stuff. However, my parents speak a very different love language. It's not "words of affirmation," which means saying verbally how much they love you or are proud of you constantly. It's also not physical touch which is what tops my list by a huge margin. However, what I've learned to appreciate over the years while being "fiercely independent" is that my parents show me they love me by their actions.

They've always worked hard for my siblings, grandparents and I and even though I hate (with a passion) that my mom nags at me about stupid little things all the time, whenever I go home she always makes sure I leave with everything I need (food, paper towels, haw flakes... hehe, weird "Mom" things like that). And for my dad, it's always been cooking. So last night, the great home cooked meal really truly made me feel loved by Dad which is something I've taken for granted or have failed to notice before.

:)





Slideshow photo credits: Jasmine Marie Photography (new xanga site!)
Book photo from Amazon.com

Wedding venue thoughts from the soon to be groom

Tom Ham's:
- affordable for a nice meal and doable with limited financial support
- cozy, but too small to fit 150 and a dance floor comfortably
- great view of the downtown skyline
- a quaint all-in-one place


Kona Kai
- standard ballroom, nothing unique but still spacious enough to have 150 and a dance floor
- the ceremony site wasn't impressive
- nothing special, except that it was by the harbor


The other one
- too small!

Humphrey's
- the fantasy setting for a lush and luxurious wedding
- the ceremony site is something out of a fairytale, breathtaking
- outdoor concert area is odd at first because of the huge stage. If we decorated the stage it can be to our benefit. The outdoor area is spacious, can take advantage of San Diego weather
- pricey

Overall, these four places represent only a fraction of what's possible. I'm curious to check out other places and compare the sizes of their ballrooms, the views (if any), the customer service and the overall vibe of the venue.

08-08-08?

So THE date to get married this summer seems to be 07-07-07 (777) which on a slot machine could mean big bucks! I'm sure you've all heard about how Eva Longoria is marrying Tony Parker in France tomorrow.

For Chinese people, however, the numbers 888 is considered to be very lucky because the number 8 sounds a lot like the same character for "fortune" or "lucky." Eight in Cantonese is "baat" and being prosperous or fortunate is "faat." The "aa" sound sounds like an "AH" like when you open your mouth for the doctor. That's why you see so many eight's in Chinese culture. For example, in LA (San Gabriel Valley to be exact) where my parents live, there are tons of restaurants with the number 8 in the name. I remember there's a 168 Restaurant because the numbers 1, 6, and 8 sound a lot like, "Keep on being lucky."

Chinese people can be quite superstitious to say the least.

I bring this up because August 8, 2008 does so happen to fall on a Saturday. Hmm? My school schedule has been rumored to MOST LIKELY to change to a modified year round in 08-09, which means I'll no longer have my lovely 3+ week breaks four times a year. I am quite attached to year round though and would put up a fight to keep it if I could. What it could mean is that it is possible my summer break next year will run longer than it has in previous years... making it POSSIBLE to have our wedding on 08/08/08.

Now I'm not a very superstitious person myself and I don't quite believe in all the Chinese traditions and what not... however, I do believe it would make several members of our Chinese families quite happy if we had an opportunity to get married on that date.

Also, maybe August dates are not as competitive as June/July dates?

I guess we'll see what God says...

Wedding Site #4 - Humphrey's Half Moon Inn

In the middle of Shelter Island is Humphrey's Half Moon Inn. At this point, we had spent a good couple of hours looking at the previous three sites. It was also a pretty humid day in San Diego, so we were hot and a bit tired. I thought grumpy Adam was ready to call it a day, but when I asked him if he wanted to see this last location, he agreed to go see it since we were already there.

I can't believe we almost didn't see this place!!!

We had been praying that God would guide us and help us with our wedding decisions. I'm so glad that He nudged just a little further to go see this location because we just fell in love with it. And I think it's pretty safe to say that Adam fell head over heels for it. (And for the first time in this whole planning process, I think Adam was actually *FINALLY* excited about this wedding! You can see in the pictures that he's finally smiling and no longer grumpy pants.)

I also think God had a hand in this especially because for the past year, I've been receiving flyers from this location. (I got onto some wedding list somehow.) The dork that I am, I totally thought this location was in Half Moon Bay up in the bay area. Shows you how little I know. Surprisingly though, this is the only place in San Diego that's snail-mailed me something. Hmm?

On our way to the lobby, we passed by the concert area. Apparently, Humphrey's Concerts by the Bay is located here. They have this huge circular concert area that sits right by the water. The stage is huge! However, it is a very open space. (More on this later. *wink*)

We walked towards the ballrooms and poked around the Marina Ballroom. Again, we thought it'd be tight for 150 people. 150 COULD fit, but there'd be a pretty tight dance floor if we put 15 round tables in there. We walked over to the other ballroom and some of the catering staff were cleaning up what looked like the leftovers from an earlier function that day.

The head houseman (sp?) came over and introduced himself to us. His name is Anastacio (sp?). Remember how first impressions speak volumes? Well, Anastacio not only introduced himself but also genuinely congratulated us on our engagement. He was the ONLY person to do that today, by the way. It was nice. He walked us back to the Marina ballroom and he asked how many people we were planning on having and we said 150. And get this, he was HONEST with us and said that 150 would be tight in that room. He said it was doable, but real tight. I appreciate a man with honesty! Instead of trying to sell us the room, he was truthful. Love it. He showed us where he would put the cake table, the gifts table and what not. It really showed us that he had a great handle (and loads of experience) on running events.

We were talking outside of the room and Adam asked about the concert area. And these were his words (magically ingrained in my memory hehe), "Let me paint you a picture... two buffet tables back here, cocktail tables for guests to hand out next to the buffet tables, dance floor in the middle, cake table by the stage and your head table or sweetheart's table by the water so you can see everything that's going on."

Oh man, we were floored! :) He "painted" the picture beautifully in our minds and we just fell in love with the place. He mentioned that there'd be a wedding there next weekend with 300+ guests if we wanted to peek at it. (300 guests?! Wow! Maybe I should remind Adam of this number in comparison to ours when he has his next freak out moment about the number of people we're inviting. Hehe. I love you!)

The space is beautiful! It's right by the water. It could easily fit 150 people with space to spare. The DJ can play from the stage. And, a big plus, it'll be OUTDOORS! An outdoor reception! Of course it's not as spectacular as Mike and Kelly's outdoor reception that was written right out of a movie, but we love it. It's all enclosed in the circular area so it can feel intimate and not incredibly spaced too far out. Plus, it means we can have a large dance floor.

We continued to have a great conversation with Anastacio about his family and two daughters. He was such a pleasure to chat with. The first real person all day. I can see how it'd be a pleasure working with him too.

So with our mouths wide open, we walked over to the ceremony garden area. And I think this was what sealed the deal for Adam. :) It was so pretty. Very intimate. It sits in the middle of an area surrounded by rooms. All covered with grass. It has an archway with flowers and plants all over it. (Very nice because we can save money on decorating it!) There's actually an area that people can practice putting on. :) Too cute. Adam and I stood under the altar and everything just felt so right. The garden can easily fit 150 people with room to spare. And att that point of the day (close to 5ish) there's enough shade for people to not roast in the sun.

We were in love.

Moment of truth: we walked into the lobby to get some wedding info. We sat down and looked at the brochure and it is pricier than we were hoping for. It's not quite as expensive as Kona Kai, but not by much. There are options for different buffets (Italian, Seafood, Polynesian, and Asian). But it IS pretty expensive per person. There are entrees that are a little cheaper per person, but I think a buffet would be nicer. People can eat as much as they want... AND I don't have to deal with meal choices on the RSVP cards and what not. (Always a planner at heart, aren't I?)

We actually went back out to see the garden area again. :) Adam was so smitten at this point. I hadn't seen him with that much excitement about this whole wedding thing ever. I think he thinks it's a conspiracy against him or something. Men, gotta love 'em. From the garden, we took the short walk past the pool back towards the concert area for one more look. And we found something else we liked about the place... the short walk opens up to a space by the concert area that really lends itself to a grand entrance into the reception area - not only for us, but for our guests! Wow... absolutely breathtaking.

It was hard to keep our excitement to ourselves when we left this place. I could totally envision our wedding there. I tried to revel in Adam's excitement because it made me so happy to just see how giddy he was. Now if we can figure out a way to afford it, we'd be sold!




My overall impressions...

Pro's:

• Another great location
• OUTDOOR ceremony AND reception!
• Enclosed area = intimate space
• Our guests can stay there
• Reception space is right by the water
• Great customer service from Anastacio who really didn't have to take the time to talk to us like he did
• Beautiful altar in the garden area
• Enough room for 150+ people
• We LOVE it. :)

Con's

• The only con I can think of is that it's expensive

You know what I think, now what about you?

Photo credits:

• Slideshow photos by: Jasmine Marie Photography
• All other photos from Half Moon Inn website
  

Wedding Site #3 - Island Palms Marina Hotel

People say a first impression says a lot. I should have went with my gut feeling when we went to the Island Palms Hotel. (It wasn't a good one.) However, people say never judge a book by it's cover. In this case though, I think I should have trusted my intuition. It's so rarely wrong. ;)

It was quite confusing to figure out where the lobby was exactly because it looked like two completely different hotels. So we walked down, glanced at a map and finally found the lobby. When we talked with the front desk, a lady handed us some papers and said the person in charge wasn't here today. And that was it. The other places didn't have their main catering person there either, but at least they led us in the general direction of places to look at. Not a very good first impression in my opinion. Adam on the other hand, is a lot more forgiving than I am. :) I love that about him.


We sat and looked at the papers that gave us "directions" to the different places. (Directions in lieu of actually having to talk to us, perhaps? note the sarcasm.) We headed off towards the ballrooms. The lobby itself is very exotic, polynesian-looking. We followed the information that described the maximum number of people for each venue. We walked downstairs past the restaurant and into a ballroom with the wall up in between the two separate rooms. Supposedly, according to the information sheet, the Grand Marina Room is supposed to seat 150 max. Both of us just kind of laughed because there's no way 150 seated people can fit into that room. Granted the wall partition WAS up, but really? I tried to picture 75 people in each half and just couldn't. SECOND bad impression.


We walked out to find the Grand Marina Garden. The picture above is the picture from their website. Very nice looking, right?

Well, the sheet says it can fit 150 people. If you look at my picture in the slideshow, I seriously cannot see how 150 chairs are going to fit in that small area. Are people expected to stand? Or are they going to watch from their guest room windows and balconies, perhaps?

THIRD bad impression.

At this point, we were very disappointed by their lack of being able to accurately measure the maximum capacities of their venues. I mean, we're no "measuring geniuses" that know exactly how 150 people look like, but I think they might have stretched their numbers in order to squeeze people in (uncomfortably at best).

We were not very impressed at this point. We decided to go see the final ballroom on the list, called Water's Edge Ballroom. Now what image comes into YOUR mind when you hear "water's edge ballroom"? A lovely ballroom on the edge of the water, maybe? Oh man. We walked down past the Casa Del Mar part of the complex. This is what you see when you first open their website. Very lovely looking, but it did NOT match the first part of the hotel (the Polynesian themed part). Adam made an observation that it almost appeared like this company just bought these areas to add to their land.

So imagine our surprise when we finally walked down to the end of the complex to where the Water's Edge Ballroom is located and it looks like an old lodge (and that's coming from Adam)! I didn't even bother to take a photo of it. It was too disappointing to even photograph, honestly. I wasn't impressed by it when we approached it, but kept that opinion to myself until Adam finally said something. I have to say I was relieved that we both had similar opinions about it. :)

Fourth and FINAL bad impression.



My overall impressions... (just to be consistent with the other posts)

Needless to say, we did NOT like this place. The prices are little higher than Tom Ham's, but lower than Kona Kai's. However, it just didn't sit right with us so... thanks, but no thanks!



Photo credits:

• Slideshow photos by: Jasmine Marie Photography
• All other photos: Island Palms Hotel website
  

Wedding Site #2 - Kona Kai Resort and Spa

From Harbor Island, we drove down back towards Shelter Island about a mile or two. The rest of the sites we wanted to look at today were all on Shelter Island. We decided to go all the way down to the end and then make our way back. At the tip is the Kona Kai Resort and Spa (formerly known as the Shelter Pointe Hotel).

Driving in, it was absolutely beautiful. There is a large fountain in the front. When you actually walk in, there's a strong feeling of being on vacation... like an escape from the world. To me, it felt weird that we were still in San Diego. We parked down the street and walked by some of the guest rooms that reminded me of villas. We spoke with a concierge who gave us a wedding folder with info and a map that was very helpful!


We walked over to the Cabo Courtyard. There was shower there earlier so tables were still set up. You could hold a ceremony there. It could seat over 150 people easily. However, it was right by the pool. Behind the courtyard was a place for a bar and a open area that I thought would be nice for cocktail hour if we had our ceremony here.

From here, we walked over the hotel restaurant. The concierge mentioned that they could close it off and we could have our reception in there. It was a very circular room with a huge pillar in the middle. Nice view of the marina though. However, we thought it'd be a oddly-sized space for a reception. Not sure if it'd fit 150 people either.

Onto the ballrooms! We walked back out of the lobby and back towards the ballrooms that sit by the marina. I took tons of pictures of the corridors because I loved the arches and the way the shadows were hitting the ground. Grumpy pants Adam, on the other hand, was trying his best to avoid being in any of my photos. From my photos, you can see from his facial expression and the fact that in most of the photos, his back is facing me or he's just way far ahead of where I am. In addition, he wasn't too thrilled about the fact that I was taking a lot of photos either. Grumpy, indeed! (I do love my Adam though.. grumpy pants and all.)

Well, I was busy taking photos because what I love most about this place is that there are so many spots that lend itself to a beautiful backdrop for wedding photos. The photographer in me couldn't help but notice all the little nooks and crannies, corridors and arches, flowers on the walls, fountain, etc. It would be a wonderful place just for photographs! :)

Okay, back to the search for a wedding site...

There is a foyer in the back that leads into three ballrooms. These have walls that can be put away to lead into one big ballroom. On this particular day, that had two ballrooms connected into one big room. This room could definitely seat all 150 guests easily without it being crowded. Adam counted 12 tables and they were all seated around a huge dance floor. I loved what Adam mentioned about the room about how there is not a "bad" seat in the house because every table was relatively close to the dance floor. I loved how it was more of a square-ish sized room instead of a long rectangle. (I included some photos of the ballroom in the slideshow.)

Outside of the foyer and the ballrooms is the marina. The rooms sit parallel to the water. Since it's on the tip of the Shelter Island, it's actually on the tip that does not face the bay so there's no SD skyline view in the room. A nice view of the boats though.

Next to the marina and the ballrooms is a open area for a ceremony. It's spacious enough to seat 150 people comfortably. It is outside. With some flowers and decorations, it could look pretty nice. It is kind of drab without anything though.

However, right above that open area is a circular area directly outside the foyer that can hold ceremonies. I believe the first picture on the right is taken in that area. It is small for 150 though.

While walking around a little more, I got a nice shot of the resort's private beach. The concierge mentioned how a couple had gotten married on their beach and it was very casual. I thought it'd be a nice place for our guests to relax if they wanted, but not a suitable place for our ceremony. I always thought I'd get married on the beach because of my affinity for beaches, but I think the traditionalist inside of me couldn't live down wearing a casual white dress with flip flops for my wedding.


The resort also has their own privately owned marina. Anyone own a boat? :)

My overall impression...

I think we could both easily see having our wedding here. It has everything that we want - a place for a ceremony, reception and even a place for our guests to stay. They can walk from their guest room to our wedding in their bathrobes! (Just kidding... well they COULD if they truly desired so.) It does feel very much like a resort on a small scale. The location is spectacular. For photographs, we could easily walk across the street to get some with the SD skyline as a backdrop. You can see from the aerial shots that there's a strip of walkways leading down the island. Lots of green grass for picnic areas. Again, places to take photographs really tops my list. I'm sure it's at the bottom of Adam's list. :) The place feels classy and elegant, but not so lavish and extravagant like a Grand Hyatt Hotel would feel. It'd be a good compromise actually... simple but elegant. HOWEVER (and this is a big BUT), it is quite pricey and almost double Tom Ham's. Lastly, like what Adam said, it'd be a very "predictable" place to have a wedding... like it's been done before.

Pro's:

• Great location
  
• A really nice place for our guests to stay
• Wonderful spots for photographs! :) - this weighs so much heavier for me than it does for Adam. I hope he'll post his own pro's and con's.
  
• Can easily fit our number of guests
• Secluded feeling because it's at the end of the island
• It does have a spa (pre-wedding couple's massage, perhaps?) hehe one can dream...
  

Con's

• A lot more pricey than we were expecting
• Not as unique as maybe Adam was hoping for?
  

Your thoughts?

Photo credits:

• Slideshow photos: Jasmine Marie Photography
• All other photos: Kona Kai Resort and Spa's website